And They
Told Me That He Had Come To Egypt For The Reason Which The Hellenes
Also Say, Namely To
Bring from Libya the Gorgon's head, and had then
visited them also and recognised all his kinsfolk, and they said
That
he had well learnt the name of Chemmis before he came to Egypt, since
he had heard it from his mother, and that they celebrated an athletic
contest for him by his own command.
All these are customs practised by the Egyptians who dwell above the
fens: and those who are settled in the fenland have the same customs
for the most part as the other Egyptians, both in other matters and
also in that they live each with one wife only, as do the Hellenes;
but for economy in respect of food they have invented these things
besides: - when the river has become full and the plains have been
flooded, there grow in the water great numbers of lilies, which the
Egyptians call /lotos/; these they cut with a sickle and dry in the
sun, and then they pound that which grows in the middle of the lotos
and which is like the head of a poppy, and they make of it loaves
baked with fire. The root also of this lotos is edible and has a
rather sweet taste: it is round in shape and about the size of an
apple. There are other lilies too, in flower resembling roses, which
also grow in the river, and from them the fruit is produced in a
separate vessel springing from the root by the side of the plant
itself, and very nearly resembles a wasp's comb:
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