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found settled here, formed with them one people, under the name of Elymi. In the course of time their numbers were still farther increased by the junction of some wandering Achæi. This seems to have been the generally-received idea among the Greeks, respecting the origin of the Elymi and Ægestai. Its improbability, however, is apparent even at first view. When the Romans became masters of these parts, after the first Punic war, they readily adopted the current tradition respecting the people of Ægesta, as well as the idea of an affinity, through the line of Æneas, between themselves and the latter, and the legend is interwoven also with the subject of the Æneid (5, 36, seqq.-Vid. Egestes). From the circumstance of the Romans having recognised the affinity of the Egestæans to themselves, we find them styled, in the Duilian inscription, “the kinsmen of the Roman people." COGNATI P. R. (Ciacconius, de Col. Rostr. Duil., Lugd. Bat. 1597.) Cicero, too (in Verrem. 4, 33), adopts the current tradition of the day. Whatever our opinion may be relative to the various details of these legends, one thing at least very clearly appears, which is, that gesta was not of Grecian origin. Thucydides (7, 58), in enumerating the allies of Syracuse, speaks of the people of Himera as forming the only Grecian settlement on the northern coast of Sicily; and in another part (7, 57), expressly classes the Ægestæans among Barbarians (Bapbúpwv 'Eyeσraio). The origin of gesta, therefore, may be fairly as cribed to a branch of the Pelasgic race, the Trojans themselves being of the same stock. (Vid. Æneas.) Previous to the arrival of the Romans in Sicily, the Ægestæans were engaged in a long contest with the Inhabitants of Selinus. Finding themselves, however, the weaker party, they solicited and obtained the aid of Athens. The unfortunate issue of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse compelled the Egestæans to look for new allies in the Carthaginians. These came to their aid, and Selinus fell; but Egesta also shared its fate, and the city remained under this new control, until, for the purpose of regaining its freedom, it espoused the cause of Agathocles. The change, however, was for the worse; and the tyrant, offended at their unwillingness to contribute supplies, murdered a part of the inhabitants, drove the rest into exile, and changed the name of the city to Dicæopolis, settling in it at the same time a body of deserters that had come over to him. (Polyb. 20, 71.) The death of Agathocles very probably restored the old name, and brought back the surviving part of the former inhabitants, since we find the appellation Ægesta reappearing in the first Punic war (Polyb. 1, 24), and since the Egestæans, during that same conflict, after slaughtering a Carthaginian garrison which had been placed within their walls, were able to declare themselves the kinsmen of the Roman people. (Zonaras, 8, 4.) It was this pretended affinity between the two communities that preserved Egesta from oblivion after it had fallen beneath the Roman sway, and we find Pliny (3, 8) naming the inhabitants among the number of those who enjoyed the jus Latinum. The ruins of the place are found, at the present day, near the modern Alcamo. (Mannert, 9, 2, 393, seqq.-Hoare's Classical Tour, 2, 61.)

already mentioned, accompanied them to Sicily, and there became united to the object of his affection. The offspring of this union was gestes. (Dion. Hal. 1, 52.) Both accounts, of course, are purely fabulous. In accordance, however, with the popular legend respecting him, Virgil makes Ægestes, whom he calls, as already stated, Acestes, to have given Æneas a hospitable reception, when the latter, as the poet fables, visited Sicily in the course of his wanderings. (Vid. Ægesta.)

