gypt as extending from
the Gulf of Plinthine to the Serbonian lake, along which stretches Mount
Casion; from this lake then 9 the sixty schoines are reckoned: for those
of men who are poor in land have their country measured by fathoms,
those who are less poor by furlongs, those who have much land by
parasangs, and those who have land in very great abundance by schoines:
now the parasang is equal to thirty furlongs, and each schoine, which
is an Egyptian measure, is equal to sixty furlongs. So there would be
an extent of three thousand six hundred furlongs for the coast-land of
Egypt. 10

7. From thence and as far as Heliopolis inland Egypt is broad, and the
land is all flat and without springs of water 11 and formed of mud: and
the road as one goes inland from the sea to Heliopolis is about the
same in length as that which leads from the altar of the twelve gods at
Athens to Pisa and the temple of Olympian Zeus: reckoning up you would
find the difference very small by which these roads fail of being equal
in length, not more indeed than fifteen furlongs; for the road from
Athens to Pisa wants fifteen furlongs of being fifteen hundred, while
the road to Heliopolis from the sea reaches that number completely.

8. From Heliopolis however, as you go up, Egypt is narrow; for on the
one side a mountain-range belonging to Arabia stretches along by the
side of it, going in a direction from North towards the midday and the
South Wind, tending upwards without a break to that which is called the
Erythraian Sea, in which range are the stone-quarries which were used
in cutting stone for the pyramids at Memphis. On this side then the
mountain ends where I have said, and then takes a turn back; 12 and
where it is widest, as I was informed, it is a journey of two months
across from East to West; and the borders of it which turn towards the
East are said to produce frankincense. Such then is the nature of this
mountain-range; and on the side of Egypt towards Libya another range
extends, rocky and enveloped in sand: in this are the pyramids, and it
runs in the same direction as those parts of the Arabian mountains which
go towards the midday. So then, I say, from Heliopolis the land has no
longer a great extent so far as it belongs to Egypt, 13 and for about
four 14 days' sail up the river Egypt properly so called is narrow:
and the space between the mountain-ranges which have been mentioned is
plain-land, but where it is narrowest it