Nile flood

Nile flood in hieroglyphs
	Nilometer from Roda

The term Nile flood (also Nile flood, Nile flood , Nile threshold ; ancient Egyptian Hapi, Bahu ) is used to describe the periodically occurring floods in the river border regions of the Nile in ancient Egypt and modern Egypt before the construction of the Aswan Dam .

General properties

Formed during the rainy season in the Ethiopian highlands

Climate of Addis Ababa

Villages in the flood of the Nile near Cairo (1830)

Nile flood at the pyramids of Giza (19th century)

The flood of the Nile is caused by the monsoon , which leads to heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands with its more than 4000 m high mountains between May and August. These amounts of water largely flow into the Blue Nile and the Atbara , and thus into the Nile, partly also in the Sobat over the White Nile into the Nile. During this time, the Blue Nile has an average of five times as much water as the White Nile, which has a much more even water flow. Conversely, the White Nile leads almost 1.8 times that of the Blue Nile on average over the remaining eight months.

These amounts of water caused the level of the Nile near Aswan in southern Egypt to rise from June until it peaked in August and fell again in September. The tidal wave, moving slowly downstream, reached the Nile Delta about two weeks later. In Cairo it began in early July, peaked in the 14 days from late September to early October, and then fell again. The fields of the Nile Valley and large areas of the delta were flooded. The lowest water level was reached in May.

Predictable and unpredictable properties

The Nile flood is characterized by the fact that it is basically predictable. It always occurs at the same time of year, only its characteristics change. The beginning and the end can be postponed by a few days, the tidal wave can be short and high or long and flat. However, the unpredictable total amount of water was and is of decisive importance. Times of low water supply meant droughts, crop failures and famine, and excessive floods caused damage to dams and houses. From ancient times until today, there have been several years in a row with particularly little or particularly much water, which has led to serious problems for Egypt to this day.

Sedimentation and effects

The blue Nile owes its name to its dark color. Since it comes from the Ethiopian highlands, it washes away large amounts of sediment on its way down into the valley and discolored in the process.

Contrary to popular opinion, the flood of the Nile was not automatically associated with sedimentation in the sense of permanent deposition of the Nile sludge on the valley plains . Rather, variable factors such as flow velocity, flood volume, composition of the alluvial particles of the Nile and the level of the Mediterranean Sea determine whether sedimentation takes place. In particular, the changing heights of the Mediterranean cause the so-called “ thalassostatic behavior” of the Nile upstream up to the first cataract . A low sea level prevents sediment from being deposited due to the higher flow velocity of the Nile; in extreme cases this factor even leads to a decrease in the sediment layers. If the sea level is high, the opposite effect occurs and there are increased deposits. According to the present investigation results, the finding emerges that the Mediterranean Sea for the period from the third millennium BC. Until the first century AD had a low height and therefore hardly allowed sediment deposits. Only with the later rise in sea level is an increase in sediment deposits proven. In conclusion, this result means that the phase of intensive embankment around 3000 BC. BC ended. During the entire time of the Pharaohs , no noticeable increase in deposits could be observed.

The flood of the Nile in ancient Egypt

Importance for agriculture

For Egypt, which is surrounded by deserts, has little precipitation and is concentrated on the Nile valley and the delta, not only the water of the Nile, but also the Nile mud , which consisted of the sediments that had mixed with organic matter on the long way to Egypt, was vital . The floods made the fields soaked, the Nile mud brought fertilizer for agriculture .

About 5000 years ago the Egyptians began not only to cultivate the areas flooded by the Nile, but also to use the annual floods systematically to irrigate specially created fields. They divided the agriculturally used areas into flood basins, which were surrounded by dams and equipped with inflow and outflow channels. The basins were flooded at the time of the highest water level of the Nile flood and then closed for about six weeks so that the mud could settle and the soil could be moistened. The remaining water was then drained into neighboring, lower lying basins and into the Nile, which was already falling again. The seeds were sown immediately after the basins were drained. It only took three to four months to harvest; in the subsequent drought, agriculture was hardly possible. This meant that only plants could be grown that fit into this watering and time schedule.