As he

ÆGEUS, I. a king of Athens, son of Pandion. His legitimacy, however, was disputed; and when, after the death of Pandion, he entered Africa at the head of an army, and recovered his patrimony, he was still the object of jealousy to his three brothers, although he shared his newly-acquired power with them. was long childless, they began to cast a wishful eye towards his inheritance. But a mysterious oracle brought him to Trazene, where fate had decreed that the future hero of Athens should be born. Æthra, the daughter of the sage King Pittheus, son of Pelops, was his mother, but the Trazenian legend called Neptune, not Ægeus, his father. Egeus, however, returned to Athens, with the hope that, in the course of years, he should be followed by a legitimate heir. At parting he showed Æthra a huge mass of rock, under which he had hidden a sword and a pair of sandals : when her child, if a boy, should be able to lift the stone, he was to repair to Athens with the tokens it concealed, and to claim Egeus as his father. From this deposite, Ethra gave her son the name of Theseus (Onosus, from dew, now, to deposite or place). When Theseus had grown up and been acknowledged by his father (vid. Theseus), he freed the latter from the cruel tribute imposed by Minos (vid. Minotaurus); but, on his return from Crete, forgot to hoist the white sails, the preconcerted signal of success, and Egeus, thinking his son had perished, threw himself from a high rock into the sea. (Apollod. 3, 15, 5, seqq. — Plut. Vit. Thes., &c.) The whole narrative respecting Egeus is a figurative legend. He is the same as Neptune; his name Alyaios, indicating the "god of the waves," from alyes, the waves of the sea, and hence the Trazenian legend makes Neptune at once to have been the father of Theseus. Theseus himself, moreover, appears to be nothing more than a mythic personage. He is merely the type of the establishment of the worship of Neptune (Oŋocus, from dέw, dŋow, to pizce or establish). Even his mother's name, Æthra, would seem to allude figuratively to the pure, clear atmosphere of religious worship connected with the rites of Neptune, when firmly established. (Ai@pa, i. e., ailpa, pure, clear air.) So, also, the contest between Theseus and the Pallantides (vid. Pallantides), would seem to be nothing more than a religious contest between the rival systems of Neptune and Minerva. The worship of Neptune prevailed originally in the Ionian cities (Müller, Dorians, 1, 266), and the legend of Theseus is an Ionian one; whereas the worship of Minerva, at Athens, dates back to the time of Ce crops.---II. An eponymic hero at Sparta, son of Æolicus. (Vid. Supplement.)

EGIALEA, I. according to the common account, a daughter of Adrastus, but more probably the daughter ÆGESTES, Egestus, or, as Virgil writes it, Acestes, of his son Ægialeus. (Heyne, ad Apollod. 1, 86.) a son of the river-god Crimisus, by a Trojan mother, She was the wife of Diomede, and is said to have been according to one account, while another makes both guilty of the grossest incontinence during her husband's his parents to have been of Trojan origin. Laomedon, absence in the Trojan war. (Apollod. l. c.-Ov. Ib. it seems, had given the daughters of a distinguished 350, &c) The beautiful passage in the Iliad, howperson among his subjects to certain Sicilian mariners, ever (5, 412, seqq.), where mention is made of her, to carry away and expose to wild beasts They were strongly countenances the idea that the story of her brought to Sicily, where the god of the Crimisus uni-improper conduct is a mere posthomeric or cyclic fated himself to one of them, and became father of Egestes. This is the first account just alluded to. The other one is as follows: A young Trojan, of noble birth, being enamoured of one of the three females

ble.-II. An island of the Egean, between Cythera and Crete, now Cerigotto. Bondelmonti (Ins. Arch. 10, 65) calls it Sichilus or Sequilus, a corruption, probably, from the modern Greek ɛiç Aiyvhíav. (De

EGIALEUS, son of Adrastus, by Amphithea, daughter of Pronax, and a member of the expedition led by the Epigoni against Thebes. He was the only leader slain in this war, as his father had been the only one that survived the previous contest. (Vid. Epigoni.) Compare the scholiast, ad Pind. Pyth. 8, 68. AGIDES, a patronymic of Theseus. (Homer, Il. 1, 265.)

ÆGILA, a town in Laconia, where Ceres had a temple. Aristomenes, the Messenian leader, endeavoured on one occasion to seize a party of Laconian females who were celebrating here the rites of the goddess. The attempt failed, through the courageous resistance of the women, and Aristomenes himself was taken prisoner. He was released, however, the same night, by Archidamea, the priestess of Ceres, who had before this cherished an affection for him. She pretended that he had burned off his bonds, by moving himself up towards the fire, and remaining near enough to have them consumed. (Paus. 4, 17.)

GIMIUS, a king of the Dorians, reigning at the time in Thessaly, near the range of Pindus. (Heyne, ad Apollod. 2, 7, 7.) He aided Hercules, according to the Doric legend, in his contest with the Lapithæ, and received, as a reward, the territory from which they were driven. (Apollod. l. c.) Egimius is a conspicuous name among the founders of the Doric line, and mention is made by the ancient writers of an epic poem, entitled Alyios, which is ascribed by some to Hesiod, by others to Cecrops the Milesian. (Heyne, 1. c.) The posterity of Ægimius formed part of the expedition against the Peloponnesus, and the Doric institutions of Ægimius are spoken of by Pindar (Pyth. | 1, 124), as forming the rule or model of government for the Doric race. (Compare Müller, Dorians, vol. 2, p. 12.)

