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 northeast from the city. In the middle ages, Ægira only through all Greece, but likewise in other countries. took the name of Votstitza. (Georg. Phranza, 2, 9.) Paul of Egina closes the list of the classic Greek It is now Vostica, a deserted place to the east of physicians, for after him the healing art fell, like so Vostitza, the ancient Egium. (Mannert, Geogr., many others, into neglect and barbarism, and did not vol. 8, p. 396.) regain any portion of its former honours until towards ÆGIS, the shield of Jupiter, made for him by Vulthe twelfth century. As Paul made himself very able can (I. 15, 310), and borne also by Apollo (Il. 15, 229) in surgery, and displayed great skill also in accouche- and Minerva (5, 738). It inspired terror and dismay, ments, the Arabians testified their esteem for him by and, by its movements, darkness, clouds, thunder and styling him the accoucheur. Though he cannot be lightning were collected. (II. 17, 594.) Hence, in regarded as altogether original, since he abridged Ga- later poets, it has also the meaning of a storm or hurrilen, and obtained many materials from Aëtius and cane. (Esch. Choëph. 584.-Eurip. Ion, 996.) AcOribasus, yet he frequently lays down opinions of his cording to some, Minerva had an ægis of her own, disown, differing from those of Galen, and more than once tinct from Jupiter's, and she placed in the centre of it has the courage to refute the positions of Hippocrates. the head of Medusa; but the Gorgon's head appears His descriptions of maladies are short and succinct, also on Jupiter's shield. (Eustath. ad I. 5, 741. but exact and complete. He frequently assumes, as Heyne, ad Apollod. 2, 43.) As Minerva typifies the the basis of his explanations, the Galenian theory of mind or wisdom of Jove, there is a peculiar propriety the cardinal humours. It is in surgery particularly in her wielding the same ægis with her great parent.that Paul of Ægina appears to advantage, not only be- The etymology of the term aiyiç is disputed. The cause he had acquired more experience than any other common derivation makes it come from ais, alyós, Greek physician in this branch of his art, but also be-"a goat," and to have been so named from its being cause he does not servilely copy his predecessors. In covered with the skin of the goat that had suckled the this respect some authors place him by the side of infant Jove. This derivation, however, appears to be 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 alyiç and ais, alyóç, and is evidently the invention of part of his writings which relates to surgery, is the one later writers and fabulists. The true etymology is which treats of the various kinds of arrows used among from aioow, dižo, “to move rapidly," "to rush,” “to the ancients, and of the wounds inflicted by them. arouse," &c., and comports far better with the idea The work of this physician, which has come down to of brandishing to and fro a terror-inspiring shield.— us, is entitled An Abridgment of All Medicine, and The meaning of a coat of mail, or, rather, leathern consists of seven books, compiled from the writings tunic, with or without plates of metal, belongs to anof the more ancient physicians, with his own observa- other aiyís, which is correctly deduced from aiş. tions subjoined. It has passed through many editions, (Compare Herod. 4, 189.) of which the following are the principal ones. 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 Gemusæus, 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 Egina, 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 (Egin. 107-Sillig, Dict. Art. s. v.). The EGIŎCHUS, or "Egis bearer" (from aiyís and Exw), a poetical appellation of Jove. (Vid. Ægis.) 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. 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 Etolia, northeast of Naupactus, and about eighty stadia from the sea. It occupied an elevated situation in a mountainous tract of country. (Thucyd. 3, 97.) Ægitium is perhaps Egæ (Alyaí), which Stephanus Byzantinus places in Etolia. EGIUM, a city of Achaia, on the coast of the Sinus Corinthiacus, and northwest of Egira. 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. EGIRA, a city of Achaia, near the coast of the Sinus Corinthiacus, and to the northwest of Pellene. EGLE, I. one of the Hesperides. (Apollod. 2, 5.) It was a place of some importance, and the population-II. The fairest of the Naiads. (Virg. Ecl. 6. 20.) is supposed to have been from 8 to 10,000. Polybius 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. (Alyarns, from aiyan, "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. crit. 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. (al, and Báλ2w.) Compare Pausanias 9, 8, where Kuhn, however, proposes Alyobópov for Aiyobóλov.-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. Aiyòç Пorauoí.) 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 ivròs Alyòç поτаμоυ, 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.) 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 TekTooayas into the Greek text of the historian in place of Alyóσayas, 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. of his dominions, the former fled with his 50 daugh 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.) 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. Ægyptus. ÆGYPTIUM 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" (Meλauñódwv), 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 com. 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. Moris.) 