River
Fluvius Nilus qui dividit Asiam et Libiam
Nil · Nile
A long river ending in a great, lavishly drawn delta runs across this part of the map, labelled Fluvius Nilus qui dividit Asiam et Libiam, the Nile that divides Asia from Libya. Libya here means the whole continent west of the river, Africa, and the idea of the Nile as a border between continents goes back to the early Greek philosophers of Ionia. Its counterpart on the map is the Don, labelled as the river dividing Asia from Europe. The delta points correctly north, while the river bends sharply west just below its tip, as it also does on some medieval world maps. Upstream, beyond Syene near Meroë, the Nile seems to rise in a lake ringed by mountains.
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