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diff --git a/32860.txt b/32860.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bd5bb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/32860.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19175 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, +Volume 9, Slice 1, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 + "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 17, 2010 [EBook #32860] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOL 9 SL 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + +(1) Hieroglyphic symbols are indicated by [HRG] and ancient letters by + [SGN]. + +(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. + +(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective + paragraphs. + +(4) The following typographical errors have been corrected: + + Article EGG: "The outermost, or third, layer of this shell often + takes the form of a glaze, as of porcelain, as for example in the + burnished egg of the ostrich ..." 'porcelain' amended from + 'procelain'. + + Article EGLINTON, EARLS OF: "This earl's successor was his + grandson, Archibald William, the 13th earl (1812-1861), who was + born at Palermo on the 29th of September 1812." 'on' amended from + 'in'. + + Article EGYPT: "While the worship of the gods 55 tended more and + more to become a monopoly of the state and the priests ..." + 'monopoly' amended from 'monoply'. + + Article EGYPT: "... the home of the dead in the heavens was a + fertile region not very different from Egypt itself, intersected by + canals and abounding in corn and fruit ..." 'from' amended from + 'form'. + + Article EGYPT: "The celebrated Israel stele from this temple is his + principal inscription. The rock shrines at Silsila are of small + importance." 'is' amended from 'in'. + + + + + ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA + + A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE + AND GENERAL INFORMATION + + ELEVENTH EDITION + + + VOLUME IX, SLICE I + + Edwardes to Ehrenbreitstein + + + + +ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: + + + EDWARDES, SIR HERBERT BENJAMIN EGER (town of Austria) + EDWARDS, AMELIA ANN BLANDFORD EGER (town of Hungary) + EDWARDS, BELA BATES EGERIA + EDWARDS, BRYAN EGERTON, SIR PHILIP DE MALPAS GREY + EDWARDS, GEORGE EGG, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD + EDWARDS, HENRY THOMAS EGG + EDWARDS, JONATHAN EGGENBERG, HANS ULRICH VON + EDWARDS, LEWIS EGGER, EMILE + EDWARDS, RICHARD EGGLESTON, EDWARD + EDWARDS, THOMAS CHARLES EGHAM + EDWARDSVILLE (Illinois, U.S.A.) EGIN + EDWARDSVILLE (Pennsylvania, U.S.A) EGLANTINE + EDWIN (king of Northumbria) EGLINTON, EARLS OF + EDWIN, JOHN EGMONT, EARLS OF + EDWY EGMONT LAMORAL + EECKHOUT, GERBRAND VAN DEN EGOISM + EEL EGORIEVSK + EFFENDI EGREMONT, EARLS OF. + EFFIGIES, MONUMENTAL EGREMONT + EGAN, PIERCE EGRESS + EGBO EGYPT + EGEDE, HANS EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED + EGER, AQIBA EHRENBREITSTEIN + + + + +EDWARDES, SIR HERBERT BENJAMIN (1819-1868), English soldier-statesman in +India, was born at Frodesley in Shropshire on the 12th of November 1819. +His father was Benjamin Edwardes, rector of Frodesley, and his +grandfather Sir John Edwardes, baronet, eighth holder of a title +conferred on one of his ancestors by Charles I. in 1644. He was educated +at a private school and at King's College, London. Through the influence +of his uncle, Sir Henry Edwardes, he was nominated in 1840 to a +cadetship in the East India Company; and on his arrival in India, at the +beginning of 1841, he was posted as ensign in the 1st Bengal Fusiliers. +He remained with this regiment about five years, during which time he +mastered the lessons of his profession, obtained a good knowledge of +Hindustani, Hindi and Persian, and attracted attention by the political +and literary ability displayed in a series of letters which appeared in +the _Delhi Gazette_. + +In November 1845, on the breaking out of the first Sikh War, Edwardes +was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Hugh (afterwards Viscount) Gough, then +commander-in-chief in India. On the 18th of December he was severely +wounded at the battle of Mudki. He soon recovered, however, and fought +by the side of his chief at the decisive battle of Sobraon (February 10, +1846). He was soon afterwards appointed third assistant to the +commissioners of the trans-Sutlej territory; and in January 1847 was +named first assistant to Sir Henry Lawrence, the resident at Lahore. +Lawrence became his great exemplar and in later years he was accustomed +to attribute to the influence of this "father of his public life" +whatever of great or good he had himself achieved. He took part with +Lawrence in the suppression of a religious disturbance at Lahore in the +spring of 1846, and soon afterwards assisted him in reducing, by a rapid +movement to Jammu, the conspirator Imam-ud-din. In the following year a +more difficult task was assigned him--the conduct of an expedition to +Bannu, a district on the Waziri frontier, in which the people would not +tolerate the presence of a collector, and the revenue had consequently +fallen into arrear. By his rare tact and fertility of resource, Edwardes +succeeded in completely conquering the wild tribes of the valley without +firing a shot, a victory which he afterwards looked back upon with more +satisfaction than upon others which brought him more renown. His fiscal +arrangements were such as to obviate all difficulty of collection for +the future. In the spring of 1848, in consequence of the murder of Mr +vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson at Multan, by order of the diwan +Mulraj, and of the raising of the standard of revolt by the latter, +Lieutenant Edwardes was authorized to march against him. He set out +immediately with a small force, occupied Leiah on the left bank of the +Indus, was joined by Colonel van Cortlandt, and, although he could not +attack Multan, held the enemy at bay and gave a check at the critical +moment to their projects. He won a great victory over a greatly superior +Sikh force at Kinyeri (June 18), and received in acknowledgment of his +services the local rank of major. In the course of the operations which +followed near Multan, Edwardes lost his right hand by the explosion of a +pistol in his belt. On the arrival of a large force under General Whish +the siege of Multan was begun, but was suspended for several months in +consequence of the desertion of Shere Singh with his army and artillery. +Edwardes distinguished himself by the part he took in the final +operations, begun in December, which ended with the capture of the city +on the 4th of January 1849. For his services he received the thanks of +both houses of parliament, was promoted major by brevet, and created +C.B. by special statute of the order. The directors of the East India +Company conferred on him a gold medal and a good service pension of L100 +per annum. + +After the conclusion of peace Major Edwardes returned to England for the +benefit of his health, married during his stay there, and wrote and +published his fascinating account of the scenes in which he had been +engaged, under the title of _A Year on the Punjab Frontier in +1848-1849_. His countrymen gave him fitting welcome, and the university +of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. In 1851 he returned to +India and resumed his civil duties in the Punjab under Sir Henry +Lawrence. In November 1853 he was entrusted with the responsible post of +commissioner of the Peshawar frontier, and this he held when the Mutiny +of 1857 broke out. It was a position of enormous difficulty, and +momentous consequences were involved in the way the crisis might be met. +Edwardes rose to the height of the occasion. He saw as if by inspiration +the facts and the needs, and by the prompt measures which he adopted he +rendered a service of incalculable importance, by effecting a +reconciliation with Afghanistan, and securing the neutrality of the amir +and the frontier tribes during the war. So effective was his procedure +for the safety of the border that he was able to raise a large force in +the Punjab and send it to co-operate in the siege and capture of Delhi. +In 1859 Edwardes once more went to England, his health so greatly +impaired by the continual strain of arduous work that it was doubtful +whether he could ever return to India. During his stay he was created +K.C.B., with the rank of brevet colonel; and the degree of LL.D. was +conferred upon him by the university of Cambridge. Early in 1862 he +again sailed for India, and was appointed commissioner of Umballa and +agent for the Cis-Sutlej states. He had been offered the governorship of +the Punjab, but on the ground of failing health had declined it. In +February 1865 he was compelled to finally resign his post and return to +England. A second good service pension was at once conferred on him; in +May 1866 he was created K.C. of the Star of India; and early in 1868 was +promoted major-general in the East Indian Army. He had been for some +time engaged on a life of Sir Henry Lawrence, and high expectations were +formed of the work; but he did not live to complete it, and after his +death it was put into the hands of Mr Herman Merivale. He died in London +on the 23rd of December 1868. Great in council and great in war, he was +singularly beloved by his friends, generous and unselfish to a high +degree, and a man of deep religious convictions. + + See _Memorials of the Life and Letters of Sir Herbert Benjamin + Edwardes_, by his wife (2 vols., London, 1886); T. R. E. Holmes, _Four + Soldiers_ (London, 1889); J. Ruskin, _Bibl. pastorum_, iv. "A Knight's + Faith" (1885), passages from the life of Edwardes. + + + + +EDWARDS, AMELIA ANN BLANDFORD (1831-1892), English author and +Egyptologist, the daughter of one of Wellington's officers, was born in +London on the 7th of June 1831. At a very early age she displayed +considerable literary and artistic talent. She became a contributor to +various magazines and newspapers, and besides many miscellaneous works +she wrote eight novels, the most successful of which were _Debenham's +Vow_ (1870) and _Lord Brackenbury_ (1880). In the winter of 1873-1874 +she visited Egypt, and was profoundly impressed by the new openings for +archaeological research. She learnt the hieroglyphic characters, and +made a considerable collection of Egyptian antiquities. In 1877 she +published _A Thousand Miles up the Nile_, with illustrations by herself. +Convinced that only by proper scientific investigations could the +wholesale destruction of Egyptian antiquities be avoided, she devoted +herself to arousing public opinion on the subject, and ultimately, in +1882, was largely instrumental in founding the Egypt Exploration Fund, +of which she became joint honorary secretary with Reginald Stuart Poole. +For the business of this Fund she abandoned her other literary work, +writing only on Egyptology. In 1889-1890 she went on a lecturing tour in +the United States. The substance of her lectures was published in volume +form in 1891 as _Pharaohs, Fellahs, and Explorers_. She died at +Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on the 15th of April 1892, bequeathing her +valuable collection of Egyptian antiquities to University College, +London, together with a sum to found a chair of Egyptology. Miss Edwards +received, shortly before her death, a civil list pension from the +British government. + + + + +EDWARDS, BELA BATES (1802-1852), American man of letters, was born at +Southampton, Massachusetts, on the 4th of July 1802. He graduated at +Amherst College in 1824, was a tutor there in 1827-1828, graduated at +Andover Theological Seminary in 1830, and was licensed to preach. From +1828 to 1833 he was assistant secretary of the American Education +Society (organized in Boston in 1815 to assist students for the +ministry), and from 1828 to 1842 was editor of the society's organ, +which after 1831 was called the _American Quarterly Register_. He also +founded (in 1833) and edited the _American Quarterly Observer_; in +1836-1841 edited the _Biblical Repository_ (after 1837 called the +_American Biblical Repository_) with which the _Observer_ was merged in +1835; and was editor-in-chief of the _Bibliotheca Sacra_ from 1844 to +1851. In 1837 he became professor of Hebrew at Andover, and from 1848 +until his death was associate professor of sacred literature there. He +died at Athens, Georgia, on the 20th of April 1852. Among his numerous +publications were _A Missionary Gazetteer_ (1832), _A Biography of Self +Taught Men_ (1832), a once widely known _Eclectic Reader_ (1835), a +translation, with Samuel Harvey Taylor (1807-1871), of Kuhner's +_Schulgrammatik der Griechischen Sprache_ and _Classical Studies_ +(1844), essays in ancient literature and art written in collaboration +with Barnas Sears and C. C. Felton. + + Edwards' _Addresses and Sermons_, with a memoir by Rev. Edwards A. + Park, were published in two volumes at Boston in 1853. + + + + +EDWARDS, BRYAN (1743-1800), English politician and historian, was born +at Westbury, Wiltshire, on the 21st of May 1743. His father died in +1756, when his maintenance and education were undertaken by his maternal +uncle, Zachary Bayly, a wealthy merchant of Jamaica. About 1759 Bryan +went to Jamaica, and joined his uncle, who engaged a private tutor to +complete his education, and when Bayly died his nephew inherited his +wealth, succeeding also in 1773 to the estate of another Jamaica +resident named Hume. Edwards soon became a leading member of the +colonial assembly of Jamaica, but in a few years he returned to England, +and in 1782 failed to secure a seat in parliament as member for +Chichester. He was again in Jamaica from 1787 to 1792, when he settled +in England as a West India merchant, making in 1795 another futile +attempt to enter parliament, on this occasion as the representative of +Southampton. In 1796, however, he became member of parliament for +Grampound, retaining his seat until his death at Southampton on the 15th +or 16th of July 1800. In general Edwards was a supporter of the slave +trade, and was described by William Wilberforce as a powerful opponent. +By his wife, Martha, daughter of Thomas Phipps of Westbury, he left an +only son, Hume. + +In 1784 Edwards wrote _Thoughts on the late Proceedings of Government +respecting the Trade of the West India Islands with the United States of +America_, in which he attacked the restrictions placed by the government +upon trade with the United States. In 1793 he published in two volumes +his great work, _History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies +in the West Indies_, and in 1797 published his _Historical Survey of the +French Colony in the Island of St Domingo_. In 1801 a new edition of +both these works with certain additions was published in three volumes +under the title of _History of the British Colonies in the West Indies_. +This has been translated into German and parts of it into French and +Spanish, and a fifth edition was issued in 1819. When Mungo Park +returned in 1796 from his celebrated journey in Africa, Edwards, who was +secretary of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior +Parts of Africa, drew up from Park's narrative an account of his +travels, which was published by the association in their _Proceedings_, +and when Park wrote an account of his journeys he availed himself of +Edwards' assistance. Edwards also wrote some poems and some other works +relating to the history of the West Indies. + + He left a short sketch of his life which was prefixed to the edition + of the _History of the West Indies_, published in 1801. + + + + +EDWARDS, GEORGE (1693-1773), English naturalist, was born at Stratford, +Essex, on the 3rd of April 1693. In his early years he travelled +extensively over Europe, studying natural history, and gained some +reputation for his coloured drawings of animals, especially birds. In +1733, on the recommendation of Sir Hans Sloane, he was appointed +librarian to the Royal College of Physicians in London. In 1743 he +published the first volume of his _History of Birds_, the fourth volume +of which appeared in 1751, and three supplementary volumes, under the +title _Gleanings of Natural History_, were issued in 1758, 1760 and +1764. The two works contain engravings and descriptions of more than 600 +subjects in natural history not before described or delineated. He +likewise added a general index in French and English, which was +afterwards supplied with Linnaean names by Linnaeus himself, with whom +he frequently corresponded. About 1764 he retired to Plaistow, Essex, +where he died on the 23rd of July 1773. He also wrote _Essays of Natural +History_ (1770) and _Elements of Fossilogy_ (1776). + + + + +EDWARDS, HENRY THOMAS (1837-1884), Welsh divine, was born on the 6th of +September 1837 at Llan ym Mawddwy, Merioneth, where his father was +vicar. He was educated at Westminster and at Jesus College, Oxford +(B.A., 1860), and after teaching for two years at Llandovery went to +Llangollen as his father's curate. He became vicar of Aberdare in 1866 +and of Carnarvon in 1869. Here he began his lifelong controversy with +Nonconformity, especially as represented by the Rev. Evan Jones +(Calvinistic Methodist) and Rev. E. Herber Evans (Congregationalist). In +1870 he fought in vain for the principle of all-round denominationalism +in the national education system, and in the same year addressed a +famous letter to Mr Gladstone on "The Church of the Cymry," pointing out +that the success of Nonconformity in Wales was largely due to "the +withering effect of an alien episcopate." One immediate result of this +was the appointment of the Welshman Joshua Hughes (1807-1889) to the +vacant see of St Asaph. Edwards became dean of Bangor in 1876 and at +once set about restoring the cathedral, and he promoted a clerical +education society for supplying the diocese with educated Welsh-speaking +clergy. He was a popular preacher and an earnest patriot; his chief +defect was a lack of appreciation of the theological attainments of +Nonconformity, and a Welsh commentary on St Matthew, which he had worked +at for many years and published in two volumes in 1882, was severely +handled by a Bangor Calvinistic Methodist minister. Edwards suffered +from overwork and insomnia and a Mediterranean cruise in 1883 failed to +restore his health; and he died by his own hand on the 24th of May 1884 +at Ruabon. + + See V. Morgan, _Welsh Religious Leaders in the Victorian Era_. + + + + +EDWARDS, JONATHAN (1703-1758), American theologian and philosopher, was +born on the 5th of October 1703 at East (now South) Windsor, +Connecticut. His earliest known ancestor was Richard Edwards, Welsh by +birth, a London clergyman in Elizabeth's reign. His father Timothy +Edwards (1669-1758), son of a prosperous merchant of Hartford, had +graduated at Harvard, was minister at East Windsor, and eked out his +salary by tutoring boys for college. His mother, a daughter of the Rev. +Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, Mass., seems to have been a woman of +unusual mental gifts and independence of character. Jonathan, the only +son, was the fifth of eleven children. The boy was trained for college +by his father and by his elder sisters, who all received an excellent +education. When ten years old he wrote a semi-humorous tract on the +immateriality of the soul; he was interested in natural history, and at +the age of twelve wrote a remarkable essay on the habits of the "flying +spider." He entered Yale College in 1716, and in the following year +became acquainted with Locke's _Essay_, which influenced him profoundly. +During his college course he kept note books labelled "The Mind," +"Natural Science" (containing a discussion of the atomic theory, &c.), +"The Scriptures" and "Miscellanies," had a grand plan for a work on +natural and mental philosophy, and drew up for himself rules for its +composition. Even before his graduation in September 1720 as +valedictorian and head of his class, he seems to have had a well +formulated philosophy. The two years after his graduation he spent in +New Haven studying theology. In 1722-1723 he was for eight months stated +supply of a small Presbyterian church in New York city, which invited +him to remain, but he declined the call, spent two months in study at +home, and then in 1724-1726 was one of the two tutors at Yale, earning +for himself the name of a "pillar tutor" by his steadfast loyalty to the +college and its orthodox teaching at the time when Yale's rector +(Cutler) and one of her tutors had gone over to the Episcopal Church. + +The years 1720 to 1726 are partially recorded in his diary and in the +resolutions for his own conduct which he drew up at this time. He had +long been an eager seeker after salvation and was not fully satisfied as +to his own "conversion" until an experience in his last year in college, +when he lost his feeling that the election of some to salvation and of +others to eternal damnation was "a horrible doctrine," and reckoned it +"exceedingly pleasant, bright and sweet." He now took a great and new +joy in the beauties of nature, and delighted in the allegorical +interpretation of the Song of Solomon. Balancing these mystic joys is +the stern tone of his Resolutions, in which he is almost ascetic in his +eagerness to live earnestly and soberly, to waste no time, to maintain +the strictest temperance in eating and drinking. On the 15th of February +1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his +grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting +pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year +he married Sarah Pierrepont, then aged seventeen, daughter of James +Pierrepont (1659-1714), a founder of Yale, and through her mother +great-granddaughter of Thomas Hooker. Of her piety and almost nun-like +love of God and belief in His personal love for her, Edwards had known +when she was only thirteen, and had written of it with spiritual +enthusiasm; she was of a bright and cheerful disposition, a practical +housekeeper, a model wife and the mother of his twelve children. Solomon +Stoddard died on the 11th of February 1729, leaving to his grandson the +difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and +wealthiest congregations in the colony, and one proud of its morality, +its culture and its reputation. + +In 1731 Edwards preached at Boston the "Public Lecture" afterwards +published under the title _God Glorified in Man's Dependence_. This was +his first public attack on Arminianism. The leading thought was God's +absolute sovereignty in the work of redemption: that while it behoved +God to create man holy, it was of His "good pleasure" and "mere and +arbitrary grace" that any man was now made holy, and that God might deny +this grace without any disparagement to any of His perfections. In 1733 +a revival of religion began in Northampton, and reached such intensity +in the winter of 1734 and the following spring as to threaten the +business of the town. In six months nearly three hundred were admitted +to the church. The revival gave Edwards an opportunity of studying the +process of conversion in all its phases and varieties, and he recorded +his observations with psychological minuteness and discrimination in _A +Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God in the Conversion of +Many Hundred Souls in Northampton_ (1737). A year later he published +_Discourses on Various Important Subjects_, the five sermons which had +proved most effective in the revival, and of these none, he tells us, +was so immediately effective as that on the _Justice of God in the +Damnation of Sinners_, from the text, "That every mouth may be stopped." +Another sermon, published in 1734, on the _Reality of Spiritual Light_ +set forth what he regarded as the inner, moving principle of the +revival, the doctrine of a "special" grace in the immediate and +supernatural divine illumination of the soul. In the spring of 1735 the +movement began to subside and a reaction set in. But the relapse was +brief, and the Northampton revival, which had spread through the +Connecticut valley and whose fame had reached England and Scotland, was +followed in 1739-1740 by the Great Awakening, distinctively under the +leadership of Edwards. The movement met with no sympathy from the +orthodox leaders of the church. In 1741 Edwards published in its defence +_The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God_, dealing +particularly with the phenomena most criticized, the swoonings, outcries +and convulsions. These "bodily effects," he insisted, were not +"distinguishing marks" of the work of the Spirit of God; but so bitter +was the feeling against the revival in the more strictly Puritan +churches that in 1742 he was forced to write a second apology, _Thoughts +on the Revival in New England_, his main argument being the great moral +improvement of the country. In the same pamphlet he defends an appeal to +the emotions, and advocates preaching terror when necessary, even to +children, who in God's sight "are young vipers ... if not Christ's." He +considers "bodily effects" incidentals to the real work of God, but his +own mystic devotion and the experiences of his wife during the Awakening +(which he gives in detail) make him think that the divine visitation +usually overpowers the body, a view in support of which he quotes +Scripture. In reply to Edwards, Charles Chauncy anonymously wrote _The +Late Religious Commotions in New England Considered_ (1743), urging +conduct as the sole test of conversion; and the general convention of +Congregational ministers in the Province of Massachusetts Bay protested +"against disorders in practice which have of late obtained in various +parts of the land." In spite of Edwards's able pamphlet, the impression +had become widespread that "bodily effects" were recognized by the +promoters of the Great Awakening as the true tests of conversion. To +offset this feeling Edwards[1] preached at Northampton during the years +1742 and 1743 a series of sermons published under the title of +_Religious Affections_ (1746), a restatement in a more philosophical and +general tone of his ideas as to "distinguishing marks." In 1747 he +joined the movement started in Scotland called the "concert in prayer," +and in the same year published _An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit +Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for +the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on +Earth_. In 1749 he published a memoir of David Brainerd; the latter had +lived in his family for several months, had been constantly attended by +Edwards's daughter Jerusha, to whom he had been engaged to be married, +and had died at Northampton on the 7th of October 1747; and he had been +a case in point for the theories of conversion held by Edwards, who had +made elaborate notes of Brainerd's conversations and confessions. + +In 1748 there had come a crisis in his relations with his congregation. +The Half-Way Covenant adopted by the synods of 1657 and 1662 had made +baptism alone the condition to the civil privileges of church +membership, but not of participation in the sacrament of the Supper. +Edwards's grandfather and predecessor, Solomon Stoddard, had been even +more liberal, holding that the Supper was a converting ordinance and +that baptism was a sufficient title to all the privileges of the church. +As early as 1744 Edwards, in his sermons on the Religious Affections, +had plainly intimated his dislike of this practice. In the same year he +had published in a church meeting the names of certain young people, +members of the church, who were suspected of reading improper books,[2] +and also the names of those who were to be called as witnesses in the +case. But witnesses and accused were not distinguished on this list, and +the congregation was in an uproar. A great many, fearing a scandal, now +opposed an investigation which all had previously favoured. Edwards's +preaching became unpopular; for four years no candidate presented +himself for admission to the church; and when one did in 1748, and was +met with Edwards's formal but mild and gentle tests, as expressed in the +_Distinguishing Marks_ and later in _Qualifications for Full Communion_ +(1749) the candidate refused to submit to them; the church backed him +and the break was complete. Even permission to discuss his views in the +pulpit was refused him. The ecclesiastical council voted by 10 to 9 that +the pastoral relation be dissolved. The church by a vote of more than +200 to 23 ratified the action of the council, and finally a town meeting +voted that Edwards should not be allowed to occupy the Northampton +pulpit, though he did this on occasion as late as May 1755. He evinced +no rancour or spite; his "Farewell Sermon" was dignified and temperate; +nor is it to be ascribed to chagrin that in a letter to Scotland after +his dismissal he expresses his preference for Presbyterian to +Congregational church government. His position at the time was not +unpopular throughout New England, and it is needless to say that his +doctrine that the Lord's Supper is not a cause of regeneration and that +communicants should be professing Christians has since (very largely +through the efforts of his pupil Joseph Bellamy) become a standard of +New England Congregationalism. + +Edwards with his large family was now thrown upon the world, but offers +of aid quickly came to him. A parish in Scotland could have been +procured, and he was called to a Virginia church. He declined both, to +become in 1750 pastor of the church in Stockbridge and a missionary to +the Housatonic Indians. To the Indians he preached through an +interpreter, and their interests he boldly and successfully defended by +attacking the whites who were using their official position among them +to increase their private fortunes. In Stockbridge he wrote the _Humble +Relation_, also called _Reply to Williams_ (1752), which was an answer +to Solomon Williams (1700-1776), a relative and a bitter opponent of +Edwards as to the qualifications for full communion; and he there +composed the treatises on which his reputation as a philosophical +theologian chiefly rests, the essay on _Original Sin_, the _Dissertation +concerning the Nature of True Virtue_, the _Dissertation concerning the +End for which God created the World_, and the great work on the Will, +written in four months and a half, and published in 1754 under the +title, _An Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions Respecting that +Freedom of the Will which is supposed to be Essential to Moral Agency_. + +In 1757, on the death of President Burr, who five years before had +married Edwards's daughter Esther, he reluctantly accepted the +presidency of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), +where he was installed on the 16th of February 1758. Almost immediately +afterwards he was inoculated for smallpox, which was raging in Princeton +and vicinity, and, always feeble, he died of the inoculation on the 28th +of March 1758. He was buried in the old cemetery at Princeton. He was +slender and fully six feet tall, and with his oval, gentle, almost +feminine face looked the scholar and the mystic. + + _The Edwardean System._--It is difficult to separate Edwards's + philosophy from his theology, except as the former is contained in the + early notes on the Mind, where he says that matter exists only in + idea; that space is God; that minds only are real; that in + metaphysical strictness there is no being but God; that entity is the + greatest and only good; and that God as infinite entity, wherein the + agreement of being with being is absolute, is the supreme excellency, + the supreme good. It seems certain that these conclusions were + independent of Berkeley and Malebranche, and were not drawn from + Arthur Collier's _Clavis universalis_ (1713), with which they have + much in common, but were suggested, in part at least, by Locke's + doctrine of ideas, Newton's theory of colours, and Cudworth's + Platonism, with all of which Edwards was early familiar. But they were + never developed systematically, and the conception of the material + universe here contended for does not again explicitly reappear in any + of his writings. The fundamental metaphysical postulate that being and + God are ultimately identical remained, however, the philosophical + basis of all his thinking, and reverence for this being as the supreme + good remained the fundamental disposition of his mind. That he did not + interpret this idea in a Spinozistic sense was due to his more + spiritual conception of "being" and to the reaction on his philosophy + of his theology. The theological interest, indeed, came in the end to + predominate, and philosophy to appear as an instrument for the defence + of Calvinism. Perhaps the best criticism of Edwards's philosophy as a + whole is that, instead of being elaborated on purely rational + principles, it is mixed up with a system of theological conceptions + with which it is never thoroughly combined, and that it is exposed to + all the disturbing effects of theological controversy. Moreover, of + one of his most central convictions, that of the sovereignty of God in + election, he confesses that he could give no account. + + Edwards's reputation as a thinker is chiefly associated with his + treatise on the Will, which is still sometimes called "the one large + contribution that America has made to the deeper philosophic thought + of the world." The aim of this treatise was to refute the doctrine of + free-will, since he considered it the logical, as distinguished from + the sentimental, ground of most of the Arminian objections to + Calvinism. He defines the will as that by which the "mind chooses + anything." To act voluntarily, he says, is to act electively. So far + he and his opponents are agreed. But choice, he holds, is not + arbitrary; it is determined in every case by "that motive which as it + stands in the view of the mind is the strongest," and that motive is + strongest which presents in the immediate object of volition the + "greatest apparent good," that is, the greatest degree of + agreeableness or pleasure. What this is in a given case depends on a + multitude of circumstances, external and internal, all contributing to + form the "cause" of which the voluntary act and its consequences are + the "effect." Edwards contends that the connexion between cause and + effect here is as "sure and perfect" as in the realm of physical + nature and constitutes a "moral necessity." He reduces the opposite + doctrine to three assumptions, all of which he shows to be untenable: + (1) "a self-determining power in the will"; (2) "indifference,... that + the mind previous to the act of volition (is) in equilibrio"; (3) + "contingence ... as opposed to ... any fixed and certain connexion (of + the volition) with some previous ground or reason for its existence." + Although he denies liberty to the will in this sense--indeed, strictly + speaking, neither liberty nor necessity, he says, is properly applied + to the will, "for the will itself is not an agent that has a will"--he + nevertheless insists that the subject willing is a free moral agent, + and argues that without the determinate connexion between volition + and motive which he asserts and the libertarians deny, moral agency + would be impossible. Liberty, he holds, is simply freedom from + constraint, "the power ... that any one has to do as he pleases." This + power man possesses. And that the right or wrong of choice depends not + on the cause of choice but on its nature, he illustrates by the + example of Christ, whose acts were necessarily holy, yet truly + virtuous, praiseworthy and rewardable. Even God Himself, Edwards here + maintains, has no other liberty than this, to carry out without + constraint His will, wisdom and inclination. + + There is no necessary connexion between Edwards's doctrine of the + motivation of choice and the system of Calvinism with which it is + congruent. Similar doctrines have more frequently perhaps been + associated with theological scepticism. But for him the alternative + was between Calvinism and Arminianism, simply because of the + historical situation, and in the refutation of Arminianism on the + assumptions common to both sides of the controversy, he must be + considered completely successful. As a general argument his account of + the determination of the will is defective, notably in his abstract + conception of the will and in his inadequate, but suggestive, + treatment of causation, in regard to which he anticipates in important + respects the doctrine of Hume. Instead of making the motive to choice + a factor within the concrete process of volition, he regards it as a + cause antecedent to the exercise of a special mental faculty. Yet his + conception of this faculty as functioning only in and through motive + and character, inclination and desire, certainly carries us a long way + beyond the abstraction in which his opponents stuck, that of a bare + faculty without any assignable content. Modern psychology has + strengthened the contention for a fixed connexion between motive and + act by reference to subconscious and unconscious processes of which + Edwards, who thought that nothing could affect the mind which was + unperceived, little dreamed; at the same time, at least in some of its + developments, especially in its freer use of genetic and organic + conceptions, it has rendered much in the older forms of statement + obsolete, and has given a new meaning to the idea of + self-determination, which, as applied to an abstract power, Edwards + rightly rejected as absurd. + + Edwards's controversy with the Arminians was continued in the essay on + _Original Sin_, which was in the press at the time of his death. He + here breaks with Augustine and the Westminster Confession by arguing, + consistently with his theory of the Will, that Adam had no more + freedom of will than we have, but had a special endowment, a + supernatural gift of grace, which by rebellion against God was lost, + and that this gift was withdrawn from his descendants, not because of + any fictitious imputation of guilt, but because of their real + participation in his guilt by actual identity with him in his + transgression. + + The _Dissertation on the Nature of True Virtue_, posthumously + published, is justly regarded as one of the most original works on + ethics of the 18th century, and is the more remarkable as reproducing, + with no essential modification, ideas on the subject written in the + author's youth in the notes on the Mind. Virtue is conceived as the + beauty of moral qualities. Now beauty, in Edwards's view, always + consists in a harmonious relation in the elements involved, an + agreement of being with being. He conceives, therefore, of virtue, or + moral beauty, as consisting in the cordial agreement or consent to + intelligent being. He defines it as benevolence (good-will), or rather + as a disposition to benevolence, towards being in general. This + disposition, he argues, has no regard primarily to beauty in the + object, nor is it primarily based on gratitude. Its first object is + being, "simply considered," and it is accordingly proportioned, other + things being equal, to the object's "degree of existence." He admits, + however, benevolent being as a second object, on the ground that such + an object, having a like virtuous propensity, "is, as it were, + enlarged, extends to, and in some sort comprehends being in general." + In brief, since God is the "being of beings" and comprehends, in the + fullest extent, benevolent consent to being in general, true virtue + consists essentially in a supreme love to God. Thus the principle of + virtue--Edwards has nothing to say of "morality"--is identical with + the principle of religion. From this standpoint Edwards combats every + lower view. He will not admit that there is any evidence of true + virtue in the approbation of virtue and hatred of vice, in the + workings of conscience or in the exercises of the natural affections; + he thinks that these may all spring from self-love and the association + of ideas, from "instinct" or from a "moral sense of a secondary kind" + entirely different from "a sense or relish of the essential beauty of + true virtue." Nor does he recognize the possibility of a natural + development of true virtue out of the sentiments directed on the + "private systems"; on the contrary, he sets the love of particular + being, when not subordinated to being in general, in opposition to the + latter and as equivalent to treating it with the greatest contempt. + All that he allows is that the perception of natural beauty may, by + its resemblance to the primary spiritual beauty, quicken the + disposition to divine love in those who are already under the + influence of a truly virtuous temper. + + Closely connected with the essay on Virtue is the boldly speculative + _Dissertation on the End for which God Created the World_. As, + according to the doctrine of virtue, God's virtue consists primarily + in love to Himself, so His final end in creation is conceived to be, + not as the Arminians held, the happiness of His creatures, but His + own glory. Edwards supposes in the nature of God an original + disposition to an "emanation" of His being, and it is the excellency + of this divine being, particularly in the elect, which is, in his + view, the final cause and motive of the world. + + Edwards makes no attempt to reconcile the pantheistic element in his + philosophy with the individuality implied in moral government. He + seems to waver between the opinion that finite individuals have no + independent being and the opinion that they have it in an + infinitesimal degree; and the conception of "degrees of existence" in + the essay on Virtue is not developed to elucidate the point. His + theological conception of God, at any rate, was not abstractly + pantheistic, in spite of the abstractness of his language about + "being," but frankly theistic and trinitarian. He held the doctrine of + the trinitarian distinctions indeed to be a necessity of reason. His + _Essay on the Trinity_, first printed in 1903, was long supposed to + have been withheld from publication because of its containing Arian or + Sabellian tendencies. It contains in fact nothing more questionable + than an attempted deduction of the orthodox Nicene doctrine, + unpalatable, however, to Edwards's immediate disciples, who were too + little speculative to appreciate his statement of the subordination of + the "persons" in the divine "oeconomy," and who openly derided the + doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son as "eternal nonsense"; + and this perhaps was the original reason why the essay was not + published. + + Though so typically a scholar and abstract thinker on the one hand and + on the other a mystic, Edwards is best known to the present generation + as a preacher of hell fire. The particular reason for this seems to + lie in a single sermon preached at Enfield, Connecticut, in July 1741 + from the text, "Their foot shall slide in due time," and commonly + known from its title, _Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God_. The + occasion of this sermon is usually overlooked. It was preached to a + congregation who were careless and loose in their lives at a time when + "the neighbouring towns were in great distress for their souls." A + contemporary account of it says that in spite of Edwards's academic + style of preaching, the assembly was "deeply impressed and bowed down, + with an awful conviction of their sin and danger. There was such a + breathing of distress and weeping, that the preacher was obliged to + speak to the people and desire silence, that he might be heard." + Edwards preached other sermons of this type, but this one was the most + extreme. The style of the imprecatory sermon, however, was no more + peculiar to him than to his period. He was not a great preacher in the + ordinary meaning of the word. His gestures were scanty, his voice was + not powerful, but he was desperately in earnest, and he held his + audience whether his sermon contained a picturesque and detailed + description of the torments of the damned, or, as was often the case, + spoke of the love and peace of God in the heart of man. He was an + earnest, devout Christian, and a man of blameless life. His insight + into the spiritual life was profound. Certainly the most able + metaphysician and the most influential religious thinker of America, + he must rank in theology, dialectics, mysticism and philosophy with + Calvin and Fenelon, Augustine and Aquinas, Spinoza and Novalis; with + Berkeley and Hume as the great English philosophers of the 18th + century; and with Hamilton and Franklin as the three American thinkers + of the same century of more than provincial importance. + + Edwards's main aim had been to revivify Calvinism, modifying it for + the needs of the time, and to promote a warm and vital Christian + piety. The tendency of his successors was--to state the matter + roughly--to take some one of his theories and develop it to an + extreme. Of his immediate followers Joseph Bellamy is distinctly + Edwardean in the keen logic and in the spirit of his _True Religion + Delineated_, but he breaks with his master in his theory of general + (not limited) atonement. Samuel Hopkins laid even greater stress than + Edwards on the theorem that virtue consists in disinterested + benevolence; but he went counter to Edwards in holding that + unconditional resignation to God's decrees, or more concretely, + willingness to be damned for the glory of God, was the test of true + regeneration; for Edwards, though often quoted as holding this + doctrine, protested against it in the strongest terms. Hopkins, + moreover, denied Edwards's identity theory of original sin, saying + that our sin was a result of Adam's and not identical with it; and he + went much further than Edwards in his objection to "means of grace," + claiming that the unregenerate were more and more guilty for continual + rejection of the gospel if they were outwardly righteous and availed + themselves of the means of grace. Stephen West (1735-1819), too, + out-Edwardsed Edwards in his defence of the treatise on the _Freedom + of the Will_, and John Smalley (1734-1820) developed the idea of a + natural (not moral) inability on the part of man to obey God. Emmons, + like Hopkins, considered both sin and holiness "exercises" of the + will. Timothy Dwight (1752-1847) urged the use of the means of grace, + thought Hopkins and Emmons pantheistic, and boldly disagreed with + their theory of "exercises," reckoning virtue and sin as the result of + moral choice or disposition, a position that was also upheld by Asa + Burton (1752-1836), who thought that on regeneration the disposition + of man got a new relish or "taste." + + JONATHAN EDWARDS[3] the younger (1745-1801), second son of the + philosopher, born at Northampton, Massachusetts, on the 26th of May + 1745, also takes an important place among his followers. He lived in + Stockbridge in 1751-1755 and spoke the language of the Housatonic + Indians with ease, for six months studied among the Oneidas, graduated + at Princeton in 1765, studied theology at Bethlehem, Connecticut, + under Joseph Bellamy, was licensed to preach in 1766, was a tutor at + Princeton in 1766-1769, and was pastor of the White Haven Church, New + Haven, Connecticut, in 1769-1795, being then dismissed for the nominal + reason that the church could not support him, but actually because of + his opposition to the Half-Way Covenant as well as to slavery and the + slave trade. He preached at Colebrook, Connecticut, in 1796-1799 and + then became president of Union College, Schenectady, New York, where + he died on the 1st of August 1801. His studies of the Indian dialects + were scholarly and valuable. He edited his father's incomplete + _History of the Work of Redemption_, wrote in answer to Stephen West, + _A Dissertation Concerning Liberty and Necessity_ (1797), which + defended his father's work on the Will by a rather strained + interpretation, and in answer to Chauncy on universal salvation + formulated what is known as the "Edwardean," New England or + Governmental theory of the atonement in _The Necessity of the + Atonement and its Consistency with Free Grace in Forgiveness_ (1785). + His collected works were edited by his grandson Tryon Edwards in two + volumes, with memoir (Andover, 1842). His place in the Edwardean + theology is principally due to his defence against the Universalists + of his father's doctrine of the atonement, namely, that Christ's + death, being the equivalent of the eternal punishment of sinners, + upheld the authority of the divine law, but did not pay any debt, and + made the pardon of all men a possibility with God, but not a + necessity. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--There have been various editions of Edwards's works. + His pupil, Samuel Hopkins, in 1765 published two volumes from + manuscript containing eighteen sermons and a memoir; the younger + Jonathan Edwards with Dr Erskine published an edition in 4 volumes + (1744 sqq.), and Samuel Austin in 1808 edited an edition in 8 volumes. + In 1829 Sereno E. Dwight, a great-grandson of Edwards, published the + _Life and Works_ in 10 volumes, the first volume containing the + memoir, which is still the most complete and was the standard until + the publication (Boston, 1889) of _Jonathan Edwards_, by A. V. G. + Allen, who attempts to "distinguish what he (Edwards) meant to affirm + from what he actually teaches." In 1865 the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart + edited from original manuscripts _Selections from the Unpublished + Writings of Jonathan Edwards of America_ (Edinburgh, 1865, printed for + private circulation). This was the only part of a complete edition + planned by Grosart that ever appeared. It contained the important + Treatise on Grace, Annotations on the Bible, Directions for Judging of + Persons' Experiences, and Sermons, the last for the most part merely + in outline. E. C. Smyth published from a copy _Observations Concerning + the Scripture Oeconomy of the Trinity and Covenant of Redemption_ (New + York, 1880), a careful edition from the manuscript of the essay on the + Flying Spider (in the _Andover Review_, January 1890) and "Some Early + Writings of Jonathan Edwards," with specimens from the manuscripts (in + _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, October, 1895). In + 1900 on the death of Prof. Edwards A. Park, the entire collection of + Edwards's manuscripts loaned to him by Tryon Edwards was transferred + to Yale University. Professor Park, like Mr Grosart before him, had + been unable to accomplish the great task of editing this mass of + manuscript. "A Study of the Manuscripts of Jonathan Edwards" was + published by F. B. Dexter in the _Proceedings of the Massachusetts + Historical Society_, series 2, vol. xv. (Boston, 1902), and in the + same volume of the _Proceedings_ appeared "A Study of the Shorthand + Writings of Jonathan Edwards," by W. P. Upham. The long sought for + essay on the Trinity was edited (New York, 1903) with valuable + introduction and appendices by G. P. Fisher under the title, _An + Unpublished Essay of Edwards's on the Trinity_. The only other edition + of Edwards (in whole or in part) of any importance is _Selected + Sermons of Jonathan Edwards_ (New York, 1904), edited by H. N. + Gardiner, with brief biographical sketch and annotations on seven + sermons, one of which had not previously been published. + + For estimates of Edwards consult: _The Volume of the Edwards Family + Meeting at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, September 6-7, A.D. 1870_ + (Boston, 1871); _Jonathan Edwards, a Retrospect, Being the Addresses + Delivered in Connecticut with the Unveiling of a Memorial in the + First Church of Christ in Northampton, Massachusetts, on the One + Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of his Dismissal from the Pastorate + of that Church_, edited by H. N. Gardiner (Boston, 1901); _Exercises + Commemorating the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Jonathan + Edwards, held at Andover Theological Seminary, October 4-5, 1903_ + (Andover, 1904); and among the addresses delivered at Stockbridge in + October 1903, John De Witt, "Jonathan Edwards: A Study," in the + _Princeton Theological Review_ (January, 1904). Also H. C. King, + "Edwards as Philosopher and Theologian," in _Hartford Theological + Seminary Record_, vol. xiv. (1903), pp. 23-57; H. N. Gardiner, "The + Early Idealism of Jonathan Edwards," in the _Philosophical Review_, + vol. ix. (1900), pp. 573-596; E. C. Smyth, _American Journal of + Theology_, vol. i. (1897), pp. 960-964; Samuel P. Hayes, "An + Historical Study of the Edwardean Revivals," in _American Journal of + Psychology_, vol. xiii. (1902), pp. 550 ff.; J. H. MacCracken, + "Philosophical Idealism of Edwards" in _Philosophical Review_, vol. + xi. (1902), pp. 26-42, suggesting that Edwards did not know Berkeley, + but Collier, and the same author's _Jonathan Edwards' Idealismus_ + (Halle, 1899); F. J. E. Woodbridge, "Jonathan Edwards," in + _Philosophical Review_, vol. xiii. (1904), pp. 393-408; W. H. Squires, + _Jonathan Edwards und seine Willenslehre_ (Leipzig, 1901); Samuel + Simpson, "Jonathan Edwards, A Historical Review," in _Hartford + Seminary Record_, vol. xiv. (1903), pp. 3-22; and _The Edwardean, a + Quarterly Devoted to the History of Thought in America_ (Clinton, New + York, 1903-1904), edited by W. H. Squires, of which only four parts + appeared, all devoted to Edwards and all written by Squires. + (H. N. G.; R. WE.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Edwards recognized the abuse of impulses and impressions, opposed + itinerant and lay preachers, and defended a well-ordered and + well-educated clergy. + + [2] These were probably not fiction like _Pamela_, as Sir Leslie + Stephen suggested, for Edwards listed several of Richardson's novels + for his own reading, and considered _Sir Charles Grandison_ a very + moral and excellent work. + + [3] Besides the younger Jonathan many of Edwards's descendants were + great, brilliant or versatile men. Among them were: his son + Pierrepont (1750-1826), a brilliant but erratic member of the + Connecticut bar, tolerant in religious matters and bitterly hated by + stern Calvinists, a man whose personal morality resembled greatly + that of Aaron Burr; his grandsons, William Edwards (1770-1851), an + inventor of important leather rolling machinery; Aaron Burr the son + of Esther Edwards; Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), son of Mary Edwards, + and his brother Theodore Dwight, a Federalist politician, a member, + the secretary and the historian of the Hartford Convention; his + great-grandsons, Tryon Edwards (1809-1894) and Sereno Edwards Dwight, + theologian, educationalist and author; and his great-great-grandsons, + Theodore William Dwight, the jurist, and Timothy Dwight, second of + that name to be president of Yale. + + + + +EDWARDS, LEWIS (1809-1887), Welsh Nonconformist divine, was born in the +parish of Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, on the 27th of October 1809. +He was educated at Aberystwyth and at Llangeitho, and then himself kept +school in both these places. He had already begun to preach for the +Calvinistic Methodists when, in December 1830, he went to London to take +advantage of the newly-opened university. In 1832 he settled as minister +at Laugharne in Carmarthenshire, and the following year went to +Edinburgh, where a special resolution of the senate allowed him to +graduate at the end of his third session. He was now better able to +further his plans for providing a trained ministry for his church. +Previously, the success of the Methodist preachers had been due mainly +to their natural gifts. Edwards made his home at Bala, and there, in +1837, with David Charles, his brother-in-law, he opened a school, which +ultimately became the denominational college for north Wales. He died on +the 19th of July 1887. + +Edwards may fairly be called one of the makers of modern Wales. Through +his hands there passed generation after generation of preachers, who +carried his influence to every corner of the principality. By fostering +competitive meetings and by his writings, especially in _Y Traethodydd_ +("The Essayist"), a quarterly magazine which he founded in 1845 and +edited for ten years, he did much to inform and educate his countrymen +on literary and theological subjects. A new college was built at Bala in +1867, for which he raised L10,000. His chief publication was a +noteworthy book on _The Doctrine of the Atonement_, cast in the form of +a dialogue between master and pupil; the treatment is forensic, and +emphasis is laid on merit. It was due to him that the North and South +Wales Calvinistic Methodist Associations united to form an annual +General Assembly; he was its moderator in 1866 and again in 1876. He was +successful in bringing the various churches of the Presbyterian order +into closer touch with each other, and unwearying in his efforts to +promote education for his countrymen. + + See _Bywyd a Llythyrau y Parch_, (i.e. Life and Letters of the Rev.) + _Lewis Edwards, D.D._, by his son T. C. Edwards. + + + + +EDWARDS, RICHARD (c. 1523-1566), English musician and playwright, was +born in Somersetshire, became a scholar of Corpus Christi College, +Oxford, in 1540, and took his M.A. degree in 1547. He was appointed in +1561 a gentleman of the chapel royal and master of the children, and +entered Lincoln's Inn in 1564, where at Christmas in that year he +produced a play which was acted by his choir boys. On the 3rd of +September 1566 his play, _Palamon and Arcite_, was performed before +Queen Elizabeth in the Hall of Christ Church, Oxford. Another play, +_Damon and Pithias_, tragic in subject but with scenes of vulgar farce, +entered at Stationers' Hall in 1567-8, appeared in 1571 and was +reprinted in 1582; it may be found in Dodsley's _Old Plays_, vol. i., +and _Ancient British Drama_, vol. i. It is written in rhymed lines of +rude construction, varying in length and neglecting the _caesura_. A +number of the author's shorter pieces are preserved in the _Paradise of +Dainty Devices_, first published in 1575, and reprinted in the _British +Bibliographer_, vol. iii.; the best known are the lines on May, the +_Amantium Irae_, and the _Commendation of Music_, which has the honour +of furnishing a stanza to _Romeo and Juliet_. The _Historie of Damocles +and Dionise_ is assigned to him in the 1578 edition of the _Paradise_. +Sir John Hawkins credited him with the part song "In going to my lonely +bed"; the words are certainly his, and probably the music. In his own +day Edwards was highly esteemed. The fine poem, "The Soul's Knell," is +supposed to have been written by him when dying. + + See _Grove's Dict. of Music_ (new edition); the _Shakespeare Soc. + Papers_, vol. ii. art. vi.; Ward, _English Dram. Literature_, vol. i. + + + + +EDWARDS, THOMAS CHARLES (1837-1900), Welsh Nonconformist divine and +educationist, was born at Bala, Merioneth, on the 22nd of September +1837, the son of Lewis Edwards (q.v.). His resolve to become a minister +was deepened by the revival of 1858-1859. After taking his degrees at +London (B.A. 1861, M.A. 1862), he matriculated at St Alban Hall, Oxford, +in October 1862, the university having just been opened to dissenters. +He obtained a scholarship at Lincoln College in 1864, and took a first +class in the school of Literae Humaniores in 1866. He was especially +influenced by Mark Pattison and Jowett, who counselled him to be true to +the church of his father, in which he had already been ordained. Early +in 1867 he became minister at Windsor Street, Liverpool, but left it to +become first principal of the University College of Wales at +Aberystwyth, which had been established through the efforts of Sir Hugh +Owen and other enthusiasts. The college was opened with a staff of three +professors and twenty-five students in October 1872, and for some years +its career was chequered enough. Edwards, however, proved a skilful +pilot, and his hold on the affection of the Welsh people enabled him to +raise the college to a high level of efficiency. When it was destroyed +by fire in 1885 he collected L25,000 to rebuild it; the remainder of the +necessary L40,000 being given by the government (L10,000) and by the +people of Aberystwyth (L5000). In 1891 he gave up what had been the main +work of his life to accept an undertaking that was even nearer his +heart, the principalship of the theological college at Bala. A stroke of +paralysis in 1894 fatally weakened him, but he continued at work till +his death on the 22nd of March 1900. The Calvinistic Methodist Church of +Wales bestowed on him every honour in their possession, and he received +the degree of D.D. from the universities of Edinburgh (1887) and Wales +(1898). His chief works were a _Commentary on 1 Corinthians_ (1885), the +_Epistle to the Hebrews_ ("Expositor's Bible" series, 1888), and _The +God-Man_ ("Davies Lecture," 1895). + + + + +EDWARDSVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Madison county, Illinois, +U.S.A., in the south-western part of the state, on Cahokia Creek, about +18 m. N.E. of St Louis. Pop. (1890) 3561; (1900) 4157 (573 +foreign-born); (1910) 5014. Edwardsville is served by the Toledo, St +Louis & Western, the Wabash, the Litchfield & Madison, and the Illinois +Terminal railways, and is connected with St Louis by three electric +lines. It has a Carnegie library. The city's principal manufactures are +carriages, ploughs, brick, machinery, sanitary ware and plumber's goods. +Bituminous coal is extensively mined in the vicinity. Adjoining +Edwardsville is the co-operative village Leclaire (unincorporated), with +the factory of the N.O. Nelson Manufacturing Co., makers of plumber's +supplies, brass goods, sanitary fixtures, &c.; the village was founded +in 1890 by Nelson O. Nelson (b. 1844), and nearly all of the residents +are employed by the company of which he is the head; they share to a +certain extent in its profits, and are encouraged to own their own +homes. The company supports a school, Leclaire Academy, and has built a +club-house, bowling alleys, tennis-courts, base-ball grounds, &c. The +first settlement on the site of Edwardsville was made in 1812, and in +1815 the town was laid out and named in honour of Ninian Edwards +(1775-1833), the governor of the Illinois Territory (1809-1818), and +later United States senator (1818-1824) and governor of the state of +Illinois (1826-1830). Edwardsville was incorporated in 1819 and received +its present charter in 1872. + + + + +EDWARDSVILLE, a borough of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on the +north branch of the Susquehanna river, adjoining Kingston and close to +the north-western limits of Wilkes-Barre (on the opposite side of the +river), in the north-eastern part of the state; the official name of the +post office is Edwardsdale. Pop. (1890), 3284; (1900), 5165, of whom +2645 were foreign-born; (1910 census), 8407. It is served by the +electric line of the Wilkes-Barre & Wyoming Valley Traction Co. Coal +mining and brewing are the chief industries. Edwardsville was +incorporated in 1884. + + + + +EDWIN, AEDUINI or EDWINE (585-633), king of Northumbria, was the son of +Ella of Deira. On the seizure of Deira by AEthelfrith of Bernicia +(probably 605), Edwin was expelled and is said to have taken refuge with +Cadfan, king of Gwynedd. After the battle of Chester, in which +AEthelfrith defeated the Welsh, Edwin fled to Roedwald, the powerful +king of East Anglia, who after some wavering espoused his cause and +defeated and slew AEthelfrith at the river Idle in 617. Edwin thereupon +succeeded to the Northumbrian throne, driving out the sons of +AEthelfrith. There is little evidence of external activity on the part of +Edwin before 625. It is probable that the conquest of the Celtic kingdom +of Elmet, a district in the neighbourhood of the modern Leeds, ruled +over by a king named Cerdic (Ceredig) is to be referred to this period, +and this may have led to the later quarrel with Cadwallon, king of +Gwynedd. Edwin seems also to have annexed Lindsey to his kingdom by 625. +In this year he entered upon negotiations with Eadbald of Kent for a +marriage with his sister AEthelberg. It was made a condition that +Christianity should be tolerated in Northumbria, and accordingly +Paulinus was consecrated bishop by Justus in 625, and was sent to +Northumbria with AEthelberg. According to Bede, Edwin was favourably +disposed towards Christianity owing to a vision he had seen at the court +of Roedwald, and in 626 he allowed Eanfled, his daughter by AEthelberg, +to be baptized. On the day of the birth of his daughter, the king's life +had been attempted by Eomer, an emissary of Cwichelm, king of Wessex. +Preserved by the devotion of his thegn Lilla, Edwin vowed to become a +Christian if victorious over his treacherous enemy. He was successful in +the ensuing campaign, and abstained from the worship of the gods of his +race. A letter of Pope Boniface helped to decide him, and after +consulting his friends and counsellors, of whom the priest Coifi +afterwards took a prominent part in destroying the temple at Goodmanham, +he was baptized with his people and nobles at York, at Easter 627. In +this town he granted Paulinus a see, built a wooden church and began one +of stone. Besides York, Yeavering and Maelmin in Bernicia, and Catterick +in Deira, were the chief scenes of the work of Paulinus. It was the +influence of Edwin which led to the conversion of Eorpwald of East +Anglia. Bede notices the peaceful state of Britain at this time, and +relates that Edwin was preceded on his progresses by a kind of standard +like that borne before the Roman emperors. In 633 Cadwallon of North +Wales and Penda of Mercia rose against Edwin and slew him at Hatfield +near Doncaster. His kinsman Osric succeeded in Deira, and Eanfrith the +son of AEthelfrith in Bernicia. Bede tells us that Edwin had subdued the +islands of Anglesey and Man, and the _Annales Cambriae_ record that he +besieged Cadwallon (perhaps in 632) in the island of Glannauc (Puffin +Island). He was definitely recognized as overlord by all the other +Anglo-Saxon kings of his day except Eadbald of Kent. + + See Bede, _Hist. Eccl._ (ed. Plummer, Oxford, 1896), ii. 5, 9, 11, 12, + 13, 15, 16, 18, 20; Nennius (ed. San Marte, 1844), S 63; _Vita S. + Oswaldi_, ix. Simeon of Durham (ed. Arnold, London, 1882-1885, vol. i. + R.S.). (F. G. M. B.) + + + + +EDWIN, JOHN (1749-1790), English actor, was born in London on the 10th +of August 1749, the son of a watchmaker. As a youth, he appeared in the +provinces, in minor parts; and at Bath in 1768 he formed a connexion +with a Mrs Walmsley, a milliner, who bore him a son, but whom he +afterwards deserted. His first London appearance was at the Haymarket in +1776 as Flaw in Samuel Foote's _The Cozeners_, but when George Colman +took over the theatre he was given better parts and became its leading +actor. In 1779 he was at Covent Garden, and played there or at the +Haymarket until his death on the 31st of October 1790. Ascribed to him +are _The Last Legacy of John Edwin_, 1780; _Edwin's Jests_ and _Edwin's +Pills to Purge Melancholy_. + +His son, JOHN EDWIN (1768-1805), made a first appearance on the stage at +the Haymarket as Hengo in Beaumont and Fletcher's _Bonduca_ in 1778, and +from that time acted frequently with his father, and managed the private +theatricals organized by his intimate friend Lord Barrymore at Wargrave, +Berks. In 1791 he married Elizabeth Rebecca Richards, an actress already +well known in juvenile parts, and played at the Haymarket and elsewhere +thereafter with her. He died in Dublin on the 22nd of February 1805. His +widow joined the Drury Lane company (then playing, on account of the +fire of 1809, at the Lyceum), and took all the leading characters in the +comedies of the day. She died on the 3rd of August 1854. + + + + +EDWY (EADWIG), "THE FAIR" (c. 940-959), king of the English, was the +eldest son of King Edmund and AElfgifu, and succeeded his uncle Eadred +in 955, when he was little more than fifteen years old. He was crowned +at Kingston by Archbishop Odo, and his troubles began at the coronation +feast. He had retired to enjoy the company of the ladies AEthelgifu +(perhaps his foster-mother) and her daughter AElfgifu, whom the king +intended to marry. The nobles resented the king's withdrawal, and he was +induced by Dunstan and Cynesige, bishop of Lichfield, to return to the +feast. Edwy naturally resented this interference, and in 957 Dunstan was +driven into exile. By the year 956 AElfgifu had become the king's wife, +but in 958 Archbishop Odo of Canterbury secured their separation on the +ground of their being too closely akin. Edwy, to judge from the +disproportionately large numbers of charters issued during his reign, +seems to have been weakly lavish in the granting of privileges, and soon +the chief men of Mercia and Northumbria were disgusted by his partiality +for Wessex. The result was that in the year 957 his brother, the +AEtheling Edgar, was chosen as king by the Mercians and Northumbrians. +It is probable that no actual conflict took place, and in 959, on Edwy's +death, Edgar acceded peaceably to the combined kingdoms of Wessex, +Mercia and Northumbria. + + AUTHORITIES.--_Saxon Chronicle_ (ed. Earle and Plummer, Oxford), _sub + ann._; _Memorials of St Dunstan_ (ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series); William + of Malmesbury, _Gesta regum_ (ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series); Birch, + _Cartularium Saxonicum_, vol. ii. Nos. 932-1046; Florence of + Worcester. + + + + +EECKHOUT, GERBRAND VAN DEN (1621-1674), Dutch painter, born at Amsterdam +on the 19th of August 1621, entered early into the studio of Rembrandt. +Though a companion pupil to F. Bol and Govaert Flinck, he was inferior +to both in skill and in the extent of his practice; yet at an early +period he assumed Rembrandt's manner with such success that his pictures +were confounded with those of his master; and, even in modern days, the +"Resurrection of the Daughter of Jairus," in the Berlin museum, and the +"Presentation in the Temple," in the Dresden gallery, have been held to +represent worthily the style of Rembrandt. As evidence of the fidelity +of Eeckhout's imitation we may cite his "Presentation in the Temple," at +Berlin, which is executed after Rembrandt's print of 1630, and his +"Tobit with the Angel," at Brunswick, which is composed on the same +background as Rembrandt's "Philosopher in Thought." Eeckhout not merely +copies the subjects; he also takes the shapes, the figures, the Jewish +dress and the pictorial effects of his master. It is difficult to form +an exact judgment of Eeckhout's qualities at the outset of his career. +His earliest pieces are probably those in which he more faithfully +reproduced Rembrandt's peculiarities. Exclusively his is a tinge of +green in shadows marring the harmony of the work, a certain gaudiness of +jarring tints, uniform surface and a touch more quick than subtle. +Besides the pictures already mentioned we should class amongst early +productions on this account the "Woman taken in Adultery," at Amsterdam; +"Anna presenting her Son to the High Priest," in the Louvre; the +"Epiphany," at Turin; and the "Circumcision," at Cassel. Eeckhout +matriculated early in the Gild of Amsterdam. A likeness of a lady at a +dressing-table with a string of beads, at Vienna, bears the date of +1643, and proves that the master at this time possessed more imitative +skill than genuine mastery over nature. As he grew older he succeeded +best in portraits, a very fair example of which is that of the historian +Dappers (1669), in the Stadel collection. Eeckhout occasionally varied +his style so as to recall in later years the "small masters" of the +Dutch school. Waagen justly draws attention to his following of Terburg +in "Gambling Soldiers," at Stafford House, and a "Soldiers' +Merrymaking," in the collection of the marquess of Bute. A "Sportsman +with Hounds," probably executed in 1670, now in the Vander Hoo gallery, +and a "Group of Children with Goats" (1671), in the Hermitage, hardly +exhibit a trace of the artist's first education. Amongst the best of +Eeckhout's works "Christ in the Temple" (1662), at Munich, and the +"Haman and Mordecai" of 1665, at Luton House, occupy a good place. +Eeckhout died at Amsterdam on the 22nd of October 1674. + + + + +EEL. The common freshwater eel (Lat. _anguilla_; O. Eng. _oel_) belongs +to a group of soft-rayed fishes distinguished by the presence of an +opening to the air-bladder and the absence of the pelvic fins. With its +nearest relatives it forms the family _Muraenidae_, all of which are of +elongated cylindrical form. The peculiarities of the eel are the +rudimentary scales buried in the skin, the well-developed pectoral fins, +the rounded tail fin continuous with the dorsal and ventral fins. Only +one other species of the family occurs in British waters, namely, the +conger, which is usually much larger and lives in the sea. In the conger +the eyes are larger than in the eel, and the upper jaw overlaps the +lower, whereas in the eel the lower jaw projects beyond the upper. Both +species are voracious and predatory, and feed on almost any animal food +they can obtain, living or dead. The conger is especially fond of squid +or other Cephalopods, while the eel greedily devours carrion. The common +eel occurs in all the rivers and fresh waters of Europe, except those +draining towards the Arctic Ocean, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It +also occurs on the Atlantic side of North America. The conger has a +wider range, extending from the western and southern shores of Britain +and Ireland to the East Indian Archipelago and Japan. It is common in +the Mediterranean. + +The ovaries of the eel resemble somewhat those of the salmon in +structure, not forming closed sacs, as in the majority of Teleostei, but +consisting of laminae exposed to the body cavity. The laminae in which +the eggs are produced are very numerous, and are attached transversely +by their inner edges to a membranous band running nearly the whole +length of the body-cavity. The majority of the eels captured for market +are females with the ovaries in an immature condition. The male eel was +first discovered in 1873 by Syrski at Trieste, the testis being +described by him as a lobed elongated organ, in the same relative +position as the ovary in the female, surrounded by a smooth surface +without laminae. He did not find ripe spermatozoa. He discovered the +male by examining small specimens, all the larger being female. L. +Jacoby, a later observer, found no males exceeding 19 in. in length, +while the female may reach a length of 39 in. or more. Dr C. G. J. +Petersen, in a paper published in 1896, states that in Denmark two kinds +of eels are distinguished by the fishermen, namely, yellow eels and +silver eels. The silver eels are further distinguished by the shape of +the snout and the size of the eyes. The snout in front of the eyes is +not flat, as in the yellow eels, but high and compressed, and therefore +appears more pointed, while the eyes are much larger and directed +outwards. In both kinds there are males and females, but Petersen shows +that the yellow eels change into silver eels when they migrate to the +sea. The sexual organs in the silver eels are more developed than in the +yellow eels, and the former have almost or entirely ceased to take food. +The male silver eels are from 11-1/2 to 19 in. in length, the females +from 16-1/2 to about 39 in. It is evident, therefore, that if eels only +spawn once, they do not all reach the same size when they become +sexually mature. The male conger was first described in 1879 by Hermes, +who obtained a ripe specimen in the Berlin Aquarium. This specimen was +not quite 2-1/2 ft. in length, and of the numerous males which have been +identified at the Plymouth Laboratory, none exceeded this length. The +large numbers of conger above this size caught for the market are all +immature females. Female conger of 5 or 6 ft. in length and weighing +from 30 to 50 lb. are common enough, and occasionally they exceed these +limits. The largest recorded was 8 ft. 3 in. long, and weighed 128 lb. + +There is every reason to believe that eels and conger spawn but once in +their lives, and die soon after they have discharged their generative +products. When kept in aquaria, both male and female conger are vigorous +and voracious. The males sooner or later cease to feed, and attain to +the sexually mature condition, emitting ripe milt when handled and +gently squeezed. They live in this condition five or six months, taking +no food and showing gradual wasting and disease of the bodily organs. +The eyes and skin become ulcerated, the sight is entirely lost, and the +bones become soft through loss of lime. The females also after a time +cease to feed, and live in a fasting condition for five or six months, +during which time the ovaries develop and reach great size and weight, +while the bones become soft and the teeth disappear. The female, +however, always dies in confinement before the ova are perfectly ripe +and before they are liberated from the ovarian tissue. The absence of +some necessary condition, perhaps merely of the pressure which exists at +the bottom of the sea, evidently prevents the complete development of +the ovary. The invariable death of the fish in the same almost ripe +condition leads to the conclusion that under normal conditions the fish +dies after the mature ova have been discharged. G. B. Grassi states that +he obtained ripe male eels, and ripe specimens of _Muraena_, another +genus of the family, in the whirlpools of the Strait of Messina. A ripe +female _Muraena_ has also been described at Zanzibar. Gravid female +eels, i.e. specimens with ovaries greatly enlarged, have been +occasionally obtained in fresh water, but there is no doubt that, +normally, sexual maturity is attained only in the sea. + +Until recent years nothing was known from direct observation concerning +the reproduction of the common eel or any species of the family. It was +a well-known fact that large eels migrated towards the sea in autumn, +and that in the spring small transparent eels of 2 in. in length and +upwards were common on the shore under stones, and ascended rivers and +streams in vast swarms. It was reasonable, therefore, to infer that the +mature eels spawned in the sea, and that there the young were developed. + +[Illustration: Leptocephali. (By permission of J. & A. Churchill.)] + +A group of peculiar small fishes were, however, known which were called +Leptocephali, from the small proportional size of the head. The first of +these described was captured in 1763 near Holyhead, and became the type +of _L. Morrisii_, other specimens of which have been taken either near +the shore or at the surface of the sea. Other forms placed in the same +genus had been taken by surface fishing in the Mediterranean and in +tropical ocean currents. The chief peculiarities of Leptocephali, in +addition to the smallness of the head, are their ribbon-like shape and +their glassy transparency during life. The body is flattened from side +to side, and broad from the dorsal to the ventral edge. Like the eels, +they are destitute of pelvic fins and no generative organs have been +observed in them (see fig.). + +In 1864 the American naturalist, T. N. Gill, published the conclusion +that _L. Morrisii_ was the young or larva of the conger, and +Leptocephali generally the young stages of species of _Muraenidae_. In +1886 this conclusion was confirmed from direct observation by Yves +Delage, who kept alive in a tank at Roscoff a specimen of _L. Morrisii_, +and saw it gradually transformed into a young conger. From 1887 to 1892 +Professor Grassi and Dr Calandruccio carried on careful and successful +researches into the development of the Leptocephali at Catania, in +Sicily. The specimens were captured in considerable numbers in the +harbour, and the transformation of _L. Morrisii_ into young conger, and +of various other forms of Leptocephalus into other genera of +_Muraenidae_, such as _Muraena_, _Congromuraena_ and _Ophichthys_, was +observed. In 1894 the same authors published the announcement that +another species of Leptocephalus, namely, _L. brevirostris_, was the +larva of the common eel. This larval form was captured in numbers with +other Leptocephali in the strong currents of the Strait of Messina. In +the metamorphosis of all Leptocephali a great reduction in size occurs. +The _L. brevirostris_ reaches a length of 8 cm., or a little more than +2-1/2 in., while the perfectly-formed young eel is 2 in. long or a +little more. + +The Italian naturalists have also satisfied themselves that certain +pelagic fish eggs originally described by Raffaele at Naples are the +eggs of _Muraenidae_, and that among them are the eggs of _Conger_ and +_Anguilla_. They believe that these eggs, although free in the water, +remain usually near the bottom at great depths, and that fertilization +takes place under similar conditions. No fish eggs of the kind to which +reference is here made have yet been obtained on the British coasts, +although conger and eels are so abundant there. Raffaele described and +figured the larva newly hatched from one of the eggs under +consideration, and it is evident that this larva is the earliest stage +of a Leptocephalus. + +Although young eels, some of them more or less flat and transparent, are +common enough on the coasts of Great Britain and north-western Europe in +spring, neither eggs nor specimens of _Leptocephalus brevirostris_ have +yet been taken in the North Sea, English Channel or other shallow waters +in the neighbourhood of the British Islands, or in the Baltic. Marked +eels have been proved to migrate from the inmost part of the Baltic to +the Kattegat. Recently, however, search has been made for the larvae in +the more distant and deeper portions of the Atlantic Ocean. In May 1904 +a true larval specimen was taken at the surface south-west of the Faeroe +Islands, and another was taken 40 m. north by west of Achill Head, +Ireland. In 1905 numbers were taken in deep water in the Atlantic. The +evidence at present available indicates that the spawning of mature eels +takes place beyond the 100 fathom line, and that the young eels which +reach the coast are already a year old. As eels, both young and old, are +able to live for a long time out of water and have the habit of +travelling at night over land in wet grass and in damp weather, there is +no difficulty in explaining their presence in wells, ponds or other +isolated bodies of fresh water at any distance from the sea. + + See "The Eel Question," _Report U.S. Commissioner of Fisheries for + 1879_ (Washington, 1882); J. T. Cunningham, "Reproduction and + Development of the Conger," _Journ. Mar. Biol. Assn._ vol. ii.; C. G. + J. Petersen, _Report Dan. Biol. Station_, v. (1894); G. B. Grassi, + _Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ vol. xxxix. (1897). (J. T. C.) + + + + +EFFENDI (a Turkish word, corrupted from the Gr. [Greek: authentes], a +lord or master), a title of respect, equivalent to the English "sir," in +the Turkish empire and some other eastern countries. It follows the +personal name, when that is used, and is generally given to members of +the learned professions, and to government officials who have no higher +rank, such as Bey, Pasha, &c. It may also indicate a definite office, as +_Hakim effendi_, chief physician to the sultan. The possessive form +_effendim_ (my master) is used by servants and in formal intercourse. + + + + +EFFIGIES, MONUMENTAL. An "effigy" (Lat. _effigies_, from _effingere_, to +fashion) is, in general, a material image or likeness of a person; and +the practice of hanging or burning people "in effigy," i.e. their +semblance only, preserves the more general sense of the word. Such +representations may be portraits, caricatures or models. But, apart from +general usages of the term (see e.g. Wax Figures), it is more +particularly applied in the history of art to a particular class of +sculptured figures, in the flat or the round, associated with Christian +sepulchral monuments, dating from the 12th century. The earliest of +these attempts at commemorative portraiture were executed in low relief +upon coffin-lids of stone or purbeck marble, some portions of the +designs for the most part being executed by means of incised lines, cut +upon the raised figure. Gradually, with the increased size and the +greater architectural dignity of monumental structures, effigies +attained to a high rank as works of art, so that before the close of the +13th century very noble examples of figures of this order are found to +have been executed in full relief; and, about the same period, similar +figures also began to be engraved, either upon monumental slabs of stone +or marble, or upon plates of metal, which were affixed to the surfaces +of slabs that were laid in the pavements of churches. + +Engraved plates of this class, known as "Brasses" (see BRASSES, +MONUMENTAL), continued in favour until the era of the Reformation, and +in recent times their use has been revived. It seems probable that the +introduction and the prevalence of flat engraved memorials, in place of +commemorative effigies in relief, was due, in the first instance, to the +inconvenience resulting from increasing numbers of raised stones on the +pavement of churches; while the comparatively small cost of engraved +plates, their high artistic capabilities, and their durability, combined +to secure for them the popularity they unquestionably enjoyed. If +considerably less numerous than contemporary incised slabs and engraved +brasses, effigies sculptured in relief--with some exceptions in full +relief--continued for centuries to constitute the most important +features in many medieval monuments. In the 13th century, their origin +being apparently derived from the endeavour to combine a monumental +effigy with a monumental cross upon the same sepulchral stone (whether +in sculpture or by incised lines), parts only of the human figure +sometimes were represented, such as the head or bust, and occasionally +also the feet; in some of the early examples of this curious class the +cross symbol was not introduced, and after awhile half-length figures +became common. + +Except in very rare instances, that most important element, genuine +face-portraiture, is not to be looked for, in even the finest sculptured +effigies, earlier than about the middle of the 15th century. In works of +the highest order of art, indeed, the memorials of personages of the +most exalted rank, effigies from an early period in their existence may +be considered occasionally to have been portraits properly so called; +and yet even in such works as these an approximately correct general +resemblance but too frequently appears to have been all that was +contemplated or desired. At the same time, in the earliest monumental +effigies we possess contemporary examples of vestments, costume,[1] +armour, weapons, royal and knightly insignia, and other personal +appointments and accessories, in all of which accurate fidelity has been +certainly observed with scrupulous care and minute exactness. Thus, +since the monumental effigies of England are second to none in artistic +merit, while they have been preserved in far greater numbers, and +generally in better condition than those in other countries, they +represent in unbroken continuity an unrivalled series of original +personal representations of successive generations, very many of them +being, in the most significant acceptation of that term, veritable +contemporaneous portraits. + +Once esteemed to be simply objects of antiquarian curiosity, and either +altogether disregarded or too often subjected to injurious indignity, +the monumental effigies in England long awaited the formation of a just +estimate of their true character and their consequent worth in their +capacity as authorities for face-portraiture. In the original contract +for the construction of the monument at Warwick to Richard Beauchamp, +the fifth earl, who died in 1439, it is provided that an effigy of the +deceased noble should be executed in bronze gilt, with all possible +care, by the most skilful and experienced artists of the time; and the +details of the armour and the ornaments of the figure are specified with +minute precision. It is remarkable, however, that the effigy itself is +described only in the general and indefinite terms--"an image of a man +armed." There is no provision that the effigy should be "an image" of +the earl; and much less is anything said as to its being such a +"counterfeit presentment" of the features and person of the living man, +as the contemporaries of Shakespeare had learned to expect in what they +would accept as true portraiture. The effigy, almost as perfect as when +it left the sculptor's hands, still bears witness, as well to the +conscientious care with which the conditions of the contract were +fulfilled, as to the eminent ability of the artists employed. So +complete is the representation of the armour, that this effigy might be +considered actually to have been equipped in the earl's own favourite +suit of the finest Milan steel. The cast of the figure also was +evidently studied from what the earl had been when in life, and the +countenance is sufficiently marked and endowed with the unmistakable +attributes of personal character. Possibly such a resemblance may have +been the highest aim in the image-making of the period, somewhat before +the middle of the 15th century. Three-quarters of a century later, a +decided step towards fidelity in true portraiture is shown to have been +taken, when, in his will (1510 A.D.), Henry VII. spoke of the effigies +of himself and of his late queen, Elizabeth of York, to be executed for +their monument, as "an image of our figure and another of hers." The +existing effigies in the Beauchamp chapel and in Henry VII.'s chapel, +with the passages just quoted from the contract made by the executors of +the Lancastrian earl, strikingly illustrate the gradual development of +the idea of true personal portraiture in monumental effigies, during the +course of the 15th and at the commencement of the 16th century in +England. + +Study of the royal effigies still preserved must commence in Worcester +Cathedral with that of King John. This earliest example of a series of +effigies of which the historical value has never yet been duly +appreciated is rude as a work of art, and yet there is on it the impress +of such individuality as demonstrates that the sculptor did his best to +represent the king. Singularly fine as achievements of the sculptor's +art are the effigies of Henry III., Queen Eleanor of Castile, and her +ill-fated son Edward II., the two former in Westminster Abbey, the last +in Gloucester cathedral; and of their fidelity also as portraits no +doubt can be entertained. In like manner the effigies of Edward III. and +his queen Philippa, and those of their grandson Richard II. and his +first consort, Anne of Bohemia (all at Westminster), and of their other +grandson, Henry of Lancaster, with his second consort, Joan of Navarre, +at Canterbury--all convince us that they are true portraits. Next follow +the effigies of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York,--to be succeeded, and +the royal series to be completed, by the effigies of Queen Elizabeth and +Mary Stuart, all of them in Westminster Abbey. Very instructive would be +a close comparison between the two last-named works and the painted +portraits of the rival queens, especially in the case of Mary, the +pictures of whom differ so remarkably from one another. + +As the 15th century advanced, the rank of the personage represented and +the character of the art that distinguishes any effigy goes far to +determine its portrait qualities. Still later, when more exact +face-portraiture had become a recognized element, sculptors must be +supposed to have aimed at the production of such resemblance as their +art would enable them to give to their works; and accordingly, when we +compare effigies with painted portraits of the same personages, we find +that they corroborate one another. The prevalence of portraiture in the +effigies of the 16th and 17th centuries, when their art generally +underwent a palpable decline, by no means raises all works of this +class, or indeed the majority of them, to the dignity of true portraits; +on the contrary, in these effigies, as in those of earlier periods, it +is the character of the art in each particular example that affects its +merit, value and authority as a portrait. In judging of these latter +effigies, however, we must estimate them by the standard of art of their +own era; and, as a general rule, the effigies that are the best as works +of art in their own class are the best also and the most faithful in +their portraiture. The earlier effigies, usually produced without any +express aim at exact portraiture, as we now employ that expression, have +nevertheless strong claims upon our veneration. Often their sculpture is +very noble; and even when they are rudest as works of art, there is +rarely lacking a rough grandeur about them, as exhibited in the fine +bold figure of Fair Rosamond's son, Earl William of the Long Sword, +which reposes in such dignified serenity in his own cathedral at +Salisbury. These effigies may not bring us closely face to face with +remote generations, but they do place before us true images of what the +men and women of those generations were. + +Observant students of monumental effigies will not fail to appreciate +the singular felicity with which the medieval sculptors adjusted their +compositions to the recumbent position in which their "images" +necessarily had to be placed. Equally worthy of notice is the manner in +which many monumental effigies, particularly those of comparatively +early date, are found to have assumed an aspect neither living nor +lifeless, and yet impressively life-like. The sound judgment also, and +the good taste of those early sculptors, were signally exemplified in +their excluding, almost without exception, the more extravagant fashions +in the costume of their era from their monumental sculpture, and +introducing only the simpler but not less characteristic styles of dress +and appointments. Monumental effigies, as commonly understood, represent +recumbent figures, and the accessories of the effigies themselves have +been adjusted to that position. With the exceptions when they appear on +one side resting on the elbow (as in the case of Thomas Owen (d. 1598) +and Sir Thomas Heskett (d. 1605), both in Westminster Abbey), these +effigies lie on their backs, and as a general rule (except in the case +of episcopal figures represented in the act of benediction, or of +princes and warriors who sometimes hold a sceptre or a sword) their +hands are uplifted and conjoined as in supplication. The crossed-legged +attitude of numerous armed effigies of the era of mail-armour has been +supposed to imply the personages so represented to have been crusaders +or Knights of the Temple; but in either case the supposition is +unfounded and inconsistent with unquestionable facts. Much beautiful +feeling is conveyed by figures of ministering angels being introduced as +in the act of supporting and smoothing the pillows or cushions that are +placed in very many instances to give support to the heads of the +recumbent effigies. The animals at the feet of these effigies, which +frequently have an heraldic significance, enabled the sculptors, with +equal propriety and effectiveness, to overcome one of the special +difficulties inseparable from the recumbent position. In general, +monumental effigies were carved in stone or marble, or cast in bronze, +but occasionally they were of wood: such is the effigy of Robert +Curthose, son of William I. (d. 1135), whose altar tomb in Gloucester +cathedral was probably set up about 1320. + +In addition to recumbent statues, upright figures must receive notice +here, especially those set in wall-monuments in churches mainly. These +usually consisted in half-length figures, seen full-face, placed in a +recess within an architectural setting more or less elaborate. They +belong mainly to the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the many examples in +old St Paul's cathedral (destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666) were those +of Dean Colet (d. 1519), William Aubrey (1595) and Alexander Nowell (d. +1601). In St Giles's, Cripplegate, is the similarly designed effigy of +John Speed (d. 1629); while that of John Stow (d. 1605) is a +full-length, seated figure. This, like the figure of Thomas Owen, is in +alabaster, but since its erection has always been described as +terra-cotta--a material which came into considerable favour for the +purpose of busts and half-lengths towards the end of the 16th century, +imported, of course, from abroad. Sometimes the stone monuments were +painted to resemble life, as in the monuments to Shakespeare and John +Combe (the latter now over-painted white), in Holy Trinity Church, +Stratford-on-Avon. