been denied him from his birth, and he ever after spoke with ease. (Val. Max. 1, 8, 4.-Aul. Gell. 5, 9.) crit. EGLETES, a surname of Apollo as the god of day. (Alyλnrns, from aiyλn, “brightness.") In the legend given by Apollodorus (1, 9, 26) respecting the island of Anaphe, the epithet gletes appears to point to Apollo as the darter of the lightning also (Apollo Fulgurator). Compare Heyne, ad Apollod. 1, 9, 26, not. EGOBOLUS, 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. (als, and Báλh.) Compare Pausanias 9, 8, where Kuhn, however, proposes Alyobópov for Alyobóλov.-By Ægobolium, 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 Egos 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 Пoraμoi.) 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. I. c. as regards the meaning of the phrase ¿vròç Alyòç nоτаμоυ, employed by Scylax. (Geogr. Gr. Min. 1, 439, ed. Gail.) At gos 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.) EGOSAGE, 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 (sive ii sunt Tectosages)." Schweighauser, misled by this conjecture, introduces TekToσayas into the Greek text of the historian in place of Alyóoayas, 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 'Piyóσayes, which occurs in another passage of Polybius (5, 53), ought to be written Αἰγόσαγες also. of his dominions, the former fled with his 50 daughters, and settled eventually in Argolis. The sons of Ægyptus came, after some interval of time, to Argos, and entreated their uncle to bury in oblivion all enmi ty, and to give them their cousins in marriage. Danaus, retaining a perfect recollection of the injuries they had done him, and distrusting their promises, con sented 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 Mediterranean, on the east by the Sinus Arabicus and a line drawn from Arsinoë to Rhinocolura, and on the south by Ethiopia. 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-Silsili (Girard, Mem. sur l'Egypte, vol. 3, p. 13), the 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 Sioot, 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 grad EGYS, a town of Laconia, on the borders of Arca-ually wider, and which in several places is bordered dia, and contiguous to Belmina. (Polyb. 2, 54.) ÆGYPSUS, 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. EGYPTUS, 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" (Mɛhauródwv), 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 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 also remarked on the banks of the Mississippi, the Po, | was its grain, the growth of which was so abundant part of the Borysthenes, and some other rivers. Near as to afford at all times considerable supplies to the Beni-sooef, the valley of the Nile, already much widen- neighbouring countries, particularly Syria and Arabia, ed on the west, has on that side an opening, through and in times of scarcity or famine, which were frewhich a view is obtained of the fertile plains of Fai- quently felt in those countries, Egypt alone could save oom. These plains form properly a sort of table-land, their numerous population from starving. Egypt, in separated from the surrounding mountains on the fact, unlike every other country on the globe, brought north and west by a wide valley, of which a certain forth its produce independent of the seasons and the proportion, always laid under water, forms what the skies; and while continued drought in the neighbourinhabitants call Birket-él-Karoon. (Vid. Maris.) ing countries brought one season of scarcity after anNear Cairo, the chains which limit the valley of the other, the granaries of Egypt were full. Hence, too, Nile diverge on both sides. The one, under the name Egypt became regarded as one of the granaries of of Jibbel-al-Nairon, runs northwest towards the Med- Rome. (Aurel. Victor., Epit. c. 1.) The Rev. Mr. iterranean: the other, called Jibbel-al-Attaka, runs Jewett has given a striking example of the extraordistraight east of Suez. In front of these chains a vast nary fertility of the soil of Egypt. "I picked up at plain extends, composed of sands, covered with the random," says he, "a few stalks out of the thick corninud of the Nile. At the place called Batu-el-Baha- fields. We counted the number of stalks which sproutra, near the ancient Cercasorus, the river divides into ed from single grains of seed; carefully pulling to two branches; the one of which flowing to Rosetta, pieces each root, in order to see that it was but one I ear the ancient Ostium Bolbitinum, and the other to plant. The first had seven stalks; the next three; Damietta, the ancient Tamiathis, at the Ostium Phat- the next nine; then eighteen; then fourteen. Each reticum, contain between them the present Delta. stalk would have been an ear." Numerous canals But this triangular piece of insulated land was in for- served to carry the waters of the Nile to some of those mer times much larger, being bounded on the east by parts which the inundation