Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

developed in the Sahara in prehistoric times could have been used in the Nile Valley, because the time of arrival of the
monsoon rains exactly matched the time of arrival of the flood, with both occurring at the summer solstice. To be more
specific, the flooding of the Nile is caused by the same monsoon rains that flooded Nabta Playa every year, except that the
monsoon wind pattern has moved south and is now inundating the great lakes at the source of the Nile, which sends the
flood north to the lower Nile. In light of this new evidence, we can therefore see why it was at about 3200 BCE that
Elephantine began to acquire great religious importance as the source of the flood. 21
In 1890, on the small island of Sahal a few kilometers upstream from Elephantine, the American traveler Charles
Wilbour discovered hieroglyphic inscriptions on a large boulder protruding from the Nile. Today the boulder is known as
the Famine Stele, and the boulder’s inscriptions speak of a terrible drought that struck Egypt for seven years due to a
series of bad floods in the reign of the pharaoh Djoser, first ruler of the third dynasty (ca. 2650 BCE). In the text of the
Famine Stele, King Djoser asks the high official of the region, Mater, from where rose the water of the Nile. Mater
replied,
. . . the Nile flood came forth from the Island of Elephantine whereon stood the first city that ever existed; out of it
rose the Sun when he went forth to bestow life upon man, and therefore it is also called Doubly Sweet Life, and that
the very spot on the island out of which the flood waters rose from was the double cavern called Querti, which was
likened to two breasts from which all nourishment poured forth; here the Nile God lay on a “couch” and waited for
the coming of Akhet [the season of inundation], after which he rushed out of the cavern like a vigorous youth and
filled the whole country. 22
From the Famine Stele at Aswan
Year 18 of Horns: Neterkhet; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Neterkhet; Two Ladies: Neterkhet; Gold-Horus:
Djoser, under the Count, Prince, Governor of the domains of the South, Chief of the Nubians in Yebu, Mesir. There was
brought to him this royal decree. To let you know: There is a town in the midst of the deep, Surrounded by Hapy [the
Nile; the Nile God], Yebu by name [Elephantine]; It is first of the first, First nome to Wawat, Earthly elevation, celestial hill,
Seat of Re when he prepares To give life to every face. Its temple’s name is “Joy-of-life,” “Twin Caverns” is the water’s
name, They are the breasts that nourish all. It is the house of sleep of Hapy. He grows young in it in [his time], [lt is the
place whence] he brings the flood: Bounding up he copulates, As man copulates with woman, Renewing his manhood
with joy; Coursing twenty-eight cubits high, He passes Sema-behdet at seven. Khnum is the god [who rules] there, He is
enthroned above the deep . . . His sandals resting on the flood; He holds the door bolt in his hand, Opens the gate as he
wishes. He is eternal there as Shu, Bounty-giver, Lord-of-fields, So his name is called. He has reckoned the land of the
South and the North, to give parts to every god. It is he who governs barley, [emmer], Fowl and fish and all one lives on.
Cord and scribal board are there, The pole is there with its beam. . . . His temple opens southeastward, Re rises in its
face every day; Its water rages on its south for an iter, A wall against the Nubians each day. There is a mountain massif
in its eastern region, With precious stones and quarry stones of all kinds, All the things sought for building temples In
Egypt, South and North, And stalls for sacred animals, And palaces for kings, All statues too that stand in temples and in
shrines. 23
This tradition that the island of Elephantine was the source of the Nile and also the source of the annual flood was
still current when Herodotus visited Egypt in the fifth century BCE. This is what the Father of History writes about
Elephantine:
. . . [A]s to the sources of the Nile, no one that conversed with me, Egyptian, Libyan or Greek professed to know
them, except the recorder of the sacred treasures of Athena [Satis] in the Egyptian city of Saïs. I thought he was
joking when he said that he had exact knowledge, but this was his story. Between the city of Syene [Aswan] in the
Thebaid and Elephantine there are two hills with sharp peaks, one called Crophi and the other Mophi. *50 The springs
of the Nile which are bottomless, rise between these hills . . . 24