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"When the Nile floods, the earth shouts for joy, every stomach is full, every spine is happy, and every tooth is revealed." – Hymn to Hapi.
Life in Ancient Egypt was dictated not by a calendar of months, but by the rhythm of the river. The Egyptian year was divided into three seasons of four months each, based entirely on the agricultural cycle of the Nile: Akhet (Inundation), Peret (Growth), and Shemu (Harvest).
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The Three Seasons
1. Akhet: The Inundation (June – September)
The time of the flood. The Nile waters rose, covering the valley floor. Farming was impossible. This was the season when the state conscripted farmers (corvée labor) to build pyramids, temples, and canals, paying them in grain and beer.
2. Peret: The Emergence (October – February)
The waters receded, leaving behind moist, fertile black mud. The "Emergence" of the land allowed farmers to plow the soil and sow their seeds (wheat, barley, flax). It was the growing season.
3. Shemu: The Harvest (March – May)
The season of low water and harvest. Crops were gathered, threshed, and stored in granaries. Tax collectors would arrive to assess the yield and take the state's share.
Mechanics of the Flood
For the ancient Egyptians, the flood was a divine mystery caused by the tears of Isis or the jars of Hapi. Today, we know the scientific cause.
Every summer, heavy monsoonal rains lash the Ethiopian Highlands. This massive volume of water drains into the Blue Nile and the Atbara River. These tributaries rush down from the mountains, carrying tons of eroded volcanic soil (rich black silt).
When this surge reaches Khartoum (Sudan), it joins the steady White Nile and pushes north into Egypt. This annual pulse of water and nutrient-rich soil transformed the desert sands into Kemet (The Black Land), arguably the most fertile farmland in the ancient world.