WI : Ancient Egypt clears the Cataracts

I'm curious as to whether people have any opinions on what advantages Egypt would have had if they had cleared the Cataracts on the nile somehow?

Could the unimpeded Nile have led to greater river traffic and more Egyptian settlement in Nubia? Could this have strengthened the Egyptians for later generations?

Now unlike the Canal of the Pharaohs, we are looking at dredging/carving a flowing river, which means either a diversion, however permanent for the Nile. Doing a permanent diversions isn't impossible, but it would be very hard work.

Besides the Cataracts, where else could the Egyptians have benefited from clearing a passage for ships with a canal, and would these be a better idea first?
 
I'd question if it wouldn't be so difficult that it actually would be practically impossible given the then-current technology.
 

Raunchel

Banned
This is something that I have spent a fair bit of time thinking about. But my conclusion was that it would be impossible with ancient technology. My understanding of the geology is that the ground is basically rock, not sediment. The bedrock is very close to the surface here, and the rest of the ground is very rocky. This means that digging becomes exceedingly difficult, making a diversion very difficult without the use of explosives. It really is the worst kind of terrain to try to build a canal.

Other places would therefor be a much better idea. First of all, there is the way to the Red Sea by the Canal of the Pharaohs, that one was difficult, but doable. But there aren't many opportunities for large-scale canal building that would be worth the enormous effort.
 
I'd question if it wouldn't be so difficult that it actually would be practically impossible given the then-current technology.

I get where you're coming from, I was the same just before starting the thread - but we're still talking about the civilization that built pyramids, carved stone tombs out of the cliff face, and built the precursor to the Suez canal.

I might be barking up the wrong tree, it might be easier to not "cut the cataract", but instead only to canal around, or build a "navigable aqueduct". After all, quarries did exist at this time.
 

Raunchel

Banned
I can't look it up properly now, but if I'm not mistaken, the First Cataract was around 7 km long, which is a lot, especially because it went through sandstone (which can be worked with some ease) and granite (very difficult stuff). The river was flanked by high cliffs in this area, so you would have to dig/carve very deep indeed. Added to that, there was a significant drop in this area, requiring a set of sluices to manage the water.
 
I can't look it up properly now, but if I'm not mistaken, the First Cataract was around 7 km long, which is a lot, especially because it went through sandstone (which can be worked with some ease) and granite (very difficult stuff). The river was flanked by high cliffs in this area, so you would have to dig/carve very deep indeed. Added to that, there was a significant drop in this area, requiring a set of sluices to manage the water.

That is... long. And expensive - if it turns out that the rocks are decent quality then there is at least some way to offset the costs with the carved stone. (Prepare to see a lot more obelisks and sandstone temples!).

The sluice gates is a problem that needs solving, would it be an insurmountable problem at the time? Or (besides the wood, or hilariously maybe stone) are there materials that the Egyptians just didn't have that would be required for sluice-gates?

Imagine that as an unorthodox burial location "The Deep Canals of Abu" being an alt/additional "Valley of the Kings" is a fun idea :p

The potentially more insane option is making the wadi korosko a river valley with a canal, but I barely know that it exists, let alone what the topography involved it. What poor imagery I've seen suggests it is the old course of the nile.
 

Raunchel

Banned
It is very long and expensive, much more expensive even than pyramids, and the market for stone remains limited. Another fun bit will be lifting the stones out, especially when you are a bit deeper in.

Sluice gates are possible to construct from wood, they had the technology for it, but it would be expensive, also to maintain. And it would certainly be a burial location, if only for all the workers...

That would be a truly insane project, but I can't really find anything about to it give any clues about how impossibly expensive and difficult it would be.
 
The only thing I can think of is a canal, which goes a loong way around given the cliffs Raunchel mentioned. Also I can't see the Egyptians having a reason to do all that, unless the south end of Nile suddenly became very very very interesting for trade reasons.

EDIT: And given that they had a TON of resources in Egypt itself and Sinai or traded with Punt and Greece, it would take something really valuable in immense quantities to get them THAT interested.
 
Wouldn't clearing the cataracts weaken Egyptian security by making it easier for the Nubians to push north?

teg
 
The only thing I can think of is a canal, which goes a loong way around given the cliffs Raunchel mentioned. Also I can't see the Egyptians having a reason to do all that, unless the south end of Nile suddenly became very very very interesting for trade reasons.

EDIT: And given that they had a TON of resources in Egypt itself and Sinai or traded with Punt and Greece, it would take something really valuable in immense quantities to get them THAT interested.
Yeah, and they would need to deal with the flow of the Nile, which can vary up to 15 times the annual flow volume on a regular basis. To get stable and permanent canals, you'd probably need a dam as well
 
I'm curious as to whether people have any opinions on what advantages Egypt would have had if they had cleared the Cataracts on the nile somehow?

Could the unimpeded Nile have led to greater river traffic and more Egyptian settlement in Nubia? Could this have strengthened the Egyptians for later generations?

Now unlike the Canal of the Pharaohs, we are looking at dredging/carving a flowing river, which means either a diversion, however permanent for the Nile. Doing a permanent diversions isn't impossible, but it would be very hard work.

Besides the Cataracts, where else could the Egyptians have benefited from clearing a passage for ships with a canal, and would these be a better idea first?

On the one hand, the Pharaohs had vision, ambitious, and an unlimited supply of corvee labor. On the other hand, the Nile's big and fast and the cataracts are impressive.
 
Top