could not reach, while mathe Pelusian branch, which is now choked up with chinery was employed to convey the means of irrigasand or converted into marshy pools; while on the tion to others. Many of these canals still exist, many west it was bounded by the Canopic branch, which is have long since disappeared, and not a few tracts of now partly confounded with the canal of Alexandrea, sandy country have displayed themselves in modern and partly lost in Lake Etko. But the correspondence times where formerly all was smiling and fertile. of the level of the surface with that of the present Nearly the whole extent from the southern confines to Delta, and its depression as compared with that of the the neighbourhood of Thebes is one barren and sandy adjoining desert, together with its greater verdure and waste. Assigning to Upper Egypt an average breadth fertility, still mark the limits of the ancient Delta, al- of ten miles, and allowing for the lateral valleys stretchthough irregular encroachments are made by shifting ing out from the Delta, it is supposed that the portion banks of drifting sand, which are at present on the of territory, at the present day, in Egypt, capable of increase. Egypt then, in general language, may be cultivation, may amount to about 16,000 square miles, described as an immense valley or longitudinal basin, or, in round numbers, ten millions of acres. The total terminating in a Delta or triangular plain of alluvial population is estimated at about two millions and a formation; being altogether, from the heights of Syene half, which would give about 156 to every square mile. to the shores of the Mediterranean, about 600 miles in Nearly one half of this territory, it is supposed, is either length, and of various width. (Malte-Brun, Geogr. periodically inundated, or capable of artificial irrigation. vol. 4, p. 21, segg.) The remaining part requires a more laborious cultiva. tion, and yields a more scanty produce. The inunda ted 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 (nymphæa 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 white 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 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 sarans, 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 it 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 remarkable for its fertility. The staple commodity Nile subside, and is boiled and eaten like potatoes, | Polyptere bichir, described by Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire which it somewhat resembles in taste. Herodotus (Annales du Muséum, vol. 1, p. 57), is a very remarka(2, 92) states, that the Egyptians not only ate the root, ble example. That able naturalist observes, in genera., but inade a sort of bread of the seed, which resembled that the birds of Egypt differ not much from those of that of the poppy. He adds, that there is a second Europe. He saw the Egyptian swan, represented in species, the root of which is very grateful, either fresh all the temples of Upper Egypt, both in sculptures and or dried. The plant which was chiefly eaten by the in coloured paintings, and entertains no doubt that this ancient Egyptians, and which is so frequently carved bird was the chenalopex (culpanser) of Herodotus, to on the ancient monuments, is supposed to be the which the ancient Egyptians paid divine honours, and nymphæa nelumbo, or nelumbium speciosum, the "sa- had even dedicated a town in Upper Egypt, called by cred bean" of India, now found only in that country. the Greeks Chenoboscium. It is not peculiar to Egypt, Its seeds, which are about the size of a bean, have a but is found all over Africa, and almost all over Eudelicate flavour resembling almonds, and its roots also rope. The Ibis, which was believed to be a destroyer are edible. The lotus of Homer, however, the fruits of serpents, is, according to the observations of Cuvier, of which so much delighted the companions of Ulysses, a sort of curlew, called at present Aboohannes, Grois a very different plant, namely, the ziziphus lotus bert and Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire have brought home (rhamnus), or jujube, which bears a fruit the size of a mummies of this animal, which had been prepared and sloe, with a large stone, and is one of the many plants entombed with much superstitious care. (Mémoire sur which have been erroneously fixed on by learned com-Ibis, par M. Cuvier.-Malte-Brun, Geogr., vol. 4, p. mentators as the dudaim (mandrakes) of the sacred 45, seqq.) writings. The papyrus, not less celebrated in ancient times than the lotus, and which is believed to have disappeared from the banks of the Nile, has been rediscovered in the cyperus papyrus of Linnæus. The colocasium is still cultivated in Egypt for its large esculent roots. The banks of the river and the canals sometimes present coppices of acacia and mimosa, and there are groves of rose-laurel, willow, cassia, and other shrubs. Faioom contains impenetrable hedges of cactus, or Indian fig. But, though so rich in plants, Egypt is destitute of timber, and all the firewood is imported from Caramania. (Maltc- Brun, Geogr., vol. 4, p. 38, seqq.