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 cornmud 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 rear 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 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 adventi 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 mil-tious top-dressing of black, slimy mould by the overitary 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 flowing 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 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 made 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 (vulpanser) 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. (Malte-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. Maii 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 (803) 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 ani- not a little to excel other limited places in the kingdom, mal an enormous water-pig. It has been long known by a natural fortification (oxvpóτnti øvσiký) and by that the ichneumon is not tamed in Upper Egypt, as the beauty of the country. The third appellation menBuffon had believed. The ichneumon is the same an- tioned above, namely, harets Cham, "the land of imal which the ancients mention under that name, and Ham," seems to have been the poetical name for Egypt which has never been found except in this country. among the Hebrews, and accordingly it occurs only in It possesses a strong instinct of destruction, and, in the Psalms. It is a tradition, at least as old as the time searching for its prey, exterminates the young of many of St. Jerome, that the land of Ham was so named noxious reptiles. The eggs of crocodiles form its fa- after the son of Noah. (Quæst. in Genesin.—Drumvourite food; and in addition to this its favourite repast, mond's Origines, 2, 45, seqq.) There may, however, it eagerly sucks the blood of every creature which it is be reason to think, that the patriarch was named after able to overcome. Its body is about a foot and a half the country where it is supposed he finally settled. I in length, and its tail is of nearly equal dimensions. Hebrew, cham signifies "calidus ;" and chom, “fuscus," Its general colour is a grayish brown; but, when " 'niger." In Egyptian we find several words which are closely inspected, each hair is found annulated with a nearly the same both in sound and sense. paler and a darker hue. Zoology has lately been en-chmom, signifies "calor," and xque, chame, “niger." 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 Thus χρομ, word, the primitive anp denoting obscurity, duskiness. Under the Roman dominion, Thebais alone was reThus, the scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (1, 580) garded as a separate division of the country; all the says, that Thessaly was called 'Hɛpía, according to one rest of the land obtained no farther division than that explanation, on account of the dark colour of its soil; produced by its nomes. Hence Pliny (5, 9), after and adds that Egypt was denominated 'Hepía for a mentioning eleven nomes as forming the district of similar reason. Bryant (6, 149), who cites this pas- Thebais, speaks of the country around Pelusium as sage of the scholiast, represents it as a vulgar error; consisting of four others, and then, without any other but his reasoning is, as usual, unsatisfactory. The division, enumerates thirty nomes in the rest of Egypt. etymology of the word Egypt has occupied the atten- At this time, then, the nomes had increased to 45. tion and baffled the ingenuity of many learned writers. They became still farther increased, at a subsequent The most common opinion is, that AlyvπToç is com- period, by various subdivisions of the older ones. posed of ala (for yaia), land, and yúnTоç, or rather κón- Hence we find Ptolemy enumerating still more nomes Tor, and that, consequently, Egypt signifies the land of than Pliny, while he omits the mention of others reKopt, or the Koptic land. Others derive it from aia, and corded by the latter, which probably existed no longer y, the black vulture, the colour of that bird (whence in his own days. At a still later period we hear little the Latin subculturius, “blackish") being, according more of the nomes. A new division of the country to them, characteristic of the soil or its inhabitants. took place under the Eastern empire. An imperial Mede conceives the primitive form to have been Aia | Prefect exercised sway over not only Egypt, but also Cuphti, the land of Cuphti; while Bruce says, that Libya as far as Cyrene, while a Comes Militaris had Y Gypt, the name given to Egypt in Ethiopia, means charge of the forces. The power of the latter extendthe country of canals. Eusebius, who is supposed to ed over all Egypt as far as Ethiopia, but a Dux, who have followed Manetho, the Egyptian historian, states, was dependant on him, exercised particular control that Ramses, or Ramesses, who reigned in Egypt over the Thebais. This arrangement seems to have (according to Usher) B.C. 1577, was also called been introduced in the time of the Emperor TheodoÆgyptus, and that he gave it his name, as has already sius, as appears from the language of the Notitia. been mentioned. (Euseb. Chron. 2, p. 284, ed. Maii From this time, the whole of Middle Egypt, previously et Zohrab.) 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 archbishop 4. Divisions of Egypt. A new 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, Phile, as far as Abydos, and contained ten districts, jurisdictions, or, as the Greeks called them, nomes (Nóuo. 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 num-rics and bishoprics, all subject to the patriarchate of ber of nomes then was thirty-six, and this arrangement Alexandrea, gave rise to a new distribution of provinis said by Diodorus Siculus (1, 50) to have been in- ces. The territory of Alexandrea, with the western troduced by Sesostris (Sethosis-Ramesses) previous to portion of the Delta in the vicinity of the Ostium Cahis departure on his expedition into Asia, in order that, nopicum, was called "The First Egypt," and the by means of the governors placed over each of these more eastern part, as far as the Ostium Phatneticum, nomes, his kingdom might be the better governed du- was termed "The Second Egypt." The northeastring his absence, and justice more carefully administer-ern quarter of the Delta, on the Pelusiac arm of the ed. It is more than probable, however, that this divis- Nile, together with the eastern tract as far as the Araion was much older than the time of Sesostris (Cham-bian Gulf, received the appellation of "The First Aupollion, 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 dynasty 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 name of Heptanomis. (Mannert, Geogr. 10, 1, 303.)] gustamnica," 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 (Méon Alyvnтos, '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, segg.) |