More distant and slightly higher areas could also be flooded via channels with a lower gradient than the Nile. However, the system was sensitive to the fluctuations of the individual floods. If the threshold height was too low, higher pools were not filled sufficiently or not at all, which led to failed harvests and thus to famine; too high a threshold destroyed dams and houses.

The historically highest level of the Nile flood was in Aswan and Elephantine at about 16 cubits (8 meters) above the lowest level of the Nile in June. On the way to the Nile Delta , the Nile flood lost about two cubits in height. The annual deviations of the Nile flood height averaged around three to four cubits (2 meters). Sesostris I designed the "geographical model of the Nilometer " in order to obtain reliable information on all regions in ancient Egypt in connection with the flood of the Nile and the associated tax collection . The height of the Nile flood, measured in kilometers, was an important means of estimating the taxes that the farmers had to pay after the harvest, which was brought in three to four months later. The basis for assessment was usually the area under cultivation that was reached by the water. In good years, when the water level of the Nile reached the level of "abundance" - which in Memphis was about 16 cubits, but changed over time due to sedimentation of the Nile - the Pharaoh could count on the full tax collection. If there was less acreage available due to the low floods of the Nile, this could be taken into account for tax purposes, for example by deferring tax debts.

With the damming method , the soil was not excessively stressed, fertility was maintained by the annual input of mud. It was therefore not necessary to leave land fallow . Salinization did not occur; in summer the water table was well below the surface, and any accumulated salts were washed away during the flood.

It is estimated that in ancient Egypt 2 to a maximum of 12 million inhabitants could be fed. At the time when Egypt was a Roman province and contributed to the supply of the empire with grain, 10,000 km² of agricultural land should have been cultivated. After late antiquity, the methods and facilities slowly deteriorated, so that the population also declined. By 1800 the country only had about 2.5 million inhabitants.

Mythological meaning

The Egyptians, who were not aware of the origin of the Nile flood from Ethiopia or the climatic conditions, referred to the Nile flood as Hapi , among other things , as they defined the flood as divinely caused additional water that floated on the Nile .

In ancient Egyptian history , the Nile flood had several epithets as part of mythology . From the early dynastic times to the Middle Kingdom , the goddess Sopdet acted as the “herald of the Nile flood”. From the Middle to the New Kingdom , Sopdet took on the role of "mother of the Nile flood, which she gives birth to every year". Since the end of the New Kingdom, the Nile flood has been known as the "sweat of the primordial ocean " due to its occurrence in summer .

Herodotus dating

Herodotus set the beginning of the flood of the Nile for the delta at the time of the summer solstice - in his time in the 5th century BC. Around the 22./23. June - and names the duration of the Nile flood almost 100 days. According to Herodotus, the end of the flood period fell around September 25th.

Annually flooded area on the banks of the Nile near Karima

Herodotus' report is consistent with the information in the survey documents, in which the areas to be cultivated in agriculture were determined. The annually new measurements were necessary because the old boundary markings could no longer be found due to the flood of the Nile.

The inundation announced up to the summer solstice by the coloring of the Nile water, which by carrying the from the White Nile derived algae green shone. The actual tidal wave, which usually began in mid-July, with the subsequent accelerated rise in the water level, could be recognized by the Egyptians in advance by a renewed discoloration of the river.

Due to the heavy rains in Ethiopia, the mountain mud there loosened and gave the Nile the "reddish Hathor color ". After reaching the highs between the end of August and the beginning of September, the black Nile mud carried along sank to the ground in the fields.

Phases of the Nile Flood

Sirius (A and B) from the Hubble Space Telescope .

The Egyptians called the season of inundation as Achet . It spanned four months, beginning with the first swelling of the Nile at the beginning of June and ending with the drop to normal levels at the beginning of October. The high tide season was embedded in the four months , which started on average with the accelerated swelling of the Nile at the end of June / beginning of July. The further course depended on the intensity of rainfall in Ethiopia .

