Tales of the Annual Flood Trivia Quiz

Answer: It was raining in Ethiopia.

Although the river is most associated with Egypt, the truth is that less than 25% of the Nile is actually in that country! It is formed by the joining of the Blue Nile in the east, and the White Nile in the west at the city of Khartoum in Sudan. The Blue Nile contributes approximately 80% of the water that forms the great river. Rain storms and the melting of snow in the highlands of Ethiopia caused the annual flooding of the Nile.

While seven countries feed into the White Nile, none of them experience an extensive flood like the one that takes place in Ethiopia.

In addition, the White Nile travels through a swamp called the Sudd in Southern Sudan, and much of the water evaporates there in the intense heat.

Answer: June-September

Priests in ancient Egypt would begin seeing the flood waters in June, and the waters would typically recede by September. Crop planting took place during October and November, and they would normally be ready to harvest by March or April. There are really only two seasons in Egypt - a mild winter from November-April, and a hot summer from May to October.

The best weather months in Egypt are considered to be from September to mid-November.

Answer: Akhet

The three seasons of the year in ancient Egypt included akhet, which was flood season, peret, which was growing season, and shemu, which was harvest season. During peret, when the flood waters receded, Egyptian farmers would plant their crops, using irrigation water that was captured in basins. Water was brought into the field by a series of canals, or by using the shadoof, a hand-operated device for lifting water. By harvest time, or shemu, the Nile was at its lowest level. Farmers would anxiously await the annual flood, totally dependent on the important cycle of akhet, peret, and shemu.

The ankh was the symbol of long life in ancient Egypt, while the nemes was the headcloth worn by pharaoh. A scarab was the dung beetle, believed by the ancients to push the sun across the sky.

Answer: Fertile soil

The heavy rains in Ethiopia not only provided the water needed so desperately in ancient Egypt, but also rich volcanic silt that would be carried hundreds of miles in the rushing flood water. This was the only fertilizer the ancient Egyptians needed.

When the flood waters receded, their farmland would be covered with the dark silt. All the ancient farmers had to do was plow it into their soil and start planting their crops. Some years the flood waters would be out of control, however, height of the flood determined how much silt would be deposited. Waters that were too low could cause a year of famine throughout the land, however, whatever happened believed to be in Hapi's hands.

Answer: Water clock

The ancient Egyptians used three tools to measure the flood: pillars, wells, and steps. Clever guys! All three were calibrated using the cubit, which was also broken into smaller units, allowing the keeping of very accurate records. In fact, in looking at the records kept, it appears that about 20% of the time the flooding was either too much or too little.

A specific mark was made on the Nilometer, which indicated how high the water needed to be to insure a good harvest the next year.

Answer: Elephantine Island

Not only was the outpost of Elephantine Island the first to know when the flooding started, it was also the first to know when the flooding ended. Considered to be the home of Khnum, one of the gods of the inundation, the island was a sacred site, complete with a temple that was build during the Eleventh Dynasty to specifically celebrate the flood.

By the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, a new Nilometer was installed there; even the Romans used the Nilometer and built a granite roof over the sanctuary. There were several temples (some are included in the list of choices) and water measuring stations built along the river for the purpose of assessing the height of the flood.

Answer: Sirius

The ancient Egyptians noticed that a star appeared on the horizon at the time of the annual flood, and really used its appearance as a guide rather than their calendar. Sirius was considered to be the most important star to the ancients, and its rising was celebrated at the beginning of the new year.

It was the responsibility of Egyptian priests to look for the light from the star and announce its sighting to the people. There was an ancient temple to the goddess Isis at Denderah; a statue of the goddess was oriented with the rising of Sirius so that the light would first strike a gem on the forehead.

Answer: Working off their taxes

The priests who watched for the inundation of the Nile, also determined the amount of taxes a farmer would owe based on the height of the flood and the amount of grain that farmers should be able to grow the following season. Because the Egyptians did not have coined money, the taxes were based on the payment of grain or labor; it appears that the grain was stored in pharaoh's granary, saved for years when there was drought.

While in the past it was believed that slaves built the pyramids during the Old Kingdom, modern historians believe that unemployed farmers worked for pharaoh during the flood season, using their labor to pay their taxes.

Answer: Osiris

In ancient Egyptian mythology, Osiris wasn't just the god of the dead and the judge of mankind, but also the god of the flooding of the Nile. After his death - torn into pieces by his evil brother, Set - Osiris was resurrected after the gods were impressed by the diligence of his wife, Isis, who attempted to gather up all of the pieces of his body.

In fact, the ancients believed that the actual flooding was caused by the tears of Isis, crying over the loss of her husband. The cycle of life, death, and rebirth in the afterlife, which was symbolized by the life and death of Osiris, were as important as the cycle of planting, harvesting, and flooding in ancient Egypt, with which Osiris was also identified.

Answer: False

In the 1960s-70s, the building of the Aswan High Dam put an end to the annual flooding of the Nile in the area north of Aswan in southern Egypt. Instead, the water is collected in a reservoir, Lake Nasser, and the flow of water is more controlled. The previous silt that fertilized the land for thousands of years no longer makes its way to the Nile Delta; instead it is causing a build-up behind the dam.

The people of Egypt enjoy the electricity generated by the dam, and the assurance that their land will no longer be flooded - but at what cost? Archaeological sites have been lost, people have lost their homes, and commercial fertilizer must now be used in farmland that has become increasingly salinated.