Walk, if you will, harborside in Abu. You’ve reached District Depet, depet being the word for boat.

Depet is home to the fisherfolk, and to the cargo ships, the people who work on or repair the ships, handle their cargo, and the merchants who control their fate – that is, when the Nile permits. Here also live the priests who study the Nileometer. Nilometers served to gauge the highest point of Inundation, and one of the most important ones was this one, here in District Depet. This Nileometer is a series of carved steps, but others might simply be a pillar, or a well, against which measurements, in cubits (20.62 inches) would be marked off.

Depet is a bustling place. Large convoys of barges need to pass through the canals of the cataracts, and need places to pull into port. Since Abu is an island, all of Abu is dependent on the supplies that Egyptian boats bring – by oar and sail downstream; by pure oar-power alone on the return journey. There is also a military presence in Depet, as while Egypt and Nubia are at peace, not all factions have settled down to cooperate.

You might find residence here, as a merchant beholden to the sea, or as a sailor, a carpenter who handles ship repairs, a cargo handler, a dredger of canals, a shop owner, an entertainer, a fisherman. Or, you might choose to live here in District Depet as a priest charged with watching the flow of the Nile. By at least the 2nd Dynasty such numbers were important enough to record with the landmarks of kings’ reigns. Predictions on the extent of flooding were useful on many accounts, and served as a basis for taxation.

Today is a clear and beautiful day; the sighs of a soft wind caressing the palm trees and shrub alongside the edge of the island. Behind you, you eavesdrop on the rapid sounds of conversation – of both business and pleasure. Welcome to District Depet, home to the heart of Abu.