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Sinner, ad loc.)-III. The earliest name for the coun- money for the purposes of commerce, and used regutry along the northern shore of the Peloponnesus.lar measures, a tradition which, though no doubt un(Vid. Achaia, III.) true, still points very clearly to their early commercial habits. (Strabo, 375. — Ælian, Var. Hist. 12, 10.— Vid. Phidon.) It is more than probable, that their commercial relations caused the people of Ægina to be increased by colonies from abroad, and Strabo expressly mentions Cretans among the foreign inhabitants who had settled there. After the return of the Heraclidæ, this island received a Dorian colony from Epidaurus (Pausan. 2, 29. Tzetz. ad Lyc. 176), and from this period the Dorians gradually gained the ascendency in it, until at last it became entirely Doric, both in language and form of government. Ægina, for a time, was the maritime rival of Athens, and the competition eventually terminated in open hostilities, in which the Athenians were only able to obtain advantages by the aid of the Corinthians, and by means of intestine divisions among their opponents. (Herod. 8, 46, and 5, 83.) When Darius sent deputies into Greece to demand earth and water, the people of Ægina, partly from hatred toward the Athenians, and partly from a wish to protect their extensive commerce along the coasts of the Persian monarchy, gave these tokens of submission. (Herod. 6, 49:) For this conduct they were punished by the Spartans. In the war with Xerxes, therefore, they sided with their countrymen, and acted so brave a part in the battle of Salamis as to be able to contest the prize of valour with the Athenians themselves, and to bear it off, as well by the universal suffrages of the confederate Greeks (Herod. 8, 93), as by the declaration of the Pythian oracle. (Id. ibid. 122: compare Plut. Vit. Themist.) After the termination of the Persian war, however, the strength of Athens proved too great for them. Their fleet of seventy sail was annihilated in a sea-fight by Pericles, and many of the inhabitants were driven from the island, while the remainder were reduced to the condition of tributaries. The fugitives settled at Thyrea in Cynuria, under the protection of Sparta (Thucyd. 1, 105, and 108. — Id. 2, 27. — Id. 4, 57), and it was not until after the battle of Egos Potamos, and the fall of Athens, that they were able to regain possession of their native island. (Xen. Hist. Gr. 2, 2, 5. - Strabo, 8, p. 376.) They never attained, however, to their former prosperity. The situation of Ægina made it subsequently a prize for each succeeding conqueror, until at last it totally disappeared from history. In modern times the island nearly retains its ancient name, being called Ægina, or with a slight corruption Engia, and is represented by travellers as being beautiful, fertile, and well cultivated. As far back as the time of Pausanias, the ancient city would appear to have been in ruins. That writer makes mention of some temples that were standing, and of the large theatre built after the model of that in Epidaurus. The most remarkable remnant of antiquity which this island can boast of at the present day, is the temple of Jupiter Panhellenius, suated on a mount of the same name, about four hours distance from the port, and which is supposed to be one of the most ancient temples in Greece, and one of the oldest specimens of the Doric style of architecture. Mr. Dodwell pronounces it the most picturesque and interesting ruin in Greece. For a full account of the Ægina marbles, consult Quarterly Journal of Sciences, No. 12, p. 327, seqq., and No. 14, p. 229, seqq.

EGIMURUS, a small island in the Gulf of Carthage. There were two rocks near this island, called Are Egimuri, which were so named, because the Romans and Carthaginians concluded a treaty on them. The modern Zowamoore is the Ægimurus of antiquity.

EGIMUS. Vid. Supplement.

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EGINA, I. a daughter of the river Asopus, carried away by Jupiter under the form of an eagle, from Phlius to the island of Enone (Compare Spanheim, ad Callim. Hymn. in Del. v. 77.-Heyne, ad Apollod 3, 12, 6-Sturz, ad Hellanic., p. 50.-Id. ad Pherecyd., p. 178.) She gave her name to the island. Some authorities make Jupiter to have assumed, on this occasion, the appearance of a flame of fire; but this evidently is corrupted from another part of the same fable, which states that Asopus was struck with thunder by the god for presuming to follow him. (Apollod. 3, 12, 6 ) The Asopus here alluded to is the Sicyonian stream which flowed by the walls of Phlius. It must not be confounded with the Baotian river of the same name. (Compare Pindar, Nem. 9, 9.-Aristarch. ad N. 3, 1. -Pausan. 2, 5, 2.)—II. An island in the Sinus Saronicus, near the coast of Argolis. The earliest accounts given by the Greeks make it to have been originally uninhabited, and to have been called, while in this state, by the name of Enone; for such is evidently the meaning of the fable, which states, that Jupiter, in order to gratify acus, who was alone there, changed a swarm of ants into men, and thus peopled EGINETA PAULUS, I. or Paul of Ægina, a celethe island. (Vid. Eacus, Myrmidones, and compare brated Greek physician, born in the island of Ægina. Pausan. 2, 29, and Apollod. 3, 12, 7.) It afterward He appears to have lived, not in the fourth century, as took the name of Ægina, from the daughter of the René Moreau and Daniel Leclerc (Clericus) have asAsopus. (Vid. Ægina, I.) But, whoever may have serted, but in the time of the conquests of the Calif been the earliest settlers on the island, it is evident Omar, and, consequently, in the seventh century. We that its stony and unproductive soil must have driven have very few particulars of his life handed down to them at an early period to engage in maritime affairs.us. We know merely that he pursued his medical Hence they are said to have been the first who coined studies at Alexandrea some time before the taking of

