DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0159
132 THE LAND OF THE MONUMENTS
question is alluded to in the most ancient mytho-
logical text we possess. The Pyramid texts men-
tion the night of the great flood of tears proceeding
from the great goddess ; this title is one of the most
usual appellations of Isis, and the great weeping is
the recognised name of the great inundation." * The
rise of the Nile was attributed by the Copts to the
intercession of St. Michael, whose festival is cele-
brated on the 6th of June; three days before, they
believe that the archangel prays that the water may
rise, since it is the life of men and animals.
The average rise of the river at Cairo is twenty-five
feet; at Luxor, thirty-eight feet ; and at Assouan,
forty-nine feet (less than this is a " low Nile," and
above it a "high Nile"). The actual height ascertained
dally by the Nilometers is announced by the public
criers.
This wonderful and unique phenomenon, specially
characteristic of Egypt, was employed by the prophet
Jeremiah as a type of the assembling of the armies
of Egypt under Pharaoh Necho for the invasion of
Babylonia. " Who is this that cometh up as a flood,
whose waters are moved as the rivers ? Egypt riseth
up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the
rivers ; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the
earth ; I will destroy the city with the inhabitants
thereof." t
This campaign, in which Necho was defeated
with great slaughter, ended most disastrously to the
Egyptians, and led finally to the invasion of Egypt
by Nebuchadnezzar.
* Rcnonf, Proceedings S. B. A., vol. xiii. p. 7. f J<--r. xlvi. 7. 8.
question is alluded to in the most ancient mytho-
logical text we possess. The Pyramid texts men-
tion the night of the great flood of tears proceeding
from the great goddess ; this title is one of the most
usual appellations of Isis, and the great weeping is
the recognised name of the great inundation." * The
rise of the Nile was attributed by the Copts to the
intercession of St. Michael, whose festival is cele-
brated on the 6th of June; three days before, they
believe that the archangel prays that the water may
rise, since it is the life of men and animals.
The average rise of the river at Cairo is twenty-five
feet; at Luxor, thirty-eight feet ; and at Assouan,
forty-nine feet (less than this is a " low Nile," and
above it a "high Nile"). The actual height ascertained
dally by the Nilometers is announced by the public
criers.
This wonderful and unique phenomenon, specially
characteristic of Egypt, was employed by the prophet
Jeremiah as a type of the assembling of the armies
of Egypt under Pharaoh Necho for the invasion of
Babylonia. " Who is this that cometh up as a flood,
whose waters are moved as the rivers ? Egypt riseth
up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the
rivers ; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the
earth ; I will destroy the city with the inhabitants
thereof." t
This campaign, in which Necho was defeated
with great slaughter, ended most disastrously to the
Egyptians, and led finally to the invasion of Egypt
by Nebuchadnezzar.
* Rcnonf, Proceedings S. B. A., vol. xiii. p. 7. f J<--r. xlvi. 7. 8.