Upper Egypt

The names Egipto Superiore and Egipto Inferiore (Upper and Lower Egypt) are Italianized versions of Aegyptum Inferior and Superior, which derive from the ancient world. Medieval uses of these names, however, conform more to the mappamundi tradition than to ancient usage: in the ancient world, "upper" and "lower" referred to the descent of the Nile out of the Ethiopian highlands, so that Lower Egypt (which contained Cairo and the Nile delta) was north of Upper Egypt (a north/south boundary). On the Sfera maps, however, the Nile serves as an east/west boundary, so that Upper Egypt (Egipto Superiore) is the area between the Red Sea and the Nile, and Lower Egypt (Egipto Inferiore) is the area between the Nile and the Sahara Desert. The best explanation for this shift is that the eastern orientation of medieval mappaemundi (i.e. orienting a world map with east at the top) naturally divides Egypt into "upper" (eastern) and lower" (western) regions, with the Nile as the dividing line.