Professor Bacon's Journal
As BOB thrust us back into the past, the first thing we noticed as we ungracefully fell onto the ground was the sand. The fine particles seemed to cover the whole of the land in a light, dusty brown. The bright daylight shone harshly upon us, and I immediately felt the need to drink a lot of water. I recorded these surroundings scrupulously in my notebook as I reached into my travel pack for my water bottle.
How could the Ancient Egyptians survive in this geography and climate? I wrote feverishly, sweltering in the heat. What did they eat? How did they plant crops? The only materials I see are sand - for miles and miles! There doesn't seem to be any signs of life!
It was only until a full day had passed, and the cool night air soothed our tired selves, that we heard the sound of rushing water. We dashed towards the sound, and soon I found myself stepping in soft, fertile earth.
Then we saw it.
The great Nile River.
How could the Ancient Egyptians survive in this geography and climate? I wrote feverishly, sweltering in the heat. What did they eat? How did they plant crops? The only materials I see are sand - for miles and miles! There doesn't seem to be any signs of life!
It was only until a full day had passed, and the cool night air soothed our tired selves, that we heard the sound of rushing water. We dashed towards the sound, and soon I found myself stepping in soft, fertile earth.
Then we saw it.
The great Nile River.
It stretched for 4,258 miles, and all around it I noticed sundry plants, e.g. papyrus, and to my surprise, I recognized what was growing about ten feet away as barley, wheat, lentils, and if I wasn't mistaken, figs! As I looked closer in the dark, as my vision isn't too great, I realized there were a lot of sand brick houses lining the Nile.
"The Nile is famous as the longest river in the world. The river got its name from the Greek word Neilos, which means valley. The Nile floods the lands in Egypt, leaving behind black sediment. That's why the ancient Egyptians named the river Ar, meaning black. (River Nile Facts, see Bibliography)". Black was a sacred color in Ancient Egypt, and the Nile was a great source of life. It watered their crops and gave the Ancient Egyptians food and water.
"The ancient Egyptians thought of Egypt as being divided into two types of land, the 'black land' and the 'red land'. The 'black land' was the fertile land on the banks of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians used this land for growing their crops. This was the only land in ancient Egypt that could be farmed because a layer of rich, black silt was deposited there every year after the Nile flooded. The 'red land' was the barren desert that protected Egypt on two sides. These deserts separated ancient Egypt from neighboring countries and invading armies. They also provided the ancient Egyptians with a source for precious metals and semi-precious stones. (Ancient Egypt Geography, British Museum, see Bibliography)"
"The Nile is famous as the longest river in the world. The river got its name from the Greek word Neilos, which means valley. The Nile floods the lands in Egypt, leaving behind black sediment. That's why the ancient Egyptians named the river Ar, meaning black. (River Nile Facts, see Bibliography)". Black was a sacred color in Ancient Egypt, and the Nile was a great source of life. It watered their crops and gave the Ancient Egyptians food and water.
"The ancient Egyptians thought of Egypt as being divided into two types of land, the 'black land' and the 'red land'. The 'black land' was the fertile land on the banks of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians used this land for growing their crops. This was the only land in ancient Egypt that could be farmed because a layer of rich, black silt was deposited there every year after the Nile flooded. The 'red land' was the barren desert that protected Egypt on two sides. These deserts separated ancient Egypt from neighboring countries and invading armies. They also provided the ancient Egyptians with a source for precious metals and semi-precious stones. (Ancient Egypt Geography, British Museum, see Bibliography)"
In the late afternoon the next day, I left S'morez to study the rich religion of Egypt for a while and set BOB to the overhead setting. Soon, I had adjusted the bar just right so that we were hovering at a distance so we could see the landscape and geography of what was truly Ancient Egypt. I sketched out the drawing below and compared it to a tourist map of Modern Egypt I had picked up at the local McDonalds in modern Cairo yesterday.
I noticed, with a sad grimace, that the Nile River valley was much more profound. Now, it was hidden with crisscrossed roads, highways, and other buildings. The source of water must have been very important as a feature of geography, I thought. Otherwise, how could the people survive in the desert with no vegetation, animals, or water? This must have impacted the Ancient Egyptians heavily. With only these resources, they'd have to trade a lot with other civilizations to get wealthy and rise to total power. Some things, like the ones listed below, grew in abundance exclusively in Egypt. The Egyptians already had a surplus of those things, and could trade easily for other things that they didn't have and needed. I easily came to the conclusion that the Ancient Egyptians depended on one worldly resource - this great river. They even had a god to represent the fertility and well-inundation of the Nile, Hapi (see more in Beliefs and Religion).
From a reliable source (Discovering Our Past,
Soon it became lunchtime, and I reached into my backpack for the sandwiches and chips I had packed. Instead, my fingers grasped something cool, smooth, and hard. I pulled the curious item out and gasped with astonishment. A shiny pair of silver sunglasses rested in my palm. In fancy gold lettering along the side, it was written: Topography Glasses. Attached was a small note.
Dear Professors,
We are so delighted that you get to try out our amazing invention to go study in Ancient Egypt! As only students, we'd never thought we'd get the chance to meet such famous, genius professors like you! For you, Professor Bacon, we have these marvelous glasses. We knew you'd like them, since you're studying geography and key features. Don't worry; Professor Smorez got something too!
Thank you so much,
Your beloved students
I was so grateful to these wonderful students! But I still didn't know what the strange shades did. Confused, I put them on...
Dear Professors,
We are so delighted that you get to try out our amazing invention to go study in Ancient Egypt! As only students, we'd never thought we'd get the chance to meet such famous, genius professors like you! For you, Professor Bacon, we have these marvelous glasses. We knew you'd like them, since you're studying geography and key features. Don't worry; Professor Smorez got something too!
Thank you so much,
Your beloved students
I was so grateful to these wonderful students! But I still didn't know what the strange shades did. Confused, I put them on...
The whole of Ancient Egypt was now a number of many vibrant colors. A holographic image suddenly appeared in front of my eyes. It was a scale! Now I understood. These glasses gave me a full view of the elevation, or topography, of the land! Amazed, I had painted another map (above). I observed that the land around the Nile Delta and Nile River valley was very shallow, around 0-100m below sea level. Of course, the whole river in general was below sea level. As the land grew farther and farther away from the rich source of fertile land and fresh water, the elevation increased my a lot. In the North, mountains that exceeded 1000m above sea level rose, and the desert land in Egypt was somewhere around 300-800m.
Now that I had many different views of the geography of Ancient Egypt, I tried to think about how this impacted the Ancient Egyptians. As I said before, they must have depended on the Nile for everything - food, water, and even money, because the annual flooding watered the farmers' crops, and just the right amount because it was so predictable. Then the farmers sold some of their crops (I'm assuming they had to save some to eat, of course) for money. I also think that the Egyptians were protected by the geography of their land from the geography of the rest of Egypt. The river was their "lifeblood", as historians say, and in all the maps I've seen, the land farther from the Nile gets harsher and the landscape and climate is much harder to live in.