-Modern Traveller (Egypt), p. 18, seqq.) 2. Animal Kingdom. 3. Name of Egypt. The name by which this country is known to Europeans comes from the Greeks, some of whose writers inform us that it received this appellation from Ægyptus, son of Belus, having been previously called Aeria. (Compare Eusebius, Chron., lib. 2, p. 284, ed. Man et Zohrab.) In the Hebrew Scriptures it is styled Mitsraim, and also Matsor, and harets Cham: of these names, however, the first is the one most commonly employed. The Arabians and other Orientals still know it by the name of Mesr or Mizr. According to general opinion, Egypt was called Mitsraim after the second son of Ham. Bochart, however, opposes this (Geogr. Sacr. 4, 24), and contends that the The animal kingdom of Egypt will not detain us name of Mitsraim, being a dual form, indicates the long. The want of meadows prevents the multiplica- two divisions of Egypt into Upper and Lower. Caltion of cattle. They must be kept in stables during met (Dict., art. Misraim) supposes, that it denotes the the inundation. The Mamelukes used to keep a beau- people of the country rather than the father of the tiful race of saddle-horses. Asses, mules, and camels people. Josephus (Ant. Jud. 1, 6) calls Egypt Mesappear here in all their vigour. There are also nu- tra; the Septuagint translators, Metsraim; Eusebius merous herds of buffaloes. In Lower Egypt there are and Suidas, Mestraia. The Coptic name of Old Cairo sheep of the Barbary breed. The large beasts of prey is still Mistraim; the Syrians and Arabs call it Masra find in this country neither prey nor cover. Hence, or Massera. The other appellation, Matsor, as given though the jackal and hyena are common, the lion is above, Bochart has clearly proved to mean a fortress; but rarely seen in pursuit of the gazelles which traverse and, according to him, Egypt was so called, either from the deserts of the Thebaid. The crocodile and the hip- its being a region fortified by nature, or from the word popotamus, those primeval inhabitants of the Nile, tsor, which signifies narrow, and which he thinks sufseem to be banished from the Delta, but are still seen in ficiently descriptive of the valley of Upper Egypt. Sir Upper Egypt. The islands adjoining the cataracts are W. Drummond (Origines, 2, 55) inclines to the first sometimes found covered with crocodiles, which choose of these two etymologies, because Diodorus Siculus these places for depositing their eggs. The voracity (1, 30) and Strabo (SU3) remark, that Egypt was a of the hippopotamus has, by annihilating his means of country extremely difficult of access; and Diodorus, support, greatly reduced the number of his race. Ab-speaking of the Upper Egypt, observes, that it seems dollatif, with some justice, denominates this ugly animal an enormous water-pig. It has been long known that the ichneumon is not tamed in Upper Egypt, as Buffon had believed. The ichneumon is the same animal which the ancients mention under that name, and which has never been found except in this country. It possesses a strong instinct of destruction, and, in searching for its prey, exterminates the young of many noxious reptiles. The eggs of crocodiles form its favourite food; and in addition to this its favourite repast, it eagerly sucks the blood of every creature which it is able to overcome. Its body is about a foot and a half in length, and its tail is of nearly equal dimensions. Its general colour is a grayish brown; but, when closely inspected, each hair is found annulated with a paler and a darker hue. Zoology has lately been en-chmom, signifies "calor," and xaue, chame, "miger." riched with several animals brought from Egypt, among The Egyptians always called their country Chemia or which are the coluber haje, an animal figured in all the Chame, probably from the burned and black appearance hieroglyphical tables as the emblem of Providence; of the soil. (Compare Plut. de Is. et Os., p. 364.— and the coluber vipera, the true viper of the ancients. Shawe's Travels, fol. ed., p. 432.-Calmet's Dict., art. The Nile seems to contain some singular fishes hith-Ham.) The name Aëria has a similar reference, and erto unknown to systematic naturalists. Of this the would seem to have been a translation of the native not a little to excel other limited places in the kingdom, word, the primitive unp denoting obscurity, duskiness. Thus, the scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (1, 580) says, that Thessaly was called 'Hepía, according to one explanation, on account of the dark colour of its soil; and adds that Egypt was denominated 'Hepía for a similar reason. Bryant (6, 149), who cites this passage of the scholiast, represents it as a vulgar error; but his reasoning is, as usual, unsatisfactory. The etymology of the word Egypt has occupied