This seems like a simple question, but I couldn't find an answer that would have used the detail I was hoping. So, the background: I've been going through Bob Brier's 'The History of Ancient Egypt' and in it, he often mentions that the west bank of the Nile was the realm of the dead, and west in general was a metaphor for the dead.
What Mr Brier hasn't mentioned to this point is how this affected the land on the western half. As the floods of the Nile would have extended to both east and west, did the people farm only the "living" part or also the "deadlands" of the west?
General searches on farming provide the crops they used which are not of interest. This site says that the lands of the dead was:
For the ancient Egyptians, the west (specifically the desert west of the Nile) was the destination of the dead.
Implying that the western bank would have perhaps been good for farming though doesn't indicate anything for certain.
In Mr Brier's book, he mentions that military action took place on both sides of the river (including defensive organisations):
Sesostris I (1971–1926 B.C.) was another great king. He built forts in Nubia (the Biblical Kush) to control the gold supply. These mud-brick forts were very impressive. There was one on each side of the Nile to control trade on the river
... and that, in general, the west was a symbol of death:
The second stage was to make sure the voyage to the west was finished safely. Associated with the setting sun, the west was a symbol of death in Egyptian thinking.
However, the PDF that accompanies the audiobook doesn't add any further information on this.
Hence, I'm unable to come to a definitive conclusion as some evidence speaks in absolutes and the rest is unclear. My question, phrased succinctly, is: did traditional Egyptian beliefs (on death and their afterlife) also lead them to not cultivate the west bank of the Nile?
An additional question, if they did indeed farm the west, would be whether grain / crops from the west was less wanted (cheaper?) for having been frown in lands associated with the dead. I don't imagine we have anything along the lines of evidence required to answer this, but I wanted to throw it out there anyways.
