Egypt was "ridiculously fertile" but it also had a very short but intense growing season, and it was also completely dependent on the quality of the floods, not

Egypt was "ridiculously fertile" but it also had a very short but intense growing season, and it was also completely dependent on the quality of the floods, not enough flooding and the fields would not hydrate, and you'd get a famine, too much flooding and it'd overrun the levees and destroy villages.