DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5475#0117
THE NILOMETEB.
93
I AFTER Til
umb Gwk Mil
5 ifooodtkte
T bad wt^
The tombs are covered with sand; of the city to
which they belonged, and which is supposed to
have stood on the plain, no traces are visible. No
doubt after it was pillaged and laid waste by the
Persians, the ruins by degrees disappeared be-
neath the sand which the Nile, in its inundations,
deposited on the two banks.
We find that the land extending from the Tem-
ple of Memnon to the two Colossi, is on the same
level, whilst the spot on which the pyramids are
inclines a little towards the river; and as the waters
of the inundation advance as far as there, it is not
extravagant to suppose that the ancient city, with
its suburbs, had by degrees disappeared beneath
the deposited soil.
In support of this opinion may be adduced the
Nilometer, which Mr. Salt and I found in the
island of Elephantina. According to this Nilo-
meter, it appears that the soil of Egypt must have
risen since the days of the Emperor Augustus as
much as sixteen feet. This Nilometer begins at
nineteen measures, and appears to have marked
as high as twenty-nine. At the present day an
elevation of twenty-three or twenty-four measures
is sufficient to cause disastrous consequences to
the surrounding country; when the river was
93
I AFTER Til
umb Gwk Mil
5 ifooodtkte
T bad wt^
The tombs are covered with sand; of the city to
which they belonged, and which is supposed to
have stood on the plain, no traces are visible. No
doubt after it was pillaged and laid waste by the
Persians, the ruins by degrees disappeared be-
neath the sand which the Nile, in its inundations,
deposited on the two banks.
We find that the land extending from the Tem-
ple of Memnon to the two Colossi, is on the same
level, whilst the spot on which the pyramids are
inclines a little towards the river; and as the waters
of the inundation advance as far as there, it is not
extravagant to suppose that the ancient city, with
its suburbs, had by degrees disappeared beneath
the deposited soil.
In support of this opinion may be adduced the
Nilometer, which Mr. Salt and I found in the
island of Elephantina. According to this Nilo-
meter, it appears that the soil of Egypt must have
risen since the days of the Emperor Augustus as
much as sixteen feet. This Nilometer begins at
nineteen measures, and appears to have marked
as high as twenty-nine. At the present day an
elevation of twenty-three or twenty-four measures
is sufficient to cause disastrous consequences to
the surrounding country; when the river was