评论
打印
The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through the north-western area of Africa, and then into the Mediterranean Sea.
Great civilizations have always flourished alongside rivers, but the Egyptian civilization, which started on the Nile, is the most fascinating and mysterious in the history of mankind.The Nile valley is a fertile one where there is an abundance of water and sun, elements which the ancient Egyptian believed were gods, they called the sun Amon and the Nile Apis.
Memphis was the first great capital of Egypt, united as a single kingdom in the third millennium B.C..But the Nile burst its banks a few centuries ago, flooding the ancient capital.
The river however has given more than it has taken, enough to make Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian say: Egypt is a gift from the Nile.
The annual floods left precious silt on the fields, a miraculous natural fertilizer which made the crops grow luxuriantly.
This instrument, called a Nilometer was used by the ancient Pharaohs to establish how high the periodic floods would be. The Nilometer, on the presupposition that the harvest would be plentiful, was nothing other than a device for setting income tax level.
世界上最长的河流尼罗河，流经非洲西北部，最终汇入地中海。
伟大的人类文明多发源于河流两岸，但人类历史上最为绚丽、神秘的是使于尼罗河的古埃及文明。尼罗河谷拥有充足的淡水与阳光，这二者被古埃及人奉为神灵，他们尊称太阳为AMON，称尼罗河为APIS。
孟菲斯是埃及第一个首都，公元前3000年，它建立为独立王国。而若干世纪以前，尼罗河水泛滥，冲垮了古都。
但毕竟，尼罗河所赋予的远大于它索取的。正如古希腊历史学家希罗多德所言：埃及是尼罗河赐予的礼物。
每年洪水过后，土地上都会留下一层淤泥，这是能让庄稼茁壮成长的天然优良肥料。
这个被称作"Nilometer"的设备，是古代法老用来预测一定时期内洪水的可能高度。用于推断丰收与否的"Nilometer"，其实就是制定税收标准的装置。
