Nilometer
A nilometer ( Arabic مقياس, DMG miqyās ) is an altimeter for the level of the Nile and is used to forecast the Nile flood . It was used in various designs. The simple version was a level scale, attached to prominent Nile banks in connection with Nile flood marks . There were also Nilometers as stairs that led down to the bank of the Nile. There were scaled marker boards on the walls of the lateral path delimitation, which enabled precise reading. Nilometers were primarily used to predict the expected heights of the Nile and the rites accompanying the flood .
Later there were open shafts connected to the Nile via canals with a level column in the middle. They were used to measure the level of the Nile every year until the first Aswan Dam was built in 1906. The level of the flood of the Nile did not only depend on the harvest yields of Egypt ; The taxation of the fields was based on the height of the flood of the Nile.
Ancient Egyptian nilometers were located in Memphis , Dendera , Edfu , Per Hapi and on Elephantine Island , among others . In the Nile Delta were due to natural deposits of the Nile mud no Nilometer. Due to the boggy subsoil, it is technically not possible to maintain a stable building foundation in the long term. Added to this are the shifts in the riverbed, which also speak against a location in the Nile Delta.
Examples
- Elephantine Nilometer (Khnum Temple)
- Nilometer from Roda
- Elephantine Nilometer (Satis Temple)
- Semasia
literature
- Stephan Seidlmayer : Historic and modern Nile stands. Investigations into the level readings of the Nile from the early days to the present . Achet, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-9803730-8-8