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Among the more noteworthy publications are the + following: _Monumental Effigies in Great Britain_ (Norman Conquest to + Henry VIII.), by C. A. Stothard, folio (London, 1876); _The Recumbent + Monumental Effigies in Northamptonshire_, by A. Hartshorne (4to, + London, 1867-1876); _Sepulchral Memorials_ (Northamptonshire), by W. + H. Hyett (folio, London, 1817); _Ancient Sepulchral Effigies and + Monumental Sculpture of Devon_, by W. H. H. Rogers (4to, Exeter, + 1877); _The Ancient Sepulchral Monuments of Essex_, ed. by C. M. + Carlton (4to, Chelmsford, 1890); and other works dealing with the + subject according to counties. Of particular value is the _Report of + the Sepulchral Monuments Committee_ of the Society of Antiquaries, + laboriously compiled at the request of the Office of Works, arranged + (1) personally and chronologically, and (2) locally (1872). + (C. B.; M. H. S.) + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [1] It is well known that the costume of effigies nearly always + represented what was actually worn by the remains of the person + commemorated, when prepared for interment and when lying in state; + and, in like manner, the aspect of the lifeless countenance, even if + not designedly reproduced by medieval "image" makers, may long have + exercised a powerful influence upon their ideas of consistent + monumental portraiture. + + + + +EGAN, PIERCE (1772-1849), English sporting writer, was born in London in +1772. He began life as sporting reporter for the newspapers, and was +soon recognized as the best of his day. In 1814 he wrote, set and +printed a book about the relations of the prince regent (afterwards +George IV.) and Miss Robinson, called _The Mistress of Royalty, or the +Loves of Florizel and Perdita_. But his best-known work is _Life in +London, or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and his Elegant Friend +Corinthian Tom_ (1821), a book describing the amusements of sporting +men, with illustrations by Cruikshank. This book took the popular fancy +and was one of Thackeray's early favourites (see his _Roundabout +Papers_). It was repeatedly imitated, and several dramatic versions were +produced in London. A sequel containing more of country sports and +misadventures probably suggested Dickens's _Pickwick Papers_. In 1824 +_Pierce Egan's Life in London and Sporting Guide_ was started, a weekly +newspaper afterwards incorporated with _Bell's Life_. Among his numerous +other books are _Boxiana_ (1818), _Life of an Actor_ (1824), _Book of +Sports_ (1832), and the _Pilgrims of the Thames_ (1838). Egan died at +Pentonville on the 3rd of August 1849. + +His son, Pierce Egan (1814-1880), illustrated his own and his father's +books, and wrote a score of novels of varying merit, of which _The Snake +in the Grass_ (1858) is perhaps the best. + + + + +EGBO, a secret society flourishing chiefly among the Efiks of the +Calabar district, West Africa. Egbo or Ekpe is a mysterious spirit who +lives in the jungle and is supposed to preside at the ceremonies of the +society. Only males can join, boys being initiated about the age of +puberty. Members are bound by oath of secrecy, and fees on entrance are +payable. The Egbo-men are ranked in seven or nine grades, for promotion +to each of which fresh initiation ceremonies, fees and oaths are +necessary. The society combines a kind of freemasonry with political and +law-enforcing aims. For instance any member wronged in an Egbo district, +that is one dominated by the society, has only to address an Egbo-man or +beat the Egbo drum in the Egbo-house, or "blow Egbo" as it is called, +i.e. sound the Egbo horn before the hut of the wrong-doer, and the whole +machinery of the society is put in force to see justice done. Formerly +the society earned as bad a name as most secret sects, from the +barbarous customs mingled with its rites; but the British authorities +have been able to make use of it in enforcing order and helping on +civilization. The Egbo-house, an oblong building like the nave of a +church, usually stands in the middle of the villages. The walls are of +clay elaborately painted inside and ornamented with clay figures in +relief. Inside are wooden images, sometimes of an obscene nature, to +which reverence is paid. Much social importance attaches to the highest +ranks of Egbo-men, and it is said that very large sums, sometimes more +than a thousand pounds, are paid to attain these dignities. At certain +festivals in the year the Egbo-men wear black wooden masks with horns +which it is death for any woman to look on. + + See Mary H. Kingsley, _West African Studies_ (1901); Rev. Robt. H. + Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_ (1904); C. Partridge, _Cross River + Natives_ (1905). + + + + +EGEDE, HANS (1686-1758), Norwegian missionary, was born in the vogtship +of Senjen, Norway, on the 31st of January 1686. He studied at the +university of Copenhagen, and in 1706 became pastor at Vaagen in the +Lofoten islands, but the study of the chronicles of the northmen having +awakened in him the desire to visit the colony of Northmen in Greenland, +and to convert them to Christianity, he resigned his charge in 1717; and +having, after great difficulty, obtained the sanction and help of the +Danish government in his enterprise, he set sail with three ships from +Bergen on the 3rd of May 1721, accompanied by his wife and children. He +landed on the west coast of Greenland on the 3rd of July, but found to +his dismay that the Northmen were entirely superseded by the Eskimo, in +whom he had no particular interest, and whose language he would be able +to master, if at all, only after years of study. But, though compelled +to endure for some years great privations, and at one time to see the +result of his labours almost annihilated by the ravages of small-pox, he +remained resolutely at his post. He founded the colony of Godthaab, and +soon gained the affections of the people. He converted many of them to +Christianity, and established a considerable commerce with Denmark. +Ill-health compelling him to return home in 1736, he was made principal +of a seminary at Copenhagen, in which workers were trained for the +Greenland mission; and from 1740 to 1747 he was superintendent of the +mission. He died on the 5th of November 1758. He is the author of a book +on the natural history of Greenland. + +His work in Greenland was continued, on his retirement, by his son PAUL +EGEDE (1708-1789), who afterwards returned to Denmark and succeeded his +father as superintendent of the Greenland mission. Paul Egede also +became professor of theology in the mission seminary. He published a +Greenland-Danish-Latin dictionary (1750), Greenland grammar (1760) and +Greenland catechism (1756). In 1766 he completed the translation begun +by his father of the New Testament into the Greenland tongue; and in +1787 he translated Thomas a Kempis. In 1789 he published a journal of +his life in Greenland. + + + + +EGER, AQIBA (1761-1837), Jewish scholar, was for the last twenty-five +years of his life rabbi of Posen. He was a rigorous casuist of the old +school, and his chief works were legal notes on the Talmud and the code +of Qaro (q.v.). He believed that religious education was enough, and +thus opposed the party which favoured secular schools. He was a +determined foe of the reform movement, which began to make itself felt +in his time. + + + + +EGER (Czech, _Cheb_), a town of Bohemia, Austria, 148 m. W.N.W. of +Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 23,665. It is situated on the river Eger, at +the foot of one of the spurs of the Fichtelgebirge, and lies in the +centre of a German district of about 40,000 inhabitants, who are +distinguished from the surrounding population by their costumes, +language, manners and customs. On the rock, to the N.W. of the town, +lies the Burg or Castle, built probably in the 12th century, and now in +ruins. It possesses a massive black tower, built of blocks of lava, and +in the courtyard is an interesting chapel, in Romanesque style with +fantastic ornamentations, which was finished in the 13th century. In the +banquet-room of this castle Wallenstein's officers Terzky, Kinsky, Illo +and Neumann were assassinated a few hours before Wallenstein himself was +murdered by Captain Devereux. The murder took place on the 25th of +February 1634 in the town-house, which was at that time the +burgomaster's house. The rooms occupied by Wallenstein have been +transformed since 1872 into a museum, which contains many historical +relics and antiquities of the town of Eger. The handsome and imposing St +Nicholas church was built in the 13th century and restored in 1892. +There is a considerable textile industry, together with the manufacture +of shoes, machinery and milling. Eger was the birthplace of the novelist +and playwright Braun von Braunthal (1802-1866). About 3 m. N.W. of Eger +is the well-known watering place of Franzensbad (q.v.). + +The district of Eger was in 870 included in the new margraviate of East +Franconia, which belonged at first to the Babenbergs, but from 906 to +the counts of Vohburg, who took the title of margraves of Eger. By the +marriage, in 1149, of Adela of Vohburg with the emperor Frederick I., +Eger came into the possession of the house of Swabia, and remained in +the hands of the emperors until the 13th century. In 1265 it was taken +by Ottakar II. of Bohemia, who retained it for eleven years. After being +repeatedly transferred from the one power to the other, according to the +preponderance of Bohemia or the empire, the town and territory were +finally incorporated with Bohemia in 1350, after the Bohemian king +became the emperor Charles IV. Several imperial privileges, however, +continued to be enjoyed by the town till 1849. It suffered severely +during the Hussite war, during the Swedish invasion in 1631 and 1647, +and in the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742. + + See Drivok, _Altere Geschichte der deutschen Reichstadt Eger und des + Reichsgebietes Egerland_ (Leipzig, 1875). + + + + +EGER (Ger. _Erlau_, Med. Lat. _Agria_), a town of Hungary, capital of +the county of Heves, 90 m. E.N.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) +24,650. It is beautifully situated in the valley of the river Eger, an +affluent of the Theiss, and on the eastern outskirts of the Matra +mountains. Eger is the see of an archbishopric, and owing to its +numerous ecclesiastical buildings has received the name of "the +Hungarian Rome." Amongst the principal buildings are the beautiful +cathedral in the Italian style, with a handsome dome 130 ft. high, +erected in 1831-1834 by the archbishop Ladislaus Pyrker (1772-1847); the +church of the Brothers of Mercy, opposite which is a handsome minaret, +115 ft. high, the remains of a mosque dating from the Turkish +occupation, other Roman Catholic churches, and an imposing Greek church. +The archiepiscopal palace; the lyceum, with a good library and an +astronomical observatory; the seminary for Roman priests; and the +town-hall are all noteworthy. On an eminence N.E. of the town, laid out +as a park, are the ruins of the old fortress, and a monument of Stephen +Dobo, the heroic defender of the town against the assaults of the Turks +in 1552. The chief occupation of the inhabitants is the cultivation of +the vineyards of the surrounding hills, which produce the red Erlauer +wine, one of the best in Hungary. To the S.W. of Eger, in the same +county of Heves, is situated the town of Gyongyos (pop. 15,878). It lies +on the south-western outskirts of the Matra mountains, and carries on a +brisk trade in the Erlauer wine, which is produced throughout the +district. The Hungarians defeated the Austrians at Gyongyos on the 3rd +of April 1849. To the S.W. of Gyongyos is situated the old town of +Hatvan (pop. 9698), which is now a busy railway junction, and possesses +several industrial establishments. + +Eger is an old town, and owes its importance to the bishopric created by +King Stephen in 1010, which was one of the richest in the whole of +Hungary. In 1552 Eger resisted the repeated assaults of a large Turkish +force; in 1596, however, it was given up to the Turks by the Austrian +party in the garrison, and remained in their possession until 1687. It +was created an archbishopric in 1814. During the revolution of +1848-1849, Eger was remarkable for the patriotic spirit displayed by its +inhabitants; and it was here that the principal campaigns against the +Austrians were organized. + + + + +EGERIA, an ancient Italian goddess of springs. Two distinct localities +were regarded as sacred to her,--the grove of Diana Nemorensis at +Aricia, and a spring in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome at the Porta +Capena. She derives her chief importance from her legendary connexion +with King Numa, who had frequent interviews with her and consulted her +in regard to his religious legislation (Livy i. 19; Juvenal iii. 12). +These meetings took place on the spot where the sacred shield had fallen +from heaven, and here Numa dedicated a grove to the Camenae, like Egeria +deities of springs. After the death of Numa, Egeria was said to have +fled into the grove of Aricia, where she was changed into a spring for +having interrupted the rites of Diana by her lamentations (Ovid, +_Metam._ xv. 479). At Aricia there was also a Manius Egerius, a male +counterpart of Egeria. Her connexion with Diana Nemorensis, herself a +birth goddess, is confirmed by the fact that her aid was invoked by +pregnant women. She also possessed the gift of prophecy; and the +statement (Dion. Halic. ii. 60) that she was one of the Muses is due to +her connexion with the Camenae, whose worship was displaced by them. + + + + +EGERTON, SIR PHILIP DE MALPAS GREY, Bart. (1806-1881), English +palaeontologist, was born on the 13th of November 1806, the son of the +9th baronet. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he +graduated B.A. in 1828. While at college his interest in geology was +aroused by the lectures of W. Buckland, and by his acquaintance with +W.D. Conybeare. Subsequently when travelling in Switzerland with Lord +Cole (afterwards 3rd earl of Enniskillen) they were introduced to Prof. +L. Agassiz at Neufchatel, and determined to make a special study of +fossil fishes. During the course of fifty years they gradually gathered +together two of the largest and finest of private collections--that of +Sir Philip Grey Egerton being at Oulton Park, Tarporley, Cheshire. He +described the structure and affinities of numerous species in the +publications of the Geological Society of London, the _Geological +Magazine_ and the Decades of the Geological Survey; and in recognition +of his services the Wollaston medal was awarded to him in 1873 by the +Geological Society. He was elected F.R.S. in 1831, and was a trustee of +the British Museum. As a member of Parliament he represented the city of +Chester in 1830, the southern division of Cheshire from 1835 until 1868, +and the western division from 1868 to 1881. He died in London on the 6th +of April 1881. His collection of fossil fishes is now in the British +Museum. + + + + +EGG, AUGUSTUS LEOPOLD (1816-1863), English painter, was born on the 2nd +of May 1816 in London, where his father carried on business as a +gun-maker. He had some schooling at Bexley, and was not at first +intended for the artistic profession; but, developing a faculty in this +line, he entered in 1834 the drawing class of Mr Sass, and in 1836 the +school of the Royal Academy. His first exhibited picture appeared in +1837 at the Suffolk Street gallery. In 1838 he began exhibiting in the +Academy, his subject being a "Spanish Girl"; altogether he sent +twenty-seven works to this institution. In 1848 he became an associate +and in 1860 a full member of the Academy: he had considerable means, +apart from his profession. In 1857 he took a leading part in selecting +and arranging the modern paintings in the Art-Treasures Exhibition in +Manchester. His constitution being naturally frail, he went in 1853, +with Dickens and Wilkie Collins, to Italy for a short trip, and in 1863 +he visited Algeria. Here he benefited so far as his chronic lung-disease +was concerned; but exposure to a cold wind while out riding brought on +an attack of asthma, from which he died on the 26th of March 1863 at +Algiers, near which city his remains were buried. + +Egg was a gifted and well-trained painter of genre, chiefly in the way +of historical anecdote, or of compositions from the poets and novelists. +Among his principal pictures may be named: 1843, the "Introduction of +Sir Piercie Shafton and Halbert Glendinning" (from Scott's _Monastery_); +1846, "Buckingham Rebuffed"; 1848, "Queen Elizabeth discovers she is no +longer young"; 1850, "Peter the Great sees Catharine for the first +time"; 1854, "Charles I. raising the Standard at Nottingham" (a study); +1855, the "Life and Death of Buckingham"; 1857 and 1858, two subjects +from Thackeray's _Esmond_; 1858, "Past and Present, a triple picture of +a faithless wife"; 1859, the "Night before Naseby"; 1860, his last +exhibited work, the Dinner Scene from _The Taming of the Shrew_. The +Tate Gallery contains one of his earlier pictures, Patricio entertaining +two Ladies, from the _Diable boiteux_; it was painted in 1844. + +Egg was rather below the middle height, with dark hair and a handsome +well-formed face; the head of Peter the Great (in the picture of Peter +and Catharine, which may be regarded as his best work, along with the +Life and Death of Buckingham) was studied, but of course considerably +modified, from his own countenance. He was manly, kind-hearted, +pleasant, and very genial and serviceable among brother-artists; social +and companionable, but holding mainly aloof from fashionable circles. +As an actor he had uncommon talent. He appeared among Dickens's company +of amateurs in 1852 in Lord Lytton's comedy _Not so Bad as we Seem_, and +afterwards in Wilkie Collins's _Frozen Deep_, playing the humorous part +of Job Want. + + + + +EGG (O.E. _aeg_, cf. Ger. _Ei_, Swed. _aegg_, and prob. Gr. [Greek: +oon], Lat. _ovum_), the female reproductive cell or ovum of animals, +which gives rise generally only after fertilization to the young. The +largest eggs are those of birds; and this because, to the minute +essential portion of the egg, or germ, from which the young bird grows, +there is added a large store of food-material--the yolk and white of the +egg--destined to nourish the growing embryo while the whole is enclosed +within a hard shell. + +The relative sizes of eggs depend entirely on the amount of the +food-yolk thus enclosed with the germ; while the form and texture of the +outer envelope are determined by the nature of the environment to which +the egg is exposed. Where the food material is infinitesimal in quantity +the egg is either not extruded--the embryo being nourished by the +maternal tissues,--or it passes out of the parental body and gives rise +at once to a free-living organism or "larva" (see LARVAL FORMS), as in +the case of many lowly freshwater and marine animals. In such cases no +"egg" in the usual sense of the term is produced. + +The number of eggs periodically produced by any given individual depends +on the risks of destruction to which they, and the young to which they +give rise, are exposed: not more than a single egg being annually laid +by some species, while with others the number may amount to millions. + + +_Birds' Eggs._--The egg of the bird affords, for general purposes, the +readiest example of the modifications imposed on eggs by the external +environment. Since it must be incubated by the warmth of the parent's +body, the outer envelope has taken the form of a hard shell for the +protection of the growing chick from pressure, while the dyes which +commonly colour the surface of this shell serve as a screen to hide it +from egg-eating animals. + +Carbonate of lime forms the principal constituent of this shell; but in +addition phosphate of lime and magnesia are also present. In section, +this shell will be found to be made up of three more or less distinct +crystalline layers, traversed by vertical canals, whereby the shell is +made porous so as to admit air to the developing chick. + +The outermost, or third, layer of this shell often takes the form of a +glaze, as of porcelain, as for example in the burnished egg of the +ostrich: or it may assume the character of a thick, chalky layer as in +some cuckoos (_Guira_, _Crotophaga ani_), cormorants, grebes and +flamingoes: while in some birds as in the auks, gulls and tinamous, this +outer layer is wanting; yet the tinamous have the most highly glazed +eggs of all birds, the second layer of the shell developing a surface +even more perfectly burnished than that formed by the outermost, third +layer in the ostrich. + +While the eggs of some birds have the shell so thin as to be +translucent, e.g. kingfisher, others display considerable thickness, the +maximum being reached in the egg of the extinct _Aepyornis_. + +Though in shape differing but little from that of the familiar hen's +egg, certain well-marked modifications of form are yet to be met with. +Thus the eggs of the plover are pear-shaped, of the sand-grouse more or +less cylindrical, of the owls and titmice spherical and of the grebes +biconical. + +In the matter of coloration the eggs of birds present a remarkable +range. The pigments to which this coloration is due have been shown, by +means of their absorption spectra (Sorby, _Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1875), to +be seven in number. The first of these, oorhodeine, is brown-red in +tone, and rarely absent: the second and third, oocyanin, and banded +oocyanin, are of a beautiful blue, and though differing +spectroscopically give rise to the same product when oxidized: the +fourth and fifth are yellow, and rufous ooxanthine, the former combining +with oocyanin gives rise to the wonderful malachite green of the emu's +egg, while the latter occurs only in the eggs of tinamous: the sixth is +lichenoxanthine, a pigment not yet thoroughly known but present in the +shells of all eggs having a peculiar brick-red colour. Still less is +known of the seventh pigment which is, as yet, nameless. It is a +substance giving a banded absorption spectrum, and which, mixed with +other pigments, imparts an abnormally browner tint. The origin of these +pigments is yet uncertain, but it is probable that they are derived from +the haemoglobin or red colouring matter of the blood. This being so, +then the pigments of the egg-shell differ entirely in their nature from +those which colour the yolk or the feathers. + +While many eggs are either colourless or of one uniform tint, the +majority have the surface broken up by spots or lines, or a combination +of both, of varying tints: the pigment being deposited as the egg passes +down the lower portion of the oviduct. That the egg during this passage +turns slowly on its long axis is shown by the fact that the spots and +lines have commonly a spiral direction; though some of the markings are +made during periods of rest, as is shown by their sharp outlines, +movement giving a blurred effect. Where the egg is pyriform, the large +end makes way for the smaller. Many eggs display, in addition to the +strongly marked spots, more or fewer fainter spots embedded in a deeper +layer of the shell, and hence such eggs are said to be "double-spotted," +e.g. rails and plovers. + +Among some species, as in birds of prey, the intensity of this +coloration is said to increase with age up to a certain point, when it +as gradually decreases. Frequently, especially where but two eggs are +laid (Newton), all the dye will be deposited, sometimes on the first, +sometimes on the last laid, leaving the other colourless. But although +of a number of eggs in a "clutch"--as the full complement of eggs in a +nest is called--no two are exactly alike, they commonly bear a very +close resemblance. Among certain species, however, which lay several +eggs, one of the number invariably differs markedly from the rest, as +for example in the eggs of the house-sparrow or in those of the +sparrow-hawk, where, of a clutch of six, two generally differ +conspicuously from the rest. Differing though these eggs do from the +rest of the clutch, all yet present the characters common to the +species. But the eggs of some birds, such as the Australian swamp quail, +_Synoecus australis_, present a remarkably wide range of variation in +the matter of coloration, no two clutches being alike, the extremes +ranging from pure white to eggs having a greenish ground colour and +rufous spots or blotches. But a still more interesting illustration of +variation equally marked is furnished by the chikor partridge (_Caccabis +chukar_), since here the variation appears to be correlated with the +geographical distribution of the species. Thus eggs taken in Greece are +for the most part cream-coloured and unspotted; those from the Grecian +Archipelago are generally spotted and blotched; while more to the +eastward spots are invariably present, and the blotches attain their +maximum development. + +But in variability the eggs of the guillemot (_Lomvia troile_) exceed +all others: both in the hue of the ground colour and in the form of the +superimposed markings, these eggs exhibit a wonderful range for which no +adequate explanation has yet been given. + +Individual peculiarities of coloration are commonly reproduced, not only +with this species but also in others, year after year. + + + Significance of colour. + +The coloration of the egg bears no sort of relation to the coloration of +the bird which lays it; but it bears on the other hand a more or less +direct relation to the nature of the environment during incubation. + +White eggs may generally be regarded as representing the primitive type +of egg, since they agree in this particular with the eggs of reptiles. +And it will generally be found that eggs of this hue are deposited in +holes or in domed nests. So long indeed as nesting-places of this kind +are used will the eggs be white. And this because coloured eggs would be +invisible in dimly lighted chambers of this description, and therefore +constantly exposed to the risk of being broken by the sitting bird, or +rolling out of reach where the chamber was large enough to admit of +this, whereas white eggs are visible so long as they can be reached by +the faintest rays of light. Pigeons invariably lay white eggs; and while +some deposit them in holes others build an open nest, a mere platform +of sticks. These exceptions to the rule show that the depredations of +egg-eating animals are sufficiently guarded against by the overhanging +foliage, as well as by the great distance from the ground at which the +nest is built. Birds which have reverted to the more ancient custom of +nesting in holes after having developed pigmented eggs, have adopted the +device of covering the shell with a layer of chalky matter (e.g. +puffins), or, to put the case more correctly, they have been enabled to +maintain survival after their return to the more ancient mode of +nidification, because this reversion was accompanied by the tendency to +cover the pigmented surface of the shell with this light-reflecting +chalky incrustation. + +Eggs which are deposited on the bare ground, or in other exposed +situations, are usually protectively coloured: that is to say, the hue +of the shell more or less completely harmonizes with the ground on which +the egg is placed. The eggs of the plover tribe afford the most striking +examples of this fact. + +But the majority of birds deposit their eggs in a more or less +elaborately constructed nest, and in such cases the egg, so far from +being protectively coloured, often displays tints that would appear +calculated rather to attract the attention of egg-stealing animals; +bright blue or blue spotted with black being commonly met with. It may +be, however, that coloration of this kind is less conspicuous than is +generally supposed, but in any case the safety of the egg depends not so +much on its coloration as on the character of the nest, which, where +protective devices are necessary, must harmonize sufficiently with its +surroundings to escape observation from prowling egg-stealers of all +kinds. + +The size of the egg depends partly on the number produced and partly on +the conditions determining the state of the young bird at hatching: +hence there is a great disparity in the relative sizes of the eggs of +different birds. Thus it will be found that young birds which emerge in +the world blind, naked and helpless are the product of relatively small +eggs, while on the contrary young hatched from relatively large eggs are +down-clad and active from birth. + +The fact that the eggs must be brooded by the parent is also a +controlling factor in so far as number is concerned, for no more can be +hatched than can be covered by the sitting bird. Other factors, however, +less understood, also exercise a controlling influence in this matter. +Thus the ostrich lays from 12 to 16, the teal 15, the partridge 12-20, +while among many other species the number is strictly limited, as in the +case of the hornbills and guillemots, which lay but a single egg; the +apteryx, divers, petrels and pigeons never lay more than 2, while the +gulls and plovers never exceed 4. Tropical species are said to lay fewer +eggs than their representatives in temperate regions, and further +immature birds lay more and smaller eggs than when fully adult. + +Partly owing to the uniformity of shape, size and texture of the shell, +the eggs of birds are by no means easy to distinguish, except in so far +as their family resemblances are concerned: that is to say, except in +particular cases, they cannot be specifically distinguished, and hence +they are of but little or no value for the purposes of classification. + +Save only among the megapodes, all birds brood their eggs, the period of +incubation varying from 13 days, as in small passerine birds, to 8 +weeks, as in the cassowary, though eggs of the rhea and of _Struthio_ +hatch in from 5 to 6 weeks. But the megapodes deposit their eggs in +mounds of decaying vegetable matter or in sand in the neighbourhood of +hot springs, and there without further apparent care leave them. Where +the nestling is active from the moment of hatching the eggs have a +relatively longer incubation period than in cases where the nestlings +are for a long while helpless. + + +_Eggs of Mammals._--Only in the spiny ant-eater, or _Echidna_, and the +duck-billed platypus, or _Ornithorhynchus_, among the Mammalia, are the +eggs provided with a large store of yolk, enclosed within a shell, and +extruded to undergo development apart from the maternal tissues. In the +case of the echidna the eggs, two in number, are about as large as those +of a sparrow, similar in shape, and have a white, parchment-like shell. +After expulsion they are transferred by the beak of the mother to a +pouch resembling that of the marsupial kangaroos, and there they undergo +development. The _Ornithorhynchus_, on the other hand, lays from two to +four eggs, which in size and general appearance resemble those of the +echidna. They are, however, deposited in a loosely constructed nest at +the end of a long burrow and there brooded. In Marsupials, the eggs are +smaller than those of _Echidna_ and _Ornithorhynchus_, and they contain +a larger proportion of yolk than occurs in higher mammals. + + +_Eggs of Reptiles._--The eggs of reptiles are invariably provided with a +large amount of food yolk and enclosed with a firm test or shell, which +though generally parchment-like in texture may be calcareous as in +birds, as, for example, in many of the tortoises and turtles and in the +crocodiles. + +Among reptiles the egg is always white or yellowish, while the number +laid often far exceeds that in the case of birds. The tuatara of New +Zealand, however, lays but ten--white hard-shelled, long and oval--at +intervals between November and January. The long intervals between the +appearance of the successive eggs is a characteristic feature of the +reptiles, but is met with among the birds only in the megapodes, which, +like the reptiles, do not "brood" their eggs. + +Among the Chelonia the number of eggs varies from two to four in some of +the tortoises, to 200 in some of the turtles: while in the crocodiles +between 20 and 30 are produced, hard-shelled and white. + +The eggs of the lizards are always white or yellowish, and generally +soft-shelled; but the geckos and the green lizard lay hard-shelled eggs. +Many of the soft-shelled eggs are remarkable for the fact that they +increase in size after extrusion, owing to the stretching of the +membranous shell by the growing embryo. In the matter of number lizards +are less prolific than many of the Chelonia, a dozen eggs being the +general number, though as many as thirty may be produced at a time, as +in the case of the common chameleon. + +While as a general rule the eggs of lizards are laid in burrows or +buried, some are retained within the body of the parent until the young +are ready to emerge; or they may even hatch within the oviduct. This +occurs with some chameleons and some lizards, e.g. the slow-worm. The +common English lizard is also viviparous. Normally the young leaves the +egg immediately after its extrusion, but if by any chance this extrusion +is delayed they escape while yet in the oviduct. + +The majority of the snakes lay eggs, but most of the vipers and the +aquatic snakes are viviparous, as also are a few terrestrial species. +The shell of the egg is always soft and parchment-like. As a rule the +number of eggs produced among the snakes is not large, twenty or thirty +being common, but some species of python lay as many as a hundred. +Generally, among the oviparous snakes the eggs are buried, but some +species of boas jealously guard them, enclosing them within the coils of +the body. + + +_Eggs of Amphibia._--Among the amphibia a greater variety obtains in the +matter of the investment of the egg, as well as in the number, size and +method of their disposal. The outer covering is formed by a toughening +of the surface of a thick gelatinous coat which surrounds the essential +parts of the egg. This coat in many species of salamander--using this +name in the wide sense--is produced into threads which serve either to +anchor the eggs singly or to bind them together in bunches. + +Viviparity occurs both among the limbless and the tailed Amphibia, the +eggs hatching before they leave the oviduct or immediately after +extrusion. The number of young so produced is generally not large, but +the common salamander (_Salamandra maculosa_) may produce as many as +fifty at a birth, though fifteen is the more normal figure. When the +higher number is reached the young are relatively small and weak. + +As a rule among the Amphibia the young leave the egg in the form of +larvae, generally known as "tadpoles"; but many species produce eggs +containing a sufficient amount of food material to enable the whole of +the larval phase to be completed before hatching. + +Among the tailless Amphibia (frogs and toads) there are wide differences +in the number of eggs produced, while the methods by which these eggs +are disposed of present a marvellous variety. + +As a rule vast quantities of eggs are shed by the female into the water +in the form of "spawn." In the common toad as many as 7000 eggs may be +extruded at a time. These leave the body in the form of two long +strings--one from each oviduct--of translucent globules, gelatinous in +texture, and enclosing a central sphere of yolk, the upper pole of which +is black. The spawn of the common frog differs from that of the toad in +that the eggs all adhere to form a huge jelly-like mass. But in many +species the number of eggs produced are few; and these may be +sufficiently stored with food-yolk to allow of the tadpole stage being +passed before hatching, as in frogs of the genus _Hylodes_. In many +cases the eggs are deposited out of the water and often in quite +remarkable ways. + + +_Eggs of Fishes._--The eggs of fishes present an extremely wide range of +form, and a no less extensive range in the matter of number. Both among +the cartilaginous and bony fishes viviparity occurs. Most of the sharks +and rays are viviparous, but in the oviparous species the eggs present +some interesting and peculiar forms. Large in size, the outer coat or +"shell" is in all cases horn-like and flexible, but differs greatly in +shape. Thus in the egg of the larger spotted dog-fish it is oblong in +shape, flattened from side to side, and has the angles produced into +long, slender tendrils. As the egg is laid the lower tendrils project +from the vent, and the mother rubs herself against some fixed body. The +tendrils soon catch fast in some slight projection, when the egg is +dragged forth there to remain till hatching takes place. A couple of +narrow slits at each corner of the upper end serve to admit fresh water +to the imprisoned embryo during the later stages of development; when +development is complete escape is made through the end of the shell. In +the rays or "skates," long spines take the place of tendrils, the egg +simply resting at the bottom of the sea. The empty egg-cases of the rays +are often found on the seashore, and are known as "Mermaids' purses." +The egg of the Port Jackson shark (_Cestracion_) is of enormous size, +pear-shaped, and provided with a spiral flange extending along the whole +length of the capsule. In the _Chimaera_ the egg is long, more or less +spindle-shaped, and produced on each side into a broad flange having a +fringed edge, so that the whole bears a close resemblance to a long +leaf, broad and notched at one end, pointed at the other. This likeness +to the seaweed among which it rests is doubtless a protective device, +akin to that of protectively coloured birds' eggs. + +Among the bony fishes the eggs generally take the form of small spheres, +enclosed within a tough membrane or capsule. But they present many +important differences, being in some fishes heavy and remaining at the +bottom of the water, in other light and floating on the surface. While +in some species they are distributed separately, in others they adhere +together in masses. The eggs of the salmon, for example, are heavy, hard +and smooth, and deposited separately in a trough dug by the parent and +afterwards covered to prevent them from being carried away by the +stream. In the perch they are adhesive and form long band-like masses of +spawn adhering to water-plants. In the gobies the egg is spindle-shaped, +and attached by one end by means of a network of fibres, resembling +rootlets; while in the smelt the egg is loosely suspended by a membrane +formed by the peeling off of a part of the outer sheath of the capsule. +The eggs of the garfish (_Belone vulgaris_) and of the flying-fish of +the genus _Exocoetus_, attach themselves to foreign objects, or to one +another, by means of threads or cords developed at opposite poles of the +egg. + +Among a number of fishes the eggs float at the surface of the sea, often +in enormous masses, when they are carried about at the mercy of tides +and currents. An idea of the size which such masses attain may be +gathered from the fact that the spawn of the angler-fish, _Lophius +piscatorius_, takes the form of a sheet from 2 to 3 ft. wide, and 30 ft. +long. Another remarkable feature of these floating eggs is their +transparency, inasmuch as they are extremely difficult to see, and hence +they probably escape the rapacious maws of spawn-eating animals. The cod +tribe and flat-fishes lay floating eggs of this description. + +The maximum number of eggs laid by fishes varies greatly, some species +laying relatively few, others an enormous number. But in all cases the +number increases with the weight and age of the fish. Thus it has been +calculated that the number laid by the salmon is roughly about 1000 to +every pound weight of the fish, a 15 lb. salmon laying 15,000 eggs. The +sturgeon lays about 7,000,000; the herring 50,000; the turbot +14,311,000; the sole 134,000; the perch 280,000. Briefly, the number is +greatest where the risks of destruction are greatest. + +The eggs of the degenerate fishes known as the lampreys and hag-fishes +are remarkable for the fact that in the latter they are large in size, +cylindrical in shape, and provided at each end with hooklets whereby +they adhere one to another; while in the lampreys they are extremely +small and embedded in a jelly. + + +_Molluscs._--Among the Mollusca, Crustacea and Insecta yolk-stored eggs +of very remarkable forms are commonly produced. + +In variety, in this connexion, the Mollusca must perhaps be given the +first place. This diversity, indeed, is strikingly illustrated by the +eggs of the Cephalopoda. In the squids (_Loligo_), for example, the eggs +are enclosed in long cylindrical cases, of which there are several +hundreds, attached by one end to a common centre; the whole series +looking strangely like a rough mop-head. Each case, in such a cluster, +contains about 250 eggs, or about 40,000 in all. By way of contrast the +eggs of the true cuttle-fish (_Sepia_) are deposited separately, each +enclosed in a tough, black, pear-shaped capsule which is fastened by a +stalk to fronds of sea-weed or other object. They appear to be extruded +at short intervals, till the full complement is laid, the whole forming +a cluster looking like a bunch of grapes. The octopus differs yet again +in this matter, its eggs being very small, berry-like, and attached to a +stalk which runs through the centre of the mass. + +The eggs of the univalve Mollusca are hardly less varied in the shapes +they take. In the common British _Purpura lapillus_ they resemble +delicate pink grains of rice set on stalks; in _Busycon_ they are +disk-shaped, and attached to a band nearly 3 ft. long. The eggs of the +shell-bearing slugs (_Testacella_) are large, and have the outer coat so +elastic that if dropped on a stone floor they will rebound several +inches; while some of the snails (_Bulimus_) lay eggs having a white +calcareous and slightly iridescent shell, in size and shape closely +resembling the egg of the pigeon. Some are even larger than the egg of +the wood-pigeon. The beautiful violet-snail (_Ianthina_)--a marine +species--carries its eggs on the under side of a gelatinous raft. No +less remarkable are the eggs of the whelk; since, like those of the +squids, they are not laid separately but enveloped in capsules, and +these to the number of many hundreds form the large, ball-like masses so +commonly met with on the seashore. When the eggs in these capsules +hatch, the crowd of embryos proceed to establish an internecine warfare, +devouring one another till only the strongest survives! + +With the Mollusca, as with other groups of animals, where the eggs are +exposed to great risks they are small, produced in great numbers, and +give rise to larvae. This is well illustrated by the common oyster which +annually disperses about 60,000,000 eggs. But where the risk of +destruction is slight, the eggs are large and produce young differing +from the parent only in size, as in the case of the pigeon-like eggs of +_Bulimus_. + + +_Crustaceans._--Among the higher Crustacea, as a rule, the eggs are +carried by the female, attached to special appendages on the under side +of the body. But in some--Squillas--they are deposited in burrows. +Generally they are relatively small so that the young which emerge +therefrom differ markedly in appearance from the parents, but in +deep-sea and freshwater species the eggs are large, when the young, on +emerging, differ but little from the adults in appearance. + + +_Insects, &c._--The eggs of insects though minute, are also remarkable +for the great variety of form which they present, while they are +frequently objects of great beauty owing to the sculptured markings of +the shell. They are generally laid in clusters, either on the ground, on +the leaves of plants, or in the water. Some of the gnats (_Culex_) lay +them on the water. Cylindrical in shape they are packed closely +together, set on end, the whole mass forming a kind of floating raft. +Frequently, as in the case of the stick and leaf insect, the eggs are +enclosed in capsules of very elaborate shapes and highly ornamented. + +As to the rest of the Invertebrata--above the Protozoa the eggs are laid +in water, or in damp places. In the former case they are as a rule +small, and give rise to larvae; while eggs hatched on land are sometimes +enclosed in capsules, "cocoons," as in the case of the earthworm, where +this capsule is filled with a milky white fluid, of a highly nutritious +character, on which the embryos feed. + +Among some invertebrates two different kinds of eggs are laid by the +same individual. The water-flea, _Daphnia_ (a crustacean), lays two +kinds of eggs known as "summer" and "winter" eggs. The summer eggs are +carried by the female in a "brood-pouch" on the back. The "winter" eggs, +produced at the approach of winter, differ markedly in appearance from +the summer eggs, being larger, darker in colour, thicker shelled, and +enclosed in a capsule formed from the shell or carapace, of the parent's +body. "Winter eggs," however, may be produced in the height of summer. +While the "summer eggs" are unfertilized, the winter eggs are fertilized +by the male, and possess the remarkable power of lying dormant for +months or even years before they develop. The production of these two +kinds of eggs is a device to overcome the cold of winter, or the drying +up of the pools in which the species lives, during the heat of the +summer. The power of resistance which such eggs possess may be seen in +the fact that a sample of mud which had been kept dry for ten years +still contained living eggs. In deep water where neither drought nor +winter cold can seriously affect the _Daphnias_, they propagate all the +year round by unfertilized "summer" eggs. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For further details on this subject the following + authors should be consulted:--_Mammals_: F. E. Beddard, "Remarks on + the Ovary of Echidna," _Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. Edin._ vol. viii. + (1885); W. H. Caldwell, "The Embryology of Monotremata and + Marsupialia," _Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc._ vol. 178 (1887); E. B. Poulton, + "The Structures connected with the Ovarian Ovum of the Marsupialia and + Monotremata," _Quart. Journ. Micros. Sci._ vol. xxiv. (1884). _Birds, + Systematic_:--H. Seebohm, _Coloured Figures of the Eggs of British + Birds_ (1896); A. Newton, _Ootheca Wooleyana_ (1907); E. Oates, _Cat. + Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus._ (appearing), vols. i.-iv. published. + _General_:--A. Newton, _Dictionary of Birds_ (1896). _Colouring + matter_:--Newbegin, _Colour in Nature_ (1898). _Reptiles and + Amphibia_:--H. Gadow, "Reptiles," _Camb. Nat. Hist._ (1901); G. A. + Boulenger, "The Tailless Batrachians of Europe," _Ray Soc._ (1896). + _Fishes_:--Bridge and Boulenger, "Fishes, Ascidians, &c.," _Camb. Nat. + Hist._ (1904); B. Dean, _Fishes Living and Fossil_ (1895); J. T. + Cunningham, _Marketable Marine Fishes_ (1896). _Invertebrate_:--G. H. + Carpenter, _Insects. Their Structure and Life_ (1899); L. C. Miall, _A + History of Aquatic Insects_ (1895); T. R. R. Stebbing, _Crustacea_, + Internat. Sci. series (1893); M. C. Cooke, "Mollusca," _Camb. Nat. + Hist._ (1906). For further references to the above and other + Invertebrate groups see various text-books on Entomology, Zoology. + (W. P. P.) + + + + +EGGENBERG, HANS ULRICH VON, PRINCE (1568-1634), Austrian statesman, was +a son of Siegfried von Eggenberg (d. 1594), and began life as a soldier +in the Spanish service, becoming about 1596 a trusted servant of the +archduke of Styria, afterwards the emperor Ferdinand II. Having become a +Roman Catholic, he was soon the chancellor and chief adviser of +Ferdinand, whose election as emperor he helped to secure in 1619. He +directed the imperial policy during the earlier part of the Thirty +Years' War, and was in general a friend and supporter of Wallenstein, +and an opponent of Maximilian I., duke of Bavaria, and of Spain. He was +largely responsible for Wallenstein's return to the imperial service +early in 1632, and retired from public life just after the general's +murder in February 1634, dying at Laibach, on the 18th of October 1634. +Eggenberg's influence with Ferdinand was so marked that it was commonly +said that Austria rested upon three hills (_Berge_): Eggenberg, +Questenberg and Werdenberg. He was richly rewarded for his services to +the emperor. Having received many valuable estates in Bohemia and +elsewhere, he was made a prince of the Empire in 1623, and duke of +Krumau in 1625. + + See H. von Zwiedineck-Sudenhorst, _Hans Ulrich, Furst von Eggenberg_ + (Vienna, 1880); and F. Mares, _Beitrage zur Geschichte der Beziehungen + des Fursten J. U. von Eggenberg zu Kaiser Ferdinand II und zu + Waldstein_ (Prague, 1893). + + + + +EGGER, EMILE (1813-1885), French scholar, was born in Paris on the 18th +of July 1813. From 1840 till 1855 he was assistant professor, and from +1855 till his death professor of Greek literature in the Faculte; des +Lettres at Paris University. In 1854 he was elected a member of the +Academie des Inscriptions and in 1873 of the Conseil superieur de +l'instruction publique. He was a voluminous writer, a sound and +discerning scholar, and his influence was largely responsible for the +revival of the study of classical philology in France. His most +important works were _Essai sur l'histoire de la critique chez les +Grecs_ (1849), _Notions elementaires de grammaire comparee_ (1852), +_Apollonius Dyscole, essai sur l'histoire des theories grammalicales +dans l'antiquite_ (1854), _Memoires de litterature ancienne_ (1862), +_Memoires d'histoire ancienne et de philologie_ (1863), _Les Papyrus +grecs du Musee du Louvre et de la Bibliotheque Imperiale_ (1865), +_Etudes sur les traites publics chez les Grecs et les Romains_ (1866), +_L'Hellenisme en France_ (1869), _La Litterature grecque_ (1890). He was +also the author of _Observations et reflexions sur le developpement de +l'intelligence et du langage chez les enfants_ (1879). Egger died in +Paris on the 1st of September 1885. + + + + +EGGLESTON, EDWARD (1837-1902), American novelist and historian, was born +in Vevay, Indiana, on the 10th of December 1837, of Virginia stock. +Delicate health, by which he was more or less handicapped throughout his +life, prevented his going to college, but he was naturally a diligent +student. He was a Methodist circuit rider and pastor in Indiana and +Minnesota (1857-1866); associate editor (1866-1867) of _The Little +Corporal_, Chicago; editor of _The National Sunday School Teacher_, +Chicago (1867-1870); literary editor and later editor-in-chief of _The +Independent_, New York (1870-1871); and editor of _Hearth and Home_ in +1871-1872. He was pastor of the church of Christian Endeavour, Brooklyn, +in 1874-1879. From 1880 until his death on the 2nd of September 1902, at +his home on Lake George, New York, he devoted himself to literary work. +His fiction includes _Mr Blake's Walking Stick_ (1869), for children; +_The Hoosier Schoolmaster_ (1871); _The End of the World_ (1872); _The +Mystery of Metropolisville_ (1873); _The Circuit Rider_ (1874); _Roxy_ +(1878); The _Hoosier Schoolboy_ (1883); _The Book of Queer Stories_ +(1884), for children; _The Graysons_ (1888), an excellent novel; _The +Faith Doctor_ (1891); and _Duffels_ (1893), short stories. Most of his +stories portray the pioneer manners and dialect of the Central West, and +the _Hoosier Schoolmaster_ was one of the first examples of American +local realistic fiction; it was very popular, and was translated into +French, German and Danish. During the last third of his life Eggleston +laboured on a _History of Life in the United States_, but he lived to +finish only two volumes--_The Beginners of a Nation_ (1896) and _The +Transit of Civilization_ (1900). In addition he wrote several popular +compendiums of American history for schools and homes. + + See G. C. Eggleston, _The First of the Hoosiers_ (Philadelphia, 1903), + and Meredith Nicholson, _The Hoosiers_ (1900). + +His brother GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON (1839- ), American journalist and +author, served in the Confederate army; was managing editor and later +editor-in-chief of _Hearth and Home_ (1871-1874); was literary editor of +the _New York Evening Post_ (1875-1881), literary editor and afterwards +editor-in-chief of the New York _Commercial Advertiser_ (1884-1889), and +editorial writer for _The World_ (New York) from 1889 to 1900. Most of +his books are stories for boys; others, and his best, are romances +dealing with life in the South especially in the Virginias and the +Carolinas--before and during the Civil War. Among his publications may +be mentioned: _A Rebel's Recollections_ (1874); _The Last of the +Flatboats_ (1900); _Camp Venture_ (1900); _A Carolina Cavalier_ (1901); +_Dorothy South_ (1902); _The Master of Warlock_ (1903); _Evelyn Byrd_ +(1904); _A Daughter of the South_ (1905); _Blind Alleys_ (1906); _Love +is the Sum of it all_ (1907); _History of the Confederate War_ (1910); +and _Recollections of a Varied Life_ (1910). + + + + +EGHAM, a town in the Chertsey parliamentary division of Surrey, England, +on the Thames, 21 m. W.S.W. of London by the London & South Western +railway. Pop. (1901) 11,895. The church of St John the Baptist is a +reconstruction of 1817; it contains monuments by John Flaxman. Above the +right bank of the river a low elevation, Cooper's Hill, commands fine +views over the valley, and over Windsor Great Park to the west. On the +hill was the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College, commonly called +Cooper's Hill College, of which Sir George Tomkyns Chesney was the +originator and first president (1871). It educated men for the public +works, accounts, railways and telegraph departments of India, and +included a school of forestry; but it was decided, in the face of some +opposition, to close it in 1906, on the theory that it was unnecessary +for a college with such a specialized object to be maintained by the +government, in view of the readiness with which servants for these +departments could be recruited elsewhere. Part of the organization, +including the school of forestry, was transferred to Oxford University. +Cooper's Hill gives name to a famous poem of Sir John Denham (1642). A +large and handsome building houses the Royal Holloway College for Women +(1886), founded by Thomas Holloway; in the neighbourhood is the +sanatorium of the same founder (1885) for the treatment of mental +ailments, accommodating about 250 patients. The college for women, +surrounded by extensive grounds, commands a wide view from the wooded +slope on which it stands. The recreation hall, with its fine art +collection, is the most notable room in this handsome building, which +can receive 250 students. Within the parish, bordering the river, is the +field of Runnymede, which, with Magna Charta Island lying off it, is +famous in connexion with the signature of the charter by King John. +Virginia Water, a large and picturesque artificial lake to the south of +Windsor Great Park, is much frequented by visitors. It was formed under +the direction of the duke of Cumberland, about 1750, and was the work of +the brothers Thomas and Paul Sandby. + + + + +EGIN (Armenian _Agn_, "the spring"), an important town in the Mamuret +el-Aziz vilayet of Asiatic Turkey (altitude 3300 ft.). Pop. about +20,000, fairly equally divided between Armenian Christians and Moslems. +It is picturesquely situated in a theatre of lofty, abrupt rocks, on the +right bank of the western Euphrates, which is crossed by a wooden +bridge. The stone houses stand in terraced gardens and orchards, and the +streets are mere rock ladders. Egin was settled by Armenians who +emigrated from Van in the 11th century with Senekherim. On the 8th of +November 1895 and in the summer of 1896 many Armenians were massacred +here. (D. G. H.) + + + + +EGLANTINE (E. Frisian, _egeltiere_; Fr. _aiglantier_), a plant-name of +which Dr R. C. A. Prior (_Popular Names of British Plants_, p. 70) says +that it "has been the subject of much discussion, both as to its exact +meaning and as to the shrub to which it properly belongs." The eglantine +of the herbalists was the sweet-brier, _Rosa rubiginosa_. The +signification of the word seems to be thorn-tree or thorn-bush, the +first two syllables probably representing the Anglo-Saxon _egla_, +_egle_, a prick or thorn, while the termination is the Dutch _tere_, +_taere_, a tree. Eglantine is frequently alluded to in the writings of +English poets, from Chaucer downwards. Milton, in _L'Allegro_, is +thought by the term "twisted eglantine" to denote the honeysuckle, +_Lonicera Periclymenum_, which is still known as eglantine in north-east +Yorkshire. + + + + +EGLINTON, EARLS OF. The title of earl of Eglinton has been held by the +famous Scottish family of Montgomerie since 1508. The attempts made to +trace the descent of this house to Roger of Montgomery, earl of +Shrewsbury (d. 1094), one of William the Conqueror's followers, will not +bear examination, and the sure pedigree of the family only begins with +Sir John Montgomerie, lord of Eaglesham, who fought at the battle of +Otterbourne in 1388 and died about 1398. His grandson, Sir Alexander +Montgomerie (d. c. 1460), was made a lord of the Scottish parliament +about 1445 as Lord Montgomerie, and Sir Alexander's great-grandson Hugh, +the 3rd lord (c. 1460-1545), was created earl of Eglinton, or Eglintoun, +in 1508. Hugh, who was a person of importance during the minority of +James V., was succeeded by his grandson Hugh (d. 1546), and then by the +latter's son Hugh (c. 1531-1585), who became 3rd earl of Eglinton. This +nobleman was a firm supporter of Mary queen of Scots, for whom he fought +at Langside, and of the Roman Catholic Church; his son and successor, +Hugh, was murdered in April 1586 by the Cunninghams, a family with which +his own had an hereditary blood feud. In 1612, by the death of Hugh, the +5th earl, the male line of the Montgomeries became extinct. + +Having no children Earl Hugh had settled his title and estates on his +cousin, Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther (1588-1661), a younger son +of Robert Seton, 1st earl of Wintoun (c. 1550-1603), and his wife +Margaret, daughter of the 3rd earl of Eglinton. Alexander, who thus +became the 6th earl of Eglinton and took the name of Montgomerie, was +commonly called Greysteel; he was a prominent Covenanter and fought +against Charles I. at Marston Moor. Later, however, he supported the +cause of Charles II., and fell into the hands of Cromwell, who +imprisoned him. His fifth son, Robert Montgomerie (d. 1684), a soldier +of distinction, fought against Cromwell at Dunbar and at Worcester, +afterwards escaping from the Tower of London and serving in Denmark. +Robert's elder brother, Hugh, 7th earl of Eglinton (1613-1669), who also +fought against Cromwell, was the grandfather of Alexander, the 9th earl +(c. 1660-1729), who married, for his third wife, Susannah (1689-1780), +daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy, Bart., of Culzean, a lady celebrated +for her wit and beauty. Alexander, the 10th earl (1723-1769), a son of +the 9th earl, was one of the first of the Scottish landowners to carry +out improvements on his estates. He was shot near Ardrossan by an excise +officer named Mungo Campbell on the 24th of October 1769. His brother +and successor, Archibald, the 11th earl (1726-1796), raised a regiment +of Highlanders with which he served in America during the Seven Years' +War. As he left no male issue he was succeeded in the earldom by his +kinsman Hugh Montgomerie (1739-1819), a descendant of the 6th earl, who +was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Ardrossan in 1806. +Before succeeding to the earldom Hugh had served in the American war and +had been a member of parliament; after this event he began to rebuild +Eglinton castle on a magnificent scale and to construct a harbour at +Ardrossan. + +This earl's successor was his grandson, Archibald William, the 13th earl +(1812-1861), who was born at Palermo on the 29th of September 1812. His +father was Archibald, Lord Montgomerie (1773-1814), the eldest son of +the 12th earl, and his mother was Mary (d. 1848), a daughter of the 11th +earl. Educated at Eton, the young earl's main object of interest for +some years was the turf; he kept a large racing stud and won success and +reputation in the sporting world. In 1839 his name became more widely +known in connexion with the famous tournament which took place at +Eglinton castle and is said to have cost him L30,000 or L40,000. This +was made the subject of much ridicule and was partly spoiled by the +unfavourable weather, the rain falling in torrents. Yet it was a real +tournament and the "knights" broke their spears in the orthodox way. +Prince Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III.) took part in it, and Lady Seymour, +a daughter of Thomas Sheridan and the wife of Lord Seymour, afterwards +12th duke of Somerset, was the queen of beauty. A list of the +challengers with an account of the jousts and the melee will be found in +the volume on the tournament written by John Richardson, with drawings +by J. H. Nixon. It is also described by Disraeli in _Endymion_. Eglinton +was a staunch Tory, and in February 1852 he became lord-lieutenant of +Ireland under the earl of Derby. He retired with the ministry in the +following December, having by his princely hospitality made himself one +of the most popular of Irish viceroys. When Derby returned to office in +February 1858 he was again appointed lord-lieutenant, and he discharged +the duties of this post until June 1859. In this year he was created +earl of Winton, an earldom which had been held by his kinsfolk, the +Setons, from 1600 until 1716, when George Seton, the 5th earl (c. +1678-1749), was deprived of his honours for high treason. The earl died +on the 4th of October 1861, and was succeeded by his eldest son +Archibald William (1841-1892). When this earl died in 1892 his younger +brother George Arnulph (b. 1848) became 15th earl of Eglinton and 3rd +earl of Winton. + + See Sir W. Fraser, _Memorials of the Montgomeries, earls of Eglinton_ + (1859). + + + + +EGMONT, EARLS OF. John Perceval, 1st earl of Egmont (1683-1748), Irish +politician, and partner with J. E. Oglethorpe in founding the American +colony of Georgia, was created earl in 1733. He claimed descent from the +Egmonts of Flanders, but his title was taken from the place in County +Cork where the family residence stood. Its name of Burton House, and +that of Burton manor which formed part of the family estates, were a +reminiscence of Burton in Somerset, where was the earlier English family +property of his great-great-grandfather Richard Perceval (1550-1620), +Burghley's secret agent, and author of a Spanish dictionary published in +1591, whose son Sir Philip Perceval (1605-1647) acquired the Irish +estates by judicious use of his opportunities as commissioner for land +titles and of his interest at court. Sir Philip's son John, grandfather +of the 1st earl, was made a baronet in 1661. The first earl of Egmont +(who had been made Baron Perceval in 1715, and Viscount Perceval in +1723) is chiefly important for his connexion with the colonization of +Georgia, and for his voluminous letters and writings on biography and +genealogy. + +John Perceval, 2nd earl of Egmont (1711-1770), his eldest son, was an +active politician, first lord of the admiralty (1763-1766), and +political pamphleteer, and like his father an ardent genealogist. He was +twice married, and had eight sons and eight daughters. One of his +younger sons was Spencer Perceval, prime minister of England. His eldest +son succeeded as 3rd earl, and the eldest by his second marriage (with +Catherine Compton, baroness of Arden in Ireland) was in 1802 created +Baron Arden of the United Kingdom, a title which subsequently became +merged in the Egmont earldom. + + + + +EGMONT (EGMOND), LAMORAL, COUNT OF, prince of Gavre (1522-1568), was +born in Hainaut in 1522. He was the younger of the two sons of John IV., +count of Egmont, by his wife Francoise of Luxemburg, princess of Gavre. +On the death of his elder brother Charles, about 1541, he succeeded to +his titles and estates. In this year he served his apprenticeship as a +soldier in the expedition of the emperor Charles V. to Algiers, +distinguishing himself in the command of a body of cavalry. In 1544 he +married Sabina, sister of the elector palatine Frederick III., and the +wedding was celebrated at Spires with great pomp in the presence of the +emperor and his brother Ferdinand, afterwards emperor. Created knight of +the Golden Fleece in 1546, he accompanied Philip of Spain in his tour +through the Netherland towns, and in 1554 he went to England at the head +of a special embassy to ask the hand of Mary of England for Philip, and +was afterwards present at the wedding ceremony at Winchester. In the +summer of 1557 Egmont was appointed commander of the Flemish cavalry in +the war between Spain and France; and it was by his vehement persuasion +that the battle of St Quentin was fought. The victory was determined by +the brilliant charge that he led against the French. The reputation +which he won at St Quentin was raised still higher in 1558, when he +encountered the French army under de Thermes at Gravelines, on its march +homewards after the invasion of Flanders, totally defeated it, and took +Marshal de Thermes prisoner. The battle was fought against the advice of +the duke of Alva, and the victory made Alva Egmont's enemy. But the +count now became the idol of his countrymen, who looked upon him as the +saviour of Flanders from the devastations of the French. He was +nominated by Philip stadtholder of Flanders and Artois. At the +conclusion of the war by the treaty of Cateau Cambresis, Egmont was one +of the four hostages selected by the king of France as pledges for its +execution. + +The attempt made by King Philip to convert the Netherlands into a +Spanish dependency and to govern it by Spanish ministers excited the +resentment of Egmont and other leading members of the Netherlands +aristocracy. Between him and Cardinal Granvella, the all-powerful +minister of the regent Margaret of Parma, there was no love lost. As a +member of the council of state Egmont joined the prince of Orange in a +vigorous protest addressed to Philip (1561) against the autocratic +proceedings of the minister; and two years later he again protested in +conjunction with the prince of Orange and Count Horn. In the spring of +1564 Granvella left the Netherlands, and the malcontent nobles once more +took their places in the council of state. The resolve, however, of +Philip to enforce the decrees of the council of Trent throughout the +Netherlands once more aroused their resentment. Although himself a good +Catholic, Egmont had no wish to see the Spanish Inquisition established +in his native country. Orange, Egmont and others were convinced that the +enforcement of the decrees in the Netherlands was impossible, and, in +January 1665, Egmont accepted a special mission to Spain to make known +to Philip the state of affairs and the disposition of the people. At +Madrid the king gave him an ostentatiously cordial reception, and all +the courtiers vied with one another in lavishing professions of respect +upon him. They knew his vain and somewhat unstable character, and hoped +to win him over without conceding anything to the wishes of the +Netherlanders. The king gave him plenty of flatteries and promises, but +steadily evaded any serious discussion of the object of his mission, and +Egmont finally returned home without having accomplished anything. At +the same time Philip sent further instructions to the regent to abate +nothing of the severity of the persecution. + +Egmont was naturally indignant at the treatment he had received, while +the terrors of the Inquisition were steadily rousing the people to a +state of frenzied excitement. In 1566 a confederacy of the lesser +nobility was formed (_Les Gueux_) whose principles were set out in a +document known as the Compromise. From this league Egmont held aloof; he +declined to take any step savouring of actual disloyalty to his +sovereign. He withdrew to his government of Flanders, and as stadtholder +took active measures for the persecution of heretics. But in the eyes of +Philip he had long been a marked man. The Spanish king had temporized +only until the moment arrived when he could crush opposition by force. +In the summer of 1567 the duke of Alva was despatched to the Netherlands +at the head of an army of veterans to supersede the regent Margaret and +restore order in the discontented provinces. Orange fled to Germany +after having vainly warned Egmont and Horn of the dangers that +threatened them. Alva was at pains to lull their suspicions, and then +suddenly seized them both and threw them in the castle of Ghent. Their +trial was a farce, for their fate had already been determined before +Alva left Spain. After some months of imprisonment they were removed to +Brussels, where sentence was pronounced upon them (June 4) by the +infamous Council of Blood erected by Alva. They were condemned to death +for high treason. It was in vain that the most earnest intercessions +were made in behalf of Egmont by the emperor Maximilian, by the knights +of the order of the Golden Fleece, by the states of Brabant, and by +several of the German princes. Vain, too, was the pathetic pleading of +his wife, who with her eleven children was reduced to want, and had +taken refuge in a convent. Egmont was beheaded at Brussels in the square +before the town hall on the day after his sentence had been publicly +pronounced (June 5, 1568). He met his fate with calm resignation; and in +the storm of terror and exasperation to which this tragedy gave rise +Egmont's failings were forgotten, and he and his fellow-victim to +Spanish tyranny were glorified in the popular imagination as martyrs of +Flemish freedom. From this memorable event, which Goethe made the theme +of his play _Egmont_ (1788), is usually dated the beginning of the +famous revolt of the Netherlands. In 1865 a monument to Counts Egmont +and Horn, by Fraiken, was erected on the spot where they were beheaded. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--T. Juste, _Le Comte d'Egmont et le comte de Hornes_ + (Brussels, 1862), _Les Pays-Bas sous Philippe II_, 1555-1565 (2 vols., + Brussels, 1855); J. L. Motley, _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, 1555-1584 + (3 vols., London, 1856); J. P. Blok, _History of the People of the + Netherlands_ (tr. from Dutch), vol. iii. (New York, 1900); R. Fruin, + _Het voorspel van den tastigjarigen oorlag_ (Amsterdam, 1866); E. + Marx, _Studien zur Geschichte des niederlandischen Aufstandes_ + (Leipzig, 1902). (G. E.) + + + + +EGOISM (from Gr. and Lat. _ego_, I, the 1st personal pronoun), a modern +philosophical term used generally, in opposition to "Altruism," for any +ethical system in which the happiness or the good of the individual is +the main criterion of moral action. Another form of the word, "Egotism," +is really interchangeable, though in ordinary language it is often used +specially (and similarly "egoism," as in George Meredith's _Egoist_) to +describe the habit of magnifying one's self and one's achievements, or +regarding all things from a selfish point of view. Both these ideas +derive from the original meaning of _ego_, myself, as opposed to +everything which is outside myself. This antithesis of ego and non-ego, +self and not-self, may be understood in several senses according to the +connexion in which it is used. Thus the self may be held to include +one's family, property, business, and an indefinitely wider range of +persons or objects in which the individual's interest is for the moment +centred, i.e. everything which I can call "mine." In this, its widest, +sense "a man's Self is the sum total of all that he _can_ call his" (Wm. +James, _Principles of Psychology_, chap x.). This self may be divided up +in many ways according to the various forms in which it may be +expressed. Thus James (ibid.) classifies the various "selves" as the +material, the spiritual, the social and the "pure." Or again the self +may be narrowed down to a man's own person, consisting of an individual +mind and body. In the true philosophical sense, however, the conception +of the ego is still further narrowed down to the individual +consciousness as opposed to all that is outside it, i.e. can be its +object. This conception of the self belongs mainly to metaphysics and +involves the whole problem of the relation between subject and object, +the nature of reality, and the possibility of knowledge of self and of +object. The ordinary idea of the self as a physical entity, obviously +separate from others, takes no account of the problem as to how and in +what sense the individual is conscious of himself; what is the relation +between subject and object in the phenomenon of self-consciousness, in +which the mind reflects upon itself both past and present? The mind is +in this case both subject and object, or, as William James puts it, both +"I" and "me." The phenomenon has been described in various ways by +different thinkers. Thus Kant distinguished the two selves as rational +and empirical, just as he distinguished the two egos as the noumenal or +real and the phenomenal from the metaphysical standpoint. A similar +distinction is made by Herbart. Others have held that the self has a +complex content, the subject self being, as it were, a fuller expression +of the object-self (so Bradley); or again the subject self is the active +content of the mind, and the object self the passive content which for +the moment is exciting the attention. The most satisfactory and also the +most general view is that consciousness is complex and unanalysable. + +The relation of the self to the not-self need not to be treated here +(see METAPHYSICS). It may, however, be pointed out that in so far as an +object is cognized by the mind, it becomes in a sense part of the +complex self-content. In this sense the individual is in himself his own +universe, his whole existence being, in other words, the sum total of +his psychic relations, and nothing else being _for him_ in existence at +all. A similar idea is prominent in many philosophico-religious systems +wherein the idea of God or the Infinite is, as it were, the union of the +ego and the non-ego, of subject and object. The self of man is regarded +as having limitations, whereas the Godhead is infinite and +all-inclusive. In many mystical Oriental religions the perfection of the +human self is absorption in the infinite, as a ripple dies away on the +surface of water. The problems of the self may be summed up as follows. +The psychologist investigates the ideal construction of the self, i.e. +the way in which the conception of the self arises, the different +aspects or contents of the self and the relation of the subject to the +object self. At this point the epistemologist takes up the question of +empirical knowledge and considers the kind of validity, if any, which it +can possess. What existence has the known object for the knowing +subject? The result of this inquiry is generally intellectual scepticism +in a greater or less degree, namely, that the object has no existence +for the knower except a relative one, i.e. in so far as it is "known" +(see RELATIVITY OF KNOWLEDGE). Finally the metaphysician, and in another +sphere the theologian, consider the nature of the pure or transcendental +self apart from its relations, i.e. the absolute self. + +In ethics, egoistic doctrines disregard the ultimate problems of +selfhood, and assume the self to consist of a man's person and those +things in which he is or ought to be directly interested. The general +statement that such doctrines refer all moral action to criteria of the +individual's happiness, preservation, moral perfection, raises an +obvious difficulty. Egoism merely asserts that the self is all-important +in the application of moral principles, and does not in any way supply +the material of these principles. It is a purely formal direction, and +as such merely an adjunct to a substantive ethical criterion. A +practical theory of ethics seeks to establish a particular moral ideal; +if it is an absolute criterion, then the altruist would place first the +attainment of that ideal by others, while the egoist would seek it for +himself. The same is true of ethical theories which may be described as +material. Of the second type are those, e.g. of Hobbes and Spinoza, +which advocate self-preservation as the ideal, as contrasted with modern +evolutionist moralists who advocate race-preservation. Again, we may +contrast the early Greek hedonists, who bade each man seek the greatest +happiness (of whatever kind), with modern utilitarian and social +hedonists, who prefer the greatest good or the greatest happiness of the +greatest number. It is with hedonistic and other empirical theories that +egoism is generally associated. As a matter of fact, however, egoism has +been no less prominent in intuitional ethics. Thus the man who seeks +only or primarily his own moral perfection is an egoist par excellence. +Such are ascetics, hermits and the like, whose whole object is the +realization of their highest selves. + +The distinction of egoistical and altruistic action is further +complicated by two facts. In the first place, many systems combine the +two. Thus Christian ethics may be said to insist equally on duty to self +and duty to others, while crudely egoistic systems become unworkable if +a man renders himself obnoxious to his fellows. On the other hand, every +deliberate action based on an avowedly altruistic principle necessarily +has a reference to the agent; if it is right that A should do a certain +action for the benefit of B, then it tends to the moral self-realization +of A that he should do it. Upon whatsoever principle the rightness of an +action depends, its performance is right _for the agent_. The +self-reference is inevitable in every action in so far as it is regarded +as voluntary and chosen as being of a particular moral quality. + +It is this latter fact which has led many students of human character to +state that men do in fact aim at the gratification of their personal +desires and impulses. The laws of the state and the various rules of +conduct laid down by religion or morality are merely devices adopted for +general convenience. The most remarkable statement of this point of view +is that of Friedrich Nietzsche, who went so far as to denounce all forms +of self-denial as cowardice:--let every one who is strong seek to make +himself dominant at the expense of the weak. + + + + +EGORIEVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Ryazan, 70 m. by rail +E.S.E. of Moscow, by a branch line (15 m.) connecting with the Moscow to +Ryazan main line. The cotton mills and other factories give occupation +to 6000 persons. Egorievsk has important fairs for grain, hides, &c., +which are exported. Pop. (1897) 23,932. + + + + +EGREMONT, EARLS OF. In 1749 Algernon Seymour, 7th duke of Somerset, was +created earl of Egremont, and on his childless death in February 1750 +this title passed by special remainder to his nephew, Sir Charles +Wyndham or Windham, Bart. (1710-1763), a son of Sir William Wyndham of +Orchard Wyndham, Somerset. Charles, who had succeeded to his father's +baronetcy in 1740, inherited Somerset's estates in Cumberland and +Sussex. He was a member of parliament from 1734 to 1750, and in October +1761 he was appointed secretary of state for the southern department in +succession to William Pitt. His term of office, during which he acted in +concert with his brother-in-law, George Grenville, was mainly occupied +with the declaration of war on Spain and with the negotiations for peace +with France and Spain, a peace the terms of which the earl seems to have +disliked. He was also to the fore during the proceedings against Wilkes, +and he died on the 21st of August 1763. Horace Walpole perhaps rates +Egremont's talents too low when he says he "had neither knowledge of +business, nor the smallest share of parliamentary abilities." + +The 2nd earl's son and successor, George O'Brien Wyndham (1751-1837), +was more famous as a patron of art and an agriculturist than as a +politician, although he was not entirely indifferent to politics. For +some time the painter Turner lived at his Sussex residence, Petworth +House, and in addition to Turner, the painter Leslie, the sculptor +Flaxman and other talented artists received commissions from Egremont, +who filled his house with valuable works of art. Generous and +hospitable, blunt and eccentric, the earl was in his day a very +prominent figure in English society. Charles Greville says, "he was +immensely rich and his munificence was equal to his wealth"; and again +that in his time Petworth was "like a great inn." The earl died +unmarried on the 11th of November 1837, and on the death of his nephew +and successor, George Francis Wyndham, the 4th earl (1785-1845), the +earldom of Egremont became extinct. Petworth, however, and the large +estates had already passed to George Wyndham (1787-1869), a natural son +of the 3rd earl, who was created Baron Leconfield in 1859. + + + + +EGREMONT, a market town in the Egremont parliamentary division of +Cumberland, England, 5 m. S.S.E. of Whitehaven, on a joint line of the +London & North Western and Furness railways. Pop. of urban district +(1901) 5761. It is pleasantly situated in the valley of the Ehen. Ruins +of a castle command the town from an eminence. It was founded c. 1120 by +William de Meschines; it is moated, and retains a Norman doorway and +some of the original masonry, as well as fragments of later date. The +church of St Mary is a modern reconstruction embodying some of the +Norman features of the old church. Iron ore and limestone are raised in +the neighbourhood. + +It seems impossible to find any history for Egremont until after the +Norman Conquest, when Henry I. gave the barony of Coupland to William de +Meschines, who erected a castle at Egremont around which the town grew +into importance. The barony afterwards passed by marriage to the +families of Lucy and Multon, and finally came to the Percys, earls of +Northumberland, from whom are descended the present lords of the manor +of Egremont. The earliest evidence that Egremont was a borough occurs in +a charter, granted by Richard de Lucy in the reign of King John, which +gave the burgesses right to choose their reeve, and set out the customs +owing to the lord of the manor, among which was that of providing twelve +armed men at his castle in the time of war. The borough was represented +by two members in the parliament of 1295, but in the following year was +disfranchised, on the petition of the burgesses, on account of the +expense of sending members. In 1267 Henry III. granted Thomas de Multon +a market every Wednesday at Egremont, and a fair every year on the eve, +day and morrow of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. In the _Quo Warranto_ +rolls he is found to have claimed by prescription another weekly market +on Saturday. The market rights were purchased from Lord Leconfield in +1885, and the market on Saturday is still held. Richard de Lucy's +charter shows that dyeing, weaving and fulling were carried on in the +town in his time. + + + + +EGRESS (Lat. _egressus_, going out), in astronomy, the end of the +apparent transit of a small body over the disk of a larger one; +especially of a transit of a satellite of Jupiter over the disk of that +planet. It designates the moment at which the smaller body is seen to +leave the limb of the other. + + + + +EGYPT, a country forming the N.E. extremity of Africa.[1] In the +following account a division is made into (I.) _Modern Egypt_, and (II.) +_Ancient Egypt_; but the history from the earliest times is given as a +separate section (III.). + + Section I. includes Geography, Economics, Government, Inhabitants, + Finance and Army. Section II. is subdivided into:--(A) Exploration and + Research; (B) The Country in Ancient Times; (C) Religion; (D) Language + and Writing; (E) Art and Archaeology; (F) Chronology. Section III. is + divided into three main periods:--(1) Ancient History; (2) the + Mahommedan Period; (3) Modern History (from Mehemet Ali). + + +I. MODERN EGYPT + +_Boundaries and Areas._--Egypt is bounded N. by the Mediterranean, S. by +the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, N.E. by Palestine, E. by the Red Sea, W. by +Tripoli and the Sahara. The western frontier is ill-defined. The +boundary line between Tripoli and Egypt is usually taken to start from a +point in the Gulf of Sollum and to run S. by E. so as to leave the oasis +of Siwa to Egypt. South of Siwa the frontier, according to the Turkish +firman of 1841, bends eastward, approaching the cultivated Nile-land +near Wadi Halfa, i.e. the southern frontier. This southern frontier is +fixed by agreement between Great Britain and Egypt at the 22 deg. N. The +N.E. frontier is an almost direct line drawn from Taba, near the head of +the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern of the two gulfs into which the Red Sea +divides, to the Mediterranean at Rafa in 34 deg. 15' E. The peninsula of +Sinai, geographically part of Asia, is thus included in the Egyptian +dominions. The total area of the country is about 400,000 sq. m., or +more than three times the size of the British Isles. Of this area +14/15ths is desert. Canals, roads, date plantations, &c., cover 1900 sq. +m.; 2850 sq. m. are comprised in the surface of the Nile, marshes, +lakes, &c. A line corresponding with the 30 deg. N., drawn just S. of +Cairo, divides the country into Lower and Upper Egypt, natural +designations in common use, Lower Egypt being the Delta and Upper Egypt +the Nile valley. By the Arabs Lower Egypt is called Er-Rif, the +cultivated or fertile; Upper Egypt Es Sa'id, the happy or fortunate. +Another division of the country is into Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt, +Middle Egypt in this classification being the district between Cairo and +Assiut. + +_General Character._--The distinguishing features of Egypt are the Nile +and the desert. But for the river there would be nothing to +differentiate the country from other parts of the Sahara. The Nile, +however, has transformed the land through which it passes. Piercing the +desert, and at its annual overflow depositing rich sediment brought from +the Abyssinian highlands, the river has created the Delta and the +fertile strip in Upper Egypt. This cultivable land is Egypt proper; to +it alone is applicable the ancient name--"the black land." The _Misr_ of +the Arabs is restricted to the same territory. Beyond the Nile valley +east and west stretch great deserts, containing here and there fertile +oases. The general appearance of the country is remarkably uniform. The +Delta is a level plain, richly cultivated, and varied alone by the lofty +dark-brown mounds of ancient cities, and the villages set in groves of +palm-trees, standing on mounds often, if not always, ancient. Groves of +palm-trees are occasionally seen besides those around the villages, but +other trees are rare. In Upper Egypt the Nile valley is very narrow and +is bounded by mountains of no great height. They form the edge of the +desert on either side of the valley, of which the bottom is level rock. +The mountains rarely take the form of peaks. Sometimes they approach the +river in bold promontories, and at others are divided by the dry beds of +ancient watercourses. The bright green of the fields, the reddish-brown +or dull green of the great river, contrasting with the bare yellow +rocks, seen beneath a brilliant sun and a deep-blue sky, present views +of great beauty. In form the landscape varies little and is not +remarkable; in colour its qualities are always splendid, and under a +general uniformity show a continual variety. + + _The Coast Region._--Egypt has a coast-line of over 600 m. on the + Mediterranean and about 1200 m. on the Red Sea. The Mediterranean + coast extends from the Gulf of Sollum on the west to Rafa on the east. + From the gulf to the beginning of the Delta the coast is rock-bound, + but slightly indented, and possesses no good harbourage. The cliffs + attain in places a height of 1000 ft. They are the termination of a + stony plateau, containing several small oases, which southward joins + the more arid and uninhabitable wastes of the Libyan Desert. The Delta + coast-line, composed of sandhills and, occasionally, limestone rocks, + is low, with cape-like projections at the Nile mouths formed by the + river silt. Two bays are thus formed, the western being the famous Bay + of Aboukir. It is bounded W. by a point near the ancient Canopic + mouth, eastward by the Rosetta mouth. Beyond the Delta eastward the + coast is again barren and without harbours. It rises gradually + southward, merging into the plateau of the Sinai peninsula. The Red + Sea coast is everywhere mountainous. The mountains are the northern + continuation of the Abyssinian table-land, and some of the peaks are + over 6000 ft. above the sea. The highest peaks, going from north to + south, are Jebels Gharib, Dukhan, Es Shayib, Fatira, Abu Tiur, Zubara + and Hammada (Hamata). The coast has a general N.N.W. and S.S.E. trend, + and, save for the two gulfs into which it is divided by the massif of + Sinai, is not deeply indented. Where the frontier between Egypt and + the Sudan reaches the sea is Ras Elba (see further RED SEA). + + _The Nile Valley_ (see also NILE).