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[1]
We leave the Ionians' opinion aside, and our own judgment about the matter is this: Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is all that country which is inhabited by Egyptians, just as Cilicia [34.333,36.666] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cilicia and Assyria are the countries inhabited by Cilicians and Assyrians, and we know of no boundary line (rightly so called) below Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya except the borders of the Egyptians.
We leave the Ionians' opinion aside, and our own judgment about the matter is this: Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is all that country which is inhabited by Egyptians, just as Cilicia [34.333,36.666] (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Cilicia and Assyria are the countries inhabited by Cilicians and Assyrians, and we know of no boundary line (rightly so called) below Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya except the borders of the Egyptians.
[2] But if we follow the belief of the
Greeks, we shall consider all
Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa
Egypt
commencing from the Cataracts and the city of
Elephantine
1
to be divided into two parts, and to claim both the names, the one a part of
Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa
Libya
and the other of
Asia (continent)
Asia
.
[3] For the
Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa
Nile
, beginning from the Cataracts, divides
Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa
Egypt
into two parts as it flows to the sea. Now, as far as the city
Cercasorus the
Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa
Nile
flows in one channel, but after that it parts into three.
[4] One of these, which is called the
Pelusian mouth, flows east; the second flows west, and is called the
Canobic mouth. But the direct channel of the
Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa
Nile
, when the river in its downward course reaches the apex of the Delta, flows thereafter clean through the middle of the Delta into the sea; in this is seen the greatest and most famous part of its waters, and it is called the
Sebennytic mouth.
[5] There are also two channels which separate themselves from the
Sebennytic and so flow into the sea: by name, the
Saïtic and the
Mendesian.
[6] The
Bolbitine and
Bucolic mouths are not natural but excavated channels.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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