Lake
Lacus Nusaptis [vel] Lacus Niludicus
Mugtaa el-Chebrit (Barrington)
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South of the Nile's first cataract the map paints a large lake ringed by mountains and labels it on two lines: Lacus Nusaptis or Lacus Niludicus. Today only single letters are legible; the full names come from an edition printed in 1598. Both seem to draw on ancient ideas about where the Nile begins: the second recalls a lake at the river's source, the first perhaps the Nubians, in whose land the lake lies among the Nubian mountains. Medieval world maps later placed a guarded Nubian gate here, sealing off the far south.
Find Lacus Nusaptis [vel] Lacus Niludicus on the interactive Roman map →