Editing Suez Canal (section)

=== Canals dug by Necho, Darius I and Ptolemy ===
Remnants of an ancient west–east canal through the [[ancient Egypt]]ian cities of [[Bubastis]], [[Avaris|Pi-Ramesses]], and [[Pithom]] were discovered by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] and his engineers and cartographers in 1799.<ref name="Rappoport"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fj0GAAAAQAAJ&dq=Gratien+Le+P%C3%A8re&pg=RA2-PA351 ''Descriptions de l'Égypte'', Volume 11 (État Moderne)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819064603/https://books.google.com/books?id=fj0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA351&lpg=RA2-PA351&dq=Gratien+Le+P%C3%A8re&source=bl&ots=h-ZAEgY_yZ&sig=2vmD6bS3Cj-XwCRdc_uLueFseXQ&hl=en&ei=6blFStHdO8PdsgaKxaQs&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9 |date=19 August 2020 }}, containing ''Mémoire sur la communication de la mer des Indes à la Méditerranée par la mer Rouge et l'Isthme de Sueys'', par M. J.M. Le Père, ingénieur en chef, inspecteur divisionnaire au corps impérial des ponts et chaussées, membre de l'Institut d'Égypte, pp.&nbsp;21–186</ref><ref>Their reports were published in [[Description de l'Égypte]]</ref><ref>Montet, Pierre. ''Everyday Life in the Days of Ramesses The Great'' (1981), page 184. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.</ref><ref>Silver, Morris (6 April 1998), "5c. Evidence for Earlier Canals". [https://www.angelfire.com/ms/ancecon/index.html ''Ancient Economies II''] . Retrieved 8 August 2008. Economics Department, City College of New York.</ref>

According to the ''[[The Histories of Herodotus|Histories]]'' of the [[Greeks|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]],<ref>Herodotus ii.158.</ref> about 600 BCE, [[Necho II]] undertook to dig a west–east canal through the Wadi Tumilat between Bubastis and [[Pithom|Heroopolis]],<ref name="Rappoport"/> and perhaps continued it to the [[Heroopolite Gulf]] and the Red Sea.<ref name="Britannica"/> Regardless, Necho is reported as having never completed his project.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Rappoport"/>

Herodotus was told that 120,000 men perished in this undertaking, but this figure is doubtless exaggerated.<ref>"The figure '120,000' is doubtless exaggerated. [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Mehemet Ali]] lost only 10,000 in making the Mahmûdieh Canal (from the Nile to Alexandria)." remarked W. W. How and J. Wells, ''A Commentary on Herodotus''.</ref> According to [[Pliny the Elder]], Necho's extension to the canal was about {{convert|57|smi|km|order=flip|abbr=off}},<ref name="Rappoport"/> equal to the total distance between Bubastis and the Great Bitter Lake, allowing for winding through [[valley]]s.<ref name="Rappoport"/> The length that Herodotus tells, of over 1,000 [[Stadia (length)|stadia]] (i.e., over {{convert|114|mi|km|order=flip|disp=or}}), must be understood to include the entire distance between the Nile and the Red Sea<ref name="Rappoport"/> at that time.

With Necho's death, work was discontinued. Herodotus tells that the reason the project was abandoned was because of a warning received from an [[oracle]] that others would benefit from its successful completion.<ref name="Rappoport"/><ref>According to Herodotus, work on the project was "stayed by a prophetic utterance that he [Necho] was toiling beforehand for the barbarian. The Egyptians call all men of other languages [[barbarian]]s." (Herodotus, ''eo. loc.''.)</ref> Necho's war with [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] most probably prevented the canal's continuation.

Necho's project was completed by [[Darius I of Persia]], who ruled over [[Ancient Egypt]] after it had been conquered by his predecessor [[Cambyses II]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/90718/Cambyses-II|title=Cambyses II – King of Persia|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=|access-date=19 November 2013|archive-date=13 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213172623/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/90718/Cambyses-II|url-status=live}}</ref> It may be that by Darius's time a natural<ref name="Rappoport"/> waterway passage which had existed<ref name="Britannica"/> between the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea<ref name="location">Apparently, [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus|Ptolemy]] considered the Great Bitter Lake as a northern extension of the Red Sea, whereas Darius had not, because [[Arsinoe (Gulf of Suez)|Arsinoe]] is located north of Shaluf. (See Naville, "Map of the Wadi Tumilat", referenced above.)</ref> in the vicinity of the Egyptian town of Shaluf<ref name="Rappoport"/> (alt. ''Chalouf''<ref>Please refer to [[Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions]].</ref> or ''Shaloof''<ref name="Naville"/>), located just south of the Great Bitter Lake,<ref name="Rappoport"/><ref name="Naville"/> had become so blocked<ref name="Britannica"/> with [[silt]]<ref name="Rappoport"/> that Darius needed to clear it out so as to allow [[navigation]]<ref name="Rappoport"/> once again. According to Herodotus, Darius's canal was wide enough that two [[trireme]]s could pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse. Darius commemorated his achievement with a number of [[granite]] [[stela]]e that he set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, and a further one a few kilometres north of Suez. [[Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions]] read:<ref>{{cite web |author=Jona Lendering |url=https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dz/ |title=Darius' Suez Inscriptions |publisher=Livius.org |access-date=21 April 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806055558/https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dz/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia I conquered Egypt. I ordered to dig this canal from the river that is called Nile and flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended|Darius Inscription}}

The canal left the Nile at Bubastis. An inscription<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/docs/other/inscr_16.html|title=Pithom Stele – translation of inscription|website=attalus.org|access-date=17 December 2014|archive-date=17 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217202028/http://www.attalus.org/docs/other/inscr_16.html|url-status=live}}</ref> on a pillar at [[Pithom]] records that in 270 or 269&nbsp;BCE, it was again reopened, by [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]]. In [[Arsinoe (Gulf of Suez)|Arsinoe]],<ref name="Rappoport"/> Ptolemy constructed a [[Lock (water transport)|navigable lock]], with [[sluice]]s, at the [[Heroopolite Gulf]] of the Red Sea,<ref name="location"/> which allowed the passage of vessels but prevented salt water from the Red Sea from mingling with the fresh water in the canal.<ref>R. E. Gmirkin, "Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch", p.&nbsp;236</ref>

In the second half of the 19th century, French [[cartographer]]s discovered the remnants of an ancient north–south canal past the east side of [[Lake Timsah]] and ending near the north end of the Great Bitter Lake.<ref name="Carte hydrographique">''Carte hydrographique de l'Basse Egypte et d'une partie de l'Isthme de Suez'' (1855, 1882). Volume 87, page 803. Paris. See [http://mapy.vkol.cz/mapy/v87803.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213232635/http://mapy.vkol.cz/mapy/v87803.htm|date=13 February 2009}}</ref> This proved to be the canal made by Darius I, as his stele commemorating its construction was found at the site. (This ancient, second canal may have followed a course along the shoreline of the Red Sea when it once extended north to Lake Timsah.<ref name="Naville"/><ref name="Carte hydrographique"/>)