[3538] The principal well for this purpose was called the “Nilometer,” or “Gauge for the Nile.”
[3539] On this subject see Pliny, B. xviii. c. 47, and B. xxxvi. c. 11.
[3540] Seneca says that the Nile did not rise as usual in the tenth and eleventh years of the reign of Cleopatra, and that the circumstance was said to bode ruin to her and Antony.—Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.
[3541] He means dense clouds, productive of rain, not thin mists. See what is said of the Borysthenes by our author, B. xxxi. c. 30.
[3542] Syene was a city of Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile just below the First Cataract, and was looked upon as the southern frontier city of Egypt against Æthiopia. It was an important point in the geography and astronomy of the ancients; for, lying just under the tropic of Cancer, it was chosen as the place through which they drew their chief parallel of latitude. The sun was vertical to Syene at the time of the summer solstice, and a well was shown there where the face of the sun was seen at noon at that time. Its present name is Assouan or Ossouan.
[3543] If this word means the “Camp,” it does not appear to be known what camp is meant. Most editions have “Cerastæ,” in which case it would mean that at Syene the Cerastes or horned serpent is found.
[3544] One of these (if indeed Philæ did consist of more than a single island, which seems doubtful) is now known as Djeziret-el-Birbe, the “Island of the Temple.”
[3545] This island was seated just below the Lesser Cataract, opposite Syene, and near the western bank of the Nile. At this point the river becomes navigable downward to its mouths, and the traveller from Meroë or Æthiopia enters Egypt Proper. The original name of this island was “Ebo,” Eb being in the language of hieroglyphics the symbol of the elephant and ivory. It was remarkable for its fertility and verdure, and the Arabs of the present day designate the island as Djesiret-el-Sag, or “the Blooming.”
[3546] This is a mistake of Pliny’s, for it was opposite to Syene. Brotier thinks that Pliny intended to write ‘Philæ,’ but by mistake inserted Syene.
[3547] Artemidorus, Juba, and Aristocreon.