Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis (Author: Adamnan of Iona)

Chapter/toc 30

CONCERNING THE SITE OF ALEXANDRIA AND THE RIVER NILE

That great city, which had once been the metropolis of Egypt, was
30] formerly called in Hebrew No. It is a very populous city, and is called

p.101

Alexandria after its famous founder Alexander the Macedonian king, a name known throughout all nations, deriving from him as rebuilder at once its name and its magnitude as a city. Concerning the site of this too the account of Arculf differs in no wise from what we learned
5] previously by reading. He went down from Jerusalem and beginning his voyage from Joppe had a journey of 40 days to Alexandria. Concerning it there is a brief passage of Naum the prophet. He speaks thus: ‘the water is round about it, its riches are the sea, the waters its walls’; for on the southern side it is surrounded by the delta of the river Nile and
10] on the northern side by the Mareotic lake. This description makes its situation clear: poised over the Nile and the sea, on either side it is lapped by water. It forms a sort of bar between Egypt and the great sea? an ill-harboured city, difficult to approach from the outside. Its port is more difficult than others, being shaped rather like the human body:
15] it has its greater capacity at the very head, in the dock, but is rather narrow at the neck, where it takes in the flotsam of sea and shipping, these providing the breathing material for the port. Once one has passed the narrows at the mouth of the port, the expanse of sea stretches far and wide as if it were the rest of the body. At the right-hand side of the port
20] is a small island, on which there is a great tower which both Greeks and Latins called Farus because of its very function. Voyagers, that is, can see it at a distance, so that before they approach the port, particularly at night-time, the burning flame lets them know that the mainland adjoins them, lest they be deceived by the darkness and hit upon the rocks, or
25] lest they should be unable to recognize the limits of the entrance. Accordingly there are keepers there who put in torches and other fuel to tend the fire that acts as a presage of landfall and a mark for the harbour mouth. It marks the narrows as one enters, the swell of the waves and the curves of the harbour mouth, lest the slender keel should
30] graze the rocks, and in the very act of entering come to grief amongst the sharp edges hidden in the waves. Thus one must veer slightly off the straight course, lest the ship should encounter danger (precisely where it hoped for deliverance) and be crushed on the blind rocks. For the entrance to the port is quite narrow, being confined on the righthand
35] side by the breakwater (laterali?), but on the left the port is wide. Around the island too moles of considerable mass are sunk, for fear its foundations should give way under the continual pounding of high seas and disintegrate through constant wear. Consequently, the mid-channel

p.103

stretching between the sharp rocks and broken moles is of course always rough, and entry becomes hazardous for sailors as they make the choppy passage.

The whole harbour spreads to a width of 30 stades, and no matter how
5] great the storm, by compensation the interior haven is absolutely safe inasmuch as it keeps out the waves by reason of the narrow entrance mentioned above and the shelter afforded by the island. The narrows at the mouth of the port mean that the whole sweep of the bay inside is protected and removed from storms, and it is free from the rough swell
10] that makes the entrance choppy. Indeed, there is good reason both for the size of the port and for protecting it, for all merchandise of use throughout the whole world has to be transported there. The considerable populations of these regions seek the commerce of the whole world for their own use. The area is corn-producing and abounds in
15] the other riches and products of the earth, and it supplies corn and necessary merchandise to the whole world. Such territory of course needs rain, and rain is furnished gratuitously by the overflowings of the Nile. It renders a twofold service there, providing at once fertility of soil and moisture of climate; it waters the ground and enriches the soil, an
20] advantage both to sailor and farmer. The former voyages, the latter sows, sailors move about on boats, farmers carry on their cultivation: there is sowing without a plough, and travel without a carriage. One sees a country studded with canals, while the hulls of boats which serve as dwellings throughout the whole land give the impression of high walls.
25] They adjoin the banks of the river Nile on both sides. For the river is navigable as far as the city of the Elephants, as they call it: the cataracts, that is moving masses of river water, do not allow a ship to proceed farther, not for lack of depth, but by reason of the headlong rush of the whole river and the waste of falling water.


30]

Thus the account of the holy Arculf concerning the site of Alexandria and of the river Nile certainly does not differ from what we learned by reading from the books of others. From these we have inserted some brief extracts in this description, that is concerning the ill-harboured

p.105

character of the city, concerning the hazards of the port, concerning the island and the tower built on it, concerning the position of Alexandria bounded by the sea and the delta of the river Nile, and so on. Of course this is the reason why the city, narrowly compressed as it is on two
5] sides, is extended in a very long narrow belt from west to east. This is even made evident by the account of Arculf, who began to enter the city (as he tells himself) at the third hour of the day in the month of October, and traversing its whole length was just able to get to the very end before evening time. The area is encompassed by a lengthy
10] circuit of walls, fortified moreover by many towers, which are constructed along the brink of the river and the shore of the bay. Further, when approaching from the direction of Egypt and entering the city of Alexandria from the northern side, one encounters a church of considerable size, in which Mark the evangelist lies buried. His sepulchre is on
15] view in the eastern portion of this square church, before the altar, with a memorial placed above it built of marble stones.

This Alexandria then, which (as was said above) used to be called No before it was enlarged and rebuilt by Alexander, adjoins, as said above, the mouth of the river Nile (which is called Canopicum), which is the
20] boundary between Asia, including Egypt, and Libya. Because of the flooding of the river Nile, the Egyptians build high embankments about its banks; and if by reason of the carelessness of those who tend them or because of an excessive outrush of water these burst, so far from irrigating the underlying plains they devastate and destroy them. For this
25] reason, as the holy Arculf relates who during his wanderings in Egypt often crossed the river by boat, many people who inhabit the: plains of Egypt live in houses that are propped above the waters by transverse beams.

There dwell in the river Nile, as Arculf tells, crocodiles, aquatic
30] four-footed beasts, not very large, but very voracious and so strong that even a single one, if by chance he is able to find a horse or an ass or an ox grazing by the bank of the river, comes out with a sudden rush and falls upon it; and even though he may seize the animal only by one foot, he drags it beneath the water and devours it completely.

p.107