Relief from the tomb of Hetepet: Boat Ride on the Lotus Pond

The Nile defined the living space between the mountains in the east and the desert in the west. Over a length of more than 1,000 kilometres (620miles) the river formed the principal artery between the Nile cataracts near Aswan in the south and the Mediterranean coast in the North. Ships and rowing boats provided the means of transport for people and goods between south and north, as well as between the two banks of the river. One of the pleasures of life, both in this world and the next, included a journey across the Lotus Pond. The Ancient Egyptians believed that even the sun and the moon travelled across the sky in boats.