the attention and baffled the ingenuity of many learned writers. The most common opinion is, that AlyvπToç is composed of ala (for yaïa), land, and yúπtoç, or rather Kó705, and that, consequently. Egypt signifies the land of Kopt, or the Koptic land. Others derive it from aia, and yup, the black vulture, the colour of that bird (whence the Latin subvulturius, “blackish") being, according to them, characteristic of the soil or its inhabitants. Mede conceives the primitive form to have been Aia Cuphti, the land of Cuphti; while Bruce says, that Y Gypt, the name given to Egypt in Ethiopia, means the country of canals. Eusebius, who is supposed to have followed Manetho, the Egyptian historian, states, that Ramses, or Ramesses, who reigned in Egypt (according to Usher) B.C. 1577, was also called Egyptus, and that he gave it his name, as has already been mentioned. (Euseb. Chron. 2, p. 284, ed. Maii et Zohrab.) 4. Divisions of Egypt. In the time of the Pharaohs, Egypt was divided into the Thebais, Middle, and Lower Egypt. The Thebais extended from Syene, or, more correctly speaking, Philæ, as far as Abydos, and contained ten districts, jurisdictions, or, as the Greeks called them, nomes (Nóuot. Herod. 2, 164). The Coptic word is Pthosch. (Champollion, l'Egypte sous les Pharaons, 1, 66.) To these succeeded the sixteen nomes of Middle Egypt (Strabo, 787), reaching to Cercasorus, where the Nile began to branch off. Then came the ten nomes of Lower Egypt, or the Delta, extending to the sea. The whole number of nomes then was thirty-six, and this arrangement Is said by Diodorus Siculus (1, 50) to have been introduced by Sesostris (Sethosis-Ramesses) previous to his departure on his expedition into Asia, in order that, by means of the governors placed over each of these nomes, his kingdom might be the better governed during his absence, and justice more carefully administered. It is more than probable, however, that this division was much older than the time of Sesostris (Champollion, l'Egypte, &c, 1, 71), and the account given by Strabo, respecting the halls of the labyrinth, would seem to confirm this. The geographer informs us, that the halls of this structure coincided with the number of the nomes, and the building would seem to have occupied a central position with respect to these various districts, having eighteen nomes to the north, and as many to the south, and thus answering a civil as well as a religious purpose. (Ritter, Erdkunde, 2d ed., 1, 704.) Under the dyrasty of the Ptolemies the number of the nomes became enlarged, partly by reason of the new and improved state of things in that quarter of Egypt where Alexandrea was situated, partly by the addition of the Oases to Egypt, and partly also by the alterations which an active commerce had produced along the borders of the Arabian Gulf. A change also took place, about this same period, in the three main divisions of the land. Lower Egypt now no longer confined itself to the limits of the Delta, but had its extent enlarged by an addition of some of the neighbouring nomes. In like manner, Upper Egypt, or the Thebais, received a portion of what had formerly been included within the limits of Middle Egypt, so that eventually but seven nomes remained to this last-mentioned section of country, which therefore received the naine of Heptanomis. (Mannert, Geogr. 10, 1, 303.) A new Under the Roman dominion, Thebais alone was regarded as a separate division of the country; all the rest of the land obtained no farther division than that produced by its nomes. Hence Pliny (5, 9), after mentioning eleven nomes as forming the district of Thebais, speaks of the country around Pelusium as consisting of four others, and then, without any other division, enumerates thirty nomes in the rest of Egypt. At this time, then, the nomes had increased to 45. They became still farther increased, at a subsequent period, by various subdivisions of the older ones. Hence we find Ptolemy enumerating still more nomes than Pliny, while he omits the mention of others recorded by the latter, which probably existed no longer in his own days. At a still later period we hear little more of the nomes. A new division of the country took place under the Eastern empire. An imperial Prefect exercised sway over not only Egypt, but also Libya as far as Cyrene, while a Comes Militaris had charge of the forces. The power of the latter extended over all Egypt as far as Ethiopia, but a Dux, who was dependant on him, exercised particular control over the Thebais. This arrangement seems to have been introduced in the time of the Emperor Theodosius, as appears from the language of the Notitia. From this time, the whole of Middle Egypt, previously named Heptanomis, bore the name of Arcadia, in honor of Arcadius, eldest son of Theodosius. province also had arisen a considerable time before this, named Augustamnica, from its lying chiefly along the Nile. It comprised the eastern half of the Delta, together with a portion