Nile river: Did you mean...?

An illustrated map of the ancient Fertile Crescent, 3500-500 BCE. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

An aerial view of Gao and the Niger River in Mali, West Africa. The river and trade along it were fundamental in the rise of African empires such as the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE). Photo Credit: UN Photo/Harandane Dicko

An illustrated map of the Mediterranean from 700 BCE to 500 CE. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

An illustrated map of medieval and early modern Europe. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

An illustration by Maia Kobabe showing a ziggurat, a standard feature of temple complexes in ancient Mesopotamia. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

An illustration by Maia Kobabe showing a cherub. These multi-headed beings appear in Abrahamic religions where they often function as attendant angels. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

Marble statue from the West pediment of the Parthenon (West pediment A) depicting a river-god (possibly the river Ilissos), designed by Pheidias, about 438-432 BCE. (British Museum, London)

An illustration by Maia Kobabe showing an ancient aqueduct. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.

Red River at Alexandria, Louisiana. Approximating what the sandbar on the Mississippi River might have looked like at the Sandbar Fight of 1827, which made James Bowie famous. Photograph by Billy Hathorn, 2008.

An illustration by Maia Kobabe showing a typical scholar of the 17th to 18th centuries. From the novel The Jericho River by David Tollen.