northeast from the city. In the middle age Egira took the name of Votstitza. (Georg. Phranzu, 2, 9.) It is now Vostica, a deserted place to the east of Vostitza, the ancient Egium. (Mannert, Geogr, vol. 8, p. 396.)

EGIS, the shield of Jupiter, made for him by Vulcan(Il., 15, 310), and borne also by Apollo (Il., 15, 229) and Minerva (5, 738). It inspired terror and dismay, and, by its movements, darkness, clouds, thunder and lightning were collected. (Il., 17, 594.) Hence, in later poets, it has also the meaning of a storm or hurricane. (Esch. Chocph. 584.-Eurip. Ion, 996.) According to some, Minerva had an ægis of her own, distinct from Jupiter's, and she placed in the centre of it the head of Medusa; but the Gorgon's head appears also on Jupiter's shield. (Eustath. ad Il., 5, 741.Heyne, ad Apollod., 2, 43.) As Minerva typifies the mind or wisdom of Jove, there is a peculiar propriety in her wielding the same ægis with her great parent.The etymology of the term aiyiç is disputed. The common derivation makes it come from ais, alyós, " a goat," and to have been so named from its being covered with the skin of the goat that had suckled the infant Jove. This derivation, however, appears to be alyís and ais, aiyós, and is evidently the invention of later writers and fabulists. The true etymology is from dioow, úïžw, "to move rapidly," "to rush," arouse," &c., and comports far better with the idea of brandishing to and fro a terror-inspiring shield.The meaning of a coat of mail, or, rather, leathern tunic, with or without plates of metal, belongs to another alyis, which is correctly deduced from aiş. (Compare Herod., 4, 189.)

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this city by Amrou, and that, for the purpose of adding | tion in this, as the harbour lay, not directly north, but to his stock of professional knowledge, he travelled not only through all Greece, but likewise in other countries. Paul of Egina closes the list of the classic Greek physicians, for after him the healing art fell, like so many others, into neglect and barbarism, and did not regain any portion of its former honours until towards the twelfth century. As Paul made himself very able in surgery, and displayed great skill also in accouchements, the Arabians testified their esteem for him by styling him the accoucheur. Though he cannot be regarded as altogether original, since he abridged Galen, and obtained many materials from Aëtius and Oribasus, yet he frequently lays down opinions of his own, differing from those of Galen, and more than once has the courage to refute the positions of Hippocrates. His descriptions of maladies are short and succinct, but exact and complete. He frequently assumes, as the basis of his explanations, the Galenian theory of the cardinal humours. It is in surgery particularly that Paul of Ægina appears to allvantage, not only because he had acquired more experience than any other Greek physician in this branch of his art, but also because he does not servilely copy his predecessors. In this respect some authors place him by the side of Celsus, and on certain points even give him the pref-based entirely on an accidental resemblance between erence. One of the most curious chapters in that part of his writings which rets to surgery, is the one which treats of the various kis farrows used among the ancients, and of the wounds inflicted by them. The work of this physician, which has come down to us, is entitled An Abridgment of All Medicine, and consists of seven books, compiled from the writings of the more ancient physicians, with his own observations subjoined. It has passed through many editions, of which the following are the principal ones. The Greek text merely, Venet. ap. Ald., 1528, and Basil., 1538, fol. This latter edition is much superior to the former, as it was corrected by Gemusmus, and contains his learned annotations. Latin editions: Basil., 1532 and 1546, fol. Col. Agr., 1534 and 1548, fol. : Paris, 1532, fol.: Venet., 1553 and 1554, 8vo: Lugd., 1562 and 1567, 8vo. This last is the best of the Latin editions, since it contains the notes and commentaries of Gonthier, D'Andernach, Cornarius, J. Goupil, and Dalechamp. An Arabic edition was published also by Honain, a celebrated Syrian physician. Parts of the work have also been printed separately at various times, and particularly the first book, under the title of Præcepta Salubria (Paris, 1510, ap. Henr. Steph., 4to. Argent., 1511, 4to, &c.). A French translation of the surgical writings of Paul of Ægina was given in 1539, from the Lyons press, in 12mo, by Pierre Tolet. The excellent version, however, by F. Adams, Esq., of Banchory-Ternan, Aberdeen, will supersede all others. Only one volume has thus far been published. (Biogr. Univ., vol. 33, p. 186, seqq.. -Schöll, Hist. Latt. Gr., vol. 7, p. 256.)—II. A modeller of Ægina, adverted to by Pliny (35, 11). There is some doubt whether Egineta was his own name, or merely an epithet designating the place of his birth. The former is the more probable opinion, and is advocated by Müller (Ægin., 107.-Sillig, Dict. Art., s. v.).

