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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 2811517, member: 57495&quot;]In ancient Egypt, the priests of Hapi, god of the Nile floods, would gather in underground sanctuaries built along the Nile banks to take measure of its rising waters before the coming of <i>akhet</i>, the flood season.&nbsp; Each year, the flood waters would deposit onto the banks of the river the nutrient-rich alluvial mud that was critical to the growing of crops.&nbsp; From the time of the Pharoahs, devices known as Nilometers were used to measure the water level of the Nile and thereby predict the sufficiency of that year&#039;s harvest.&nbsp; A reading of 16 cubits on the Nilometer was ideal, and meant abundance for the land.&nbsp; 12 cubits suggested that the river would not yield enough silt to grow a full crop, and many families would go hungry that year.&nbsp; On the other end of the Nilometer, a reading of 18 cubits indicated the possibility of disastrous over-flooding, with the crop fields drowning and entire farms and homes being swept away.</p><p><br /></p><p>One basic type of Nilometer used was a simple vertical column submerged in the river with measurements marked out in Egyptian cubits.&nbsp; Another variety was a stone staircase that led from high ground to a depth corresponding to a low-water level of the Nile, with a culvert built at the bottom to carry water from the river into the staircase. There were other types as well, and Strabo in his <i>Geographica</i>, describes yet another variety, located on Elephantine Island, at the First Cataract of the Nile:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;<i>The nilometer is a well on the bank of the Nile constructed with close-fitting stones, in which are marks showing the greatest, least, and mean rises of the Nile; for the water in the well rises and lowers with the river. Accordingly, there are marks on the wall of the well, measures of the complete rises and of the others. So when watchers inspect these, they give out word to the rest of the people, so that they may know; for long beforehand they know from such signs and the days what the future rise will be, and reveal it beforehand.</i>&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Depictions of Nilus, the personification of the Nile river, were common on drachms of Roman Egypt during the rules of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius.&nbsp; On some of these issues we find an Iς field mark, representing the 16-cubit measurement on the Nilometer that predicted a year of bounty and happiness.&nbsp; In one of Naville&#039;s recent sales, I picked up a rare variety showing a dome-shaped structure to the left of Nilus, with a baby Genius standing before it.&nbsp; The coin is a well-circulated example of the type, but despite the wear, you can see the Genius with his hands raised, and faintly visible above his head is the Iς Nilometer mark inscribed on the structure.&nbsp; The coin is dated L-IZ, or year 17 of Antoninus Pius&#039;s reign, probably a good year for the crops <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>Feel free to post your Niluses!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]658049[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>ANTONINUS PIUS</b></p><p>AE Drachm. 21.24g, 32mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 17 (AD 153-154). RPC 14929 (this coin cited). Dattari-Savio Pl. 141, 2763 (this coin). O: Laureate head right. R: Nilus, with crocodile beside him, reclining left, holding reed and cornucopia from which issues Genius holding wreath; to left, a dome inscribed&nbsp; Iς (for 16 cubits), in front of which stands a Genius; L-IZ (date) in field.</p><p><i>Ex Dattari Collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1853-1923)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Nilometers were built and used from Pharaonic times until the 20th century, when the completion of the Aswan Dam finally made them obsolete.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]658051[/ATTACH]</p><p>River entrance of the Assuan Elephantine Nilometer.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]658052[/ATTACH]</p><p>An Umayyad period Nilometer on Roda Island, designed by the astronomer and mathematician Ahmad al Farghani (Alfraganus) in AD 861.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]658053[/ATTACH]</p><p>From a wall relief at the Temple of Rameses II at Abydos : blue-skinned Hapi, Lord of the Fish and Birds of the Marshes, god of the Nile inundation.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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