--Entering Egypt proper, a little + north of the Second Cataract, the Nile flows through a valley in + sandstone beds of Cretaceous age as far as 25 deg. N., and throughout + this part of its course the valley is extremely narrow, rarely + exceeding 2 m. in width. At two points, namely, Kalabsha--the valley + here being only 170 yds. wide and the river over 100 ft. deep--and + Assuan (First Cataract), the course of the river is interrupted by + outcrops of granites and other crystalline rocks, which have been + uncovered by the erosion of the overlying sandstone, and to-day form + the mass of islands, with numerous small rapids, which are described + not very accurately as cataracts; no good evidence exists in support + of the view that they are the remains of a massive barrier, broken + down and carried away by some sudden convulsion. From 25 deg. N. + northwards for 518 m. the valley is of the "rift-valley" type, a level + depression in a limestone plateau, enclosed usually by steep cliffs, + except where the tributary valleys drained into the main valley in + early times, when there was a larger rainfall, and now carry off the + occasional rainstorms that burst on the desert. The cliffs are highest + between Esna and Kena, where they reach 1800 ft. above sea-level. The + average width of the cultivated land is about 10 m., of which the + greater part lies on the left (western) bank of the river; and outside + this is a belt, varying from a few hundred yards to 3 or 4 m., of + stony and sandy ground, reaching up to the foot of the limestone + cliffs, which rise in places to as much as 1000 ft. above the valley. + This continues as far as 29 deg. N., after which the hills that close + in the valley become lower, and the higher plateaus lie at a distance + of 10 or 15 m. back in the desert. + + _The Fayum._--The fertile province of the Fayum, west of the Nile and + separated from it by some 6 m. of desert, seems to owe its existence + to movements similar to those which determined the valley itself. + Lying in a basin sloping in a series of terraces from an altitude of + 65 ft. above sea-level in the east to about 140 ft. _below_ sea-level + on the north-west, at the margin of the Birket-el-Kerun, this province + is wholly irrigated by a canalized channel, the Bahr Yusuf, which, + leaving the Nile at Derut esh Sherif in Upper Egypt, follows the + western margin of the cultivation in the Nile valley, and at length + enters the Fayum through a gap in the desert hills by the XIIth + Dynasty pyramids of Lahun and Hawara (see FAYUM). + + _The Delta._--About 30 deg. N., where the city of Cairo stands, the + hills which have hitherto run parallel with the Nile turn W.N.W. and + E.N.E., and the triangular area between them is wholly deltaic. The + Delta measures 100 m. from S. to N., having a width of 155 m. on the + shore of the Mediterranean between Alexandria on the west and Port + Said on the east. The low sandy shore of the Delta, slowly increasing + by the annual deposit of silt by the river, is mostly a barren area of + sand-hills and salty waste land. This is the region of the lagoons and + marshes immediately behind the coast-line. Southwards the quality of + the soil rapidly improves, and becomes the most fertile part of Egypt. + This area is watered by the Damietta and the Rosetta branches of the + Nile, and by a network of canals. The soil of the Delta is a dark grey + fine sandy soil, becoming at times almost a stiff clay by reason of + the fineness of its particles, which consist almost wholly of + extremely small grains of quartz with a few other minerals, and often + numerous flakes of mica. This deposit varies in thickness, as a rule, + from 55 to 70 ft., at which depth it is underlain by a series of + coarse and fine yellow quartz sands, with occasional pebbles, or even + banks of gravel, while here and there thin beds of clay occur. These + sand-beds are sharply distinguished by their colour from the overlying + Nile deposit, and are of considerable thickness. A boring made in 1886 + for the Royal Society at Zagazig attained a depth of 375 ft. without + reaching rock, and another, subsequently sunk near Lake Aboukir (close + to Alexandria), reached a depth of 405 ft. with the same result. + Numerous other borings to depths of 100 to 200 ft. have given similar + results, showing the Nile deposit to rest generally on these yellow + sands, which provide a constant though not a very large supply of good + water; near the northern limits of the Delta this cannot, however, be + depended on, since the well water at these depths has proved on + several occasions to be salt. The surface of the Delta is a wide + alluvial plain sloping gently towards the sea, and having an altitude + of 29 ft. above it at its southern extremity. Its limits east and west + are determined by the higher ground of the deserts, to which the + silt-laden waters of the Nile in flood time cannot reach. This silt + consists largely of alumina (about 48%) and calcium carbonate (18%) + with smaller quantities of silica, oxide of iron and carbon. Although + the Nile water is abundantly charged with alluvium, the annual deposit + by the river, except under extraordinary circumstances, is smaller + than might be supposed. The mean ordinary rate of the increase of the + soil of Egypt is calculated as about 4-1/2 in. in a century. + + _The Lakes._--The lagoons or lakes of the Delta, going from west to + east, are Mareotis (Mariut), Edku, Burlus and Menzala. The land + separating them from the Mediterranean is nowhere more than 10 m. + wide. East of the Damietta mouth of the Nile this strip is in places + not more than 200 yds. broad. All the lakes are shallow and the water + in them salt or brackish. Mareotis, which bounds Alexandria on the + south side, varies considerably in area according to the rise or fall + of the Nile; when the Nile is low there is a wide expanse of marsh, + when at its highest the lake covers about 100 sq. m. In ancient times + Mareotis was navigable and was joined by various canals to the Nile. + The country around was cultivated and produced the famous Mareotic + wine. The canals being neglected, the lake decreased in size, though + it was still of considerable area in the 15th and 16th centuries, and + was then noted for the value of its fisheries. When the French army + occupied Egypt in 1798, Mareotis was found to be largely a sandy + plain. In April 1801 the British army besieging Alexandria cut through + the land between Aboukir and the lake, admitting the waters of the sea + into the ancient bed of Mareotis and laying under water a large area + then in cultivation. This precedent was twice imitated, first by the + Turks in 1803 and a second time by the British in 1807. Mareotis has + no outlet, and the water is kept at a uniform level by means of + powerful pumps which neutralize the effect of the Nile flood. A + western arm has been cut off from the lake by a dyke, and in this arm + a thick crust of salt is formed each year after the evaporation of the + flood water. Near the shores of the lake wild flowers grow in rich + profusion. Like all the Delta lakes, Mareotis abounds in wild-fowl. + North-east of Mareotis was Lake Aboukir, a small sheet of water, now + dry, lying S.W. of Aboukir Bay. East of this reclaimed marsh and + reaching to within 4 m. of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, lies Edku, + 22 m. long and in places 16 wide, with an opening, supposed to be the + ancient Canopic mouth of the Nile, into Aboukir Bay. Burlus begins a + little eastward of the Rosetta channel, and stretches bow-shaped for + 64 m. Its greatest width is about 16 m. Adjoining it S.E. is an + expanse of sandy marsh. Several canals or canalized channels enter the + lake. Opposite the spot where the Bahr-mit Yezir enters is an opening + into the Mediterranean. Canal and opening indicate the course of the + ancient Sebennytic branch of the Nile. Burlus is noted for its + water-melons, which are yellow within and come into season after those + grown on the banks of the Nile. + + Menzala greatly exceeds the other Delta lakes in size, covering over + 780 sq. m. It extends from very near the Damietta branch of the Nile + to Port Said. It receives the waters of the canalized channels which + were once the Tanitic, Mendesian and Pelusiac branches. The northern + shore is separated from the sea by an extremely narrow strip of land, + across which, when the Mediterranean is stormy and the lake full, the + waters meet. Its average length is about 40 m., and its average + breadth about 15. The depth is greater than that of the other lakes, + and the water is salt, though mixed with fresh. It contains a large + number of islands, and the whole lake abounds in reeds of various + kinds. Of the islands Tennis (anciently Tennesus) contains ruins of + the Roman period. The lake supports a considerable population of + fishermen, who dwell in villages on the shore and islands and live + upon the fish of the lake. The reeds are cover for waterfowl of + various kinds, which the traveller sees in great numbers, and wild + boars are found in the marshes to the south. The Suez Canal runs in a + straight line for 20 m. along the eastern edge of the lake. That part + of the lake east of where the canal was excavated is now marshy plain, + and the Tanitic and Pelusiac mouths of the Nile are dry. East of + Menzala is the site of Serbonis, another dried-up lake, which had the + general characteristics of the Delta lagoons. In the Isthmus of Suez + are Lake Timsa and the Great and Little Bitter Lakes, occupying part + of the ancient bed of the Red Sea. All three were dry or marshy + depressions previously to the cutting of the Suez Canal, at which time + the waters of the Mediterranean and Red Sea were let into them (see + SUEZ CANAL). + + A chain of natron lakes (seven in number) lies in a valley in the + western desert, 70 to 90 m. W.N.W. of Cairo. In the Fayum province + farther south is the Birket-el-Kerun, a lake, lying below the level of + the Nile, some 30 m. long and 5 wide at its broadest part. Kerun is + all that is left of the Lake of Moeris, an ancient artificial sheet of + water which played an important part in the irrigation schemes of the + Pharaohs. The water of el-Kerun is brackish, though derived from the + Nile, which has at all seasons a much higher level. It is bounded on + the north by the Libyan Desert, above which rises a bold range of + mountains; and it has a strange and picturesque wildness. Near the + lake are several sites of ancient towns, and the temple called + Kasr-Karun, dating from Roman times, distinguishes the most important + of these. South-west of the Fayum is the Wadi Rayan, a large and deep + depression, utilizable in modern schemes for re-creating the Lake of + Moeris (q.v.). + + [Illustration: Nile Delta.] + + _The Desert Plateaus._--From the southern borders of Egypt to the + Delta in the north, the desert plateaus extend on either side of the + Nile valley. The eastern region, between the Nile and the Red Sea, + varies in width from 90 to 350 m. and is known in its northern part as + the Arabian Desert. The western region has no natural barrier for many + hundreds of miles; it is part of the vast Sahara. On its eastern edge, + a few miles west of Cairo, stand the great pyramids (q.v.) of Gizeh or + Giza. North of Assuan it is called the Libyan Desert. In the north the + desert plateaus are comparatively low, but from Cairo southwards they + rise to 1000 and even 1500 ft. above sea-level. Formed mostly of + horizontal strata of varying hardness, they present a series of + terraces of minor plateaus, rising one above the other, and + intersected by small ravines worn by the occasional rainstorms which + burst in their neighbourhood. The weathering of this desert area is + probably fairly rapid, and the agents at work are principally the + rapid heating and cooling of the rocks by day and night, and the + erosive action of sand-laden wind on the softer layers; these, aided + by the occasional rain, are ceaselessly at work, and produce the + successive plateaus, dotted with small isolated hills and cut up by + valleys (wadis) which occasionally become deep ravines, thus forming + the principal type of scenery of these deserts. From this it will be + seen that the desert in Egypt is mainly a rock desert, where the + surface is formed of disintegrated rock, the finer particles of which + have been carried away by the wind; and east of the Nile this is + almost exclusively the case. Here the desert meets the line of + mountains which runs parallel to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez. In + the western desert, however, those large sand accumulations which are + usually associated with a desert are met with. They occur as lines of + dunes formed of rounded grains of quartz, and lie in the direction of + the prevalent wind, usually being of small breadth as compared with + their length; but in certain areas, such as that lying S.W. and W. of + the oases of Farafra and Dakhla, these lines of dunes, lying parallel + to each other and about half a mile apart, cover immense areas, + rendering them absolutely impassable except in a direction parallel + to the lines themselves. East of the oases of Baharia and Farafra is a + very striking line of these sand dunes; rarely more than 3 miles wide, + it extends almost continuously from Moghara in the north, passing + along the west side of Kharga Oasis to a point near the Nile in the + neighbourhood of Abu Simbel--having thus a length of nearly 550 m. In + the northern part of this desert the dunes lie about N.W.-S.E., but + farther south incline more towards the meridian, becoming at last very + nearly north and south. + + _Oases._--In the western desert lie the five large oases of Egypt, + namely, Siwa, Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla and Kharga or Great Oasis, + occupying depressions in the plateau or, in the case of the last + three, large indentations in the face of limestone escarpments which + form the western versant of the Nile valley hills. Their fertility is + due to a plentiful supply of water furnished by a sandstone bed 300 to + 500 ft. below the surface, whence the water rises through natural + fissures or artificial boreholes to the surface, and sometimes to + several feet above it. These oases were known and occupied by the + Egyptians as early as 1600 B.C., and Kharga (q.v.) rose to special + importance at the time of the Persian occupation. Here, near the town + of Kharga, the ancient Hebi, is a temple of Ammon built by Darius I., + and in the same oasis are other ruins of the period of the Ptolemies + and Caesars. The oasis of Siwa (Jupiter Ammon) is about 150 m. S. of + the Mediterranean at the Gulf of Sollum and about 300 m. W. of the + Nile (see SIWA). The other four oases lie parallel to and distant 100 + to 150 m. from the Nile, between 25 deg. and 29 deg. N., Baharia being + the most northerly and Kharga the most southerly. + + Besides the oases the desert is remarkable for two other valleys. The + first is that of the natron lakes already mentioned. It contains four + monasteries, the remains of the famous anchorite settlement of + Nitriae. South of the Wadi Natron, and parallel to it, is a sterile + valley called the Bahr-bela-Ma, or "River without Water." + + _The Sinai Peninsula._--The triangular-shaped Sinai peninsula has its + base on the Mediterranean, the northern part being an arid plateau, + the desert of Tih. The apex is occupied by a massif of crystalline + rocks. The principal peaks rise over 8500 ft. Owing to the slight + rainfall, and the rapid weathering of the rocks by the great range of + temperature, these hills rise steeply from the valleys at their feet + as almost bare rock, supporting hardly any vegetation. In some of the + valleys wells or rock-pools filled by rain occur, and furnish + drinking-water to the few Arabs who wander in these hills (see also + SINAI). + + [_Geology._--Just as the Nile valley forms the chief geographical + feature of Egypt, so the geology of the country is intimately related + to it. The north and south direction of the river has been largely + determined by faults, though the geologists of the Egyptian Survey are + finding that the influence of faulting in determining physical outline + has, in some cases, been overestimated. The oldest rocks, consisting + of crystalline schists with numerous intrusions of granite, porphyry + and diorite, occupy the eastern portion of the country between the + Nile south of Assuan and the Red Sea. The intrusive rocks predominate + over the schists in extent of area covered. They furnished the chief + material for the ancient monuments. At Assuan (Syene) the well-known + syenite of Werner occurs. It is, however, a hornblende granite and + does not possess the mineralogical composition of the syenites of + modern petrology. Between Thebes and Khartum the western banks of the + Nile are composed of Nubian Sandstone, which extends westward from the + river to the edge of the great Libyan Desert, where it forms the bed + rock. The age of this sandstone has given rise to much dispute. The + upper part certainly belongs to the Cretaceous formation; the lower + part has been considered to be of Karroo age by some geologists, while + others regard the whole formation to be of Cretaceous age. In the + Kharga Oasis the upper portion consists of variously coloured + unfossiliferous clays with intercalated bands of sandstone containing + fossil silicified woods (_Nicolia Aegyptiaca_ and _Araucarioxylon + Aegypticum_). They are conformably overlain by clays and limestones + with _Exogyra Overwegi_ belonging to the Lower Danian, and these by + clays and white chalk with _Ananchytes ovata_ of the Upper Danian. In + many instances the Tertiary formation, which occurs between Esna and + Cairo, unconformably overlies the Cretaceous, the Lower Eocene being + absent. The fluvio-marine deposits of the Upper Eocene and Oligocene + formations contain an interesting mammalian fauna, proving that the + African continent formed a centre of radiation for the mammalia in + early Tertiary times. _Arsinoitherium_ is the precursor of the horned + Ungulata; while _Moeritherium_ and _Palaeomastodon_ undoubtedly + include the oldest known elephants. Miocene strata are absent in the + southern Tertiary areas, but are present at Moghara and in the north. + Marine Pliocene strata occur to the south of the pyramids of Giza and + in the Fayum province, where, in addition, some gravel terraces, at a + height of 500 ft. above sea-level, are attributed to the Pliocene + period. The Lake of Moeris, as a large body of fresh water, appears to + have come into existence in Pleistocene times. It is represented now + by the brackish-water lake of the Birket-el-Kerun. The superficial + sands of the deserts and the Nile mud form the chief recent + formations. The Nile deposits its mud over the valley before reaching + the sea, and consequently the Delta receives little additional + material. At Memphis the alluvial deposits are over 50 ft. thick. The + superficial sands of the desert region, derived in large part from the + disintegration of the Nubian Sandstone, occupy the most extensive + areas in the Libyan Desert. The other desert regions of Egypt are + elevated stony plateaus, which are diversified by extensively + excavated valleys and oases, and in which sand frequently plays quite + a subordinate part. These regions present magnificent examples of dry + erosion by wind-borne sand, which acts as a powerful sand blast + etching away the rocks and producing most beautiful sculpturing. The + rate of denudation in exposed positions is exceedingly rapid; while + spots sheltered from the sand blast suffer a minimum of erosion, as + shown by the preservation of ancient inscriptions. Many of the + Egyptian rocks in the desert areas and at the cataracts are coated + with a highly polished film, of almost microscopic thinness, + consisting chiefly of oxides of iron and manganese with salts of + magnesia and lime. It is supposed to be due to a chemical change + within the rock and not to deposition on the surface.] + + _Minerals._--Egypt possesses considerable mineral wealth. In ancient + times gold and precious stones were mined in the Red Sea hills. During + the Moslem period mining was abandoned, and it was not until the + beginning of the 20th century that renewed efforts were made to + develop the mining industry. The salt obtained from Lake Mareotis at + Meks, a western suburb of Alexandria, supplies the salt needed for the + country, except a small quantity used for curing fish at Lake Menzala; + while the lakes in the Wadi Natron, 45 m. N.W. of the pyramids of + Giza, furnish carbonate of soda in large quantities. Alum is found in + the western oases. Nitrates and phosphates are also found in various + parts of the desert and are used as manures. The turquoise mines of + Sinai, in the Wadi Maghara, are worked regularly by the Arabs of the + peninsula, who sell the stones in Suez; while there are emerald mines + at Jebel Zubara, south of Kosseir. Petroleum occurs at Jebel Zeit, on + the west shore of the Gulf of Suez. Considerable veins of haematite of + good quality occur both in the Red Sea hills and in Sinai. At Jebel + ed-Dukhan are porphyry quarries, extensively worked under the Romans, + and at Jebel el-Fatira are granite quarries. At El-Hammamat, on the + old way from Coptos to Philoteras Portus, are the breccia verde + quarries, worked from very early times, and having interesting + hieroglyphic inscriptions. At the various mines, and on the routes to + them and to the Red Sea, are some small temples and stations, ranging + from the Pharaonic to the Roman period. The quarries of Syene (Assuan) + are famous for extremely hard and durable red granite (syenite), and + have been worked since the days of the earliest Pharaohs. Large + quantities of this syenite were used in building the Assuan dam + (1898-1902). The cliffs bordering the Nile are largely quarried for + limestone and sandstone. + + Gold-mining recommenced in 1905 at Um Rus, a short distance inland + from the Red Sea and some 50 m. S. of Kosseir, where milling + operations were started in March of that year. Another mine opened in + 1905 was that of Um Garaiat, E.N.E. of Korosko, and 65 m. distant from + the Nile. + + _Climate._--Part of Upper Egypt is within the tropics, but the greater + part of the country is north of the Tropic of Cancer. Except a narrow + belt on the north along the Mediterranean shore, Egypt lies in an + almost rainless area, where the temperature is high by day and sinks + quickly at night in consequence of the rapid radiation under the + cloudless sky. The mean temperature at Alexandria and Port Said varies + between 57 deg. F. in January and 81 deg. F. in July; while at Cairo, + where the proximity of the desert begins to be felt, it is 53 deg. F. + in January, rising to 84 deg. F. in July. January is the coldest + month, when occasionally in the Nile valley, and more frequently in + the open desert, the temperature sinks to 32 deg. F., or even a degree + or two below. The mean maximum temperatures are 99 deg. F. for + Alexandria and 110 deg. F. for Cairo. Farther south the range of + temperature becomes greater as pure desert conditions are reached. + Thus at Assuan the mean maximum is 118 deg. F., the mean minimum 42 + deg. F. At Wadi Halfa the figures in each case are one degree lower. + + The relative humidity varies greatly. At Assuan the mean value for the + year is only 38%, that for the summer being 29%, and for the winter + 51%; while for Wadi Halfa the mean is 32%, and 20% and 42% are the + mean values for summer and winter respectively. A white fog, dense and + cold, sometimes rises from the Nile in the morning, but it is of short + duration and rare occurrence. In Alexandria and on all the + Mediterranean coast of Egypt rain falls abundantly in the winter + months, amounting to 8 in. in the year; but southwards it rapidly + decreases, and south of 31 deg. N. little rain falls. + + Records at Cairo show that the rainfall is very irregular, and is + furnished by occasional storms rather than by any regular rainy + season; still, most falls in the winter months, especially December + and January, while, on the other hand, none has been recorded in June + and July. The average annual rainfall does not exceed 1.50 in. In the + open desert rain falls even more rarely, but it is by no means + unknown, and from time to time heavy storms burst, causing sudden + floods in the narrow ravines, and drowning both men and animals. These + are more common in the mountainous region of the Sinai peninsula, + where they are much dreaded by the Arabs. Snow is unknown in the Nile + valley, but on the mountains of Sinai and the Red Sea hills it is not + uncommon, and a temperature of 18 deg. F. at an altitude of 2000 ft. + has been recorded in January. + + The atmospheric pressure varies between a maximum in January and a + minimum in July, the mean difference being about 0.29 in. In a series + of records extending over 14 years the mean pressure varied between + 29.84 and 29.90 in. + + The most striking meteorological factor in Egypt is the persistence of + the north wind throughout the year, without which the climate would be + very trying. It is this "Etesian" wind which enables sailing boats + constantly to ascend the Nile, against its strong and rapid current. + In December, January and February, at Cairo, the north wind slightly + predominates, though those from the south and west often nearly equal + it, but after this the north blows almost continuously for the rest of + the year. In May and June the prevailing direction is north and + north-north-east, and for July, August, September and October north + and north-west. From the few observations that exist, it seems that + farther south the southern winter winds decrease rapidly, becoming + westerly, until at Assuan and Wadi Haifa the northerly winds are + almost invariable throughout the year. The _khamsin_, hot sand-laden + winds of the spring months, come invariably from the south. They are + preceded by a rapid fall of the barometer for about a day, until a + gradient from south to north is formed, then the wind commences to + blow, at first gently, from the south-east; rapidly increasing in + violence, it shifts through south to south-west, finally dropping + about sunset. The same thing is repeated on the second and sometimes + the third day, by which time the wind has worked round to the north + again. During a khamsin the temperature is high and the air extremely + dry, while the dust and sand carried by the wind form a thick yellow + fog obscuring the sun. Another remarkable phenomenon is the _zobaa_, a + lofty whirlwind of sand resembling a pillar, which moves with great + velocity. The southern winds of the summer months which occur in the + low latitudes north of the equator are not felt much north of Khartum. + + One of the most interesting phenomena of Egypt is the mirage, which is + frequently seen both in the desert and in the waste tracts of + uncultivated land near the Mediterranean; and it is often so truthful + in its appearance that one finds it difficult to admit the illusion. + + _Flora._--Egypt possesses neither forests nor woods and, as + practically the whole of the country which will support vegetation is + devoted to agriculture, the flora is limited. The most important tree + is the date-palm, which grows all over Egypt and in the oases. The + lower branches being regularly cut, this tree grows high and assumes a + much more elegant form than in its natural state. The dom-palm is + first seen a little north of 26 deg. N., and extends southwards. The + vine grows well, and in ancient times was largely cultivated for wine; + oranges, lemons and pomegranates also abound. Mulberry trees are + common in Lower Egypt. The sunt tree (_Acacia nilotica_) grows + everywhere, as well as the tamarisk and the sycamore. In the deserts + halfa grass and several kinds of thorn bushes grow; and wherever rain + or springs have moistened the ground, numerous wild flowers thrive. + This is especially the case where there is also shade to protect them + from the midday sun, as in some of the narrow ravines in the eastern + desert and in the palm groves of the oases, where various ferns and + flowers grow luxuriantly round the springs. Among many trees which + have been imported, the "lebbek" (_Albizzia lebbek_), a thick-foliaged + mimosa, thrives especially, and has been very largely employed. The + weeping-willow, myrtle, elm, cypress and eucalyptus are also used in + the gardens and plantations. + + The most common of the fruits are dates, of which there are nearly + thirty varieties, which are sold half-ripe, ripe, dried, and pressed + in their fresh moist state in mats or skins. The pressed dates of Siwa + are among the most esteemed. The Fayum is celebrated for its grapes, + and chiefly supplies the market of Cairo. The most common grape is + white, of which there is a small kind far superior to the ordinary + sort. The black grapes are large, but comparatively tasteless. The + vines are trailed on trelliswork, and form agreeable avenues in the + gardens of Cairo. The best-known fruits, besides dates and grapes, are + figs, sycamore-figs and pomegranates, apricots and peaches, oranges + and citrons, lemons and limes, bananas, which are believed to be of + the fruits of Paradise (being always in season), different kinds of + melons (including some of aromatic flavour, and the refreshing + water-melon), mulberries, Indian figs or prickly pears, the fruit of + the lotus and olives. Among the more usual cultivated flowers are the + rose (which has ever been a favourite among the Arabs), the jasmine, + narcissus, lily, oleander, chrysanthemum, convolvulus, geranium, + dahlia, basil, the henna plant (_Lawsonia alba_, or Egyptian privet, + which is said to be a flower of Paradise), the helianthus and the + violet. Of wild flowers the most common are yellow daisies, poppies, + irises, asphodels and ranunculuses. The _Poinsettia pulcherrima_ is a + bushy tree with leaves of brilliant red. + + Many kinds of reeds are found in Egypt, though they were formerly much + more common. The famous byblus or papyrus no longer exists in the + country, but other kinds of _cyperi_ are found. The lotus, greatly + prized for its flowers by the ancient inhabitants, is still found in + the Delta, though never in the Nile itself. There are two varieties of + this water-lily, one with white flowers, the other with blue. + + _Fauna._--The chief quadrupeds are all domestic animals. Of these the + camel and the ass are the most common. The ass, often a tall and + handsome creature, is indigenous. When the camel was first introduced + into Egypt is uncertain--it is not pictured on the ancient monuments. + Neither is the buffalo, which with the sheep is very numerous in + Egypt. The horses are of indifferent breed, apparently of a type much + inferior to that possessed by the ancient Egyptians. Wild animals are + few. The principal are the hyena, jackal and fox. The wild boar is + found in the Delta. Wolves are rare. Numerous gazelles inhabit the + deserts. The ibex is found in the Sinaitic peninsula and the hills + between the Nile and the Red Sea, and the mouflon, or maned sheep, is + occasionally seen in the same regions. The desert hare is abundant in + parts of the Fayum, and a wild cat, or lynx, frequents the marshy + regions of the Delta. The ichneumon (Pharaoh's rat) is common and + often tame; the coney and jerboa are found in the eastern mountains. + Bats are very numerous. The crocodile is no longer found in Egypt, nor + the hippopotamus, in ancient days a frequenter of the Nile. The common + or pariah dog is generally of sandy colour; in Upper Egypt there is a + breed of wiry rough-haired black dogs, noted for their fierceness. + Among reptiles are several kinds of venomous snakes--the horned viper, + the hooded snake and the echis. Lizards of many kinds are found, + including the monitor. There are many varieties of beetle, including a + number of species representing the scarabaeus of the ancients. Locusts + are comparatively rare. The scorpion, whose sting is sometimes fatal, + is common. There are many large and poisonous spiders and flies; fleas + and mosquitoes abound. Fish are plentiful in the Nile, both scaled and + without scales. The scaly fish include members of the carp and perch + kind. The _bayad_, a scaleless fish commonly eaten, reaches sometimes + 3-1/2 ft. in length. A somewhat rare fish is the _Polypterus_, which + has thick bony scales and 16 to 18 long dorsal fins. The _Tetrodon_, + or ball fish, is found in the Red Sea, as well as in the Nile. + + Some 300 species of birds are found in Egypt, and one of the most + striking features of a journey up the Nile is the abundance of bird + life. Many of the species are sedentary, others are winter visitants, + while others again simply pass through Egypt on their way to or from + warmer or colder regions. Birds of prey are very numerous, including + several varieties of eagles--the osprey, the spotted, the golden and + the imperial. Of vultures the black and white Egyptian variety + (_Neophron percnopterus_) is most common. The griffon and the black + vulture are also frequently seen. There are many kinds of kites, + falcons and hawks, kestrel being numerous. The long-legged buzzard is + found throughout Egypt, as are owls. The so-called Egyptian eagle owl + (_Bubo ascalaphus_) is rather rare, but the barn owl is common. The + kingfisher is found beside every watercourse, a black and white + species (_Ceryle rudis_) being much more numerous than the common + kingfisher. Pigeons and hoopoes abound in every village. There are + various kinds of plovers--the black-headed species (_Pluvianus + Aegyptius_) is most numerous in Upper Egypt; the golden plover and the + white-tailed species are found chiefly in the Delta. The spurwing is + supposed to be the bird mentioned by Herodotus as eating the parasites + covering the inside of the mouth of the crocodile. Of game-birds the + most plentiful are sandgrouse, quail (a bird of passage) and snipe. + Red-legged and other partridges are found in the eastern desert and + the Sinai hills. Of aquatic birds there is a great variety. Three + species of pelican exist, including the large Dalmatian pelican. + Storks, cranes, herons and spoonbills are common. The sacred ibis is + not found in Egypt, but the buff-backed heron, the constant companion + of the buffalo, is usually called an ibis. The glossy ibis is + occasionally seen. The flamingo, common in the lakes of Lower Egypt, + is not found on the Nile. Geese, duck and teal are abundant. The most + common goose is the white-fronted variety; the Egyptian goose is more + rare. Both varieties are depicted on the ancient monuments; the + white-fronted goose being commonly shown. Several birds of gorgeous + plumage come north into Egypt in the spring, among others the golden + oriole, the sun-bird, the roller and the blue-cheeked bee-eater. + + _Egypt as a Health Resort._--The country is largely resorted to during + the winter months by Europeans in search of health as well as + pleasure. Upper Egypt is healthier than Lower Egypt, where, especially + near the coast, malarial fevers and diseases of the respiratory organs + are not uncommon. The least healthy time of the year is the latter + part of autumn, when the inundated soil is drying. In the desert, at a + very short distance from the cultivable land, the climate is uniformly + dry and unvaryingly healthy. The most suitable places for the + residence of invalids are Helwan, where there are natural mineral + springs, in the desert, 14 m. S. of Cairo, and Luxor and Assuan in + Upper Egypt. + + The diseases from which Egyptians suffer are very largely the result + of insanitary surroundings. In this respect a great improvement has + taken place since the British occupation in 1882. Plague, formerly one + of the great scourges of the country, seems to have been stamped out, + the last visitation having been in 1844, but cholera epidemics + occasionally occur.[2] Cholera rarely extends south of Cairo. In 1848 + it is believed that over 200,000 persons died from cholera, but later + epidemics have been much less fatal. Smallpox is not uncommon, and + skin diseases are numerous, but the two most prevalent diseases among + the Egyptians are dysentery and ophthalmia. The objection entertained + by many natives to entering hospitals or to altering their traditional + methods of "cure" renders these diseases much more malignant and fatal + than they would be in other circumstances. The government, however, + enforces certain health regulations, and the sanitary service is under + the direction of a European official. + +_Chief Towns._--Cairo (q.v.) the capital, a city of Arab foundation, is +built on the east bank of the Nile, about 12 m, above the point where +the river divides, and in reference to its situation at the head of the +Delta has been called by the Arabs "the diamond stud in the handle of +the fan of Egypt." It has a population (1907) of 654,476 and is the +largest city in Africa. Next in importance of the cities of Egypt and +the chief seaport is Alexandria (q.v.), pop. (with Ramleh) 370,009, on +the shore of the Mediterranean at the western end of the Delta. Port +Said (q.v.), pop. 49,884, at the eastern end of the Delta, and at the +north entrance to the Suez Canal, is the second seaport. Between +Alexandria and Port Said are the towns of Rosetta (q.v.), pop. 16,810, +and Damietta (q.v.), pop. 29,354, each built a few miles above the mouth +of the branch of the Nile of the same name. In the middle ages, when +Alexandria was in decay, these two towns were busy ports; with the +revival of Alexandria under Mehemet Ali and the foundation of Port Said +(c. 1860), their trade declined. The other ports of Egypt are Suez +(q.v.), pop. 18,347, at the south entrance of the canal, Kosseir (794) +on the Red Sea, the seat of the trade carried on between Upper Egypt and +Arabia, Mersa Matruh, near the Tripolitan frontier, and El-Arish, pop. +5897, on the Mediterranean, near the frontier of Palestine, and a +halting-place on the caravan route from Egypt to Syria. In the interior +of the Delta are many flourishing towns, the largest being Tanta, pop. +54,437, which occupies a central position. Damanhur (38,752) lies on the +railway between Tanta and Alexandria; Mansura (40,279) is on the +Damietta branch of the Nile, to the N.E. of Tanta; Zagazig (34,999) is +the largest town in the Delta east of the Damietta branch; Bilbeis +(13,485) lies N.N.E. of Cairo, on the edge of the desert and in the +ancient Land of Goshen. Ismailia (10,373) is situated midway on the Suez +Canal. All these towns, which depend largely on the cotton industry, are +separately noticed. + +Other towns in Lower Egypt are: Mehallet el-Kubra, pop. 47,955, 16 m. by +rail N.E. of Tanta, with manufactories of silk and cottons; Salihia +(6100), E.N.E. of and terminus of a railway from Zagazig, on the edge of +the desert south of Lake Menzala, and the starting-point of the caravans +to Syria; Mataria (15,142) on Lake Menzala and headquarters of the +fishing industry; Zifta (15,850) on the Damietta branch and the site of +a barrage; Samanud (14,408), also on the Damietta branch, noted for its +pottery, and Fua (14,515), where large quantities of tarbushes are made, +on the Rosetta branch. Shibin el-Kom (21,576), 16 m. S. of Tanta, is a +cotton centre, and Menuf (22,316), 8 m. S.W. of Shibin, in the fork +between the branches of the Nile, is the chief town of a rich +agricultural district. There are many other towns in the Delta with +populations between 10,000 and 20,000. + +In Upper Egypt the chief towns are nearly all in the narrow valley of +the Nile. The exceptions are the towns in the oases comparatively +unimportant, and those in the Fayum province. The capital of the Fayum, +Medinet el-Fayum, has a population (1907) of 37,320. The chief towns on +the Nile, taking them in their order in ascending the river from Cairo, +are Beni Suef, Minia, Assiut, Akhmim, Suhag, Girga, Kena, Luxor, Esna, +Edfu, Assuan and Korosko. Beni Suef (23,357) is 77 m. from Cairo by +rail. It is on the west bank of the river, is the capital of a _mudiria_ +and a centre for the manufacture of woollen goods. Minia (27,221) is 77 +m. by rail farther south. It is also the capital of a mudiria, has a +considerable European colony, possesses a large sugar factory and some +cotton mills. It is the starting-point of a road to the Baharia oasis. +Assiut (q.v.), pop. 39,442, is 235 m. S. of Cairo by rail, and is the +most important commercial centre in Upper Egypt. At this point a barrage +is built across the river. Suhag (17,514) is 56 m. by rail S. of Assiut +and is the headquarters of Girga mudiria. The ancient and celebrated +Coptic monasteries El Abiad (the white) and El Ahmar (the red) are 3 to +4 m. W. and N.W. respectively of Suhag. A few miles above Suhag, on the +opposite (east) side of the Nile is Akhmim (q.v.) or Ekhmim (23,795), +where silk and cotton goods are made. Girga (q.v.), pop. 19,893, is 22 +m. S. by rail of Suhag, and on the same (the west) side of the river. It +is noted for its pottery. Kena (q.v.), pop. 20,069, is on the east bank +of the Nile, 145 m. by rail from Assiut. It is the chief seat of the +manufacture of the porous earthenware water-bottles used all over Egypt. +Luxor (q.v.), pop. (with Karnak) 25,229, marks the site of Thebes. It is +418 m. from Cairo, and here the gauge of the railway is altered from +broad to narrow. Esna (q.v.), pop. 19,103, is another place where +pottery is made in large quantities. It is on the west bank of the Nile, +36 m. by rail S. of Luxor. Edfu (q.v.), pop. 19,262, is also on the west +side of the river, 30 m. farther south. It is chiefly famous for its +ancient temple. Assuan (q.v.), pop. 12,618, is at the foot of the First +Cataract and 551 m. S. of Cairo by rail. Three miles farther south, at +Shellal, the Egyptian railway terminates. Korosko, 118 m. by river above +Assuan, is a small place notable as the northern terminus of the caravan +route from the Sudan across the Nubian desert. Since the building of the +railway--which starts 96 m. higher up, at Wadi Halfa--to Khartum, this +route is little used, and Korosko has lost what importance it had. + +_Ancient Cities and Monuments._--Many of the modern cities of Egypt are +built on the sites of ancient cities, and they generally contain some +monuments of the time of the Pharaohs, Greeks or Romans. The sites of +other ancient cities now in complete ruin may be indicated. Memphis, the +Pharaonic capital, was on the west bank of the Nile, some 14 m. above +Cairo, and Heliopolis lay some 5 m. N.N.E. of Cairo. The pyramids of +Giza or Gizeh, on the edge of the desert, 8 m. west of Cairo, are the +largest of the many pyramids and other monuments, including the famous +Sphinx, built in the neighbourhood of Memphis. The site of Thebes has +already been indicated. Syene stood near to where the town of Assuan now +is; opposite, on an island in the Nile, are scanty ruins of the city of +Elephantine, and a little above, on another island, is the temple of +Philae. The ancient Coptos (Keft) is represented by the village of Kuft, +between Luxor and Kena. A few miles north of Kena is Dendera, with a +famous temple. The ruins of Abydos, one of the oldest places in Egypt, +are 8 m. S.W. of Balliana, a small town in Girga mudiria. The ruined +temples of Abu Simbel are on the west side of the Nile, 56 m. above +Korosko. On the Red Sea, south of Kosseir, are the ruins of Myos Hormos +and Berenice. Of the ancient cities in the Delta there are remains, +among others, of Sais, Iseum, Tanis, Bubastis, Onion, Sebennytus, +Pithom, Pelusium, and of the Greek cities Naucratis and Daphnae. There +are, besides the more ancient cities and monuments, a number of Coptic +towns, monasteries and churches in almost every part of Egypt, dating +from the early centuries of Christianity. The monasteries, or _ders_, +are generally fort-like buildings and are often built in the desert. +Tombs of Mahommedan saints are also numerous, and are often placed on +the summit of the cliffs overlooking the Nile. The traveller in Egypt +thus views, side by side with the activities of the present day, where +occident and orient meet and clash, memorials of every race and +civilization which has flourished in the valley of the Nile. + +_Trade Routes and Communications._--Its geographical position gives +Egypt command of one of the most important trade routes in the world. It +is, as it were, the fort which commands the way from Europe to the East. +This has been the case from time immemorial, and the provision, in 1869, +of direct maritime communication between the Mediterranean and the Red +Sea, by the completion of the Suez Canal, ensured for the Egyptian route +the supremacy in sea-borne traffic to Asia, which the discovery of the +passage to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope had menaced for three +and a half centuries. The Suez Canal is 87 m. long, 66 actual canal and +21 lakes. It has sufficient depth to allow vessels drawing 27 ft. of +water to pass through. It is administered by a company whose +headquarters are in Paris, and no part of its revenue reaches the +Egyptian exchequer (see SUEZ CANAL). Besides the many steamship lines +which use the Suez Canal, other steamers run direct from European ports +to Alexandria. There is also a direct mail service between Suez and Port +Sudan. + + The chief means of internal communication are, in the Delta the + railways, in Upper Egypt the railway and the river. The railways are + of two kinds: (1) those state-owned and state-worked, (2) agricultural + light railways owned and worked by private companies. Railway + construction dates from 1852, when the line from Alexandria to Cairo + was begun, by order of Abbas I. The state railways, unless otherwise + indicated, have a gauge of 4 ft. 8-1/2 in. The main system is + extremely simple. Trunk lines from Alexandria (via Damanhur and Tanta) + and from Port Said (via Ismailia) traverse the Delta and join at + Cairo. From Cairo the railway is continued south up the valley of the + Nile and close to the river. At first it follows the west bank, + crossing the stream at Nag Hamadi, 354 m. from Cairo, by an iron + bridge 437 yds. long. Thence it continues on the east bank to Luxor, + where the broad gauge ceases. From Luxor the line continues on the + standard African gauge (3 ft. 6 in.) to Shellal, 3 m. above Assuan and + 685 m. from Alexandria. This main line service is supplemented by a + steamer service on the Nile from Shellal to Wadi Halfa, on the + northern frontier of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, whence there is direct + railway communication with Khartum and the Red Sea (see SUDAN). + + Branch lines connect Cairo and Alexandria with Suez and with almost + every town in the Delta. From Cairo to Suez via Ismailia is a distance + of 160 m. Before the Suez Canal was opened passengers and goods were + taken to Suez from Cairo by a railway 84 m. long which ran across the + desert. This line, now disused, had itself superseded the "overland + route" organized by Lieut. Thomas Waghorn, R.N., c. 1830, for the + conveyance of passengers and mails to India. In Upper Egypt a line, 40 + m. long, runs west from Wasta, a station 56 m. S. of Cairo, to Abuksa + in the Fayum mudiria. Another railway goes from Kharga Junction, a + station on the main line 24 m. S. of Girga, to the oasis of Kharga. + These lines are privately owned. + + In the Delta the light railways supplement the ordinary lines and + connect the villages with the towns and seaports. There are over 700 + m. of these lines. The railway development of Egypt has not been very + rapid. In 1880 944 m. of state lines were open; in 1900 the figure was + 1393, and in 1905, 1688. For several years before 1904 the + administration of the railways was carried on by an international or + mixed board for the security of foreign creditors. In the year named + the railways came directly under the control of the Egyptian + government, which during the next four years spent LE.3,000,000 on + improving and developing the lines. In the five years 1902-1906 the + capital value of the state railways increased from LE.20,383,000 to + LE.23,200,000 and the net earnings from LE.1,059,000 to LE. 1,475,000. + The number of passengers carried in the same period rose from 12-1/2 + to over 22 millions, and the weight of goods from slightly under + 3,000,000 to nearly 6,750,000 tons. In 1906 the light railways carried + nearly a million tons of goods and over 6,800,000 passengers. + + Westward from Alexandria a railway, begun in 1904 by the khedive, + Abbas II., runs parallel with the coast, and is intended to be + continued to Tripoli. The line forms the eastern end of the great + railway system which will eventually extend from Tangier to + Alexandria. + + The Nile is navigable throughout its course in Egypt, and is largely + used as a means of cheap transit of heavy goods. Lock and bridge tolls + were abolished in 1899 and 1901 respectively. As a result, river + traffic greatly increased. Above Cairo the Nile is the favourite + tourist route, while between Shellal (Assuan) and the Sudan frontier + it is the only means of communication. Among the craft using the river + the dahabiya is a characteristic native sailing vessel, somewhat + resembling a house-boat. From the Nile, caravan routes lead westward + to the various oases and eastward to the Red Sea, the shortest (120 + m.) and most used of the eastern routes being that from Kena to + Kosseir. Roads suitable for wheeled vehicles are found in Lower Egypt, + but the majority of the tracks are bridle-paths, goods being conveyed + on the backs of donkeys, mules and camels. + + _Posts and Telegraphs._--The Egyptian postal system is highly + organized and efficient, and in striking contrast with its condition + in 1870, when there were but nineteen post-offices in the country. All + the branches of business transacted in European post-offices are + carried on by the Egyptian service, Egypt being a member of the Postal + Union. It was the first foreign country to establish a penny postage + with Great Britain, the reduction from 2-1/2d. being made in 1905. The + inland letters and packages carried yearly exceed 20,000,000 and + foreign letters (30% to England) number over 4,000,000. Over + L17,000,000 passes yearly through the post. A feature of the service + are the travelling post-offices, of which there are some 200. + + All the important towns are connected by telegraph, the telegraphs + being state-owned and worked by the railway administration. Egypt is + also connected by cables and land-lines with the outside world. One + land-line connects at El-Arish with the line through Syria and Asia + Minor to Constantinople. Another line connects at Wadi Halfa with the + Sudan system, affording direct telegraphic communication via Khartum + and Gondokoro with Uganda and Mombasa. The Eastern Telegraph Company, + by concessions, have telegraph lines across Egypt from Alexandria via + Cairo to Suez, and from Port Said to Suez, connecting their cables to + Europe and the East. The principal cables are from Alexandria to + Malta, Gibraltar and England; from Alexandria to Crete and Brindisi; + from Suez to Aden, Bombay, China and Australia. + + The telephone is largely used in the big towns, and there is a trunk + telephone line connecting Alexandria and Cairo. + + _Standard Time._--The standard time adopted in Egypt is that of the + longitude of Alexandria, 30 deg. E., i.e. two hours earlier than + Greenwich time. It thus corresponds with the standard time of British + South Africa. + +_Agriculture and Land Tenure._--The chief industry of Egypt is +agriculture. The proportions of the industry depend upon the area of +land capable of cultivation. This again depends upon the fertilizing +sediment brought down by the Nile and the measure in which lands beyond +the natural reach of the flood water can be rendered productive by +irrigation. By means of canals, "basins," dams and barrages, the Nile +flood is now utilized to a greater extent than ever before (see +IRRIGATION: _Egypt_). The result has been a great increase in the area +of cultivated or cultivable land. + +At the time of the French occupation of Egypt in 1798, it was found that +the cultivable soil covered 4,429,400 acres, but the quantity actually +under cultivation did not exceed 3,520,000 acres, or six-elevenths of +the entire surface. Under improved conditions the area of cultivated +land, or land in process of reclamation, had risen in 1906 to 5,750,000 +acres, while another 500,000 acres of waste land awaited reclamation. + +Throughout Egypt the cultivable soil does not present any very great +difference, being always the deposit of the river; it contains, however, +more sand near the river than at a distance from it. Towards the +Mediterranean its quality is injured by the salt with which the air is +impregnated, and therefore it is not so favourable to vegetation. Of the +cultivated land, some three-fourths is held, theoretically, in life +tenancy. The state, as ultimate proprietor, imposes a tax which is the +equivalent of rent. These lands are _Kharaji_ lands, in distinction from +the _Ushuri_ or tithe-paying lands. The _Ushuri_ lands were originally +granted in fee, and are subject to a quit-rent. All tenants are under +obligation to guard or repair the banks of the Nile in times of flood, +or in any case of sudden emergency. Only to this extent does the +_corvee_ now prevail. The land-tax is proportionate, i.e. land under +perennial irrigation pays higher taxes than land not so irrigated (see +below, _Finance_). The unit of land is the _feddan_, which equals 1.03 +acre. Out of 1,153,759 proprietors of land in 1905, 1,005,705 owned less +than 5 _feddans_. The number of proprietors owning over 50 _feddans_ was +12,475. The acreage held by the first class was 1,264,084, that by the +second class, 2,356,602. Over 1,600,000 _feddans_ were held in holdings +of from 5 to 50 _feddans_. The state domains cover over 240,000 +_feddans_, and about 600,000 _feddans_ are owned by foreigners. The +policy of the government is to maintain the small proprietors, and to do +nothing tending to oust the native in favour of European landowners. + +The kind of crops cultivated depends largely on whether the land is +under perennial, flood or "basin" irrigation. Perennial irrigation is +possible where there are canals which can be supplied with water all the +year round from the Nile. This condition exists throughout the Delta and +Middle Egypt, but only in parts of Upper Egypt. Altogether some +4,000,000 acres are under perennial irrigation. In these regions two and +sometimes three crops can be harvested yearly. In places where perennial +irrigation is impossible, the land is divided by rectangular dikes into +"basins." Into these basins--which vary in area from 600 to 50,000 +acres--water is led by shallow canals when the Nile is in flood. The +water is let in about the middle of August and the basins are begun to +be emptied about the 1st of October. The land under basin irrigation +covers about 1,750,000 acres. In the basins only one crop can be grown +in the year. This basin system is of immemorial use in Egypt, and it was +not until the time of Mehemet Ali (c. 1820) that perennial irrigation +began. High land near the banks of the Nile which cannot be reached by +canals is irrigated by raising water from the Nile by steam-pumps, +water-wheels (_sakias_) worked by buffaloes, or water-lifts (_shadufs_) +worked by hand. There are several thousand steam-pumps and over 100,000 +_sakias_ or _shadufs_ in Egypt. The _fellah_ divides his land into +little square plots by ridges of earth, and from the small canal which +serves his holding he lets the water into each plot as needed. The same +system obtains on large estates (see further IRRIGATION: _Egypt_). +There are three agricultural seasons: (1) summer (_sefi_), 1st of April +to 31st of July, when crops are grown only on land under perennial +irrigation; (2) flood (_Nili_), 1st of August to 30th of November; and +(3) winter (_shetwi_), 1st of December to 31st of March. Cotton, sugar +and rice are the chief summer crops; wheat, barley, flax and vegetables +are chiefly winter crops; maize, millet and "flood" rice are _Nili_ +crops; millet and vegetables are also, but in a less degree, summer +crops. The approximate areas under cultivation in the various seasons +are, in summer, 2,050,000 acres; in flood, 1,500,000 acres; in winter, +4,300,000 acres. The double-cropped area is over 2,000,000 acres. +Although on the large farms iron ploughs, and threshing and +grain-cleaning machines, have been introduced, the small cultivator +prefers the simple native plough made of wood. Corn is threshed by a +_norag_, a machine resembling a chair, which moves on small iron wheels +or thin circular plates fixed to axle-trees, and is drawn in a circle by +oxen. + + _Crops._--Egypt is third among the cotton-producing countries of the + world. Its production per acre is the greatest of any country but, + owing to the restricted area available, the bulk raised is not more + than one-tenth of that of the United States and about half that of + India. Some 1,600,000 acres of land, five-sixths being in Lower Egypt, + are devoted to cotton growing. The climate of Lower Egypt being very + suitable to the growth of the plant, the cotton produced there is of + excellent quality. The seed is sown at the end of February or + beginning of March and the crop is picked in September and October. + The cotton crop increased from 1,700,000 _kantars_[3] in 1878 to + 4,100,000 in 1890, had reached 5,434,000 in 1900, and was 6,750,000 in + 1905. Its average value, 1897-1905, was over L14,000,000 a year. The + cotton exported was valued in 1907 at LE.23,598,000, in 1908 at + LE.17,091,612. + + While cotton is grown chiefly in the Delta, the sugar plantations, + which cover about 100,000 acres, are mainly in Upper Egypt. The canes + are planted in March and are cut in the following January or February. + Although since 1884 the production of sugar has largely increased, + there has not been a corresponding increase in its value, owing to the + low price obtained in the markets of the world. Beetroot is also grown + to a limited extent for the manufacture of sugar. The sugar exported + varied in annual value in the period 1884-1905 from L400,000 to + L765,000. + + A coarse and strong tobacco was formerly extensively grown, but its + cultivation was prohibited in 1890. Flax and hemp are grown in a few + places. + + Maize in Lower Egypt and millet (of which there are several varieties) + in Upper Egypt are largely grown for home consumption, these grains + forming a staple food of the peasantry. The stalk of the maize is also + a very useful article. It is used in the building of the houses of the + fellahin, as fuel, and, when green, as food for cattle. Wheat and + barley are important crops, and some 2,000,000 acres are sown with + them yearly. The barley in general is not of good quality, but the + desert or "Mariut" barley, grown by the Bedouins in the coast region + west of Alexandria, is highly prized for the making of beer. Beans and + lentils are extensively sown, and form an important article of export. + The annual value of the crops is over L3,000,000. Rice is largely + grown in the northern part of the Delta, where the soil is very wet. + Two kinds are cultivated: _Sultani_, a summer crop, and _Sabaini_, a + flood crop. _Sabaini_ is a favourite food of the fellahin, while + _Sultani_ rice is largely exported. In the absence of grass, the chief + green food for cattle and horses is clover, grown largely in the basin + lands of Upper Egypt. To a less extent vetches are grown for the same + purpose. + + _Vegetables and Fruit._--Vegetables grow readily, and their + cultivation is an important part of the work of the fellahin. The + onion is grown in great quantities along the Nile banks in Upper + Egypt, largely for export. Among other vegetables commonly raised are + tomatoes (the bulk of which are exported), potatoes (of poor quality), + leeks, marrows, cucumbers, cauliflowers, lettuce, asparagus and + spinach. + + The common fruits are the date, orange, citron, fig, grape, apricot, + peach and banana. Olives, melons, mulberries and strawberries are also + grown, though not in very large numbers. The olive tree flourishes + only in the Fayum and the oases. The Fayum also possesses extensive + vineyards. The date is a valuable economic asset. There are some + 6,000,000 date-palms in the country, 4,000,000 being in Upper Egypt. + The fruit is one of the chief foods of the people. The value of the + crop is about L1,500,000 a year. + + _Roses and Dyes._--There are fields of roses in the Fayum, which + supply the market with rose-water. Of plants used for dyeing, the + principal are bastard saffron, madder, woad and the indigo plant. The + leaves of the henna plant are used to impart a bright red colour to + the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, and the nails of both + hands and feet, of women and children, the hair of old ladies and the + tails of horses. Indigo is very extensively employed to dye the + shirts of the natives of the poorer classes; and is, when very dark, + the colour of mourning; therefore, women at funerals, and generally + after a death, smear themselves with it. + + _Domestic Animals._--The Egyptians are not particularly a pastoral + people, though the wealth of the Bedouin in the Eastern or Arabian + Desert consists in their camels, horses, sheep and goats. In the Nile + valley the chief domestic animals are the camel, donkey, mule, ox, + buffalo, sheep and goat. Horses are comparatively few, and are seldom + seen outside the large towns, the camel and donkey being the principal + beasts of burden. The cattle are short-horned, rather small and well + formed. They are quiet in disposition, and much valued for + agricultural labour by the people, who therefore very rarely slaughter + them for meat. Buffaloes of an uncouth appearance and of a dark slaty + colour, strikingly contrasting with the neat cattle, abound in Egypt. + They are very docile, and the little children of the villagers often + ride them to or from the river. The buffaloes are largely employed for + turning the _sakias_. Sheep (of which the greater number are black) + and goats are abundant, and mutton is the ordinary butcher's meat. The + wool is coarse and short. Swine are very rarely kept, and then almost + wholly for the European inhabitants, the Copts generally abstaining + from eating their meat. Poultry is plentiful and eggs form a + considerable item in the exports. Pigeons are kept in every village + and their flesh is a common article of food. + + _Fishing._--The chief fishing-ground is Lake Menzala, where some 4000 + persons are engaged in the industry, but fish abound in the Nile also, + and are caught in large quantities along the coast of the Delta. The + salting and curing of the fish is done chiefly at Mataria, on Lake + Menzala, and at Damietta. Dried and salted fish eggs, called + _batarekh_, command a ready market. The average annual value of the + fisheries is about L200,000. + + _Canals._--The irrigation canals, which are also navigable by small + craft, are of especial importance in a country where the rainfall is + very slight. The Delta is intersected by numerous canals which derive + their supply from four main channels. The Rayya Behera, known in its + lower courses first as the Khatatba and afterwards as the Rosetta + canal, follows the west bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile and has + numerous offshoots. The most important is the Mahmudia (50 m. long), + which connects Alexandria with the Rosetta branch, taking a similar + direction to that of the ancient canal which it succeeded. This canal + supplies Alexandria with fresh water. + + The Rayya Menufia, or Menuf canal, connects the two branches of the + Nile and supplies water to the large number of canals in the central + part of the Delta. Following the right (eastern) bank of the Damietta + branch is the Rayya Tewfiki, known below Benha as the Mansuria, and + below Mansura as the Fareskur, canal. This canal has many branches. + Farther east are other canals, of which the most remarkable occupy in + part the beds of the Tanitic and Pelusiac branches. That following the + old Tanitic channel is called the canal of Al-Mo'izz, the first + Fatimite caliph who ruled in Egypt, having been dug by his orders, and + the latter bears the name of the canal of Abu-l-Muneggi, a Jew who + executed this work, under the caliph Al-Amir, in order to water the + province called the Sharkia. From this circumstance this canal is also + known as the Sharkawia. From a town on its bank it is called in its + lower course the Shibini canal. The superfluous water from all the + Delta canals is drained off by _bahrs_ (rivers) into the coast lakes. + The Ismailia or Fresh-water canal branches from the Nile at Cairo and + follows, in the main, the course of the canal which anciently joined + the Nile and the Red Sea. It dates from Pharaonic times, having been + begun by "Sesostris," continued by Necho II. and by Darius Hystaspes, + and at length finished by Ptolemy Philadelphus. This canal, having + fallen into disrepair, was restored in the 7th century A.D. by the + Arabs who conquered Egypt, but appears not long afterwards to have + again become unserviceable. The existing canal was dug in 1863 to + supply fresh water to the towns on the Suez Canal. Although designed + for irrigation purposes, the Delta canals are also used for the + transport of passengers and goods. + + In Upper Egypt the most important canals are the Ibrahimia and the + Bahr Yusuf (the River of Joseph). They are both on the west side of + the Nile. The Ibrahimia takes its water from the Nile at Assiut, and + runs south to below Beni Suef. It now supplies the Bahr Yusuf, which + runs parallel with and west of the Ibrahimia, until it diverges to + supply the Fayum--a distance of some 350 m. It leaves the Ibrahimia at + Derut near its original point of departure from the Nile. Although the + Joseph whence it takes its name is the celebrated Saladin, it is + related that he merely repaired it, and it is not doubted to be of a + much earlier period. Most probably it was executed under the Pharaohs. + By some authorities it is believed to be a natural channel canalized. + Besides supplying the canals of the Fayum with summer water, it fills + many of the "basins" of Upper Egypt with water in flood time. + +_Manufactures and Native Industries._--Although essentially an +agricultural country, Egypt possesses several manufactures. In connexion +with the cotton industry there are a few mills where calico is made or +oil crushed, and ginning-mills are numerous. In Upper Egypt there are a +number of factories for sugar-crushing and refining, and one or two +towns of the Delta possess rice mills. Flour mills are found in every +part of the country, the maize and other grains being ground for home +consumption. Soap-making and leather-tanning are carried on, and there +are breweries at Alexandria and Cairo. The manufacture of tobacco into +cigarettes, carried on largely at Alexandria and Cairo, is another +important industry. Native industries include the weaving of silk, +woollen, linen and cotton goods, the hand-woven silk shawls and +draperies being often rich and elegant. The silk looms are chiefly at +Mehallet el-Kubra, Cairo and Damietta. The Egyptians are noted for the +making of pottery of the commoner kinds, especially water-jars. There is +at Cairo and in other towns a considerable industry in ornamental wood +and metal work, inlaying with ivory and pearl, brass trays, copper +vessels, gold and silver ornaments, &c. At Cairo and in the Fayum, attar +of roses and other perfumes are manufactured. Boat-building is an +important trade. + + _Commerce._--The trade of Egypt has developed enormously since the + British occupation in 1882 ensured to all classes of the community the + enjoyment of the profit of their labour. The total value of the + exterior trade increased in the 20 years 1882 to 1902 from L19,000,000 + to L32,400,000. The wealth of Egypt lying in the cultivation of its + soil, almost all the exports are agricultural produce, while the + imports are mostly manufactured goods, minerals and hardware. The + chief exports in order of importance are: raw cotton, cotton seed, + sugar, beans, cigarettes, onions, rice and gum-arabic. The gum is not + of native produce, being in transit from the Sudan. Of less importance + are the exports of hides and skins, eggs, wheat and other grains, + wool, quails, lentils, dates and Sudan produce in transit. The + principal articles imported are: cotton goods and other textiles, + coal, iron and steel, timber, tobacco, machinery, flour, alcoholic + liquors, petroleum, fruits, coffee and live animals. There is an _ad + valorem_ duty of 8% on imports and of about 1% on exports. Tobacco and + precious stones and metals pay heavier duties. The tobacco is imported + chiefly from Turkey and Greece, is made into cigarettes in Egypt, and + in this form exported to the value of about L500,000 yearly. + + In comparison with cotton, all other exports are of minor account. The + cotton exported, of which Great Britain takes more than half, is worth + over three-fourths of the total value of goods sent abroad. Next to + cotton, sugar is the most important article exported. A large + proportion of the sugar manufactured is, however, consumed in the + country and does not figure in the trade returns. Of the imports the + largest single item is cotton goods, nearly all being sent from + England. Woollen goods come chiefly from England, Austria and Germany, + silk goods from France. Large quantities of ready-made clothes and + fezes are imported from Austria. Iron and steel goods, machinery, + locomotives, &c., come chiefly from England, Belgium and Germany, coal + from England, live stock from Turkey and the Red Sea ports, coffee + from Brazil, timber from Russia, Turkey and Sweden. + + A British consular report (No. 3121, annual series), issued in 1904, + shows that in the period 1887-1902 the import trade of Egypt nearly + doubled. In the same period the proportion of imports from the United + Kingdom fell from 39.63 to 36.76%. Though the percentage decreased, + the value of imports from Great Britain increased in the same period + from L2,500,000 to L4,500,000. In addition to imports from the United + Kingdom, British possessions took 6.0% of the import trade. Next to + Great Britain, Turkey had the largest share of the import trade, but + it had declined in the sixteen years from 19 to 15%. France about 10%, + and Austria 6.72%, came next, but their import trade was declining, + while that of Germany had risen from less than 1 to over 3%, and + Belgium imports from 1.74 to 4.27%. + + In the same period (1887-1902) Egyptian exports to Great Britain + decreased from 63.25 to 52.30%, Germany and the United States showing + each an increase of over 6.0%. Exports to Germany had increased from + 0.13 to 6.75%, to the United States from 0.26 to 6.70%. Exports to + France had remained practically stationary at 8.0%; those to Austria + had dropped from 6.3% to 4.0%, to Russia from 9.11 to 8.43%. + + For the quinquennial period 1901-1905, the average annual value of the + exterior trade was:--imports L17,787,296; exports L18,811,588; total + L36,598,884. In 1907 the total value of the merchandise imported and + exported, exclusive of transit, re-exportation and specie, was + LE.54,134,000--constituting a record trade return. The value of the + imports was LE.26,121,000, of the exports LE.28,013,000. + + _Shipping._--More than 90% of the external trade passes through the + port of Alexandria. Port Said, which in consequence of its position at + the northern entrance of the Suez Canal has more frequent and regular + communication with Europe, is increasing in importance and is the port + where mails and passengers are landed. Over 3000 ships enter and clear + harbour at Alexandria every year. The total tonnage entering the port + increased in the five years 1901-1905 from 2,555,259 to 3,591,281. In + the same period the percentage of British shipping, which before 1900 + was nearly 50, varied from 40 to 45. No other nation had more than 12% + of the tonnage, Italy, France, Austria and Turkey each having 9 to + 12%. The tonnage of German ships increased in the five years mentioned + from 3 to 7%. In number of steamships entering the harbour Great + Britain is first, with some 800 yearly, or about 50% of all steamers + entering. The sailing boats entering the harbour are almost entirely + Turkish. They are vessels of small tonnage. + + The transit trade with the East, which formerly passed overland + through Egypt, has been diverted to the Suez Canal, the traffic + through which has little to do with the trade or shipping of Egypt. + The number of ships using the canal increased in the 20 years + 1880-1900 from 2000 to 4000, while in the same period the tonnage rose + from 4,300,000 to 14,000,000. In 1905 the figures were:--Number of + ships that passed through the canal, 4116 (2484 being British and 600 + German), net tonnage 13,134,105 (8,356,940 British and 2,113,484 + German). Next to British and German the nationality of ships using the + canal in order of importance is French, Dutch, Austrian, Italian and + Russian. About 250,000 passengers (including some 40,000 pilgrims to + Mecca) pass through the canal in a year (see further SUEZ). + + _Currency._--The monetary system in force dates from 1885, when + through the efforts of Sir Edgar Vincent the currency was placed on a + sound basis. The system is based on the single gold standard. The unit + is a gold coin called a pound and equal to L1, 0s. 6d. in English + currency. The Egyptian pound (LE.) is divided into 100 piastres, of + which there are coins in silver of 20, 10, 5 and 2 piastres. One, 1/2, + 1/5 and 1/10 piastre pieces are coined in nickel and 1/20 and 1/40 + piastre pieces in bronze. The one piastre piece is worth a fraction + over 2-1/2d. The 1/40 of a piastre is popularly called a para and the + native population generally reckon in paras. The legal piastre is + called the piastre tariff (P.T.), to distinguish it from the 1/2 + piastre, which in local usage in Cairo and Alexandria is called a + piastre. Officially the 1/2 piastre is known as 5 milliemes, and so + with the coins of lower denomination, the para being 1/4 millieme. The + old terms _kis_ or "purse" (500 piastres) and _khazna_ or "treasury" + (1000 purses) are still occasionally used. Formerly European coins of + all kinds were in general circulation, now the only foreign coins + current are the English sovereign, the French 20 franc piece and the + Turkish mejidie, a gold coin worth 18 shillings. For several years no + Egyptian gold pieces have been coined. Egyptian silver money is minted + at Birmingham, and nickel and bronze money at Vienna. Bank-notes, of + the National Bank, are issued for LE.100, LE.50, LE.10, LE.5 and LE.1, + and for 50 piastres. The notes are not legal tender, but are accepted + by the government in payment of taxes. + + The history of the currency reform in Egypt is interesting as + affording a practical example of a system much discussed in connexion + with the currency question in India, namely, a gold standard without a + gold coinage. The Egyptian pound is practically nonexistent, nearly + all that were coined having been withdrawn from circulation. Their + place has been taken by foreign gold, principally the English + sovereign, which circulates at a value of 97-1/2 piastres. In practice + the system works perfectly smoothly, the gold flowing in and out of + the country through the agency of private banking establishments in + proportion to the requirements of the circulation. It is, moreover, + very economical for the government. As in most agricultural countries, + there is a great expansion of the circulation in the autumn and winter + months in order to move the crops, followed by a long period of + contracted circulation throughout the rest of the year. Under the + existing system the fluctuating requirements of the currency are met + without the expense of alternately minting and melting down. + + _Weights and Measures._--The metrical system of weights and measures + is in official but not in popular use, except in the foreign quarters + of Cairo, Alexandria, &c. The most common Egyptian measures are the + _fitr_, or space measured by the extension of the thumb and first + finger; the _shibr_, or span; and the cubit (of three kinds = 22-2/3, + 25 and 26-1/2 in.). The measure of land is the _feddan_, equal to 1.03 + acres, subdivided into 24 _kirats_. The _ardeb_ is equal to about 5 + bushels, and is divided into 6 _waybas_, and each _wayba_ into 24 + _rubas_. The _okieh_ equals 1.32 oz., the _rotl_ .99 lb., the _oke_ + 2.75 lb., the _kantar_ (or 100 _rotls_ or 36 _okes_) 99.04 lb. + +_Constitution and Administration._--Egypt is a tributary state of the +Turkish empire, and is ruled by an hereditary prince with the style of +khedive, a Persian title regarded as the equivalent of king. The +succession to the throne is by primogeniture. The central administration +is carried on by a council of ministers, appointed by the khedive, one +of whom acts as prime minister. To these is added a British financial +adviser, who attends all meetings of the council of ministers, but has +not a vote; on the other hand, no financial decision may be taken +without his consent. The ministries are those of the interior, finance, +public works, justice, war, foreign affairs and public instruction,[4] +and in each of these are prepared the drafts of decrees, which are then +submitted to the council of ministers for approval, and on being signed +by the khedive become law. No important decision, however, has been +taken since 1882 without the concurrence of the British minister +plenipotentiary. With a few exceptions, laws cannot, owing to the +Capitulations, be enforced against foreigners except with the consent of +the powers. + +While the council of ministers with the khedive forms the legislative +authority, there are various representative bodies with strictly limited +powers. The legislative council is a consultative body, partly elective, +partly nominative. It examines the budget and all proposed +administrative laws, but cannot initiate legislation, nor is the +government bound to adopt its suggestions. The general assembly consists +of the legislative council and the ministers of state, together with +popularly elected members, who form a majority of the whole assembly. It +has no legislative functions, but no new direct personal tax nor land +tax can be imposed without its consent. It must meet at least once in +every two years. + +For purposes of local government the chief towns constitute +governorships (_moafzas_), the rest of the country being divided into +_mudirias_ or provinces. The governors and _mudirs_ (heads of provinces) +are responsible to the ministry of the interior. The provinces are +further divided into districts, each of which is under a _mamur_, who in +his turn supervises and controls the _omda_, mayor or head-man, of each +village in his district. + +The governorships are: Cairo; Alexandria, which includes an area of 70 +sq. m.; Suez Canal, including Port Said and Ismailia; Suez and El-Arish. +Lower Egypt is divided into the provinces of: Behera, Gharbia, Menufia, +Dakahlia, Kaliubia, Sharkia. The oasis of Siwa and the country to the +Tripolitan frontier are dependent on the province of Behera. Upper +Egypt: Giza, Beni Suef, Fayum, Minia, Assiut, Girga, Kena, Assuan. The +peninsula of Sinai is administered by the war office. + +_Justice._--There are four judicial systems in Egypt: two applicable to +Egyptian subjects only, one applicable to foreigners only, and one +applicable to foreigners and, to a certain extent, natives also. This +multiplicity of tribunals arises from the fact that, owing to the +Capitulations, which apply to Egypt as part of the Turkish empire, +foreigners are almost entirely exempt from the jurisdiction of the +native courts. It will be convenient to state first the law as regards +foreigners, and secondly the law which concerns Egyptians. Criminal +jurisdiction over foreigners is exercised by the consuls of the fifteen +powers possessing such right by treaty, according to the law of the +country of the offender. These consular courts also judge civil cases +between foreigners of the same nationality. + +Jurisdiction in civil matters between natives and foreigners and between +foreigners of different nationalities is no longer exercised by the +consular courts. The grave abuse to which the consular system was +subject led to the establishment, in February 1876, at the instance of +Nubar Pasha and after eight years of negotiation, of International or +"Mixed" Tribunals to supersede consular jurisdiction to the extent +indicated. The Mixed Tribunals employ a code based on the _Code +Napoleon_ with such additions from Mahommedan law as are applicable. +There are three tribunals of first instance, and an appeal court at +Alexandria. These courts have both foreign and Egyptian judges--the +foreign judges forming the majority of the bench. In certain designated +matters they enjoy criminal jurisdiction, including, since 1900, +offences against the bankruptcy laws. Cases have to be conducted in +Arabic, French, Italian and English, English having been admitted as a +"judicial language" by khedivial decree of the 17th of April 1905. +Besides their judicial duties, the courts practically exercise +legislative functions, as no important law can be made applicable to +Europeans without the consent of the powers, and the powers are mainly +guided by the opinions of the judges of the Mixed Courts. + +The judicial systems applicable solely to Egyptians are supervised by +the ministry of justice, to which has been attached since 1890 a British +judicial adviser. Two systems of laws are administered:--(1) the +_Mehkemehs_, (2) the Native Tribunals. The _mehkemehs_, or courts of the +cadis, judge in all matters of personal status, such as marriage, +inheritance and guardianship, and are guided in their decisions by the +code of laws founded on the Koran. The grand cadi, who must belong to +the sect of the _Hanifis_, sits at Cairo, and is aided by a council of +_Ulema_ or learned men. This council consists of the sheikh or religious +chief of each of the four orthodox sects, the sheikh of the mosque of +Azhar, who is of the sect of the _Shafi'is_, the chief (_nakib_) of the +_Sherifs_, or descendants of Mahomet, and others. The cadis are chosen +from among the students at the Azhar university. (In the same manner, in +matters of personal law, Copts and other non-Moslem Egyptians are, in +general, subject to the jurisdiction of their own religious chiefs.) + +For other than the purposes indicated, the native judicial system, both +civil and criminal, was superseded in 1884 by tribunals administering a +jurisprudence modelled on that of the French code. It is, in the words +of Lord Cromer, "in many respects ill adapted to meet the special needs +of the country" (_Egypt_, No. 1, 1904, p. 33). The system was, on the +advice of an Anglo-Indian official (Sir John Scott), modified and +simplified in 1891, but its essential character remained unaltered. In +1904, however, more important modifications were introduced. Save on +points of law, the right of appeal in criminal cases was abolished, and +assize courts, whose judgments were final, established. At the same time +the penal code was thoroughly revised, so that the Egyptian judges were +"for the first time provided with a sound working code" (Ibid. p. 49). +The native courts have both native and foreign judges. There are courts +of summary jurisdiction presided over by one judge, central tribunals +(or courts of first instance) with three judges, and a court of appeal +at Cairo. A committee of judicial surveillance watches the working of +the courts of first instance and the summary courts, and endeavours, by +letters and discussions, to maintain purity and sound law. There is a +_procureur-general_, who, with other duties, is entrusted with criminal +prosecutions. His representatives are attached to each tribunal, and +form the _parquet_ under whose orders the police act in bringing +criminals to justice. In the _markak_ (district) tribunals, created in +1904 and presided over by magistrates with jurisdiction in cases of +misdemeanour, the prosecution is, however, conducted directly by the +police. Special Children's Courts have been established for the trial of +juvenile offenders. + +The police service, which has been subject to frequent modification, was +in 1895 put under the orders of the ministry of the interior, to which a +British adviser and British inspectors are attached. The provincial +police is under the direction of the local authorities, the _mudirs_ or +governors of provinces, and the _mamurs_ or district officials; to the +_omdas_, or village head-men, who are responsible for the good order of +the villages, a limited criminal jurisdiction has been entrusted. + +_Religion._--The great majority of the inhabitants are Mahommedans. In +1907 the Moslems numbered over ten millions, or 91.8% of the entire +population. The Christians in the same year numbered 880,000, or 8% of +the population. Of these the Coptic Orthodox church had some 667,000 +adherents. Among other churches represented were the Greek Orthodox, the +Armenian, Syrian and Maronite, the Roman Catholic and various Protestant +bodies. The last-named numbered 37,000 (including 24,000 Copts). There +were in 1907 over 38,000 Jews in Egypt. + +The Mahommedans are Sunnites, professing the creed commonly termed +"orthodox," and are principally of the persuasion of the _Shafi'is_, +whose celebrated founder, the imam ash-Shafi'i, is buried in the great +southern cemetery of Cairo. Many of them are, however, _Hanifis_ (to +which persuasion the Turks chiefly belong), and in parts of Lower, and +almost universally in Upper, Egypt, _Malikis_. Among the Moslems the +_Sheikh-el-Islam_, appointed by the khedive from among the _Ulema_ +(learned class), exercises the highest religious and, in certain +subjects, judicial authority. There is also a grand cadi, nominated by +the sultan of Turkey from among the _Ulema_ of Stamboul. Valuable +property is held by the Moslems in trust for the promotion of religion +and for charitable purposes, and is known as the Wakfs administration. +The revenue derived is over L250,000 yearly. + +The Coptic organization includes in Egypt three metropolitans and +twelve bishops, under the headship of the patriarch of Alexandria. The +minor orders are arch-priests, priests, archdeacons, deacons, readers +and monks (see COPTS: _Coptic Church_). + +_Education._--Two different systems of education exist, one founded on +native lines, the other European in character. Both systems are more or +less fully controlled by the ministry of public instruction. The +government has primary, secondary and technical schools, training +colleges for teachers, and schools of agriculture, engineering, law, +medicine and veterinary science. The government system, which dates back +to a period before the British occupation, is designed to provide, in +the main, a European education. In the primary schools Arabic is the +medium of instruction, the use of English for that purpose being +confined to lessons in that language itself. The school of law is +divided into English and French sections according to the language in +which the students study law. Besides the government primary and +secondary schools, there are many other schools in the large towns owned +by the Moslems, Copts, Hebrews, and by various missionary societies, and +in which the education is on the same lines. A movement initiated among +the leading Moslems led in 1908 to the establishment as a private +enterprise of a national Egyptian university devoted to scientific, +literary and philosophical studies. Political and religious subjects are +excluded from the curriculum and no discrimination in regard to race or +religion is allowed. + + Education on native lines is given in _kuttabs_ and in the Azhar + university in Cairo. _Kuttabs_ are schools attached to mosques, found + in every village and in every quarter of the larger towns. In these + schools the instruction given before the British occupation was very + slight. All pupils were taught to recite portions of the Koran, and a + proportion of the scholars learnt to read and write Arabic and a + little simple arithmetic. Those pupils who succeeded in committing to + memory the whole of the Koran were regarded as _fiki_ (learned in + Mahommedan law), and as such escaped liability to military + conscription. The government has improved the education given in the + _kuttabs_, and numbers of them have been taken under the direct + control of the ministry of public instruction. In these latter schools + an excellent elementary secular education is given, in addition to the + instruction in the Koran, to which half the school hours are devoted. + The number of pupils in 1905 was over 12,000 boys and 2000 girls. + Grants-in-aid are given to other schools where a sufficiently good + standard of instruction is maintained. No grant is made to any + _kuttab_ where any language other than Arabic is taught. In all there + are over 10,000 kuttabs, attended by some 250,000 scholars. The number + of pupils in private schools under government inspection was in 1898, + the first year of the grant-in-aid system, 7536; in 1900, 12,315; in + 1905, 145,691. The number of girls in attendance rose from 598 in 1898 + to 997 in 1900 and 9611 in 1905. The Copts have about 1000 primary + schools, in which the teaching of Coptic is compulsory, a few + industrial schools, and one college for higher instruction. + + Cairo holds a prominent place as a seat of Moslem learning, and its + university, the Azhar, is considered the first of the eastern world. + Its professors teach "grammatical inflexion and syntax, rhetoric, + versification, logic, theology, the exposition of the Koran, the + traditions of the Prophet, the complete science of jurisprudence, or + rather of religious, moral, civil and criminal law, which is chiefly + founded on the Koran and the traditions, together with arithmetic as + far as it is useful in matters of law. Lectures are also given on + algebra and on the calculations of the Mahommedan calendar, the times + of prayer, &c." (E. W. Lane, _Modern Egyptians_). The students come + from all parts of the Mahommedan world. They number about 8000, of + whom some 2000 are resident. The students pay no fees, and the + professors receive no salaries. The latter maintain themselves by + private teaching and by copying manuscripts, and the former in the + same manner, or by reciting the Koran. To meet the demand for better + qualified judges for the Moslem courts a training college for cadis + was established in 1907. Besides the subjects taught at the Azhar + university, instruction is given in literature, mathematics and + physical science. The necessity for a reorganization of the Azhar + system itself being also recognized by the high Moslem dignitaries in + Egypt, a law was passed in 1907 creating a superior board of control + under the presidency of the Sheikh el-Azhar to supervise the + proceedings of the university and other similar establishments. This + attempt to reform the Azhar met, however, with so much opposition that + in 1909 it was, for the time, abandoned. + + In 1907, of the sedentary Egyptian population over seven years of age, + some 12% of the Moslems could read and write, female literacy having + increased 50% since 1897; of the foreign population over seven years + of age 75% could read and write. Of the Coptic community about 50% can + read and write. + + _Literature and the Press._--Since the British occupation there has + been a marked renaissance of Arabic learning and literature in Egypt. + Societies formed for the encouragement of Arabic literature have + brought to light important texts bearing on Mahommedan history, + antiquities and religion. Numbers of magazines and reviews are + published in Arabic which cater both for the needs of the moment and + the advancement of learning. Side by side with these literary organs + there exists a vernacular press largely devoted to nationalist + propaganda. Prominent among these papers is _Al Lewa_ (_The + Standard_), founded in 1900. Other papers of a similar character are + _Al Omma_, _Al Moayad_ and _Al Gerida_. The _Mokattam_ represents the + views of the more enlightened and conservative section of the native + population. In Cairo and Alexandria there are also published several + newspapers in English and French. + + AUTHORITIES.