EGIŎCHUS, or "Egis bearer" (from aiyis and exw), a poetical appellation of Jove. (Vid. Egis.)

EGIPAN, a poetical appellation of Pan, either from his having the legs of a goat, or as the guardian of goats. Plutarch (Parall., p. 311) makes it analogous to the Latin Silvanus.

ÆGIRA, a city of Achaia, near the coast of the Sinus Corinthiacus, and to the northwest of Pellene. It was a place of some importance, and the population is supposed to have been from 8 to 10,000.

Polybius

ÆGISTHUS, Son of Thyestes by his own daughter Pelopea. (Vid. Atreus.) Having been left guardian of Agamemnon's kingdom when that monarch sailed for Troy, he availed himself of his absence to gain the affections of Clytemnestra his queen, and, when Agamemnon returned from the war, caused him to be slain. (Vid. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.) On the death of the monarch he usurped the throne, and reigned seven years, when he was slain, together with Clytemnestra, by Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. (Vid. Orestes-Hygin., fab. 87, seq —Paus., 2, 16. -Soph. Electr.-Esch Agam.-Eurip. Orest, &c) EGITIUM, a town of Ætolia, northeast of Naupactus, and about eighty stadia from the sea. It occupied an elevated situation in a mountainous tract of country (Thucyd., 3, 97.) Egitium is perhaps Ægæ (Alyai), which Stephanus Byzantinus places in Etolia.

EGIUM, a city of Achaia, on the coast of the Sinus Corinthiacus, and northwest of Ægira. After the submersion of Helice it became the chief place in the country, and here the deputies from the states of Achaia long held their assemblies, until a law was made by Philopomen, ordaining that each of the federal cities should become in its turn the place of rendezvous. (Liv., 38, 7, and 30.- Compare Polybius, 2, 54, and 4, 7) According to Strabo (385, 387), these meetings were convened near the town, in a spot called Enarium, where was a grove consecrated to Jupiter. Pausanias (7, 24) affirms, that in his time the Achæans still collected together at Egium, as the Amphictyons did at Delphi and Thermopyla. According to Strabo, Ægium derived its name from the goat (als) which was said to have nourished Jupiter here. The modern town of Vostitza lies in the immediate neighbourhood.

EGLE. Vid. Supplement.
EGLEIS. Vid. Supplement.

EGLES, a Samian wrestler, born dumb. Seeing (4, 57) makes the distance from the sea seven stadia; some unlawful measures pursued in a contest, which Pausanias, however (7, 26), removes the harbour would deprive him of the prize, his indignation gave twelve stadia from the city. There is no contradic-him on a sudden the powers of utterance which had

been denied him from his birth, and he ever after spoke with ease. (Val. Max., 1, 8, 4.-Aul. Gell., 5, 9.) EGLETES, a surname of Apollo as the god of day. (Alykúτns, from ałyλn, “brightness.”) In the legend given by Apollodorus (1, 9, 26) respecting the island of Anaphe, the epithet Egletes appears to point to Apollo as the darter of the lightning also (Apollo Fulgurator). Compare Heyne, ad Apollod., 1, 9, 26, not.