The annual rains in Ethiopia start around mid-May. Most of the rainfall flows into the Atbara and Blue Nile rivers . The Atbara carries more than a fifth of the total amount of water in the Nile and more than 10 million tons of dark suspended matter per year, which gives it its name, "Black River". Depending on the duration of the rainfall in Ethiopia, the ancient Egyptian high flood season fluctuated between six and ten weeks. Brief floods of the Nile could already reach their maximum by mid-August, while it was just as normal that the highest water levels did not occur until mid-September.

Due to the characteristic climatic precipitation conditions in the Ethiopian highland plateau, the Atbara and the Blue Nile reach their maximum water flow in August and are mainly responsible for the annual Nile flood with its water masses. The highest levels of the Nile in Egypt are reached on average in the first third of September. The reform of the ancient Egyptian administrative calendar carried out in the 19th dynasty led to a month-long calendar shift of the Achet season (mid-July to mid-November). The reason for this was the postponement of the heliacal rising of Sirius , the star of the goddess Sopdet , which took place in the early dynastic period in Elephantine in mid-June and took place in the Nile Delta in early July due to the earth's precession and Sirius' own movement .

From the inscriptions of the temple of Esna the changed role of the goddess Sopdet becomes clear, who no longer functioned as the bringer of the Nile flood , but only returned to Egypt in the embodiment of Sirius during the flood : How beautiful is your rising in the midst of the flood, the strong one Flood that's on the water . However, since the flood of the Nile still occurred on the same dates, the first phase of the swelling Nile fell from around 1200 BC. Chr. Calendar in the last month of the year . Sopdet's earlier task was therefore taken over by the sun god Re, who began his journey to Elephantine in the 19th Dynasty about three weeks before the ancient Egyptian New Year in order to cause the flooding there. In the Coptic liturgy , the religious festivals are based on the original ancient Egyptian calendar. Accordingly, the lunar months of the Egyptian lunar calendar are still assigned to the respective season. The classification is based on the actual flood of the Nile, which began on the southern border of Egypt around June 4th.

Phases of the Nile Flood (average)
place	Slow swelling (green)	Accelerated phase (red)	Maximum phase (peak)	Sinking (final phase)
Atbara (Sudan)	May 20th to June 7th	June 8th to August 5th	August 6th to 20th (H: August 13th)	from August 21
Elephantine	June 4th to June 22nd	June 23rd to August 20th	August 21 to September 4 (H: August 28)	from September 5th
Edfu	June 6th to June 24th	June 25th to August 22nd	August 23 to September 6 (H: August 30)	from September 7th
Thebes	June 9th to June 27th	June 28th to August 25th	August 26th to September 9th (H: September 2nd)	from September 10th
Memphis	June 15th to July 3rd	July 4th to August 31st	September 1st to 15th (H: September 8th)	from September 16
Alexandria	June 17th to July 5th	July 6th to September 2nd	September 3rd to 17th (H: September 10th)	from September 18th

Dating of the flood of the Nile in ancient Egypt

Pyramidion of the Naos of the Decades ( Louvre )

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the onset of the Nile flood is closely related to the deity Apophis in his appearance as a turtle. The descriptions in the hymns of the sun show how Apophis was cut up with knives or stabbed with lances. His blood stained the sky red at sunrise. The sun god Re was able to rise in the sky as Chepri after the death of Apophis or the turtle. The red color of the blood symbolizes the onset of discoloration of the Nile with the beginning of the accelerated rise in the water level. In other hymns from Abydos , the turtle was one of the “waiting people in the wake of Seth ”, who “will slurp the entire Nile” if Seth should succeed in penetrating “the land of light in the Duat ”. As part of the mythological New Year celebration of the birth of Sothis, the Egyptians sang exuberantly at the time of the flood of the Nile and made death and rebirth easier.

The inscriptions in the Naos of the Decades made by Pharaoh Nektanebo I contain valuable information about the ancient Egyptian flood of the Nile. It began in the reign of Nectanebo I (379 to 360 BC) with the 28th decade on the 21st Schemu IV (June 29th ^greg. ) And lasted seven decades. The " Sandbank of Apophis " as the 35th decade unfolded its effect with the reaching of the culmination (ancient Egyptian Aha ) in the twelfth hour of the night and was responsible for the sinking of the Nile flood from 1st Achet III (September 12th ^greg. )

Height of the Nile floodplain

Fragment P1 , Annalenstein
( Petrie Museum , London).
The Nil stands are in the lower register.