--(a) General descriptions, geography, travel, &c.: + _Description de l'Egypte_, 10 folio vols. and atlas of 10 vols. + (Paris, 1809-1822), compiled by the scientific commission sent to + Egypt by Bonaparte; Clot Bey, _Apercu general sur l'Egypte_, 2 vols. + (Paris, 1840); Boinet Bey, _Dictionnaire geographique de l'Egypte_ + (Cairo, 1899); Murray's and Baedeker's handbooks and _Guide Joanne_; + G. Ebers, _Egypt, Descriptive, Historical and Picturesque_, translated + from the German edition of 1879 by Clara Bell, new edition, 2 vols. + (London, 1887); Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, _Modern Egypt and Thebes_ (2 + vols., London, 1843); Lady Duff Gordon, _Letters from Egypt_, complete + edition (London, 1902), an invaluable account of social conditions in + the period 1862-1869; A. B. Edwards, _A Thousand Miles up the Nile_ + (2nd edition, London, n.d. [1889]); _Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers_ + (London, 1892); H. W. Mardon, _Geography of Egypt ..._ (London, 1902), + an excellent elementary text-book; D. G. Hogarth, _The Nearer East_ + (London, 1902), contains brief but suggestive chapters on Egypt; S. + Lane Poole, _Egypt_ (London, 1881); A. B. de Guerville, _New Egypt_, + translated from the French (London, 1905); R. T. Kelly, _Egypt Painted + and Described_ (London, 1902). The best maps are those of the Survey + Department, Cairo, on the scale of 1:50000 (1.3 in. to the mile). + + (b) Administration: Sir John Bowring's _Report on Egypt ..._ to Lord + Palmerston (London, 1840) shows the system obtaining at that period. + For the study of the state of Egypt at the time of the British + occupation, 1882, and the development of the country since, the most + valuable documents[5] are: + + I. _Official._--The _Reports on the Finances, Administration and + Condition of Egypt_, issued yearly since 1892 (the reports 1888-1891 + were exclusively financial). Up to 1906 the reports were by Lord + Cromer (Sir Evelyn Baring). They clearly picture the progress of the + country. The following reports are specially valuable as exhibiting + the difficulties which at the outset confronted the British + administrators:--_Correspondence respecting the Reorganization of + Egypt_ (1883); _Reports by Mr Villiers Stuart respecting + Reorganization of Egypt_ (1883 and 1895); _Despatch from Lord Dufferin + forwarding the Decree constituting the New Political Institutions of + Egypt_ (1883); _Reports on the State of Egypt and the Progress of + Administrative Reforms_ (1885); _Reports by Sir H. D. Wolff on the + Administration of Egypt_ (1887). Annual returns are published in Cairo + in English or French by the various ministries, and British consular + reports on the trade of Egypt and of Alexandria and of the tonnage and + shipping of the Suez Canal are also issued yearly. + + II. _Non-official._--Lord Cromer, _Modern Egypt_ (2 vols., 1908), an + authoritative record; Alfred (Lord) Milner, _England in Egypt_, first + published in 1892, the story being brought up to 1904 in the 11th + edition; Sir A. Colvin, _The Making of Modern Egypt_ (1906); J. Ward, + _Pyramids and Progress_ (1900); A. S. White, _The Expansion of Egypt_ + (1899); and F. W. Fuller, _Egypt and the Hinterland_ (1901). See also + the works cited in _History_, last section. + + (c) Law: H. Lamba, _De l'evolution de la condition juridique des + Europeens en Egypte_ (Paris, 1896); J. H. Scott, _The Law affecting + Foreigners in Egypt ..._ (Edinburgh, 1907); _The Egyptian Codes_ + (London, 1892). + + (d) Irrigation, agriculture, geology, &c.: _Despatch from Sir Evelyn + Baring enclosing Report on the Condition of the Agricultural + Population in Egypt_ (1888); _Notes on Egyptian Crops_ (Cairo, 1896); + Yacub Artin Bey, _La Propriete fonciere en Egypte_ (Bulak, 1885); + _Report on Perennial Irrigation and Flood Protection for Egypt_, 1 + vol. and atlas (Cairo, 1894). The reports (_Egypt_, No. 2, 1901, and + _Egypt_, No. 2, 1904), by Sir William Garstin on irrigation projects + on the Upper Nile are very valuable records--notably the 1904 report. + W. Willcocks, _Egyptian Irrigation_ (2nd ed., 1899); H. G. Lyons, _The + Physiography of the River Nile and its Basin_ (Cairo, 1906); Leigh + Canney, _The Meteorology of Egypt and its Influence on Disease_ + (1897). Annual meteorological reports are issued by the Public Works + Department, Cairo. The same department issues special irrigation + reports. See for geology Carl von Zittel, _Beitrage zur Geologie und + Palaontologie der libyschen Wuste_ (Cassel, 1883); _Reports of the + Geological Survey of Egypt_ (Cairo, 1900, et seq.). + + (e) Natural history, anthropology, &c.: F. Pruner, _Agyptens + Naturgeschichte und Anthropologie_ (Erlangen, 1848); R. Hartmann, + _Naturgeschichtliche Skizze der Nillander_ (Berlin, 1866); Captain G. + E. Shelley, _Birds of Egypt_ (London, 1872). (F. R. C.) + + +_Inhabitants._ + +The population enumerated at the census taken in April 1907 was +11,189,978. In these figures nomad Arabs or Bedouins, estimated to +number 97,381, are not included. The total population was thus returned +at 11,287,359, or some 16% more than in 1897 when the inhabitants +numbered 9,734,405. The figures for 1897 compared with 6,813,919 in +1882, an increase of 43.5% in fifteen years. Thus, during the first +twenty-five years of the British occupation of the country the +population increased by nearly 4,500,000. In 1800 the French estimated +the population at no more than 2,460,000; the census of 1846 gave the +figures at 4,476,440. From that year to 1882 the average annual increase +was 1.25%. If the desert regions be excluded, the population of Egypt is +extremely dense, being about 939 per sq. m. This figure may be compared +with that of Belgium, the most densely populated country in Europe, 589 +per sq. m., and with that of Bengal, 586 per sq. m. In parts of Menufia, +a Delta province, the density rises to 1352 per sq. m., and in the Kena +province of Upper Egypt to 1308. + +The population is generally divisible into-- + + 1. The fellahin or peasantry and the native townsmen. + 2. The Bedouins or nomad Arabs of the desert. + 3. The Nuba, Nubians or Berberin, inhabitants of the Nile valley + between Assuan and Dongola. + 4. Foreigners. + +The first of these divisions includes both the Moslem and Coptic +inhabitants. The Bedouins, or the Arabs of the desert, are of two +different classes: first, Arabic-speaking tribes who range the deserts +as far south as 26 deg. N.; secondly, the tribes inhabiting the desert +from Kosseir to Suakin, namely the Hadendoa, Bisharin and the Ababda +tribes. This group speak a language of their own, and are probably +descendants of the Blemmyes, who occupied these parts in ancient times +(see ARABS; BEDOUINS; HADENDOA; BISHARIN; &c.). The Nubas are of mixed +negro and Arab blood. They are mainly agriculturists, though some are +keen traders (see NUBIA). + +Foreigners number over 150,000 and form 1-1/2% of the total population. +They are chiefly Greeks--of whom the majority live in +Alexandria--Italians, British and French. Syrians and Levantines are +numerous, and there is a colony of Persians. The Turkish element is not +numerically strong--a few thousands only--but holds a high social +position. + +Of the total population, about 20% is urban. In addition to the 97,000 +pure nomads, there are half a million Bedouins described as +"semi-sedentaries," i.e. tent-dwelling Arabs, usually encamped in those +parts of the desert adjoining the cultivated land. The rural classes are +mainly engaged in agriculture, which occupies over 62% of the adults. +The professional and trading classes form about 10% of the whole +population, but 50% of the foreigners are engaged in trade. Of the total +population the males exceed the females by some 46,000. + + + Physical characteristics of the Egyptians. + + The Coptic inhabitants are described in the article COPTS, and the + rural population under FELLAH. It remains here to describe + characteristics and customs common to the Moslem Egyptians and + particularly to those of the cities. In some respects the manner of + life of the natives has been modified by contact with Europeans, and + what follows depicts in general the habits of the people where little + affected by western culture. With regard to physical characteristics + the Egyptians are of full average height (the men are mostly 5 ft. 8 + in. or 5 ft. 9 in), and both sexes are remarkably well proportioned + and of strong physique. The Cairenes and the inhabitants of Lower + Egypt generally have a clear complexion and soft skin of a light + yellowish colour; those of Middle Egypt have a tawny skin, and the + dwellers in Upper Egypt a deep bronze or brown complexion. The face of + the men is of a fine oval, forehead prominent but seldom high, + straight nose, eyes deep set, black and brilliant, mouth well formed, + but with rather full lips, regular teeth beautifully made, and beard + usually black and curly but scanty. Moustaches are worn, while the + head is shaved save for a small tuft (called _shusheh_) upon the + crown. As to the women, "from the age of about fourteen to that of + eighteen or twenty, they are generally models of beauty in body and + limbs; and in countenance most of them are pleasing, and many + exceedingly lovely; but soon after they have attained their perfect + growth, they rapidly decline." There are few Egyptian women over forty + who retain either good looks or good figures. "The forms of womanhood + begin to develop themselves about the ninth and tenth year: at the + age of fifteen or sixteen they generally attain their highest degree + of perfection. With regard to their complexions, the same remarks + apply to them as to the men, with only this difference, that their + faces, being generally veiled when they go abroad, are not quite so + much tanned as those of the men. They are characterized, like the men, + by a fine oval countenance, though in some instances it is rather + broad. The eyes, with very few exceptions, are black, large and of a + long almond-form, with long and beautiful lashes, and an exquisitely + soft, bewitching expression--eyes more beautiful can hardly be + conceived: their charming effect is much heightened by the concealment + of the other features (however pleasing the latter may be), and is + rendered still more striking by a practice universal among the females + of the higher and middle classes, and very common among those of the + lower orders, which is that of blackening the edge of the eyelids both + above and below the eye, with a black powder called 'kohl'" (Lane, + _Modern Egyptians_). Both sexes, but especially the women, tattoo + several parts of the person, and the women stain their hands and feet + with the red dye of the henna. + + + Dress and social life. + + The dress of the men of the upper and middle classes who have not + adopted European clothing--a practice increasingly common--consists of + cotton drawers, and a cotton or silk shirt with very wide sleeves. + Above these are generally worn a waistcoat without sleeves, and a long + vest of silk, called kaftan, which has hanging sleeves, and reaches + nearly to the ankles. The kaftan is confined by the girdle, which is a + silk scarf, or cashmere or other woollen shawl. Over all is worn a + long cloth robe, the gibbeh (or jibbeh) somewhat resembling the kaftan + in shape, but having shorter sleeves, and being open in front. The + dress of the lower orders is the shirt and drawers, and waistcoat, + with an outer shirt of blue cotton or brown woollen stuff; some wear a + kaftan. The head-dress is the red cloth fez or tarbush round which a + turban is usually worn. Men who have otherwise adopted European + costume retain the tarbush. Many professions and religions, &c., are + distinguished by the shape and colour of the turban, and various + classes, and particularly servants, are marked by the form and colour + of their shoes; but the poor go usually barefoot. Many ladies of the + upper classes now dress in European style, with certain modifications, + such as the head-veil. Those who retain native costume wear a very + full pair of silk trousers, bright coloured stockings (usually pink), + and a close-fitting vest with hanging sleeves and skirts, open down + the front and at the sides, and long enough to turn up and fasten into + the girdle, which is generally a cashmere shawl; a cloth jacket, + richly embroidered with gold, and having short sleeves, is commonly + worn over the vest. The hair in front is combed down over the forehead + and cut across in a straight line; behind it is divided into very many + small plaits, which hang down the back, and are lengthened by silken + cords, and often adorned with gold coins and ornaments. A small + tarbush is worn on the back of the head, sometimes having a plate of + gold fixed on the crown, and a handkerchief is tastefully bound round + the temples. The women of the lower orders have trousers of printed or + dyed cotton, and a close waistcoat. All wear the long and elegant + head-veil. This is a simple "breadth" of muslin, which passes over the + head and hangs down behind, one side, being drawn forward over the + face in the presence of a man. A lady's veil is of white muslin, + embroidered at the ends in gold and colours; that of a person of the + lower class is simply dyed blue. In going abroad the ladies wear above + their indoor dress a loose robe of coloured silk without sleeves, and + nearly open at the sides, and above it a large enveloping piece of + black silk, which is brought over the head, and gathered round the + person by the arms and hands on each side. A face-veil entirely + conceals the features, except the eyes; it is a long and narrow piece + of thick white muslin, reaching to a little below the knees. The women + of the lower orders have the same out-door dress of different + materials and colour. Ladies use slippers of yellow morocco, and + abroad, inner boots of the same material, above which they wear, in + either case, thick shoes, having only toes. The poor wear red shoes, + very like those of the men. The women, especially in Upper Egypt, not + infrequently wear nose-rings. + + Children, though often neglected, are not unkindly treated, and + reverence for their parents and the aged is early inculcated. They are + also well grounded in the leading doctrines of Islam. Boys are + circumcised at the age of five or six years, when the boy is paraded, + generally with a bridal procession, on a gaily caparisoned horse and + dressed in woman's clothes. Most parents send their boys to school + where a knowledge of reading and writing Arabic--the common tongue of + the Egyptians--is obtainable, and from the closing years of the 19th + century a great desire for the education of girls has arisen (see S + _Education_). + + It is deemed disreputable for a young man not to marry when he has + attained a sufficient age; there are, therefore, few unmarried men. + Girls, in like manner, marry very young, some at ten years of age, and + few remain single beyond the age of sixteen; they are generally very + prolific. The bridegroom never sees his future wife before the wedding + night, a custom rendered more tolerable than it otherwise might be by + the facility of divorce. A dowry is always given, and a simple + marriage ceremony performed by a _fiki_ (a schoolmaster, or one who + recites the Koran, properly one learned in _fiqh_, Mahommedan law) in + the presence of two witnesses. The bridal of a virgin is attended with + great festivity and rejoicing, a grandee's wedding sometimes + continuing eleven days and nights. On the last day, which should be + that terminating with the eve of Friday, or of Monday, the bride is + taken in procession to the bridegroom's house, accompanied by her + female friends, and a band of musicians, jugglers, wrestlers, &c. As + before stated, a boy about to be circumcised joins in such a + procession, or, frequently, a succession of such boys. Though allowed + by his religion four wives, most Egyptians are monogamists. A man may, + however, possess any number of concubines, who, though objects of + jealousy to the legal wife, are tolerated by her in consideration of + her superior position and power over them, a power which she often + uses with great tyranny; but certain privileges are possessed by + concubines, especially if they have borne sons to their master. A + divorce is rendered obligatory by the simple words "Thou art + divorced." Repudiation may take place twice without being final, but + if the husband repeats thrice "Thou art divorced" the separation is + absolute. In that case the dowry must be returned to the wife. + + Elaborate ceremonies are observed at funerals. Immediately on death + the corpse is turned towards Mecca, and the women of the household, + assisted by hired mourners, commence their peculiar wailing, while + fikis recite portions of the Koran. The funeral takes place on the day + of the death, if that happen in the morning; otherwise on the next + day. The corpse, having been washed and shrouded, is placed in an open + bier, covered with a cashmere shawl, in the case of a man; or in a + closed bier, having a post in front, on which are placed feminine + ornaments, in that of a woman or child. The funeral procession is + headed by a number of poor, and generally blind, men, chanting the + profession of the faith, followed by male friends of the deceased, and + a party of schoolboys, also chanting, generally from a poem + descriptive of the state of the soul after death. Then follows the + bier, borne on the shoulders of friends, who are relieved by the + passers-by, such an act being deemed highly meritorious. Behind come + the women relatives and the hired wailers. On the way to the cemetery + the corpse is generally carried to some revered mosque. Here the + funeral service is performed by the imam, and the procession then + proceeds to the tomb. In the burials of the rich, water and bread are + distributed to the poor at the grave; and sometimes a buffalo or + several buffaloes are slaughtered there, and the flesh given away. The + tomb is a vault, surmounted by an oblong stone monument, with a stele + at the head and feet; and a cupola, supported by four walls, covers + the whole in the case of sheikhs' tombs and those of the wealthy. + During the night following the interment, called the Night of + Desolation, or that of Solitude, the soul being believed to remain + with the body that one night, fikis are engaged at the house of the + deceased to recite various portions of the Koran, and, commonly, to + repeat the first clause of the profession of the faith, "There is no + God but God," three thousand times. The women alone put on mourning + attire, by dyeing their veils, shirts, &c., dark blue, with indigo; + and they stain their hands, and smear the walls, with the same colour. + Everything in the house is also turned upside down. The latter customs + are not, however, observed on the death of an old man. At certain + periods after the burial, a khatmeh, or recitation of the whole of the + Koran, is performed, and the tomb is visited by the women relations + and friends of the deceased. The women of the peasants of Upper Egypt + perform strange dances, &c., at funerals, which are regarded partly as + relics of ancient Egyptian customs. + + The harem system of appointing separate apartments to the women, and + secluding them from the gaze of men, is observed in Egypt as in other + Moslem countries, but less strictly. The women of an Egyptian + household in which old customs are maintained never sit in the + presence of the master, but attend him at his meals, and are treated + in every respect as inferiors. The mother, however, forms a remarkable + exception to this rule; in rare instances, also, a wife becomes a + companion to her husband. On the other hand, if a pair of women's + shoes are placed outside the door of the harem apartments, they are + understood to signify that female visitors are within, and a man is + sometimes thus excluded from the upper portion of his own house for + many days. Ladies of the upper or middle classes lead a life of + extreme inactivity, spending their time at the bath, which is the + general place of gossip, or in receiving visits, embroidering, and the + like, and in absolute _dolce far niente_. Both sexes are given to + licentiousness. + + The principal meals are breakfast, about an hour after sunrise; + dinner, or the mid-day meal, at noon; and supper, which is the chief + meal of the day, a little after sunset. Pastry, sweetmeats and fruit + are highly esteemed. Coffee is taken at all hours, and is, with a + pipe, presented at least once to each guest. Tobacco is the great + luxury of the men of all classes in Egypt, who begin and end the day + with it, and generally smoke all day with little intermission. Many + women, also, especially among the rich, adopt the habit. The smoking + of hashish, though illegal, is indulged in by considerable numbers of + people. Men who can afford to keep a horse, mule or ass are very + seldom seen to walk. Ladies ride asses and sit astride. The poorer + classes cannot fully observe the harem system, but the women are in + general carefully veiled. Some of them keep small shops, and all fetch + water, make fuel, and cook for their households. Domestic slavery + lingers but is moribund. The majority of the slaves are negresses + employed in household duties. + + In social intercourse the Egyptians observe many forms of salutation + and much etiquette; they are very affable, and readily enter into + conversation with strangers. Their courtesy and dignity of manner are + very striking, and are combined with ease and a fluency of discourse. + They have a remarkable quickness of apprehension, a ready wit, a + retentive memory, combined, however, with religious pride and + hypocrisy, and a disregard for the truth. Their common discourse is + full of asseverations and expressions respecting sacred things. They + entertain reverence for their Prophet; and the Koran is treated with + the utmost respect--never, for example, being placed in a low + situation--and this is the case with everything they esteem holy. They + are fatalists, and bear calamities with surprising resignation. Their + filial piety and respect for the aged have been mentioned, and + benevolence and charity are conspicuous in their character. Humanity + to animals is another virtue, and cruelty is openly discountenanced in + the streets. Their affability, cheerfulness and hospitality are + remarkable, as well as frugality and temperance in food and drink, and + honesty in the payment of debt. Their cupidity is mitigated by + generosity; their natural indolence by the necessity, especially among + the peasantry, to work hard to gain a livelihood. Egyptians, however, + are as a rule suspicious of all not of their own creed and country. + Murders and other grave crimes are rare, but petty larcenies are very + common. + + The amusements of the people are generally not of a violent kind, + being in keeping with their sedentary habits and the heat of the + climate. The bath is a favourite resort of both sexes and all classes. + They are acquainted with chess, draughts, backgammon, and other games, + among which is one peculiar to themselves, called Mankalah, and played + with cowries. Notwithstanding its condemnation by Mahomet, music is + the most favourite recreation of the people; the songs of the boatmen, + the religious chants, and the cries in the streets are all musical. + There are male and female musical performers; the former are both + instrumental and vocal, the latter (called _'Almeh_, pl. _'Awalim_) + generally vocal. The 'Awalim are, as their name ("learned") implies, + generally accomplished women, and should not be confounded with the + Ghawazi, or dancing-girls. There are many kinds of musical + instruments. The music, vocal and instrumental, is generally of little + compass, and in the minor key; it is therefore plaintive, and strikes + a European ear as somewhat monotonous, though often possessing a + simple beauty, and the charm of antiquity, for there is little doubt + that the favourite airs have been handed down from remote ages. The + Ghawazi (sing. Ghazia) form a separate class, very similar to the + gipsies. They intermarry among themselves only, and their women are + professional dancers. Their performances are often objectionable and + are so regarded by many Egyptians. They dance in public, at fairs and + religious festivals, and at private festivities, but, it is said, not + in respectable houses. Mehemet Ali banished them to Esna, in Upper + Egypt; and the few that remained in Cairo called themselves 'Awalim, + to avoid punishment. Many of the dancing-girls of Cairo to-day are + neither 'Awalim nor Ghawazi, but women of the very lowest class whose + performances are both ungraceful and indecent. A most objectionable + class of male dancers also exists, who imitate the dances of the + Ghawazi, and dress in a kind of nondescript female attire. Not the + least curious of the public performances are those of the + serpent-charmers, who are generally Rifa'ia (Saadia) dervishes. Their + power over serpents has been doubted, yet their performances remain + unexplained; they, however, always extract the fangs of venomous + serpents. Jugglers, rope-dancers and farce-players must also be + mentioned. In the principal coffee-shops of Cairo are to be found + reciters of romances, surrounded by interested audiences. + + + Public festivals. + + The periodical public festivals are exceedingly interesting, but many + of the remarkable observances connected with them are passing away. + The first ten days of the Mahommedan year are held to be blessed, and + especially the tenth; and many curious practices are observed on these + days, particularly by the women. The tenth day, being the anniversary + of the martyrdom of Hosain, the son of Ali and grandson of the + Prophet, the mosque of the Hasanen at Cairo is thronged to excess, + mostly by women. In the evening a procession goes to the mosque, the + principal figure being a white horse with white trappings, upon which + is seated a small boy, the horse and the lad, who represents Hosain, + being smeared with blood. From the mosque the procession goes to a + private house, where a mullah recites the story of the martyrdom. + Following the order of the lunar year, the next festival is that of + the Return of the Pilgrims, which is the occasion of great rejoicing, + many having friends or relatives in the caravan. The Mahmal, a kind of + covered litter, first originated by Queen Sheger-ed-Dur, is brought + into the city in procession, though not with as much pomp as when it + leaves with the pilgrims. These and other processions have lost much + of their effect since the extinction of the Mamelukes, and the gradual + disuse of gorgeous dress for the retainers of the officers of state. A + regiment of regular infantry makes but a sorry substitute for the + splendid cavalcade of former times. The Birth of the Prophet (Molid + en-Nebi), which is celebrated in the beginning of the third month, is + the greatest festival of the whole year. For nine days and nights + Cairo has more the aspect of a fair than of a city keeping a religious + festival. The chief ceremonies take place in some large open spot + round which are erected the tents of the khedive, of great state + officials, and of the dervishes. Next in time, and also in importance, + is the Molid El-Hasanen, commemorative of the birth of Hosain, and + lasting fifteen days and nights; and at the same time is kept the + Molid of al-Salih Ayyub, the last sovereign but two of the Ayyubite + dynasty. In the seventh month occur the Molid of the sayyida Zenab, + and the commemoration of the Miarag, or the Prophet's miraculous + journey to heaven. Early in the eighth month (Sha'ban), the Molid of + the imam Shafi'i is observed; and the night of the middle of that + month has its peculiar customs, being held by the Moslems to be that + on which the fate of all living is decided for the ensuing year. Then + follows Ramadan, the month of abstinence, a severe trial to the + faithful; and the Lesser Festival (Al-'id as-saghir), which commences + Shawwal, is hailed by them with delight. A few days after, the Kiswa, + or new covering for the Ka'ba at Mecca, is taken in procession from + the citadel, where it is always manufactured, to the mosque of the + Hasanen to be completed; and, later, the caravan of pilgrims departs, + when the grand procession of the Mahmal takes place. On the tenth day + of the last month of the year the Great Festival (Al-'id al-kabir), or + that of the Sacrifice (commemorating the willingness of Ibrahim to + slay his son Ismail--according to the Arab legend), closes the + calendar. The Lesser and Great Festivals are those known in Turkish as + the Bairam (q.v.). + + The rise of the Nile is naturally the occasion of annual customs, some + of which are doubtless relics of antiquity; these are observed + according to the Coptic calendar. The commencement of the rise is + commemorated on the night of the 11th of Bauna, the 17th of June, + called that of the Drop (Lelet-en-Nukta), because a miraculous drop is + then supposed to fall and cause the swelling of the river. The real + rise begins at Cairo about the summer solstice, or a few days later, + and early in July a crier in each district of the city begins to go + his daily rounds, announcing, in a quaint chant, the increase of water + in the nilometer of the island of Roda. When the river has risen 20 or + 21 ft., he proclaims the Wefa en-Nil, "Completion" or "Abundance of + the Nile." On the following day the dam which closed the canal of + Cairo was cut with much ceremony. The canal having been filled up in + 1897 the ceremony has been much modified, but a brief description of + what used to take place may be given. A pillar of earth before the dam + is called the "Bride of the Nile," and Arab historians relate that + this was substituted, at the Moslem conquest, for a virgin whom it was + the custom annually to sacrifice, to ensure a plentiful inundation. A + large boat, gaily decked out, representing that in which the victim + used to be conveyed, was anchored near, and a gun on board fired every + quarter of an hour during the night. Rockets and other fireworks were + also let off, but the best, strangely, after daybreak. The governor of + Cairo attended the ceremony, with the cadi and others, and gave the + signal for the cutting of the dam. As soon as sufficient water had + entered, boats ascended the canal to the city. The crier continues his + daily rounds, with his former chant, excepting on the Coptic New + Year's Day, when the cry of the Wefa is repeated, until the Salib, or + Discovery of the Cross, the 26th or 27th of September, at which + period, the river having attained its greatest height, he concludes + his annual employment with another chant, and presents to each house + some limes and other fruit, and dry lumps of Nile mud. + + The period of the hot winds, called the khamsin, that is, "the + fifties," is calculated from the day after the Coptic Easter, and + terminates on the day of Pentecost, and the Moslems observe the + Wednesday preceding this period, called "Job's Wednesday," as well as + its first day, when many go into the country from Cairo, "to smell the + air." This day is hence called Shem en-Nesim, or "the smelling of the + zephyr." The Ulema observe the same custom on the first three days of + the spring quarter. + + Tombs of saints abound, one or more being found in every town and + village; and no traveller up the Nile can fail to remark how every + prominent hill has the sepulchre of its patron saint. The great saints + of Egypt are the imam Ash-Shafi'i, founder of the persuasion called + after him, the sayyid Ahmad al-Baidawi, and the sayyid Ibrahim + Ed-Desuki, both of whom were founders of orders of dervishes. + Al-Baidawi, who lived in the 13th century A.D., is buried at the town + of Tanta, in the Delta, and his tomb attracts many thousands of + visitors at each of the three festivals held yearly in his honour; + Ed-Desuki is also much revered, and his festivals draw together, in + like manner, great crowds to his birthplace, the town of Desuk. But, + besides the graves of her native saints, Egypt boasts of those of + several members of the Prophet's family, the tomb of the sayyida + Zeyneb, daughter of 'Ali, that of the sayyida Sekeina, daughter of + Hosain, and that of the sayyida Nefisa, great-granddaughter of Hasan, + all of which are held in high veneration. The mosque of the Hasanen + (or that of the "two Hasans") is the most reverenced shrine in the + country, and is believed to contain the head of Hosain. Many orders of + Dervishes live in Egypt, the following being the most celebrated:--(1) + the Rifa'ia, and their sects the 'Ilwania and Saadia; (2) the Qadiria + (Kahiria), or howling dervishes; (3) the Ahmedia, or followers of the + sayyid Ahmad al-Baidawi, and their sects the Beyumia (known by their + long hair), Shinnawia, Sharawia and many others; and (4) the Baramia, + or followers of the sayyid Ibrahim Ed-Desuki. These are all presided + over by a direct descendant of the caliph Abu Bekr, called the Sheikh + El-Bekri. The Saadia are famous for charming and eating live serpents, + &c., and the 'Ilwania for eating fire, glass, &c. The Egyptians firmly + believe in the efficacy of charms, a belief associated with that in + an omnipresent and over-ruling providence. Thus the doors of houses + are inscribed with sentences from the Koran, or the like, to preserve + from the evil eye, or avert the dangers of an unlucky threshold; + similar inscriptions may be observed over most shops, while almost + every one carries some charm about his person. The so-called sciences + of magic, astrology and alchemy still flourish. + + AUTHORITIES.--The standard authority for the Moslem Egyptians is E. W. + Lane's _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_, first published + in 1836. The best edition is that of 1860, edited, with additions, by + E. S. Poole. See also B. Saint-John, _Village Life in Egypt_ (2 vols., + 1852); S. Lane Poole, _Social Life in Egypt_ (1884); P. Arminjon, + _L'Enseignement, la doctrine, el la vie dans les universites + musulmanes d'Egypte_ (Paris, 1907). For the language see J. S. + Willmore, _The Spoken Arabic of Egypt_ (2nd ed., London, 1905); Spitta + Bey, _Grammatik des arabischen Vulgardialektes von Agypten, Contes + arabes modernes_ (Leiden, 1883). For statistical information consult + the reports on the censuses of 1897 and 1907, published by the + Ministry of the Interior, Cairo, in 1898 and 1909. + (E. S. P.; S. L.-P.; F. R. C.) + + +_Finance._ + +The important part which the financial arrangements have played in the +political and social history of Egypt since the accession of Ismail +Pasha in 1863 is shown in the section _History_ of this article. Here it +is proposed to trace the steps by which Egypt, after having been brought +to a state of bankruptcy, passed through a period of great stress, and +finally attained prosperity and a large measure of financial autonomy. + +In 1862 the foreign debt of Egypt stood at L3,292,000. With the +accession of Ismail (q.v.) there followed a period of wild extravagance +and reckless borrowing accompanied by the extortion of every piastre +possible from the fellahin. The real state of affairs was disclosed in +the report of Mr Stephen Cave, a well-known banker, who was sent by the +British government in December 1875 to inquire into the situation. The +Cave report showed that Egypt suffered from "the ignorance, dishonesty, +waste and extravagance of the East" and from "the vast expense caused by +hasty and inconsiderate endeavours to adopt the civilization of the +West." The debtor and creditor account of the state from 1864 to 1875 +showed receipts amounting to L148,215,000. Of this sum over L94,000,000 +had been obtained from revenue and nearly L4,000,000 by the sale of the +khedive's shares in the Suez Canal to Great Britain. The rest was +credited to: loans L31,713,000, floating debt L18,243,000. The cash +which reached the Egyptian treasury from the loans and floating debt was +far less than the nominal amount of such loans, none of which cost the +Egyptian government less than 12% per annum. When the expenditure during +the same period was examined the extraordinary fact was disclosed that +the sum raised by revenue was only three millions less than that spent +on administration, tribute and public works, including a sum of +L10,500,000, described as "expenses of questionable utility or policy." +The whole proceeds of the loans and floating debt had been absorbed in +payment of interest and sinking funds, with the exception of L16,000,000 +debited to the Suez Canal. In other words, Egypt was burdened with a +debt of L91,000,000--funded or floating--for which she had no return, +for even from the Suez Canal she derived no revenue, owing to the sale +of the khedive's shares. + +Soon after Mr Cave's report appeared (March 1876), default took place on +several of the loans. Nearly the whole of the debt, it should be stated, +was held in England or France, and at the instance of French financiers +the stoppage of payment was followed by a scheme to unify the debt. This +scheme included the distribution of a bonus of 25% to holders of +treasury bonds. These bonds had then reached a sum exceeding L20,000,000 +and were held chiefly by French firms. The unification scheme was +elaborated in a khedivial decree of the 7th of May 1876, but was +rendered abortive by the opposition of the British bondholders. Its +place was taken by another scheme drawn up by Mr (afterwards Lord) +Goschen and M. Joubert, who represented the British and French +bondholders respectively. The details of this settlement, promulgated by +decree of the 17th of November 1876, need not be given, as it was +superseded in 1880. One of the securities devised for the benefit of the +bondholders in the abortive scheme of May 1876 was retained in the +Goschen-Joubert settlement, and being continued in later settlements +grew to be one of the most important institutions in Egypt. This +security was the establishment of a Treasury of the Public Debt, known +by its French title of _Caisse de la Dette_, and commonly spoken of +simply as "the Caisse." The duty of this body was to act as receivers of +the revenues assigned to the service of the debt. To render their powers +effective they were given the right to sue the Egyptian government in +the Mixed Tribunals for any breach of engagement to the bondholders. + + + The Law of Liquidation. + +The Goschen-Joubert settlement was accompanied by guarantees against +maladministration by the appointment of an Englishman and a Frenchman to +superintend the revenue and expenditure--the "Dual Control"; while a +commission was appointed in 1878 to investigate the condition of the +country. The settlement of 1880 was effected on the basis of the +proposals made by this commission, and was embodied in the Law of +Liquidation of July 1880--after the deposition of Ismail. For the +purposes of the new settlement the loans raised by Ismail on his private +estates, those known as the Daira (i.e. "administrations") and Domains +loans, were brought into account. By the Law of Liquidation the floating +debt was paid off, the whole debt being consolidated into four large +loans, upon which the rate of interest was reduced to a figure which it +was considered Egypt was able to bear. The Egyptian debt under this +composition was: + + Privileged debt L22,609,000 + Unified debt 58,018,000 + Daira Sanieh loan 9,513,000 + Domains loan 8,500,000 + ----------- + L98,640,000 + +The rate of interest was, on the Privileged debt and Domains loan, 5%; +on the Unified debt and Daira loan, 4%. Under this settlement the total +annual charges on the country amounted to L4,500,000, about half the +then revenue of Egypt. These charges included the services of the +Privileged and Unified debts, the tribute to Turkey and the interest on +the Suez Canal shares held by Great Britain, but excluded the interest +on the Daira and Domains loans, expected to be defrayed by the revenues +from the estates on which those loans were secured. The general revenue +of Egypt was divided between the bondholders and the government, any +surplus on the bondholders' share being devoted to the redemption of the +capital. + +The 1880 settlement proved little more lasting than that of 1876. After +a brief period of prosperity, the Arabi rising, the riots at Alexandria, +and the events generally which led to the British occupation of Egypt in +1882, followed by the losses incurred in the Sudan in the effort to +prevent it falling into the hands of the Mahdi, brought Egypt once more +to the verge of financial disaster. The situation was an anomalous one. +While the revenue assigned to the service of the debt was more than +sufficient for the payment of interest and the sinking fund was in full +operation, the government found that their share of the revenue was +altogether inadequate for the expenses of administration, and they were +compelled to borrow on short loans at high rate of interest. Moreover, +to make good the losses incurred at Alexandria, and to get money to pay +the charges arising out of the Sudan War and the Arabi rebellion, a new +loan was essential. On the initiative of Great Britain a conference +between the representatives of the great powers and Turkey was held in +London, and resulted in the signing of a convention in March 1885. The +terms agreed upon in this instrument, known as the London Convention, +were embodied in a khedivial decree, which, with some modification in +detail, remained for twenty years the organic law under which the +finances of Egypt were administered. + + + Provisions of the London Convention. + +The principle of dividing the revenue of the country between the Caisse, +as representing the bondholders, and the government was maintained by +the London Convention. The revenue assigned to the service of the debt, +namely, that derived from the railway, telegraphs, port of Alexandria, +customs (including tobacco) and from four of the provinces, remained as +before. It was recognized, however, that the non-assigned revenue was +insufficient to meet the necessary expenses of government, and a scale +of administrative expenditure was drawn up. This was originally fixed at +LE.5,237,000,[6] but subsequently other items were allowed, and in 1904, +the last year in which the system described existed, it was +LE.6,300,600. The Caisse was authorized, after payment of the coupons on +the debt, to make good out of their balance in hand the difference +between the authorized expenditure and the non-assigned revenue. If a +surplus remained to the Caisse after making good such deficit the +surplus was to be divided equally between the Caisse and the government; +the government to be free to spend its share as it pleased, while the +Caisse had to devote its share to the reduction of the debt. This +limitation of administrative expenditure was the cardinal feature and +the leading defect of the convention. Those responsible for this +arrangement--the most favourable for Egypt that Great Britain could +secure--failed to recognize the complete change likely to result from +the British occupation of Egypt, and probably regarded that occupation +as temporary. The system devised might have been justifiable as a check +on a retrograde government, but was wholly inapplicable to a reforming +government and a serious obstacle to the attainment of national +prosperity. In practice administrative expenditure always exceeded the +amount fixed by the convention. Any excess could, however, only be met +out of the half-share of the eventual surplus reached in the manner +described. Consequently, in order to meet new expenditure necessitated +by the growing wants of a country in process of development, just double +the amount of revenue had to be raised. + +To return to the provisions of the London Convention. The convention +left the permanent rate of interest on the debt, as fixed by the Law of +Liquidation, unchanged, but to afford temporary relief to the Egyptian +exchequer a reduction of 5% on the interest of the debt was granted for +two years, on condition that if at the end of that period payment, +including the arrears of the two years, was not resumed in full, another +international commission was to be appointed to examine into the whole +financial situation. Lastly, the convention empowered Egypt to raise a +loan of nine millions, guaranteed by all the powers, at a rate of +interest of 3%. For the service of this loan--known as the Guaranteed +loan--an annuity of L315,000 was provided in the Egyptian budget for +interest and sinking fund. The L9,000,000 was sufficient to pay the +Alexandria indemnities, to wipe out the deficits of the preceding years, +to give the Egyptian treasury a working balance of LE.500,000 and +thereby avoid the creation of a fresh floating debt, and to provide a +million for new irrigation works. To the wise foresight which, at a +moment when the country was sinking beneath a weight of debt, did not +hesitate to add this million for expenditure on productive works, the +present prosperity of Egypt is largely due. + +The provisions of the London Convention did not exhaust the restrictions +placed upon the Egyptian government in respect of financial autonomy. +These restrictions were of two categories, (1) those independent of the +London Convention, (2) those dependent upon that instrument. In the +first category came (a) the prohibition to raise a loan without the +consent of the Porte. The right to raise loans had been granted to the +khedive Ismail in 1873, but was taken away in 1879 by the firman +appointing Tewfik khedive. (b) Next came the inability to levy taxes on +foreigners without the consent of their respective governments. This +last obligation was, in virtue of the Capitulations, applicable to Egypt +as part of the Ottoman empire. The only exception, resulting from the +Ottoman law under which foreigners are allowed to acquire and hold real +property, is the land tax. (All taxes formerly paid by natives and not +by foreigners have been abolished in Egypt, but the immunity described +constitutes a most serious obstacle to the redistribution of the burden +of taxation in a more equitable manner.) + +From the purely Egyptian point of view the most powerful restriction in +this first category remains to be named. In 1883 the supervision +exercised over the finances by French and British controllers was +replaced by that of a British official called the financial adviser. The +British government has declared that "no financial decision shall be +taken without his consent," a declaration never questioned by the +Egyptian government. This restriction, therefore, is at the same time +the chief safeguard for the purity of Egypt's finances. + +In the second category of restrictions, namely, those dependent on the +London Convention, were the various commissions or boards known as Mixed +Administrations and having relations of a quasi-independent character +with the ministry of finance. Of these boards by far the most important +was the Caisse. As first constituted it consisted of a French, an +Austrian, and an Italian member; a British member was added in 1877 and +a German and a Russian member in 1885. The revenue assigned to the debt +charges was paid direct to the Caisse without passing through the +ministry of finance. The assent of the Caisse (as well as that of the +sultan) was necessary before any new loan could be issued, and in the +course of a few years from its creation this body acquired very +extensive powers. Besides the Caisse there was the Railway Board, which +administered the railways, telegraphs and port of Alexandria for the +benefit of the bondholders, and the Daira and Domains commissions, which +administered the estates mortgaged to the holders of those loans. Each +of the three boards last named consisted of an Englishman, a Frenchman +and an Egyptian. + + + The race against bankruptcy. + +During the two years that followed the signing of the London Convention, +the financial policy of the Egyptian government was directed to placing +the country in a position to resume full payment of the interest on the +debt in 1887, and thereby to avoid the appointment of an international +commission. By the exercise of the most rigid economy in all branches +this end was attained, though budgetary equilibrium was only secured by +a variety of financial expedients, justified by the vital importance of +saving Egypt from further international interference. By such means this +additional complication was averted, but the struggle to put Egypt in a +genuinely solvent position was by no means over. It was not until his +report on the financial results of 1888 that Sir Evelyn Baring +(afterwards Lord Cromer) was able to inform the British government that +the situation was such that "it would take a series of untoward events +seriously to endanger the stability of Egyptian finance and the solvency +of the Egyptian government." From this moment the corner was turned, and +the era of financial prosperity commenced. The results of the labours of +the preceding six years began to manifest themselves with a rapidity +which surprised the most sanguine observers. The principal feature of +the successive Egyptian budgets of 1890-1894 was the fiscal relief +afforded to the population. From 1894 onward more attention was paid +than had hitherto been possible to the legitimate demands of the +spending departments and to the prosecution of public works. Of these +the most notable was the construction (1898-1902) of the Assuan dam, +which by bringing more land under cultivation permanently increased the +resources of the country and widened the area of taxation. + + + Reserve funds. + +With the accumulating proofs of the financial stability of the country +various changes were made in connexion with the debt charges. With the +consent of the powers a General Reserve Fund was created by decree of +the 12th of July 1888, into which was paid the Caisse's half-share in +the eventual surplus of revenue. This fund, primarily intended as a +security for the bondholders, might be drawn upon for extraordinary +expenditure with the consent of the commissioners of the Caisse. Large +sums were so advanced for the purposes of drainage and irrigation and +other public works, and in relief of taxation. The defect of this +arrangement consisted in the necessity of obtaining the consent of the +commissioners--a consent sometimes withheld on purely political grounds. +At the same time it is believed that but for the faculty given by the +decree of 1888 to spend the General Reserve Fund on public works, the +financial system elaborated by the London Convention would have broken +down altogether. Between 1888 and 1904 about L10,000,000 was devoted +from this fund to public works. + +In June 1890 the assent of the powers was obtained to the conversion of +the Preference (Privileged), Domains and Daira loans on the following +conditions, imposed at the initiative of the French government:-- + + 1. The employment of the economies resulting from the conversion was + to be the subject of future agreement with the powers. + + 2. The Daira loan was to be reimbursed at 85%, instead of 80%, as + provided by the Law of Liquidation. + + 3. The sales of Domains and Daira lands were to be restricted to + LE.300,000 a year each, thus prolonging the period of liquidation of + those estates. + +The interest on the Preference stock was reduced from 5 to 3-1/2%, and on +the Domains from 5 to 4-1/4%. As regards the Daira loan, there was no +apparent reduction in the rate of interest, which remained at 4%, but +the bondholders received L85 of the new stock for every L100 of the old. +The capital of the debt was increased by L1,945,000 by these +conversions, while the annual economy to the Egyptian government +amounted at the time of the conversion to LE.348,000. Further, an +engagement was entered into that there should be no reimbursement of the +loans till 1905 for the Preference and Daira, and 1908 for the Domains. +By an arrangement concluded in June 1898, between the Egyptian +government and a syndicate, the unsold balance of the Daira estates was +taken over by the syndicate in October 1905, for the amount of the debt +remaining, when the Daira loan ceased to exist. The fund formed by the +accumulation of the economies resulting from the conversion of the +Privileged, Daira and Domains loan was known as the Conversion Economies +Fund. The fund could not be used for any purpose without the consent of +the powers, and the money paid into it was invested by the Caisse in +Egyptian stock. The fund therefore acted as a very expensive sinking +fund, the market price of the stock purchased being above par. Up to +1904 the consent of the powers to the employment of this fund for any +purpose of public utility was withheld. On the 31st of December of that +year the fund amounted to LE.6,031,000. It may be added that besides the +General Reserve Fund and the Conversion Economies Fund, there existed +another fund called the Special Reserve Fund. This was constituted in +1886 and was chiefly made up of the net savings of the Egyptian +government on its share of the annual surpluses from revenue. Of the +three funds this last-named was the only one at the absolute disposal of +the government. The whole of the extraordinary expenditure of the Sudan +campaigns of 1896-1898, with the exception of L800,000 granted by the +British government, was paid out of this fund--a sum amounting in round +figures to L1,500,000. + + + An era of prosperity. + +Notwithstanding all the hampering conditions stated, the prosperity of +the country became more manifest each succeeding year. During the four +years 1883-1886, both inclusive, the aggregate deficit amounted to +LE.2,606,000. In 1887 there was practical equilibrium in the budget, in +1888 there was a deficit of LE.53,000. In 1889 there was a surplus of +LE.218,000, and from that date onward every year has shown a surplus. In +1895 the surplus exceeded, for the first time, LE.1,000,000. The growth +of revenue was no less marked. "In 1883--the first complete year after +the British occupation--the revenue was slightly under 9 millions. This +sum was collected with difficulty. The revenue steadily rose until, in +1890, the figure of 10 millions was exceeded. In 1897 a figure of over +11 millions was attained. Continuing to rise with ever-increasing +rapidity, a revenue of close on 12 millions was collected in 1901 and +1902, in spite of the fact that during the latter of these two years the +Nile flood was one of the lowest on record. In 1903 the revenue amounted +to 12-1/2 millions, and in 1904 the unprecedented figure of LE.13,906,000 +was reached."[7] Yet during this period the amount of direct taxation +remitted reached LE.1,900,000 a year. Arrears of land tax to the extent +of LE.1,245,000 were cancelled. In indirect taxation the salt tax had +been reduced by 40%, the postal, railway and telegraph rates lowered, +octroi duties and bridge and lock dues abolished. The only increase of +taxation had been on tobacco, on which the duty was raised from P.T. 14 +to P.T. 20 per kilogramme. At the same time the house duty, with the +consent of the powers, had been imposed on European residents. The fact +that during the period under review Egypt suffered very severely from +the general fall in the price of commodities makes the prosperity of the +country the more remarkable. Had it not been for the great increase of +production as the result of improved irrigation and the fiscal relief +afforded to landowners, the agricultural depression would have impaired +the financial situation. In this connexion it should be stated that +during 1899 the reassessment of the land tax, a much-needed reform, was +seriously taken in hand. The existing assessment, made before the +British occupation, had long been condemned by all competent +authorities, but the inherent intricacies and difficulties of the +problem had hitherto postponed a solution. After careful study and a +preliminary examination of the land, a scheme was passed which has given +satisfaction to the landowning community, and which distributes the tax +equitably in proportion to the fertility of the soil. The reassessment +was completed in 1907. + + + The cost of internationalism. + +While the country thus prospered it also suffered greatly from the +restrictions imposed by the system of international control. This system +produced a great disproportion between the sums available for capital +and those available for administrative expenditure. Although the money +for public works could be obtained out of grants from the General +Reserve Fund, there was no fund from which to provide a sufficient sum +to keep those works in order. Moreover, to avoid having to pay half the +amount received into the General Reserve Fund the government was +compelled to keep certain items of revenue and expenditure out of the +accounts altogether--a violation of the principles of sound finance. +Then there was the glaring anomaly of allowing the Conversion Economies +to accumulate at compound interest in the hands of the commissioners of +the Caisse, instead of using the money for remunerative purposes. The +net result of internationalism was to impose an extra charge of about +L1,750,000 a year on the Egyptian treasury. + + + Egypt gains financial liberty. + +All these cumbersome restrictions were swept away by the khedivial +decree of the 28th of November 1904, a decree which received the assent +of the powers and was the result of the Anglo-French agreement of April +1904 (see S HISTORY). The decree did not affect the inability of Egypt +to tax foreigners without their consent nor remove the right of Turkey +to veto the issue of new loans, but in other respects the financial +changes made by it were of a radical character. The main effect was to +give to the Egyptian government a free hand in the disposal of its own +resources so long as the punctual payment of interest on the debt was +assured. The plan devised by the London Convention of fixing a limit to +administrative expenditure was abolished. The consent of the Caisse to +the raising of a new loan was no longer required. The Caisse itself +remained, but shorn of all political and administrative powers, its +functions being strictly limited to receiving the assigned revenues and +to ensuring the due payment of the coupon. The nature of the assigned +revenue was altered, the land tax being substituted for those previously +assigned, that tax being chosen as it had a greater character of +stability than any other source of revenue. By this means Egypt gained +complete control of its railways, telegraphs, the port of Alexandria and +the customs, and as a consequence the mixed administration known as the +Railway Board ceased to exist. Moreover, it was provided that when the +Caisse had received from the land tax the amount needed for the service +of the debt, the balance of the tax was to be paid direct to the +Egyptian treasury. The Conversion Economies Fund was also placed at the +free disposal of the Egyptian government. The General Reserve Fund +ceased to exist, but for the better security of the bondholders a +reserve fund of L1,800,000 was constituted and left in the hands of the +Caisse to be used in the highly improbable event of the land tax being +insufficient to meet the debt charges. Moreover, the Caisse started +under the new arrangement with a cash balance of L1,250,000. The +interest of the money lying in the hands of the Caisse goes towards +meeting the debt charges and thus reduces the amount needed from the +land tax. The bondholders gained a further material advantage by the +consent of the Egyptian government to delay the conversion of the loans, +which under previous arrangements they would have been free to do in +1905. It was agreed that there should be no conversion of the Guaranteed +or Privileged debts before 1910 and no conversion of the Unified debt +until 1912. Such were the chief provisions of the khedivial decree, and +in 1905, for the first time, it was possible to draw up the Egyptian +budget in accordance with the needs of the country and on perfectly +sound principles. + + In the system adopted in 1905 and since maintained, recurring and + non-recurring expenditure were shown separately, the non-recurring + expenditure being termed "special." At the same time a new General + Reserve Fund was created, made up chiefly of the surpluses of the old + General Reserve, Special Reserve, and Conversion Economies funds. This + new fund started with a capital of L13,376,000 and was replenished by + the surpluses of subsequent years, by the interest earned by its + temporary investment, and by the sums accruing by the liquidation of + the Daira and Domains loans. During 1905 and 1906 about L3,000,000 was + paid into the fund through the liquidation of the Daira loan. From + this fund, which had a balance of over L12,000,000 in 1906, is taken + capital expenditure on remunerative public works in Egypt and the + Sudan, and while the fund lasts the necessity for any new loan is + avoided. The greater freedom of action attained as the result of the + Anglo-French declaration of 1904 enabled the Egyptian government to + advance simultaneously along the lines of fiscal reform and increased + administrative expenditure. Thus in 1906 the salt monopoly was + abolished at a cost to the revenue of L175,000, while the reduction of + import duties on coal and other fuels, live-stock, &c., involved a + further loss of L118,000, and an increase of over L1,000,000 in + expenditure was budgeted for. The accounts for 1907 showed a total + revenue of LE.16,368,000 and a total expenditure of LE.14,280,000, a + surplus of LE.2,088,000. The annual growth of revenue for the previous + five years averaged over LE.500,000. About one-third of the annual + revenue is derived from the land tax; customs and tobacco duties yield + about L3,000,000, and an equal or larger amount is received from + railways and other revenue-earning departments. The chief items of + ordinary expenditure are tribute and debt charges, the expenses of the + civil administration, of the Egyptian army (between L500,000 and + L600,000 yearly), of the revenue-earning departments and of pensions. + + It will be convenient here to summarize the position of the Egyptian + debt at the close of 1905, that is at the period immediately following + the liquidation of the Daira loan. In a previous table it has been + shown that under the Law of Liquidation of 1880 the total debt was + L98,640,000. In 1883, the first complete year after the British + occupation, the capital of the debt--then exclusively held by the + public--was L96,457,000. In 1885 the Guaranteed loan, the nominal + capital of which was L9,424,000, was issued, and in 1891 the debt + reached its maximum figure of L106,802,000. At that period the charge + for interest and sinking fund was L4,127,000. On the 31st of December + 1905 the total capital of the debt was as follows:-- + + Guaranteed 3% L7,849,000 + Preference 3-1/2% 31,128,000 + Unified 4% 55,972,000 + Domains 4-1/4% 1,535,000 + ---------- + Total L96,484,000 + + The charge on account of interest and sinking fund was L3,709,000. + Thus the capital of the debt in 1905 stood at almost the exact figure + it did in 1883, although by borrowing and conversion operations nearly + L17,000,000 had in the meantime been added to the capital. This + reduction was brought about by surplus revenue, and by the operation + of the sinking fund in the case of the Guaranteed loan, while + L15,729,000 had been wiped out by the sale of Daira and Domains + property. These figures do not, however, indicate fully the prosperity + of the country, for although the nominal amount of the capital was + practically identical in 1883 and 1905, in the latter year the + Egyptian government or the Caisse held stock (bought with surplus + revenue) to the value of L8,770,000. The amount of debt in the hands + of the public was therefore only L87,714,000, that is to say + L8,743,000 less than in 1883, while the interest charge to be borne by + the taxpayer of Egypt was L3,378,000, being L890,000 less than in + 1883. The charge amounts to about 40% of the national expenditure. On + the other hand, Egypt is not now weighed down with a huge warlike + expenditure. There is no navy to support, and the army costs but 7% of + the total expenditure. + + AUTHORITIES.--A concise view of the financial situation in 1877 will + be found in J. C. McCoan's _Egypt as it is_ (London n.d.). Mr Cave's + report is printed in an appendix. The subsequent history of Egyptian + finance is told in the following blue-books, &c.:--_Correspondence + respecting the State Domains of Egypt_ (1883); _Statement of the + Revenue and Expenditure of Egypt, together with a List of the Egyptian + Bonds and the Charges for their Services_ (1885); _Reports on the + Finances of Egypt_, by the British agent, yearly from 1888; + _Convention ... relative to the Finance of Egypt, signed at London, + March 18, 1885; Khedivial decree of the 28th November 1904; Compte + general de l'administration des finances_, issued yearly at Cairo. + Consult also the works of Lord Cromer, Lord Milner, and Sir A. Colvin + cited under S History, last section. (E. Go.; F. R. C.) + + +_The Egyptian Army._ + + Early history. + +The fellah soldier has been aptly likened to a bicycle, which although +incapable of standing up alone, is very useful while under the control +of a skilful master. It is generally believed that the successes gained +in the time of the Pharaohs were due to foreign legions; and from +Cambyses to Alexander, from the Ptolemies to Antony (Cleopatra), from +Augustus to the 7th century, throughout the Arab period, and from +Saladin's dynasty down to the middle of the 13th century, the military +power of Egypt was dependent on mercenaries. The Mamelukes (slaves), +imported from the eastern borders of the Black Sea and then trained as +soldiers, usurped the government of Egypt, and held it till 1517, when +the Ottomans began to rule. This form of government, speaking generally, +endured till the French invasion at the end of the 18th century. British +and Turkish troops drove the French out after an occupation of two +years, the British troops remaining till 1803. Then Mehemet Ali, a small +tobacconist of Kavala, Macedonia, coming with Albanian mercenaries, made +himself governor, and later (1811), by massacring the Mamelukes, became +the actual master of the country, and after seven years' war brought +Arabia under Egypt's rule. He subdued Nubia and Sennar in 1820-22; and +then, requiring a larger army, he obtained instructors from France. To +them were handed over 1000 Turks and Circassians to be trained as +officers, who later took command of 30,000 Sudanese. These died so +rapidly in Egypt from pneumonia[8] that Mehemet Ali conscripted over +250,000 fellahin, and in so arbitrary a fashion that many peasants +mutilated themselves to avoid the much-dreaded service. The common +practice was to place a small piece of nitrate of silver into the eye, +which was then kept tightly bandaged till the sight was destroyed. +Battalions were then formed of one-eyed men, and of soldiers who, having +cut off their right-hand fingers, were made to shoot from the left +shoulder. Every man who could not purchase exemption, with the exception +of those living in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, on becoming 19 years old +was liable nominally to 12 years' service; but many men were kept for 30 +or 40 years, in spite of constant appeals. Nevertheless the experiment +succeeded. The docile, yet robust and hardy peasants, under their +foreign leaders, gained an unbroken series of successes in the first +Syrian War; and after the bloody battle of Konia (1832), where the raw +Turkish army was routed and the grand vizier taken prisoner, it was only +European intervention which prevented the Egyptian general, Ibrahim +Pasha, from marching unopposed to the Bosphorus. The defeat of the +Turkish army at Nizib (Nezeeb or Nisib), in the second Syrian War +(1839), showed that it was possible to obtain favourable military +results with Egyptians when stiffened by foreigners and well commanded. +Ibrahim, the hero of Konia, declared, however, that no native Egyptian +ought to rise higher than the rank of sergeant; and in the Syrian +campaigns nearly all the officers were Turks or Circassians, as were +several non-commissioned officers. In the cavalry and artillery many of +the privates were foreigners, numbers of the janissaries who escaped the +massacre at Stamboul (1832) having joined Mehemet Ali's army. + +In the reign of Abbas, who succeeded Mehemet Ali, the Egyptian troops +were driven from Nejd, and the Wahhabi state recovered its independence. +The next viceroy, Said, began as an ardent soldier, but took to +agriculture, and at his death (1863) 3000 men only were retained under +arms. Ismail, on succeeding, immediately added 27,000 men, and in seven +years was able to put 100,000 men, well equipped, in the field. He sent +10,000 men to help to suppress a rebellion in Crete, and conquered the +greater part of the (Nile) Sudan; but an expedition of 11,000 men, sent +to Abyssinia under Prince Hasan and Rateb Pasha, well equipped with guns +and all essentials, was, in two successive disasters (1875 and 1876), +practically destroyed. The education of Egyptians in continental cities +had not produced the class of leaders who led the fellahin to victory at +Konia. + +Ismail's exactions from the Egyptian peasantry reacted on the army, +causing discontent; and when he was tottering on the throne he +instigated military demonstrations against his own government, and, by +thus sapping the foundations of discipline, assisted Arabi's revolution; +the result was the battle of Tell el-Kebir, the British occupation, and +the disbandment of the army, which at that time in Egypt proper +consisted of 18,000 men. Ismail had collected 500 field-guns, 200 +Armstrong cannon, and had created factories of warlike and other stores. +These latter were conducted extravagantly, and badly administered. + + + Reorganization. + +In January 1883, Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., was given +L200,000, and directed to spend it in raising a fellahin force of 6000 +men for the defence of Egypt. He was assisted at first by 26 officers, +amongst whom were two who later became successively sirdars--Colonel F. +Grenfell, commanding a brigade, and Lieutenant H. Kitchener, R.E., +second in command of the cavalry regiment. There were four batteries, +eight battalions, and a camel company. Each battalion of the 1st +infantry brigade had three British mounted officers, Turks and Egyptians +holding the corresponding positions in the battalions of the 2nd +Brigade. The sirdar selected these native officers from those of Arabi's +followers who had been the least prominent in the recent mutiny; +non-commissioned officers who had been drill-instructors in the old army +were recalled temporarily, but all the privates were conscripted from +their villages. The earlier merciless practice had been in theory +abolished by a decree based on the German system, published in 1880; but +owing to defective organization, and internal disturbances induced by +Khedive Ismail's follies, the law had not been applied, and the 6000 +recruits collected at Cairo in January 1883 represented the biggest and +strongest peasants who could not purchase exemption by bribing the +officials concerned. The difficulties experienced in applying the 1880 +decree were great, but the perseverance of British officers gave the +oppressed peasants, in 1885, an equitable law, which has been since +improved by the decree of 1900. General considerations later caused the +sirdar to allow exemption by payment of (Badalia) L20 before ballot. +This tax, which is popular amongst the peasantry, produced in 1906 +LE.150,000, and over L250,000 in 1908. This is a marked indication of +the increasing prosperity of the fellahin. A portion of the badalia is +expended in the betterment of the soldier's position. He is no longer +drafted into the police on completing his army service, but goes free at +the end of five years with a gift of LE.20. The sirdar is allowed, +moreover, to use L20,000 per annum of the badalia for the improvement of +the education of the rank and file. As an experiment the police is now a +voluntary service, except in Alexandria and Cairo, for which cities +peasants are conscripted for the police under army conditions. The +recruiting superintending committee, travelling through districts, +supervise every ballot, and work under stringent rules which render +systematic bribery difficult. The recruits who draw unlucky numbers at +19 years of age are seldom called up till they are 23, when they are +summoned by name and escorted by a policeman to Cairo. To prevent +substitution on the journey each recruit wears a string girdle sealed in +lead. The periods of service are: with the colours, 5 years; in the +reserve, 5 years, during which time they may be called up for police +service, manoeuvres, &c. The pay is LE.3, 14s. per annum for all +services, and the liberal scale of rations of meat, bread and rice +remains as before in theory, but in practice the value of pay and food +received is greatly enhanced. So also with the pension and promotion +regulations. They were in 1882 sufficiently liberal on paper, but had +never been carried into effect. + +The efforts of 48 American officers, who under Gen. C. P. Stone +zealously served Ismail, had entirely failed to overcome Egyptian +venality and intrigue; and in spite of the military schools, with a +comprehensive syllabus, the only perceptible difference between the +Egyptian officer and private in 1879 consisted, according to one of the +Americans, in the fact that the first was the product of the harem, and +the second of the field. Marshal Marmont, writing in 1839, mentions the +capacity of the Egyptians for endurance; and it was tested in 1883, +especially in the 2nd Brigade, since its officers (Turks and Egyptians), +anxious to excel as drill-masters, worked their men not only from morn +till eve, but also by lamplight in the corridors of the barracks. On the +31st March 1883, ten weeks after the arrival of the first draft of +recruits, about 5600 men went through the ceremonial parade movements as +practised by the British guards in Hyde Park, with unusual precision. +The British officers had acquired the words of command in Turkish, as +used in the old army, an attempt to substitute Egyptian words having +failed owing to lack of crisp, sharp-sounding words. As the Egyptian +brigadier, who had spent some years in Berlin, spoke German fluently, +and it was also understood by the senior British officers, that language +was used for all commands given by the sirdar on that special parade. +The British drill-book, minus about one-third of the least serviceable +movements, was translated by an English officer, and by 1900 every +necessary British official book had been published in English and +Arabic, except the new Recruiting Law (1885) and a manufacturing manual, +for which French and Arabic editions are in use. The discipline of the +old army had been regulated by a translation of part of the Code +Napoleon, which was inadequate for an Eastern army, and the sirdar +replaced it by the British Army Act of 1881, slightly modified, and +printed in Arabic. + +The task undertaken by the small body of British officers was difficult. +There was not one point in the former administration of the army +acceptable to English gentlemen. That there had been no adequate +auxiliary departments, without which an army cannot move or be +efficient, was comparatively a minor difficulty. To succeed, it was +essential that the fellah should be taught that discipline might be +strict without being oppressive, that pay and rations would be fairly +distributed, that brutal usage by superiors would be checked, that +complaints would be thoroughly investigated, and impartial justice meted +out to soldiers of all ranks. An epidemic of cholera in the summer of +1883 gave the British officers their first chance of acquiring the +esteem and confidence of their men, and the opportunity was nobly +utilized. While the patient fellah, resigned to the decrees of the +Almighty, saw the ruling Egyptian class hurry away from Cairo, he saw +also those of his comrades who were stricken tenderly nursed, soothed in +death's struggles, and in many cases actually washed, laid out and +interred by their new self-sacrificing and determined masters. The +regeneration of the fellahin army dates from that epidemic. + +When the Egyptian Army of the Delta was dispersed at Tell el-Kebir, the +khedive had 40,000 troops in the Sudan, scattered from Massawa on the +Red Sea to 1200 m. towards the west, and from Wadi Halfa, 1500 m. +southward to Wadelai, near Albert Nyanza. These were composed of Turks, +Albanians, Circassians and some Sudanese. Ten thousand fellahin, +collected in March 1883, mainly from Arabi's former forces, set out from +Duem, 100 m. south of Khartum, in September 1883, under Hicks Pasha, a +dauntless retired Indian Army officer, to vanquish the Mahdi. They +disappeared in the deserts of Kordofan, where they were destroyed by the +Mahdists about 50 m. south of El Obeid. In the wave of successful +rebellion, except at Khartum, few of the Egyptian garrisons were killed +when the posts fell, long residence and local family ties rendering easy +their assimilation in the ranks of the Mahdists. + +Baker Pasha, with about 4000 constabulary, who were old soldiers, +attempted to relieve Tokar in February 1884. He was attacked by 1200 +tribesmen and utterly routed, losing 4 Krupp guns, 2 machine guns and +3000 rifles. Only 1400 Egyptians escaped the slaughter. + +The sirdar made an attempt to raise a battalion of Albanians, but the +few men obtained mutinied when ordered to proceed to the Sudan, and it +was deemed advisable, after the ringleaders had been executed, to +abandon the idea, and rely on blacks to stiffen the fellahin. Then the +9th (Sudanese) Battalion was created for service at Suakin, and four +others having been successively added, these (with one exception--at +Gedaref) have since borne the brunt of all the fighting which has been +done by the khedivial troops. The Egyptian troops in the operations near +Suakin behaved well; and there were many instances of personal gallantry +by individual soldiers. In the autumn of 1884, when a British expedition +went up the Nile to endeavour to relieve the heroic Gordon, besieged in +Khartum, the Egyptians did remarkably good work on the line of +communication from Assiut to Korti, a distance of 800 m., and the +training and experience thus gained were of great value in all +subsequent operations. The honesty and discipline of the fellah were +shown to be undoubtedly of a high order. When the crews of the +whale-boats were conveying stores, the forwarding officers tried to keep +brandy and such like medical comforts from the European crews, coffee +and tea from Canadian voyageurs and sugar from Kroo boys. The only +immaculate carrier was the Egyptian. A large sum of specie having failed +under British escort to reach Dongola, an equivalent sum was handed to +an Egyptian lieutenant of six months' service, with 10 men, and duly +reached its destination. + +Twelve years later the standard of honesty was unimpaired, and the +British officers had imparted energy and activity into Egyptians of all +ranks. The intelligent professional knowledge of the native officers, +taught under British gentlemen, and the constant hard work cheerfully +rendered by the fellah soldiers, were the main factors of the success +achieved at Omdurman on the 2nd of September 1898. The large depots of +stores at Assuan, Halfa and Dongola could only be cursorily supervised +by British officers, and yet when the stores were received at the +advance depot the losses were infinitesimal. + + + Character of Egyptian soldier. + +By nature the fellah is unwarlike. Born in the valley of a great river, +he resembles in many respects the Bengali, who exists under similar +conditions; but the Egyptian has proved capable of greater improvement. +He is stronger in frame, and can undergo greater exertion. Singularly +unemotional, he stood steady at Tell el-Kebir after Arabi Pasha and all +his officers, from general to subaltern, had fled, and gave way only +when decimated by the British field artillery firing case shot. At El +Teb, however, in 1884 he allowed himself to be slaughtered by tribesmen +formerly despised, and only about one-fourth of the force under General +Valentine Baker escaped. Baker Pasha's force was termed constabulary, +yet his men were all old soldiers, though new to their gallant leader +and to the small band of their brave but strange British officers. Since +that fatal day, however, many of the fellahin have shown they are +capable of devoted conduct, and much has been done to raise in the +soldiers a sense of self-respect, and, in spite of centuries of +oppression, of veracity. The barrack-square drill was smart under the +old system, but there was no fire discipline, and all individuality was +crushed. Now both are encouraged, and the men, receiving their full +rations, are unsurpassable in endurance at work and in marching. All the +troops present in the surprise fight when the Dervish force was +destroyed at Firket in June 1896 had covered long distances, and one +battalion (the 10th Sudanese) accomplished 90 m. within 72 hours, +including the march back to railhead immediately after the action. The +troops under Colonel Parsons, Royal Artillery, who beat the Dervishes at +Gedaref, were so short of British officers that all orders were +necessarily given in Arabic and carried to commanders of units by Arabs. +While an Egyptian battalion was attacking in line, it was halted to +repel a rush from the rear, and front and rear ranks were simultaneously +engaged, firing in opposite directions--yet the fellahin were absolutely +steady; they shot well and showed no signs of trepidation. On the other +hand, neither was there any exultation after their victory. It has been +aptly said "the fellah would make an admirable soldier if he only +wished to kill some one!" The fellahin furnish three squadrons, five +batteries, three garrison artillery companies and nine battalions. + +The well-educated Egyptian officer, with his natural aptitude for +figures, does subordinate regimental routine carefully, and works well +when supervised by men of stronger character. The ordinary Egyptian is +not self-reliant or energetic by nature, and, like most Eastern people, +finds it difficult to be impartial where duty and family or other +personal relations are in the balance. The black soldier has, on the +other hand, many of the finest fighting qualities. This was observed by +British officers, from the time of the preliminary operations about +Kosha and at the action near Ginnis in December 1885 down to the +brilliant operations in the pursuit of the Mahdists on the Blue Nile +after the action of Gedaref (subsequent to the battle of Omdurman), and +the fighting in Kordofan in 1899, which resulted in the death of the +khalifa and his amirs. + +Black soldiers served in the army of Mehemet Ali, but their fighting +value was not then duly appreciated. Prior to the death of the khalifa, +many of his soldiers deserted to join their brethren who had been +captured by the sirdar's troops, during the gradual advance up the Nile. +After 1899 many more enlisted: the greater number were Shilluks and +Dinkas coming from the country between Fashoda and the equatorial +provinces, but a proportion came from the western borders of the Sudan, +and some from Wadai and Bornu. Many were absolute savages, difficult to +control, wayward and thoughtless like children. Sudanese are very +excitable and apt to get out of hand; unlike the fellahs they are not +fond of drill, and are slow to acquire it; but their dash, pugnacious +instincts and desire to close with an enemy, are valuable military +qualities. The Sudanese, moreover, shoot better than the fellahin, whose +eyesight is often defective. The Sudanese captain can seldom read or +write, and is therefore in the hands of the Egyptian-born company +quartermaster-sergeant as regards pay and clothing accounts. He is slow, +and as a rule has little knowledge of drill. Nevertheless he is +self-reliant, much respected by his men, and can be trusted in the field +to carry out any orders received from his British officer. The most +efficient companies in the Sudanese battalions are apparently those in +which the captain is a black and the lieutenants are Egyptians. + + In 1908 the Egyptian army, with a total establishment of 18,000, + consisted of three squadrons of cavalry (one composed of Sudanese) + each numbering 116 men; four batteries of field artillery and a Maxim + battery, horses and mules being used, with a total strength of 1257 of + all ranks; the camel corps, 626 of all ranks (fellahin and Sudanese); + and nine fellahin and six Sudanese infantry battalions, 10,631 of all + ranks. Every battalion receives two additional companies on + mobilization and takes the field with six companies. + + The armament of the infantry is Martini-Henry rifle and bayonet; of + the cavalry, lance, sword and carbine. + + There are seven gunboats on the Nile. + + The medical department (reorganized in 1883 by Surgeon-Major J. G. + Rogers at the time of the cholera epidemic) controls in peace fourteen + station hospitals, and in war furnishes a mobile field hospital to + each brigade. There are also veterinary station hospitals. The supply + department controls mills at Tura, Halfa and Khartum. + + The stringent system of selecting British officers, originated by the + first sirdar in 1883, is shown by the fact that of the 24 employed in + creating the army, 14 rose to be generals. The competition for + employment in the army is still severe. In 1908 there were 140 British + warrant and non-commissioned officers. Four of the fellahin battalions + were officered by Orientals; in the other five, British officers + commanded. Seven officers were employed with the artillery, six with + the camel corps. Each of the Sudanese battalions had four British + officers, and each squadron of cavalry one. Twelve medical and two + veterinary officers are also employed departmentally, as well as + officers acting as directors of supply, &c. Since the assumption of + command by the third sirdar, Colonel (afterwards Lord) Kitchener, the + ordnance, supply and engineer services have been separately + administered, and a financial secretary is charged with the duty of + preparing the budget, making contracts, &c. The total annual + expenditure is L500,000. + + The reorganized military school system under British control, for + supplying officers, dates from 1887. The course lasts for about two + years, and two hundred students can be accommodated. After the + reconquest of the Sudan one-fourth of the cadets in the military + school of Cairo were Sudanese. Later, however, the Sudanese cadets + were transferred to a branch school at Khartum. + + The army raised by the first sirdar in January 1883 was highly + commended for its work on the line of communication in 1884-1885, and + its artillery and camelry distinguished themselves in the action at + Kirbekan in February 1885. Colonel Sir Francis Grenfell succeeded + General Sir Evelyn Wood in March 1885, and while under his command the + army continued to improve, and fought successful actions at Gemaiza, + Argin, Toski and Tokar. At Toski the Dervish force was nearly + annihilated. In March 1892 Colonel Kitchener succeeded General Sir + Francis Grenfell, and four years later began his successful reconquest + of the Sudan. In June 1896, owing to the indefatigable exertions of + Major Wingate, a perfected system of secret intelligence enabled the + sirdar to bring an overwhelming force of 6 to 1 against the Dervish + outpost at Firket and destroy it. In September 1896 a skirmish at + Hafir, with similarly successful tactics, gave the British commander + the possession of Dongola. On the 7th of August 1897 Colonel Hunter + surprised and annihilated a weak Dervish garrison at Abu Hamed, to + which place, by the 31st of October 1897, a railway had been laid + across the Nubian desert from Wadi Halfa, a distance of 230 m., the + "record" construction of 5300 yds surveyed, embanked and laid in one + day having been attained. On the 26th of December 1897 the Italian + troops handed over Kassala to Colonel Parsons, R.A. On the 8th of + April 1898 a British division, with the Egyptian army, destroyed the + Dervish force under the amir Mahmud Ahmed, on the Atbara river. On the + 2nd of September the khalifa attacked the British-Egyptian troops at + Kerreri (near Omdurman), and being routed, his men dispersed; Khartum + was occupied, and on the 19th of September the Egyptian flag was + rehoisted at Fashoda. On the 22nd of September 1898 Gedaref was taken + from the amir Ahmed Fedil by Colonel Parsons, and on the 26th of + December the army of Ahmed Fedil was finally defeated and dispersed + near Roseires. The khalifa's army, reduced to an insignificant number, + after several unsuccessful engagements withdrew to the west of the + Nile, where it was attacked, on the 24th of November 1899, after a + forced march by Colonel Wingate, and annihilated. The khalifa himself + was killed; while the victor, who had joined the Egyptian army in 1883 + as aide-de-camp to the first sirdar, in December 1899 became the + fourth sirdar, as Major-General Sir F. R. Wingate, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., + D.S.O., &c. (E. Wo.) + + +II. ANCIENT EGYPT + +A. _Exploration and Research._--Owing to its early development of a high +civilization with written records, its wealth, and its preservative +climate, Egypt is the country which most amply repays archaeological +research. It is especially those long ages during which Egypt was an +independent centre of culture and government, before its absorption in +the Persian empire in the 6th century B.C., that make the most powerful +appeal to the imagination and can often justify this appeal by the +splendour of the monuments representing them. Later, however, the +history of Hellenism, the provincial history of the Roman empire, the +rise of Christianity and the triumph of Islam successively receive +brilliant illustration in Egypt. + +As early as the 17th century travellers began to bring home specimens of +ancient Egyptian handiwork: a valuable stele from Sakkara of the +beginning of the Old Kingdom was presented to the Ashmolean Museum at +Oxford in 1683. In the following century the Englishman R. Pococke +(1704-1765), the Dane F. L. Norden (1708-1742), both travelling in 1737, +and others later, planned, described or figured Egyptian ruins in a +primitive way and identified many of the sites with cities named in +classical authors. Napoleon's great military expedition in 1798 was +accompanied by a scientific commission including artists and +archaeologists, the results of whose labours fill several of the +magnificent volumes of the _Description de l'Egypte_. The antiquities +collected by the expedition, including the famous Rosetta stone, were +ceded to the British government at the capitulation of Alexandria, in +1801. Thereafter Mehemet Ali threw Egypt freely open to Europeans, and a +busy traffic in antiquities began, chiefly through the agency of the +consuls of different powers. From the year 1820 onwards the growth of +the European collections was rapid, and Champollion's decipherments (see +below, S "Language and Writing") of the hieroglyphic inscriptions, +dating from 1821, added fresh impetus to the fashion of collecting, in +spite of doubts as to their trustworthiness. In 1827 a combined +expedition led by Champollion and Rosellini was despatched by the +governments of France and Tuscany, and accomplished a great deal of +valuable work in copying scenes and inscriptions. But the greatest of +such expeditions was that of Lepsius, under the auspices of the +Prussian government, in 1842-1845. Its labours embraced not only Egypt +and Nubia (as far as Khartum) but also the Egyptian monuments in Sinai +and Syria; its immense harvest of material is of the highest value, the +new device of taking paper impressions or "squeezes" giving Lepsius a +great advantage over his predecessors, similar to that which was later +conferred by the photographic camera. + +A new period was opened in Egyptian exploration in 1858 when Mariette +was appointed director of archaeological works in Egypt, his duties +being to safeguard the monuments and prevent their exploitation by +dealers. As early as 1835 Mehemet Ali had given orders for a museum to +be formed; little however, was accomplished before the whole of the +resulting collection was given away to the Archduke Maximilian of +Austria in 1855. Mariette, who was appointed by the viceroy Said Pasha +at the instance of the French government, succeeded in making his office +effective and permanent, in spite of political intrigues and the whims +of an Oriental ruler; he also secured a building on the island of Bulak +(Bulaq) for a viceregal museum in which the results of his explorations +could be permanently housed. Supported by the French interest, the +established character of this work as a department of the Egyptian +government (which also claims the ancient sites) has been fully +recognized since the British occupation. The "Service of Antiquities" +now boasts a large annual budget and employs a number of European and +native officials--a director, curators of the museum, European +inspectors and native sub-inspectors of provinces (at Luxor for Upper +Egypt and Nubia, at Assiut for Middle Egypt and the Fayum, at Mansura +for Lower Egypt, besides a European official in charge of the government +excavations at Memphis). The museum, no longer the property of an +individual, was removed in 1889 from the small building at Bulak to a +disused palace at Giza, and since 1902 has been established at +Kasr-en-Nil, Cairo, in a special building, of ample size and safe from +fire and flood. In the year 1881 the directorship of the museum was +temporarily undertaken by Prof. Maspero, who resumed it in 1899. The +admirably conducted Archaeological Survey of the portion of Nubia +threatened by the raising of the Assuan dam is in the charge of another +department--the Survey department, directed for many years up to 1909 by +Captain H. G. Lyons. Non-official agencies (supported by voluntary +contributions) for exploration in Egypt comprise the Egypt Exploration +Fund, started in London in 1881, with its two branches, viz. the +Archaeological Survey (1890) for copying and publishing the monuments +above ground, and the Graeco-Roman Branch (1897), well known through the +brilliant work in Greek papyri of B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt; and the +separate Research Account founded by Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie in +London (University College) in 1896, and since 1905 called the British +School of Archaeology in Egypt (see especially MEMPHIS). The _Mission +archeologique francaise au Caire_, established as a school by the French +government in 1881, was re-organized in 1901 on a lavish scale under the +title _Institut francais d'archeologie orientale du Caire_, and +domiciled with printing-press and library in a fine building near the +museum. As the result of an excellent bargain, it was afterwards removed +to the Munira palace in the south-east part of the city. An +archaeologist is attached to the German general consulate to look after +the interests of German museums, and is director of the German Institute +of Archaeology. The Orient-Gesellschaft (German Orient-Society) has +worked in Egypt since 1901 with brilliant results. Excavations and +explorations are also conducted annually by the agents of universities +and museums in England, America and Germany, and by private explorers, +concessions being granted generally on the terms that the Egyptian +government shall retain half of the antiquities discovered, while the +other half remains for the finders. + +The era of scientific excavation began with Flinders Petrie's work at +Tanis in 1883. Previous explorers kept scientific aims in view, but the +idea of scientific archaeology was not realized by them. The procedure +in scientific excavation is directed to collecting and interpreting all +the information that can be obtained from the excavation as to the +history and nature of the site explored, be it town, temple, house, +cemetery or individual grave, wasting no evidence that results from it +touching the endless problems which scientific archaeology +affords--whether in regard to arts and crafts, manners and customs, +language, history or beliefs. This is a totally different thing from +mere hunting for inscriptions, statues or other portable objects which +will present a greater or less value in themselves even when torn from +their context. Such may, of course, form the greater part of the harvest +and working material of a scientific excavator; their presence is most +welcome to him, but their complete absence need be no bar to his +attainment of important historical results. The absence of scientific +excavation in Egypt was deplored by the Scottish archaeologist Alexander +Henry Rhind (1833-1863), as early as 1862. Since Flinders Petrie began, +the general level of research has gradually risen, and, while much is +shamefully bad and destructive, there is a certain proportion that fully +realizes the requirements of scientific archaeology. + +_Antiquities, Sites, &c._--The remains for archaeological investigation +in Egypt may be roughly classified as material and literary: to the +latter belong the texts on papyri and the inscriptions, to the former +the sites of ancient towns with the temples, fortifications and houses; +remains of roads, canals, quarries and other matters falling within the +domain of ancient topography; the larger monuments, as obelisks, +statues, stelae, &c.; and finally the small antiquities--utensils, +clothes, weapons, amulets, &c. Where moisture can reach the antiquities +their preservation is no better in Egypt than it would have been in +other countries; for this reason all the papyri in the Delta have +perished unless they happen to have been charred by fire. A terrible +pest is a kind of termite which is locally abundant and has probably +visited most parts of Egypt at one time or another, destroying all dead +vegetable or animal material in the soil that was not specially +protected. + +In Lower Egypt the cities built of crude brick were very numerous, +especially after the 7th century B.C., but owing to the value of stone +very few of their monuments have escaped destruction: even the mounds of +rubbish which marked their sites furnish a valuable manure for the +fields and in consequence are rapidly disappearing. Granite and other +hard stones, having but a limited use (for millstones and the like), +have the best chance of survival. At Bubastis, Tanis, Behbeit (Iseum) +and Heliopolis considerable stone remains have been discovered. In the +north of the Delta wherever salt marshes have prevented cultivation in +modern times, the mounds, such as those of Pelusium, still stand to +their full height, and the more important are covered with ruins of +brick structures of Byzantine and Arab date. + +Middle and Upper Egypt were less busy and prosperous in the later ages +than Lower Egypt. There was consequently somewhat less consumption of +the old stone-work. Moreover, in many places equally good material could +be obtained without much difficulty from the cliffs on both sides of the +Nile. Yet even the buried portions of limestone buildings have seldom +been permitted to survive on the cultivated land; the Nubian sandstone +of Upper Egypt was of comparatively little value, and, generally +speaking, buildings in that material have fallen into decay rather than +been destroyed by quarrying. + +Starting from Cairo and going southward we have first the great +pyramid-field, with the necropolis of Memphis as its centre; stretching +from Abu Roash on the north to Lisht on the south, it is followed by the +pyramid group of Dahshur, the more isolated pyramids of Medum and +Illahun, and that of Hawara in the Fayum. On the east bank are the +limestone quarries of Turra and Masara opposite Memphis. South of the +Fayum on the western border of the desert are the tombs of Deshasha, +Meir and Assiut, and on the east bank those of Beni Hasan, the rock-cut +temple of Speos Artemidos, the tombs of El Bersha and Sheikh Said, the +tombs and stelae of El Amarna with the alabaster quarries of Hanub in +the desert behind them, and the tombs of Deir el Gebrawi. Beyond Assiut +are the tombs of Dronka and Rifa, the temples of Abydos and Dendera, and +the tombs, &c., at Akhmim and Kasr es Saiyad. Farther south are the +stupendous ruins of Thebes on both sides of the river, the temple of +Esna, the ruins and tombs of El Kab, the temple of Edfu, the quarries of +Silsila and the temple of Ombos, followed by the inscribed rocks of the +First Cataract, the tombs and quarries of Assuan and the temples of +Philae. + +[Illustration: EGYPT Scale, 1:8,400,000] + +In Nubia, owing to the poverty of the country and its scanty population, +the proportion of monuments surviving is infinitely greater than in +Egypt. Here are the temples of Debod, the temple and quarries of +Kertassi, the temples of Kalabsha, Bet el Wali, Dendur, Gerf Husen, +Dakka, Maharaka, Es-Sebu'a, 'Amada and Derr, the grottos of Elles ya, +the tombs of Aniba, the temple of Ibrim, the great rock-temples of +Abu-Simbel, the temples at Jebel Adda and Wadi Halfa, the forts and +temples of Semna, the temples of Amara (Meroitic) and Soleb. Beyond are +the Ethiopian temples and pyramids of Jebel Barkal and the other +pyramids of Napata at Tangassi, &c., the still later pyramids of Meroe +at Begerawia, and the temples of Mesauwarat and Naga reaching to within +50 m. of Khartum. + +Outside the Nile valley on the west are temples in the Great and Little +Oases and the Oasis of Ammon: on the east quarries and stelae on the +Hammamat road to the Red Sea, and mines and other remains at Wadi +Maghara and Serabit el Khadim in the Sinai peninsula. In Syria there are +tablets of conquest on the rocks at the mouth of the Nahr el Kelb. + +Of the collections of Egyptian antiquities in public museums, those of +the British Museum, Leiden, Berlin, the Louvre, Turin were already very +important in the first half of the 19th century, also in a less degree +those of Florence, Bologna and the Vatican. Most of these have since +been greatly increased and many others have been created. By far the +largest collection in the world is that at Cairo. In America the museums +and universities of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New +York have collections of greater or less interest. Besides these the +museums of Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford are noteworthy in +Great Britain for their Egyptian antiquities, as are those of St +Petersburg, Vienna, Marseilles, Munich, Copenhagen, Palermo and Athens; +there are also collections in most of the British colonies. Private +collections are numerous. + +_Literary Records._--In estimating the sources of information regarding +pre-Christian Egypt, the native sources, first opened to us by +Champollion, are infinitely the most important. With very few exceptions +they are contemporary with the events which they record. Of the +composition of history and the description of their own manners and +customs by the Egyptians for posterity, few traces have reached our day. +Consequently the information derived from their monuments, in spite of +their great abundance, is of a fortuitous character. For one early +papyrus that survives, many millions must have perished. If the journals +of accounts, the letters and business documents, had come down to us _en +masse_, they would no doubt have yielded to research the history and +life of Egypt day by day; but those that now represent a thousand years +of the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom together would not half fill an +ordinary muniment chest. A larger proportion of the records on stone +have survived, but that an event should be inscribed on stone depends on +a variety of circumstances and not necessarily on its importance. There +may seem to be a great abundance