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GOBOLUS, an appellation given to Bacchus at Potniæ in Boeotia, because he had substituted a goat in the place of a youth, who was annually sacrificed there. (aïs, and Báλλw.) Compare Pausanias, 9, 8, where Kuhn, however, proposes Alyobópov for Aiyobóλov.-By Egobolium, on the other hand, is meant a species of mystic purification. The catechumen was placed in a pit, covered with perforated boards, upon which a goat was sacrificed, so as to bathe him in the blood that flowed from it. Sometimes, for a goat, a bull or ram was substituted, and the ceremony was then called, in the first case, Taurobolium, in the second, Criobolium. (Knight, Inquiry, &c., § 168.)

EGOS POTAMOS, i. e., the goat's river, called also Egos Potamoi, and by the Latin writers Agos Flumen, a small river in the Thracian Chersonese, and south of Callipolis, which apparently gave its name to a town or port situate at its mouth. (Herod., 9, 119. -Steph. Byz., s. v. Alyòç Пoraμoí.) Mannert thinks, that the town just mentioned was the same with that called Cressa by Scylax (p. 28), and Cissa by Pliny (4,9). But consult Gail, ad Scyl., l. c., as regards the meaning of the phrase Evτòç Alyos Tóτаμоv, employed by Scylax. (Geogr. Gr. Min., 1, 439, ed. Gail.) At Egos Potamos the Athenian fleet was totally defeated by the Spartan admiral Lysander, an event which completely destroyed the power of the former state, and finally led to the capture of Athens. (Xen., Hist. Gr., 2, 19.-Diod. Sic., 13, 105.-Plut., Vit. Alcib. Corn. Nep, Vit. Alcib.) The village of Galata probably stands on the site of the town or harbour. (Cramer's Ancient Greece, vol. 1, p. 330.)

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of his dominions, the former fled with his 50 daugh ters, and settled eventually in Argolis. The sons of Egyptus came, after some interval of time, to Argos, and entreated their uncle to bury in oblivion all enmity, and to give them their cousins in marriage. Danaus, retaining a perfect recollection of the injuries they had done him, and distrusting their promises, consented to bestow his daughters upon them, and divided them accordingly by lot among the suitors. But on the wedding day he armed the hands of the brides with daggers, and enjoined upon them to slay in the night their unsuspecting bridegrooms. All but Hypermnestra obeyed the cruel order, while she, relenting, spared her husband Lynceus. Her father at first put her in close confinement, but afterward forgave her, and consented to her union with Lynceus. (Vid. Danaus, Danaides, &c.-Apollod, 2, 1, 5, seqq. — Hygin., fab. 168, 170.-Ov Heroid., 14, &c.)-II. An extensive country of Africa, bounded on the west by part of Marmarica and by the deserts of Libya, on the north by the Mediterránean, on the east by the Sinus Arabicus and a line drawn from Arsinoë to Rhinocolura, and on the south by Æthiopia. Egypt, properly so called, may be described as consisting of the long and narrow valley which follows the course of the Nile from Syene (or Assooan) to Cairo, near the site of the ancient Memphis. To the Nile, Egypt owes its existence as a habitable country, since, without the rich and fertilizing mud deposited by the river in its annual inundations, it would be a sandy desert. At three different places previous to its entering Egypt, this noble stream is threatened to be interrupted in its course by a barrier of mountains, and at each place the barrier is surmounted. The second cataract, in Turkish Nubia, is the most violent and unnavigable. The third is at Syene, and introduces the Nile into Upper Egypt. From Syene to Cairo the river flows along a valley about eight miles broad, between two mountain ridges, one of which extends to the Red Sea, and the other terminates in the deserts of ancient Libya. The river occupies the middle of the valley as far as the strait called Jebel-el-Silsili. This space, about forty miles long, has very little arable land on its banks. It contains some islands, which, from their low level, easily admit of irrigation. At the mouth of the Jebel-el-Sil

GOSAGE, a Gallic nation, who served in the army of Attalus on one of his expeditions. He afterward assigned them a settlement along the Hellespont. (Polyb., 5, 77, seq.) Casaubon, in his Latin version of Polybius, has " Egosages (swe ni sunt Tectosa-sılı (Girard, Mem. sur l'Egypte, vol 3, p. 13), the ges) Schweighæuser, misled by this conjecture, introduces TEKTÓGayaç into the Greek text of the historian in place of Alyócayas, the common reading. In his annotations, however, he acknowledges his precipitancy. Compare the Historical and Geographical index to his edition of Polybius (vol. 8, pt. i., p. 198), in which he conjectures that 'Piyooayes, which occurs in another passage of Polybius (5, 53), ought to be written Αἰγόσαγες also.