The height of the Nile flood is dependent on two factors: on the one hand, on the amount of precipitation in Ethiopia and, on the other hand, on the confluence of the Atbara, Sobat and Blue Nile rivers , with the Sobat flowing into the white Nile , which merges with the blue nile united. On average, the three rivers reach their maximum heights at about the same time, which normally results in a high Nile flood with a shorter Nile flood duration. If, on the other hand, the maximum levels are at different times, this means a lower water level with a longer Nile flooding time. Large temporal differences between the highest water levels in the three rivers can, in extreme cases, lead to an intermittent drop in the Nile flood during the flood phase, only to let it rise again a little later. The partially assumed conclusion that lower water levels indicate a waterless Nile floodplain does not therefore apply.

The oldest records of the respective Nile floodplain are on the annals stone of the 5th dynasty . The stated values are not comparable with the measuring methods of the nilometer . How the measurements obtained on the Annalenstein were taken is not yet clear. The measurement was apparently based on the difference between the average Nile level and the respective Nile flood height. The fixed point used is unknown. An evaluation carried out by Barbara Bell showed that at the beginning of the 1st Dynasty (around 3037 to 3000 BC) the Nile flood reached a height of between three and two meters for the measurement system of that time.

In the course of the 1st Dynasty, the lower values sank to one meter, with an extraordinarily high flood of the Nile being recorded at 4.5 meters. From the beginning of the 2nd (around 2969 BC) to the end of the 6th dynasty (around 2216 BC) the average values remained constant at "two meters" and were about half a meter below the values at the beginning of the 1st. Dynasty. As at the end of the 1st Dynasty, the annual fluctuations ranged between three meters and one meter.

Average height of the Nile floodplains in Elephantine (predynastic up to the Old Kingdom)
Period	epoch	Height above sea level	Height indication Palermostein
Late 4th millennium BC Chr.	Naqada III	96.85 meters (highest level 99 meters)	+ 6.4 meters above the measurement zero point (highest level + 8.55 meters)
Beginning of the 3rd millennium BC Chr.	1st dynasty	93.49 meters (highest level 95.47 meters)	+ 3.04 meters above the measurement zero point (highest level + 5.02 meters)
Beginning of the 3rd millennium BC Chr.	2nd dynasty	92.26 meters	+ 1.81 meters above the measurement zero point
Beginning of the 3rd millennium BC Chr.	3rd dynasty	92.23 meters	+ 1.78 meters above the measurement zero point
Middle of the 3rd millennium BC Chr.	4th dynasty	92.31 meters	+ 1.86 meters above the measurement zero point
Middle of the 3rd millennium BC Chr.	5th dynasty	92.3 meters	+ 1.85 meters above the measurement zero point
Late 3rd millennium BC Chr.	6th dynasty	91.05 meters	+ 0.6 meters above the measurement zero point (data archeology)
3rd millennium BC Chr.	6 dynasties	92.27 meters	+ 1.82 meters above the measurement zero point

sowing

New leases were mostly concluded in September. From a land allocation contract, 535 BC. Chr. In the 36th year of Amasis' reign in the month of Pa-en-Chonsu , the typical clauses can be seen:

“From the year 36 to the year 37, the leased arable land is to be cultivated with three teams, which are pulled by six cattle. Five of them are yours; I own a cow as the lessor. In the fall of the 37th year of Amasis, I take a third of the harvest as my share. You get five sixths of the rest. I get a sixth in the name of my cow. The clerks will measure the leased land in my name. "

- TUAT 1

The taxes to the temples in the respective districts had to be paid from the third of the lessor's harvest. The tenant himself remained exempt from direct taxes, but had to bear the risk of external influences and received no compensation in the event of damage. About two weeks after these administrative acts, work began with the plow and the subsequent sowing in mid-October .