of Egyptian monuments, but they have to +cover an enormous space of time, and even in the periods which are best +represented, gravestones recording the names of private persons with a +prayer or two are scarcely material for history. A scrap of annals has +been found extending from the earliest times to the Vth Dynasty, as well +as a very fragmentary list of kings reaching nearly to the end of the +Middle Kingdom, to help out the scattered data of the other monuments. +As to manners and customs, although we possess no systematic +descriptions of them from a native source, the native artists and +scribes have presented us with exceptionally rich materials in the +painted and sculptured scenes of the tombs from the Old and Middle +Kingdoms and the New Empire. For the Deltaic dynasties these sources +fail absolutely, the scenes being then either purely religious or +conventional imitations of the earlier ones. + +Fortunately the native records are largely supplemented by others: +valuable information comes from cuneiform literature, belonging to two +widely separated periods. The first group is contemporary with the +XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties and consists in the first place of the Tell +el Amarna tablets with others related to them, containing the reports of +governors of the Syrian possessions of Egypt, and the correspondence of +the kings of Babylon, Assur, Mitanni and Khatti (the Hittites) with the +Pharaohs. The sequel to this is furnished by Winckler's discovery of +documents relating to Rameses II. of the XIXth Dynasty in the Hittite +capital at Boghaz Keui (see also HITTITES and PTERIA). The other group +comprises the annals and inscriptions of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon +and Assur-bani-pal, recording their invasions of Egypt under the XXVth +Dynasty. There are also a few references to Egypt of later date down to +the reign of Darius. In Hebrew literature the Pentateuch, the historical +books and the prophets alike contain scanty but precious information +regarding Egypt. Aramaic papyri written principally by Jews of the +Persian period (5th century B.C.) have been found at Syene and Memphis. + +Of all the external sources the literary accounts written in Greek are +the most valuable. They comprise fragments of the native historian +Manetho, the descriptions of Egypt in Herodotus and Diodorus, the +geographical accounts of Strabo and Ptolemy, the treatise of Plutarch on +Isis and Osiris and other monographs or scattered notices of less +importance. Our knowledge of the history of Alexander's conquest, of the +Ptolemies and of the Roman occupation is almost entirely derived from +Greek sources, and in fact almost the same might be said of the history +of Egypt as far back as the beginning of the XXVIth Dynasty. The +non-literary Greek remains in papyri and inscriptions which are being +found in great abundance throw a flood of light on life in Egypt and the +administration of the country from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus to +the Arab conquest. On the other hand, papyri and inscriptions in Latin +are of the greatest rarity, and the literary remains in that language +are of small importance for Egypt. + +Arabic literature appears to be entirely barren of authentic information +regarding the earlier condition of the country. Two centuries of +unchallenged Christianity had broken almost completely the traditions of +paganism, even if the Moslems had been willing to consider them, either +in their fanciful accounts of the origins of cities, &c., or elsewhere. + +B. _The Country in Ancient Times._--The native name of Egypt was Kemi +(KM.T), clearly meaning "the black land," Egypt being so called from the +blackness of its alluvial soil (cf. Plut. _De Is. et Os._ cap. 33): in +poetical inscriptions _Kemi_ is often opposed to _Toshri_, "the red +land," referring to the sandy deserts around, which however, would +probably be included in the term Kemi in its widest sense. Egypt is +called in Hebrew Mizraim, [Hebrew: Mizraim], possibly a dual form +describing the country in reference to its two great natural and +historical divisions of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt: but Mizraim +(poetically sometimes Mazor) often means Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt being +named Pathros, "the south land." In Assyrian the name was Musri, Misri: +in Arabic it is Misr, [Arabic: Misr], pronounced Masr in the vulgar +dialect of Egypt. These names are certainly of Semitic origin and +perhaps derive from the Assyrian with the meaning "frontier-land" (see +MIZRAIM). Winckler's theory of a separate Musri immediately south of +Palestine is now generally rejected (see, for instance, Ed. Meyer, _Die +Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstamme_, 455). The Greek [Greek: Aigyptos] +(Aegyptus) occurs as early as Homer; in the _Odyssey_ it is the name of +the Nile (masc.) as well as of the country (fem.): later it was confined +to the country. Its origin is very obscure (see Pietschmann in +Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, s.v. "Aigyptos"). Brugsch's +derivation from Hakeptah, a name of the northern capital, Memphis, +though attractive, is unconfirmed. + +Egypt normally included the whole of the Nile valley from the First +Cataract to the sea; pure Egyptians, however, formed the population of +Lower Nubia above the Cataract in prehistoric times; at some periods +also the land was divided into separate kingdoms, while at others Egypt +stretched southward into Nubia, and it generally claimed the +neighbouring Libyan deserts and oases on the west and the Arabian +deserts on the east to the shore of the Red Sea, with Sinai and the +Mediterranean coast as far as Rhinocorura (El Arish). The physical +features in ancient times were essentially the same as at the present +day. The bed of the Nile was lower: it appears to have risen by its own +deposits at a rate of about 4 in. in a century. In the north of the +Delta, however, there was a sinking of the land, in consequence of which +the accumulations on some of the ancient sites there extend below the +present sea-level. On the other hand at the south end of the Suez canal +the land may have risen bodily, since the head of the Gulf of Suez has +been cut off by a bank of rock from the Bitter lakes, which were +probably joined to it in former days. The banks of the Nile and the +islands in it are subject to gradual but constant alteration--indeed, +several ancient sites have been much eroded or destroyed--and the main +volume of the stream may in course of time be diverted into what has +previously been a secondary channel. According to the classical writers, +the mouths or branches of the Nile in the Delta were five in number +(seven including two that were artificial): now there are only two. In +Upper Egypt the main stream tended as now to flow along the eastern edge +of the valley, while to the west was a parallel stream corresponding to +the Bahr Yusuf. From the latter a canal or branch led to the Lake of +Moeris, which, until the 3rd century B.C., filled the deep depression of +the Fayum, but is now represented only by the strongly brackish waters +of the Birket el Kerun, left in the deepest part. The area of alluvial +land has probably not changed greatly in historic times. The principal +changes that have occurred are due to the grip which civilization has +taken upon the land in the course of thousands of years, often weakening +but now firmer than ever. In early days no doubt the soil was cultivated +in patches, but gradually a great system of canals was organized under +the control of the central government, both for irrigation and for +transport. The wild flora of the alluvial valley was probably always +restricted and eventually was reduced almost to the "weeds of +cultivation," when every acre of soil, at one period of the year under +water, and at another roasted under the burning heat of a semi-tropical +sun, was carefully tilled. The acacia abounded on the borders of the +valley, but the groves were gradually cut down for the use of the +carpenter and the charcoal-burner. The desert was full of wild life, the +balance of nature being preserved by the carnivorous animals preying on +the herbivorous; trees watered by soakage from the Nile protected the +undergrowth and encouraged occasional rainfall. But this balance was +upset by the early introduction of the goat and later of the camel, +which destroyed the sapling trees, while the grown ones fell to the axe +of the woodcutter. Thus in all probability the Egyptian deserts have +become far poorer in animals and trees than they were in primitive +times. Much of Lower Egypt was left in a wilder state than Upper Egypt. +The marshy lands in the north were the resort of fishermen and fowlers, +and the papyrus, the cultivation of which was a regular industry, +protected an abundance of wild life. The abandonment of papyrus culture +in the 8th century A.D., the neglect of the canals, and the inroads of +the sea, have converted much of that country into barren salt marsh, +which only years of draining and washing can restore to fertility. + +The rich alluvial deposits of the Nile which respond so readily to the +efforts of the cultivator ensured the wealth of the country. Moulded +into brick, without burning, this black clay also supplied the common +wants of the builder, and even the palaces of the greatest kings were +constructed of crude brick. For more lasting and ambitious work in +temples and tombs the materials could be obtained from the rocks and +deserts of the Nile valley. The chief of these was limestone of varying +degrees of fineness, composing the cliffs which lined the valley from +the apex of the Delta to the neighbourhood of El Kab; the best quality +was obtained on the east side opposite Memphis from the quarries of +Turra and Masara. From El Kab southward its place was taken by Libyan +sandstone, soft and easily worked, but unsuitable for fine sculpture. +These two were the ordinary building stones. In the limestone was found +the flint or chert used for weapons and instruments in early times. For +alabaster the principal quarry was that of Hanub in the desert 10 m. +behind El Amarna, but it was obtained elsewhere in the limestone region, +including a spot near Alexandria. A hard and fine-grained quartzite +sandstone was quarried at Jebel Ahmar behind Heliopolis, and basalt was +found thence along the eastern edge of the Delta to near the Wadi +Tumilat. Red granite was obtained from the First Cataract, breccia and +diorite were quarried from very early times in the Wadi Hammamat, on the +road from Coptos to the Red Sea, and porphyry was brought, chiefly in +Roman times but also in the prehistoric age, from the same region at +Jebel Dokhan. + +Egypt was poor in metals. Gold was obtained chiefly from Nubia: iron was +found in small quantities in the country and at one time was worked in +the neighbourhood of Assuan. Some copper was obtained in Sinai. Of +stones that were accounted precious Sinai produced turquoise and the +Egyptian deserts garnet, carnelian and jasper. + +The native supply of wood for industrial purposes was exceedingly bad: +there was no native wood long enough and straight enough to be used in +joiners' work or sculpture without fitting and patching: palm trees were +abundant, and if the trees could be spared, their split stems could be +used for roofing. For boatbuilding papyrus stems and acacia wood were +employed, and for the best work cedar-wood was imported from Lebanon. + +Egypt was isolated by the deserts and the sea. The Nile valley afforded +a passage by ship or on foot into Nubia, where, however, little wealth +was to be sought, though gold and rarities from the Sudan, such as ivory +and ebony, came that way and an armed raid could yield a good spoil in +slaves and cattle. The poverty-stricken and barbarous Nubians were +strong and courageous, and gladly served in Egypt as mercenary soldiers +and police. Through the oases also ran paths to the Sudan by which the +raw merchandise of the southern countries could be brought to Egypt. +Eastward, roads led through the Arabian mountains to the Red Sea, whence +ships made voyages to the incense-bearing land of Puoni (Punt) on the +Somali coast of Africa, rich also in gold and ivory. The mines of Sinai +could be reached either by sea or by land along the route of the Exodus. +The roads to Syria skirted the east border of the Delta and then +followed the coast from near Pelusium through El Arish and Gaza. A +secondary road branched off through the Wadi Tumilat, whence the ways +ran northwards to Syria and southwards to Sinai. On the Libyan side the +oasis of Siwa could be reached from the Lake of Moeris or from Terrana +(Terenuthis), or by the coast route which also led to the Cyrenaica. The +Egyptians had some traffic on the Mediterranean from very remote times, +especially with Byblus in Phoenicia, the port for cedar-wood. + +Of the populations surrounding Egypt the negroes (Nehsi) in the south +(Cush) were the lowest in the scale of civilization: the people of Puoni +and of Libya (the Tehen, &c.) were pale in colour and superior to the +negroes, but still show no sign of a high culture. The Syrians and the +Keftiu, the latter now identified with the Cretans and other +representatives of the Aegean civilization, are the only peoples who by +their elaborate clothing and artistic products reveal themselves upon +the ancient Egyptian monuments as the equals in culture of the Egyptian +nation. + +The Egyptians seem to have applied no distinctive name to themselves in +early times: they called themselves proudly _romi_ (RMTW), i.e. simply +"men," "people," while the despised races around them, collectively +H'SWT, "desert-peoples," were distinguished by special appellations. +The races of mankind, including the Egyptians, were often called the +Nine Archers. Ultimately the Egyptians, when their insularity +disappeared under the successive dominations of Ethiopia, Assyria and +Persia, described themselves as _rem-n-Kemi_, "men of Egypt." Whence the +population of Egypt as we trace it in prehistoric and historic times +came, is not certain. The early civilization of Egypt shows remarkable +coincidences with that of Babylonia, the language is of a Semitic type, +the religion may well be a compound of a lower African and a higher +Asiatic order of ideas. According to the evidence of the mummies, the +Egyptians were of slender build, with dark hair and of Caucasian type. +Dr Elliott Smith, who has examined thousands of skeletons and mummies of +all periods, finds that the prehistoric population of Upper Egypt, a +branch of the North African-Mediterranean-Arabian race, changed with the +advent of the dynasties to a stronger type, better developed than before +in skull and muscle. This was apparently due to admixture with the Lower +Egyptians, who themselves had been affected by Syrian immigration. +Thereafter little further change is observable, although the rich lands +of Egypt must have attracted foreigners from all parts. The Egyptian +artists of the New Empire assigned distinctive types of feature as well +as of dress to the different races with which they came into contact, +Hittites, Syrians, Libyans, Bedouins, negroes, &c. + +The people of Egypt were not naturally fierce or cruel. Intellectually, +too, they were somewhat sluggish, careless and unbusinesslike. In the +mass they were a body of patient labourers, tilling a rich soil, and +hating all foreign lands and ways. The wealth of their country gave +scope for ability within the population and also attracted it from +outside: it enabled the kings to organize great monumental enterprises +as well as to arm irresistible raids upon the inferior tribes around. +Urged on by necessity and opportunity, the Egyptians possessed +sufficient enterprise and originating power to keep ahead of their +neighbours in most departments of civilization, until the more warlike +empires of Assyria and Persia overwhelmed them and the keener intellects +of the Greeks outshone them in almost every department. The debt of +civilization to Egypt as a pioneer must be considerable, above all +perhaps in religious thought. The moral ideals of its nameless teachers +were high from an early date: their conception of an after-life was +exceedingly vivid: the piety of the Egyptians in the later days was a +matter of wonder and scoffing to their contemporaries; it is generally +agreed that certain features in the development of Christianity are to +be traced to Egypt as their birthplace and nidus. + + For researches into the ethnography of Egypt and the neighbouring + countries, see W. Max Muller, _Asien und Europa nach den altag. + Inschriften_ (Leipzig, 1893), _Egyptological Researches_ (Washington, + 1906); for measurements of Egyptian skulls, Miss Fawcett in + _Biometrika_ (1902); A. Thomson and D. Randall-MacIver, _The Ancient + Races of the Thebaid_ (Oxford, 1905) (cf. criticisms in _Man_, 1905; + and for comparisons with modern measurements, C. S. Myers, _Journ. + Anthropological Institute_, 1905, 80). W. Flinders Petrie has + collected and discussed a series of facial types shown in prehistoric + and early Egyptian sculpture, _Journal Anthropological Institute_, + 1901, 248. For Elliott Smith's results see _The Cairo Scientific + Journal_, No. 30, vol. iii., March 1909. + +_Divisions._--In ancient times Egypt was divided into two regions, +representing the kingdoms that existed before Menes. Lower Egypt, +comprising the Delta and its borders, formed the "North Land," _To-meh_, +and reached up the valley to include Memphis and its province or "nome," +while the remainder of the Egyptian Nile valley was "the South," _Shema_ +(SM'W [HRGs: sw-w-a]). The south, if only as the abode of the sun, +always had the precedence over the north in Egypt, and the west over the +east. Later the two regions were known respectively as P-to-res +(Pathros), "the south land," and P-to-meh, "the north land." In +practical administration this historic distinction was sometimes +observed, at others ignored, but in religious tradition it had a firm +hold. In Roman times a different system marked off a third region, +namely Middle Egypt, from the point of the Delta southward. +Theoretically, as its name Heptanomis implies, this division contained +seven nomes, actually from the Hermopolite on the south to the Memphite +on the north (excluding the Arsinoite according to the papyri). Some +tendency to this existed earlier. Egypt to the south of the Heptanomis +was the Thebais, called P-tesh-en-Ne, "the province of Thebes," as early +as the XXVIth Dynasty. The Thebais was much under the influence of the +Ethiopian kingdom, and was separated politically in the troubled times +of the XXIIIrd Dynasty, though the old division into Upper and Lower +Egypt was resumed in the XXVIth Dynasty. + +If Upper and Lower Egypt represented ancient kingdoms, the nomes have +been thought to carry on the traditions of tribal settlements. They are +found in inscriptions as early as the end of the IIIrd Dynasty, and the +very name of Thoth, and that of another very ancient god, are derived +from those of two contiguous nomes in Lower Egypt. The names are written +by special emblems placed on standards, such as an ibis, [HRG: G26], a +jackal [HRG: E15:R12], a hare [HRG: wn:R12], a feathered crown [HRG: +Swty:R12], a sistrum [HRG: zSSt:R12], a blade [HRG: T30:R12], &c., +suggesting tribal badges. Some nomes having a common badge but +distinguished as "nearer" or "further," i.e. "northern" or "southern," +have simply been split, as they are contiguous: in one case, however, +corresponding "eastern" and "western" Harpoon nomes are widely separated +on opposite sides of the Delta. In a few cases, such as "the West," "the +Beginning of the East," it is obvious that the names are derived solely +from their geographical situation. It is quite possible that the +divisions are geographical in the main, but it seems likely that there +were also religious, tribal and other historical reasons for them. How +their boundaries were determined is not certain: in Upper Egypt in many +cases a single nome embraced both sides of the river. The number and +nomenclature of the nomes were never absolutely fixed. In temples of +Ptolemaic and Roman age the full series is figured presenting their +tribute to the god, and this series approximately agrees with the +scattered data of early monuments. The normal number of the nomes in the +sacred lists appears to be 42, of which 22 belonged to Upper Egypt and +20 to Lower Egypt. In reality again these nome-divisions were treated +with considerable freedom, being split or reunited and their boundaries +readjusted. Each nome had its metropolis, normally the seat of a +governor or nomarch and the centre of its religious observances. During +the New Empire, except at the beginning, the nomes seem to have been +almost entirely ignored: under the Deltaic dynasties (except of course +in the traditions of the sacred writing) they were named after the +metropolis, as "the province (_tosh_) of Busiris," "the province of +Sais," &c.: hence the Greek names [Greek: Bousirites nomos], &c. The +Arsinoite nome was added by the Ptolemies after the draining of the Lake +of Moeris (q.v.), and in the later Ptolemaic and the Roman times many +changes and additions to the list must have been made. In Christian +texts the "provinces" appear to have been very numerous. + + See H. Brugsch, _Geographische Inschriften altagyptischer Denkmaler_ + (3 vols., Leipzig, 1857-1860), and for the nomes on monuments of the + Old Kingdom, N. de G. Davies, _Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep_ + (London, 1901), p. 24 et sqq. + +_King and Government._--The government of Egypt was monarchical. The +king (for titles see PHARAOH) was the head of the hierarchy: he was +himself divine and is often styled "the good god," and was the proper +mediator between gods and men. He was also the dispenser of office, +confirmer of hereditary titles and estates and the fountain of justice. +Oaths were generally sworn by the "life" of the king. The king wore +special headdresses and costumes, including the crowns of Upper [HRG: +HDt] and Lower Egypt [HRG: N] (often united [HRG: S5]), and the cobra +upon his forehead. Females were admitted to the succession, but very few +instances occur before the Cleopatras. The most notable Pharaonic queen +in her own right was Hatshepsut in the XVIIIth Dynasty, but her reign +was ignored by the later rulers even of her own family. A certain +Nitocris of about the VIIIth Dynasty and Scemiophris of the XIIth +Dynasty are in the lists, but are quite obscure. Yet inheritance through +the female line was fully recognized, and marriage with the heiress +princess was sought by usurpers to legitimate the claims of their +offspring. Often, especially in the XIIth Dynasty, the king associated +his heir on the throne with him to ensure the succession. + +From time to time feudal conditions prevailed: the great landowners and +local princes had establishments of their own on the model of the royal +court, and were with difficulty kept in order by the monarch. In rare +cases during the Middle Kingdom (inscriptions in the tomb of Ameni at +Beni Hasan, graffiti in the quarries of Hanub) documents were dated in +the years of reign of these feudatory nobles. Under the Empire all power +was again centralized in the hands of the Pharaoh. The apportionment of +duties amongst the swarm of officials varied from age to age, as did +their titles. Members of the royal family generally held high office. +Under the Empire Egypt was administered by a vast bureaucracy, at the +head of which, responsible to the king, was the vizier, or sometimes two +viziers, one for Upper Egypt, the other for Lower Egypt (in which case +the former, stationed at Thebes, had the precedence). The duties of the +vizier and the procedure in his court are detailed in a long inscription +which is repeated in three tombs of the XVIIIth Dynasty at Thebes +(Breasted, _Records_, ii. S 663 et seqq.). The strictest impartiality +was enjoined upon him, and he was advised to hold aloof from the people +in order to preserve his authority. The office of vizier was by no means +a sinecure. All the business of the country was overlooked by +him--treasury, taxation, army, law-courts, expeditions of every kind. +Egypt was the vast estate of Pharaoh, and the vizier was the steward of +it. + +_Army._--The youth of Egypt was liable to be called upon for service in +the field under the local chiefs. Their training consisted of gymnastic +and warlike exercises which developed strength and discipline that would +be as useful in executing public works and in dragging large monuments +as in strictly military service. They were armed in separate companies +with bows and arrows, spears, daggers and shields, and the officers +carried battle-axes and maces. The army, commanded in chief by Una under +the VIth Dynasty for raids in Sinai or Palestine, comprised levies from +every part of Egypt and from Nubia, each under its own leader. Under the +New Empire, when Egypt was almost a military state, the army was a more +specialized institution, the art of war in siege and strategy had +developed, divisions were formed with special standards, there were +regiments armed with battle-axes and scimitars, and chariots formed an +essential part of the host. Egyptian cavalry are not represented upon +the monuments, and we hear little of such at any time. Herodotus divides +the army into two classes, the Calasiries and the Hermotybies; these +names, although he was not aware of it, mean respectively horse- and +foot-soldiers, but it is possible that the former name was only +traditional and had characterized those who fought from chariots, a mode +of warfare that was obsolete in Herodotus's own day: as a matter of fact +both classes are said to have served on the warships of Xerxes' fleet. + +_Arms and Armour._--From the contents of graves and other remains, and +the sculptured and painted scenes, an approximate idea can be obtained +of the weapons of the Egyptians at all periods from the prehistoric age +onwards. Only a few points are here noted. Stone mace-heads are found in +the earliest cemeteries, together with flint implements that may be the +heads of lances, &c., and thin leaf-shaped daggers of bronze. Stone +arrow-heads are common on the surface of the desert. Thin bronze +arrow-heads appear at an early date; under the Empire they are stouter +and furnished with a tang, and later still, towards the Greek period, +they are socketed (often three-sided), or, if of iron, still tanged. The +wooden club, a somewhat primitive weapon, seems to have been considered +characteristic of foreigners from very early times, and, in scenes +dating from the Middle Kingdom, belong principally to the levies from +the surrounding barbarians. The dagger grew longer and stouter, but the +sword made its appearance late, probably first in the hands of the +_Sherdana_ (Sardinian?), mercenaries of the time of Rameses II. A +peculiar scimitar, _khopsh_ [HRG], is characteristic of the Empire. +Slings are first heard of in Egyptian warfare in the 8th century B.C. +The chariot was doubtless introduced with the horse in the Hyksos +period; several examples have been discovered in the tombs of the New +Kingdom. Shields were covered with ox-hide and furnished with round +sighting-holes above the middle. Cuirasses of bronze scales were worn by +the kings and other leaders. The linen corslets of the Egyptian soldiery +at a later time were famous, and were adopted by the Persian army. +According to the paintings of the Middle Kingdom in the tombs of Beni +Hasan, the battlements of brick fortresses were attacked and wrenched +away with long and massive spears. No siege engines are depicted, even +in the time of the Empire, and the absence of original representations +after the XXth Dynasty renders it difficult to judge the advances made +in the art of war during the first half of the last millennium B.C. The +inscription of Pankhi, however, proves that in the 8th century +approaches and towers were raised against the walls of besieged cities. + +_Priesthood._--The priesthood was in a great degree hereditary, though +perhaps not essentially so. In each temple the priests were divided into +four orders (until Ptolemy Euergetes added a fifth), each of which +served in turn for a lunar month under the chief priest or prophet. They +received shares of the annual revenues of the temple in kind, consisting +of linen, oil, flesh, bread, vegetables, wine, beer, &c. The "divine +servants" or "prophets" had residences assigned them in the temple area. +In late times the priests were always shaven, and paid the greatest +attention to cleanliness and ceremonial purity already implied in their +ancient name. Fish and beans then were abhorred by them. Among the +priests were the most learned men of Egypt, but probably many were +illiterate. For the Hellenistic period see W. Otto, _Priester und Tempel +im hellenistichen Agypten_ (Leipzig, 1905 foll.). + + For ancient Egyptian life and civilization in all departments, the + principal work is Ad. Erman, _Life in Ancient Egypt_, translated by H. + M. Tirard (London, 1894), (the original _Agypten und agyptisches Leben + im Altertum_, 2 vols., was published in 1885 at Tubingen); G. Maspero, + _Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria_, translated by A. P. Morton + (London, 1892), (_Lectures historiques_, Paris, 1890); also J. G. + Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_, new ed. by + S. Birch (3 vols., London, 1878). The annual _Archaeological Reports_ + of the Egypt Exploration Fund contain summaries of the work done each + year in the several departments of research. + + Of the innumerable publications of Egyptian monuments, scenes and + inscriptions, C. R. Lepsius, _Denkmaler aus Agypten und Athiopien_ + (Berlin, 1849-1859), and Memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey_ of the + Egypt Exploration Fund, may be specified. For antiquities in museums + there is the sumptuous _Catalogue general des antiquites egyptiennes + du musee de Caire_; for excavations the Memoirs of the Egypt + Exploration Fund, of the Research Account, of the British School of + Archaeology, of the Liverpool School of Archaeology, of the Deutsche + Orient-Gesellschaft, of the Hearst Egyptian Expedition, of the + Theodore M. Davis excavations (Tombs of the Kings). + +_Trade and Money._--There is little evidence to show how buying and +selling were carried on in ancient Egypt. A unique scene in a tomb of +the IVth Dynasty, however, shows men and women exchanging commodities +against each other--fish, fish-hooks, fans, necklaces, &c. Probably this +was a market in the open air such as is held weekly at the present time +in every considerable village. Rings of metal, gold, silver and bronze +played some part in exchange, and from the Hyksos period onwards formed +the usual standards by which articles of all kinds might be valued. In +the XVIIIth Dynasty the value of meat, &c., was reckoned in gold; +somewhat later copper seems the commonest standard, and under the +Deltaic dynasties silver. But barter must have prevailed much longer. +The precious metals were kept in the temples under the tutelage of the +deities. During the XXVth and XXVIth Dynasties silver of the treasury of +Harshafe (at Heracleopolis Magna) was commonly prescribed in contracts, +and in the reign of Darius we hear of silver of the treasury of Ptah (at +Memphis). Aryandes, satrap of Egypt, is said by Herodotus to have been +punished by Darius for coining money of equal fineness with that of the +king in Persia: thus coinage had then begun in Egypt. But the early +coins that have been found there are mainly Greek, and especially +Athenian, and it was not until the introduction of a regular currency in +the three metals under the Ptolemies that much use was made of coined +money. + +Corn was the staple produce of Egypt and may have been exported +regularly, and especially when there was famine in other countries. In +the Tell el-Amarna letters the friendly kings ask Pharaoh for "much +gold." Papyrus rolls and fine linen were good merchandise in Phoenicia +in the 10th century B.C. From the earliest times Egypt was dependent on +foreign countries to supply its wants in some degree. Vessels were +fashioned in foreign stone as early as the Ist Dynasty. All silver must +have been imported, and all copper except a little that the Pharaohs +obtained from the mines of Sinai. Cedar wood was brought from the +forests of Lebanon, ivory, leopard skins and gold from the south, all +kinds of spices and ingredients of incense from Somaliland and Arabia, +fine linen and beautifully worked vessels from Syria and the islands. +Such supplies might be obtained by forcible raiding or as tribute of +conquered countries, or perhaps as the free offerings of simple savages +awed by the arrival of ships and civilized well-armed crews, or again by +royal missions in which rich gifts on both sides were exchanged, or +lastly by private trading. For deciding how large a share was due to +trade, there is almost no evidence. But there are records of expeditions +sent out by the king to obtain the rarities of different countries, and +the hero of the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor was upon this quest. +Egyptian objects of the age of the XVIIIth Dynasty are found in the +Greek islands and on the mainland among remains of the Mycenaean epoch, +and on the other hand the products of the workshops of Crete and other +centres of that culture are found in Egypt and are figured as "tribute +of the Keftiu" in the tomb-paintings, though we have no information of +any war with or conquest of that people. It must be a case of trade +rather than tribute here and in like instances. According to the papyrus +of Unamun at the end of the weak XXth Dynasty payment for cedar was +insisted on by the king of Byblus from the Egyptian commissioner, and +proofs were shown to him of payment having been made even in the more +glorious times of Egypt. Trade both internal and external must have been +largely in the hands of foreigners. It is impossible to say at what +period Phoenician traffic by sea with Egypt began, but it existed as +early as the IIIrd Dynasty. In the time of Herodotus much wine was +imported from Syria and Greece. Amasis II. (c. 570 B.C.) established +Naucratis as the centre of Greek trade in Egypt. Financial transactions +by Jews settled at the southern extremity of Egypt, at Assuan, are found +as early as the reign of Artaxerxes. + +_Hunting, Fishing, &c._--In the desert hunting was carried on by hunters +with bows and arrows, dogs and nets to check the game. Here in ancient +times were found the oryx, addax, ibex, gazelle, bubale, ostrich, hyena +and porcupine, more rarely the wild ox and wild sheep (_O. +tragelaphus_). All of these were considered fit for the table. The lion, +leopard and jackal were not eaten. Pigeons and other birds were caught +in traps, and quails were netted in the fields and on the sea-shore. In +the papyrus marshes the hippopotamus was slain with harpoons, the wild +boar, too, was probably hunted, and the sportsman brought down wild-fowl +with the boomerang, or speared or angled for fish. Enormous quantities +of wild-fowl of many sorts were taken in clap-nets, to be preserved in +jars with salt. Fish were taken sometimes in hand-nets, but the +professional fishermen with their draw-nets caught them in shoals. The +fishing industry was of great importance: the annual catch in the Lake +of Moeris and its canal formed an important part of the Egyptian +revenue. The fish of the Nile, which were of many kinds (including +mullets, &c., which came up from the sea), were split and dried in the +sun: others were salted and so preserved. A supply of sea fish would be +obtained off the coast of the Delta and at the mouth of the Lake +Serbonis. + +_Farming, Horticulture, &c._--The wealth of Egypt lay in its +agriculture. The regular inundations, the ease of irrigating the rich +alluvial flats, and the great heat of the sun in a cloudless sky, while +limiting the natural flora, gave immense opportunities to the +industrious farmer. The normal rise of the Nile was sixteen cubits at +the island of Roda, and two cubits more or less caused a failure of the +harvest. In the paintings we see gardens irrigated by handbuckets and +_shadufs_; the latter (buckets hung on a lever-pole) were probably the +usual means of raising water for the fields in ancient times, and still +are common in Egypt and Nubia, although water-wheels have been known +since the Ptolemaic age, if not earlier. Probably a certain amount of +cultivation was possible all the year round, and there was perhaps a +succession of harvests; but there was a pause after the main harvests +were gathered in by the end of April, and from then till June was the +period in which taxes were collected and loans were repaid. Under the +Ptolemaic regime the records show a great variety of crops, wheat and +barley being probably the largest (see B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, +_Tebtunis Papyri_, i. 560; J. P. Mahaffy and J. G. Smyly, _Petrie +Papyri_, iii. p. 205). Earlier the _boti_, in Greek [Greek: olyra] +(spelt? or durra?) was the main crop, and earlier again inferior +varieties of wheat and barley took the lead, with _boti_ apparently in +the second place. The bread was mainly made of _boti_, the beer of +barley. There were green crops such as clover, and lentils, peas, beans, +radishes, onions, lettuces (as a vegetable and for oil), castor oil and +flax were grown. The principal fruit trees were the date palm, useful +also for its wood and fibre, the pomegranate, fig and fig-sycamore. The +vine was much cultivated in early times, and the vintage is a subject +frequently depicted. Later the wine of the Mareotic region near +Alexandria was celebrated even amongst Roman epicures. Papyrus, which +grew wild in the marshes, was also cultivated, at least in the later +ages: its stems were used for boat-building, and according to the +classical authors for rope-making, as well as for the famous writing +material. About the 8th century A.D. paper drove the latter out of use, +and the papyrus plant quickly became extinct. The Indian lotus described +by Herodotus is found in deposits of the Roman age. Native lotuses, blue +and white, were much used for decoration in garlands, &c., also the +chrysanthemum and the corn-flower. + + See chapters on plant remains by Newberry in W. M. F. Petrie, _Hawara, + Biahmu, and Arsinoe_ (London, 1889); _Kahun, Gurob and Hawara_ (1890); + V. Loret, _La Flore pharaonique_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1892), and the + authorities there cited. + +_Domestic Animals and Birds._--The farmer kept up a large stock of +animals: in the houses there were pets and in the temples sacred +creatures of many kinds. Goats browsed on the trees and herbage at the +edge of the desert. Sheep of a peculiar breed with horizontal twisted +horns and hairy coat are figured on the earliest monuments: a more +valuable variety, woolly with curved horns, made its appearance in the +Middle Kingdom and pushed out the older form: sheep were driven into the +ploughed fields to break the clods and trample in the seed. The oxen +were long-horned, short-horned and polled. They drew the plough, +trampled the corn sheaves round the circular threshing floor, and were +sometimes employed to drag heavy weights. The pig is rarely figured and +was less and less tolerated as the Egyptians grew in ceremonial purity. +A variety of wild animals caught in the chase were kept alive and fed +for slaughter. Geese and ducks of different sorts were bred in countless +numbers by the farmers, also pigeons and quails, and in the early ages +cranes. The domestic fowl was unknown in Egypt before the Deltaic +dynasties, but Diodorus in the first century B.C. describes how its eggs +were hatched artificially, as they are at the present day. Bee-keeping, +too, must have been a considerable industry, though dates furnished a +supply of sweetening material. + +The farm lands were generally held at a rent from an overlord, who might +according to times and circumstances be the king, a feudal prince, or a +temple-corporation. The stock also might be similarly held, or might +belong to the farmers. The ordinary beast of burden, even in the desert, +was the ass. The horse seems to have been introduced with the chariot +during the Hyksos period. It is thought that the camel is shown in rude +figures of the earliest age, but it is scarcely traceable again before +the XXVIth Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic period it was used for desert +transport and gradually became common. Strange to say, it is only very +rarely that men are depicted riding on animals, and never before the New +Kingdom. + +The dog was of many varieties as early as the XIIth Dynasty, when the +greyhound and turnspit and other well-marked forms are seen. The cat was +sometimes trained by the sportsman to catch birds. Monkeys were commonly +kept as pets. The sacred beasts in the various temples, tame as far as +possible, were of almost every conceivable variety, from the vulture to +the swallow or the goose, from the lion to the shrew-mouse, from the +hippopotamus to the sheep and the monkey, from the crocodile to the +tortoise and the cobra, from the carp to the eel; the scorpion and the +scarab beetle were perhaps the strangest in this strange company of +deities. + + For agriculture see J. J. Tylor and F. Ll. Griffith, _The Tomb of + Paheri_ at El Kab, in the XIth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund. + Together with hunting and fishing it is illustrated in many of the + Memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey_ of the same society. See also + Lortet and M. C. Gaillard, _La Faune momifiee de l'ancienne Egypte_ + (Lyons, 1905). + +_Law._--No code of Egyptian laws has come down to us. Diodorus names a +series of Egyptian kings who were law-givers, ending with Amasis (Ahmosi +II.) and Darius. Frequent reference is made in inscriptions to customs +and laws which were traditional, and perhaps had been codified in the +sacred books. From time to time regulations on special points were +issued by royal decree: a fragment of such a decree, directed by +Horemheb of the XVIIIth Dynasty against oppression of the peasantry by +officials and prescribing penalties, is preserved on a stela in the +temple of Karnak, and enactments of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes +II. are known from papyri. In the Ptolemaic age matters arising out of +native contracts were decided according to native law by [Greek: +laokritai], while travelling courts of [Greek: chrematistai] +representing the king settled litigation on Greek contracts and most +other disputes. Affairs were decided in accordance with the code of the +country, [Greek: tes choras nomoi], the Greek code, [Greek: politikoi +nomoi], modelled, it would seem, on Athenian law or royal decrees, +[Greek: prostagmata]. "Native" law was still quoted in Roman times, but +the significance of the expression remains to be ascertained. In ancient +Egypt petitions were sent to the king or the great feudal landowners in +whose territory the petitioner or his adversary dwelt or the injury was +committed: courts were composed of royal or feudal officials, or in the +New Kingdom of officials or responsible citizens. The right of appeal to +the king probably existed at all times. The statement of the case and +the evidence were frequently ordered to be put in writing. The evidence +was supported by oath: in criminal cases, such as the harem conspiracy +against Rameses III., torture of the accused was resorted to to extract +evidence, the bastinado being applied on the hands and the feet. +Penalties in the New Kingdom were death (by starvation or +self-inflicted), fines, beating with a certain number of blows so as to +open a specified number of wounds on as many different parts of the body +(e.g. five wounds, i.e. on hands, feet and back?), also cutting off the +nose with banishment to Nubia or the Syrian frontier. In the times of +the Old Kingdom decapitation was in use, and a decree exists of the +Middle Kingdom degrading a nomarch of Coptos and his family for ever +from his office and from the priesthood on account of services to a +rival pretender. + +As to legal instruments: contracts agreed to in public or before +witnesses and written on papyrus are found as early as the Middle +Kingdom and perhaps belong to all historic times, but are very scarce +until the XXVth Dynasty. Two wills exist on papyrus of the XIIth +Dynasty, but they are isolated, and such are not again found among +native documents, though they occur in Greek in the Ptolemaic age. The +virtual will of a high priest of Ammon under the XXIInd Dynasty is put +in the form of a decree of the god himself. + +From the time of the XXVth Dynasty there is a great increase in written +documents of a legal character, sales, loans, &c., apparently due to a +change in law and custom; but after the reign of Darius I. there is +again almost a complete cessation until the reign of Alexander, probably +only because of the disturbed condition of the country. Under Ptolemy +Philadelphus Greek documents begin to be numerous: under Euergetes II. +(Physcon) demotic contracts are particularly abundant, but they cease +entirely after the first century of Roman rule. + +Marriage contracts are not found earlier than the XXVIth Dynasty. Women +had full powers of inheritance (though not of dealing with their +property), and succession through the mother was of importance. In the +royal line there are almost certain instances of the marriage of a +brother with an heiress-sister in Pharaonic times: this was perhaps +helped by the analogy of Osiris and Isis: in the Ptolemaic dynasty it +was an established custom, and one of the stories of Khamois, written in +the Ptolemaic age, assumes its frequency at a very remote date. It would +be no surprise to find examples of the practice in other ranks also at +an early period, as it certainly was prevalent in the Hellenistic age, +but as yet it is very difficult to prove its occurrence. The native +contracts with the wife gave to her child all the husband's property, +and divorce or separation was provided for, entailing forfeiture of the +dowry. The "native law" of Roman times allowed a man to take his +daughter away from her husband if the last quarrelled with him. + +Slavery is traceable from an early date. Private ownership of slaves, +captured in war and given by the king to their captor or otherwise, is +certainly seen at the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Sales of slaves +occur in the XXVth Dynasty, and contracts of servitude are found in the +XXVIth Dynasty and in the reign of Darius, appearing as if the consent +of the slave was then required. Presumably at this late period there +were eunuchs in Egypt, though adequate evidence of their existence there +is not yet forthcoming. They must have originated among a more cruel +people. That circumcision (though perhaps not till puberty) was +regularly practised is proved by the mummies (agreeing with the +testimony of Herodotus and the indications of the early tomb sculptures) +until an edict of Hadrian forbade it: after that, only priests were +circumcised. + + See A. H. Gardiner, _The Inscription of Mes_ (from Sethe's + _Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Agyptens_, iv.); J. + H. Breasted, _Ancient Records_, Egypt, passim, esp. i. S 190, 535 et + seqq., 773, ii. 54, 671, iii. 45, 367, iv. 416, 499, 795; F. Ll. + Griffith, _Catalogue of the John Rylands Demotic Papyri_; B. P. + Grenfell and J. P. Mahaffy, _Revenue Laws of Philadelphus_ (Oxford, + 1896); B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, _Tebtunis Papyri_, part i. + (London, 1902); Bouche-Leclercq, _Histoire des Lagides_, tome iv. + (Paris, 1907). + +_Science._--The Egyptians sought little after knowledge for its own +sake: they might indulge in religious speculation, but their science was +no more than the knowledge of practical methods. Undoubtedly the +Egyptians acquired great skill in the application of simple means to the +fulfilment of the most difficult tasks. But the books that have come +down to us prove how greatly their written theoretical knowledge fell +short of their practical accomplishment. The explanation of the fact may +partly be that the mechanical and other discoveries of the most +ingenious minds among them, when not in constant requisition by later +generations, were misunderstood or forgotten, and even in other cases +were preserved only as rules of thumb by the craftsmen and experts, who +would jealously hide them as secrets of trade. Men of genius were not +wanting in the long history of Egypt; two doctors, Imhotp (Imuthes), the +architect of Zoser, in the IIIrd Dynasty, and Amenophis (Amenhotp), son +of Hap, the wise scribe under Amenophis III. in the XVIIIth, eventually +received the honours of deification; and Hardadf under Cheops of the +IVth Dynasty was little behind these two in the estimation of posterity. +Such men, who, capable in every field, designed the Great Pyramids and +bestowed the highest monumental fame on their masters, must surely have +had an insight into scientific principles that would hardly be credited +to the Egyptians from the written documents alone. + +_Mathematics._--The Egyptian notation for whole numbers was decimal, +each power of 10 up to 100,000 being represented by a different figure, +on much the same principle as the Roman numerals. Fractions except 2/3 +were all primary, i.e. with the numerator unity: in order to express +such an idea as 9/13 the Egyptians were obliged to reduce it to a series +of primary fractions through double fractions 2/13 + 2/13 + 2/13 + 2/13 ++ 1/13 = 4(1/8 + 1/52 + 1/104) + 1/13 = 1/2 + 2/13 + 1/26 = 1/2 + 1/8 + +1/26 + 1/52 + 1/104; this operation was performed in the head, only the +result being written down, and to facilitate it tables were drawn up of +the division of 2 by odd numbers. With integers, besides adding and +subtracting, it was easy to double and to multiply by 10: multiplying +and dividing by 5 and finding the 1-1/2 value were also among the +fundamental instruments of calculation, and all multiplication proceeded +by repetitions of these processes with addition, e.g. 9 x 7 = (9 x 2 x +2) + (9 x 2) + 9. Division was accomplished by multiplying the divisor +until the dividend was reached; the answer being the number of times the +divisor was so multiplied. Weights and measures proceeded generally on +either a decimal or a doubling system or a combination of the two. Apart +from a few calculations and accounts, practically all the materials for +our knowledge of Egyptian mathematics before the Hellenistic period date +from the Middle Kingdom. + + The principal text is the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus in the British + Museum, written under a Hyksos king c. 1600 B.C.; unfortunately it is + full of gross errors. Its contents fall roughly into the following + scheme, but the main headings are not shown in the original:-- + + I. _Arithmetic._--A. Tables and rule to facilitate the employment of + fractions. + + (a) Table of the divisions of 2 by odd numbers from 3 to 99 (e.g. 2 + : 11 = 1/6 + 1/66), see above. + (b) Conversions of compound fractions (e.g. 2/3 x 1/3 = 1/6 + 1/18), + with rule for finding 2/3 of a fraction. + + B. The "bread" calculation--a division by 10 of the units 1 to 9. + + C. "Completing" calculations. + + (a) Adding multiples of a fraction to produce a more convenient + fraction (perhaps connected with the use of palms and + cubits in decoration in a proportion based on the number 8). + (b) Finding the difference between a given fraction and a given + whole number. + + D. _Ahe_[9] or "mass"-problems (of the form x + x/n = a, to find the + _ahe_ x). + + E. _Tooun_-problems (_tooun_, "rising," seems to be the difference + between the shares of two sets of persons dividing an amount between + them on a lower and a higher scale). + + II. _Geometry._--A. Measurement of volume (amounts of grain in + cylindrical and rectangular spaces of different dimensions and vice + versa). + + B. Measurement of area (areas of square, circular, triangular, &c., + fields). + + C. Proportions of pyramids and other monuments with sloping sides. + + III. _Miscellaneous problems_ (and tables) such as are met with in + bread-making, beer-making, food of live-stock, &c. &c. + + The method of estimating the area of irregular fields and the cubic + contents of granaries, &c., is very faulty. It would be interesting to + find material of later date, such as Pythagoras is reported to have + studied. + + See A. Eisenlohr, _Ein mathematisches Handbuch der alten Agypter_ + (Leipzig, 1877); F. Ll. Griffith, "The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus" in + _Proceedings of the Soc. of Biblical Archaeology_, Nov. 1891, March, + May and June 1894. + +_Astronomy._--The brilliant skies of day and night in Egypt favoured the +development of astronomy. A papyrus of the Roman period in the British +Museum attributes the invention of horoscopes to the Egyptians, but no +early instance is known. Professor Petrie has indeed suggested, chiefly +on chronological grounds, that a table of stars on the ceiling of the +Ramesseum temple and another in the tomb of Rameses VI. (repeated in +that of Rameses IX. without alteration) were horoscopes of Rameses II. +and VI.; but Mahler's interpretation of the tables on which this would +rest appears to be false. Astronomy played a considerable part in +religious matters for fixing the dates of festivals and determining the +hours of the night. The titles of several temple books are preserved +recording the movements and phases of the sun, moon and stars. The +rising of Sothis (Sirius) at the beginning of the inundation was a +particularly important point to fix in the yearly calendar (see below, S +"Chronology"). The primitive clock[10] of the temple time-keeper +(horoscopus), consisting of a [Greek: horologion kai phoinika] (Clemens +Alex. _Strom._, vi. 4. 35), has been identified with two inscribed +objects in the Berlin Museum; these are a palm branch with a sight-slit +in the broader end, and a short handle from which a plummet line was +hung. The former was held close to the eye, the latter in the other +hand, perhaps at arm's length. From the above-mentioned tables of +culmination in the tombs of Rameses VI. and IX. it seems that for fixing +the hours of the night a man seated on the ground faced the horoscopus +in such a position that the line of observation of the Pole-star passed +over the middle of his head. On the different days of the year each hour +was determined by a fixed star culminating or nearly culminating in it, +and the position of these stars at the time is given in the tables as +"in the centre," "on the left eye," "on the right shoulder," &c. +According to the texts, in founding or rebuilding temples the north axis +was determined by the same apparatus, and we may conclude that it was +the usual one for astronomical observations. It is conceivable that in +ingenious and careful hands it might give results of a high degree of +accuracy. + + See L. Borchardt, "Ein altagyptisches astronomisches Instrument" in + _Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache_, xxxvii. (1899), p. 10; Ed. + Meyer, _Agyptische Chronologie_, p. 36. Besides the sun and moon, five + planets, thirty-six dekans, and constellations to which animal and + other forms are given, appear in the early astronomical texts and + paintings. The zodiacal signs were not introduced till the Ptolemaic + period. See H. Brugsch, _Die Agyptologie_ (Leipzig, 1891), pp. 315 et + seqq., for a full account of all these. + +_Medicine._--Except, that splints are sometimes found on the limbs of +bodies of all periods, at present nothing is known, from texts or +otherwise, of the existence of Egyptian surgery or dentistry. For +historical pathology the examination of mummies and skeletons is +yielding good results. There is little sign of the existence of gout or +of syphilitic diseases until late times (see MUMMY). A number of papyri +have been discovered containing medical prescriptions. The earliest are +of the XIIth Dynasty from Kahun, one being veterinary, the other +gynaecological. The finest non-religious papyrus known, the Ebers +Papyrus, is a vast collection of receipts. One section, giving us some +of "the mysteries of the physician," shows how lamentably crude were his +notions of the constitution of the body. It teaches little more than +that the pulse is felt in every part of the body, that there are vessels +leading from the heart to the eyes, ears, nose and all the other +members, and that "the breath entering the nose goes to the heart and +the lungs." The prescriptions are for a great variety of ailments and +afflictions--diseases of the eye and the stomach, sores and broken +bones, to make the hair grow, to keep away snakes, fleas, &c. Purgatives +and diuretics are particularly numerous, and the medicines take the form +of pillules, draughts, liniments, fumigations, &c. The prescriptions are +often fanciful and may thus bear some absurd relation to the disease to +be cured, but generally they would be to some extent effective. Their +action was assisted by spells, for general use in the preparation or +application, or for special diseases. In most cases several ingredients +are prescribed together: when the amounts are indicated it is by measure +not by weight, and evidently no very potent drugs were employed, for the +smallest measure specified is equal to about half of a cubic inch. +Little has yet been accomplished in identifying the diseases and the +substances named in the medical papyri. + + See G. A. Reisner, _The Hearst Medical Papyrus_ (Leipzig, 1905), + (XVIIIth Dynasty), and for a great magical text of the Roman period + (3rd century A.D.) with some prescriptions, F. Ll. Griffith and H. + Thompson, _The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden_ (London, + 1904). + +_Literature_.--The vast mass of writing which has come down to us from +the ancient Egyptians comprises documents of almost every conceivable +kind, business documents and correspondence, legal documents, memorial +inscriptions, historical, scientific, didactic, magical and religious +literature; also tales and lyrics and other compositions in poetical +language. Most of these classes are dealt with in this article under +special headings. In addition there should be mentioned the abundant +explanatory inscriptions attached to wall-scenes as a secondary element +in those compositions. As early as the Middle Kingdom, papyri are found +containing classified lists of words, titles, names of cities, &c., and +of nomes with their capitals, festivals, deities and sacred things, +calendars, &c. + +To a great extent the standard works in all classes date from an early +age, not later than the Middle Kingdom, and subsequent works of religion +and learning like the later additions were largely written in the same +style. Several books of proverbs or "instructions" were put in +circulation during the Middle Kingdom. Kagemni and Ptahhotp of the Old +Kingdom were nominally or really the instructors in manners: King +Amenemhe I. laid down the principles of conduct in government for his +son Senwosri I., preaching on the text of beneficence rewarded by +treachery; Kheti points out in detail to his schoolboy son Pepi the +advantages enjoyed by scribes and the miseries of all other careers. +Some of these books are known only in copies of the New Kingdom. The +instructions of Ani to his son Khenshotp are of later date. In demotic +the most notable of such works is a papyrus of the first century A.D. at +Leiden. + +A number of Egyptian tales are known, dating from the Middle Kingdom and +later. Some are so sober and realistic as to make it doubtful whether +they are not true biographies and narratives of actual events. Such are +the story of Sinuhi, a fugitive to Syria in the reign of Sesostris +[Senwosri] I., and perhaps the narrative of Unamun of his expedition in +quest of cedar wood for the bark of the Theban Ammon in the XXIst +Dynasty. Others are highly imaginative or with miraculous incidents, +like the story of the Predestined Prince and the story of the Two +Brothers, which begins with a pleasing picture of the industrious +farmer, and, in demotic of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, two stories +of the learned Sethon Khamois, son of Rameses II. and high priest of +Ptah, with his rather tragical experiences at the hands of magicians. +The stories of the Middle Kingdom were in choice diction, large portions +of them being rhetorical or poetical compositions attributed to the +principal characters. The story of Sinuhi is of this description and was +much read during the New Kingdom. Another, of the Eloquent Peasant whose +ass had been stolen, was only a framework to the rhetoric of endless +petitions. The tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor in the Red Sea was a piece +of simpler writing, not unpicturesque, of the marvellous type of a +Sindbad story. If all these are deficient in literary merit, they are +deeply interesting as revelations of primitive mind and manners. Of New +Kingdom tales, the story of the Two Brothers is frankly in the simplest +speech of everyday life, while others are more stilted. The demotic +stories of Khamois are simple, but the "Rape of Inaros' Cuirass" (at +Vienna) is told in a stiff and high-flown style. + +In general it may be said of Egyptian literary compositions that apart +from their interest as anthropological documents they possess no merit +which would entitle them to survive. They are more or less touched by +artificiality, but so far as we are able to appreciate them at present +they very seldom attain to any degree of literary beauty. Most of the +compositions in the literary language, whether old or archaistic, are in +a stilted style and often with parallelisms of phrase like those of +Hebrew poetry. Simple prose narrative is here quite exceptional. Some +few hymns contain stanzas of ten lines, each line with a break in the +middle. There is no sign of rhyming in Egyptian poetry, and the rhythm +is not yet recognizable owing to our ignorance of the ancient +vocalization. In old Egyptian tales the narrative portions are +frequently in prose; New Egyptian and demotic contain as a rule little +else. Hymns exist in both of these later forms of the language, and a +few love songs in Late Egyptian. + + See W. M. F. Petrie, _Egyptian Tales_ (2 vols., London, 1895); G. + Maspero, _Les Contes populaires de l'Egypte ancienne_ (3rd edition, + Paris, 1906); W. Max Muller, _Die Liebespoesie der alten Agypter_ + (Leipzig, 1899). (F. LL. G.) + +C. _Religion._--1. _Introductory._--Copious as are the sources of +information from which our knowledge of the Egyptian religion is drawn, +there is nevertheless no aspect of the ancient civilization of Egypt +that we really so little understand. While the youth of Egyptological +research is in part responsible for this, the reason lies still more in +the nature of the religion itself and the character of the testimony +bearing upon it. For a true appreciation of the chaotic polytheism that +reveals itself even in the earliest texts it would be necessary to be +able to trace its development, stage by stage, out of a number of naive +primitive cults; but the period of growth lies behind recorded history, +and we are here reduced to hypotheses and _a posteriori_ +reconstructions. The same criticism applies, no doubt, to other +religions, like those of Greece and Rome. In Egypt, however, the +difficulty is much aggravated by the poor quality of the evidence. The +religious books are textually very corrupt, one-sided in their +subject-matter, and distributed over a period of more than two thousand +years. The greatest defect of all is their relative silence with regard +to the myths. For the story of Isis and Osiris we have indeed the late +treatise ascribed to Plutarch, and a few fragments of other myths may be +culled from earlier native sources. But in general the tales that passed +current about the gods are referred to only in mysterious and recondite +allusions; as Herodotus for his own times explicitly testifies, a +reticence in such matters seems to have been encouraged by the priests. +Thus with regard to Egyptian theology we are very imperfectly informed, +and the account that is here given of it must be looked upon as merely +provisional. The actual practices of the cult, both funerary and divine, +are better known, and we are tolerably familiar with the doctrines as to +the future state of the dead. There is good material, too, for the study +of Egyptian magic, though this branch has been somewhat neglected +hitherto. + +2. _Main Sources._--(a) _The Pyramid texts,_ a vast collection of +incantations inscribed on the inner walls of five royal tombs of the Vth +and VIth Dynasties at Sakkara, discovered and first published by +Maspero. Much of these texts is of extreme antiquity; one incantation at +least has been proved to belong to an age anterior to the unification of +the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Later copies also exist, but possess +little independent critical value. The subject-matter is funerary, i.e. +it deals with the fate of the dead king in the next life. Some chapters +describe the manner in which he passes from earth to heaven and becomes +a star in the firmament, others deal with the food and drink necessary +for his continued existence after death, and others again with the royal +prerogatives which he hopes still to enjoy; many are directed against +the bites of snakes and stings of scorpions. It is possible that these +incantations were recited as part of the funerary ritual, but there is +no doubt that their mere presence in the tombs was supposed to be +magically effective for the welfare of the dead. Originally these texts +had an application to the king alone, but before the beginning of the +XIIth Dynasty private individuals had begun to employ them on their own +behalf. They seem to be relatively free from textual corruption, but the +vocabulary still occasions much difficulty to the translator. + +(b) _The Book of the Dead_ is the somewhat inappropriate name applied to +a large similar collection of texts of various dates, certain chapters +of which show a tendency to become welded together into a book of fixed +content and uniform order. A number of chapters contained in the later +recensions are already found on the sarcophagi of the Middle Kingdom, +together with a host of funereal texts not usually reckoned as belonging +to the Book of the Dead; these have been published by Lepsius and Lacau. +The above-mentioned nucleus, combined with other chapters of more recent +origin, is found in the papyri of the XVIIIth-XXth Dynasties, and forms +the so-called Theban recension, which has been edited by Naville in an +important work. Here already more or less rigid groups of chapters may +be noted, but individual manuscripts differ greatly in what they include +and exclude. In the Saite period a sort of standard edition was drawn +up, consisting of 165 chapters in a fixed order and with a common title +"the book of going forth in the day"; this recension was published by +Lepsius in 1842 from a Turin papyrus. Like the Pyramid texts, the Book +of the Dead served a funerary purpose, but its contents are far more +heterogeneous; besides chapters enabling the dead man to assume what +shape he will, or to issue triumphant from the last judgment, there are +lists of gates to be passed and demons to be encountered in the nether +world, formulae such as are inscribed on sepulchral figures and amulets, +and even hymns to the sun-god. These texts are for the most part +excessively corrupt, and despite the translations of Pierret, Renouf and +Budge, much labour must yet be expended upon them before they can rank +as a first-rate source. + +(c) The texts of the _Tombs of the Kings at Thebes_ (XVIIIth-XXth Dyn.) +consist of a series of theological books compiled at an uncertain date; +they have been edited by Naville and Lefebure. The chief of these, +extant in a longer and a shorter version, is called _The book of that +which is in the Nether World_ (familiarly known as the _Am Duat_) and +deals with the journey of the sun during the twelve hours of the night. +_The Book of Gates_ treats of the same topic from a more theological +standpoint. _The Litanies of the Sun_ contain the acclamations with +which the sun-god Re was greeted, when at eventide his bark reached the +entrance of the nether world. Another treatise relates the destruction +of mankind, and the circumstances that led to the creation of the +heavens in the form of a cow. + +(d) Among the _later religious books_ one or two deserve a special +mention, such as _The Overthrowing of Apophis_, the serpent enemy of the +sun-god; _The Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys_ over their murdered +brother Osiris; _The Book of Breathings_, a favourite book among the +later Theban priests. Several of these books were used in the ritual of +feast days, but all have received a secondary funerary employment, and +are therefore found buried with the dead in their tombs. + +(e) The _Ritual texts_ have survived only in copies not earlier than the +New Kingdom. The temple ritual employed in the daily cult is illustrated +by the scenes depicted on the inner walls of the great temples: the +formulae recited during the performance of the ceremonies are recorded +at length in the temple of Seti I. (XIXth Dyn.) at Abydos, as well as in +some later papyri in Berlin. The whole material has been collected and +studied by Moret. The funerary ritual is known from texts in the Theban +tombs (XVIIIth-XXth Dyn.) and papyri and sarcophagi of later date; older +versions are contained in the Pyramid texts and _The Book of the Dead_. +Schiaparelli has done much towards gathering together this scattered +material. The ritual observed during the process of embalmment is +preserved in late papyri in Paris and Cairo published by Maspero. + +(f) The _magical_ documents have been comparatively little studied, in +spite of their great interest. They deal for the most part with the +hearing of diseases, the bites of snakes and scorpions, &c., but +incidentally cast many sidelights on the mythology and superstitious +beliefs. The best-known of these books is the _Papyrus Harris_ published +by F. J. Chabas, but other papyri of as great or greater importance are +to be found in the Leiden, Turin and other collections. A curious book +published by A. Erman contains spells to be used by mothers for the +protection of their children. A papyrus in London contains a calendar of +lucky and unlucky days. A late class of stelae, of which the best +specimen has been published by Golenischeff, consists of spells of +various kinds originally intended for the use of the living, but later +employed for funerary purposes. + +(g) Under the heading _Miscellaneous_ we must mention a number of +sources of great value: the grave-stones, or stelae, especially those +from Abydos, which throw much light on funerary beliefs; the great +_Papyrus Harris_, the longest of all papyri, which enumerates the gifts +of Rameses III. (XXth Dyn.) to the various temples of Egypt; the hymns +to the gods preserved in Cairo and Leiden papyri; and the inscriptions +of the Ptolemaic temples (Dendera, Edfu, &c.), which teem with good +religious material. Nor can any attempt here be made to summarize the +remaining native Egyptian sources, literary and archaeological, that +deserve notice. + +(h) Among the classical writers, Plutarch in his treatise _Concerning +Isis and Osiris_ is the most important. Diodorus also is useful. +Herodotus, owing to his religious awe and dread of divulging sacred +mysteries, is only a second-rate source. + +3. _The Gods._--The end of the pre-dynastic period, in which we dimly +descry a number of independent tribes in constant warfare with one +another, was marked by the rise of a united Egyptian state with a single +Pharaonic ruler at its head. The era of peace thus inaugurated brought +with it a rapid progress in all branches of civilization; and there soon +emerged not only a national art and a condition of material prosperity +shared by the entire land in common, but also a state religion, which +gathered up the ancient tribal cults and floating cosmical conceptions, +and combining them as best it could, imposed them on the people as a +whole. By the time that the Pyramid texts were put into writing, +doubtless long before the Vth Dynasty, this religion had assumed a +stereotyped appearance that clung to it for ever afterwards. But the +multitude of the deities and the variety of the myths that it strove to +incorporate prevented the development of a uniform theological system, +and the heterogeneous origin of the religion remained irretrievably +stamped upon its face. Written records were few at the time when the +pantheon was built up, so that the process of construction cannot be +followed historically from stage to stage; but it is possible by arguing +backwards from the later facts to discern the main tendencies at work, +and the principal elementary cults that served as the materials. + + + Classification of pre-dynastic gods. + +The gods of the pre-dynastic period may be divided into two chief +groups, the tribal or local divinities and the cosmic or explanatory +deities. At the beginning each tribe had its own particular god, who in +essence was nothing but the articulate expression of the inner cohesion +and of the outward independence of the tribe itself, but who outwardly +manifested himself in the form of some animal or took up his abode in +some fetish of wood or stone. In times of peace this visible emblem of +the god's presence was housed in a rude shrine, but in war-time it was +taken thence and carried into the battlefield on a standard. We find +such divine standards [HRG: R12] often depicted on the earliest +monuments, and among the symbols placed upon them may be detected the +images of many deities destined to play an important part in the later +national pantheon, such as the falcon Horus [HRG: G5:R12], the wolf +Wepwawet (Ophois) [HRG: zAb:R12], the goddess Neith [HRG: R25:R12], +symbolized by a shield transfixed with arrows, and the god Min [HRG: +R23:R12], the nature of whose fetish is obscure. In course of time the +tribes became localized in particular districts, under the influence of +a growing central authority, and their gods then passed from tribal into +local deities. Hence it came about that the provincial districts or +nomes, as they were called, often derived their names from the gods of +tribes that settled in them, these names being hieroglyphically written +with the sign for "district" surmounted by standards of the type above +described, e.g. [HRG: E15:R12], "the nome of the dog Anubis," the 17th +or Cynopolite nome of Upper Egypt. In this way a large number of deities +came to enjoy special reverence in restricted territories, e.g. the ram +[HRG:] Khnum in Elephantine, the jerboa or okapi (?) [HRG: E20] Seth in +Ombos, the ibis [HRG: G26] Thoth in Hermopolis Magna, and of the gods +named above, Horus in Hieraconpolis, Wepwawet in Assiut, Neith in Sais, +and Min in Coptos. As towns and villages gradually sprang up, they too +adopted as their patron some one or other of the original tribal gods, +so that these came to have different seats of worship all over Egypt. +For this reason it is often hard to tell where the primitive cult-centre +of a particular deity is to be sought; thus Horus seems equally at home +both at Buto in the Delta and at Hieraconpolis in Upper Egypt, and the +earliest worship of Seth appears to have been claimed no less by Tanis +in the north than by Ombos in the south. The effect of the localization +of gods in many different places was to give them a double aspect; so, +for instance, Khnum the god of Elephantine could in one minute be +regarded as identical with Khnum the god of Esna, while in the next +minute and without any conscious sense of contradiction the two might be +looked upon as entirely separate beings. In order that there might be no +ambiguity as to what divinity was meant, it became usual, in speaking of +any local deity, to specify the place of which he was "lord." The +tendency to create new forms of a god by instituting his worship in new +local centres persisted throughout the whole course of Egyptian history, +unhindered by the opposite tendency which made national out of local +gods. Some of the cosmic gods, like the sun-god Re of Heliopolis and of +Hermonthis, early acquired a local in addition to their cosmic aspect. + +In the innermost principle of their existence, as patrons and protectors +of restricted communities, the primitive tribal gods did not differ from +one another. But externally they were distinguishable by the various +shapes that their worshippers ascribed to them; and there can be little +doubt that even in the beginning each had his own special attributes and +particular mythical traits. These, however, may have borne little +resemblance to the later conceptions of the same gods with which we are +made familiar by the Pyramid texts. Thus we have no means of +ascertaining what the earliest people of Sais thought about their +goddess Neith, though her fetish would seem to point to her warlike +nature. Nor are we much wiser in respect of those primitive tribal gods +that are represented on the oldest monuments in animal form. For though +we may be sure that the shape of an animal was that in which these gods +were literally visible to their worshippers, yet it is impossible to +tell whether some one living animal was chosen to be the earthly +tenement of the deity, or whether he revealed himself in every +individual of a species, or whether merely the cult-image was roughly +hewn into the shape of an animal. Not too much weight must be attached +to later evidence on this point; for the New Kingdom and still more the +Graeco-Roman period witnessed a strange recrudescence of supposed +primitive cults, to which they gave a form that may or may not have been +historically exact. In some places whole classes of animals came to be +deemed sacred. Thus at Bubastis, where the cat-headed Bast (Ubasti) was +worshipped, vast cemeteries of mummified cats have been found; and +elsewhere similar funerary cults were accorded to crocodiles, lizards, +ibises and many other animals. In Elephantine Khnum was supposed to +become incarnate in a ram, at whose death the divinity left him and took +up his abode in another. So too the bull of Apis (a black animal with +white spots) was during its lifetime regarded as a reincarnation of +Ptah, the local god of Memphis, and similarly the Mnevis and Bacis bulls +were accounted to be "the living souls" of Etom of Heliopolis and of Re +of Hermonthis respectively; these latter cults are certainly secondary, +for Ptah himself was never, either early or late, depicted otherwise +than in human form, as a mummy or as a dwarf; and Etom and Re are but +different names of the sun-god. The form of a snake, attributed to many +local goddesses, especially in later times (e.g. Meresger of the Theban +necropolis), was borrowed from the very ancient deity Outo (Buto); the +semblance of a snake became so characteristic of female divinities that +even the word "goddess" was written with the hieroglyph of a snake. +Other animal shapes particularly affected by goddesses were those of a +lioness (Sakhmi, Pakhe) or a cow (Hathor, Isis). The primitive animal +gods are not to be confused with the animal forms ascribed to many +cosmic deities; thus when the sun-god Re was pictured as a scarabaeus, +or dung-beetle, rolling its ball of dung behind it, this was certainly +mere poetical imagery. Or else a cosmic god might assume an animal shape +through assimilation with some tribal god, as when Re was identified +with Horus and therefore depicted as a falcon. + +With the advance of civilization and the transformation of the tribal +gods into national divinities, the beliefs held about them must have +become less crude. At a very early date the anthropomorphizing tendency +caused the animal deities to be represented with human bodies, though as +a rule they retained their animal heads; so in the case of Seth as early +as the IInd Dynasty. The other gods carry their primitive fetishes in +their hands (like Neith, who is depicted holding arrows) or on their +heads (so Nefertem [Iphthimis] with his lotus-flower). At the same time +the gods began to acquire human personalities. In a few instances this +may have come about by the emphasizing of a really primitive trait; as +when the wolf Ophois, in consonance with the predatory nature of that +animal, developed into a god of war. In other cases the transitional +steps are shrouded in mystery; we do not know, for example, why the ibis +Thoth subsequently became the patron of the fine arts, the inventor of +writing, and the scribe of the gods. But the main factor in this +evolutionary process was undoubtedly the formation of myths, which +brought gods of independent origin into relation with one another, and +thus imbued them with human passions and virtues. Here dim historic +recollections often determined the features of the story, and in one +famous legend that knits together a group of gods all seemingly local in +origin we can still faintly trace how the tale arose, was added to, and +finally crystallized in a coherent form. + +Osiris was a wise and beneficent king, who reclaimed the Egyptians from +savagery, gave them laws and taught them handicrafts. The prosperous +reign of Osiris was brought to a premature close by the machinations of +his wicked brother Seth, who with seventy-two fellow-conspirators +invited him to a banquet, induced him to enter a cunningly-wrought +coffin made exactly to his measure, then shut down the lid and cast the +chest into the Nile. Isis, the faithful wife of Osiris, set forth in +search of her dead husband's body, and after long and adventure-fraught +wanderings, succeeded in recovering it and bringing it back to Egypt. +Then while she was absent visiting her son Horus in the city of Buto, +Seth once more gained possession of the corpse, cut it into fourteen +pieces, and scattered them all over Egypt. But Isis collected the +fragments, and wherever one was found, buried it with due honour; or, +according to a different account, she joined the limbs together by +virtue of her magical powers, and the slain Osiris, thus resurrected, +henceforth reigned as king of the dead in the nether world. When Horus +grew up he set out to avenge his father's murder, and after terrible +struggles finally conquered and dispossessed his wicked uncle; or, as +another version relates, the combatants were separated by Thoth, and +Egypt divided between them, the northern part falling to Horus and the +southern to Seth. Such is the story as told by Plutarch, with certain +additions and modifications from older native sources. There existed, +however, a very ancient tradition according to which Horus and Seth were +hostile brothers, not nephew and uncle; and many considerations may be +urged in support of the thesis which regards their struggles as +reminiscences of wars between two prominent tribes or confederations of +tribes, one of which worshipped the falcon Horus while the other had the +okapi (?) Seth as its patron and champion. The Horus-tribes were the +victors, and it was from them that the dynastic line sprang; hence the +Pharaoh always bore the name of Horus, and represented in his own +hallowed person the ancient tribal deity. Of Osiris we can only state +that he was originally the local god of Busiris, whatever further +characteristics he primitively possessed being quite obscure. Isis was +perhaps the local goddess of Buto, a town not far distant from Busiris; +this geographical proximity would suffice to explain her connexion with +Osiris in the tale. A legend now arose, we know not how or why, which +made Seth the brother and murderer of Osiris; and this led to a fusion +of the Horus-Seth and the Seth-Isis-Osiris _motifs_. The relationships +had now to be readjusted, and the most popular view recognized Horus as +the son and avenger of Osiris. The more ancient account survived, +however, in the myth that Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis and Nephthys (a +goddess who plays but a minor part in the Osiris cycle) were all +children of the earth-god Keb and the sky-goddess Nut, born on the five +consecutive days added on at the end of the year (the so-called +epagomenal days). Later generations reconciled these contradictions by +assuming the existence of two Horuses, one, the brother of Osiris, Seth +and Isis, being named Haroeris, i.e. Horus the elder, while the other, +the child of Isis and Osiris, was called Harpocrates, i.e. Horus the +child. + + + Cosmic deities. + +The second main class of divinities that entered into the composition of +the Egyptian pantheon was due to that innate and universal speculative +bent which seeks, and never fails to find, an explanation of the facts +of the external world. Behind the great natural phenomena that they +perceived all around them, the Egyptians, like other primitive folk, +postulated the existence of divine wills not dissimilar in kind to their +own, though vastly superior in power. Chief among these cosmic deities +was the sun-god Re, whose supremacy seemed predestined under the +cloudless sky of Egypt. The oldest conceptions represented Re as sailing +across the heavens in a ship called "Manzet," "the bark of the dawn"; at +sunset he stepped aboard another vessel named "Mesenktet," "the bark of +the dusk," which bore him back from west to east during the night. Later +theories symbolized Re in many different ways. For some he was identical +with Horus, and then he was falcon-headed and was called Hor-akhti, the +Horus of the horizons. Others pictured him to themselves as a tiny +infant in the early dawn, as full-grown at noon, and as an infirm old +man in the evening. When the sky was imagined as a cow, he was a calf +born anew every morning. The moon was a male deity, who likewise fared +across the heavens in a boat; hence he was often named Chons, "the +sailor." The ibis-god Thoth was early identified with the moon. The +stars and planets were likewise gods. Among them the bright star Sirius +was held in special esteem; it was a goddess Sothis (Sopde), often +identified by the Egyptians with Isis. The constellations that seemed +unceasingly to speed across the sky were named "the never-resting ones," +and the circumpolar stars, which never sink beneath the horizon, were +known as "the imperishables." Concerning earth and sky there were many +different opinions. Some thought that the sky was a goddess Nut, whom +the god Show held aloof from her husband Keb the earth, on whose back +the plants and trees grew. Others believed in a celestial ocean, +personified under the name of Nun, over which the heavenly bodies sailed +in boats. At a later date the sky was held to be a cow (Hathor) whose +four feet stood firm upon the soil; or else a vast face, in which the +right eye was the sun and the left eye the moon. Alongside these +fanciful conceptions there existed a more sober view, according to which +the earth was a long oval plain, and the sky an iron roof supported by +the tops of mountains or by four pillars [HRG] at the cardinal points. +Beneath the ground lay a dark and mysterious region, now conceived as an +inverse heaven (Nenet), now as a vast series of caverns whose gates were +guarded by demons. This nether world was known as the Duat (Dat, Tei), +and through it passed the sun on his journey during the hours of night; +here too, as many thought, dwelt the dead and their king Osiris. That +great natural feature of Egypt, the Nile, was of course one of the gods; +his name was Hapi, and as a sign of his fecundity he had long pendulous +breasts like a woman. In contradistinction to the tribal gods, it rarely +happened that the cosmic deities enjoyed a cult. But there are a few +important exceptions: Re in Heliopolis (here identified with a local god +Etom) and in Hermonthis; Hathor at Dendera and elsewhere. Certain of the +tribal gods early became identified with cosmic divinities, and the +latter thus became the objects of a cult; so, for instance, the Horus of +Edfu was a sun-god, and Thoth in Hermopolis Magna was held to be the +moon. + + + Minor deities and demons. + +An extension of the principle that created the cosmic gods gave rise to +a large number of minor deities and demons. Day and night, the year, the +seasons, eternity, and many similar conceptions were each represented by +a god or goddess of their own, who nevertheless possessed but a shadowy +and doubtful existence. Human attributes like Taste, Knowledge, Joy and +so forth were likewise personified, no less than abstract ideas such as +Fate, Destiny and others; rather more clearly defined than the rest was +Maat, the goddess of Truth and Right, who was fabled to be the daughter +of Re and may even have had a cult. Certain gods were purely functional, +that is to say, they appeared at special times to perform some +appointed task, at the completion of which they vanished. Such were +Nepri, the god of the corn-harvest; Meskhonit, the goddess who attended +every child-bed; Tait, the goddess of weaving. Numberless semi-divine +beings had no other purpose than to fill out the myths, as, for +instance, the chattering apes that greeted the sun-god Re as he rose +above the eastern horizon, and the demons who opened the gates of the +nether world at the approach of the setting sun. + + + Foreign deities. + +We take this opportunity of mentioning sundry other divinities who were +later introduced to swell the already overcrowded ranks of the pantheon. +Contact with foreign lands brought with it several new deities, Baal, +Anat and Resheph from Syria, and the misshapen dwarf Bes from the south; +earlier than these, the Astarte of Byblus, whom the Egyptians identified +with Hathor. In Thebes Amenophis I. and his spouse Nefertari were +worshipped as patron gods of the necropolis many centuries after their +death. Two men of exceptional wisdom received divine honours, and had +temples of their own in the Ptolemaic period; these were Imouthes, who +had lived under Zoser of the IIIrd Dynasty, and Amenophis son of Hapu, a +contemporary of the third king of the same name (XVIIIth Dyn.). The hill +of Sheikh Abd-el-gurna at Thebes was looked upon as a particularly holy +place, and was revered as a goddess. Almost anything that was regarded +with awe, any object used in the divine ritual could at a given moment +be envisaged as a deity. Thus the boat of Osiris (Neshemet) and those of +the sun-god were goddesses; and various wands and sceptres belonging to +certain gods were imagined as harbouring the divine being. Truly it +might have been said in ancient Egypt: of the making of gods there is no +end! + + + Theological combinations. + +For such order as can be discerned in the mythological conceptions of +the Egyptians the priesthood was largely responsible. At a very early +date the theological school of Heliopolis undertook the task of +systematizing the gods and the myths, and it is mainly to them that is +due the Egyptian religion as we find it in the Pyramid texts. Their +influence is particularly conspicuous in the prominent place accorded to +the sun-god Re, and in the creation-legend that made him the father of +gods and men. First of all living things was Re; legend told how he +arose as a naked babe from a lotus-flower that floated on the primeval +ocean Nun. Others held the view that he crept from an egg that lay on a +hill in the midst of a lake called Desdes; and a third, more barbarous, +tale related his obscene act of self-procreation. Re became the father +of the pair of gods Show and Tefnut (Tphenis), who emanated from his +spittle. They again gave birth to Keb and Nut, from whom in their turn +sprang Osiris and Seth, Isis and Nephthys. These nine gods were together +known as the great Ennead or cycle of nine. A second series of nine +deities, with Horus as its first member, was invented at the same time +or not long afterwards, and was called the Lesser Ennead. In later times +the theory of the Ennead became very popular and was adopted by most of +the local priesthoods, who substituted their own favourite god for Re, +sometimes retaining and sometimes changing the names of the other eight +deities. Thus locally many different gods came to be viewed as the +creators of the world. Only in two instances, however, did a local god +ever obtain wide acceptance in the capacity of demiurge: Ptah of +Memphis, who was famed as an artist and master-builder, and Khnum of +Elephantine, who was said to have moulded mankind on the potter's wheel. + +Already in the Pyramid texts the importance of Osiris almost rivals that +of Re. His worship does not seem to have been due to Heliopolitan +influence, and may possibly have been propagated by active missionary +effort. It is apparently through the funeral cult that Osiris so early +took a firm hold on the imagination of the people; for at a very ancient +date he was identified with every dead king, and it needed but a slight +extension of this idea to make him into a king of the dead. In later +times the moral aspect of his tale was doubtless the main cause of its +continued popularity; Osiris was named Onnophris, "the good Being" _par +excellence_, and Seth was contrasted with him as the author and the root +of all evil. Still the Egyptians themselves seem to have been somewhat +at a loss to account for the great veneration that they paid to Osiris. +Successive theories interpreted him as the god of the earth, as the god +of the Nile, as a god of vegetation, as a moon-god and as a sun-god; and +nearly every one of these theories has been claimed to be the primitive +truth by some scholar or another. + +Nowhere is the conservatism of the Egyptians more clearly displayed than +in the tenacity with which they clung to the old forms of the theology, +such as we have essayed to describe. Neither the influx of new deities +nor the diligence of the priestly authors and commentators availed to +break down the cast-iron traditions with which the compilers of the +Pyramid texts were already familiar. It is true that with the +displacement of the capital town certain local deities attained a degree +of power that, superficially regarded, seems to alter the entire +perspective of the religion. Thus Ammon, originally the obscure local +god of Thebes, was raised by the Theban monarchs of the XIIth and of the +XVIIIth to XXIst Dynasties to a predominant position never equalled by +any other divinity; and, by similar means, Suchos of the Fayum, Ubasti +of Bubastis, and Neith of Sais, each enjoyed for a short space of time a +consideration that no other cause would have secured to them. But +precisely the example of Ammon proves the hopelessness of any attempt to +change the time-honoured religious creed; his priests identified him +with the sun-god Re, whose cult-centre was thus merely transferred a few +hundred miles to the South. Nor could even the violent religious +revolution of Akhenaton (Amenophis IV.), of which we shall later have +occasion to speak, sweep away for ever beliefs that had persisted for so +many generations. + +But if the facts of the religion, broadly viewed, never underwent a +change, the interpretation of those facts did so in no small degree. The +religious books were for the most part written in archaic language, +which was only imperfectly understood by the priests of later times; and +hence great scope was given to them to exercise their ingenuity as +commentators. By the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty some early chapters of +the Book of the Dead had been provided with a triple commentary. +Unfortunately the methods pursued were as little reasonable as those +adopted by the medieval Jewish Rabbis; instead of the context being +studied as a whole, with a view to the recovery of its literal