EGYS, a town of Laconia, on the borders of Arcadia, and contiguous to Belmina. (Polyb., 2, 54.)

EGYPSUS, or more correctly Egyssus, a city of Masia Inferior, in the region called Parva Scythia, and situate on the bank of the Danube, not far above its mouth. It is mentioned by Ovid (Ep. ex. Pont., 1, 8, 13) Near this place, according to D'Anville, Darius Hystaspis constructed his bridge over the Danube, in his expedition against the Scythians. (As regards the true reading, consult Cellarius, Geogr., 2, 468.)

EGYPTII, the inhabitants of Egypt. Vid. Egyptus. EGYPTIUM MARE, that part of the Mediterranean Sea which is on the coast of Egypt.

ÆGYPTUS, I. a son of Belus, and brother of Danaus. He received from his parent the country of Arabia to rule over; but subsequently conquered the land of "the black-footed race" (Meλaμód), and gave it his name. Ægyptus was the father of 50 sons, and Danaus, to whom Libya had been assigned, of 50 daughters. Jealousy breaking out between Danaus and the sons of Ægyptus, who aimed at depriving him

Nile runs along the right side of the valley, which in several places has the appearance of a steep line of rocks cut into peaks, while the ridge of the hills on the left side is always accessible by a slope of various acclivity These last mountains begin near the town of Sroot, the ancient Lycopolis, and go down towards Faioom, the ancient Arsinoitic Nome, diverging gradually to the west, so that between them and the cultivated valley there is a desert space, becoming gradually wider, and which in several places is bordered on the valley-side by a line of sandy downs lying nearly south and north. The mountains which confine the basin of the Nile in Upper Egypt are intersected by defiles, which on one side lead to the shores of the Red Sea, and on the other to the Oases. These narrow passes might be habitable, since the winter rains maintain for a time a degree of vegetation, and form springs which the Arabs use for themselves and their flocks. The strip of desert land which generally extends along each side of the valley, parallel to the course of the Nile (and which must not be confounded with the barren ocean of sand that lies on each side of Egypt), now contains two very distinct kinds of land; the one immediately at the bottom of the mountain, consists of sand and round pebbles; the other, composed of light drifting sand, covers an extent of ground formerly arable. If a section of the valley is made by a plane perpendicular to its direction, the surface will be observed to decline from the margins of the river to the bottom of the hills, a circumstance

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also remarked on the banks of the Mississippi, the Pc, part of the Borysthenes, and some other rivers. Near Beni-sooef, the valley of the Nile, already much widened on the west, has on that side an opening, through which a view is obtained of the fertile plains of FaThese plains form properly a sort of table-land, separated from the surrounding mountains on the north and west by a wide valley, of which a certain proportion, always laid under water, forms what the inhabitants call Birket-él-Karoon. (Vid. Maris) Near Cairo, the chains which limit the valley of the Nile diverge on both sides. The one, under the name of Jibbel-al-Nairon, runs northwest towards the Mediterranean; the other, called Jibbel-al-Attaka, runs straight east of Suez. In front of these chains a vast plain extends, composed of sands, covered with the mud of the Nile. At the place called Batu-el-Bahara, near the ancient Cercasorus, the river divides into two branches; the one of which flowing to Rosetta, near the ancient Ostium Bolbitinum, and the other to Damietta, the ancient Tamiathis, at the Ostium Phatneticum, contain between them the present Delta. But this triangular piece of insulated land was in former times much larger, being bounded on the east by the Pelusian branch, which is now choked up with sand or converted into marshy pools; while on the west it was bounded by the Canopic branch, which is now partly confounded with the canal of Alexandrea, and partly lost in Lake Etko. But the correspondence of the level of the surface with that of the present Delta, and its depression as compared with that of the adjoining desert, together with its greater verdure and fertility, still mark the limits of the ancient Delta, although irregular encroachments are made by shifting banks of drifting sand, which are at present on the increase. Egypt then, in general language, may be described as an immense valley or longitudinal basin, terminating in a Delta or triangular plain of alluvial formation; being altogether, from the heights of Syene to the shores of the Mediterranean, about 600 miles in length, and of various width. (Malte-Brun, Geogr., vol. 4, p. 21, seqq.)