Modern interventions

One of the two Delta Barrages

Aswan High Dam

Even Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-1848 Viceroy of Egypt) tried to extend the cultivable area and the cultivation of cotton to generate additional revenue. To this end, from 1833, after an interruption from 1847, he had the Delta Barrages and extensive irrigation channels built, with which the transition to year-round irrigation was initiated. The British promoted this changeover with the construction of the Aswan Dam and the Asyut Weir , both completed in 1902. Further weirs followed. In Sudan, the Sannar Dam went into operation in 1925 to irrigate the huge Gezira project , which was supplemented by the Roseires Dam in 1966 . All of these measures aimed at expanding the area under cultivation, year-round irrigation and increasing yields through two, sometimes three harvests. For this it was necessary to catch the flood of the Nile as much as possible and to distribute it evenly. The importance of the Nile sludge faded into the background, in some cases it proved to be a hindrance when it blocked the canals and had to be laboriously removed. This development took place against the background of a rapidly growing population, now with over 87 million inhabitants.

As early as the beginning of the 20th century, there were considerations as to how a drought of the century could be bridged, i.e. a year with particularly low water levels. This ultimately led to the construction of the Aswan High Dam (Aswan High Dam), with which enough water can be dammed up to compensate for a minimum water flow that occurs statistically only once in a hundred years.

This ended the flood of the Nile in Lake Nasser (after a large part of the Nile sludge had already settled in the Sannar Dam and the Roseires Dam). In the meantime, a number of other dams have been built on the Nile and its headwaters and tributaries, and its water has been channeled into extensive irrigation systems. As with numerous other rivers in the arid regions of the world, only a small part of the water of the Nile reaches its confluence with the sea.

literature

William Willcocks, James Ireland Craig: Egyptian Irrigation. Volume I ; Egyptian irrigation. Volume II. 3rd edition. Spon, London / New York 1913.
John V. Sutcliffe, Yvonne P. Parks: The Hydrology of the Nile. International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford 1999, ISBN 978-1-901502-75-6 , ( PDF file ).
John Anthony Allan, Paul Philip Howell: The Nile, sharing a scarce Resource: A historical and technical Review of water management and of economic and legal issues . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994, ISBN 0-521-45040-3 .
Karl W. Butzer: Nile, flood history. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 568-70.
Gabriele Höber-Kamel (Ed.): Egypt, a gift from the Nile (= Kemet. Issue 1/2009. ). Kemet-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISSN 0943-5972 .
Daryn Lehoux: Egyptian Astrometeorology. In: Astronomy, Weather and Calendars in the ancient World: Parapegmata and related Texts in classical and Near-Eastern societies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85181-7 , pp. 116-135.
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 .
Georg Stauth, Axel Krause: The Nile - flooding and Nile festivals in Egypt. In: Georg Stauth: Egyptian holy places. Constructions, stagings and landscapes of the saints in the Nile Delta. Volume 2: Fuwa - Sa al-Hagar (Sais). Between the stones of the Pharaoh and Islamic modernism. Transcript, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-89942-432-4 , pp. 171-192.
Alexandra von Lieven : The sky over Esna - A case study on religious astronomy in Egypt using the example of the cosmological ceiling and architrave inscriptions in the temple of Esna . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-447-04324-5 .
Gernot Wilhelm, Bernd Jankowski : Texts from the environment of the Old Testament . New series, volume 1. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2004, ISBN 3-579-05289-6 .

Web links

Commons : Nilschwemme - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Nilschwelle - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Notes and individual references

