More than any other country, Egypt is fortunate to have a mild climate, stable temperatures and stable productivity. Summers are undoubtedly hot, especially in the south, and the occasional hot wind that lasts for a while can be extremely uncomfortable. But almost all summer there will be a cool monsoon blowing from the north, which can be reconciled with the fiery sunshine even during the hottest season of the year. And then from October to March, the weather is very pleasant. It is said that Egypt has only two seasons – spring and summer. Spring runs through October to May – crops sprout, flowers bloom and gentle westerly winds blowing on the cheeks, in the middle of winter in Europe.
In February, the fruit trees bloom; in March, the crops ripen and are harvested at the end of April; there is no snow and frost at any time, and there is very little rain, heavy rain, fog, and even rain. The scenery is always clear and beautiful. The air was not humid, the sky was cloudless, and there was no veiled mist in the distance. Day after day, each day is a repetition of the previous day; eventually one day, spring gives way to summer, and the more scorching sun, the more scorching light, the longer day all indicate that the most pleasant season of the year has passed. The geology of ancient Egypt was simple. The entire plain is alluvial. There are mountains on both sides, the first area on the back is limestone, the second area in the middle is sandstone, and the third area on the south side is granite and syringite.
Granite exists between 24° N and 25° N, but occasionally large amounts of primordial rock invade the second area and extend northward near the 27°10" parallel. Gravel and sand deposits are distributed on rocks in many places. The grit is hard, the sand is loose and easy to displace. Parts of the desert in the east contain metals, and to this day there are small amounts of gold produced, and it is conceivable how high the production of gold was in ancient times. Copper, iron, and lead are still occasionally produced in modern times, and there is an iron ore mine that shows that it was mined in ancient times. Emeralds are abundant near the Sabara Mountains. The eastern deserts are rich in jasper, carnelian, breccia, agate and crystal. Egyptian plants are less appealing.
The date palm tree is one of the main tree species, and it has a gradually pointed and thinned stem. The distribution of plane trees is also quite common, and several kinds of acacia trees are also common. The Seyir Acacia Tree, which is the raw material for chewing gum, is "a multi-knotted, prickly tree that grows a bit like a lonely hawthorn tree, but is larger, and when fully grown, it reaches fifteen to twenty feet tall. Considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, agverns are a cluster of tree species that grow in a privileged environment, reaching heights of eighteen to twenty feet, bearing fruit that resembles a date and tastes slightly sour. The bark is whitish, the branches are gracefully curled, and the leaves are off-white, especially on the back of the leaves.
The most characteristic of ancient Egypt are papyrus and lotus flowers, although they are not unique to ancient Egypt. Papyrus is a tall, smooth reed with a large, triangular stem containing a delicate core that the Egyptians used to make paper. The texture of this paper is excellent, and the ancient Greeks and Romans used it as parchment after a long period of experimentation, which has been preserved to this day. Lotus flowers are beautiful white large water lilies. The pharaohs dedicated it to the gods; the guests wore it at banquets; even the buildings imitated its style; and it was used to decorate the pharaoh's throne. It is debatable whether its roots are of male benefit, as the poet Homer described, but there is nothing in the world that does not think of it as "the beauty of the world", so it deserves to be "eternal happiness".
Ancient Egyptian athletes could not afford any pungent recreational pastimes. Today, during the dry season on the vast delta plains, falcons and hounds chase antelope, but in ancient times, dense populations scared away antelope herds, and they only appeared in desert areas beyond the boundaries of the alluvial plains. To be precise, ancient times and by no means were a paradise for red deer, roe deer, fawns, lions, bears, hyenas, lynxes or rabbits. These animals may appear on the impact plains, but by chance, they are definitely rare, that is, forced by hunger to leave their habitat in Libya or the Arabian plateau. Crocodiles and hippos were hunted by the ancient Egyptians; the ancient Egyptians loved bird hunting and fishing. Throughout the year, the waters of the Nile are rich in a variety of water birds, most often in ponds left by the ebbing waters of the river – pelicans, geese, geese, ducks, ibises, cranes, storks, herons, small-billed storks, kingfishers and petrels.
Excerpt from "The History of Ancient Egypt: Environmental Genes, Geopolitical Hegemony, and the Rise and Fall of Civilization"
Author: George Rowlingson
Translator: Jiang Yan