of Arabia as far as the Arabian Gulf, and also the cities on the Mediterranean coast as far as the Syrian frontier. Its capital was Pelusium The name of this province is mentioned by the ecclesiastical writers as early as the time of Constantine, and it occurs also in the history of Ammianus Marcellinus (22, 16). About the time of Justinian, in the sixth century, the position of the various archbishoprics and bishoprics, all subject to the patriarchate of Alexandrea, gave rise to a new distribution of provinces. The territory of Alexandrea, with the western portion of the Delta in the vicinity of the Ostium Canopicum, was called "The First Egypt," and the more eastern part, as far as the Ostium Phatneticum, was termed The Second Egypt." The northeastern quarter of the Delta, on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, together with the eastern tract as far as the Arabian Gulf, received the appellation of "The First Augustamnica," and had Pelusium for its capital. The inner part of the western Delta, as far as the Ostium Phatneticum, was named "The Second Augustamnica." Its capital was Leontopolis. Thus the Delta, with the country immediately adjacent, embraced four small provinces. Middle Egypt still retained a large part of its previous extent, under the name of Middle Egypt or Arcadia (Mon Alyvπτоç, ǹ 'Apкadía). Memphis belonged to it as the northernmost state; but it was by this time greatly sunk in importance, and Oxyrynchus had succeeded it as the metropolis. Amid all these changes, the Thebais was continually regarded as a separate district. It now received new accessions from the north, and a double appellation arose. The northern and smaller portion, which had originally formed a part of Middle Egypt, was called The First Thebais." To it was appended the Oasis Magna, and its Metropolis was Antæopolis. The southern regions as far as Phila and Thatis, including a small part of Ethiopia, formed The Second Thebais." Its capital was Coptos. It seems unnecessary to pursue the subsequent changes that gradually ensued, especially as they are of no peculiar importance either in point of history or geography. (Compare Hierocles. Synekdemos; in Wesseling's Rom. Itin.. Amst., 1735, 4to.-Mannert, Geogr., 10, 1, 305, seqq.) 5. Population of Egypt. Diodorus Siculus (1, 31) states, on the authority of the ancient Egyptian records, that the land contained, in the time of the Pharaohs, more than 18,000 cities and villages. The same writer informs us, that, in the time of the first Ptolemy, the number was above 30,000. In this latter statement, however, there is an evident exaggeration. Theocritus (Idyll. 17, 82, seqq.) assigns to Ptolemy Philadelphus the sovereignty over 33,333 cities. In this also there is exaggeration, but not of so offensive a character as in the former case, since the sway of Philadelphus did, in fact, extend over other countries besides Egypt; such as Syria, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Pamphylia, Caria, &c. Pomponius Mela (1, 9), and Pliny (5, 9), who frequently copies him, confine themselves with good reason to a more moderate number. According to them, the Egyptians occupied, in the time of Amasis, 20,000 cities. This number is borrowed from Herodotus (2, 77), and may be made to correspond with that first given from Diodorus Siculus, if we take into consideration that Amasis had extended his sway over Cyrenaica also, and that this may serve to swell the number as given by Herodotus, Mela, and Pliny, leaving about 18,000 for Egypt itself. Diodorus Siculus (c.) gives the ancient population of the country as seven millions, an estimate which does not appear excessive, when compared with that of other lands. The number would seem to have been somewhat increased during the reign of the Ptolemies, and to have continued so under the Roman sway, since we find Josephus (Bell. Jud. 2, 16) estimating the population of Egypt, in the time of Vespasian, at 7,500,000, without counting that of Alexandrea, which, according to Diodorus (17, 52), was 300,000, exclusive of slaves. When we read, however, in the same Diodorus (1, 31), that in his days the inhabitants of Egypt amounted to "not less than three millions” (ovk éλúttovç elvaι тpiakoσiwv sc. pvpiádov), we must regard this number as the interpolation of a scribe, and must consider Diodorus as merely wishing to convey this idea, that, in more ancient times, the population was said to have been seven millions, and that in his own days it was not inferior to this. (Τοῦ δὲ σύμπαντος λαοῦ τὸ μὲν παλαιόν φασι γεγονέναι περὶ ἑπτακοσίας μυριάδας, καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς δὲ οὐκ ἐλάττους εἶναι [τριακοσίων]. Compare Wesseling, ad loc. Mannert, 10, 2, 309, seqq.) 6. Complexion and Physical Structure of the Egyptians. of the people of Colchis, he says, that they were a colony of Egyptians, and he supports his opinion by this argument, that they were μeuyxpoεç Kai оvÃÓTρiɣes, or, "black in complexion, and