↑ S. Seidlmayer: Historical and modern Nile stands. Berlin 2001, pp. 93-94.
↑ See the climate diagram below
↑ Hermann Henze: The Nile, a representation of its hydrography and its economic importance based on more recent sources. Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle 1903, ( digitized version of the yellowed and therefore difficult to read original on archive.org ); Reprint, Unikum Verlag, Barsinghausen 2012 ( excerpts on Google books )
↑ ^a ^b ^c Stephan Seidlmayer: The measurement of the Nile in ancient Egypt. Free University of Berlin, Berlin 2004.
↑ Danielle Bonneau: Le Fisc et le Nil - Incidences des irrégularités de la crue du Nil sur la fiscalité foncière dans l'Egypte grecque et romaine . Editions Cujas, Paris 1971, p. 44-48, 95-100, 109-118 .
↑ 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 , p. 37 .
↑ Herodotus , Historien 2nd book, 19
↑ Southern Stars Systems: SkyChart III. Saratoga, California 95070, United States of America.
↑ Alexandra von Lieven: The sky over Esna - ... Wiesbaden 2000, p. 76.
↑ Hans Förster: The beginnings of Christmas and Epiphany. A request to the origin hypotheses; Studies and texts on antiquity and Christianity. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149399-7 , pp. 117-118.
↑ ^a ^b The converted data refer to the idealized naos calendar, which began on Achet I with the heliacal rise of Sirius on July 14th.
↑ Including the five days of Heriu-renpet , the arithmetic result is 75 days. In the dean system, however , the extra days were not counted.
↑ Barbara Bell: The Oldest Records of the Nile Floods. In: Geographical Journal. Volume 136, No. 4, Blackwell Publishing, 1970, pp. 569-573.
^ JA Allan, PP Howell: The Nile, sharing a scarce resource. Cambridge 1994, p. 36.
^ Estimate according to archeology.
↑ The month of Pa-en-Khonsu corresponded to the first month of the season Schemu and fell v in 535th To the time of August 28th ^Greg./ 3. September ^Jul.until September 26th ^greg./ 2. October ^Jul..
↑ Otto Kaiser : Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. (TUAT), Volume 1 - Old Series, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985, pp. 230-231.
↑ After offsetting the deductions, the tenant had 55% of the income from which he financed the seeds, the costs for the cattle and the livelihood for the family.

[1] S. Seidlmayer: Historical and modern Nile stands. Berlin 2001, pp. 93-94.

[2] See the climate diagram below

[3] Hermann Henze: The Nile, a representation of its hydrography and its economic importance based on more recent sources. Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle 1903, ( digitized version of the yellowed and therefore difficult to read original on archive.org ); Reprint, Unikum Verlag, Barsinghausen 2012 ( excerpts on Google books )

[S-4] Stephan Seidlmayer: The measurement of the Nile in ancient Egypt. Free University of Berlin, Berlin 2004.

[5] Danielle Bonneau: Le Fisc et le Nil - Incidences des irrégularités de la crue du Nil sur la fiscalité foncière dans l'Egypte grecque et romaine . Editions Cujas, Paris 1971, p. 44-48, 95-100, 109-118 .

[6] 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 , p. 37 .

[7] Herodotus , Historien 2nd book, 19

[Sky-8] Southern Stars Systems: SkyChart III. Saratoga, California 95070, United States of America.

[9] Alexandra von Lieven: The sky over Esna - ... Wiesbaden 2000, p. 76.

[F-10] Hans Förster: The beginnings of Christmas and Epiphany. A request to the origin hypotheses; Studies and texts on antiquity and Christianity. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-16-149399-7 , pp. 117-118.

[K-11] The converted data refer to the idealized naos calendar, which began on Achet I with the heliacal rise of Sirius on July 14th.

[12] Including the five days of Heriu-renpet , the arithmetic result is 75 days. In the dean system, however , the extra days were not counted.

[13] Barbara Bell: The Oldest Records of the Nile Floods. In: Geographical Journal. Volume 136, No. 4, Blackwell Publishing, 1970, pp. 569-573.

[14] JA Allan, PP Howell: The Nile, sharing a scarce resource. Cambridge 1994, p. 36.

[15] Estimate according to archeology.

[16] The month of Pa-en-Khonsu corresponded to the first month of the season Schemu and fell v in 535th To the time of August 28th ^Greg./ 3. September ^Jul.until September 26th ^greg./ 2. October ^Jul..

[17] Otto Kaiser : Texts from the environment of the Old Testament. (TUAT), Volume 1 - Old Series, Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1985, pp. 230-231.

[18] After offsetting the deductions, the tenant had 55% of the income from which he financed the seeds, the costs for the cattle and the livelihood for the family.