Reseña de Willems, H. & Dahms, J.-M. (eds.) (2016) The Nile: Natural and Cultural Landscape in Egypt

This anthology is based on contributions made in Mainz on 22 and 23 February 2013 at an international symposium which was organized by the Forschungsschwerpunkt Historische Kulturwissenschaften at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. The aim of the conference was the investigation of the Nile as a natural phenomenon. Besides the fact that the river was extremely important for the whole country, which was already perceived in the ancient world, the essential impact on the environment and culture of Egypt must also be considered. The previous discussion on this topic is criticized for the fact that the handling of the scientific evidence is incorrect. Often too few and too old studies are used and then transferred to the situation in Pharaonic times. Furthermore, it is observed that there is often insufficient knowledge of geomorphology of floodplains in the treatment of this topic. It is precisely this desideratum that is to be tackled with this volume.