Egypt simply appeared to be the best choice for a Deity game for the reasons stated in the description.
I hate floodplain starts. Even after playing non-food bonus starts, I still avoid them. Disease early comes as unpredictable. From what I recall even after swapping tiles, disease can happen in a turn after it started. Settle on a river on top of a floodplain? But that's less food than settling off of a river. So, when I settle near floodplains I deliberately settle off rivers, which feels awkward, since then I'll need an aqueduct there.
Bad position for early contacts... but fortunately that's less of an issue since trading contacts is quickly available in that scenario.
All that f-ing desert! Production there isn't all that great, in my opinion. The locations of Sumeria and Babylon, I think both come as better for maximum production, I think... though I do recall Sumeria having marsh nearby (game doesn't last long enough, I think, for the benefit of cleared marsh to offset the slowness of clearing it out).
I thought I remember someone else saying that Sumeria has the best position for building wonders, and when I played them, I remember they did seem to have a good location.
When I played Babylon, I think I had some wheat food bonuses and a good stack of hills for my capital.
If I recall correctly, Phoenicia's defense unit is a bit tougher than other defenders, or am I getting confused/assuming things because it resembles a numidian mercenary?
You had an uprising issue. I'm not sure that barbarian camps respawn in this scenario. They didn't seem to. All other tribes I think come as likely have AI help other than Egypt for taking care of that issue.
Fighting on multiple fronts could be more complicated, but it could mean more victory points also. Still, probably a slower city capture.
If you play as Sumeria, and fight Babylon, that sounds possibly better than fighting Phoenicia as Egypt... though Babylon has hills nearby.
If you play as Babylon, you would only need to keep Medes and Phoenicia off you're back I think.
I played as Mycanae once. It was only Monarch, but their neighbor seemed pretty far. It might be faster to just build wonders with them.
The Hittites might have a good position to attack Medes early, but I don't recall what their land is like. I haven't played either of them. I haven't played Phoneicia also. I've played all the others though.
I do seriously doubt that Egypt has the best position for a fast finish date. Or I just loathe floodplains a lot, I suppose.