1. Fertility of Egypt

Almost the whole of the productive soil of Egypt consists of mud deposited by the Nile; and the Delta, as in all similar tracts of country, is entirely composed of alluvial earth and sand. To ascertain the depth of this bed, the French savans, who accompanied the military expedition into Egypt, sank several wells at distant intervals; and from their observations have been obtained the following results. First, that the surface of the soil, as already mentioned, descends more or less rapidly towards the foot of the hills, which is the reverse of what occurs in most valleys: secondly, that the depth of the bed of mud is unequal, being in general about five feet near the river, and increasing gradually as recedes from it: thirdly, that beneath the mud there is a bed of sand similar to that always brought down by the river. The first-mentioned peculiarity is satisfactorily explained by the absence of rain, which, in other countries, washes down the soil from the hills, and, carrying it to the stream in the bottom of the valley, forms a basin, the sides of which have a concave surface; whereas, in Egypt, the soil is conveyed by the inundation from the river into the valley, and the deposites, therefore, will be greatest near its banks. The more rapid the current, also, the smaller will be the quantity of mud deposited. The bed of quartzose sand upon which it rests is about thirty-six feet in depth, and is superposed on the calcareous rock which forms the basis of the lower country. The waters of the river filter through this bed of sand, and springs are found as soon as the borer has reached any considerable depth. Ancient Egypt was yemarkable for its fertility. The staple commodity

was its grain, the growth of which was so abundant as to afford at all times considerable supplies to the neighbouring countries, particularly Syria and Arabia; and in times of scarcity or famine, which were fre quently felt in those countries, Egypt alone could save their numerous population from starving. Egypt, in fact, unlike every other country on the globe, brought forth its produce independent of the seasons and the skies; and while continued drought in the neighbour ing countries brought one season of scarcity after an other, the granaries of Egypt were full. Hence, too, Egypt became regarded as one of the granaries of Rome. (Aurel. Victor, Epit., c. 1.) The Rev. Mr. Jewett has given a striking example of the extraordinary fertility of the soil of Egypt. "I picked up at random," says he," a few stalks out of the thick cornfields. We counted the number of stalks which sprouted from single grains of seed; carefully pulling to pieces each root, in order to see that it was but one plant. The first had seven stalks; the next three; the next nine; then eighteen; then fourteen. Each stalk would have been an ear.' Numerous canals served to carry the waters of the Nile to some of those parts which the inundation could not reach, while machinery was employed to convey the means of irrigation to others. Many of these canals still exist, many have long since disappeared, and not a few tracts of sandy country have displayed themselves in modern times where formerly all was smiling and fertile. Nearly the whole extent from the southern confines to the neighbourhood of Thebes is one barren and sandy waste. Assigning to Upper Egypt an average breadth of ten miles, and allowing for the lateral valleys stretching out from the Delta, it is supposed that the portion of territory, at the present day, in Egypt, capable of cultivation, may amount to about 16,000 square miles, or, in round numbers, ten millions of acres. The total population is estimated at about two millions and a half, which would give about 156 to every square mile. Nearly one half of this territory, it is supposed, is either periodically inundated, or capable of artificial irrigation. The remaining part requires a more laborious cultivation, and yields a more scanty produce. The inundated lands, though they have successively borne one crop, and frequently two, year after year, without intermission, for more than 3000 years, still retain their ancient fertility, without any perceptible impoverishment, and without any farther tillage than the adventitious top-dressing of black, slimy mould by the overflowing of the river. Where the inundation does not reach, the crops are very scanty; wheat does not yield above five or six for one; but for maize and millet the soil is particularly adapted, and these, with rice, lentils, and pulse, constitute the principal food of nine tenths of the inhabitants, allowing the exportation of the greater part of the wheat produced. Taking, then, into consideration the quantity of land once arable, which is now covered with sand, the double harvest, and, of some productions, more than semi-annual crops, the smaller quantity of food which is requisite to sustain life in southern latitudes, and the extent to which the more barren soil was formerly rendered available by the cultivation of the olive, the fig-tree, the vine, and the date-palm, we shall no longer be at a loss to account for the immense fertility and populousness of ancient Egypt, a country said to have contained in former days 7,500,000 souls-One of the most celebrated productions of Egypt is the lotus. The plant usually so denominated is a species of water-lily (nymphea lotus), called by the Arabs nuphar, which, on the disappearance of the inundation, covers all the canals and pools with its broad round leaves, amid which the flowers, in the form of cups of bright whito or azure, expand on the surface, and have a most elegant appearance. Sonnini says, that its roots form a tubercle, which is gathered when the waters of the

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