woolly-haired." These are exactly the words used in the description of undoubted negroes. The same Colchians, it may be observed, are mentioned by Pindar (Pyth. 4, 377) as being black, with the epithet of Kεnaivines, on which passage the scholiast observes, that the Colchians were black, and that their dusky hue was attributed to their descent from the Egyptians, who were of the same complexion. Herodotus, in another place (2, 57), alludes to the complexion of the Egyptians, as if it was very strongly marked, and, indeed, as if they were quite black. After relating the fable of the foundation of the Dodonean oracle by a black pigeon, which had fled from Thebes in Egypt, and uttered its prophecies from the oaks at Dodona, he adds his conjecture respecting the true meaning of the tale. He supposes the oracle to have been instituted by a female captive from the Thebaid, who was enigmatically described as a bird, and subjoins, that, "by representing the bird as black, they marked that the woman was an Egyptian." Some other writers have left us expressions equally strong. Eschylus, in the Supplices (v. 722, seqq.), mentions the crew of an Egyptian bark, as seen from an eminence on shore. The person who espies them concludes them to be Egyptians from their black complexion : πρέπουσι δ' ἄνδρες νήϊοι μελαγχίμοις γυίοισι λευκῶν ἐκ πεπλωμάτων ἰδεῖν. There are other passages in ancient writers, in which the Egyptians are mentioned as a swarthy people, which might with equal propriety be applied to a perfect black, or to a brown or dusky Nubian. We have, in one of the dialogues of Lucian (Navigium seu Vota.-vol. 8, 157, ed. Bip.), a ludicrous description of a young Egyptian, who is represented as belonging to the crew of a trading vessel at the Piræus. It is said of him, that, "besides being black, he had projecting lips, and was very slender in the legs, and that his hair and the curls bushed up behind marked him to be of servile rank." The words of the original are, οὗτος δὲ πρὸς τῷ μελάγχρους εἶναι, καὶ πρόχειλός ἐστ τι, καὶ λεπτὸς ἀγαν τοῖν σκελοῖν, . ἡ κόμη δὲ, καὶ ἐς τοὺπίσω ὁ πλόκαμος συνεσπειραμένος, οὐκ ἔλευ Pépióv pnaiv avròv eival. The expression, however, which is here applied to the hair, seems rather to agree with the description of the bushy curls worn by the Nouba, than with the woolly heads of negroes. A few remarks relative to the physical character of Mr. Legh, in speaking of the Barabras, near Syene, this singular people, may form no uninteresting prel- says, "The hair of the men is sometimes frizzled at ude to their national history. There are two sources the sides, and stiffened with grease, so as perfectly to of information respecting the physical character of the resemble the extraordinary projection on the head of ancient Egyptians. These are, first, the descriptions the Sphinx. But the make of the limbs corresponds of their persons incidentally to be met with in the an- with the negro." (Legh's Travels in Egypt, p. 98.) cient writers; and, secondly, the numerous remains In another physical peculiarity the Egyptian race is of paintings and sculptures, as well as of human bodies, described as resembling the negro. Elian (Hist. preserved among the ruins of ancient Egypt. It is not Anim. 7, 12) informs us, that the Egyptians used to easy to reconcile the evidence derived from these dif- boast that their women, immediately after they were ferent quarters. The principal data from which a delivered, could rise from their beds, and go about their judgment is to be formed are as follows: 1. Accounts domestic labour. Some of these passages are very given by the ancients. If we were to judge from the strongly expressed, as if the Egyptians were negroes; remarks in some passages of the ancient writers alone, and yet it must be confessed, that if they really were we should perhaps be led to the opinion that the Egyp- such, it is singular we do not find more frequent allutians were a woolly-haired and black people, like the sion to the fact. The Hebrews were a fair people, negroes of Guinea. There is a well-known passage fairer at least than the Arabs. Yet, in all the interof Herodotus (2, 104), which has often been cited to course they had with Egypt, we never find in the sathis purpose. The authority of this historian is of the cred history the least intimation that the Egyptians more weight, as he had travelled in Egypt, and was, were negroes; not even on the remarkable occasion therefore, well acquainted, from his own observation, of the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Phawith the appearance of the people; and it is well raoh. Were a modern historian to record the nuptials known that he is in general very accurate and faithful of a European monarch with the daughter of a negro in relating the facts and describing the objects which king, such a circumstance would surely find its place. fell under his personal observation. In his account | And since Egypt was so closely connected, first with |