place

Nile

Places · Nature

The river of the Egyptian valley. Inundation, kingship, and later travelers’ Nile are different meetings with the same course of water.

Also known as Iteru

Egyptian religion

  • Nile appears in Egyptian religion.

    Egyptian life and kingship are bound to the Nile’s inundation in temple and later description. The river is Egyptian geography, not a generic sacred water.

    from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972

    appears in · partially sourced · documented

  • Nile is associated with Flood.

    The Nile’s inundation is a yearly rise, not Utnapishtim’s world-covering flood. Keep the two waters distinct even when English uses one word.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Nile is associated with Osiris.

    Later Egyptian religion can join Osiris to the river’s life. The pairing is an Egyptian agricultural-funerary meeting, not a Greek river-god.

    from Raymond O. Faulkner (translation) · Book of the Dead, New Kingdom spells; Faulkner trans. 1972

    associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific

  • River is connected to Nile.

    The Nile is one named river. Connecting the category to the instance keeps the Nile from standing in for every stream.

    connected to · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Blue is associated with Nile.

    Later description paints the Nile as a blue course. The river’s work in Egyptian religion is inundation and kingship, not a color-theology.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

  • Water is associated with Nile.

    The Nile is water as a named inundation. It is not Utnapishtim’s flood and not Daoist softness.

    associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

Egyptian religion · Nile valley

sources

  • Book of the Dead · Raymond O. Faulkner (translation)

    Raymond O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

  • Histories · Herodotus

    Herodotus, Histories.

  • On Isis and Osiris · Plutarch

    Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris (Moralia).