The Nile: Downriver Through Egypt’s Past and Present

A journey down river from Aswan to Cairo – through time, place and history.
‘Thorough, erudite and enthusiastic’ Sunday Times
‘His take on ancient and colonial history is impeccable . . . Compelling’ Observer
‘Brilliant . . . Dexterously done and rich in detail’ Daily Telegraph

From Herodotus’s day to the present political upheavals, the steady flow of the Nile has been Egypt’s heartbeat. It has shaped its geography, controlled its economy and moulded its civilisation. The same stretch of water which conveyed Pharaonic battleships, Ptolemaic grain ships, Roman troop-carriers and Victorian steamers today continues much as it has for millennia.

At this critical juncture in the country’s history, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey along the Nile, starting from Lake Victoria in the south and traveling north through Egypt’s storied landscapes. We pass from Cataract to Cataract, by the Aswan Dam and into the fertile delta. Egypt reveals itself as a living palimpsest, with every era leaving its mark. From the ancient Nilometer on Elephantine Island, which has measured the Nile’s floodwaters since the time of the Pharaohs to predict agricultural yields, to the towering wonders of Giza scarred by nineteenth-century archaeologists and Cairo’s relentless urban sprawl, the country’s past and present intertwine. In Egypt’s earliest art – prehistoric fish-trap carvings on cliffs – and the modern struggles of the Arab Spring fought on Cairo’s bridges, the Nile serves as our guide to understanding this unique, chaotic, vibrant, conservative and rapidly evolving land.