sense, +each single verse was considered separately, and explained as an +allusion to some obscure myth or as embodying some mystical meaning. +Thus so far from simplifying or really elucidating the religion, these +priestly labours tended rather to confuse one legend with another and to +efface the personality of individual gods. The ease with which one god +could be identified with another is perhaps the most striking +characteristic of later Egyptian theology. There are but few of the +greater deities who were not at some time or another identified with the +solar god Re. His fusion with Horus and Etom has already been noted; +further we find an Ammon-Re, a Sobk-Re, a Khnum-Re; and Month, Onouris, +Show and Osiris are all described as possessing the attributes of the +sun. Ptah was early assimilated to the sepulchral gods Sokaris and +Osiris. Pairs of deities whose personalities are often blended or +interchanged are Hathor and Nut, Sakhmi and Pakhe, Seth and Apophis. So +too in Abydos, his later home, Osiris was identified with Khante-Amentiu +(Khentamenti, Khentamenthes), "the chief of those who are in the West," +a name that was given to a vaguely-conceived but widely-venerated +divinity ruler of the dead. Many factors helped in the process of +assimilation. The unity of the state was largely influential in bringing +about the suppression of local differences of belief. The less important +priesthoods were glad to enhance the reputation of the deity they served +by identifying him with some more important god. And the mystical bent +of the Egyptians found satisfaction in the multiplicity of forms that +their gods could assume; among the favourite epithets which the hymns +apply to divinities are such as "mysterious of shapes," "multiple of +faces." + + + Monotheistic tendency. + +The goal towards which these tendencies verged was monotheism; and +though this goal was only once, and then quite ephemerally, reached, +still the monotheistic idea was at most periods, so to speak, in the +air. Sometimes the qualities common to all the gods were abstracted, and +the resultant notion spoken of as "the god." At other times, and +especially in the hymns addressed to some divinity, all other gods were +momentarily forgotten, and he was eulogized as "the only one," "the +supreme," and so forth. Or else several of the chief deities were +consciously combined and regarded as different emanations or aspects of +a Sole Being; thus a Ramesside hymn begins with the words "Three are all +the gods, Ammon, Re and Ptah," and then it is shown how these three +gods, each in his own particular way, gave expression and effect to a +single divine purpose. + + + Akhenaton. + +For a brief period at the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty a real monotheism, +as exclusive as that of Judaism or of Islam, was adopted as the state +religion of Egypt. The young Pharaoh Amenophis IV. seems to have been +fired by genuine fanatical enthusiasm, though political motives, as well +as doctrinal considerations, may have prompted him in the planning of +his religious revolution (see also S History). The Theban god Ammon-Re +was then supreme, and the ever-growing power of his priesthood may well +have inflamed the jealousy of their Heliopolitan rivals. Amenophis began +his reign in Thebes as an adherent of the traditional faith, but after a +few years he abandoned that town and built a new capital for his god +Aton 200 m. farther north, at a place now called El Amarna. The new +deity was a personification of the sun's disk. The name Re was +suppressed, as too intimately associated with that of Ammon; and Ammon, +together with all the other gods, was put to the ban. Amenophis even +changed his own name, of which the name of Ammon formed an element, to +Akhenaton, "the brilliancy of the Aton," and the capital was called +Khitaton, "The Horizon of the Aton." The new dogmas were known as "the +Teaching," and their tenets, as revealed in the poems composed in honour +of the Aton, breathe the purest and most exalted monotheistic spirit. +The movement had, no doubt, met with serious opposition from the very +start, and the reaction soon set in. The immediate successors of +Akhenaton strove to follow in his footsteps, but the conservative nature +of Egypt quickly asserted itself. Not sixty years after the accession of +Akhenaton, his city was abandoned, its rulers branded as heretics, and +the old religion restored in Thebes as completely as if the Aton had +never existed. + +Having thus failed to become rational, Egyptian theology took refuge in +learning. The need for a more spiritual and intellectual interpretation +of the pantheon still remained, and gave rise to a number of theological +sciences. The names of the gods and the places of their worship were +catalogued and classified, and manuals were devoted to the topography of +mythological regions. Much ingenuity was expended on the development of +a history of the gods, the groundwork of which had been laid in much +earlier times. Re was not only the creator of the world, but he was also +the first king of Egypt. He was followed on the throne by the other +eight members of his Ennead, then by the lesser Ennead and by other +gods, and finally by the so-called "worshippers of Horus." The latter +were not wholly mythical personages, though they were regarded as +demigods (Manetho calls them "the dead," [Greek: nekues]); they have +been shown to be none other than the dim rulers of the predynastic age. +The Pharaohs of the historic period were thus divine, not only by virtue +of their connexion with Horus (see above), but also as descendants of +Re; and the king of Egypt was called "the good god" during his lifetime, +and "the great god" after his death. The later religious literature is +much taken up with the mythical and semi-mythical dynasties of kings, +and the priests compiled, with many newly-invented details, the +chronicles of the wars they were supposed to have waged. + + + Later developments. + +In a similar manner, the ethical and allegorical methods of +interpretation came into much greater prominence towards the end of the +New Kingdom. The Osirian legend, as we have already seen, was early +accepted as symbolizing the conflict between good and evil. So too the +victories of Re over the serpent named Apophis were more or less clearly +understood as a simile of the antithetical nature of light and darkness. +In one text at least as ancient as the XVIIIth Dynasty (the copy that we +have dates only from the Ethiopian period) an ingenious attempt is made +to represent Ptah as the source of all life: from him, it is said, +emanated Horus as "heart" or "mind" and Thoth as "tongue," and through +the conjoint action of these two, the mind conceiving the design and the +tongue uttering the creative command, all gods and men and beasts +obtained their being. Of this kind of speculation much more must have +existed than has reached us. It is doubtless such explanations as these +that the Greeks had in view when they praised the wisdom of the ancient +Egyptians; and in the classical period similar semi-philosophical +interpretations altogether supplanted, among the learned at least, the +naive literal beliefs of earlier times. Plutarch in his treatise on Isis +and Osiris well exemplifies this standpoint: for him every god and every +rite is symbolic of some natural or moral truth. + +The final stages of the Egyptian religion are marked by a renewed +popularity of all its more barbarous elements. Despairing, as it would +seem, of discovering the higher wisdom that the more philosophic of the +priests supposed that religion to conceal, the simpler-minded sought to +work out their own salvation by restoring the worship of the gods to its +most primitive forms. Hence came the fanatical revival of animal-worship +which led to feud and bloodshed between neighbouring towns--a feature of +Egyptian religion that at once amused and scandalized contemporary Greek +and Latin authors (Plut. De Iside, 72; Juv. xv. 33). Nevertheless +Egyptian cults, and particularly those of Serapis and Isis, found +welcome acceptance on European soil; and the shrines of Egyptian deities +were established in all the great cities of the Roman Empire. Serapis +was a god imported by the first Ptolemy from Sinope on the Black Sea, +who soon lost his own identity by assimilation with Osiris-Apis, the +bull revered in Memphis. Far down into the Roman age the worship of +Serapis persisted and flourished, and it was only when the Serapeum of +Alexandria was razed to the ground by order of Theodosius the Great +(A.D. 391) that the death-blow of the old Egyptian religion was struck. + + Notes are here added on some divinities who have received inadequate + or no attention in the preceding pages. For information as to Ammon, + Anubis, Apis, Bes, Bubastis, Buto, Isis and Thoth, reference must be + made to the special articles on these gods. + + ARSAPHES, in Egyptian _Harshafe_, "he who is upon his lake," the + ram-headed god of Heracleopolis Magna, gained an ephemeral importance + during the IXth Dynasty, which arose from his town. Outwardly, he + resembles Khnum. Little is known about him, and he is seldom + mentioned. The burial-place of his priests in later times was in 1904 + discovered at Abusir el Meleq. + + CHONS, "he who travels by boat," perhaps originally a mere epithet of + the moon-god Ioh or Thoth, is chiefly familiar as the third member of + the Theban triad. As such he is represented as a youthful god, wearing + a skull-cap surmounted by the moon. His cult was revived and became + popular in Ptolemaic times. A curious story about the sending of his + statue to Mesopotamia to heal a daughter of the king of Bakhtan is + related upon a stele that purports to date from the Ramesside period: + it has been proved to be a pious fraud invented by the priests not + earlier than the Greek period. + + HATHOR, whose name means "house of Horus," was at all times a very + important deity. She is depicted as a cow, or with a broad human + countenance, the cow's ears just showing from under a massive wig. + Probably at first a goddess of the sky, she is early mentioned in + connexion with Re. Later she was often identified with Isis, and her + name was used to designate foreign goddesses like those of Puoni and + Byblus. Unlike most cosmic deities, she was worshipped in many + localities, chief among which was Dendera, where her magnificent + temple, of Ptolemaic date, still stands. "The seven Hathors" is a name + given to certain fairies, who appeared shortly after the birth of an + infant, and predicted his future. + + KHNUM or KHNOUM, a ram-headed god, whose principal place of worship + was the island of Elephantine (there associated with Satis and + Anukis), but also revered elsewhere, e.g. together with Nebtu in Esna. + He enjoyed great repute as a creator, and was supposed to use the + potter's wheel for the purpose. In this capacity he is sometimes + accompanied by the frog-headed goddess Heket. + + MONTH, a hawk-headed god of the Thebaid: in Thebes itself his cult was + superseded by that of Ammon, but it persisted in Hermonthis. He was + often given the solar attributes, and was credited as a great warrior. + + MIN, the god of Coptos and Panopolis (Akhmim), seems to have been + early looked upon as a deity of the harvest and crops. His cult dates + from the earliest times. Represented as ithyphallic, with two tall + plumes on his head, the right arm upraised and bearing a scourge. In + old times he is identified with Horus: later Ammon was confused with + him, and depicted in his image. + + NECHBET (Nekhbi, Nekhebi), the vulture-goddess of El Kab, called + Eileithyia by the Greeks. She gained an ascendancy as patroness of the + south at the time when the two kingdoms were striving for the mastery. + It is as such, in opposition to Buto the goddess of the north, that + she is most often named on the monuments. + + NEITH, the very ancient and important goddess of Sais, the Greek + Athene. On the earliest monuments she is represented by a shield + transfixed by arrows. Later she wears the crown of Lower Egypt, and + carries in her hands a bow and arrows, a sign of her warlike + character. In the XXVIth Dynasty, when a line of Pharaohs sprang from + Sais, she regained a prominent position, and was given many cosmogonic + attributes, including the title of mother of Re. + + NEPHTHYS, the sister of Osiris and wife of Seth, daughter of Keb and + Nut, plays a considerable role in the Osiris story. She sided with + Isis and aided her to bring Osiris back to life. Isis and Nephthys are + often mentioned together as protectresses of the dead. + + ONOURIS, Egyptian _En-huri_, "sky-bearer," the god of Thinis. Later + identified with Shu (Show), who holds heaven and earth apart. + + PTAH, the Hephaestus of the Greeks, a demiurgic and creative god, + special patron of hand-workers and artisans. Worshipped in Memphis, he + perhaps owed his importance more to the political prominence of that + town than to anything else. He was early identified with an ancient + but obscure god Tenen, and further with the sepulchral deity Sokaris. + He is represented either as a closely enshrouded figure whose + protruding hands grasp a composite sceptre, the whole standing on a + pedestal within a shrine; or else as a misshapen dwarf. + + SAKHMI, a lion-headed goddess of war and strife, whose name signifies + the mighty. She was worshipped at Latopolis (Esna), but also at a late + date as a member of the Memphite triad, with Ptah as husband and + Nefertem (Iphthimis) as son: often, too, confounded with Ubasti. + + SETH (Egyptian Set, Sth or Sts), by the Greeks called Typhon, was + depicted as an animal [HRG] that has been compared with the jerboa by + some, and with the okapi by others, but which the Egyptians themselves + occasionally conceived to be nothing but a badly drawn ass. In + historic times his cult was celebrated at Tanis and Ombos. He regained + a certain prestige as god of the Hyksos rulers, and two Pharaohs of + the XIXth Dynasty derived their name Sethos (Seti) from him. But, + generally speaking, he was abominated as a power of evil, and his + figure was often obliterated on the monuments. He is named in similes + as a great warrior, and as such and "son of Nut" he is identified with + the Syrian Baal. + +4. _The Divine Cult._--In the midst of every town rose the temple of the +local god, a stately building of stone, strongly contrasting with the +mud and plaster houses in which even the wealthiest Egyptians dwelt. It +was called the "house of the god" [HRGs], and in it the deity was +supposed to reside, attended by his "servants" [HRGs] the priests. There +was indeed a certain justification for this contention, even when a +contrary theory assigned to the divinity a place in the sky, as in the +case of the lunar divinity Thoth; for in the inmost sanctuary stood a +statue of the god, which served as his representative for the purposes +of the cult. Originally each temple was dedicated to one god only; but +it early became usual to associate with him a mate of the opposite sex, +besides a third deity who might be represented either as a second wife +or as a child. As examples of such triads, as they are called, may be +mentioned that of Thebes, consisting of Ammon, Mut and Chons, father, +mother and child; and as typical of the other kind, where a god was +accompanied by two goddesses, that of Elephantine, consisting of Khnum, +Satis and Anukis. The needs of the god were much the same as those of +mortals; no more than they could he dispense with food and drink, +clothes for his apparel, ointment for his limbs, and music and dancing +to rejoice his heart. The only difference was that the divine statue was +half-consciously recognized as a lifeless thing that required carefully +regulated rites and ceremonies to enable it to enjoy the good things +offered to it. Early every morning the officiating priest proceeded to +the holy of holies, after the preliminaries of purification had cleansed +him from any miasma that might interfere with the efficacy of the rites. +Then with the prescribed gestures, and reciting appropriate formulae all +the while, he broke the seal upon the door of the shrine, loosed the +bolts, and at last stood face to face with the god. There followed a +series of prostrations and adorations, culminating in the offering of a +small image of Maat, the goddess of Truth. This seems to have been the +psychological moment of the entire service: hitherto the statue had been +at best a god in _posse_; now the symbolical act placed him in +possession of all his faculties, he was a god in truth, and could +participate like any mortal in the food and luxuries that his servants +put before him. The daily ceremony closed with ablutions, anointings and +a bountiful feast of bread, geese, beer and oxen; having taken his fill +of these, the god returned to his shrine until the next morning, when +the ritual was renewed. The words that accompanied the manual gestures +are, in the rituals that have come down to us, wholly dominated by the +myth of Osiris: it is often hard to discern much connexion between the +acts and the formulae recited, but the main thought is clearly that the +priest represents Horus, the pious son of the dead divinity Osiris. That +this conception is very old is proved by the fact that even in the +Pyramid texts "the eye of Horus" is a synonym for all offerings: an +ancient tale of which only shreds have reached us related how Seth had +torn the eye of Horus from him, though not before he himself had +suffered a still more serious mutilation; and by some means, we know not +how, the restoration of the eye was instrumental in bringing about the +vindication of Osiris. As to the manual rites of the daily cult, all +that can here be said is that incense, purifications and anointings with +various oils played a large part; the sacrifices consisted chiefly of +slaughtered oxen and geese; burnt offerings were a very late innovation. + +At an early date the rites practised in the various temples were +conformed to a common pattern. This holds good not only for the daily +ritual, but also for many festivals that were celebrated on the same day +throughout the whole length of the land. Such were the calendrical +feasts, called "the beginnings of the seasons," and including, for +example, the monthly and half-monthly festivals, that of the New Year +and that of the rising of Sirius (Sothis). But there were also local +feast days like that of Neith in Sais (Hdt. ii. 62) or that of Ammon in +southern Opi (Luxor). These doubtless had a more individual character, +and often celebrated some incident supposed to have occurred in the +lifetime of the god. Sometimes, as in the case of the feast of Osiris in +Abydos, a veritable drama would be enacted, in which the whole history +of the god, his sufferings and final triumph were represented in mimic +form. At other times the ceremonial was more mysterious and symbolical, +as in the feast of the raising of the Ded-column [HRG] when a column of +the kind was drawn by cords into an upright position. But the most +common feature of these holy days was the procession of the god, when he +was carried on the shoulders of the priests in his divine boat far +beyond the precincts of his temple; sometimes, indeed, even to another +town, where he paid a visit to the god of the place. These occasions +were public holidays, and passed amid great rejoicings. The climax was +reached when at a given moment the curtains of the shrine placed on the +boat were withdrawn, and the god was revealed to the eyes of the +awe-struck multitude. Music and dancing formed part of the festival +rites. + + + Temples. + +As with the rites and ceremonies, so also the temples were early +modelled upon a common type. Lofty enclosure walls, adorned with scenes +from the victorious campaigns of the Pharaoh, shut off the sacred +buildings from the surrounding streets. A small gateway between two +massive towers or pylons gave admittance to a spacious forecourt open to +the sky, into which the people were allowed to enter at least on feast +days. Farther on, separated from the forecourt by smaller though still +massive pylons, lay a hypostyle hall, so called from its covered +colonnades; this hall was used for all kinds of processions. Behind the +hypostyle hall, to which a second similar one might or might not be +added, came the holy of holies, a dark narrow chamber where the god +dwelt; none but the priests were admitted to it. All around lay the +storehouses that contained the treasures of the god and the +appurtenances of the divine ritual. The temples of the earliest times +were of course far more primitive than this: from the pictures that are +all that is now left to indicate their nature, they seem to have been +little more than huts or sheds in which the image of the god was kept. +One temple of a type different from that above described has survived at +Abusir, where it has been excavated by German explorers. It was a +splendid edifice dedicated to the sun-god Re by a king of the Vth +Dynasty, and was probably a close copy of the famous temple of +Heliopolis. The most conspicuous feature was a huge obelisk on a broad +superstructure [HRG]: the obelisk always remained closely connected with +the solar worship, and probably took the place of the innermost shrine +and statue of other temples. The greater part of the sanctuary was left +uncovered, as best befitted a dwelling-place of the sun. Outside its +walls there was a huge brick model of the solar bark in which the god +daily traversed the heavens. + + + Power of the priests. + +As the power of the Pharaohs increased, the maintenance of the cult +became one of the most important affairs of state. The most illustrious +monarchs prided themselves no less on the buildings they raised in +honour of the gods than on the successful wars they waged: indeed the +wars won a religious significance through the gradual elevation of the +god of the capital to god of the nation, and a large part of the spoils +was considered the rightful perquisite of the latter. Countless were the +riches that the kings heaped upon the gods in the hope of being requited +with long life and prosperity on the throne of the living. It became the +theory that the temples were the gifts of the Pharaoh to his fathers the +gods, and therefore in the scenes of the cult that adorn the inner walls +it is always he who is depicted as performing the ceremonies. As a +matter of fact the priesthoods were much more independent than was +allowed to appear. Successive grants of land placed no small portion of +the entire country in their hands, and the administration of the temple +estates gave employment to a large number of officials and serfs. In the +New Kingdom the might of the Theban god Ammon gradually became a serious +menace to the throne: in the reign of Rameses III. he could boast of +more than 80,000 dependants, and more than 400,000 cattle. It is not +surprising that a few generations later the high priests of Ammon +supplanted the Pharaohs altogether and founded a dynasty of their own. + +At no period did the priests form a caste that was quite distinctly +separated from the laity. In early times the feudal lords were +themselves the chief priests of the local temples. Under them stood a +number of subordinate priests, both professional and lay. Among the +former were the _kher-heb_, a learned man entrusted with the conduct of +the ceremonies, and the "divine fathers," whose functions are obscure. +The lay priests were divided into four classes that undertook the +management of the temple in alternate months; their collective name was +the "hour-priesthood." Perhaps it was to them that the often recurring +title _oueb_, "the pure," should properly be restricted, though strict +rules as to personal purity, dress and diet were demanded of all +priests. The personnel of the temple was completed by various +subordinate officials, doorkeepers, attendants and slaves. In the New +Kingdom the leading priests were more frequently mere clerics than +theretofore, though for instance the high priest of Ammon was often at +the same time the vizier of southern Egypt. In some places the highest +priests bore special names, such as the _Ouer maa_, "the Great Seer," of +Re in Heliopolis, or the _Khorp himet_, "chief artificer," of the +Memphite Ptah. Women could also hold priestly rank, though apparently in +early times only in the service of goddesses; "priestess of Hathor" is a +frequent title of well-born ladies in the Old Kingdom. At a later date +many wealthy dames held the office of "musicians" (_shemat_) in the +various temples. In the service of the Theban Ammon two priestesses +called "the Adorer of the God" and the "Wife of the God" occupied very +influential positions, and towards the Saite period it was by no means +unusual for the king to secure these offices for his daughters and so to +strengthen his own royal title. + +5. _The Dead and their Cult._--While the worship of the gods tended +more and more to become a monopoly of the state and the priests, and +provided no adequate outlet for the religious cravings of the people +themselves, this deficiency was amply supplied by the care which they +bestowed upon their dead: the Egyptians stand alone among the nations of +the world in the elaborate precautions which they took to secure their +own welfare beyond the tomb. The belief in immortality, or perhaps +rather the incapacity to grasp the notion of complete annihilation, is +traceable from the very earliest times: the simplest graves of the +prehistoric period, when the corpses were committed to the earth in +sheepskins and reed mats, seldom lack at least a few poor vases or +articles of toilet for use in the hereafter. In proportion as the +prosperity of the land increased, and the advance of civilization +afforded the technical means, so did these primitive burials give place +to a more lavish funereal equipment. Tombs of brick with a single +chamber were succeeded by tombs of stone with several chambers, until +they really merited the name of "houses of eternity" that the Egyptians +gave to them. The conception of the tomb as the residence of the dead is +the fundamental notion that underlies all the ritual observances in +connexion with the dead, just as the idea of the temple as the +dwelling-place of the god is the basis of the divine cult. The +parallelism between the attitude of the Egyptians towards the dead and +their attitude towards the gods is so striking that it ought never to be +lost sight of: nothing can illustrate it better than the manner in which +the Osirian doctrines came to permeate both kinds of cult. + + + Tombs. + +The general scheme of Egyptian tombs remained the same throughout the +whole of the dynastic period, though there were many variations of +detail. By preference they were built in the Western desert, the Amente, +near the place where the sun was seen to go to rest, and which seemed +the natural entrance to the nether world. A deep pit led down to the +sepulchral chamber where the dead man was deposited amid the funereal +furniture destined for his use; and no device was neglected that might +enable him to rest here undisturbed. This aim is particularly +conspicuous in the pyramids, the gigantic tombs which the Pharaohs of +the Old Kingdom constructed for themselves: the passages that lead to +the burial chamber were barred at intervals by vast granite blocks, and +the narrow opening that gave access to them was hidden from view beneath +the stone casing of the pyramid sides. Quite separate from this part of +the tomb lay the rooms employed for the cult of the dead: their walls +were often adorned with pictures from the earthly life of the deceased, +which it was hoped he might still continue to enjoy after death. The +innermost chamber was the chapel proper: on its western side was +sculptured an imitation door for the dead man to pass through, when he +wished to participate in the offerings brought by pious relatives. It +was of course only the few who could afford elaborate tombs of the kind: +the poor had to make shift with an unpretentious grave, in which the +corpse was placed enveloped only by a few rags or enclosed in a rough +wooden coffin. + + + Embalming and burial. + +The utmost care was taken to preserve the body itself from decay. Before +the time of the Middle Kingdom it became usual for the rich to have +their bodies embalmed. The intestines were removed and placed in four +vases (the so-called Canopic jars) in which they were supposed to enjoy +the protection of the four sons of Horus, the man-headed Mesti, the +ape-headed Hapi, the jackal Duamutef and the falcon Kebhsenuf. The +corpse was treated with natron and asphalt, and wound in a copious +swathing of linen bandage, with a mask of linen and stucco on the face. +The "mummy" thus prepared was then laid on its side like a sleeper, the +head supported by a head-rest, in a sarcophagus of wood or stone. The +operations in connexion with the mummy grow more and more elaborate +towards the end of the Pharaonic period: already in the New Kingdom the +wealthiest persons had their mummies laid in several coffins, each of +which was gaudily painted with mythological scenes and inscriptions. The +costliest process of embalmment lasted no less than seventy days. Many +superstitious rites had to be observed in the course of the process: a +late book has preserved to us the magical formulae that were repeated by +the wise _kher-heb_ priest (who in the necropolis performed the +functions of taricheutes, "embalmer"), as each bandage was applied. + +A large number of utensils, articles of furniture and the like were +placed in the burial-chamber for the use of the dead--jars, weapons, +mirrors, and even chairs, musical instruments and wigs. In the early +times statuettes of servants, representing them as engaged in their +various functions (brewers, bakers, &c.), were included for the same +purpose; they were supposed to perform their menial functions for their +deceased lord in the future life. In the Middle Kingdom these are +gradually replaced by small models of the mummy itself, and the belief +arose that when their owner was called upon to perform any distasteful +work in the nether world, they would answer to his name and do the task +for him. The later _ushebti_-figures, little statuettes of wood, stone +or faience, of which several hundreds are often found in a single tomb, +are confused survivals of both of the earlier classes of statuettes. +Still more important than all such funereal objects are the books that +were placed in the grave for the use of the dead: in the pyramids they +are written on the walls of the sepulchral chamber and the passages +leading to it; in the Middle Kingdom usually inscribed on the inner +sides of the sarcophagus; in later times contained in rolls of papyrus. +The Pyramid texts and the _Book of the Dead_ are the most important of +these, and teach us much about the dangers and needs that attended the +dead man beyond the tomb, and about the manner in which it was thought +they could be counteracted. + +The burial ceremony itself must have been an imposing spectacle. In many +cases the mummy had to be conveyed across the Nile, and boats were gaily +decked out for this purpose. On the western bank a stately procession +conducted the deceased to his last resting-place. At the door of the +tomb the final ceremonies were performed; they demanded a considerable +number of actors, chief among whom were the _sem_-priest and the +_kher-heb_ priest. It was a veritable drama that was here enacted, and +recalled in its incidents the story of Osiris, the divine prototype of +all successive generations of the Egyptian dead. + + + The soul. + + However carefully the preliminary rites of embalmment and burial might + have been performed, however sumptuous the tomb wherein the dead man + reposed, he was nevertheless almost entirely at the mercy of the + living for his welfare in the other world: he was as dependent on a + continued cult on the part of the surviving members of his family as + the gods were dependent on the constant attendance of their priests. + That portion of a man's individuality which required, even after + death, food and drink, and the satisfaction of sensuous needs, was + called by the Egyptians the _ka_, and represented in hieroglyphs by + the uplifted hands [HRG]. This _ka_ was supposed to be born together + with the person to whom it belonged, and on the very rare occasions + when it is depicted, wears his exact semblance. The conception of this + psychical entity is too vaguely formulated by the Egyptians and too + foreign to modern thought to admit of exact translation: of the many + renderings that have been proposed, perhaps "double" is the most + suitable. At all events the _ka_ has to be distinguished from the + soul, the _bai_ (in hieroglyphs [HRG] or [HRG]), which was of more + tangible nature, and might be descried hovering around the tomb in the + form of a bird or in some other shape; for it was thought that the + soul might assume what shape it would, if the funerary rites had been + duly attended to. The gods had their _ka_ and _bai_, and the forms + attributed to the latter are surprising; thus we read that the soul of + the sky Nun is Re, that of Osiris the Goat of Mendes, the souls of + Sobk are crocodiles, and those "of all the gods are snakes"; similarly + the soul of Ptah was thought to dwell in the Apis bull, so that each + successive Apis was during its lifetime the reincarnation of the god. + Other parts of a man's being to which at given moments and in + particular contexts the Egyptians assigned a certain degree of + separate existence are the "name" [HRG] _ran_, the "shadow" [HRG], + _khaibet_, and the "corpse" [HRG], _khat_. + +It was, however, the _ka_ alone to which the cult of the dead was +directly addressed. This cult was a positive duty binding on the +children of a dead man, and doubtless as a rule discharged by them with +some regularity and conscientiousness; at least, on feast-days offerings +would be brought to the tomb, and the ceremonies of purification and +opening the mouth of the deceased would be enacted. But there could be +little guarantee that later generations would perpetuate the cult. It +therefore became usual under the Old Kingdom for the wealthiest persons +to make testamentary dispositions by which certain other persons agreed +for a consideration to observe the required rites at stated periods: +they received the name of "servants of the _ka_," and stood in the same +relation to the deceased as the priests to the gods. Or again, contracts +might be made with a neighbouring temple, the priesthood of which bound +itself to reserve for the contracting party some portion of the +offerings that had already been used for the divine cult. There is +probably a superstitious reason for the preference shown by the dead for +offerings of this kind; no wish is commoner than that one may receive +"bread and beer that had gone up on to the altar of the local god," or +"with which the god had been sated"; something of the divine sanctity +still clung about such offerings and made them particularly desirable. +In spite of all the precautions they took and the contracts they made, +the Egyptians could never quite rid themselves of the dread that their +tombs might decay and their cult be neglected; and they sought therefore +to obtain by prayers and threats what they feared they might lose +altogether. The occasional visitor to the tomb is reminded by its +inscriptions of the many virtues of the dead man while he yet lived, and +is charged, if he be come with empty hands, at least to pronounce the +funerary formula; it will indeed cost him nothing but "the breath of his +mouth"! Against the would-be desecrator the wrath of the gods is +invoked: "with him shall the great god reckon there where a reckoning is +made." + +The funerary customs that have been described are meaningless except on +the supposition that the tomb was the regular dwelling-place of the +dead. But just as the Egyptians found no contradiction between the view +of the temple as the residence of the god and the conception of him as a +cosmic deity, so too they often attributed to the dead a continued +existence quite apart from the tomb. According to a widely-spread +doctrine of great age the deceased Egyptian was translated to the +heavens, where he lived on in the form of a star. This theme is +elaborated with great detail in the Pyramid texts, where it is the dead +king to whom this destiny is promised. It was perhaps only a restricted +aristocracy who could aspire to such high honour: the [HRG] _ikh_, or +"glorified being," who has his place in the sky seems often to hold an +intermediate position between the gods and the rank and file of the +dead. But in a few early passages the required qualification appears to +be rather moral integrity than exalted station. The life of the dead man +in the sky is variously envisaged in different texts: at one moment he +is spoken of as accompanying the sun-god in his celestial bark, at +another as a mighty king more powerful than Re himself; the crudest +fancy of all pictures him as a hunter who catches the stars and gods, +and cooks and eats them. According to another conception that persisted +in the imagination of the Egyptians longer than any of the ideas just +mentioned, the home of the dead in the heavens was a fertile region not +very different from Egypt itself, intersected by canals and abounding in +corn and fruit; this place was called the Sokhet Earu or "field of +Reeds." + +Even in the oldest texts these beliefs are blended inextricably with the +Osirian doctrines. It is not so much as king of the dead that Osiris +here appears, but every deceased Egyptian was regarded as himself an +Osiris, as having undergone all the indignities inflicted upon the god, +but finally triumphant over the powers of death and evil impersonated by +Seth. This notion became so popular, that beside it all other views of +the dead sink into insignificance; it permeates the funerary cult in all +its stages, and from the Middle Kingdom onwards the dead man is +regularly called "the Osiris so-and-so," just as though he were +completely identical with the god. One incident of the tale of Osiris +acquired a deep ethical meaning in connexion with the dead. It was +related how Seth had brought an accusation against Osiris in the great +judgment hall of Heliopolis, and how the latter, helped by the skilful +speaker Thoth, had emerged from the ordeal acquitted and triumphant. The +belief gradually grew up that every dead man would have to face a +similar trial before he could be admitted to a life of bliss in the +other world. A well-known vignette in the _Book of the Dead_ depicts the +scene. In a shrine sits Osiris, the ruler and judge of the dead, +accompanied by forty-two assessors; and before him stands the balance on +which the heart of the deceased man is to be weighed against Truth; +Thoth stands behind and registers the result. The words that accompany +this picture are still more remarkable: they form a long negative +confession, in which the dead man declares that he has sinned neither +against man nor against the gods. Not all the sins named are equally +heinous according to modern conceptions; many of them deal with petty +offences against religious usages that seem to us but trifling. But it +is clear that by the time this chapter was penned it was believed that +no man could attain to happiness in the hereafter if he had not been +upright, just and charitable in his earthly existence. The date at which +these conceptions became general is not quite certain, but it can hardly +be later than the Middle Kingdom, when the dead man has the epithet +"justified" appended to his name in the inscriptions of his tomb. + +It was but a natural wish on the part of the Egyptians that they should +desire to place their tombs near the traditional burying-place of +Osiris. By the time of the XIIth Dynasty it was thought that this lay in +Abydos, the town where the kings of the earliest times had been +interred. But it was only in a few cases that such a wish could be +literally fulfilled. It therefore became customary for those who +possessed the means to dedicate at least a tombstone in the +neighbourhood of "the staircase of the great god," as the sacred spot +was called. And those who had found occasion to visit Abydos in their +lifetime took pleasure in recalling the part that they had there taken +in the ceremonies of Osiris. Such pilgrims doubtless believed that the +pious act would stand to their credit when the day of death arrived. + +6. _Magic._--Among the rites that were celebrated in the temples or +before the statues of the dead were many the mystical meaning of which +was but imperfectly understood, though their efficacy was never doubted. +Symbolical or imitative acts, accompanied by spoken formulae of set form +and obscure content, accomplished, by some peculiar virtues of their +own, results that were beyond the power of human hands and brain. The +priests and certain wise men were the depositaries of this mysterious +but highly useful art, that was called _hik_ or "magic"; and one of the +chief differences between gods and men was the superior degree in which +the former were endowed with magical powers. It was but natural that the +Egyptians should wish to employ magic for their own benefit or +self-gratification, and since religion put no veto on the practice so +long as it was exercised within legal bounds, it was put to a widespread +use among them. When magicians made figures of wax representing men whom +they desired to injure, this was of course an illegal act like any +other, and the law stepped in to prevent it: one papyrus that has been +preserved records the judicial proceedings taken in such a case in +connexion with the harem conspiracy against Rameses III. + +One of the chief purposes for which magic was employed was to avert +diseases. Among the Egyptians, as in other lands, illnesses were +supposed to be due to evil spirits or the ghosts of dead men who had +taken up their abode in the body of the sufferer, and they could only be +driven thence by charms and spells. But out of these primitive notions +arose a real medical science: when the ailment could be located and its +nature roughly determined, a more materialistic view was taken of it; +and many herbs and drugs that were originally used for some +superstitious reason, when once they had been found to be actually +effective, easily lost their magical significance and were looked upon +as natural specifics. It is extremely hard to draw any fixed line in +Egypt between magic and medicine; but it is curious to note that simple +diagnoses and prescriptions were employed for the more curable diseases, +while magical formulae and amulets are reserved for those that are +harder to cope with, such as the bites of snakes and the stings of +scorpions. + +The formulae recited for such purposes are not purely cabalistic, though +inasmuch as mystery is of the very essence of magic, foreign words and +outlandish names occur in them by preference. Often the magician relates +some mythical case where a god had been afflicted with a disease similar +to that of the patient, but had finally recovered: a number of such +tales were told of Horus, who was usually healed by some device of his +mother Isis, she being accounted as a great enchantress. The mere +recitation of such similar cases with their happy issue was supposed to +be magically effective; for almost unlimited power was supposed to be +inherent in mere words. Often the demon is directly invoked, and +commanded to come forth. At other times the gods are threatened with +privations or even destruction if they refuse to aid the magician: the +Egyptians seem to have found little impiety in such a use of the divine +name, though to us it would seem the utmost degree of profanity when, +for instance, a magician declares that if his spell prove ineffective, +he "will cast fire into Mendes and burn up Osiris." + +The verbal spells were always accompanied by some manual performance, +the tying of magical knots or the preparation of an amulet. In these +acts particular significance was attached to certain numbers: a +sevenfold knot, for example, was more efficacious than others. Often the +formula was written on a strip of rag or a scrap of papyrus and tied +round the neck of the person for whom it was intended. Beads and all +kinds of amulets could be infused with magical power so as to be potent +phylacteries to those who wore them. + +In conclusion, it must be emphasized that in Egypt magic stands in no +contrast or opposition to religion, at least as long as it was +legitimately used. The religious rites and ceremonies are full of it. +When a pretence was made of opening, with an iron instrument, the mouth +of the divine statue, to the accompaniment of recited formulae, this can +hardly be termed anything but magic. Similarly, the potency attributed +to _ushebti_-figures and the copies of the _Book of the Dead_ deposited +in the tombs is magical in quality. What has been considered under this +heading, however, is the use that the same principles of magic were put +to by men in their own practical life and for their own advantage. + + AUTHORITIES.--An excellent list of books and articles on the various + topics connected with Egyptian Religion will be found in H. O. Lange's + article on the subject in P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, _Lehrbuch + der Religionsgeschichte_ (Tubingen, 1905), vol. i. pp. 172-245. Among + general works may be especially recommended A. Erman, _Die agyptische + Religion_ (Berlin, 1905); and chapters 2 and 3 in G. Maspero, + _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'Orient, les origines_, vol. i. + (Paris, 1895). (A. H. G.) + +D. _Egyptian Language and Writing.--Decipherment._--Although attempts +were made to read Egyptian hieroglyphs so far back as the 17th century, +no promise of success appeared until the discovery of the Rosetta stone +in 1799 by the French engineers attached to Napoleon's expedition to +Egypt. This tablet was inscribed with three versions, in hieroglyphic, +demotic and Greek, of a long decree of the Egyptian priests in honour of +Ptolemy V., Epiphanes and his wife Cleopatra. The Greek and demotic +versions were still almost perfect, but most of the hieroglyphic text +had been broken away with the top of the tablet; portions of about half +of the lines remained, but no single line was complete. In 1802 J. D. +Akerblad, a Swedish orientalist attached to the embassy in Paris, +identified the proper names of persons which occurred in the demotic +text, being guided to them by the position of their equivalents in the +Greek. These names, all of them foreign, were written in an alphabet of +a limited number of characters, and were therefore analysed with +comparative ease. + +The hieroglyphic text upon the Rosetta stone was too fragmentary to +furnish of itself the key to the decipherment. But the study of this +with the other scanty monuments and imperfect copies of inscriptions +that were available enabled the celebrated physicist Thomas Young +(1773-1829) to make a beginning. In an article completed in 1819 and +printed (over the initials I. J.) in the supplement to the 4th, 5th and +6th editions of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (vol. iv., 1824), he +published a brief account of Egyptian research, with five plates +containing the "rudiments of an Egyptian vocabulary." It appears that +Young could place the hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek texts of the +Rosetta stone very correctly parallel; but he could not accurately break +up the Egyptian sentences into words, much less could he attribute to +the words their proper sounds. Yet he recognized correctly the names of +Apis and Re, with many groups for words such as "assembly," "good," +"name," and important signs such as those which distinguish feminine +words. In a bad copy of another monument he rightly guessed the royal +name of Berenice in its cartouche by the side of that of Ptolemy, which +was already known from its occurrence on the Rosetta stone. He +considered that these names must be written in phonetic characters in +the hieroglyphic as in demotic, but he failed to analyse them correctly. +It was clear, however, that with more materials and perseverance such +efforts after decipherment must eventually succeed. + +Meanwhile J. F. Champollion "le Jeune" (see CHAMPOLLION; and Hartleben, +_Champollion, sein Leben und sein Werk_, Berlin, 1906) had devoted his +energies whole-heartedly since 1802, when he was only eleven years old, +to preparing himself for the solution of the Egyptian problem, by wide +linguistic and historical studies, and above all by familiarizing +himself with every scrap of Egyptian writing which he could find. By +1818 he made many equations between the demotic and the hieroglyphic +characters, and was able to transcribe the demotic names of Ptolemy and +Cleopatra into hieroglyphics. At length, in January 1822, a copy of the +hieroglyphic inscription on the Bankes obelisk, which had long been +fruitlessly in the hands of Young, reached the French savant. On the +base of this obelisk was engraved a Greek inscription in honour of +Ptolemy Euergetes II. and Cleopatra; of the two cartouches on the +obelisk one was of Ptolemy, the other was easily recognized as that of +Cleopatra, spelt nearly as in Champollion's experimental transcript of +the demotic name, only more fully. This discovery, and the recognition +of the name Alexander, gave fourteen alphabetic signs, including +homophones, with ascertained values. Starting from these, by the +beginning of September Champollion had analysed a long series of +Ptolemaic and Roman cartouches. His next triumph was on the 14th of +September, when he read the names of the ancient Pharaohs Rameses and +Tethmosis in some drawings just arrived from Egypt, proving that his +alphabetic characters were employed, in conjunction with syllabic signs, +for spelling native names; this gave him the assurance that his +discovery touched the essential nature of the Egyptian writing and not +merely, as had been contended, a special cipher for the foreign words +which might be quite inapplicable to the rest of the inscriptions. His +progress continued unchecked, and before the end of the year the +connexion of ancient Egyptian and Coptic was clearly established. +Subsequently visits to the museums of Italy and an expedition to Egypt +in 1828-1829 furnished Champollion with ample materials. The _Precis du +systeme hieroglyphique_ (1st ed. 1823, 2nd ed. 1828) contained the +philological results of his decipherments down to a certain point. But +his MS. collections were vast, and his illness after the strenuous +labours of the expedition and his early death in 1832 left all in +confusion. The _Grammaire egyptienne_ and _Dictionnaire egyptien_, +edited from these MSS. by his brother, precious as they were, must be a +very imperfect register of the height of his attainments. In his last +years he was able to translate long texts in hieroglyphic and in +hieratic of the New Kingdom and of the later periods with some +accuracy, and his comprehension of demotic was considerable. Champollion +outdistanced all his competitors from the first, and had practically +nothing to thank them for except material to work on, and too often that +had been intentionally withheld from him. In eleven years he broke +ground in all directions; if the ordinary span of life had been allowed +him, with twenty or thirty more years of labour he might have brought +order into the chaos of different ages and styles of language and +writing; but, as it was, the task of co-ordination remained to be done +by others. For one year, before his illness incapacitated him, +Champollion held a professorship in Paris; but of his pupils and +fellow-workers, F. P. Salvolini, insincere and self-seeking, died young, +and Ippolito Rosellini (1800-1843) showed little original power. From +1832 to 1837 there was a pause in the march of Egyptology, and it seemed +as if the young science might be overwhelmed by the storm of doubts and +detraction that was poured upon it by the enemies of Champollion. Then, +however, Lepsius in Germany and Samuel Birch in England took up the +thread where the master had dropped it, and E. de Rouge, H. Brugsch, +Francois Joseph Chabas and a number of lesser lights quickly followed. +Brugsch (q.v.) was the author of a hieroglyphic and demotic dictionary +which still holds the field, and from time to time carried forward the +study of demotic by a giant's stride. De Rouge (d. 1872) in France was a +brilliant translator of hieroglyphic texts and the author of an +important grammatical work. Chabas (1817-1882) especially addressed +himself to the reading of the hieratic texts of the New Kingdom. By such +labours after forty years the results attained by Champollion in +decipherment were entirely superseded. Yet, while the values of the +signs were for the most part well ascertained, and the meanings of most +works fixed with some degree of accuracy, few grammatical rules had as +yet been established, the varieties of the language at different periods +had not been defined, and the origins of the hieroglyphs and of their +values had not been investigated beyond the most obvious points. At this +time a rare translator of Egyptian texts in all branches was arising in +G. Maspero (q.v.), while E. Revillout addressed himself with success to +the task of interpreting the legal documents of demotic which had been +almost entirely neglected for thirty years. But the honour of +inaugurating an epoch marked by greater precision belongs to Germany. +The study of Coptic had begun in Europe early in the 17th century, and +reached a high level in the work of the Dane Georg Zoega (1755-1809) at +the end of the 18th century. In 1835, too late for Champollion to use +it, Amadeo Peyron (1785-1870) of Turin published a Coptic lexicon of +great merit which is still standard, though far from satisfying the +needs of scholars of the present day. In 1880 Ludwig Stern (_Koptische +Grammatik_) admirably classified the grammatical forms of Coptic. The +much more difficult task of recovering the grammar of Egyptian has +occupied thirty years of special study by Adolf Erman and his school at +Berlin, and has now reached an advanced stage. The greater part of +Egyptian texts after the Middle Kingdom having been written in what was +even then practically a dead language, as dead as Latin was to the +medieval monks in Italy who wrote and spoke it, Erman selected for +special investigation those texts which really represented the growth of +the language at different periods, and, as he passed from one epoch to +another, compared and consolidated his results. + + The _Neuagyptische Grammatik_ (1880) dealt with texts written in the + vulgar dialect of the New Kingdom (Dyns. XVIII. to XX.). Next + followed, in the _Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache und + Alterthumskunde_, studies on the Old Kingdom inscription of Una, and + the Middle Kingdom contracts of Assiut, as well as on an "Old Coptic" + text of the 3rd century A.D. At this point a papyrus of stories + written in the popular language of the Middle Kingdom provided Erman + with a stepping-stone from Old Egyptian to the Late Egyptian of the + _Neuagyptische Grammatik_, and gave the connexions that would bind + solidly together the whole structure of Egyptian grammar (see _Sprache + des Papyrus Westcar_, 1889). The very archaic pyramid texts enabled + him to sketch the grammar of the earliest known form of Egyptian + (_Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellschaft_, 1892), and in 1894 + he was able to write a little manual of Egyptian for beginners + (_Agyptische Grammatik_, 2nd ed., 1902), centring on the language of + the standard inscriptions of the Middle and New Kingdoms, but + accompanying the main sketch with references to earlier and later + forms. Of the work of Erman's pupils we may mention G. Steindorff's + little _Koptische Grammatik_ (1894, ed. 1904), improving greatly on + Stern's standard work in regard to phonology and the relationship of + Coptic forms to Egyptian, and K. Sethe's _Das Agyptische Verbum_ + (1899). The latter is an extensive monograph on the verb in Egyptian + and Coptic by a brilliant and laborious philologist. Owing to the very + imperfect notation of sound in the writing, the highly important + subject of the verbal roots and verbal forms was perhaps the obscurest + branch of Egyptian grammar when Sethe first attacked it in 1895. The + subject has been reviewed by Erman, _Die Flexion des agyptischen + Verbums_ in the _Sitzungsberichte_ of the Berlin Academy, 1900. The + Berlin school, having settled the main lines of the grammar, next + turned its attention to lexicography. It has devised a scheme, founded + on that for the Latin Thesaurus of the Berlin Academy, which almost + mechanically sorts the whole number of occurrences of every word in + any text examined. Scholars in England, America and Denmark, as well + as in Germany, have taken part in this great enterprise, and though + the completion of it may be far off, the collections of classified + material already made are very valuable for consultation.[11] At + present Egyptologists depend on Heinrich Brugsch's admirable but + somewhat antiquated _Worterbuch_ and on Levi's useful but entirely + uncritical _Vocabolario_. Though demotic has not yet received serious + attention at Berlin, the influence of that great school has made + itself felt amongst demotists, especially in Switzerland, Germany, + America and England. The death of Heinrich Brugsch in 1895 was a very + severe blow to demotic studies; but it must be admitted that his + brilliant gifts lay in other directions than exact grammatical + analysis. Apart from their philological interest, as giving the + history of a remarkable language during a period of several thousand + years, the grammatical studies of the last quarter of the 19th century + and afterwards are beginning to bear fruit in regard to the exact + interpretation of historical documents on Egyptian monuments and + papyri. Not long ago the supposed meaning of these was extracted + chiefly by brilliant guessing, and the published translations of even + the best scholars could carry no guarantee of more than approximate + exactitude, where the sense depended at all on correct recognition of + the syntax. Now the translator proceeds in Egyptian with some of the + sureness with which he would deal with Latin or Greek. The meaning of + many words may be still unknown, and many constructions are still + obscure; but at least he can distinguish fairly between a correct text + and a corrupt text. Egyptian writing lent itself only too easily to + misunderstanding, and the writings of one period were but half + intelligible to the learned scribes of another. The mistaken readings + of the old inscriptions by the priests at Abydos (Table of Abydos), + when attempting to record the names of the kings of the 1st Dynasty on + the walls of the temple of Seti I., are now admitted on all sides; and + no palaeographer, whether his field be Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian + or any other class of MSS., will be surprised to hear that the + Egyptian papyri and inscriptions abound in corruptions and mistakes. + The translator of to-day can, if he wishes, mark where certainty ends + and mere conjecture begins, and it is to be hoped that advantage will + be taken more widely of this new power. The Egyptologist who has long + lived in the realm of conjecture is too prone to consider any series + of guesses good enough to serve as a translation, and forgets to + insert the notes of interrogation which would warn workers in other + fields from implicit trust. + +_Language and Writing._--The history of the Egyptian language is +evidenced by documents extending over a very long range of time. They +begin with the primitive inscriptions of the Ist Dynasty (not later than +3300 B.C.) and end with the latest Coptic compositions of about the 14th +century A.D. The bulk of the hieroglyphic inscriptions are written in a +more or less artificial literary language; but in business documents, +letters, popular tales, &c., the scribes often adhered closely to the +living form of the tongue, and thus reveal its progressive changes. + +The stages of the language are now distinguished as follows:-- + +_Old Egyptian._--This is properly the language of the Old Kingdom. In it +we have (a) the recently discovered inscriptions of the Ist Dynasty, too +brief and concise to throw much light on the language of that time; and +the great collections of spells and ritual texts found inscribed in the +Pyramids of the Vth and VIth Dynasties, which must even then have been +of high antiquity, though they contain later additions made in the same +style. (b) A few historical texts and an abundance of short inscriptions +representing the language of the IVth, Vth and VIth Dynasties. The +ordinary _literary language_ of the later monuments is modelled on Old +Egyptian. It is often much affected by contemporary speech, but +preserves in the main the characteristics of the language of the Old +Kingdom. + +_Middle and Late Egyptian._--These represent the vulgar speech of the +Middle and New Kingdoms respectively. The former is found chiefly in +tales, letters, &c., written in hieratic on papyri of the XIIIth Dynasty +to the end of the Middle Kingdom; also in some inscriptions of the +XVIIIth Dynasty. Late Egyptian is seen in hieratic papyri of the XVIIIth +to the XXIst Dynasties. The spelling of Late Egyptian is very +extraordinary, full of false etymologies, otiose signs, &c., the old +orthography being quite unable to adapt itself neatly to the profoundly +modified language; nevertheless, this clumsy spelling is expressive, and +the very mistakes are instructive as to the pronunciation. + +_Demotic._--Demotic Egyptian seems to represent approximately the vulgar +speech of the Saite period, and is written in the "demotic" character, +which may be traced back to the XXVIth Dynasty, if not to a still +earlier time. With progressive changes, this form of the language is +found in documents reaching down to the fall of Paganism in the 4th +century A.D.[12] Under the later Ptolemies and the Roman rule documents +in Greek are more abundant than in demotic, and the language of the +ruling classes must have begun to penetrate the masses deeply. + +_Coptic._--This, in the main, represents the popular language of early +Christian Egypt from the 3rd to perhaps the 10th century A.D., when the +growth of Coptic as a literary language must have ceased. The Greek +alphabet, reinforced by a few signs borrowed from demotic, rendered the +spoken tongue so accurately that four distinct, though closely allied, +dialects are readily distinguishable in Coptic MSS.; ample remains are +found of renderings of the Scriptures into all these dialects. The +distinctions between the dialects consist largely in pronunciation, but +extend also to the vocabulary, word-formation and syntax. Such +interchanges are found as _l_ for _r_, [Coptic: qima] (_k_, _ch_) for +[Coptic: dandia] (_dj_), final _i_ for final _e_, _a_ for _e_, _a_ for +_o_. Early in the 2nd century A.D., pagan Egyptians, or perhaps +foreigners settled in Egypt, essayed, as yet unskilfully, to write the +native language in Greek letters. This _Old Coptic_, as it is termed, +was still almost entirely free from Greek loan-words, and its strong +archaisms are doubtless accounted for by the literary language, even in +its most "vulgar" forms, having moved more slowly than the speech of the +people. Christian Coptic, though probably at first contemporary with +some documents of Old Coptic, contrasts strongly with the latter. The +monks whose task it was to perfect the adaptation of the alphabet to the +dialects of Egypt and translate the Scriptures out of the Greek, flung +away all pagan traditions. It is clear that the basis which they chose +for the new literature was the simplest language of daily life in the +monasteries, charged as it was with expressions taken from Greek, +pre-eminently the language of patristic Christianity. There is evidence +that the amount of stress on syllables, and the consequent length of +vowels, varied greatly in spoken Coptic, and that the variation gave +much trouble to the scribes; the early Christian writers must have taken +as a model for each dialect the deliberate speech of grave elders or +preachers, and so secured a uniform system of accentuation. The remains +of Old Coptic, though very instructive in their marked peculiarities, +are as yet too few for definite classification. The main divisions of +Christian Coptic as recognized and named at present are: Sahidic +(formerly called Theban), spoken in the upper Thebais; Akhmimic, in the +neighbourhood of Akhmim, but driven out by Sahidic about the 5th +century; Fayumic, in the Fayum (formerly named wrongly "Bashmuric," from +a province of the Delta); Bohairic, the dialect of the "coast district" +(formerly named "Memphite"), spoken in the north-western Delta. Coptic, +much alloyed with Arabic, was spoken in Upper Egypt as late as the 15th +century, but it has long been a dead language.[13] Sahidic and Bohairic +are the most important dialects, each of these having left abundant +remains; the former spread over the whole of Upper Egypt, and the latter +since the 14th century has been the language of the sacred books of +Christianity throughout the country, owing to the hierarchical +importance of Alexandria and the influence of the ancient monasteries +established in the north-western desert. + +The above stages of the Egyptian language are not defined with absolute +clearness. Progress is seen from dynasty to dynasty or from century to +century. New Egyptian shades off almost imperceptibly into demotic, and +it may be hoped that gaps which now exist in the development will be +filled by further discovery. + +Coptic is the only stage of the language in which the spelling gives a +clear idea of the pronunciation. It is therefore the mainstay of the +scholar in investigating or restoring the word-forms of the ancient +language. Greek transcriptions of Egyptian names and words are valuable +as evidence for the vocalization of Egyptian. Such are found from the +6th century B.C. in the inscription of Abu Simbel, from the 5th in +Herodotus, &c., and abound in Ptolemaic and later documents from the +beginning of the 3rd century B.C. onwards. At first sight they may seem +inaccurate, but on closer examination the Graecizing is seen to follow +definite rules, especially in the Ptolemaic period. A few cuneiform +transcriptions, reaching as far back as the XVIIIth Dynasty, give +valuable hints as to how Egyptian was pronounced in the 15th century +B.C. Coptic itself is of course quite inadequate to enable us to restore +Old Egyptian. In it the Old Egyptian verbal forms are mostly replaced by +periphrases; though the strong roots are often preserved entire, the +weaker consonants and the [Hebrew: ts] have largely or entirely +disappeared, so that the language appears as one of biliteral rather +than triliteral roots. Coptic is strongly impregnated with Greek words +adopted late; moreover, a certain number of Semitic loan-words flowed +into Egyptian at all ages, and especially from the 16th century B.C. +onwards, displacing earlier words. It is only by the most careful +scrutiny, or the exercise of the most piercing insight, that the +imperfectly spelled Egyptian has been made to yield up one grammatical +secret after another in the light brought to bear upon it from Coptic. +Demotic grammar ought soon to be thoroughly comprehensible in its forms, +and the study of Late Egyptian should not stand far behind that of +demotic. On the other hand, Middle Egyptian, and still more Old +Egyptian, which is separated from Middle Egyptian by a wide gap, will +perhaps always be to us little more than consonantal skeletons, the +flesh and blood of their vocalization being for the most part +irretrievably lost.[14] + +In common with the Semitic languages, the Berber languages of North +Africa, and the Cushite languages of North-East Africa, Egyptian of all +periods possesses grammatical gender, expressing masculine and feminine. +Singularly few language groups have this peculiarity; and our own great +Indo-European group, which possesses it, is distinguished from those +above mentioned by having the neuter gender in addition. The +characteristic triliteral roots of all the Semitic languages seemed to +separate them widely from others; but certain traits have caused the +Egyptian, Berber and Cushite groups to be classed together as three +subfamilies of a Hamitic group, remotely related to the Semitic. The +biliteral character of Coptic, and the biliteralism which was believed +to exist in Egyptian, led philologists to suspect that Egyptian might be +a surviving witness to that far-off stage of the Semitic languages when +triliteral roots had not yet been formed from presumed original +biliterals; Sethe's investigations, however, prove that the Coptic +biliterals are themselves derived from Old Egyptian triliterals, and +that the triliteral roots enormously preponderated in Egyptian of the +earliest known form; that view is, therefore, no longer tenable. Many +remarkable resemblances have been observed in the grammatical structure +of the Berber and Cushite groups with Semitic (cf. H. Zimmern, +_Vergleichende Grammatik d. semitischen Sprachen_, Berlin, 1898, +especially pronouns and verbs); but the relationship must be very +distant, and there are no ancient documents that can take back the +history of any one of those languages more than a few centuries. Their +connexion with Semitic and Egyptian, therefore, remains at present an +obscure though probable hypothesis. On the other hand, Egyptian is +certainly related to Semitic. Even before the triliterality of Old +Egyptian was recognized, Erman showed that the so-called +pseudo-participle had been really in meaning and in form a precise +analogue of the Semitic perfect, though its original employment was +almost obsolete in the time of the earliest known texts. Triliteralism +is considered the most essential and most peculiar feature of Semitic. +But there are, besides, many other resemblances in structure between the +Semitic languages and Egyptian, so that, although the two vocabularies +present few points of clear contact, there is reason to believe that +Egyptian was originally a characteristic member of the Semitic family of +languages. See Erman, "Das Verhaltnis d. agyptischen zu d. semitischen +Sprachen" (_Zeitschrift d. deutschen morgenl. Gesellschaft_, 1892); +Zimmern, _Vergl. Gram._, 1898; Erman, "Flexion d. agyptischen Verbums" +(_Sitzungsberichte d. Berl. Akad._, 1900). The Egyptians proper are not, +and so far as we can tell never were, Semitic in physical feature. As a +possible explanation of the facts, Erman supposes that a horde of +conquering Semites, like the Arabs of a later day, imposed their +language on the country, but disappeared, being weakened by the climate +or absorbed by the native population. The latter acquired the Semitic +language imperfectly from their conquerors; they expressed the verbal +conjugations by periphrases, mispronounced the consonants, and so +changed greatly the appearance of the vocabulary, which also would +certainly contain a large proportion of native non-Semitic roots. Strong +consonants gave place to weak consonants (as [Arabic: Qaaf] has done to +[Arabic sign], in the modern Arabic of Egypt), and then the weak +consonants disappearing altogether produced biliterals from the +triliterals. Much of this must have taken place, according to the +theory, in the prehistoric period; but the loss of weak consonants, of +[ayin] and of one of two repeated consonants, and the development of +periphrastic conjugations continued to the end. The typical Coptic root +thus became biliteral rather than triliteral, and the verb, by means of +periphrases, developed tenses of remarkable precision. Such verbal +resemblances as exist between Coptic and Semitic are largely due to late +exchanges with Semitic neighbours. + + The following sketch of the Egyptian language, mainly in its earliest + form, which dates from some three or four thousand years B.C., is + founded upon Erman's works. It will serve to contrast with Coptic + grammar on the one hand and Semitic grammar on the other. + + THE EGYPTIAN ALPHABET + + [HRG: M17] = _l_; so conventionally transcribed since it unites two + values, being sometimes y but often [Hebrew: alef] (especially + at the beginning of words), and from the earliest times used in + a manner corresponding to the Arabic _hamza_, to indicate a + prosthetic vowel. Often lost. + + [HRG: Z4] and [HRG: M17-M17] are frequently employed for _y_. + + [HRG: G1] = '([Hebrew: alef]); easily lost or changes to _y_. + + [HRG: D36] = '([Hebrew: ayin]); lost in Coptic. This rare sound, well + known in Semitic, occurs also in Berber and Cushite languages. + + [HRG: G43] = _w_; often changes to _y_. + + [HRG: D58] = _b_. + + [HRG: Q3] = _p_. + + [HRG: I9] = _f_. + + [HRG: G17] = _m_. + + [HRG: N35] = _n_. + + [HRG] = _r_; often lost, or changes to _y_. _r_ and _l_ are + distinguished in later demotic and in Coptic. + + [HRG] = _h_ } distinction lost in Coptic. + [HRG] = _[h.]_ } + + [HRG] = _h_; in Coptic [Coptic: sai] (_sh_) or [Coptic: xai] (_kh_) + correspond to it. + + [HRG] = _[h=]_; generally written with [HRG] (_[vs]_) in the Old + Kingdom, but [HRG] corresponds to _kh_ in Coptic. + + [HRG] = _s_ } distinction lost at the end of the Old Kingdom. + [HRG] = _[/s]_ } + + [HRG] = _[vs]_ (_sh_). + + [HRG] = _q_; Coptic [Coptic: kappa]. + + [HRG] = _k_ } Coptic [Coptic: kappa]; or [Coptic: qima], + } [Coptic: dandia], according to dialect. + [HRG] = _g_ } Coptic [Coptic: kappa]; or [Coptic: qima]. + + [HRG] = _[t=]_; often lost at the end of words. + + [HRG] = _t_ ([theta]); often changes to _t_, otherwise Coptic + [Coptic: tau]; or [Coptic: dandia], [Coptic: qima]. + + [HRG] = _d_; in Coptic reduced to _t_. + + [HRG] = _d_ (_z_); often changes to _d_, Coptic [Coptic: tau]; + otherwise in Coptic [Coptic: dandia]. + + + _ROOTS_ + + Egyptian roots consist of consonants and semi-consonants only, the + inflexion being effected by internal vowel-change and the addition of + consonants or vowels at the beginning or end. The Egyptian system of + writing, as opposed to the Coptic, showed only the consonantal + skeletons of words: it could not record internal vowel-changes; and + semi-consonants, even when radicals, were often omitted in writing. + + + _PERSONAL PRONOUNS_ + + Sing. 1. c. _iw_ (?) later _wi_. Pl. 1. c. _n_. Du. + 2. m. _kw_. 2. c. _tn_. 2. c. _tny_. + f. _tn_. + 3. _m_. *_fy_, surviving only 3. m. _sn_, early lost, 3. c. _sny_. + in a special except as + verbal form. suffix. + f. _sy_. f. *_st_ surviving + as 3. c. + + From these are derived the suffixes, which are shortened forms + attached to nouns to express the possessor, and to verbs to express + the subject. In the latter case the verb was probably in the + participle, so that _sdmii-sn_, "they hear," is literally "hearing + are they." The singular suffixes are: (1) c. _-i_; (2) m. _-k_, f. + _-t_; (3) m. _-f_, f. _-[/s]_;--the dual and plural have no special + forms. + + Another series of absolute pronouns is: (2) m. _twt_, _tw_; f. _tmt_, + _tm_; (3) m. _swt_, _sw_; f. _stt_, _st_. Of these _twt_, _tmt_, &c., + are emphatic forms. + + Many of the above absolute pronouns were almost obsolete even in the + Old Kingdom. In ordinary texts some survive, especially as objects of + verbs, namely, _wi_, _tw_, _tn_, _sw_, _st_. The suffixes of all + numbers and persons except the dual were in full use throughout, to + Coptic; _sn_, however, giving way to a new suffix, _-w_, which + developed first in the New Kingdom. + + Another absolute pronoun of the first person is _ink_, [Coptic: Anoch] + like Heb. [Hebrew: Anochi]. It is associated with a series for the + second and third persons: _nt-k_, _nt-t_, _nt-f_, _nt-sn_, &c.; but + from their history, use and form, it seems probable that the last are + of later formation, and are not to be connected with the Semitic + pronouns (chiefly of the 2nd person) resembling them. + + + _DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS_ + + There are several series based on m. _p_; f. _t_; pl. _n_; but _n_ as + a plural seems later than the other two. From them are developed a + weak demonstrative to which possessive suffixes can be attached, + producing the definite and possessive articles (_p'_, _t'_, _n'_, + "the," _p'y-f_, "his," _p'y-s_ "her," &c.) of Middle Egyptian and the + later language. + + + _NOUNS_ + + Two genders, m. (ending _w_, or nothing), f. (ending _t_). Three + numbers: singular, dual (m. _wi_, f. _ti_, gradually became obsolete), + plural (m. _w_; f. _wt_). No case-endings are recognizable, but + construct forms--to judge by Coptic--were in use. Masculine and + feminine nouns of instrument or material are formed from verbal roots + by prefixing _m_; e.g. _m.sdm.t_, "stibium," from _sdm_, "paint the + eye." Substantives and adjectives are formed from substantives and + prepositions by the addition of _y_ in the masculine; e.g. _n.t_, + "city," _nt.y_, "belonging to a city," "citizen"; _hr_, "upon," _hr.y_ + (f. _hr.t_; pl. _hr.w)_, "upper." This is not unlike the Semitic + _nisbe_ ending _iy_, _ay_ (e.g. Ar. _beled_, "city," _beledi_, + "belonging to a city"). Adjectives follow the nouns they qualify. + + + _NUMERALS_ + + 1, _w'_; 2, _sn_; 3, _hmt_; 4, _fdw_; 5, _dw'_; 6, _sis_ (or _sw'_ ?); + 7, _sfh_; 8, _hmn_; 9, _psd_; 10, _mt_. 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (?) resemble + Semitic numerals. 20 and 30 (_m'b_) had special names; 40-90 were + named as if plurals of the units 4-9, as in Semitic. 100, _snt_; 1000, + _h'_; 10,000, _zb'_; 100,000, _hfnw_. + + + _VERBS_ + + The forms observable in hieroglyphic writing lead to the following + classification:-- + + STRONG VERBS. + Biliteral Often showing traces of an original III. inf.; + in early times very rare. + + Triliteral Very numerous. + + { Generally formed by reduplication. + Quadriliteral { In Late Egyptian they were no longer + Quinqueliteral { inflected, and were conjugated with the help + { of _iry_, "do." + + WEAK VERBS. + II. geminatae Properly triliterals, but, with the 2nd or 3rd + radical alike, these coalesced in many forms + where no vowel intervened, and gave the word + the appearance of a biliteral. + + III. gem. Rare. + + III. inf. Numerous. III. _w_, and III. _i_ were + unified early. Some very common verbs, "do," + "give," "come," "bring" are irregular. + + IV. inf. Partly derived from adjectival formations in + _y_, from nouns and infinitives:--e.g. _s.ip_, + inf. _sipt_; adj. _sipty_; verb (4 lit.), + _sipty_. + + Many verbs with weak consonants--I_y_, I_w_, II. inf. (_m[w]t_), and + those with [Hebrew: alef]--are particularly difficult to trace + accurately, owing to defective writing. + + It seems that all the above classes may be divided into two main + groups, according to the form of the infinitive:--with masculine + infinitive the strong triliteral type, and with feminine infinitive + the type of the III. inf. The former group includes all except III. + inf., IV. inf., and the causative of the biliterals, which belong to + the second group. + + It is probable that the verb had a special form denoting condition, as + in Arabic. There was a causative form prefixing _s_, and traces of + forms resembling _Pi'el_ and _Niphal_ are observed. Some roots are + reduplicated wholly or in part with a frequentative meaning, and there + are traces of gemination of radicals. + + _Pseudo-Participle._--In very early texts this is the past indicative, + but more commonly it is used in sentences such as, _gm-n-f wi + 'h'.kwi_, "he found me I stood," i.e. "he found me standing." The + indicative use was soon given up and the pseudo-participle was + employed only as predicate, especially indicating a state; e.g. _ntr.t + sm.ti_, "the goddess goes"; _iw-k wd'.ti_, "thou art prosperous." The + endings were almost entirely lost in New Egyptian. For early times + they stand thus:-- + + Sing. 3. masc. _i_, late _w_. Dual _wii_. Pl. _w_. + fem. _ti_. _tiiw_ _ti_. + 2. masc. _ti_ _tiwny_. + fem. _ti_ + 1. c. _kwi_. _wyn_. + + The pseudo-participle seems, by its inflexion, to have been the + perfect of the original Semitic conjugation. The simplest form being + that of the 3rd person, it is best arranged like the corresponding + tense in Semitic grammars, beginning with that person. There is no + trace of the Semitic imperfect in Egyptian. The ordinary conjugation + is formed quite differently. The verbal stem is here followed by the + subject-suffix or substantive--_sdm-f_, "he hears"; _sdmw stn_, + "the king hears." It is varied by the addition of particles, &c., _n_, + _in_, _hr_, _tw_, thus:-- + + _sdm-f_, "he hears"; _sdm-w-f_, "he is heard" (_pl. sdm-ii-sn_, "they + are heard"); _sdm-tw-f_, "he is heard"; _sdm-n-f_, "he heard"; + _sdm-n-tw-f_, "he was heard"; also, _sdm-in-f_, _sdm-hr-f_, + _sdm-k'-f_. Each form has special uses, generally difficult to + define, _sdm-f_ seems rather to be imperfect, _sdm-n-f_ perfect, and + generally to express the past. Later, _sdm-f_ is ordinarily expressed + by periphrases; but by the loss of _n_, _sdm-n-f_ became itself + _sdm-f_, which is the ordinary past in demotic. Coptic preserves + _sdm-f_ forms of many verbs in its causative (e.g. [Coptic: tanchof] + "cause him to live," from Egyptian _di.t.nh-f_), and, in its + periphrastic conjugation, the same forms of _wn_, "be," and _iry_, + "do." With _sdm-f_ (_sedmo-f_) was a more emphatic form (_esdomef_), + at any rate in the weak verbs. + + The above, with the relative forms mentioned below, are supposed by + Erman to be derived from the participle, which is placed first for + emphasis: thus, _sdm.w stn_, "hearing is the king"; _sdm-f_, for + _sdm-fy_, "hearing he is." This Egyptian paraphrase of Semitic is + just like the Irish paraphrase of English, "It is hearing he is." + + The _imperative_ shows no ending in the singular; in the plural it has + _y_, and later _w_; cf. Semitic imperative. + + The _infinitive_ is of special importance on account of its being + preserved very fully in Coptic. It is generally of masculine form, but + feminine in III. inf. (as in Semitic), and in causatives of + biliterals. + + There are relative forms of _sdm-f_ and _sdm-n-f_, respectively + _sdm.w-f_ (masc.), _sdm.t-n-f_ (fem.), &c. They are used when the + relative is the object of the relative sentence, or has any other + position than the subject. Thus _sdm.t-f_ may mean "she whom he + hears," "she who[se praises] he hears," "she [to] whom he hears + [someone speaking]," &c. There are close analogies between the + function of the relative particles in Egyptian and Semitic; and the + Berber languages possess a relative form of the verb. + + _Participles_.--These are active and passive, perfect and imperfect, + in the old language, but all are replaced by periphrases in Coptic. + + _Verbal Adjectives_.--There is a peculiar formation, _sdm.ty-fy_, "he + who shall hear," probably meaning originally "he is a hearer," + _sdm.ty_ being an adjective in _y_ formed from a feminine (_t_) form + of the infinitive, which is occasionally found even in triliteral + verbs; the endings are: sing., masc. _ty-fy_, fem. _ty-sy_; pl., masc. + _ty-sn_, fem. _ty-st_. It is found only in Old Egyptian. + + _Particles_.--There seems to be no special formation for adverbs, and + little use is made of adverbial expressions. Prepositions, simple and + compound, are numerous. Some of the commonest simple prepositions are + _n_ "for," _r_ "to," _m_ "in, from," _hr_ "upon." A few enclitic + conjunctions exist, but they are indefinite in meaning--_swt_ a vague + "but," _grt_ a vague "moreover," &c. + + Coptic presents a remarkable contrast to Egyptian in the precision of + its periphrastic conjugation. There are two present tenses, an + imperfect, two perfects, a pluperfect, a present and a past + frequentative, and three futures besides future perfect; there are + also conjunctive and optative forms. The negatives of some of these + are expressed by special prefixes. The gradual growth of these new + forms can be traced through all the stages of Egyptian. Throughout the + history of the language we note an increasing tendency to periphrasis; + but there was no great advance towards _precision_ before demotic. In + demotic there are distinguishable a present tense, imperfect, perfect, + frequentative, future, future perfect, conjunctive and optative; also + present, past and future negatives, &c. The passive was extinct before + demotic; demotic and Coptic express it, clumsily it must be confessed, + by an impersonal "they," e.g. "they bore him" stands for "he was + born." + + It is worth noting how, in other departments besides the verb, the + Egyptian language was far better adapted to practical ends during and + after the period of the Deltaic dynasties (XXII.-XXX.) than ever it + was before. It was both simplified and enriched. The inflexions + rapidly disappeared and little was left of the distinctions between + masculine and feminine, singular, dual and plural--except in the + pronouns. The dual number had been given up entirely at an earlier + date. The pronouns, both personal and demonstrative, retained their + forms very fully. As prefixes, suffixes and articles, they, together + with some auxiliary verbs, provided the principal mechanism of the + renovated language. An abundant supply of useful adverbs was gradually + accumulated, as well as conjunctions, so far as the functions of the + latter were not already performed by the verbal prefixes. These great + improvements in the language correspond to great changes in the + economic condition of the country; they were the result of active + trade and constant intercourse of all classes of Egyptians with + foreigners from Europe and Asia. Probably the best stage of Egyptian + speech was that which immediately preceded Coptic. Though Coptic is + here and there more exactly expressive than the best demotic, it was + spoilt by too much Greek, duplicating and too often expelling native + expressions that were already adequate for its very simple + requirements. Above all, it is clumsily pleonastic. + + + THE WRITING + + The ancient Egyptian system of writing, so far as we know, originated, + developed and finally expired strictly within the limits of the Nile + Valley. The germ of its existence may have come from without, but, as + we know it, it is essentially Egyptian and intended for the expression + of the Egyptian language. About the 1st century B.C., however, the + semi-barbarous rulers of the Ethiopian kingdoms of Meroe and Napata + contrived the "Meroitic" alphabet, founded on Egyptian writing, and + comprising both a hieroglyphic and a cursive form (see ETHIOPIA). As + yet both of these kinds of Nubian writing are undeciphered. Egyptian + hieroglyphic was carried by conquest into Syria, certainly under the + XVIIIth Dynasty, and again under the XXVIth for the engraving of + Egyptian inscriptions; but in the earlier period the cuneiform + syllabary, and in the later the "Phoenician" alphabet, had obtained a + firm hold there, and we may be sure that no attempt was made to + substitute the Egyptian system for the latter. Cuneiform tablets in + Syria, however, seem almost confined to the period of the XVIIIth + Dynasty. Although it cannot be proved it seems quite possible that the + traders of Phoenicia and the Aegean adopted the papyrus and Egyptian + hieratic writing together, before the end of the New Kingdom, and + developed their "Phoenician" alphabet from the latter about 1000 B.C. + In very early times a number of systems of writing already reigned in + different countries forming a compact and not very large area--perhaps + from South Arabia to Asia Minor, and from Persia to Crete and Egypt. + Whether they all sprang from one common stock of picture-writing we + shall perhaps never know, nor can we as yet trace the influence which + one great system may have had on another, owing to the poverty of + documents from most of the countries concerned. + + It is certain that in Egypt from the IVth Dynasty onwards the mode of + writing was essentially the same as that which was extinguished by the + fall of paganism in the 4th century A.D. Its elements in the + hieroglyphic form are pictorial, but each hieroglyph had one or more + well-defined functions, fixed by convention in such a manner that the + Egyptian language was expressed in writing word by word. Although a + picture sign may at times have embarrassed the skilled native reader + by offering a choice of fixed values or functions, it was never + intended to convey merely an idea, so as to leave to him the task of + putting the idea into his own words. How far this holds good for the + period before the IVth Dynasty it is difficult to say. The known + inscriptions of the earlier times are so brief and so limited in range + that the system on which they were written cannot yet be fully + investigated. As far back as the Ist Dynasty, phonograms (see below) + were in full use. But the spelling then was very concise: it is + possible that some of the slighter words, such as prepositions, were + omitted in the writing, and were intended to be supplied from the + context. As a whole, we gain the impression that a really distinct and + more primitive stage of hieroglyphic writing by a substantially vaguer + notation of words lay not far behind the time of the Ist Dynasty. + + The employment of the signs are of three kinds: any given sign + represents either (1) a whole word or root; or (2) a sound as part of + a word; or (3) pictorially defines the meaning of a word the sound of + which has already been given by a sign or group of signs preceding. + The number of phonograms is very restricted, but some signs have all + these powers. For instance, [HRG: mn] is the conventional picture of a + draughtboard (shown in plan) with the draughtsmen (shown in elevation) + on its edge:--this sign (1) signifies the root _mn_, "set," "firm"; or + (2) in the group [HRG: mn:x], represents the same sound as part of the + root _mnh_, "good"; or (3) added to the group _snt_ (thus: [HRG: + z:n:t-mn]), shows that the meaning intended is "draught-board," or + "draughts," and not any of the other meanings of _snt_. Thus signs, + according to their employment, are said to be (1) "word-signs," (2) + "phonograms," or (3) "determinatives." + + _Word-signs._--The word-sign value of a sign is, in the first place, + the name of the object it represents, or of some material, or quality, + or action, or idea suggested by it. Thus [HRG] is _hr_, "face"; [HRG], + a vase of ointment, is _mrh.t_, "ointment"; [HRG] is _wdb_, "turn." + Much investigation is still required to establish the origins of the + values of the signs; in some cases the connexion between the pictures + and the _primary_ values seems to be curiously remote. Probably all + the signs in the hieroglyphic signary can be employed in their primary + sense. The _secondary_ value expresses the consonantal root of the + name or other primary value, and any, or almost any, derivative from + that root: as when [HRG], a mat with a cake upon it, is not only + _htp_, an "offering-mat," but also _htp_ in the sense of + "conciliation," "peace," "rest," "setting" (of the sun), with many + derivatives. In the third place, some signs may be _transferred_ to + express another root having the same consonants as the first: thus + [HRG], the ear, by a play upon words can express not only _sdm_, + "hear," but also _sdm_, "paint the eyes." + + _Phonograms._--Only a limited number of signs are found with this use, + but they are of the greatest importance. By searching throughout the + whole mass of normal inscriptions, earlier than the periods of Greek + and Roman rule when great liberties were taken with the writing, + probably no more than one hundred different phonograms can be found. + The number of those commonly employed in good writing is between + seventy and eighty. The most important phonograms are the _uniliteral_ + or _alphabetic_ signs, twenty-four in number in the Old Kingdom and + without any homophones: later these were increased by homophones to + thirty. Of _biliteral_ phonograms--each expressing a combination of + two consonants--there were about fifty commonly used: some fifteen or + twenty were rarely used. As Egyptian roots seldom exceeded three + letters, there was no need for _triliteral_ phonograms to spell them. + There is, however, one triliteral phonogram, the eagle, [HRG], _tyw_, + or _tiu_ (?), used for the plural ending of adjectives in _y_ formed + from words ending in _t_ (whether radical or the feminine ending). + + The phonetic values of the signs are derived from their word-sign + values and consist usually of the bare root, though there are rare + examples of the retention of a flexional ending; they often ignore + also the weaker consonants of the root, and on the same principle + reduce a repeated consonant to a single one, as when the hoe [HRG], + _hnn_, has the phonetic value _hn_. The history of some of the + alphabetic signs is still very obscure, but a sufficient number of + them have been explained to make it nearly certain that the values of + all were obtained on the same principles.[15] Some of the ancient + words from which the phonetic values were derived probably fell very + early into disuse, and may never be discoverable in the texts that + have come down to us. The following are among those most easily + explained:-- + + [HRG: i], reed flower, value _y_ and [Hebrew: alef]; from [HRGs: + i-A-Hn], _y'_, "reed." + + (It seems as if the two values _y_ and [Hebrew: alef] were obtained + by choosing first one and then the other of the two semi-consonants + composing the name. They are much confused, and a conventional symbol + _l_ has to be adopted for rendering [HRG: i].) + + [HRG: a], forearm, value '([Hebrew: ayin]); from [HRGs: a:Z1], + '([Hebrew: ayin]), "hand." + + [HRG: r], mouth, value _r_; from [HRGs: r:Z1], _r_, "mouth." + + [HRG: X], belly and teats, value _h_; from [HRGs: X:t*Z1], + _h.t_, "belly." (The feminine ending is here, as usual, + neglected.) + + [HRG: S], tank, value _s_; from [HRGs: S:Z1], _s_, + "tank." + + [HRG: q], slope of earth value _q_; ''[HRGs: q-A-A-q], _q_'', + "slope," or brickwork, "height." (The doubled weak consonant is + here neglected.) + + [HRG: d], hand, value _d_; from [HRGs: d:t*Z1], _d.t_, "hand." + + [HRG: D], cobra, value _z_; from [HRGs: D:t*Z1], _z.t_, "cobra." + + For some alphabetic signs more than one likely origin might be found, + while for others, again, no clear evidence of origin is yet + forthcoming. + + It has already been explained that the writing expresses only + consonants. In the Graeco-Roman period various imperfect attempts were + made to render the vowels in foreign names and words by the + semi-vowels as also by [HRGs: a], the consonant [Hebrew: ayin] which + [HRGs: a] originally represented having been reduced in speech by that + time to the power of [Hebrew: alef], only. Thus, [Greek: Ptolemaios] + is spelt _Ptwrmys_, Antoninus, _'Nt'nynws_ or _Intnyns_, &c. &c. Much + earlier, throughout the New Kingdom, a special "syllabic" orthography, + in which the alphabetic signs for the consonants are generally + replaced by groups or single signs having the value of a consonant + followed by a semi-vowel, was used for foreign names and words, e.g. + + [Hebrew: merkevet], "chariot," was written [HRGs: + m:a-r:Z1-k:A-b-W-ti-i-t:xt], in Coptic [Coptic: berechojt]. + + [Hebrew: migdal], "tower," was written [HRGs: m:a-k-ti-i-r:Z1], + [HRGs: m:a-g-A-d:y-r:Z1-niwt], [Coptic: mechtod]. + + [Hebrew: kinor], "harp," was written [HRGs: k-n:Z2-i-n-i-w-l:Z1-xt]. + + [Hebrew: hamath], "Hamath," was written [HRGs: + HA-A-mA-A-ti-i-qmA:xAst ]. + + According to W. Max Muller (_Asien und Europa_, 1893, chap, v.), this + represents an endeavour to express the vocalization; but, if so, it + was carried out with very little system. In practice, the semi-vowels + are generally negligible. This method of writing can be traced back + into the Middle Kingdom, if not beyond, and it greatly affected the + spelling of native words in New Egyptian and demotic. + + _Determinatives._--Most signs can on occasion be used as + determinatives, but those that are very commonly employed as + phonograms or as secondary word-signs are seldom employed as + determinatives; and when they are so used they are often somewhat + differentiated. Certain generic determinatives are very common, + e.g.:-- + + [HRG: D54]; of motion. + + [HRG: A24], [HRG: D40]; of acts involving force. + + [HRG: A40]; of divinity. + + [HRG: A1]; of a person or a man's name. + + [HRG: pr]; of buildings. + + [HRG: niwt]; of inhabited places. + + [HRG: xAst]; of foreign countries. + + [HRG: qmA]; club; of foreigners. + + [HRG: A2]; of all actions of the mouth--eating and speaking, + likewise silence and hunger. + + [HRG: N35B]; ripple-lines; of liquid. + + [HRG: F27]; hide; of animals, also leather, &c. + + [HRG: Hn]; of plants and fibres. + + [HRG: N33:Z5]; of flesh. + + [HRG: mDAt]; a sealed papyrus-roll; of books, teaching, law, and of + abstract ideas generally. + + In the earliest inscriptions the use of determinatives is restricted + to the [HRG: A1], [HRG: B1], &c., after proper names, but it developed + immensely later, so that few words beyond the particles were written + without them in the normal style after the Old Kingdom. + + Some few signs ideographic of a group of ideas are made to express + particular words belonging to that group by the aid of phonograms + which point out the special meaning. In such cases the ideogram is not + merely a determinative nor yet quite a word-sign. Thus [HRG: qmA-m] = + [HRG: a-A-m-qmA] "Semite," [HRG: qmA-nw] = [HRG: T-H-n:nw-qmA] + "Libyan," &c., but [HRG: qmA] cannot stand by itself for the name of + any particular foreign people. So also in monogram [HRG: Sm] is + _sm_ "go," [HRG: zb] is "conduct." + + _Orthography._--The most primitive form of spelling in the + hieroglyphic system would be by one sign for each word, and the + monuments of the Ist Dynasty show a decided tendency to this mode. + Examples of it in later times are preserved in the royal cartouches, + for here the monumental style demanded special consciseness. Thus, for + instance, the name of Tethmosis III.