The Nile

In this episode we’re trying to explain how fundamentally important the river Nile was to the presence of human beings in what we now call Egypt, and how this allowed civilisation to flourish there at such an early moment in human history, and to endure for such a long time. We talked about people settling along the banks of the Nile where the water and silts allowed plants and animals to thrive, how irrigation and agriculture allowed for these natural resources to be harnessed, and how this in turn freed people from spending all their time trying to find food to survive to do other things. We also talked about how the Nile was so important that the Egyptians imagined it being embodied by a god, Hapy, and how important the emergence of the land from the flood waters, and life springing forth from it, was to the Egyptians’ myths about the creation of the world. Also, in more practical terms, how they were dependent on the annul flood (‘inundation;’), on it not being too high or too low, and they built basins, channels and dams to manage the water, and grain silos to guard against the food running out of the flood wasn’t right for a good harvest. The Nile was also the Egyptians primary means of transport and communication and this explains why boats are central to many Egyptian myths including how you get to the afterlife – by boat of course.

Links:

Extra content: https://www.patreon.com/talklikeanegyptian

For the geology and geography of Egypt and the Egyptians’ response to the river environment – the annual flood, irrigation channels, dams etc – try Reader, A Gift of Geology: Ancient Egyptian Landscapes and Monuments

For the idea that before the creation of the world there was nothing but watery chaos, and that from this an island emerged on which life would grow, see the creation myths as covered in:

Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

Shaw, The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends

Iszi’s book (she’s so needy) The Cursed Tomb where ythe hero gets dropped into the nile: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cursed-tomb-9781801996020/