Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

In the first century, some half-century after Caesar occupied Egypt and turned it in to a Roman province, the
chronicler Pliny the Elder reports:
Timaeus the mathematician has alleged a reason of an occult nature: he says that the source of the river [Nile] is
known by the name of Phiala [Philae, the island of Isis near Elephantine], and that the stream buries itself in
channels underground, where it sends forth vapors generated by the heat among the steaming rocks amid which it
conceals itself; but that, during the days of the inundation, in consequence of the sun approaching nearer to the earth,
the waters are drawn forth by the influence of his heat, and on being thus exposed to the air, overflow; after which,
in order that it may not be utterly dried up, the stream hides itself once more. He says that this takes place at the
rising of Sirius, when the sun enters the sign of Leo, and stands in a vertical position over the source of the river, at
which time at that spot there is no shadow thrown. 25
On the latitude that passes near Elephantine, Aswan, and Philae, the sun at summer solstice is positioned nearly
vertical at noon, and hence no shadows are cast. This latitude is, of course, the Tropic of Cancer, at 23 degrees 27
minutes north. The famous Alexandrian scholar Eratosthenes knew this and also knew that on that very same day and
time in his hometown of Alexandria (which is 900 kilometers, or 559 miles, north of Aswan) the sun would cast a
pronounced shadow. He determined that the angle of the shadow at Alexandria was 1 /50 of a full circle (that is, 7 degrees
12 minutes) from the zenith, and he thus reasoned that the distance from Alexandria to Aswan must be 1 /50 of the total
circumference of Earth. Because that distance from Alexandria to Aswan, was known to him as 5,000 stadia (some 500
geographical miles), he reckoned that the full circumference of Earth was 252,000 stadia, which is 16 percent more than
the true value, but a solid result nonetheless, given the crude method he used. Eratosthenes went down in history as the
first to have calculated Earth’s size. The irony, however, is that it was the Egyptian priests who had informed
Eratosthenes of this phenomenon, which, almost certainly, they had been aware of since time immemorial. Indeed, it may
well be for that very reason that the location of Elephantine was regarded by the Egyptians as the first city that ever
existed. It may also be the reason why the people of Nabta Playa, who were guided by the summer solstice, came to settle
in Elephantine around 3200 BCE. *51
At any rate, further inscriptions on the Famine Stele state that Hapy’s temple “opens southeastward, and Re [the sun]
rises in its face every day,” 26 which implies an alignment toward Sirius, a star that also rises southeast. This conclusion
seems correct, and Ron Wells estimated that the entrance to the archaic temple of Satis was directed at azimuth 120.60
degrees, which matched the azimuth of Sirius in around 3200 BCE. 27 †52
This date also corresponds to the date of the archaic temple given by Belmonte and Shaltout. Bearing this in mind, in
1981 the German Egyptologist and chronologist Rolf Krauss argued that the Island of Elephantine had been the principal
site in all Egypt for observing the heliacal rising of Sirius since at least the time of the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2000 BCE),
28 a deduction with which many researchers agree. 29 All in all, there is much to suggest that the observation of Sirius at
Elephantine harks back to the archaic period of 3200 BCE—a date which dovetails with the time when the star people of
Nabta Playa abandoned the Sahara.
At Elephantine is one of the oldest nilometers in Egypt. A nilometer is a simple but very effective device used to
measure the rising and ebbing water level of the Nile. It basically consists of a stone well with steps that lead down into
the river. The wall of this well has graduated marks to measure the level of the river. When the Romans first came to
Elephantine in the 25 BCE, along with them came the geographer Strabo, the author of the famous Geography, who
recognized correctly the function of the nilometer. He describes his visit to Elephantine and the nilometer:
Elephantine is an island in the Nile, at the distance of half a stadium in front of Syene [Aswan]; in this island is a city
with a temple of Cnuphis [Khnum], and a nilometer like that at Memphis. The nilometer is a well upon the banks of
the Nile, constructed of close-fitting stones, on which are marked the greatest, least, and mean risings of the Nile;
for the water in the well and in the river rises and subsides simultaneously. Upon the wall of the well are lines,
which indicate the complete rise of the river, and other degrees of its rising. Those who examine these marks
communicate the result to the public for their information. For it is known long before, by these marks, and by the
time elapsed from the commencement, what the future rise of the river will be, and notice is given of it. . . . 30
Although restored in Roman times, the nilometer of Elephantine is probably much older. According to the Famine