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Thus far I have spoken of Egypt from my own observation, relating
what I myself saw, the ideas that I formed, and the results of my
own researches. What follows rests on the accounts given me by the
Egyptians, which shall now repeat, adding thereto some particulars
which fell under by own notice.
The priests said that Min was the first king of Egypt, and that it
was he who raised the dyke which protects Memphis from the inundations
of the Nile. Before his time the river flowed entirely along the
sandy range of hills which skirts Egypt on the side of Libya. He,
however, by banking up the river at the bend which it forms about a
hundred furlongs south of Memphis, laid the ancient channel dry,
while he dug a new course for the stream halfway between the two lines
of hills. To this day, the elbow which the Nile forms at the point
where it is forced aside into the new channel is guarded with the
greatest care by the Persians, and strengthened every year; for if
the river were to burst out at this place, and pour over the mound,
there would be danger of Memphis being completely overwhelmed by the
flood. Min, the first king, having thus, by turning the river,
made the tract where it used to run, dry land, proceeded in the first
place to build the city now called Memphis, which lies in the narrow
part of Egypt; after which he further excavated a lake outside the
town, to the north and west, communicating with the river, which was
itself the eastern boundary. Besides these works, he also, the
priests said, built the temple of Vulcan which stands within the
city, a vast edifice, very worthy of mention.
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