The Nile

The Nile

The Nile
It has been said of Egypt by Heredotus, an ancient Greek traveller, who wrote a history of Egypt, that 'Egypt is the gift of the Nile'. It is true that without the Nile and its annual flood that the civilisation that emerged from the Nile valley could never have happened without the Nile itself.

The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the White Nile has its source in Rwanda and the Blue NIle in Uganda, the two rivers meet at Khartoum. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world and flows from south to north.
In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called iteru, meaning "great river", represented by the hieroglyphs shown below (literally itrw).

(Nile comes from the Greek corruption - Neilos - of the Egyptian 'nwy' which means water.) The God most closely associated with the Nile, was the fertility god Hapi.
Snippets

Nesu-bity - Neb Tawy
The Pharaoh's throne name, written inside a cartouche, was usually accompanied by the title nesu-bity - King of Upper and Lower Egypt and the ephithet neb tawy, Lord of the Two Lands. It symbolises the unity and rulership of the Two Lands.