Historical landmark
Rawda Island Nilometer
Ninth-century stone well with a marked marble column once used to measure the Nile's annual flood.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to the Rawda Island Nilometer in Cairo centers on a single number carved into a marble column deep inside this stone well: the flood reading that once decided how much of Egypt's population ate that year and how much tax every household owed. You'll hear how officials climbed a narrow staircase each day in flood season to watch the water creep up the column, and about the astronomer Alfraganus and the ninth-century caliph who ordered this structure built over an even older device. Look down the well shaft for the graduated markings that once made this reading possible.
This audio guide was created using AI.