--MN-HPR-R'--is spelled [HRG: + hrw-mn-xpr] (as R' is the name of the sun-god, with customary + deference to the deity it is written first though pronounced last). A + number of common words--prepositions, &c.--with only one consonant are + spelled by single alphabetic signs in ordinary writing. Word-signs + used singly for the names of objects are generally marked with | in + classical writing, as [HRG: Z91-ib:Z1], _ib_, "heart," [HRG: Hr:Z1], + _hr_, "face," &c. + + But the use of bare word-signs is not common. Flexional consonants are + almost always marked by phonograms, except in very early times; as + when the feminine word [HRG: D] = _z.t_, "cobra," is spelled [HRG: + D:t*Z1]. Also, if a sign had more than one value, a phonogram would be + added to indicate which of its values was intended: thus [HRG: sw] in + [HRG: sw-w] is _sw_, "he," but in [HRG: sw:t] it is _stn_, "king." + Further, owing to the vast number of signs employed, to prevent + confusion of one with another in rapid writing they were generally + provided with "phonetic complements," a group being less easily + misread than a single letter. E.g. [HRG: wD], _wz_, "command," is + regularly written [HRG: wD-w], _wz_ (_w_); but [HRG: HD], _hz_, + "white," is written [HRG: HD-D], _hz_(_z_). This practice had the + advantage also of distinguishing determinatives from phonograms. Thus + the root or syllable _hn_ is regularly written [HRG: H-Hn:n] to avoid + confusion with the determinative [HRG: Hn]. Redundance in writing is + the rule; for instance, _b_ is often spelled [HRG: b-G26A-A] + (_b_)_b_'('). Biliteral phonograms are very rare as phonetic + complements, nor are two biliteral phonograms employed together in + writing the radicals of a word. + + Spelling of words purely in phonetic or even alphabetic characters is + not uncommon, the determinative being generally added. Thus in the + pyramidal texts we find _hpr_, "become," written [HRG: xpr] in one + copy of a text, in another [HRG: x*p:r]. Such variant spellings are + very important for fixing the readings of word-signs. It is noteworthy + that though words were so freely spelled in alphabetic characters, + especially in the time of the Old Kingdom, no advance was ever made + towards excluding the cumbersome word-signs and biliteral phonograms, + which, by a judicious use of determinatives, might well have been + rendered quite superfluous. + + _Abbreviations._--We find [HRG: anx-DA-s], strictly _'nh z_' _s_ + standing for the ceremonial _viva! 'nh wz, snb_. "Life, Prosperity + and Health," and in course of time [HRG: mDAt] was used in accounts + instead of [HRG: dmD] _dmz_, "total." + + _Monograms_ are frequent and are found from the earliest times. Thus + [HRG: Sm], [HRG: zb] mentioned above are monograms, the association of + [HRG: S] and [HRG: D54] having no pictorial meaning. Another common + monogram is [HRG: O10], i.e. [HRG: Hwt] and [HRG: G5] for _H.t-Hrw_ + "Hathor." A word-sign may be compounded with its phonetic complement, + as [HRG: T5] _hz_ "white," or with its determinative, as [HRG: S14] + _hz_ "silver." + + The table on the opposite page shows the uses of a few of the commoner + signs. + + The decorative value of hieroglyphic was fully appreciated in Egypt. + The aim of the artist-scribe was to arrange his variously shaped + characters into square groups, and this could be done in great measure + by taking advantage of the different ways in which many words could be + spelt. Thus _hs_ could be written [HRG: H*Hz:z], _hsy_ [HRG: Hz-i-i], + _hs-f_ [HRG: Hz-z:f], _hs-n-f_ [HRG: Hz-n:f]. But some words in the + classical writing were intractable from this point of view. It is + obvious that the alphabetic signs played a very important part in the + formation of the groups, and many words could only be written in + alphabetic signs. A great advance was therefore made when several + homophones were introduced into the alphabet in the Middle and New + Kingdoms, partly as the result of the wearing away of old phonetic + distinctions, giving the choice between [HRG: z] and [HRG: s], [HRG: + t-T] and [HRG: ti], [HRG: m] and [HRG: M], [HRG: n] and [HRG: N], + [HRG: w] and [HRG: W]. In later times the number of homophones in use + increased greatly throughout the different classes, the tendency being + much helped by the habit of fanciful writing; but few of these + homophones found their way into the cursive script. Occasionally a + scribe of the old times indulged his fancy in "sportive" or + "mysterious" writing, either inventing new signs or employing old ones + in unusual meanings. Short sportive inscriptions are found in tombs of + the XIIth Dynasty; some groups are so written cursively in early + medical papyri, and certain religious inscriptions in the royal tombs + of the XIXth and XXth Dynasties are in secret writing. Fanciful + writing abounds on the temples of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. + + + PALAEOGRAPHY + + _Hieroglyphic._--The main division is into monumental or epigraphic + hieroglyphs and written hieroglyphs. The former may be rendered by the + sculptor or the painter in stone, on wood, &c., with great delicacy of + detail, or may be simply sunk or painted in outline. When finely + rendered they are of great value to the student investigating the + origins of their values. No other system of writing bears upon its + face so clearly the history of its development as the Egyptian; yet + even in this a vast amount of work is still required to detect and + disentangle the details. Monumental hieroglyphic did not cease till + the 3rd century A.D. (Temple of Esna). The written hieroglyphs, formed + by the scribe with the reed pen on papyrus, leather, wooden tablets, + &c., have their outlines more or less abbreviated, producing + eventually the cursive scripts hieratic and demotic. The written + hieroglyphs were employed at all periods, especially for religious + texts. + + _Hieratic._--A kind of cursive hieroglyphic or hieratic writing is + found even in the Ist Dynasty. In the Middle Kingdom it is well + characterized, and in its most cursive form seems hardly to retain + any definable trace of the original hieroglyphic pictures. The style + varies much at different periods. + + +------------+-------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+-----------------+ + | Sign. | Description.| Name. | Word-sign | Phonetic | Determinative | + | | | | Value. | Value. | Value. | + +------------+-------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+-----------------+ + | [HRG: Xrd] | child | hrd (khrod) | | | youth | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: Hr] | face | hr (hor) | hr | [hr] | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: ir] | eye | ir.t (yori.t) | ir | ir | see, &c. | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: r] | mouth | r (ro) | r | r | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: a] | forearm | '('ei) | ' | ' | [action of hand | + | | | | | | or arm] | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: D40] | arm with | nht "be strong" | nht | | violent action | + | | stick | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: A24] | man with | nht "be strong" | nht | | violent action | + | | stick | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: zmA] | lungs and | sm; | sm; | | | + | | windpipe | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: ib] | heart | ib | | | heart | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: nfr] | heart and | ? | nfr | | | + | | windpipe | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: wr] | sparrow | ? | sr | | evil, worthless-| + | | | | | | ness, smallness| + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: zA] | widgeon | s;.t | s; | s; | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: in] | bolti-fish | in.t | in | in | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: Hw] | tusk | (1) ibh "tooth" | bh | bh | bite, &c. | + | | | (2) hw "taste" | hw | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: xt] | cut branch | ht | ht | [ht] | wood, tree | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: zp] | threshing- | sp.t | sp | | | + | | floor | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: hrw] | sun | (1) r' "sun" | | | (1) sun | + | | | (2) hrw "day" | | | (2) division of | + | | | | | | time | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: pr] | chamber, | pr | pr | | | + | | house | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: N17] | flat land | t' | t' | t' | boundless hori- | + | | | | | | zon, eternity | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: Hz] | libation | hs.t | hs | hs | | + | | vase | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: wD] | cord on | wz | wz | wz | | + | | stick | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: nb] | basket | nb.t | nb | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: k] | looped | ? | k | k | | + | | basket | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: mA] | sickle | ? | m' | m' | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: U7] | composite | [mr?] | mr | mr | tillage | + | | hoe | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: U29] | fire-drill | z'.t(?) | z' | z' | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: Sms] | attendant's | sms "follow" | sms | | | + | | equipment | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | [HRG: T30] | knife | ds | ds | | cut, prick, cut-| + | | | | | | ting instrument | + +------------+-------------+-----------------+-----------+----------+-----------------+ + + _Demotic._--Widely varying degrees of cursiveness are at all periods + observable in hieratic; but, about the XXVIth Dynasty, which + inaugurated a great commercial era, there was something like a + definite parting between the uncial hieratic and the most cursive form + afterwards known as demotic. The employment of hieratic was + thenceforth almost confined to the copying of religious and other + traditional texts on papyrus, while demotic was used not only for all + business but also for writing literary and even religious texts in the + popular language. By the time of the XXVth Dynasty the cursive of the + conservative Thebais had become very obscure. A better form from Lower + Egypt drove this out completely in the time of Amasis II. and is the + true demotic. Before the Macedonian conquest the cursive ligatures of + the old demotic gave birth to new symbols which were carefully and + distinctly formed, and a little later an epigraphic variety was + engraved on stone, as in the case of the Rosetta stone itself. One of + the most characteristic distinctions of later demotic is the + minuteness of the writing. + + Hieroglyphic is normally written from right to left, the signs facing + to the commencement of the line; hieratic and demotic follow the same + direction. But monumental hieroglyphic may also be written from left + to right, and is constantly so arranged for purposes of symmetry, e.g. + the inscriptions on the two jambs of a door are frequently turned in + opposite directions; the same is frequently done with the short + inscriptions scattered over a scene amongst the figures, in order to + distinguish one label from another. + + In modern founts of type, the hieroglyphic signs are made to run from + left to right, in order to facilitate the setting where European text + is mixed with the Egyptian. The table on next page shows them in their + more correct position, in order to display more clearly their relation + to the hieratic and demotic equivalents. + + Clement of Alexandria states that in the Egyptian schools the pupils + were first taught the "epistolographic" style of writing (i.e. + demotic), secondly the "hieratic" employed by the sacred scribes, and + finally the "hieroglyphic" (_Strom._ v. 657). It is doubtful whether + they classified the signs of the huge hieroglyphic syllabary with any + strictness. The only native work on the writing that has come to light + as yet is a fragmentary papyrus of Roman date which has a table in + parallel columns of hieroglyphic signs, with their hieratic + equivalents and words written in hieratic describing them or giving + their values or meanings. The list appears to have comprised about 460 + signs, including most of those that occur commonly in hieratic. They + are to some extent classified. The bee [HRGs: bit] heads the list as a + royal sign, and is followed by figures of nobles and other human + figures in various attitudes, more or less grouped among themselves, + animals, reptiles and fishes, scorpion, animals again, twenty-four + alphabetic characters, parts of the human body carefully arranged from + [HRGs: tp] to [HRGs: D54], thirty-two in number, parts of animals, + celestial signs, terrestrial signs, vases. The arrangement down to + this point is far from strict, and beyond it is almost impossible to + describe concisely, though there is still a rough grouping of + characters according to resemblance of form, nature or meaning. It is + a curious fact that not a single bird is visible on the fragments, and + the trees and plants, which might easily have been collected in a + compact and well-defined section, are widely scattered. Why the + alphabetic characters are introduced where they are is a puzzle; the + order of these is:--[HRG Z91] [HRGs: r-H-kA-W] (?) [HRGs: wA] (?) + [HRGs: s] (?) [HRGs: z-Db] (?) [HRGs: Z91-b-Z91-S-SA] (?) [HRGs: k] + (?) [HRGs: xA-X-U29-p-a-g-x-t] (?) [HRGs: i-q]. + + Three others, [HRGs: XA-D] and [HRGs: f], had already occurred amongst + the fish and reptiles. There seems to be no logical aim in this + arrangement of the alphabetic characters and the series is incomplete. + Very probably the Egyptians never constructed a really systematic list + of hieroglyphs. In modern lists the signs are classified according to + the nature of the objects they depict, as human figures, plants, + vessels, instruments, &c. Horapollon's _Hieroglyphica_ may be cited as + a native work, but its author, if really an Egyptian, had no knowledge + of good writing. His production consists of two elaborate + complementary lists: the one describing sign-pictures and giving their + meanings, the other cataloguing ideas in order to show how they could + be expressed in hieroglyphic. Each seems to us to be made up of + curious but perverted reminiscences eked out by invention; but they + might some day prove to represent more truly the usages of mystics and + magicians in designing amulets, &c., at a time approaching the middle + ages. + + [Illustration: PLATE I. EARLIEST EGYPTIAN ART + + 1. TATOOED FEMALE, LIMESTONE SLAG. + 2. 3. HEADS ON IVORY TUSKS. + 4. 5. ANIMALS ON BONE COMBS. + 6. IVORY HAWK. + 7. LIMESTONE LION. + 8. IVORY DOG AND GAZELLE. + 9. IVORY HANDLE OF KNIFE. + 10. 11. WHITE ON RED VASES; MEN AND ANIMALS. + 12. SHIP ON A VASE. + 13. SHIP ON A WALL PAINTING. + 14. IVORY KING. + 15. 16. ARCHAIC KING'S HEAD, STUDY IN LIMESTONE. + 17. HEAD OF KHASEKHEM.] + + [Illustration: PLATE II. EARLY EGYPTIAN ART. + + 18. LIMESTONE RELIEF. + 19. ANIMALS ON SLATE PALETTE._Photo, Mansell._ + 20. CONQUEROR AS A BULL. + 21. GAZELLES AND PALM, SLATE. + 22. ANIMALS, SLATE. + 23. KING NARMER, SLATE PALETTE. + 24. IVORY TUSK, WITH ANIMALS. + 25. IVORY WAND, WITH ANIMALS. + 26. WOODEN PANELS OF HESI. + 27. RAHOTP AND NEFERT. + 28. WOODEN FIGURE.] + + +---------------------+----------+-----------+---------------+---------------------+ + | | Demotic. | Hieratic. | Hieroglyphic. | | | + +---------------------+----------+-----------+---------------+---------------------+ + | _ent_, "who" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _nty_ | + | | | | | | + | _Perso_ ("Pharaoh") | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _Per<o <nh wz, snb_ | + | | | | | | + | _yot_, "father" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _itf_ | + | | | | | | + | _'onkh_, "live" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _<nh_ | + | | | | | | + | _ekh_, "know" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _rh_ | + | | | | | | + | _ahe_, "stand" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _<h<_ | + | | | | | | + | _eine_, "carry" | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _in_ | + | | | | | | + | _ms_ (phon.) | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _ms_ | + | | | | | | + | _s_ (alph.) | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _s_ | + | | | | | | + | _s_ (alph.) | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _[/s]_ | + | | | | | | + | _m_ (alph.) | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _m_ | + | | | | | | + | _n_ (alph.) | [SGN] | [SGN] | [HRG] | _n_ | + +---------------------+----------+-----------+---------------+---------------------+ + + The early scribe's outfit, often carried slung over his shoulder, is + seen in the hieroglyph [HRG]. It consisted of frayed reed pens or + brushes, a small pot of water, and a palette with two circular + cavities in which black and red ink were placed, made of finely + powdered colour solidified with gum. In business and literary + documents red ink was used for contrast, especially in headings; in + demotic, however, it is very rarely seen. The pen became finer in + course of time, enabling the scribe to write very small. The split + reed of the Greek penman was occasionally adopted by the late demotic + scribes. + + Egypt had long been bilingual when, in papyri of the 2nd century A.D., + we begin to find transcripts of the Egyptian language into Greek + letters, the latter reinforced by a few signs borrowed from the + demotic alphabet: so written we have a magical text and a horoscope, + probably made by foreigners or for their use. The infinite superiority + of the Greek alphabet with its full notation of vowels was readily + seen, but piety and custom as yet barred the way to its full adoption. + The triumph of Christianity banished the old system once and for all; + even at the beginning of the 4th century the native Egyptian script + scarcely survived north of the Nubian frontier at Philae; a little + later it finally expired. The following eight signs, however, had been + taken over from demotic by the Copts: + + [Coptic: shai] = _s_, from [HRG] _si_, dem. [sign], [SGN]. + + [Coptic: horee] = _h_, probably from [HRG] _hw_ (or [HRG] _hi_), + dem. [sign]. + + [Coptic: khai] (Boh.) = _h_, from [HRG] _hi_, dem. [SGN]. + + [Coptic: eksee] (Akhm.) = _h_, from [HRG], [HRG] _hy_, _ht_, dem. + [sign]. + + [Coptic: fai] = _f_, from [HRG] _f_, dem. [SGN]. + + [Coptic: cheema] = _c_ from [HRG] _k_ (or [HRG] _h_), dem. + [sign], [sign]. + + [Coptic: janja] = _g_, from [HRG] _di_ (or [HRG] _ti_), dem. + [sign], [sign]. + + [Coptic: tee] = _ti_, from [HRG] _dy.t_, dem. [SGN]. + + For origins of hieroglyphs, see Petrie's _Medum_ (1892); F. Ll. + Griffith, _A Collection of Hieroglyphs_ (1898); N. de G. Davies, _The + Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep_, pt. i. (1900); M. A. Murray, + _Saqqara Mastabas_ (London, 1905); also Petrie and Griffith, _Two + Hieroglyphic Papyri from Tanis_ (London, 1889) (native sign-list); G. + Moller, _Hieratische Palaographie_ (Leipzig, 1909); Griffith, + _Catalogue of Demotic Papyri in the J. Rylands Collection_ + (Manchester, 1909). (F. Ll. G.) + +E. _Art and Archaeology._--In the following sections a general history +of the characteristics of Ancient Egyptian art is first given, showing +the variation of periods and essentials of style; and this is followed +by an account of the use made of material products, of the tools and +instruments employed, and of the monuments. For further details see also +the separate topographical headings (for excavations, &c.), and the +general articles on the various arts and art-materials (for references +to Egypt); also PYRAMIDS; MUMMY, &c. + + +_General Characteristics._ + +The wide and complex subject of Egyptian art will be treated here in six +periods: Prehistoric, Early Kings, Pyramid Kings, XIIth Dynasty, +XVIIIth-XXth Dynasties, XXVIth Dynasty and later. In each age will be +considered the (A) statuary, (B) reliefs, (C) painting. + +_Prehistoric._--The earliest civilized population of Egypt was highly +skilled in mechanical accuracy and regularity, but had little sense of +organic forms. They kept the unfinished treatment of the limbs and +extremities which is so characteristic of most barbaric art; and the +action was more considered than the form. + +(A) In the round there are in the earlier graves female figures of two +races, the Bushman type and European, both probably representing +servants or slaves. These have the legs always united, sloping to a +point without feet (Plate I. fig. 1); the arms are only stumps. The face +has a beaky nose and some indication of eyes. Upon the surface is +colouring; red for the Bushman, with black whisker though female; white +for the European type, with black tattoo patterns. Other female figures +are modelled in a paste, upon a stick, and the black hair is sometimes +made separately to fit on as a wig over the red head, showing that wigs +were then used. Male figures are generally only heads in the earlier +times. Tusks with carved heads (Plate I. figs. 2, 3) are the earliest, +beginning at S.D. (sequence date) 33;[16] heads on the top of combs are +found, from S.D. 42 to the close of such combs in the fifties. All of +these heads show a high forehead and a pointed beard; and such +expression as may be discovered is grave but not savage. In later times +whole figures of ivory, stone and clay are found, with the legs united, +and the arms usually joined to the body. A favourite way of indicating +the eyes was by drilling two holes and inserting a white shell bead in +each. The figures of animals (Plate I. figs. 4, 5) are quite as rude as +the human figures: they only summarily indicate the mature, and often +hardly express the genus. They are most usual on combs and pins; but +sacred animals are also found. The lion is the most usual (Plate I. fig. +7), but the legs are roughly marked, if at all: the leonine air is +given, but the attitude is more distinct than the form. The hawk (Plate +I. fig. 6) is modelled in block without any legs. The slate palettes in +the form of animals are even more summary, and continually degraded +until they lost all trace of their origin. There are also curious +figures of animals chipped in flint, which show some character, but no +detail. + +(B) Reliefs with animal figures belong to the later part of the +prehistoric age. The relief is low, and the form hatched across with +lines (Plate I. fig. 8), a style copied from drawing. There is more +animation than in the round figures. At the close of this age the +fashion of long processions of animals appears (Plate I. fig. 9); some +character is shown in these, but no sense of action. + +(C) Drawing is found from the earliest civilization, done in white slip +on red vases. Figures of men are very rare (Plate I. fig. 10); they have +the body triangular, the waist being very narrow; the legs are two lines +linked by a zigzag, as if to express that they move to and fro. The +usual figures are goats and hippopotami; always having the body covered +with cross lines to express the connexion of the outlines (Plate I. fig. +11). This technique is in every way closely akin to that of the modern +Kabyle. An entirely different mode is common at a later time when +designs were painted in thin red colour on a light brown ware. The +subjects of the earlier of these examples are imitations of cordage, of +marbling, and of basket-work; later there are rows of men and animals, +and ships (Plate I. figs. 12, 13), with various minor signs. The figures +are never cross-hatched as in earlier drawing, but always filled in +altogether. The fact that the ships have oars and not sails makes it +probable that they were rather for the sea than for Nile traffic, and a +starfish among the motives on such pottery also points to the sea +connexion. The ulterior meaning of the decoration is probably religious +and funereal, but the objects which are figured must have been familiar. + + For this whole period see Jean Capart, _Debuts de l'art en Egypte_ + (1904; trans. _Primitive Art in Ancient Egypt_). + +_The Early Kings._--The dynastic race wrought an entire transformation +in the art of Egypt; in place of the clumsy and undetailed +representations, there suddenly appears highly artistic work, full of +character, action and anatomical detail. + +(A) The earliest statues of this age are the colossi of the god Min from +Coptos; that they belong to the artistic race is evident from the +spirited reliefs upon them (see below, B), but the figures were very +rude, the legs and arms being joined all in the mass. The main example +of this early art is a limestone head of a king (Plate I. figs. 15, 16), +which is a direct study from life, to serve as a model. For the accuracy +of the facial curves, and the grasp of character and type, it is equal +to any later work; and in its entire absence of conventions and its pure +naturalism there is no later sculpture so good: as Prof. A. Michaelis +says, "it renders the race type with astounding keenness, and shows an +excellent power of observation in the exact representation of the eyes." +By the portrait, it is probably of King Narmer or some king related to +him, that is, about the beginning of the Ist Dynasty. The ivory +statuette of an aged king (Plate I. fig. 14) is probably slightly later. +It shows the same subtle sense of character, and is unsurpassed in its +reality. Many ivory figures of men, women and animals are known from +Nekhen (Hieraconpolis) and Abydos; and they all show the same school of +work, simple, dignified, observant, and with an air which places them on +a higher plane of truthfulness and precision than later art. There is +none of the mannerism of a long tradition, but a nobility pervades them +which has no self-consciousness. The lower class of work of this age is +shown by great numbers of glazed pottery figures both human and animal. +Later in the IInd Dynasty, the head of Khasekhem (Plate I. fig. 17) +shows the beginning of convention, but yet has a delicacy about the +mouth which surpasses later works. + +(B) Reliefs abound at this age, and include the most important evidences +of the development of the art. The earliest examples are those of +animals (Plate II. fig. 18) and shells on the colossi of Coptos. They +show a keen sense of form, and the stag's head, which is probably the +earliest, already bears an artistic feeling wholly different to that of +any of the prehistoric works (P.K. iii. iv.). The carvings on slate +palettes appear to begin with work crudely accurate and forceful, the +heavy limbs being ridged with tendons and muscles (Plate II. fig. 19), +but there is more proportion, with the same massive strength (Plate II. +fig. 20). Soon after, with a leap, the artist produced the first pure +work of art that is known (Plate II. fig. 21), a design for its own sake +without the tie of symbolism or history. The group of two long-necked +gazelles facing a palm tree is of extraordinary refinement, and shows +the artistic consciousness in every part; the symmetric rendering of the +palm tree, reduced to fit the scale of the animals, the dainty grace of +the smooth gazelles contrasted with the rugged stem, the delicacy of the +long flowing curves and the fine indications of the joints, all show a +sense of design which has rarely been equalled in the ceaseless +repetitions of the tree and supporters motive during every age since. +Passing the various palettes with hunting scenes and animals (Plate II. +fig. 22), we come to the great historical carving of King Narmer (Plate +II. fig. 23). Here the anatomy has reached its limits for such work; the +precision of the muscles on the inner and outer sides of the leg, of the +uniform grip in the left arm, and the tense muscle upholding the right +arm, prove that the artist knew that part of his work perfectly. The +large ceremonial mace-heads recording the _Sed_ festivals of the king +Narmer and another, belong also to this school; but owing to their +smaller size they have not such artistic detail. With them were found +many reliefs in ivory, on tusks, wands and cylinders. The main motive in +these is a long procession of animals (Plate II. figs. 24, 25) often +grotesquely crowded; but there is much observation shown and the figures +are expressive. No drawing of this age has survived. + +_The Pyramid Kings._--A different ideal appears in the pyramid times; in +place of the naturalism of the earlier work there is more regularity, +some convention, and the sense of a school in the style. The prevailing +feeling is a noble spaciousness both in scale and in form, an equanimity +based upon knowledge and character, a grandeur of conception expressed +by severely simple execution. There is nothing superfluous, nothing +common, nothing trivial. The smallest as well as the largest work seems +complete, inevitable, immutable, without limitations of time, or labour +or thought. + +(A) The statuette of Khufu or Cheops (Plate III. fig. 29) though only a +minute figure in ivory, shows the character of immense energy and will; +the face is an astonishing portrait to be expressed in a quarter of an +inch. The life-size statue of Khafre or Chephren (Plate III. fig. 30) is +a majestic work, serene and powerful; carved in hard diorite, yet +unhesitating in execution. The muscular detail is full, but yet kept in +harmony with the massive style of the figure. The private persons have +entirely different treatment according to the character of their +position. In place of the awful dignity of the kings there is the placid +high-bred Princess Nofri (Plate II. fig. 27, Plate III. fig. 31), the +calm conscientious dignitary Hemset (Plate III. fig. 32), the bustling, +active, middle-class official, Ka-aper (Plate II. fig. 28, Plate III. +fig. 33), and the kneeling figure of a servitor. The differences of +character are very skilfully rendered in all the sculpture of this age. +The whole figures are stiff in the earlier time, as the figure of Nes; +then square and massive, but true in form, as Rahotp and Nofri (Plate +II. fig. 27); and afterwards easier and less monumental, as Ka-aper +(Plate II. fig. 28). The skill in beaten copper work is shown by the +portrait of the Prince Mer-en-ra (Plate III. fig. 35). + +(B) The reliefs are quite equal to the statuary. The wooden panels of +Hesi (Plate II. fig. 26) show the archaic style of great detail, with a +bold, stark vigour of attitude. Later work is abundant in the +tomb-sculptures of this age, with a fulness of variety and detail which +makes them the most interesting of all branches of the art. The general +effect cannot be judged without a large scene, but the figures of two +men and an ox (Plate III. fig. 37) show the freshness and vigour of the +style, which is even higher than this in some examples. The clear, noble +spacing of the surface work is well shown by a group of offerings and +inscribed titles (Plate III. fig. 36). + +[Illustration: PLATE III. PYRAMID PERIOD. + + 29. IVORY OF CHEOPS. + 30. DIORITE OF CHEPHREN. + 31. LIMESTONE OF NEFERT. + 32. HEMSET: LIMESTONE. + 33. WOOD (see Fig. 28). + 34. SCRIBE: LIMESTONE. + 35. MER-EN-RA: COPPER. + 36. LIMESTONE SLAB OF KHENT-ER-KA. + 37. THE OXHERDS: LIMESTONE. Photo, Bonfils + 38. GRANITE SPHINX. + 39. AMENEMHE III. + 40. 41. SENWOSRI I.: LIMESTONE RELIEFS: HOTEPA.] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV. 1400 B. C. TO ROMAN. + + 42. AMENOPHIS III.: GRANITE. Photo, Manseil. + 43. QUEEN TAIA: LIMESTONE. + 44. RAMESES II.: GRANITE. Photo, Anderson. + 45. NEGRESS: EBONY. + 46. QUEEN HATSHEPSUT. + 47. KHA-EM-HAT. + 48. SETI I. + 49. PRINCESSES: FRESCO. + 50. FOUR RACES OF MAN. + 51. TUMBLER. + 52. SCENE IN XXVI. DYNASTY. + 53. PTOLEMAIC RELIEF. + 54. MODELLED HEAD AND SKULL.] + +(C) Flat drawings of this age are rare. Some fine examples, such as the +geese from Medum, show that such work kept pace with the reliefs; but +most of the fresco-work has perished, and there are few instances of +line drawing. + +_The XIIth Dynasty._--This age overlaps the previous in its style. The +end of the last age was in the very degraded tomb work of the early XIth +Dynasty. + +(A) The new style begins with the royal statues, which it seems we must +attribute to the foreign kings from whom the XIIth Dynasty was +descended. These statues were later appropriated by the Hyksos, and so +came to be called by their name, which is a misnomer. The type of face +(Plate III. fig. 38) is thick-featured, full of force, with powerful +masses of facial muscle covering the skull. The style is very vigorous +and impassioned, without any trace of relenting towards conventional +work. The surfaces are not in the least subdued by a general breadth of +style, as in the last period; but, on the contrary, revel in the full +detail of variety. There is perhaps no age where nature is so little +controlled by convention in either the living character or its +sculptured expression. One of these kings might well be the founder of +the IXth Dynasty, "Achthoes (Kheti), who did much injury to all the +inhabitants," "Khuther Taurus the tyrant"; the expression is that of a +Chlodwig or an Alboin. From this type evidently descended the milder and +more civilized kings of the XIIth Dynasty, the resemblance being so +strong that the fierce figures have even been identified with that +dynasty by some. A good example is that of the statue of Amenemhat +(Amenemhe) III. (Plate III. fig. 39). The style of the XIIth Dynasty may +be summed up as clean, highly-finished work, strong in facial detail; +but with neither the grandeur of the IVth nor the vivacity of the +XVIIIth Dynasty. This passed in the XIIIth Dynasty into a graceful but +weak manner, as in the statues of Sebkhotp (Sebek-hotep) III. and +Neferhotp. + +(B) The relief work shows most clearly the rise of the new style. In the +middle of the XIth Dynasty an entirely fresh treatment appears; the Old +Kingdom work had died out in very bad sunk-reliefs, the fresh style +(Plate III. fig. 41) was a low relief with sharp edges above the field. +It was full of delicate variety in the surfaces, and of elaborated +close-packed lines of hair and ornaments. By the time of the early XIIth +Dynasty, this reached a perfection of refinement in the detail of facial +curves, with an ostentatiously low relief (P.K. ix. i.), rather on the +lines of modern French work; but the whole with clean, firm outlines, +severely restrained in the expression, and without any trace of emotion. +It is the work of a school, in which high training took the place of the +reliance on nature. Sunk relief was also well used, as by Senusert +(Senwosri) I. (Plate III. fig. 40). There was a steady decline during +the XIIth Dynasty and onward, but the same tone was followed. + +(C) In some tombs painting only was used, and it followed the general +character of the relief treatment, being more rigid, detailed, and +scholastic than the older style. + +_The XVIIIth-XXth Dynasties._--The obvious, not to say superficial, +character of this age has rendered it one of the most popular in +Egyptian art. The older breadth, fulness, and vigour have vanished, +those great qualities which stamp the immortal works of early times. The +difference is much like that between the Parthenon and the Niobids, or +between Jacopo Avanzi and Caracci. In this change is the whole +difference between the art of character and the art of emotion; and +though the emotional side is the more popular, as needing less thought +to understand it, yet the unfailing canon is that in every age and land +the true quality of art is proportionate to the expression of character +as apart from transient emotion. This may perhaps apply to other arts as +well as to sculpture and painting. If we accept frankly the emotional +nature of this age, we may admire its graceful outlines, its vivacious +manner, its romantic style, with an occasional sauciness which is +amusing and attractive. It revelled in rich detail, and close masses of +lines, as in wigs and ribbed dresses. It sported with a seductive Syrian +type of face, especially under Amenophis (Amenhotep) III.; but we find +the anatomy giving way to mere smoothness of surface, for the sake of +contrast with the masses of detail. The romantic element increased, +solemn funereal statues show husband and wife hand in hand; and it +culminated under Akhenaton, who is seen kissing his wife in the chariot, +or dancing her on his knee. An overwhelming naturalism swamped the older +reserves of Egyptian art, and the expression of the postures, actions +and familiarities of daily life, or the instantaneous attitudes of +animals, became the _dernier cri_ of fashion. It was all charming and +wonderful, but it was the end,--nothing could come after it. The XIXth +Dynasty, at its best under Seti I., could only excel in high finish of +smoothness and graceful curves; life, character, meaning, had vanished. +And soon after, under Rameses II., mere mechanical copying, hard +lifeless routine of stone-cutting, regardless of truth and of nature, +dominated the whole. + +(A) In sculpture there is a certain baldness of style at first, as in +the Amenophis I. at Turin or Mutnefert at Cairo. More fulness and +richness of character succeeded, as in Tahutmes (Tethmosis) III. and +Amenophis III. (Plate IV. fig. 42, British Museum). And the feeling of +the age finds greater scope in private statues, many of which have a +personal fascination about them, as in the seated figures at Cairo and +Florence, and the freer work in wood, of which the ebony negress (Plate +IV. fig. 45) is the best example. The burst of naturalism under +Akhenaton resulted in some marvellous portraiture, of which the fragment +of a queen's head (Plate IV. fig. 43) is perhaps the most brilliant +instance; the fidelity in the delicate curves of the nose and around the +mouth is enhanced by the touch of artistic convention in the facing of +the lips. The only work of ability in the XIXth Dynasty is the black +granite figure (Plate IV. fig. 44) of Rameses II. at Turin. The ordinary +statuary of his reign is painfully stiff and poor, and there is no later +work in the period worth notice. + +(B) The reliefs of the early XVIIIth Dynasty are closely like the scenes +of the tombs in the pyramid age, but soon carving was superseded by the +cheaper painting, and but few tombs in relief are known. The temples +were the principal places for reliefs; and they steadily deteriorate +from the first great example, Deir el Bahri (see ARCHITECTURE: +_Egyptian_), down to the late Ramessides. The portraiture is strong and +clear-cut (Plate IV. fig. 46), but somewhat mechanical and without +muscular detail: the sameness is rather more than is probable. There is +a good deal of repetition for mere effect, even in the fine work of +Kha-em-hat (Plate IV. fig. 47), under Amenophis III. That the artists +were conscious of their poverty of thought is shown by some precise +imitations of the style of early monuments. On reaching the age of +Akhenaton, the peculiar style of that school is obvious in every relief; +the older conventions were deserted, and, for good or for bad, a new +start from nature was attempted. After that the smooth finish of the +Seti reliefs at Abydos (Plate IV. fig. 48) shows no life or observation; +and only occasionally the artist triumphed over the stone-worker, as in +the portrait of Bantanta at Memphis, which is precisely like another +head of her found in Sinai. The innumerable reliefs of the XIXth-XXth +Dynasty temples are only of historic interest, and are all despicable in +comparison with earlier works. + +(C) Painting was the art most congenial to this age; the lightness of +touch, abundance of incident, and even comedy, of the scenes are +familiar in the frescoes in the British Museum. And under Akhenaton this +was pervaded by an entire naturalism of posture, as seen in the two +little princesses (Plate IV. fig. 49). Drawing continued to be the +strong point of the art after the more laborious sculpture had lost all +vitality. The tomb of Seti shows exquisitely firm line drawing; and the +heads of four races (Plate IV. fig. 50), Western, Syrian, and two Negro, +here show the unfailing line-work which has never been matched in later +times. The artist habitually drew the long lines of whole limbs without +a single hesitation or revoke; and the drawing of a tumbling girl (Plate +IV. fig. 51) shows how credibly such contortions could be represented. +The comic papyri of the XXth Dynasty have also a very strong sense of +character, even through coarse drawing and some childish combinations. + +The subsequent centuries show continuous decline, and in whatever branch +we compare the work, we see that each dynasty was poorer than that which +preceded it. The XXVIth Dynasty is often looked on as a renaissance; but +when we compare similar work we see that it was poorer than the XXIInd, +as that was poorer than the XIXth. The alabaster statue of Amenardus of +the XXVth is faulty in pose, and perfunctory in modelling; the +resemblance between this and the head of her nephew Tirhaka is perhaps +the best evidence of truthful work. After this there was a strong +archaistic fashion, much like that under Hadrian; in both cases it may +have arrested decay, but it did not lift the art up again. The work of +this age can always be detected by the faulty jointing (Plate IV. fig. +52) and muscular treatment. The elements are right enough, but there was +not the vital sense to combine them properly. Hence the monstrous +protuberances (Plate IV. fig. 53) on relief figures of this age; a fault +which the Greek fell into in his decline, as shown in the Farnese +Hercules. + +Portraiture, with its limited demand on imagination and lack of ideals, +was the form of art which flourished latest. The Saitic heads in basalt +show a school of close observation, with fair power of rendering the +personal character; and even in Roman times there still were provincial +artists who could model a face very truthfully, as is shown in one case +in which the stucco head (Plate IV. fig. 54) from a coffin is here +superposed on the view of the actual skull to show the accuracy of the +work. The school of portrait-painting belongs entirely to Greek art, and +is therefore not touched upon here. (See Edgar, _Catalogue of +Graeco-Egyptian Coffins_, 48 plates, for this subject.) + +Lastly we must recognize the different schools of Egyptian sculpture +which are as distinct as those of recent painting. The black-granite +school in every age is the finest; its seat we do not know, but its +vitality and finish always exceed those of contemporary works. The +limestone school was probably the next best, to judge from the reliefs, +but hardly any statues of this school have survived; it probably was +seated at Memphis. The quartzite work from Jebel Ahmar near Cairo stands +next, as often very fine design is found in this hard material. The red +granite school of Assuan comes lower, the work being usually clumsy and +with unfinished corners and details. And the lowest of all was the +sandstone school of Silsila, which is always the worst. Broadly +speaking, the Lower Egyptian was much better than the Upper Egyptian; a +conclusion also evident in the art of the tombs done on the spot. But +the secret of the black granite school, and its excellence, is the main +problem unsolved in the history of the art. (W. M. F. P.) + + +_Tools and Material Products._ + +_Tools_ (see Illustrations 1 to 111).--The history of tools is a very +large subject which needs to be studied for all countries; the various +details of form are too numerous to specify here, but the general +outline of tools used in Egypt may be briefly stated under _general_ and +_special_ types. The _general_ include tools for striking, slicing and +scraping; the _special_ tools are for fighting, hunting, agriculture, +building and thread-work. + +_Striking Tools._--The wooden mallet of club form (1) was used in the +VIth and XIIth Dynasties; of the modern mason's form (2) in the XIIth +and XVIIIth. The stone mace head was a sharp-edged disk (3), in the +prehistoric from 31-40 sequence date; of the pear shape (4) from S.D. +42, which was actually in use till the IVth Dynasty, and represented +down to Roman time. The metal or stone hammer with a long handle was +unknown till Greek or Roman times; but, for beating out metal, +hemispherical stones (5) were held in the hand, and swung at arm's +length overhead. Spherical hard stone hammers (6) were held in the hand +for dressing down granite. The axe was at the close of the prehistoric +age a square slab of copper (7) with one sharp edge; small projecting +tails then appeared at each end of the back (8), and increased until the +long tail for lashing on to the handle is more than half the length of +the axe in an iron one of Roman (?) age (13). Flint axes were made in +imitation of metal in the XIIth Dynasty (9). Battle-axes with rounded +outline started as merely a sharp edge of metal (10) inserted along a +stick (10, 11); they become semicircular (12) by the VIth Dynasty, +lengthen to double their width in the XIIth, and then thin out to a +waist in the middle by the XVIIIth Dynasty. Flint hoes (14) are common +down to the XIIth Dynasty. Small copper hoes (15) with a hollow socket +are probably of about the XXIInd Dynasty. Long iron picks (16), like +those of modern navvies, were made by Greeks in the XXVIth Dynasty. + +_Slicing Tools._--The knife was originally a flint saw (17), having +minute teeth; it must have been used for cutting up animals, fresh or +dried, as the teeth break away on soft wood. The double-edged straight +flint knife dates from S.D. 32-45. The single-edged knife (18) is from +33-65. The flint knives of the time of Menes are finely curved (19), +with a handle-notch; by the end of the IInd Dynasty they were much +coarser (20) and almost straight in the back. In the XIth-XIIth Dynasty +they were quite straight in the back (21), and without any handle-notch. +The copper knives are all one-edged with straight back (22) down to the +XVIIIth Dynasty, when two-edged symmetrical knives (23) become usual. +Long thin one-edged knives of iron begin about 800 B.C. Various forms of +one-edged iron knives, straight (24) and curved (25), belong to Roman +times. A cutting-out knife, for slicing through textiles, began +double-edged (26) in the Ist Dynasty, and went through many single-edged +forms (27-29) until it died out in the XXth Dynasty (_Man_, 1901, 123). +A small knife hinged on a pointed backing of copper (31) seems to have +been made for hair curling and toilet purposes. Razors (30) are known of +the XIIth Dynasty, and became common in the XVIIIth. A curious blade of +copper (32), straight sided, and sharpened at both ends, belongs to the +close of the prehistoric age. Shears are only known of Roman age and +appear to have been an Italian invention: there is a type in Egypt with +one blade detachable, so that each can be sharpened apart. Chisels of +bronze began of very small size (33) at S.D. 38, and reached a full size +at the close of the prehistoric age. In historic times the chisels are +about 1 x 1/2, x 6 to 8 in. long (34). Small chisels set in wooden handles +are found (35) of the XIIth and XVIIIth Dynasties. Ferrules first appear +in the Assyrian iron of the 7th century B.C. The rise of stone work led +to great importance of heavy chisels (36) for trimming limestone and +Nubian sandstone; such chisels are usually round rods about 3/4 in. thick +and 6 in. long. The cutting edge was about 1/2 in. wide for flaking tools +(36), which were not kept sharp, and 1 in. wide for facing tools (37) +which had a good edge. In Greek times the iron chisels are shorter and +merge into wedges (39). The socketed or mortising chisel (38) is unknown +till the Italian bronze of the 8th century B.C., and the Naucratis iron +of the 6th century. Adzes begin in S.D. 56, as plain slips of copper +(40) 4 to 6 in. long, about 1 wide and 1/8th thick. The square end was +rounded in the early dynastic times, and went through a series of +changes down to the XIXth Dynasty. Adzes of iron are probably of Greek +times. A fine instance of a handle about 4 ft. long is represented in +the IIIrd Dynasty (P.M. XI.). The adze (41) was used not only for +wood-work but also for dressing limestone. + +_Scraping Tools._--Flint scrapers are found from S.D. 40 and onward. The +rectangular scraper (42) began in S.D. 63, and continued into the IInd +Dynasty: the flake with rounded ends (43) was used from the Ist to the +IVth Dynasty (P. Ab. i. xiv., xv.). Round scrapers were also made (44). +Flint scrapers were used in dressing down limestone sculpture in the +IIIrd Dynasty. Rasps of conical form (45), made of a sheet of bronze +punched and coiled round, were common in the XVIIIth Dynasty, apparently +as personal objects, possibly used for rasping dried bread. In the +Assyrian iron tools of the 7th century B.C. the long straight rasp (46) +is exactly of the modern type. The saw is first found as a notched +bronze knife of the IIIrd Dynasty. Larger toothed saws (47) are often +represented in the IVth-VIth Dynasty, as used by carpenters. There are +no dated specimens till the Assyrian iron saws (48) of the 7th century +B.C. Drills were of flint (49) for hard material and bead-making, of +bronze for woodwork. In the Assyrian tools iron drills are of slightly +twisted scoop form (50), and of centre-bit type with two scraping edges +(51). In Roman times the modern V drill (52) is usual. The drill was +worked by a stock with a loose cap (53), rotated by a drill bow, in the +XIIth to Roman dynasties. The pump drill with cords twisted round it was +in Roman use. The bow drill (56) was used as a fire drill to rotate wood +(55) on wood (57); and the cap (54) for such use was of hard stone with +a highly polished hollow. The drill brace appears to have been used by +Assyrians in the 7th century B.C. Piercers of bronze tapering (58), to +enlarge holes in leather, &c., were common in all ages. + +_Fighting Weapons._--The battle-axe has been described above with axes. +The flint dagger (59) is found from S.D. 40-56. A very finely made +copper dagger (60) with deep midrib is dated to between 55 and 60 S.D. +Copper daggers with parallel ribbing (61) down the middle are common in +the XIth-XIVth Dynasties; and in the XVIIIth-XXth Dynasties they are +often shown in scenes and on figures. The falchion with a curved blade +(62) belongs to the XVIIIth-XXth Dynasty. The rapier (63) or lengthened +dagger is rarely found, and is probably of prehistoric Greek origin. The +sword is of Greek and Roman age, always double-edged and of iron. The +spear is not commonly found in Egypt, until the Greek age, but it is +represented from the XIth Dynasty onward; it belonged to the Semitic +people (L.D. ii. 133). The bow was always of wood, in one piece in the +prehistoric and early times, also of two horns in the Ist Dynasty; but +the compound bow of horn is rarely found, only as an importation, in the +XVIIIth Dynasty. The arrow-heads of flint (64-66) and of bone (68-69) +were pointed, and also square-ended (67) for hunting (P.R.T. ii. vi.; +vii. A., 7; xxxiv.). The copper arrow-heads appear in the XIXth Dynasty, +of blade form with tang (70); the triangular form (72), and leaf form +with socket (71), are of the XXVIth Dynasty. Triangular iron arrows with +tang are of the same age. Tangs show that the shaft was a reed, sockets +show that it was of wood. Many early arrows (XIIth) have only hard wood +points of conical form. The sling is rarely shown in the XIXth-XXth +Dynasties; and the only known example is probably of the XXVIth. + +_Hunting Weapons._--The forked lance of flint was at first wide with +slight hollow (73) from S.D. 32-43; then the hollow became a V notch +(74) in 38 S.D. and onward. The lance was fixed in a wooden shaft for +throwing, and held in by a check-cord from flying too far if it missed +the animal (P.N. LXXIII.). The harpoon for fishing was at first of bone +(75), and was imitated in copper (76, 77) from S.D. 36 onwards. The +boomerang or throw-stick (78) was used from the Ist to the XXIInd +Dynasty, and probably later. Fish-hooks of copper (79-82) are found from +the Ist Dynasty to Roman times. A trap for animals' legs, formed by +splints of palm stick radiating round a central hole, is figured in S.D. +60, and one was found of probably the XXth Dynasty. Fishing nets were +common in all historic times, and the lead sinkers (83) and stone +sinkers (84) are often found under the XVIIIth-XXth Dynasties. + +_Agricultural Tools._--The hoe of wood (85) is the main tool from the +late prehistoric time, and many have been found of the XVIIIth Dynasty. +With the handle lengthened (86) and turned forward, this became the +plough (87 is the hieroglyph, 88 the drawing, of a plough); this was +always sloping, and never the upright post of the Italic type. The rake +of wood (89) is usual in the XIIth and XVIIIth Dynasties. The fork (90), +used for tossing straw, was common in the Old Kingdom, but none has been +found. The sickle was of wood (92), with flints (91) inserted, +apparently a copy of the ox-jaw and teeth. The notched flints for it are +common from the Ist to the XVIIIth Dynasty. In Roman times the same +principle was followed, by making an iron sickle with a deep groove, in +which was inserted the cutting blade of steel (P.E. XXIX.). +Shovel-boards, to hold in right (93) or left hand for scraping up the +grain in winnowing, are usual in the XVIIIth Dynasty, and are figured in +use in the Old Kingdom Pruning knives with curved blades (94) are +Italic, and were made of iron by the Romans. Corn grinders were flat +oval stones, with a smaller one lying cross-ways (95), and slid from end +to end. Such were used from the Old Kingdom down to late times. In the +Roman period a larger stone was used, with a rectangular slab (96) +sliding on it, in which a long trough held the grain and let it slip out +below for grinding. The quern with rotary motion is late Roman, and +still used by Arabs. The large circular millstones of Roman age worked +by horse-power are usually made from slices of granite columns. + +_Building Tools._--The adze described above was used for dressing blocks +of limestone. The brick-mould was an open frame, with one side prolonged +into a handle (97), exactly as the modern mould. The plasterers' floats +(98) were entirely cut out of wood. The mud rake for mixing mortar is +rather narrower than the modern form. The square (99) and plummet (100, +101) have remained unchanged since the XIXth Dynasty. For dressing flat +surfaces three wooden pegs (102) of equal length were used; a string was +stretched between the tops of two, and the third peg was set on the +point to be tested and tried against the string. + +_Thread-Work._--Stone spindle whorls (103) are common in the prehistoric +age; wooden ones were usual, of a cylindrical form (104) in the XIIth, +and conical (105) in the XVIIIth Dynasty. The thread was secured by a +spiral notch in the stick. In Roman times an iron hook on the top held +the thread (106) as in modern spindles. Needles of copper were made in +the prehistoric, as early as S.D. 48, and very delicate ones by S.D. 71. +Gold needles are found of the Ist Dynasty. Fine ones of bronze are +common in the XVIIIth Dynasty, and some with two eyes at right angles, +one above the other, to carry two different threads. The copper bodkin +is found in S.D. 70. Netters are common, of rib bones, pointed (107); +the thread was wound round them. Long netting needles were probably +brought in by the dynastic people as they figure in the hieroglyphs. +Finely-made ones are found in the XVIIIth Dynasty and later. Reels were +also commonly used for net making, of pottery (108) or even pebbles +(109) with a groove chipped around. The flint vase-grinders were used in +the early dynasties (110), and also sandstone grinders for hollowing +larger vases (111). + +_Stone-Work._--In the prehistoric ages stone building was unknown, but +many varieties of stones were used for carving into vases, amulets and +ornaments. The stone vases were at first of cylindrical forms, with a +foot, and ears for hanging. These are worked in brown basalt, syenite, +porphyry, alabaster and limestone. In the second prehistoric +civilization barrel-shaped vases became usual; and to the former +materials were added slate, grey limestone and breccia. Serpentine +appears later, and diorite towards the close of the prehistoric ages. +Flat dishes were used in earlier times; gradually deeper forms appear, +and lastly the deep bowl with turned-in edge belongs to the close of the +prehistoric time and continued common in the earlier dynasties (P.D.P. +19). This stone-work was usually formed on the outside with rotary +motion, but sometimes the vase was rotated upon the grinder (Q. H. 17). +The interior was ground out by cutters (figs. 110, 111) fixed in the end +of a stick and revolved with a weight on the top, as shown in scenes on +the tombs of the Vth Dynasty. The cutters were sometimes flints of a +crescent shape (P. Ab. ii. liii. 24), but more usually grinders blocks +of quartzite sandstone (26-34), and occasionally of diorite (Q. H. +xxxii. lxii.). These blocks were fed with sand and water to give the +bite on the stone (P. Ab. i. 26). The outsides of the vases were +entirely wrought by handwork, with the polishing lines crossing +diagonally. Probably the first forming was done by chipping and +hammer-dressing, as in later times; the final facing of the hard stones +was doubtless by means of emery in block or powder, as emery grinding +blocks are found. + +In the early dynasties the hard stones were still worked, and the Ist +dynasty was the most splendid age for vases, bowls, and dishes of the +finest stones. The royal tombs have preserved an enormous quantity of +fragments, from which five hundred varied forms have been drawn (P.R.T. +ii. xlvi.-liii. 6). The materials are quartz crystal, basalt, porphyry, +syenite, granite, volcanic ash, various metamorphics, serpentine, slate, +dolomite marble, alabaster, many coloured marbles, saccharine marble, +grey and white limestones. The most splendid vase is one from Nekhen +(Hieraconpolis), of syenite, 2 ft. across and 16 in. high, hollowed so +as to be marvellously light and highly polished (Q.H. xxxvii). Another +branch of stone-work, surface carving, was early developed by the +artistic dynastic race. The great palettes of slate covered with +elaborate reliefs are probably all of the pre-Menite kings; the most +advanced of them having the figure of Narmer, who preceded Menes. Other +carving full of detail is on the great mace-heads of Narmer and the +Scorpion king, where scenes of ceremonials are minutely engraved in +relief. In the Ist Dynasty the large tombstones of the kings are of bold +work, but the smaller stones of private graves vary much in the style, +many being very coarse. All of this work was by hammer-dressing and +scraping. The scrapers seem to have always been of copper. + +The earliest use of stone in buildings is in the tomb of King Den (Ist +Dynasty), where some large flat blocks of red granite seem to have been +part of the construction. The oldest stone chamber known is that of +Khasekhemui (end of the IInd Dynasty). This is of blocks of limestone +whose faces follow the natural cleavages, and only dressed where +needful; part is hammer-dressed, but most of the surfaces are +adze-dressed. The adze was of stone, probably flint, and had a short +handle (P.R.T. ii. 13). The same king also wrought granite with +inscriptions in relief. In the close of the IIIrd Dynasty a great +impetus was given to stone-work, and the grandest period of refined +masonry is at the beginning of the IVth Dynasty under Cheops. The tombs +of Medum under Snefru are built with immense blocks of limestone of 20 +and 33 tons weight. The dressing of the face between the hieroglyphs was +done partly with copper and partly with flint scrapers (P.M. 27). The +most splendid masonry is that of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The blocks +of granite for the roofing are 56 in number, of an average weight of 54 +tons each. These were cut from the water-worn rocks at the Cataract--the +soundest source for large masses, as any incipient flaws are well +exposed by wear. The blocks were quarried by cleavage; a groove was run +along the line intended, and about 2 ft. apart holes about 4 in. wide +were jumped downward from it in the intended plane; this prevented a +skew fracture (P.T. 93). In shallower masses a groove was run, and then +holes, apparently for wedges, were sunk deeper in the course of it; +whether wetted wood was used for the expansive force is not known, but +it is probable, as no signs are visible of crushing the granite by hard +wedges. The facing of the cloven surfaces was done by hammer-dressing, +using rounded masses of quartzose hornstone, held in the hand without +any handle. In order to get a hold for moving the blocks without +bruising the edges, projecting lumps or bosses were left on the faces, +about 6 or 8 in. across and 1 or 2 in. thick. After the block was in +place the boss was struck off and the surface dressed and polished (P.T. +78, 82). In the pyramid of Cheops the blocks were all faced before +building; but the later granite temple of Chephren and the pyramid of +Mycerinus (Menkaura, Menkeure) show a system of building with an excess +of a few inches left rough on the outer surface, which was dressed away +when in position (P.T. 110, 132). + +The flatness of faces of stone or rock (both granite and limestone) was +tested by placing a true-plane trial plate, smeared with red ochre, +against the dressed surface, as in modern engineering. The contact being +thus reddened showed where the face had to be further dressed away; and +this process was continued until the ochre touched points not more than +an inch apart all over the joint faces, many square feet in area. On +stones too large for facing-plates a diagonal draft was run, so as to +avoid any wind in the plane (P.T. 83). + +The cutting of granite was not only by cleavage and hammer dressing, but +also by cutting with harder materials than quartz such as emery. Long +saws of copper were fed with emery powder, and used to saw out blocks +as much as 7-1/2 ft. long (P.T. Plate XIV.). In other cases the very deep +scores in the sides of the saw-cut suggest that fixed cutting points +were inserted in the copper saws; and this would be parallel to the +saw-cuts in the very hard limestone of the Palace of Tiryns, in which a +piece of a copper saw has been broken, and where may be yet found large +chips of emery, too long and coarse to serve as a powder, but suited for +fixed teeth. A similar method was common for circular holes, which were +cut by a tube, either with powder or fixed teeth. These tubular drills +were used from the IVth Dynasty down to late times, in all materials +from alabaster up to carnelian. The resulting cores are more regular +than those of modern rock-drilling. + +Limestone in the Great Pyramid, as elsewhere, was dressed by chopping it +with an adze, a tool used from prehistoric to Roman times for all soft +stones and wood. This method was carried on up to the point of getting +contact with the facing-plate at every inch of the surface; the cuts +cross in various directions. For removing rock in reducing a surface to +a level, or in quarrying, cuts were made with a pick, forming straight +trenches, and the blocks were then broken out between these. In +quarrying the cuts are generally 4 or 5 in. wide, just enough for the +workman's arm to reach in; for cutting away rock the grooves are 20 in. +wide, enough to stand in, and the squares of rock about 9 ft. wide +between the grooves (P.T. 100). The accuracy of the workmanship in the +IVth Dynasty is astonishing. The base of the pyramid of Snefru had an +average variation of 6 in. on 5765 and 10' of squareness. But, +immediately after, Cheops improved on this with a variation of less than +6 in. on 9069 in. and 12" of direction. Chephren fell off, having 1.5 +error on 8475, and 33" of variation; and Mycerinus (Menkeure) had 3 in. +error on 4154 and 1' 50" variation of direction (P.M. 6; P.T. 39, 97, +111). Of perhaps later date the two south pyramids of Dahshur show +errors of 3.7 on 7459 and 1.1 on 2065 in., and variation of direction of +4' and 10' (P.S. 28, 30). The above smallest error of only 1 in 16,000 +in lineal measure, and 1 in 17,000 of angular measure, is that of the +rock-cutting for the foundation of Khufu, and the masonry itself (now +destroyed) was doubtless more accurate. The error of flatness of the +joints from a straight line and a true square is but 1/100th in. on 75 +in. length; and the error of level is only 1/50th in. along a course, or +about 10" on a long length (P.T. 44). We have entered thus fully on the +details of this period, as it is the finest age for workmanship in every +respect. But in the XIIth Dynasty the granite sarcophagus of Senwosri +II. is perhaps the finest single piece of cutting yet known; the +surfaces of the granite are all dull-ground, the errors from straight +lines and parallelism are only about 1/200th inch (P. 1, 3). + +In later work we may note that copper scrapers were used for facing the +limestone work in the VIth, the XIIth and the XVIIIth Dynasties. In the +latter age granite surfaces were ground, hieroglyphs were chipped out +and polished by copper tools fed with emery; outlines were graved by a +thick sheet of copper held in the hand, and sawed to and fro with emery. +Corners of signs and intersections of lines were first fixed by minute +tube-drill holes, into which the hand tool butted, so that it should not +slip over the outer surface. + +The marking out of work was done by fine black lines; and supplemental +lines at a fixed distance from the true one were put in to guard against +obliteration in course of working (P.T. 92); similarly in building a +brick pyramid the axis was marked, and there were supplemental marks two +cubits to one side (P.K. 14). When cutting a passage in the rock a rough +drift-way was first made, the roof was smoothed, a red axis line was +drawn along it, and then the sides were cut parallel to the axis. For +setting out a mastaba with sloping sides, on an irregular foundation at +different levels, hollow corner walls were built outside the place of +each corner; the distances of the faces at the above-ground level were +marked on the inner faces of the walls; the above-ground level was also +marked; then sloping lines at the intended angle of the face were drawn +downward from the ground-level measures, and each face was set out so as +to lie in the plane thus defined by two traces at the ends (P.M. +VIII.). + +[Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Tools. + + _Note._ _The objects are drawn to a scale of 1/6 unless otherwise + described._ + + MALLETS 1 2 + MACES 3 4 + HAMMERS 5 6 + AXES 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 + HOES 14 15 + PICK 16 + FLINT KNIVES 17 18 19 20 21 + METAL KNIVES 22 23 24 25 + CUTTING-OUT KNIVES 26 27 28 29 + RAZORS 30 31 32 + CHISELS 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 + ADZES 40 41 + SCRAPERS 42 44 45 46 + SAWS 47 (1/30) 48 + BORERS 49 50 51 52 53 (1/10) 54 55 (1/10) 56 57 58] + +[Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Tools. + + _Note._ _The objects are drawn to a scale of 1/6 unless otherwise + described._ + + FIGHTING 59 60 61 62 (1/12) 63 (1/12) 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 + HUNTING 73 74 75 76 77 78 (1/10) 79 80 81 82 83 84 + AGRICULTURE all 1/20 85 86 87 88 89 90 (1/20) 91 92 (1/10) 93 94 + 95 (1/12) 96 (1/12) + BUILDING 97 98 99 100 101 + THREAD WORK 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 + VASE GRINDING 110 111] + +_Metal-Work._--Copper was wrought into pins, a couple of inches long, +with loop heads, as early as the oldest prehistoric graves, before the +use of weaving, and while pottery was scarcely developed. The use of +harpoons and small chisels of copper next arose, then broad flaying +knives, needles and adzes, lastly the axe when the metal was commoner. +On these prehistoric tools, when in fine condition, the original +highly-polished surface remains. It shows no trace of grinding lines or +attrition, nor yet of the blows of a hammer. Probably it was thus highly +finished by beating between polished stone hammers which were almost +flat on the face. Most likely the forms of the tools were cast to begin +with, and then finished and polished by fine hammering. A series of +moulds for casting in the XIIth Dynasty show that the forms were carved +out in thick pieces of pottery, and then lined with fine ashy clay. The +mould was single, so that one side of the tool was the open face of +metal. As early as the pyramid times solid casting by _cire perdue_ was +already used for figures: but the copper statues of Pepi and his son +seem, by their thinness and the piecing together of the parts, to have +been entirely hammered out. The portraiture in such hammer work is +amazingly life-like. By the time of the XIIth Dynasty, and perhaps +earlier, _cire perdue_ casting over an ash core became usual. This was +carried out most skilfully, the metal being often not 1/50th in. thick, +and the core truly centred in the mould. Casting bronze over iron rods +was also done, to gain more stiffness for thin parts. + +In gold work the earliest jewelry, that of King Zer of the Ist Dynasty, +shows a perfect mastery of working hollow balls with minute threading +holes, and of soldering with no trace of excess nor difference of +colour. Thin wire was hammered out, but there is no ancient instance of +drawn wire. Castings were not trimmed by filing or grinding, but by +small chisels and hammering (P.R.T. ii. 17). In the XIIth Dynasty the +soldering of the thin cells for the _cloisonnee_ inlaid pectorals, on to +the base plate, is a marvellous piece of delicacy; every cell has to be +perfectly true in form, and yet all soldered, apparently simultaneously, +as the heat could not be applied to successive portions (M.D. i.). Such +work was kept up in the XVIIIth and XXVIth Dynasties. There is nothing +distinctive in later jewelry different from Greek and Roman work +elsewhere. + +_Glaze and Glass._--From almost the beginning of the prehistoric age +there are glazed pottery beads found in the graves: and glazing on +amulets of quartz or other stones begins in the middle of the +prehistoric. Apparently then glazing went together with the working of +the copper ores, and probably accidental slags in the smelting gave the +first idea of using glaze intentionally. The development of glazing at +the beginning of the dynasties was sudden and effective. Large tiles, a +foot in length, were glazed completely all over, and used to line the +walls of rooms; they were retained in place by deep dovetails and ties +of copper wire. Figures of glazed ware became abundant; a kind of +visiting card was made with the figure of a man and his titles to +present in temples which he visited; and glazed ornaments and toggles +for fastening dresses were common (P. Ab. ii.). Further, besides thus +using glaze on a large scale, differently coloured glazes were used, and +even fused together. A piece of a large tile, and part of a glazed vase, +have the royal titles and name of Menes, originally in violet inlay in +green glaze. There was no further advance in the art until the great +variety of colours came into use about 4000 years later. In the XIIth +Dynasty a very thin smooth glaze was used, which became rather thicker +in the XVIIIth. The most brilliant age of glazes was under Amenophis +III. and his son Akhenaton. Various colours were used; beside the old +green and blue, there were purple, violet, red, yellow and white. And a +profusion of forms is shown by the moulds and actual examples, for +necklaces, decorations, inlay in stone and applied reliefs on vases. +Under Seti II. cartouches of the king in violet and white glaze are +common; and under Rameses III. there were vases with relief figures, +with painted figures, and tiles with coloured reliefs of captives of +many races. The latter development of glazing was in thin delicate +apple-green ware with low relief designs, which seem to have originated +under Greek influence at Naucratis. The Roman glaze is thick and coarse, +but usually of a brilliant Prussian blue, with dark purple and +apple-green; and high reliefs of wreaths, and sometimes figures, are +common. + +Though glaze begins so early, the use of the glassy matter by itself +does not occur till the XVIIIth Dynasty; the earlier reputed examples +are of stone or frit. The first glass is black and white under Tethmosis +(Tahutmes) III. It was not fused at a high point, but kept in a pasty +state when working. The main use of it was for small vases; these were +formed upon a core of sandy paste, which was modelled on a copper rod, +the rod being the core for the neck. Round this core threads of glass +were wound of various colours; the whole could be reset in the furnace +to soften it for moulding the foot or neck, or attaching handles, or +dragging the surface into various patterns. The colours under later +kings were as varied as those of the glazes. Glass was also wheel-cut in +patterns and shapes under Akhenaton. In later times the main work was in +mosaics of extreme delicacy. Glass rods were piled together to form a +pattern in cross-section. The whole was then heated until it perfectly +adhered, and the mass was drawn out lengthways so as to render the +design far more minute, and to increase the total length for cutting up. +The rod was then sliced across, and the pieces used for inlaying. +Another use of coloured glass was for cutting in the shapes of +hieroglyphs for inlaying in wooden coffins to form inscriptions. Glass +amulets were also commonly placed upon Ptolemaic mummies. Blown glass +vessels are not known until late Greek and Roman times, when they were +of much the same manufacture as glass elsewhere. The supposed figures of +glass-blowers in early scenes are really those of smiths, blowing their +fires by means of reeds tipped with clay. The variegated glass beads +belonging to Italy were greatly used in Egypt in Roman times, and are +like those found elsewhere. A distinctively late Egyptian use of glass +was for weights and vase-stamps, to receive an impress stating the +amount of the weight or measure. The vase-stamps often state the name of +the contents (always seeds or fruits), probably not to show what was in +them, but to show for what kind of seed the vessel was a true measure. +These measure stamps bear names dating them from A.D. 680 to about 950. +The large weights of ounces and pounds are disks or cuboid blocks; they +are dated from 720 to 785 for the lesser, and to A.D. 915 for larger, +weights. The greater number are, however, small weights for testing gold +and silver coins of later caliphs from A.D. 952 to 1171. The system was +not, however, Arab, as there are a few Roman vase-stamps and weights. Of +other medieval glass may be noted the splendid glass vases for lamps, +with Arab inscriptions fused in colours on the outsides. No enamelling +was ever done by Egyptians, and the few rare examples are all of Roman +age due to foreign work. + +The manufacture of glass is shown by examples in the XVIIIth Dynasty. +The blue or green colour was made by fritting together silica, lime, +alkaline carbonate and copper carbonate; the latter varied from 3% in +delicate blues to 20% in deep purple blues. The silica was needed quite +pure from iron, in order to get the rich blues, and was obtained from +calcined quartz pebbles; ordinary sand will only make a green frit. +These materials were heated in pans in the furnace so as to combine in a +pasty, half-fused condition. The coloured frit thus formed was used as +paint in a wet state, and also used to dissolve in glass or to fuse over +a surface in glazing. The brown tints often seen in glazed objects are +almost always the result of the decomposition of green glazes containing +iron. The blue glazes, on the other hand, fade into white. The essential +colouring materials are, for blue, copper; green, copper and iron; +purple, cobalt; red, haematite; white, tin. An entirely clear colourless +glass was made in the XVIIIth Dynasty, but coloured glass was mainly +used. After fusing a panful of coloured glass, it was sampled by taking +pinches out with tongs; when perfectly combined it was left to cool in +the pan, as with modern optical glass. When cold the pan was chipped +away, and the cake of glass broken up into convenient pieces, free of +sediment and of scum. A broken lump would then be heated to softness in +the furnace; rolled out under a bar of metal, held diagonally across the +roll; and when reduced to a rod of a quarter of an inch thick, it was +heated and pulled out into even rods about an eighth of an inch thick. +These were used to wind round glass vases, to form lips, handles, &c.; +and to twist together for spiral patterns. Glass tube was similarly +drawn out. Beads were made by winding thin threads of glass on copper +wires, and the greater contraction of the copper freed the bead when +cold. The coiling of beads can always be detected by (1) the little +tails left at the ends, (2) the streaks, (3) the bubbles, seen with a +magnifier. Roman glass beads are always drawn out, and nicked off hot, +with striation lengthways; except the large opaque variegated beads +which are coiled. Modern Venetian beads are similarly coiled. In the +XXIIIrd Dynasty beads of a rich transparent Prussian blue glass were +made, until the XXVIth. About the same time the eyed beads, with white +and brown eyes in a blue mass, also came in (P.A. 25-27, Plate XIII.). + +_Pottery_ (see fig. 112).--The earliest style of pottery is entirely +hand made, without any rotary motion; the form being built up with a +flat stick inside and the hand outside, and finally scraped and +burnished in a vertical direction. The necks of vases were the first +part finished with rotation, at the middle and close of the prehistoric +age. Fully turned forms occur in the Ist Dynasty; but as late as the +XIIth Dynasty the lower part of small vases is usually trimmed with a +knife. In the earlier part of the prehistoric age there was a soft brown +ware with haematite facing, highly burnished. This was burnt mouth-down +in the oven, and the ashes on the ground reduced the red haematite to +black magnetic oxide of iron; some traces of carbonyl in the ash helped +to rearrange the magnetite as a brilliant mirror-like surface of intense +black. The lower range of jars in the oven had then black tops, while +the upper ranges were entirely red. A favourite decoration was by lines +of white clay slip, in crossing patterns, figures of animals, and, +rarely, men. This is exactly of the modern Kabyle style in Algeria, and +entirely disappeared from Egypt very early in the prehistoric age. Being +entirely hand made, various oval, doubled and even square forms were +readily shaped. + +The later prehistoric age is marked by entirely different pottery, of a +hard pink-brown ware, often with white specks in it, without any applied +facing beyond an occasional pink wash, and no polishing. It is decorated +with designs in red line, imitating cordage and marbling, and drawings +of plants, ostriches and ships. The older red polished ware still +survived in a coarse and degraded character, and both kinds together +were carried on into the next age (P.D.P.). + +The early dynastic pottery not only shows the decadent end of the +earlier forms, but also new styles, such as grand jars of 2 or 3 ft. +high which were slung in cordage, and which have imitation lines of +cordage marked on them. Large ring-stands also were brought in, to +support jars, so that the damp surfaces should not touch the dusty +ground. The pyramid times show the great jars reduced to short rough +pots, while a variety of forms of bowls are the most usual types +(P.R.T.; P.D.; P. Desh.) + +In the XIIth Dynasty a hard thin drab ware was common, like the modern +_qulleh_ water flasks. Drop-shaped jars with spherical bases are +typical, and scrabbled patterns of incised lines. Large jars of light +brown pottery were made for storing liquids and grain, with narrow necks +which just admit the hand (P.K.). + +The XVIIIth Dynasty used a rather softer ware, decorated at first with a +red edge or band around the top, and under Tethmosis (Tahutmes) III. +black and red lines were usual. Under Amenophis III. blue frit paint was +freely used, in lines and bands around vases; it spread to large +surfaces under Amenophis IV., and continued in a poor style into the +Ramesside age. In the latter part of the XVIIIth and the XIXth Dynasties +a thick hard light pottery, with white specks and a polished drab-white +facing, was generally used for all fine purposes. The XIXth and XXth +Dynasties only show a degradation of the types of the XVIIIth; and even +through to the XXVth Dynasty there is no new movement (P.K.; P.I.; P.A.; +P.S.T.). + +The XXVIth Dynasty was largely influenced by Greek amphorae imported +with wine and oil. The native pottery is of a very fine paste, smooth +and thin, but poor in forms. Cylindrical cups, and jars with cylindrical +necks and no brim, are typical. The small necks and trivial handles +begin now, and are very common in Ptolemaic times (P.T. ii.). + +The great period of Roman pottery is marked by the ribbing on the +outsides. The amphorae began to be ribbed about A.D. 150, and then +ribbing extended to all the forms. The ware is generally rather rough, +thick and brown for the amphorae, thin and red for smaller vessels. At +the Constantine age a new style begins, of hard pink ware, neatly made, +and often with "start-patterns" made by a vibrating tool while the +vessel rotated: this was mainly used for bowls and cups (P.E.). Of the +later pottery of Arab times we have no precise knowledge. + +The abbreviations used above refer to the following sources of +information:-- + + M.D. Morgan, _Dahshur_; + P.A. Petrie, _Tell el Amarna_; + P. Ab. " _Abydos_; + P.D. " _Dendereh_; + P. Desh. " _Deshasheh_; + P.D.P. " _Diospolis Parva_; + P.E. " _Ehnasya_; + P.I. " _Illahun_; + P.K. " _Kahun_; + P.M. " _Medum_; + P.N. " _Naqada_; + P.R.T. " _Royal Tombs_; + P.S. " _Season in Egypt_; + P.S.T. " _Six Temples_; + P.T. " _Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh_; + P.T. ii. " _Tanis, ii._; + Q.H. Quibell, _Hieraconpolis_. (W. M. F. P.) + +_Monuments._--The principal monuments that are yet remaining to +illustrate the art and history of Egypt may be best taken in historical +order. Of the prehistoric age there are many rock carvings, associated +with others of later periods: they principally remain on the sandstone +rocks about Silsila, and their age is shown by the figures of ostriches +which were extinct in later times. One painted tomb was found at Nekhen +(Hieraconpolis), now in the Cairo Museum; the brick walls were +colour-washed and covered with irregular groups of men, animals and +ships, painted with red, black and green. The cemeteries otherwise only +contain graves, cut in gravel or brick lined, and formerly roofed with +poles and brushwood. The Ist to IIIrd Dynasties have left at Abydos +large forts of brickwork, remains of two successive temples, and the +royal tombs (see ABYDOS). Elsewhere are but few other monuments; at Wadi +Maghara in Sinai is a rock sculpture of Semerkhet of the Ist Dynasty in +perfect state, at Giza is a group of tombs of a prince and retinue of +the Ist Dynasty, and at Giza and Bet Khallaf are two large brick +mastabas with extensive passages closed by trap-doors, of kings of the +IIIrd Dynasty. The main structure of this age is the step-pyramid of +Sakkara, which is a mastaba tomb with eleven successive coats of +masonry, enlarging it to about 350 by 390 ft. and 200 ft. high. In the +interior is sunk in the rock a chamber 24 x 23 ft. and 77 ft. high, with +a granite sepulchre built in the floor of it, and various passages and +chambers branching from it. The doorway of one room (now in Berlin +Museum) was decorated with polychrome glazed tiles with the name of King +Neterkhet. The complex original work and various alterations of it need +thorough study, but it is now closed and research is forbidden. + +[Illustration: FIG. 112.--Principal Types of Pottery of Ancient Egypt. + (Scale 1:20.) + + EARLY PREHISTORIC 7000-6000 B.C. + LATER PREHISTORIC 6000-5000 B.C. + I^ST DYNASTY 4800-4500 B.C. + IV^TH-VI^TH DYNASTY 4000-3300 B.C. + XII^TH DYNASTY 2800-2500 B.C. + XVIII^TH DYNASTY 1500-1350 B.C. + XIX^TH DYNASTY 1300-1100 B.C. + XXVI^TH DYNASTY 700-500 B.C.] + +The IVth to VIth Dynasties are best known by the series of pyramids (see +PYRAMID) in the region of Memphis. Beyond these tombs, and the temples +attached to them, there are very few fixed monuments; of Cheops and Pepi +I. there are temple foundations at Abydos (q.v.), and a few blocks on +other sites; of Neuserre (Raenuser) there is a sun temple at Abusir; and +of several kings there were tablets in Sinai, now in the Cairo Museum. A +few tablets of the IXth Dynasty have been found at Sakkara, and a tomb +of a prince at Assiut. Of the XIth Dynasty is the terrace-temple of +Menthotp III. recently excavated at Thebes: also foundations of this +king and of Sankhkere at Abydos. In the XIIth Dynasty there is the +celebrated red granite obelisk of Heliopolis, one of a pair erected by +Senwosri (Senusert) I. in front of his temple which has now vanished. +Another large obelisk of red granite, 41 ft. high, remains in the Fayum. +The most important pictorial tombs of Beni Hasan belong to this age; the +great princes appear to have largely quarried stone for their palaces, +and to have cut the quarry in the form of a regular chamber, which +served for the tomb chapel. These great rock chambers were covered with +paintings, which show a large range of the daily life and civilization. +The pyramids and temples of Senwosri II. and III. and Amenemhe III. +remain at Illahun, Dahshur and Hawara. The latter was the celebrated +Labyrinth, which has been entirely quarried away, so that only banks of +chips and a few blocks remain. At the first of these sites is the most +perfect early town, of which hundreds of houses still remain. Of +Senwosri III. there are the forts and temples above the second cataract +at Semna and Kumma. Of the Hyksos age there are the scanty remains of a +great fortified camp at Tell el-Yehudia. + +In the XVIIIth to XXth Dynasties we reach the great period of monuments. +Of Amasis (Aahmes) and Amenophis I. there are but fragments left in +later buildings; and of the latter a great quantity of sculpture has +been recovered at Karnak. The great temple of Karnak had existed since +the XIth Dynasty or earlier, but the existing structure was begun under +Tethmosis (Tahutmes) I., and two of the great pylons and one obelisk of +his remain in place. He also built the simple and dignified temple of +Medinet Habu at Thebes, which was afterward overshadowed by the +grandiose work of Rameses III. The next generation--Tethmosis II. and +Hatshepsut--added to their father's work; they also built another pylon +and some of the existing chambers at Karnak, set up the great obelisks +there and carved some colossi. The obelisks are exquisitely cut in red +granite, each sign being sawn in shape by copper tools fed with emery, +and the whole finished with a perfection of proportion and delicacy not +seen on other granite work. One obelisk being overthrown and broken we +can examine the minute treatment of the upper part, which was nearly a +hundred feet from the ground. The principal monument of this period is +the temple of Deir el Bahri, the funeral temple of Hatshepsut, on which +she recorded the principal event of her reign, the expedition to Punt. +The erasures of her name by Tethmosis III., and reinsertions of names +under later kings, the military scenes, and the religious groups showing +the sacred kine of Hathor, all add to the interest of the remarkable +temple. It stands on three successive terraces, rising to the base of +the high limestone cliffs behind it. The rock-cut shrine at Speos +Artemidos, and the temple of Serabit in Sinai are the only other large +monuments of this queen yet remaining. Tethmosis III. was one of the +great builders of Egypt, and much remains of his work, at about forty +different sites. The great temple of Karnak was largely built by him; +most of the remaining chambers are his, including the beautiful +botanical walls showing foreign plants. Of his work at Heliopolis there +remain the obelisks of London and New York; and from Elephantine is the +obelisk at Sion House. On the Nubian sites his work may still be seen at +Amada, Ellesia, Ibrim, Semna and in Sinai at Serabit el Khadem. Of +Amenophis II. and Tethmosis IV. there are no large monuments, they being +mainly known by additions at Karnak. The well known stele of the sphinx +was cut by the latter king, to commemorate his dream there and his +clearing of the sphinx from sand. Amenophis III. has left several large +buildings of his magnificent reign. At Karnak the temple had a new front +added as a great pylon, which was later used as the back of the hall of +columns by Seti I. But three new temples at Karnak, that of Month +(Mentu), of Mut and a smaller one, all are due to this reign, as well as +the long avenue of sphinxes before the temple of Khons; these indicate +that the present Ramesside temple of Khons has superseded an earlier one +of this king. The great temple of Luxor was built to record the divine +origin of the king as son of Ammon; and on the western side of Thebes +the funerary temple of Amenophis was an immense pile, of which the two +colossi of the Theban plain still stand before the front of the site, +where yet lies a vast tablet of sandstone 30 ft. high. The other +principal buildings are the temples of Sedenga and of Solib in Nubia. +Akhenaton has been so consistently eclipsed by the later kings who +destroyed his work, that the painted pavement and the rock tablets of +Tell el Amarna are the only monuments of his still in position, beside a +few small inscriptions. Harmahib (Horemheb) resumed the work at Karnak, +erecting two great pylons and a long avenue of sphinxes. The rock temple +at Silsila and a shrine at Jebel Adda are also his. + +In the XIXth Dynasty the great age of building continued, and the +remains are less destroyed than the earlier temples, because there were +subsequently fewer unscrupulous rulers to quarry them away. Seti I. +greatly extended the national temple of Karnak by his immense hall of +columns added in front of the pylon of Amenophis III. His funerary +temple at Kurna is also in a fairly complete condition. The temple of +Abydos is celebrated owing to its completeness, and the perfect +condition of its sculptures, which render it one of the most interesting +buildings as an artistic monument; and the variety of religious subjects +adds to its importance. The very long reign and vanity of Rameses II. +have combined to leave his name at over sixty sites, more widely spread +than that of any other king. Yet very few great monuments were +originated by him; even the Ramesseum, his funerary temple, was begun by +his father. Additions, appropriations of earlier works and scattered +inscriptions are what mark this reign. The principal remaining buildings +are part of a court at Memphis, the second temple at Abydos, and the six +Nubian temples of Bet el-Wali, Jerf Husein, Wadi es-Sebua, Derr, and the +grandest of all--the rock-cut temple of Abu Simbel, with its +neighbouring temple of Hathor. Mineptah has left few original works; the +Osireum at Abydos is the only one of which much remains, his funerary +temple having been destroyed as completely as he destroyed that of +Amenophis III. The celebrated Israel stele from this temple is his +principal inscription. The rock shrines at Silsila are of small +importance. There is no noticeable monument of the dozen troubled years +of the end of the dynasty. + +The XXth Dynasty opened with the great builder Rameses III. Probably he +did not really exceed other kings in his activity; but as being the last +of the building kings at the western side of Thebes, his temple has +never been devastated for stone by the claims of later work. The whole +building of Medinet Habu is about 500 ft. long and 160 wide, entirely +the work of one reign. The sculptures of it are mainly occupied with the +campaigns of the king against the Libyans, the Syrians and the negroes, +and are of the greatest importance for the history of Egypt and of the +Mediterranean lands. Another large work was the clearance and rebuilding +of much of the city of Tell el Yehudia, the palace hall of which +contained the celebrated coloured tiles with figures of captives. At +Karnak three temples, to Ammon, Khonsu and Mut, all belong to this +reign. The blighted reigns of the later Ramessides and the priest-kings +did not leave a single great monument, and they are only known by +usurpations of the work of others. The Tanite kings of the XXIst Dynasty +rebuilt the temple of their capital, but did little else. The XXIInd +Dynasty returned to monumental work. Sheshonk I. added a large wall at +Karnak, covered with the record of his Judaean war. Osorkon (Uasarkon) +I. built largely at Bubastis, and Osorkon II. added the great granite +pylon there, covered with scenes of his festival; but at Thebes these +kings only inscribed previous monuments. The Ethiopian (XXVth) dynasty +built mainly in their capital under Mount Barkal, and Shabako and +Tirhaka (Tahrak) also left chapels and a pylon at Thebes; and the latter +added a great colonnade leading up to the temple of Karnak, of which one +column is still standing. + +Of the Saite kings there are very few large monuments. Their work was +mainly of limestone and built in the Delta, and hence it has been +entirely swept away. The square fort of brickwork at Daphnae (q.v.) was +built by Psammetichus I. Of Apries (Haa-ab-ra, Hophra) an obelisk and +two monolith shrines are the principal remains. Of Amasis (Aahmes) II. +five great shrines are known; but the other kings of this age have only +left minor works. The Persians kept up Egyptian monuments. Darius I. +quarried largely, and left a series of great granite decrees along his +Suez canal; he also built the great temple in the oasis of Kharga. + +The XXXth Dynasty renewed the period of great temples. Nekhtharheb built +the temple of Behbet, now a ruinous heap of immense blocks of granite. +Beside other temples, now destroyed, he set up the great west pylon of +Karnak, and the pylon at Kharga. Nekhtnebf built the Hathor temple and +great pylon at Philae, and the east pylon of Karnak, beside temples +elsewhere, now vanished. Religious building was continued under the +Ptolemies and Romans; and though the royal impulse may not have been +strong, yet the wealth of the land under good government supplied means +for many places to rebuild their old shrines magnificently. In the Fayum +the capital was dedicated to Queen Arsinoe, and doubtless Ptolemy +rebuilt the temple, now destroyed. At Sharona are remains of a temple of +Ptolemy I. Dendera is one of the most complete temples, giving a noble +idea of the appearance of such work anciently. The body of the temple is +of Ptolemy XIII., and was carved as late as the XVIth (Caesarion), and +the great portico was in building from Augustus to Nero. At Coptos was a +screen of the temple of Ptolemy I. (now at Oxford), and a chapel still +remains of Ptolemy XIII. Karnak was largely decorated; a granite cella +was built under Philip Arrhidaeus, covered with elaborate carving; a +great pylon was added to the temple of Khonsu by Ptolemy III.; the inner +pylon of the Ammon-temple was carved by Ptolemy VI. and IX.; and granite +doorways were added to the temples of Month and Mut by Ptolemy II. At +Luxor the entire cella was rebuilt by Alexander. At Medinet Habu the +temple of Tethmosis III. had a doorway built by Ptolemy X., and a +forecourt by Antoninus. The smaller temple was built under Ptolemy X. +and the emperors. South of Medinet Habu a small temple was built by +Hadrian and Antoninus. At Esna the great temple was rebuilt and +inscribed during a couple of centuries from Titus to Decius. At El Kab +the temple dates from Ptolemy IX. and X. The great temple of Edfu, which +has its enclosure walls and pylon complete, and is the most perfect +example remaining, was gradually built during a century and a half from +Ptolemy III. to XI. The monuments of Philae begin with the wall of +Nekhtnebf. Ptolemy II. began the great temple, and the temple of +Arhesnofer (Arsenuphis) is due to Ptolemy IV., that of Asclepius to +Ptolemy V., that of Hathor to Ptolemy VI., and the great colonnades +belong to Ptolemy XIII. and Augustus. The beautiful little riverside +temple, called the "kiosk," was built by Augustus and inscribed by +Trajan; and the latest building was the arch of Diocletian. + +Farther south, in Nubia, the temples of Dabod and Dakka were built by +the Ethiopian Ergamenes, contemporary of Ptolemy IV.; and the temple of +Dendur is of Augustus. The latest building of the temple style is the +White Monastery near Suhag. The external form is that of a great temple, +with windows added along the top; while internally it was a Christian +church. The modern dwellings in it have now been cleared out, and the +interior admirably preserved and cleaned by a native Syrian architect. + +Beside the great monuments, which we have now noticed, the historical +material is found on several other classes of remains. These are: (1) +The royal tombs, which in the Vth, VIth, XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth +Dynasties are fully inscribed; but as the texts are always religious and +not historical, they are less important than many other remains. (2) The +royal coffins and wrappings, which give information by the added +graffiti recording their removals; (3) Royal tablets, which are of the +highest value for history, as they often describe or imply historical +events; (4) Private tombs and tablets, which are in many cases +biographical. (5) Papyri concerning daily affairs which throw light on +history; or which give historic detail, as the great papyrus of Rameses +III., and the trials under Rameses X. (6) The added inscriptions on +buildings by later restorers, and alterations of names for +misappropriation. (7) The statues which give the royal portraits, and +sometimes historical facts. (8) The _ostraca_, or rough notes of work +accounts, and plans drawn on pieces of limestone or pottery. (9) The +scarabs bearing kings' names, which under the Hyksos and in some other +dark periods, are our main source of information. (10) The miscellaneous +small remains of toilet objects, ornaments, weapons, &c., many of which +bear royal names. + + Every object and monument with a royal name will be found catalogued + under each reign in Petrie's _History of Egypt_, 3 vols., the last + editions of each being the fullest. (W. M. F. P.) + +F. _Chronology._--1. _Technical._--The standard year of the Ancient +Egyptians consisted of twelve months of thirty days[17] each, with five +epagomenal days, in all 365 days. It was thus an effective compromise +between the solar year and the lunar month, and contrasts very +favourably with the intricate and clumsy years of other ancient systems. +The leap-year of the Julian and Gregorian calendars confers the immense +benefit of a fixed correspondence to the seasons which the Egyptian year +did not possess, but the uniform length of the Egyptian months is +enviable even now. The months were grouped under three seasons of four +months each, and were known respectively as the first, second, third and +fourth month [HRGs: N12:Z1], [HRGs: N12:two], [HRGs: N12:three], [HRGs: +N12:four] of [HRGs: SA-x:t-hrw] (i'h.t) "inundation" or "verdure," +[HRGs: pr:r-t:hrw] _pr.t_ (_pro_) "seed-time," "winter," and [HRGs: +S:N35B-hrw] _smw (shom)_ "harvest," "summer," the [HRGs: +Z93-Z92-Hr:r-w-rnp-t:Z1] "five (days) over the year" being outside these +seasons and the year itself, according to the Egyptian expression, and +counted either at the beginning or at the end of the year. Ultimately +the Egyptians gave names to the months taken from festivals celebrated +in them, in order as follows:--Thoth, Paophi, Athyr, Choiak, Tobi, +Mechir, Phamenoth, Pharmuthi, Pachons, Payni, Epiphi, Mesore, the +epagomenal days being then called "the short year." In Egypt the +agricultural seasons depend more immediately on the Nile than on the +solar movements; the first day of the first month of inundation, i.e. +nominally the beginning of the rise of the Nile, was the beginning of +the year, and as the Nile commences to rise very regularly at about the +date of the annual heliacal rising of the conspicuous dog-star Sothis +(Sirius) (which itself follows extremely closely the slow retrogression +of the Julian year), the primitive astronomers found in the heliacal +rising of Sothis as observed at Memphis (on July 19 Julian) a very +correct and useful starting-point for the seasonal year. But the year of +365 days lost one day in four years of the Sothic or Julian year, so +that in 121 Egyptian years New Year's day fell a whole month too early +according to the seasons, and in 1461 years a whole year was lost. This +"Sothic period" or era of 1460 years, during which the Egyptian New +Year's day travelled all round the Sothic year, is recorded by Greek and +Roman writers at least as early as the 1st century B.C. The epagomenal +days appear on a monument of the Vth Dynasty and in the very ancient +Pyramid texts. They were considered unlucky, and perhaps this accounts +for the curious fact that, although they are named in journals and in +festival lists, &c., where precise dating was needed, no known monument +or legal document is dated in them. It is, however, quite possible that +by the side of the year of 365 days a shorter year of 360 was employed +for some purposes. Lunar months were observed in the regulation of +temples, and lunar years, &c., have been suspected. To find uniformity +in any department in Egyptian practice would be exceptional. By the +decree of Canopus, Ptolemy III. Euergetes introduced through the +assembly of priests an extra day every fourth year, but this reform had +no acceptation until it was reimposed by Augustus with the Julian +calendar. Whether any earlier attempt was made to adjust the civil to +the solar or Sothic year in order to restore the festivals to their +proper places in the seasons temporarily or otherwise, is a question of +great importance for chronology, but at present it remains unanswered. +Probably neither the Sothic nor any other era was employed by the +ancient Egyptians, who dated solely by regnal years (see below). An +inscription of Rameses II. at Tanis is dated in the 400th year of the +reign of the god Seth of Ombos, probably with reference to some +religious ordinance during the rule of the Seth-worshipping Hyksos; +Rameses II. may well have celebrated its quater-centenary, but it is +wrong to argue from this piece of evidence alone that an era of Seth was +ever observed. + +From the Middle Kingdom onward to the Roman period, the dates upon +Egyptian documents are given in regnal years. On the oldest monuments +the years in a reign were not numbered consecutively but were named +after events; thus in the Ist Dynasty we find "the year of smiting the +Antiu-people," in the beginning of the IIIrd Dynasty "the year of +fighting and smiting the people of Lower Egypt." But under the IInd +Dynasty there was a census of property for taxation every two years, and +the custom, continuing (with some irregularities) for a long time, +offered a uniform mode of marking years, whether current or past. Thus +such dates are met with as "the year of the third time of numbering" of +a particular king, the next being designated as "the year after the +third time of numbering." Under the Vth Dynasty this method was so much +the rule that the words "of numbering" were commonly omitted. It would +seem that in the course of the next dynasty the census became annual +instead of biennial, so that the "times" agreed with the actual years of +reign; thenceforward their consecutive designation as "first time," +"second time," for "first year," "second year," was as simple as it well +could be, and lasted unchanged to the fall of paganism. The question +arises from what point these regnal dates were calculated. Successive +regnal years might begin (1) on the anniversary of the king's accession, +or (2) on the calendrical beginning in each year (normally on the first +day of the nominal First month of inundation, i.e. 1st Thoth in the +later calendar). In the latter case there would be a further +consideration: was the portion of a calendar year following the +accession of the new king counted to the last year of the outgoing king, +or to the first year of the new king? In Dynasties I., IV.-V., XVIII. +there are instances of the first mode (1), in Dynasties II., VI. (?), +XII., XXVI. and onwards they follow the second (2). It may be that the +practice was not uniform in all documents even of the same age. In +Ptolemaic times not only were Macedonian dates sometimes given in Greek +documents, but there were certainly two native modes of dating current; +down to the reign of Euergetes there was a "fiscal" dating in papyri, +according to which the year began in Paophi, besides a civil dating +probably from Thoth; later, all the dates in papyri start from Thoth. + +The Macedonian year is found in early Ptolemaic documents. The fixed +year of the Canopic decree under Euergetes (with 1st Thoth on Oct. 22) +was never adopted. Augustus established an "Alexandrian" era with the +fixed Julian year, retaining the Egyptian months, with a sixth +epagomenal day every fourth year. The capture of Alexandria having taken +place on the 1st of August 30 B.C., the era began nominally in 30 B.C., +but it was not actually introduced till some years later, from which +time the 1st Thoth corresponded with the 29th of August in the Julian +year. The vague "Egyptian" year, however, continued in use in native +documents for some centuries along with the Alexandrian "Ionian" year. +The era of Diocletian dates from the 29th of August 284, the year of his +reforms; later, however, the Christians called it the era of the Martyrs +(though the persecution was not until 302), and it survived the Arab +conquest. The dating by indictions, i.e. Roman tax-censuses, taking +place every fifteenth year, probably originated in Egypt, in A.D. 312, +the year of the defeat of Maxentius. The indictions began in Payni of +the fixed year, when the harvest had been secured. + + See F. K. Ginzel, _Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen + Chronologie_, Bd. i. (Leipzig, 1906), and the bibliography in the + following section. + +2. _Historical._[18]--As to absolute chronology, the assigning of a +regnal year to a definite date B.C. is clear enough (except in +occasional detail) from the conquest by Alexander onwards. Before that +time, in spite of successive efforts to establish a chronology, the +problem is very obscure. The materials for reconstructing the absolute +chronology are of several kinds: (1) Regnal dates as given on +contemporary monuments may indicate the _lengths of individual reigns_, +but not with accuracy, as they seldom reach to the end of a reign and do +not allow for co-regencies. Records of the time that has elapsed between +two regnal dates in the reigns of different kings are very helpful; thus +stelae from the Serapeum recording the ages of the Apis bulls with the +dates of their birth and death have fixed the chronology of the XXVIth +Dynasty. Traditional evidence for the lengths of reigns exists in the +Turin Papyrus of kings and in Manetho's history; unfortunately the +papyrus is very fragmentary and preserves few reign-lengths entire, and +Manetho's evidence seems very untrustworthy, being known only from late +excerpts. (2) The duration of a period may be calculated by +_generations_ or the probable average lengths of reigns, but such +calculations are of little value, and the succession of generations even +when the evidence seems to be full is particularly difficult to +ascertain in Egyptian, owing to adoptions and the repetition of the same +name even in one family of brothers and sisters. (3) _Synchronisms_ in +the histories of other countries furnish reliable dates--Greek, Persian, +Babylonian and Biblical dates for the XXVIth Dynasty, Assyrian for the +XXVth; less precise are the Biblical date of Rehoboam, contemporary with +the invasion of Shishak (Sheshonk) in the XXIInd Dynasty, and the date +of the Babylonian and Assyrian kings contemporary with Amenhotp IV. in +the XVIIIth Dynasty. The last, about 1400 B.C., is the earliest point to +which such coincidences reach. (4) _Astronomical data_, especially the +heliacal risings of Sothis recorded by dates of their celebration in the +vague year. These are easily calculated on the assumption first that the +observations were correctly made, secondly that the calendrical dates +are in the year of 365 days beginning on 1st Thoth, and thirdly that +this year subsequently underwent no readjustment or other alteration +before the reign of Euergetes. The assumption may be a reasonable one, +and if the results agree with probabilities as deduced from the rest of +the evidence it is wise to adopt it; if on the other hand the other +evidence seems in any serious degree contrary to those results it may be +surmised that the assumption is faulty in some particular. The harvest +date referred to below helps to show that the first part of the +assumption is justified. + + +---------+---------------+--------+----------+------+--------+------+ + |Dynasty. | Meyer 1887 |Petrie | Meyer |Sethe |Breasted|Petrie| + | |(minimum date).|1894 &c.|1904-1908.|1905. | 1906. |1906. | + +---------+---------------+--------+----------+------+--------+------+ + | I. | } | 4777 | 3315 | 3360 | 3400 | 5510 | + | II. | } 3180 | 4514 | | 3110 | | 5247 | + | III. | } | 4212 | 2895 | 2810 | 2980 | 4945 | + | IV. | 2830 | 3998 | 2840 | 2720 | 2900 | 4731 | + | V. | | 3721 | 2680 | 2630 | 2750 | 4454 | + | VI. | 2530 | 3503 | 2540 | 2480 | 2625 | 4206 | + | VII. | | 3322 | | 2300 | 2475 | 4003 | + | VIII. | | 3252 | | | | 3933 | + | IX. | | 3106 | 2360 | | 2445 | 3787 | + | X. | | 3006 | | | | 3687 | + | XI. | | 2821 | 2160 | 2100 | 2160 | 3502 | + | XII. | 2130 | 2778 | 2000 | 2000 | 2000 | 3459 | + | XIII. | 1930 | 2565 | 1791 | | 1788 | 3246 | + | XIV. | | 2112 | | | | 2793 | + | XV. | 1780 | | 1680[*] | | | 2533 | + | XVI. | | 1928 | | | | 2249 | + | XVII. | | 1738 | | | | 1731 | + | XVIII. | 1530 | 1587 | 1580 | | 1580 | 1580 | + | XIX. | 1320 | 1327 | 1321 | | 1350 | 1323 | + +---------+---------------+--------+----------+------+--------+------+ + [*] Meyer makes XIII. overlap XV. (Hyksos), and XIV. (Xoite), + contemporary with XVI. (Hyksos) and XVII. (Theban). + +The duration of the reigns in several dynasties is fairly well known +from the incontrovertible evidence of contemporary monuments. The XXVIth +Dynasty, which lasted 139 years, is particularly clear, and synchronisms +fix its regnal dates to the years B.C. within an error of one or two +years at most. The lengths of several reigns in the XIIth, XVIIIth and +XIXth Dynasties are known, and the sum total for the XIIth Dynasty is +preserved better than any other in the Turin Papyrus, which was written +under the XIXth Dynasty. The succession and number of the kings are also +ascertained for other dynasties, together with many regnal dates, but +very serious gaps exist in the records of the Egyptian monuments, the +worst being between the XIIth and the XVIIIth Dynasties, between the +XIth and the VIth, and at Dynasties I.-III. For the chronology before +the time of the XXVIth Dynasty Herodotus's history is quite worthless. +Manetho alone of all authorities offers a complete chronology from the +1st Dynasty to the XXXth. In the case of the six kings of the XXVIth +Dynasty, Africanus, the best of his excerptors, gives correct figures +for five reigns, but attributes six instead of sixteen years to Necho; +the other excerptors have wrong numbers throughout. For the XIXth +Dynasty Manetho's figures are wrong wherever we can check them; the +names, too, are seriously faulty. In the XVIIIth Dynasty he has too many +names and few are clearly identifiable, while the numbers are +incomprehensible. In the XIIth Dynasty the number of the kings is +correct and many of the names can be justified, but the reign-lengths +are nearly, if not quite, all wrong. The summations of years for the +Dynasties XII. and XVIII. are likewise wrong. It seems, therefore, that +the known texts of Manetho, serviceable as they have been in the +reconstruction of Egyptian history, cannot be employed as a serious +guide to the early chronology, since they are faulty wherever we can +check them, even in the XXVIth Dynasty whose kings were so celebrated +among the Greeks. There remain the astronomical data. Of these, the +Sothic date furnished by a calendar in the Ebers Papyrus of the 9th year +of Amenophis I. (when interpreted on the assumption stated above), and +another at Elephantine of an uncertain year of Tethmosis III., tally +well with each other (1550-1546, 1474-1470 B.C.) and with the Babylonian +synchronism (not yet accurately determined) under Amenhotp IV. +(Akhenaton). Another Sothic date of the 7th year of Senwosri III. on a +Berlin papyrus from Kahun, similarly interpreted (1882-1878 B.C.), gives +for the XIIth Dynasty a range from 2000 to 1788 B.C. This (discovered by +L. Borchardt in 1899) seems to offer a welcome ray, piercing the +obscurity of early Egyptian chronology; guided by it the historian Ed. +Meyer, and K. Sethe have framed systems of chronology in close agreement +with each other, reaching back to the 1st Dynasty at about 3400 B.C. To +Meyer is further due a calculation that the Egyptian calendar was +introduced in 4241-4238 B.C.[19] Their results in general have been +adopted by the "Berlin school," including Erman, Steindorff (in +Baedeker's _Egypt_) and Breasted in America. Nevertheless many +Egyptologists are unwilling to accept the new chronology, the chief +obstacle being that it allows so short an interval for the six dynasties +between the XIIth and the XVIIIth. If the XIIth Dynasty ended about 1790 +B.C. and the XVIIIth began about 1570 B.C., taking what seems to be the +utmost interval that it permits, 220 years have to contain a crowd of +kings of whom nearly 100 are already known by name from monuments and +papyri, while fresh names are being added annually to the long list; the +shattered fragments of the last columns in the Turin Papyrus show space +for 150 or perhaps 180 kings of this period, apparently without reaching +the XVIIth Dynasty. An estimate of 160 to 200 kings would therefore not +be excessive. The dates that have come down to us are very few; the only +ones known from the Hyksos period are of a 12th and a 33rd year. In the +Turin Papyrus two reign-lengths of less than a year, seven others of +less than five years each, one of ten years and one of thirteen seem +attributable to the XIIIth and XIVth Dynasties. Probably most of the +reigns were short, as Manetho also decidedly indicates. It is possible +that the compiler of the Turin Papyrus, who excluded contemporary reigns +in the period between the VIth and the XIIth Dynasties, here admitted +such; nor is a correspondingly large number of kings in so short a +period without analogies in history. Professor Petrie, however, thinks +it best, while accepting the evidence of the Sirius date, to suppose +further that a whole Sothic period of 1460 years had passed in the +interval, making a total of 1650 years for the six dynasties in place of +220 years. This, however, seems greatly in excess of probability, and +several Egyptologists familiar with excavation are willing to accept +Meyer's figures on archaeological grounds. To the present writer it +seems that Meyer's chronology provides a convenient working theory, but +involves such an improbability in regard to the interval between the +XIIth and the XVIIIth Dynasties that the interpretation of the Sothic +date on which it is founded must be viewed with suspicion until clear +facts are found to corroborate it. Corroboration has been sought by +Mahler, Sethe and Petrie in the dates of new moons, of warlike and other +expeditions, and of high Nile, but their evidence so far is too vague +and uncertain to affect the question seriously. It is remarkable that no +records of eclipses are known from Egyptian documents. The interesting +date of the harvest at El Bersha, quoted by Meyer in Breasted, +_Records_, i. p. 48, confirms the Sothic date for the XIIth Dynasty in +some measure, but it belongs to the same age, and therefore its evidence +would be equally vitiated with the other by any subsequent alteration in +the Egyptian calendar. Before the discovery of the Kahun Sothic date, +Professor Petrie put the end of the XIIth Dynasty at 2565 B.C.; in 1884 +even Meyer had suggested 1930 B.C. as its _minimum_ date, thus allowing +400 years at the least for the period from the XIIIth Dynasty to the +XVIIth. + + +----------+-----------+-------+------------+----------+---------+ + | Dynasty. | Wiedemann | Meyer | Petrie | Breasted | Maspero | + | | 1884. | 1884. | 1905-1906. | 1906. | 1904. | + +----------+-----------+-------+------------+----------+---------+ + | XIX. | 1490 | 1320 |(1328), 1322| 1350 | | + | XX. | 1280 | 1180 | 1202 | 1200 | | + | XXI. | 1100 | 1060 | 1102 | 1090 | | + | XXII. | 975 | 930 | 952 | 945 | | + | XXIII. | 810 | | 755 | 745 | | + | XXIV. | 720 | | 721 | 718 | | + | XXV. | 715 | 728 | 715 | 712 | | + | XXVI. | 664 | 663 | 664 | 663 | | + | XXVII. | 525 | 525 | 525 | 525 | 425 | + | XXVIII. | 415 | | 405 | | c. 405 | + | XXIX. | 408 | | 399 | | 399 | + | XXX. | 387 | | 378 | | 380 | + | Ochus | 350 | | 342 | | 342 | + +----------+-----------+-------+------------+----------+---------+ + +Beyond the XIIth Dynasty estimates must again be vague. The spacing of +the years on the Palermo stone has given rise to some calculations for +the early dynasties. Others are grounded on the dates of certain +operations which are likely to have taken place at particular seasons +of the year so that they can be roughly calculated on the Sothic basis, +others on Manetho's figures, average lengths of reigns, evidence of the +Turin Papyrus, &c. + +Table I. page 79 shows the chronology of the first nineteen dynasties, +according to recent authorities, before and after the discovery of the +Kahun Sothic date. + +The dates of the earlier dynasties in this table are always intended to +be only approximate; for instance, Meyer in 1904 allowed an error of 100 +years either of excess or deficiency in the dates he assigned to the +dynasties from the Xth upwards. + +The other dynasties are dated as in Table II. by different authorities. + + See Ed. Meyer, _Geschichte des Altertums_, Bd. i. (Stuttgart, 1884), + _Geschichte des alten Agyptens_ (1887), _Agyptische Chronologie_ + (_Abhandl._ of Prussian Academy) (Berlin, 1904, with the supplement + _Nachtrage zur agypt. Chronologie_, ib. 1907); K. Sethe, "Beitrage zur + altesten Geschichte Agyptens" (in his _Untersuchungen_, Bd. iii.) + (Leipzig, 1905); J. H. Breasted, _Ancient Records of Egypt_, + "Historical Documents," vol. i. (Chicago, 1906); W. M. F. Petrie, _A + History of Egypt_, vol. i. (London, 1884), vol. iii. (1905), + _Researches in Sinai_ (London, 1906); G. Maspero, _Histoire ancienne + des peuples de l'orient_ (Paris, 1904); A. Wiedemann, _Agyptische + Geschichte_ (Gotha, 1884); articles by Mahler and others in the + _Zeitschrift fur agyptische Sprache and Orientalistische + Literaturzeitung_ (recent years). (F. Ll. G.) + + +III. HISTORY + +1. _From the Earliest Times to the Moslem Conquest._ + +In the absence of a strict chronology, the epochs of Pharaonic history +are conveniently reckoned in dynasties according to Manetho's scheme, +and these dynasties are grouped into longer periods:--the Old Kingdom +(Dynasties I. to VIII.), including the Earliest Dynasties (I. to III.) +and the Pyramid Period (Dynasties IV. to VI.); the Middle Kingdom +(Dynasties IX. to XVII.), including the Heracleopolite Dynasties (IX. to +X.) and the Hyksos Period (Dynasties XV. to XVII.); the New Empire +(Dynasties XVIII. to XX.); the Deltaic Dynasties (Dynasties XXI. to +XXXI.), including the Saite and Persian Periods (Dynasties XXVI. to +XXXI.). The conquest by Alexander ushers in the Hellenistic age, +comprising the periods of Ptolemaic and Roman rule. + +_The Prehistoric Age._--One of the most striking features of recent +Egyptology is the way in which the earliest ages of the civilization, +before the conventional Egyptian style was formed, have been illustrated +by the results of excavation. Until 1895 there seemed little hope of +reaching the records of those remote times, although it was plain that +the civilization had developed in the Nile valley for many centuries +before the IVth Dynasty, beyond which the earliest known monuments +scarcely reached. Since that year, however, there has been a steady flow +of discoveries in prehistoric and early historic cemeteries, and, partly +in consequence of this, monuments already known, such as the annals of +the Palermo stone, have been made articulate for the beginnings of +history in Egypt. + +It is probable that certain rudely chipped flints, so-called eoliths, in +the alluvial gravels (formed generally at the mouth of wadis opening on +to the Nile) at Thebes and elsewhere, are the work of primitive man; but +it has been shown that such are produced also by natural forces in the +rush of torrents. On the surface of the desert, at the borders of the +valley, palaeolithic implements of well-defined form are not uncommon, +and bear the marks of a remote antiquity. In some cases they appear to +lie where they were chipped on the sites of flint factories. Geologists +and anthropologists are not yet agreed on the question whether the +climate and condition of the country have undergone large changes since +these implements were deposited. As yet none have been found in such +association with animal remains as would help in deciding their age, nor +have any implements been discovered in rock-shelters or in caves. + +Of neolithic remains, arrowheads and other implements are found in some +numbers in the deserts. In the Fayum region, about the borders of the +ancient Lake of Moeris and beyond, they are particularly abundant and +interesting in their forms. But their age is uncertain; some may be +contemporary with the advanced culture of the XIIth Dynasty in the Nile +valley. Definite history on the other hand has been gained from the +wonderful series of "prehistoric" cemeteries excavated by J. de Morgan, +Petrie, Reisner and others on the desert edgings of the cultivated +alluvium. The succession of archaeological types revealed in them has +been tabulated by Petrie in his _Diospolis Parva_; and the detailed +publication of Reisner's unusually careful researches is bringing much +new light on the questions involved, amongst other things showing the +exact point at which the "prehistoric" series merges into the Ist +Dynasty, for, as might be surmised, in many cases the prehistoric +cemeteries continued in use under the earliest dynasties. The finest +pottery, often painted but all hand-made without the wheel, belongs to +the prehistoric period; so also do the finest flint implements, which, +in the delicacy and exactitude of their form and flaking, surpass all +that is known from other countries. Metal seems to be entirely absent +from the earliest type of graves, but immediately thereafter copper +begins to appear (bronze is hardly to be found before the XIIth +Dynasty). The paintings on the vases show boats driven by oars and sails +rudely figured, and the boats bear emblematic standards or ensigns. The +cemeteries are found throughout Upper and Middle Egypt, but as yet have +not been met with in the Delta or on its borders. This might be +accounted for by the inhabitants of Lower Egypt having practised a +different mode of disposing of the dead, or by their cemeteries being +differently placed. + +Tradition, mythology and later customs make it possible to recover a +scrap of the political history of that far-off time. Menes, the founder +of the Ist Dynasty, united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. In +the prehistoric period, therefore, these two realms were separate. The +capital of Upper Egypt was Nekheb, now represented by the ruins of El +Kab, with the royal residence across the river at Nekhen +(Hieraconpolis); that of Lower Egypt was at Buto (Puto or Dep) in the +marshes, with the royal residence in the quarter called Pe. Nekhebi, +goddess of El Kab, represented the Upper or Southern Kingdom, which was +also under the tutelage of the god Seth, the goddess Buto and the god +Horus similarly presiding over the Lower Kingdom. The royal god in the +palace of each was a hawk or Horus. The spirits of the deceased kings +were honoured respectively as the jackal-headed spirits of Nekhen and +the hawk-headed spirits of Pe. As we hear also of the "spirits of On" it +is probable that Heliopolis was at one time capital of a kingdom. In +after days the prehistoric kings were known as "Worshippers of Horus" +and in Manetho's list they are the [Greek: nekues] "Dead," and [Greek: +heroes] "Heroes," being looked upon as intermediate between the divine +dynasties and those of human kings. It is impossible to estimate the +duration of the period represented by the prehistoric cemeteries; that +the two kingdoms existed throughout unchanged is hardly probable. + +According to the somatologist Elliott Smith, the most important change +in the physical character of the people of Upper Egypt, in the entire +range of Egyptian archaeology, took place at the beginning of the +dynastic period; and he accounts for this by the mingling of the Lower +with the Upper Egyptian population, consequent on the uniting of the two +countries under one rule. From remains of the age of the IVth Dynasty he +is able to define to some extent the type of the population of Lower +Egypt as having a better cranial and muscular development than that of +Upper Egypt, probably through immigration from Syria. The advent of the +dynasties, however, produced a quickening rather than a dislocation in +the development of civilization. + +It is doubtful whether we possess any writing of the prehistoric age. A +few names of the kings of Lower Egypt are preserved in the first line of +the Palermo stone, but no annals are attached to them. Petrie considers +that one of the kings buried at Abydos, provisionally called Nar-mer and +whose real name may be Mer or Beza, preceded Menes; of him there are +several inscribed records, notably a magnificent carved and inscribed +slate palette found at Hieraconpolis, with figures of the king and his +vizier, war-standards and prisoners. To identify him with Bezau +(Boethos) of the IInd Dynasty runs counter to much archaeological +evidence. Sethe places him next after Menes and some would identify him +with that king. Another inscribed palette may be pre-dynastic; it +perhaps mentions a king named "Scorpion." + + + The earliest dynasties. + +_The Old Kingdom._--The names of a number of kings attributable to the +Ist Dynasty are known from their tombs at Abydos. Unfortunately, they +are almost exclusively Horus titles [HRG: tyw-O33], in place of the +personal names by which they were recorded in the lists of Abydos and +Manetho; some, however, of the latter are found, and prove that the +scribes of the New Kingdom were unable to read them correctly. Important +changes and improvements took place in the writing even during the Ist +Dynasty. The personal name of Menes [HRG: mn] is given by one only of +many relics of a king whose Horus-name was Aha, "the Fighter." Doubts +have been expressed about the identification with Menes, but it is +strongly corroborated by the very archaic style of the remains. The name +of Aha (Menes) was found in two tombs, one at Nagada north of Thebes and +nearly opposite the road to the Red Sea, the other at Abydos. Manetho +makes the Ist Dynasty Thinite, this being the capital of the nome in +which Abydos lay. Upper Egypt always had precedence over Lower Egypt, +and it seems clear that Menes came from the former and conquered the +latter. According to tradition he founded Memphis which lay on the +frontier of his conquest; probably he resided there as well as at +Abydos; at any rate relics of one of the later kings of the Ist Dynasty +have already been recognized in its vast necropolis. Of the eight kings +of the Ist Dynasty, three--the fifth, sixth and seventh in the Ramesside +list of Abydos--are positively identified by tomb-remains from Abydos, +and others are scarcely less certain. Two of the kings have also left +tablets at the copper and turquoise mines of Wadi Maghara in Sinai. The +royal tombs are built of brick, but one of them, that of Usaphais, had +its floor of granite from Elephantine. They must have been filled with +magnificent furniture and provisions of every kind, including annual +record-tablets of the reigns, carved in ivory and ebony. From a fragment +on the Palermo stone it is clear that material existed as late as the +Vth Dynasty for a brief note of the height of the Nile and other +particulars in each year of the reign of these kings. + +The IInd Dynasty of Manetho appears to have been separated from the Ist +even on the Palermo stone; it also was Thinite, and the tombs of several +of its nine (?) kings were found at Abydos. The IIIrd Dynasty is given +as Memphite by Manetho. Two of the kings built huge mastaba-tombs at Bet +Khallaf near Abydos, but the architect and learned scribe Imhotp +designed for one of these two kings, named Zoser, a second and mightier +monument at Memphis, the great step-pyramid of Sakkara. In Ptolemaic +times Imhotp was deified, and the traditional importance of Zoser is +shown by a forged grant of the Dodecaschoenus to the cataract god Khnum, +purporting to be from his reign, but in reality dating from the +Ptolemaic age. With Snefru, at the end of this dynasty, we reach the +beginning of Egyptian history as it was known before the recent +discoveries. Monuments and written records are henceforth more numerous +and important, and the Palermo annals show a fuller scale of record. The +events in the three years that are preserved include a successful raid +upon the negroes, and the construction of ships and gates of cedar-wood +which must have been brought from the forests of the Lebanon. Snefru +also set up a tablet at Wadi Maghara in Sinai. He built two pyramids, +one of them at Medum in steps, the other, probably in the perfected +form, at Dahshur, both lying between Memphis and the Fayum. + + + The pyramid period. + +Pyramids did not cease to be built in Egypt till the New Kingdom; but +from the end of the IIIrd to the VIth Dynasty is pre-eminently the time +when the royal pyramid in stone was the chief monument left by each +successive king. Zoser and Snefru have been already noticed. The +personal name enclosed in a cartouche [HRG] is henceforth the commonest +title of the king. We now reach the IVth Dynasty containing the famous +names of Cheops (q.v.), Chephren (Khafre) and Mycerinus (Menkeure), +builders respectively of the Great, the Second and the Third Pyramids of +Giza. In the best art of this time there was a grandeur which was never +again attained. Perhaps the noblest example of Egyptian sculpture in the +round is a diorite statue of Chephren, one of several found by Mariette +in the so-called Temple of the Sphinx. This "temple" proves to be a +monumental gate at the lower end of the great causeway leading to the +plateau on which the pyramids were built. A king Dedefre, between Cheops +and Chephren, built a pyramid at Abu-Roash. Shepseskaf is one of the +last in the dynasty. Tablets of most of these kings have been found at +the mines of Wadi Maghara. In the neighbourhood of the pyramids there +are numerous mastabas of the court officials with fine sculpture in the +chapels, and a few decorated tombs from the end of this centralized +dynasty of absolute monarchs are known in Upper Egypt. A tablet which +describes Cheops as the builder of various shrines about the Great +Sphinx has been shown to be a priestly forgery, but the Sphinx itself +may have been carved out of the rock under the splendid rule of the IVth +Dynasty. + +The Vth Dynasty is said to be of Elephantine, but this must be a +mistake. Its kings worshipped Re, the sun, rather than Horus, as their +ancestor, and the title [HRG: zA-hrw] "son of the Sun" began to be +written by them before the cartouche containing the personal name, while +another "solar" cartouche, containing a name compounded with Re, +followed the title [HRG: sw:t-bit:t] "king of Upper and Lower Egypt." +Sahure and the other kings of the dynasty built magnificent temples with +obelisks dedicated to Re, one of which, that of Neuserre at Abusir, has +been thoroughly explored. The marvellous tales of the Westcar Papyrus, +dating from the Middle Kingdom, narrate how three of the kings were born +of a priestess of Re. The pyramids of several of the kings are known. +The early ones are at Abusir, and the best preserved of the pyramid +temples, that of Sahure, excavated by the German Orient-Gesellschaft, in +its architecture and sculptured scenes has revealed an astonishingly +complete development of art and architecture as well as of warlike +enterprise by sea and land at this remote period; the latest pyramid +belonging to the Vth Dynasty, that of Unas at Sakkara, is inscribed with +long ritual and magical texts. Exquisitely sculptured tombs of this time +are very numerous at Memphis and are found throughout Upper Egypt. Of +work in the traditional temples of the country no trace remains, +probably because, being in limestone, it has all perished. The annals of +the Palermo stone were engraved and added to during this dynasty; the +chief events recorded for the time are gifts and endowments for the +temples. Evidently priestly influence was strong at the court. +Expeditions to Sinai and Puoni (Punt) are commemorated on tablets. + +The VIth Dynasty if not more vigorous was more articulate; inscribed +tombs are spread throughout the country. The most active of its kings +was the third, named Pepi or Phiops, from whose pyramid at Sakkara the +capital, hitherto known as "White Walls," derived its later name of +Memphis (MN-NFR, Mempi); a tombstone from Abydos celebrates the activity +of a certain Una during the reigns of Pepi and his successor in +organizing expeditions to the Sinai peninsula and south Palestine, and +in transporting granite from Elephantine and other quarries. Herkhuf, +prince of Elephantine and an enterprising leader of caravans to the +south countries both in Nubia and the Libyan oases, flourished under +Merenre and Pepi II. called Neferkere. On one occasion he brought home a +dwarf dancer from the Sudan, described as being like one brought from +Puoni in the time of the fifth-dynasty king Assa; this drew from the +youthful Pepi II. an enthusiastic letter which was engraved in full upon +the facade of Herkhuf's tomb. The reign of the last-named king, begun +early, lasted over ninety years, a fact so long remembered that even +Manetho attributes to him ninety-four years; its length probably caused +the ruin of the dynasty. The local princelings and monarchs had been +growing in culture, wealth and power, and after Pepi II. an ominous gap +in the monuments, pointing to civil war, marks the end of the Old +Kingdom. The VIIth and VIIIth Dynasties are said to have been Memphite, +but of them no record survives beyond some names of kings in the lists. + + + Heracleopolite period. + +_The Middle Kingdom._--The long Memphite rule was broken by the IXth and +Xth Dynasties, of Heracleopolis Magna (Hes) in Middle Egypt. Kheti or +Achthoes was apparently a favourite name with the kings, but they are +very obscure. They may have spread their rule by conquest over Upper +Egypt and then overthrown the Memphite dynasty. The chief monuments of +the period are certain inscribed tombs at Assiut; it appears that one of +the kings, whose praenomen was Mikere, supported by a fleet and army +from Upper Egypt, and especially by the prince of Assiut, was restored +to his paternal city of Heracleopolis, from which he had probably been +driven out; his pyramid, however, was built in the old royal necropolis +at Memphis. Later the princes of Thebes asserted their independence and +founded the XIth Dynasty, which pushed its frontiers northwards until +finally it occupied the whole country. Its kings were named Menthotp, +from Mont, one of the gods of Thebes; others, perhaps sub-kings, were +named Enyotf (Antef). They were buried at Thebes, whence the coffins of +several were obtained by the early collectors of the 19th century. +Nibhotp Menthotp I. probably established his rule over all Egypt. The +funerary temple of Nebhepre Menthotp III., the last but one of these +kings, has been excavated by the Egypt Exploration Fund at Deir el +Bahri, and must have been a magnificent monument. His successor +Sankhkere Menthotp IV. is known to have sent an expedition by the Red +Sea to Puoni. + +The XIIth Dynasty is the central point of the Middle Kingdom, to which +the decline of the Memphite and the rise of the Heracleopolite dynasty +mark the transition, while the growth of Thebes under the XIth Dynasty +is its true starting-point. Monuments of the XIIth Dynasty are abundant +and often of splendid design and workmanship, whereas previously there +had been little produced since the VIth Dynasty that was not half +barbarous. Although not much of the history of the XIIth Dynasty is +ascertained, the Turin Papyrus and many dated inscriptions fix the +succession and length of reign of the eight kings very accurately. The +troubled times that the kingdom had passed through taught the long-lived +monarchs the precaution of associating a competent successor on the +throne. The nomarchs and the other feudal chiefs were inclined to +strengthen themselves at the expense of their neighbours; a firm hand +was required to hold them in check and distribute the honours as they +were earned by faithful service. The tombs of the most favoured and +wealthy princes are magnificent, particularly those of certain families +in Middle Egypt at Beni Hasan, El Bersha, Assiut and Deir Rifa, and it +is probable that each had a court and organization within his nome like +that of the royal palace in miniature. Eventually, in the reigns of +Senwosri III. and Amenemhe III., the succession of strong kings appears +to have centralized all authority very completely. The names in the +dynasty are Amenemhe (Ammenemes) and Senwosri (formerly read Usertesen +or Senusert). The latter seems to be the origin of the Sesostris (q.v.) +and Sesoosis of the legends. Amenemhe I., the first king, whose +connexion with the previous dynasty is not known, reigned for thirty +years, ten of them being in partnership with his son Senwosri I. He had +to fight for his throne and then reorganize the country, removing his +capital or residence from Thebes to a central situation near Lisht about +25 m. south of Memphis. His monuments are widespread in Egypt, the +quarries and mines in the desert as far as Sinai bear witness to his +great activity, and we know of an expedition which he made against the +Nubians. The "Instructions of Amenemhe to his son Senwosri," whether +really his own or a later composition, refer to these things, to his +care for his subjects, and to the ingratitude with which he was +rewarded, an attempt on his life having been made by the trusted +servants in his own palace. The story of Sinuhi is the true or realistic +history of a soldier who, having overheard the secret intelligence of +Amenemhe's death, fled in fear to Palestine or Syria and there became +rich in the favour of the prince of the land; growing old, however, he +successfully sued for pardon from Senwosri and permission to return and +die in Egypt. + +Senwosri I. was already the executive partner in the time of the +co-regency, warring with the Libyans and probably in the Sudan. After +Amenemhe's death he fully upheld the greatness of the dynasty in his +long reign of forty-five years. The obelisk of Heliopolis is amongst his +best-known monuments, and the damming of the Lake of Moeris (q.v.) must +have been in progress in his reign. He built a temple far up the Nile at +Wadi Halfa and there set up a stela commemorating his victories over the +tribes of Nubia. The fine tombs of Ameni at Beni Hasan and of Hepzefa at +Assiut belong to his reign. The pyramids of both father and son are at +Lisht. + +Amenemhe II. was buried at Dahshur; he was followed by Senwosri II., +whose pyramid is at Illahun at the mouth of the Fayum. In his reign were +executed the fine paintings in the tomb of Khnemhotp at Beni Hasan, +which include a remarkable scene of Semitic Bedouins bringing eye-paint +to Egypt from the eastern deserts. In Manetho he is identified with +Sesostris (see above), but Senwosri I., and still more Senwosri III., +have a better claim to this distinction. The latter warred in Palestine +and in Nubia, and marked the south frontier of his kingdom by a statue +and stelae at Semna beyond the Second Cataract. Near his pyramid was +discovered the splendid jewelry of some princesses of his family (see +JEWELRY ad init.). The tomb of Thethotp at El Bersha, celebrated for the +scene of the transport of a colossus amongst its paintings, was finished +in this reign. + +Amenemhe III. completed the work of Lake Moeris and began a series of +observations of the height of the inundation at Semna which was +continued by his successors. In his long reign of forty-six years he +built a pyramid at Dahshur, and at Hawara near the Lake of Moeris +another pyramid together with the Labyrinth which seems to have been an +enormous funerary temple attached to the pyramid. His name was +remembered in the Fayum during the Graeco-Roman period and his effigy +worshipped there as Pera-marres, i.e. Pharaoh Marres (Marres being his +praenomen graecized). Amenemhe IV.'s reign was short, and the dynasty +ended with a queen Sebeknefru (Scemiophris), whose name is found in the +scanty remains of the Labyrinth. The XIIth Dynasty numbered eight rulers +and lasted for 213 years. Great as it was, it created no empire outside +the Nile valley, and its most imposing monument, which according to the +testimony of the ancients rivalled the pyramids, is now represented by a +vast stratum of chips. + +The history of the following period down to the rise of the New Empire +is very obscure. Manetho gives us the XIIIth (Diospolite) Dynasty, the +XIVth (Xoite from Xois in Lower Egypt), the XVth and XVIth (Hyksos) and +the XVIIth (Diospolite), but his names are lost except for the Hyksos +kings. The Abydos tablet ignores all between the XIIth and XVIIIth +Dynasties. The Turin Papyrus preserves many names on its shattered +fragments, and the monuments are for ever adding to the list, but it is +difficult to assign them accurately to their places. The Hyksos names +can in some cases be recognized by their foreign aspect, the peculiar +style of the scarabs on which they are engraved or by resemblances to +those recorded in Manetho. The kings of the XVIIth Dynasty too are +generally recognizable by the form of their name and other +circumstances. Manetho indicates marvellous crowding for the XIIIth and +XIVth Dynasties, but it seems better to suggest a total duration of 300 +or 400 years for the whole period than to adopt Meyer's estimate of +about 210 years (see above, Chronology). + +Amongst the kings of the XIIIth Dynasty (including perhaps the XIVth), +not a few are represented by granite statues of colossal size and fine +workmanship, especially at Thebes and Tanis, some by architectural +fragments, some by graffiti on the rocks about the First Cataract. Some +few certainly reigned over all Egypt. Sebkhotp (Sekhotp, [Greek: +Sochotes]) is a favourite name, no doubt to be connected with the god of +the Fayum. Several of the Theban kings named Antef (Enyotf) must be +placed here rather than in the XIth Dynasty. A decree of one of them +degrading a monarch who had sided with his enemies was found at Coptos +engraved on a doorway of Senwosri I. + + + The Hyksos period. + +In its divided state Egypt would fall an easy prey to the foreigner. +Manetho says that the Hyksos (q.v.) gained Egypt without a blow. Their +domination must have lasted a considerable time, the Rhind mathematical +papyrus having been copied in the thirty-third year of a king Apophis. +The monuments and scarabs of the Hyksos kings are found throughout Upper +and Lower Egypt; those of Khian somehow spread as far as Crete and +Bagdad. The Hyksos, in whom Josephus recognized the children of Israel, +worshipped their own Syrian deity, identifying him with the Egyptian god +Seth, and endeavoured to establish his cult throughout Egypt to the +detriment of the native gods. It is to be hoped that definite light may +one day be forthcoming on the whole of this critical episode which had +such a profound effect on the character and history of the Egyptian +people. The spirited overthrow of the Hyksos ushered in the glories in +arms and arts which marked the New Empire. The XVIIth Dynasty probably +began the struggle, at first as semi-independent kinglets at Thebes. +Seqenenre is here a leading name; the mummy of the third Seqenenre, the +earliest in the great find of royal mummies at Deir el Bahri, shows the +head frightfully hacked and split, perhaps in a battle with the Hyksos. + + + XVIIIth Dynasty. + + Queen Hatshepsut. + +_The New Empire._--The epithet "new" is generally attached to this +period, and "empire" instead of "kingdom" marks its wider power. The +glorious XVIIIth Dynasty seems to have been closely related to the +XVIIth. Its first task was to crush the Hyksos power in the north-east +of the Delta; this was fully accomplished by its founder Ahmosi +(dialectically Ahmasi, Amosis or Amasis I.) capturing their great +stronghold of Avaris. Amasis next attacked them in S.W. Palestine, where +he captured Sharuhen after a siege of three years. He fought also in +Syria and in Nubia, besides overcoming factious opposition in his own +land. The principal source for the history of this time is the +biographical inscription at El Kab of a namesake of the king, Ahmosi son +of Abana, a sailor and warrior whose exploits extend to the reign of +Tethmosis I. Amenophis I. (Amenhotp), succeeding Amasis, fought in Libya +and Ethiopia. Tethmosis I. (c. 1540 B.C.) was perhaps of another family, +but obtained his title to the throne through his wife Ahmosi. After some +thirty years of settled rule uninterrupted by revolt, Egypt was now +strong and rich enough to indulge to the full its new taste for war and +lust of conquest. It had become essentially a military state. The whole +of the administration was in the hands of the king with his vizier and +other court officials; no trace of the feudalism of the Middle Kingdom +survived. Tethmosis thoroughly subdued Cush, which had already been +placed under the government of a viceroy. This province of Cush extended +from Napata just below the Fourth Cataract on the south to El Kab in the +north, so that it included the first three nomes of Upper Egypt, which +agriculturally were not greatly superior to Nubia. Turning next to +Syria, Tethmosis carried his arms as far as the Euphrates. It is +possible that his predecessor had also reached this point, but no record +survives to prove it. These successful campaigns were probably not very +costly, and prisoners, plunder and tribute poured in from them to enrich +Egypt. Tethmosis I. made the first of those great additions to the +temple of the Theban Ammon at Karnak by which the Pharaohs of the Empire +rendered it by far the greatest of the existing temples in the world. +The temple of Deir el Bahri also was designed by him. Towards the end of +his reign, his elder sons being dead, Tethmosis associated Hatshepsut, +his daughter by Ahmosi, with himself upon the throne. Tethmosis I. was +the first of the long line of kings to be buried in the Valley of the +Tombs of the Kings of Thebes. At his death another son Tethmosis II. +succeeded as the husband of his half-sister, but reigned only two or +three years, during which he warred in Nubia and placed Tethmosis III., +his son by a concubine Esi, upon the throne beside him (c. 1500 B.C.). +After her husband's death the ambitious Hatshepsut assumed the full +regal power; upon her monuments she wears the masculine garb and aspect +of a king though the feminine gender is retained for her in the +inscriptions. On some monuments of this period her name appears alone, +on others in conjunction with that of Tethmosis III., while the latter +again may appear without the queen's; but this extraordinary woman must +have had a great influence over her stepson and was the acknowledged +ruler of Egypt. Tethmosis, to judge by the evidence of his mummy and the +chronology of his reign, was already a grown man, yet no sign of the +immense powers which he displayed later has come down to us from the +joint reign. Hatshepsut cultivated the arts of peace. She restored the +worship in those temples of Upper and Lower Egypt which had not yet +recovered from the religious oppression and neglect of the Hyksos. She +completed and decorated the temple of Deir el Bahri, embellishing its +walls with scenes calculated to establish her claims, representing her +divine origin and upbringing under the protection of Ammon, and her +association on the throne by her human father. The famous sculptures of +the great expedition by water to Puoni, the land of incense on the +Somali coast, are also here, with many others. At Karnak Hatshepsut +laboured chiefly to complete the works projected in the reigns of +Tethmosis I. and II., and set up two obelisks in front of the entrance +as it then was. One of these, still standing, is the most brilliant +ornament of that wonderful temple. A date of the twenty-second year of +her reign has been found at Sinai, no doubt counted from the beginning +of the co-regency with Tethmosis I. Not much later, in his twenty-second +year, Tethmosis III. is reigning alone in full vigour. While she lived, +the personality of the queen secured the devotion of her servants and +held all ambitions in check. Not long after her death there was a +violent reaction. Prejudice against the rule of a woman, particularly +one who had made her name and figure so conspicuous, was probably the +cause of this outbreak, and perhaps sought justification in the fact +that, however complete was her right, she had in some degree usurped a +place to which her stepson (who was also her nephew) had been appointed. +Her cartouches began to be defaced or her monuments hidden up by other +buildings, and the same rage pursued some of her most faithful servants +in their tombs. But the beauty of the work seems to have restrained the +hand of the destroyer. Then came the religious fanaticism of Akhenaton, +mutilating all figures of Ammon and all inscriptions containing his +name; this made havoc of the exquisite monuments of Hatshepsut; and the +restorers of the XIXth Dynasty, refusing to recognize the legitimacy of +the queen, had no scruples in replacing her names by those of the +associate kings Tethmosis I., II. or III. These acts of vandalism took +place throughout Egypt, but in the distant mines of Sinai the cartouches +of Hatshepsut are untouched. In the royal lists of Seti I. and Rameses +II. Hatshepsut has no place, nor is her reign referred to on any later +monument.[20] + + + Wars of Tethmosis III. + +The immense energy of Tethmosis III. now found its outlet in war. Syria +had revolted, perhaps on Hatshepsut's death, but by his twenty-second +year the monarch was ready to lead his army against the rebels. The +revolt, headed by the city of Kadesh on the Orontes, embraced the whole +of western Syria. The movements of Tethmosis in this first campaign, +including a battle with the Syrian chariots and infantry at Megiddo and +the capture of that city, were chronicled from day to day, and an +extract from this chronicle is engraved on the walls of the sanctuary of +Karnak, together with a brief record of the subsequent expeditions. In a +series of five carefully planned campaigns he consolidated his +conquests in southern Syria and secured the ports of Phoenicia (q.v.). +Kadesh fell in the sixth campaign. In the next year Tethmosis revisited +the Phoenician ports, chastised the rebellious and received the tribute +of Syria, all the while preparing for further advance, which did not +take place until another year had gone by. Then, in the thirty-third +year of his reign, he marched through Kadesh, fought his way to +Carchemish, defeated the forces that opposed him there and crossed over +the Euphrates into the territory of the king of Mitanni. He set up a +tablet by the side of that of Tethmosis I. and turned southward, +following the river as far as Niy. Here he stayed to hunt a herd of 120 +elephants, and then, marching westwards, received the tribute of +Naharina and gifts from the Hittites in Asia Minor and from the king of +Babylon. In all he fought seventeen campaigns in Syria until the spirit +of revolt was entirely crushed in a second capture of Kadesh. The wars +in Libya and Ethiopia were of less moment. In the intervals of war +Tethmosis III. proved to be a wonderfully efficient administrator, with +his eye on every corner of his dominions. The Syrian expeditions +occupied six months in most of his best years, but the remaining time +was spent in activity at home, repressing robbery and injustice, +rebuilding and adorning temples with the labour of his captives and the +plunder and tribute of conquered cities, or designing with his own hand +the gorgeous sacred vessels of the sanctuary of Ammon. In his later +years some expeditions took place into Nubia. Tethmosis died in the +fifty-fourth year of his reign. His mummy, found in the _cachette_ at +Deir el Bahri, is said to be that of a very old man. He was the greatest +Pharaoh in the New Empire, if not in all Egyptian history. + + + Amenophis III. + +Tethmosis III. was succeeded by his son Amenophis II., whom he had +associated on the throne at the end of his reign. One of the first acts +of the new king was to lead an army into Syria, where revolt was again +rife; he reached and perhaps crossed the Euphrates and returned home to +Thebes with seven captive kings of Tikhsi and much spoil. The kings he +sacrificed to Ammon and hanged six bodies on the walls, while the +seventh was carried south to Napata and there exposed as a terror to the +Ethiopians. Amenophis reigned twenty-six years and left his throne to +his son Tethmosis IV., who is best remembered by a granite tablet +recording his clearance of the Great Sphinx. He also warred in northern +Syria and in Cush. His son Amenophis III., c. 1400 B.C., was a mighty +builder, especially at Thebes, where his reign marks a new epoch in the +history of the great temples, Luxor being his creation, while avenues of +rams, pylons, &c., were added on a vast scale to Karnak. He married a +certain Taia, who, though apparently of humble parentage, was held in +great honour by her husband as afterwards by her son. Amenophis III. +warred in Ethiopia, but his sway was long unquestioned from Napata to +the Euphrates. Small objects with his name and that of Taia are found on +the mainland and in the islands of Greece. Through the fortunate +discovery of cuneiform tablets deposited by his successor in the +archives at Tell el-Amarna, we can see how the rulers of the great +kingdoms beyond the river, Mitanni, Assyria and even Babylonia, +corresponded with Amenophis, gave their daughters to him in marriage, +and congratulated themselves on having his friendship. The king of +Cyprus too courted him; while within the empire the descendants of the +Syrian dynasts conquered by his father, having been educated in Egypt, +ruled their paternal possessions as the abject slaves of Pharaoh. A +constant stream of tribute poured into Egypt, sufficient to defray the +cost of all the splendid works that were executed. Amenophis caused a +series of large scarabs unique in their kind to be engraved with the +name and parentage of his queen Taia, followed by varying texts +commemorating like medals the boundaries of his kingdom, his secondary +marriage with Gilukhipa, daughter of the king of Mitanni, the formation +of a sacred lake at Thebes, a great hunt of wild cattle, and the number +of lions the king slew in the first ten years of his reign. The colossi +known to the Greeks by the name of the Homeric hero Memnon, which look +over the western plain of Thebes, represent this king and were placed +before the entrance of his funerary temple, the rest of which has +disappeared. His palace lay farther south on the west bank, built of +crude brick covered with painted stucco. Towards the end of his reign of +thirty-six years, Syria was invaded by the Hittites from the north and +the people called the Khabiri from the eastern desert; some of the +kinglets conspired with the invaders to overthrow the Egyptian power, +while those who remained loyal sent alarming reports to their sovereign. + + + Amenophis IV. + +Amenophis IV., son of Amenophis III. and Taia, was perhaps the most +remarkable character in the long line of the Pharaohs. He was a +religious fanatic, who had probably been high priest of the sun-god at +Heliopolis, and had come to view the sun as the visible source of life, +creation, growth and activity, whose power was demonstrated in foreign +lands almost as clearly as in Egypt. Thrusting aside all the +multitudinous deities of Egypt and all the mythology even of Heliopolis, +he devoted himself to the cult of the visible sun-disk, applying to it +as its chief name the hitherto rare word Aton, meaning "sun"; the +traditional divine name Harakht (Horus of the horizon), given to the +hawk-headed sun-god of Heliopolis, was however allowed to subsist and a +temple was built at Karnak to this god. The worship of the other gods +was officially recognized until his fifth year, but then a sweeping +reform was initiated by which apparently the new cult alone was +permitted. Of the old deities Ammon represented by far the wealthiest +and most powerful interests, and against this long favoured deity the +Pharaoh hurled himself with fury. He changed his own name from Amenhotp, +"Ammon is satisfied," to Akhenaton, "pious to Aton," erased the name and +figure of Ammon from the monuments, even where it occurred as part of +his own father's name, abandoned Thebes, the magnificent city of Ammon, +and built a new capital at El Amarna in the plain of Hermopolis, on a +virgin site upon the edge of the desert. This with a large area around +he dedicated to Aton in the sixth year, while splendid temples, palaces, +houses and tombs for his god, for himself and for his courtiers were +rising around him; apparently also this "son of Aton" swore an oath +never to pass beyond the boundaries of Aton's special domain. There are +signs also that the polytheistic word "gods" was obliterated on many of +the monuments, but other divine names, though almost entirely excluded +from Akhenaton's work, were left untouched where they already existed. +In all local temples the worship of Aton was instituted. The confiscated +revenues of Ammon and the tribute from Syria and Cush provided ample +means for adorning Ekhaton (Akhetaton), "the horizon of Aton," the new +capital, and for richly rewarding those who adopted the Aton teaching +fervently. But meanwhile the political needs of the empire were +neglected; the dangers which threatened it at the end of the reign of +Amenophis III. were never properly met; the dynasts in Syria were at war +amongst themselves, intriguing with the great Hittite advance and with +the Khabiri invaders. Those who relied on Pharaoh and remained loyal as +their fathers had done sent letter after letter appealing for aid +against their foes. But though a general was despatched with some +troops, he seems to have done more harm than good in misjudging the +quarrels. At length the tone of the letters becomes one of despair, in +which flight to Egypt appears the only resource left for the adherents +of the Egyptian cause. Before the end of the reign Egyptian rule in +Syria had probably ceased altogether. Akhenaton died in or about the +seventeenth year of his reign, c. 1350 B.C. He had a family of +daughters, who appeared constantly with him in all ceremonies, but no +son. Two sons-in-law followed him with brief reigns; but the second, +Tutenkhaton, soon changed his name to Tutenkhamun, and, without +abandoning Ekhaton entirely, began to restore to Karnak its ancient +splendour, with new monuments dedicated to Ammon. Akhenaton's reform had +not reached deep amongst the masses of the population; they probably +retained all their old religious customs and superstitions, while the +priesthoods throughout the country must have been fiercely opposed to +the heretic's work, even if silenced during his lifetime by force and +bribes. One more adherent of his named Ay, a priest, ruled for a short +time, but now Aton was only one of many gods. At length a general named +Harmahib, who had served under Akhenaton, came to the throne as a +whole-hearted supporter of the old religion; soon Aton and his royal +following suffered the fate that they had imposed upon Ammon; their +monuments were destroyed and their names and figures erased, while those +of Ammon were restored. From the time of Rameses II. onwards the years +of the reigns of the heretics were counted to Harmahib, and Akhenaton +was described as "that criminal of Akhetaton." Harmahib had to bring +order as a practical man into the long-neglected administration of the +country and to suppress the extortions of the official classes by severe +measures. His laws to this end were engraved on a great stela in the +temple of Karnak, of which sufficient remains to bear witness to his +high aims, while the prosperity of the succeeding reigns shows how well +he realized the necessities of the state. He probably began also to +re-establish the prestige of Egypt by military expeditions in the +surrounding countries. + + + XIXth Dynasty. + + Rameses II. + +Harmahib appears to have legitimated his rule by marriage to a royal +princess, but it is probable that Rameses I., who succeeded as founder +of the XIXth Dynasty, was not closely related to him. Rameses in his +brief reign of two years planned and began the great colonnaded hall of +Karnak, proving that he was a man of great ideas, though probably too +old to carry them out; this task he left to his son Seti I., who reigned +one year with his father and on the latter's death was ready at once to +subdue the Bedouin Shasu, who had invaded Palestine and withheld all +tribute. This task was quickly accomplished and Seti pushed onward to +the Lebanon. Here cedars were felled for him by the Syrian princes, and +the Phoenicians paid homage before he returned home in triumph. The +Libyans had also to be dealt with, and afterwards Seti advanced again +through Palestine, ravaged the land of the Amorites and came into +conflict with the Hittites. The latter, however, were now firmly +established in the Orontes valley, and a treaty with Mutallu, the king +of Kheta, reigning far away in Cappadocia, probably ended the wars of +Seti. In his ninth year he turned his attention to the gold mines in the +eastern desert of Nubia and improved the road thither. Meanwhile the +great work at Karnak projected by his father was going forward, and +throughout Egypt the injuries done to the monuments by Akhenaton were +thoroughly repaired; the erased inscriptions and figures were restored, +not without many blunders. Seti's temple at Abydos and his galleried +tomb in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings stand out as the most +splendid examples of their kind in design and in decoration. Rameses II. +succeeded at an early age and reigned sixty-seven years, during which he +finished much that was begun by Seti and filled all Egypt and Nubia with +his own monuments, some of them beautiful, but most, necessarily +entrusted to inferior workmen, of coarse execution. The excavation of +the rock temple of Abu Simbel and the completion of the great hall of +Karnak were his greatest achievements in architecture. His wars began in +his second year, their field comprising the Nubians, the Libyans, the +Syrians and the Hittites. In his fifth year, near Kadesh on the Orontes, +his army was caught unprepared and divided by a strong force of chariots +of the Hittites and their allies, and Rameses himself was placed in the +most imminent danger; but through his personal courage the enemy was +kept at bay till reinforcements came up and turned the disaster into a +victory. The incidents of this episode were a favourite subject in the +sculptures of his temples, where their representation was accompanied by +a poetical version of the affair and other explanatory inscriptions. +Kadesh, however, was not captured, and after further contests, in his +twenty-first year Rameses and the Hittite king Khattusil (Kheta-sar) +made peace, with a defensive alliance against foreign aggression and +internal revolt (see HITTITES). Thanks to Winckler's discoveries, the +cuneiform text of this treaty from Boghaz Keui can now be compared with +the hieroglyphic text at Karnak. In the thirty-fourth year, c. 1250 +B.C., Khattusil with his friend or subject the king of Kode came from +his distant capital to see the wonders of Egypt in person, bringing one +of his daughters to be wife of the splendid Pharaoh. Rameses II. paid +much attention to the Delta, which had been neglected until the days of +Seti I., and resided there constantly; the temple of Tanis must have +been greatly enlarged and adorned by him; a colossus of the king placed +here was over 90 ft. in height, exceeding in scale even the greatest of +the Theban colossi which he had erected in his mortuary temple of the +Ramesseum. Towards the end of the long reign the vigilance and energy of +the old king diminished. The military spirit awakened in the struggle +with the Hyksos had again departed from the Egyptian nation; mercenaries +from the Sudan, from Libya and from the northern nations supplied the +armies, while foreigners settled in the rich lands of the Delta and +harried the coasts. It was a time too when the movements of the nations +that so frequently occurred in the ancient world were about to be +particularly active. Mineptah, c. 1225 B.C., succeeding his father +Rameses II., had to fight many battles for the preservation of his +kingdom and empire. Apparently most of the fighting was finished by the +fifth year of his reign; in his mortuary temple at Thebes he set up a +stela of that date recording a great victory over the Libyan immigrants +and invaders, which rendered the much harried land of Egypt safe. The +last lines picture this condition with the crushing of the surrounding +tribes. Libya was wasted, the Hittites pacified, Canaan, Ashkelon +(Ascalon), Gezer, Yenoam sacked and plundered: "Israel is desolated, his +seed is not, Khor (Palestine) has become a widow (without protector) for +Egypt." The Libyans are accompanied by allies whose names, Sherden, +Shekelesh, Ekwesh, Lukku, Teresh, suggest identifications with +Sardinians, Sicels, Achaeans, Lycians and Tyrseni or Etruscans. The +Sherden had been in the armies of Rameses II., and are distinguished by +their remarkable helmets and apparently body armour of metal. The Lukku +are certainly the same as the Lycians. Probably they were all sea-rovers +from the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, who were willing to +leave their ships and join the Libyans in raids on the rich lands of +Egypt. Mineptah was one of the most unconscionable usurpers of the +monuments of his predecessors, including those of his own father, who, +it must be admitted, had set him the example. The coarse cutting of his +cartouches contrasts with the splendid finish of the Middle Kingdom work +which they disfigure. It may be questioned whether it was due to a wave +of enthusiasm amongst the priests and people, leading them to rededicate +the monuments in the name of their deliverer, or a somewhat insane +desire of the king to perpetuate his own memory in a singularly +unfortunate manner. Mineptah, the thirteenth son in the huge family of +Rameses, must have been old when he ascended the throne; after his first +years of reign his energies gave way, and he was followed by a quick +succession of inglorious rulers, Seti II., the queen Tuosri, Amenmesse, +Siptah; the names of the last two were erased from their monuments. + + + XXth Dynasty. + +A great papyrus written after the death of Rameses III. and recording his +gifts to the temples briefly reviews the conditions of these troublous +times. "The land of Egypt was in the hands of chiefs and rulers of towns, +great and small slaying each other; afterwards a certain Syrian made +himself chief; he made the whole land tributary before him; he united his +companions and plundered their property (i.e. of the other chiefs). They +made the gods like men, and no offerings were presented in the temples. +But when the gods inclined themselves to peace ... they established their +son Setenkhot (Setnekht) to be ruler of every land." Of the Syrian +occupation we know nothing further. Setenkhot, c. 1200 B.C., had a very +short reign and was not counted as legitimate, but he established a +lasting dynasty (probably by conciliating the priesthood). He was father +of Rameses III., who revived the glories of the empire. The dangers that +menaced Egypt now were similar to those which Mineptah had to meet at his +accession. Again the Libyans and the "peoples of the sea" were acting in +concert. The latter now comprised Peleset (the Cretans, ancestors of the +Philistines), Thekel, Shekelesh, Denyen (Danaoi?) and Weshesh; they had +invaded Syria from Asia Minor, reaching the Euphrates, destroying the +Hittite cities and progressing southwards, while their ships gathered +plunder from the coasts of the Delta. This fleet joined the Libyan +invaders, but was overthrown with heavy loss by the Egyptians, in whose +ranks there actually served many Sherden and Kehaka, Sardinian and Libyan +mercenaries. Egypt itself was thus clear of enemies; but the chariots and +warriors of the Philistines and their associates were advancing through +Syria, their families and goods following in ox-carts, and their ships +accompanying them along the shore. Rameses led out his army and fleet +against them and struck them so decisive a blow that the migrating swarm +submitted to his rule and paid him tribute. In his eleventh year another +Libyan invasion had to be met, and his suzerainty in Palestine forcibly +asserted. His vigour was equal to all these emergencies and the later +years of his reign were spent in peace. Rameses III., however, was not a +great ruler. He was possessed by the spirit of decadence, imitative +rather than originating. It is evident that Rameses II. was the model to +which he endeavoured to conform, and he did not attempt to preserve +himself from the weakening influences of priestcraft. To the temples he +not only restored the property which had been given to them by former +kings, but he also added greatly to their wealth; the Theban Ammon +naturally received by far the greatest share, more than those of all the +other gods together. The land held in the name of different deities is +estimated at about 15% of the whole of Egypt; various temples of Ammon +owned two-thirds of this, Re of Heliopolis and Ptah of Memphis being the +next in wealth. His palace was at Medinet Habu on the west bank of Thebes +in the south quarter; and here he built a great temple to Ammon, adorned +with scenes from his victories and richly provided with divine offerings. +Although Egypt probably was prosperous on the whole, there was +undoubtedly great distress amongst certain portions of the population. We +read in a papyrus of a strike of starving labourers in the Theban +necropolis who would not work until corn was given to them, and +apparently the government storehouse was empty at the time, perhaps in +consequence of a bad Nile. Shortly before the death of the old king a +plot in the harem to assassinate him, and apparently to place one of his +sons on the throne, was discovered and its investigation ordered, leading +after his death to the condemnation of many high-placed men and women. +Nine kings of the name of Rameses now followed each other ingloriously in +the space of about eighty years to the end of the XXth Dynasty, the power +of the high priests of Ammon ever growing at their expense. At this time +the Theban necropolis was being more systematically robbed than ever +before. Under Rameses IX. an investigation took place which showed that +one of the royal tombs before the western cliffs had been completely +ransacked and the mummies burnt. Three years later the Valley of the +Tombs of the Kings was attacked and the sepulchres of Seti I. and Rameses +II. were robbed. + + + The Deltaic Dynasties; Libyan period. + +The authority of the last king of the XXth Dynasty, Rameses XII., was +shadowy. Hrihor, the high priest in his reign, gradually gathered into +his own hands all real power, and succeeded him at Thebes, c. 1100 B.C., +while a prince at Tanis named Smendes (Esbenteti) founded a separate +dynasty in the Delta (Dynasty XXI.). From this period dates a remarkable +papyrus containing the report of an envoy named Unamun, sent to Syria by +Hrihor to obtain cedar timber from Byblus. He took with him an image of +Ammon to bestow life and health on the prince of Byblus, but apparently +no other provision for the journey or for the negotiations beyond a +letter of recommendation to Smendes and a little gold and silver. +Smendes had trading ships in the Phoenician ports, but even his +influence was not greater than that of other commercial or pirate +centres, while Hrihor was of no account except in so far as he might pay +well for the cedar wood he required. Unamun was robbed on the voyage, +the prince of Byblus rebuffed him, and when at last the latter agreed to +provide the timber it was only in exchange for substantial gifts hastily +sent for from Egypt (including rolls of papyrus) and the promise of more +to follow. The prince, however, seems to have acknowledged to some +extent the divinity of Ammon and the debt owed by Phoenicia to Egyptian +culture, and pitied the many misfortunes of Unamun. The narrative shows +the feebleness of Egypt abroad. The Tanite line of kings generally had +the over-lordship of the high priests of Thebes; the descendants of +Hrihor, however, sometimes by marriage with princesses of the other +line, could assume cartouches and royal titles, and in some cases +perhaps ruled the whole of Egypt. Ethiopia may have been ruled with the +Thebais, but the records of the time are very scanty. Syria was wholly +lost to Egypt. The mummies from the despoiled tombs of the kings were +the object of much anxious care to the kings of this dynasty; after +being removed from one tomb to another, they were finally deposited in a +shaft near the temple of Deir el Bahri, where they remained for nearly +three thousand years, until the demand for antiquities at last brought +the plunderer once more to their hiding-place; eventually they were all +secured for the Cairo museum, where they may now be seen. + +Libyan soldiers had long been employed in the army, and their military +chiefs settled in the large towns and acquired wealth and power, while +the native rulers grew weaker and weaker. The Tanite dynasty may have +risen from a Libyan stock, though there is nothing to prove it; the +XXIInd Dynasty are clearly from their names of foreign extraction, and +their genealogy indicates distinctly a Libyan military origin in a +family of rulers of Heracleopolis Magna, in Middle Egypt. Sheshonk +(Shishak) I., the founder of the dynasty, c. 950 B.C., seems to have +fixed his residence at Bubastis in the Delta, and his son married the +daughter of the last king of the Tanite dynasty. Heracleopolis seems +henceforth for several centuries to have been capital of Middle Egypt, +which was considered as a more or less distinct province. Sheshonk +secured Thebes, making one of his sons high priest of Ammon, and whereas +Solomon appears to have dealt with a king of Egypt on something like an +equal footing, Sheshonk re-established Egyptian rule in Palestine and +Nubia, and his expedition in the fifth year of Rehoboam subdued Israel +as well as Judah, to judge by the list of city names which he inscribed +on the wall of the temple of Karnak. Osorkon I. inherited a prosperous +kingdom from his father, but no further progress was made. It required a +strong hand to curb the Libyan chieftains, and divisions soon began to +show themselves in the kingdom. The XXIInd Dynasty lasted through many +generations; but there were rival kings, and M. Legrain thinks that he +has proof that the XXIIIrd Dynasty was contemporaneous with the end of +the XXIInd. The kings of the XXIIIrd Dynasty had little hold upon the +subject princes, who spent the resources of the country in feuds amongst +themselves. A native kingdom had meanwhile been established in Ethiopia. +Our first knowledge of it is at this moment, when the Ethiopian king +Pankhi already held the Thebais. The energetic prince of Sais, Tefnakht, +followed by most of the princes of the Delta, subdued most of Middle +Egypt, and by uniting these forces threatened the Ethiopian border. +Heracleopolis Magna, however, with its petty king Pefteuaubasti, held +out against Tefnakht, and Pankhi coming to its aid not only drove +Tefnakht out of Middle Egypt, but also captured Memphis and received the +submission of the princes and chiefs; in all these included four "kings" +and fourteen other chiefs. According to Diodorus the Ethiopian state was +theocratic, ruled through the king by the priests of Ammon. The account +is probably exaggerated; but even in Pankhi's record the piety of the +king, especially towards Ammon, is very marked. + + + Ethiopian Dynasty. + +The XXIVth Dynasty consisted of a single Saite king named Bocchoris +(Bekerrinf), son of Tefnachthus, apparently the above Tefnakht. Another +Ethiopian invader, Shabako (Sabacon), is said to have burnt Bocchoris +alive. The Ethiopian rule of the XXVth Dynasty was now firmly +established, and the resources of the two countries together might have +been employed in conquest in Syria and Phoenicia; but at this very time +the Assyrian empire, risen to the highest pitch of military greatness, +began to menace Egypt. The Ethiopian could do no more than encourage or +support the Syrians in their fight for freedom against Sargon and +Sennacherib. Shabako was followed by Shebitku and Shebitku by Tirhaka +(Tahrak, Taracos). Tirhaka was energetic in opposing the Assyrian +advance, but in 670 B.C. Esarhaddon defeated his army on the border of +Egypt, captured Memphis with the royal harem and took great spoil. The +Egyptian resistance to the Assyrians was probably only half-hearted; in +the north especially there must have been a strong party against the +Ethiopian rule. Tirhaka laboured to propitiate the north country, and +probably rendered the Ethiopian rule acceptable throughout Egypt. +Notwithstanding, the Assyrian king entrusted the government and +collection of tribute to the native chiefs; twenty princes in all are +enumerated in the records, including one Assyrian to hold the key of +Egypt at Pelusium. Scarcely had Esarhaddon withdrawn before Tirhaka +returned from his refuge in the south and the Assyrian garrisons were +massacred. Esarhaddon promptly prepared a second expedition, but died on +the way to Egypt in 668 B.C.; his son Assur-bani-pal sent it forward, +routed Tirhaka and reinstated the governors. At the head of these was +Necho (Niku), king of Sais and Memphis, father of Psammetichus, the +founder of the XXVIth Dynasty. We next hear that correspondence with +Tirhaka was intercepted, and that Necho, together with Pekrur of Psapt +(at the entrance to the Wadi Tumilat) and the Assyrian governor of +Pelusium, was taken to Nineveh in chains to answer the charge of +treason. Whatever may have occurred, it was deemed politic to send Necho +back loaded with honours and surrounded by a retinue of Assyrian +officials. Upper Egypt, however, was loyal to Tirhaka, and even at +Memphis the burial of an Apis bull was dated by the priests as in his +reign. Immediately afterwards he died. His nephew Tandamane, received by +the Upper country with acclamations, besieged and captured Memphis, +Necho being probably slain in the encounter. But in 661 (?) +Assur-bani-pal drove the Ethiopian out of Lower Egypt, pursued him up +the Nile and sacked Thebes. This was the last and most tremendous +visitation of the Assyrian scourge. + + + XXVIth Dynasty. + +Psammetichus (Psammetk), 664-610 B.C., the son of Necho, succeeded his +father as a vassal of Assyria in his possessions of Memphis and Sais, +allied himself with Gyges, king of Lydia, and aided by Ionian and Carian +mercenaries, extended and consolidated his power.[21] By the ninth year +of his reign he was in full possession of Thebes. Assur-bani-pal's +energies throughout this crisis were entirely occupied with revolts +nearer home, in Babylon, Elam and Arabia. The Assyrian arms again +triumphed everywhere, but at the cost of complete exhaustion. Under the +firm and wise rule of Psammetichus, Egypt recovered its prosperity after +the terrible losses inflicted by internal wars and the decade of +Assyrian invasions. The revenue went up by leaps and bounds. +Psammetichus guarded the frontiers of Egypt with three strong garrisons, +placing the Ionian and Carian mercenaries especially at the Pelusiac +Daphnae in the N.E., from which quarter the most formidable enemy was +likely to appear. The Assyrians did not move against him, but a great +Scythian horde, destroying all before it in its southward advance, is +said by Herodotus to have been turned back by presents and entreaties. +Diplomacy backed up by vigorous preparations may have deterred the +Scythians from the dangerous enterprise of crossing the desert to Egypt. +Before his death Psammetichus had advanced into southern Palestine and +captured Azotus. + +When Psammetichus began to reign the situation of Egypt was very +different from what it had been under the Empire. The development of +trade in the Mediterranean and contact with new peoples and new +civilizations in peace and war had given birth to new ideas among the +Egyptians and at the same time to a loss of confidence in their own +powers. The Theban supremacy was gone and the Delta was now the wealthy +and progressive part of Egypt; piety increased amongst the masses, +unenterprising and unwarlike, but proud of their illustrious antiquity. +Thebes and Ammon and the traditions of the Empire savoured too much now +of the Ethiopian; the priests of the Memphite and Deltaic dynasty +thereupon turned deliberately for their models to the times of the +ancient supremacy of Memphis, and the sculptures and texts on tomb and +temple had to conform as closely as possible to those of the Old +Kingdom. In other than religious matters, however, the Egyptians were +inventing and perhaps borrowing. To enumerate a few examples of this +which are already definitely known: we find that the forms of legal and +business documents became more precise; the mechanical arts of casting +in bronze on a core and of moulding figures and pottery were brought to +the highest pitch of excellence; and portraiture in the round on its +highest plane was better than ever before and admirably lifelike, +revealing careful study of the external anatomy of the individual. + +Psammetichus died in the fifty-fourth year of his reign and was +succeeded by his son Necho, 610-594 B.C. Taking advantage of the +helpless state of the Assyrians, whose capital was assailed by the Medes +and the Babylonians, the new Pharaoh prepared an expedition to recover +the ancient possessions of the Empire in Syria. Josiah alone, faithful +to the king of Assyria, opposed him with his feeble force at Megiddo and +was easily overcome and slain. Necho went forward to the Euphrates, put +the land to tribute, and, in the case of Judah at any rate, filled the +throne with his own nominee (see JEHOIAKIM). The fall of Nineveh and the +division of the spoil gave to Nabopolasser, king of Babylon, the +inheritance of the Assyrians in the west, and he at once despatched his +son Nebuchadrezzar to fight Necho. The Babylonian and Egyptian forces +met at Carchemish (605), and the rout of the latter was so complete that +Necho relinquished Syria and might have lost Egypt as well had not the +death of Nabopolasser recalled the victor to Babylon. Herodotus relates +that in Necho's reign a Phoenician ship despatched from Egypt actually +circumnavigated Africa, and the attempt was made to complete a canal +through the Wadi Tumilat, which connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas +by way of the Lower Egyptian Nile. (See SUEZ.) The next king, +Psammetichus II., 594-589 B.C., according to one account made an +expedition to Syria or Phoenicia, and apparently sent a mercenary force +into Ethiopia as far as Abu Simbel. Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), 589-570 +B.C., fomented rebellion against the Babylonian suzerainty in Judah, but +accomplished little there. Herodotus, however, describes his reign as +exceedingly prosperous. The mercenary troops at Elephantine mutinied and +attempted to desert to Ethiopia, but were brought back and punished. +Later, however, a disastrous expedition sent to aid the Libyans against +the Greek colony of Cyrene roused the suspicion and anger of the native +soldiery at favours shown to the mercenaries, who of course had taken no +part in it. Amasis (Ahmosi) II. was chosen king by the former (570-525 +B.C.), and his swarm of adherents overcame the Greek troops in Apries' +pay (see AMASIS). None the less Amasis employed Greeks in numbers, and +cultivated the friendship of their tyrants. His rule was confined to +Egypt (and perhaps Cyprus), but Egypt itself was very prosperous. At the +beginning of his long reign of forty-four years he was threatened by +Nebuchadrezzar; later he joined the league against Cyrus and saw with +alarm the fall of his old enemy. A few months after his death, 525 B.C., +the invading host of the Persians led by Cambyses reached Egypt and +dethroned his son Psammetichus III. + + + The Persian period, XXVIIth Dynasty. + +Cambyses at first conciliated the Egyptians and respected their +religion; but, perhaps after the failure of his expedition into +Ethiopia, he entirely changed his policy, and his memory was generally +execrated. He left Egypt so completely crushed that the subsequent +usurpation of the Persian throne was marked by no revolt in that +quarter. Darius, 521-486 B.C., proved himself a beneficent ruler, and in +a visit to Egypt displayed his consideration for the religion of the +country. In the Great Oasis he built a temple to Ammon. The annual +tribute imposed on the satrapy of Egypt and Cyrene was heavy, but it was +probably raised with ease. The canal from the Nile to the Red Sea was +completed or repaired, and commerce flourished. Documents dated in the +thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth years of Darius are not uncommon, but +apparently at the very end of his reign, some years after the disaster +of Marathon, Egypt was induced to rebel. Xerxes, 486-467 B.C., who put +down the revolt with severity, and his successor Artaxerxes, 466-425 +B.C., like Cambyses, were hateful to the Egyptians. The disorders which +marked the accession of Artaxerxes gave Egypt another opportunity to +rebel. Their leaders were Inaros the Libyan of Marea and the Egyptian +Amyrtaeus. Aided by an Athenian force, Inaros slew the satrap Achaemenes +at the battle of Papremis and destroyed his army; but the garrison of +Memphis held out, and a fresh host from Persia raised the siege and in +turn besieged the Greek and Egyptian forces on the island of Papremis. +At last, after two years, having diverted the river from its channel, +they captured and burnt the Athenian ships and quickly ended the +rebellion. The reigns of Xerxes II. and Darius II. are marked by no +recorded incident in Egypt until a successful revolt about 405 B.C. +interrupted the Persian domination. + +Monuments of the Persian rule in Egypt are exceedingly scanty. The +inscriptions of Pefteuauneit, priest of Neith at Sais, and from his +position the native authority who was most likely to be consulted by +Cambyses and Darius, tells of his relations with these two kings. For +the following reigns Egyptian documents hardly exist, but some papyri +written in Aramaic have been found at Elephantine and at Memphis. Those +from the former locality show that a colony of Jews with a temple +dedicated to Yahweh (Jehovah) had established themselves at that +garrison and trading post (see ASSUAN). Herodotus visited Egypt in the +reign of Artaxerxes, about 440 B.C. His description of Egypt, partly +founded on Hecataeus, who had been there about fifty years earlier, is +the chief source of information for the history of the Saite kings and +for the manners of the times, but his statements prove to be far from +correct when they can be checked by the scanty native evidence. + (F. Ll. G.) + + + Dynasties XXVIII.-XXXI. + +Amyrtaeus (Amnertais) of Sais, perhaps a son of Pausiris and grandson of +the earlier Amyrtaeus, revolted from Darius II. c. 405 B.C., and Egypt +regained its independence for about sixty years. The next king Nefeuret +(Nepherites I.) was a Mendesian and founded the XXIXth Dynasty. After +Hakor and Nefeuret II. the sovereignty passed to Dynasty XXX., the last +native Egyptian line. Monuments of all these kings are known, and art +flourished particularly under the Mendesian kings Nekhtharheb +(Nectanebes or Nectanebus I.) and Nekhtnebf (Nectanebes II.). The former +came to the throne when a Persian invasion was imminent, 378 B.C. Hakor +had already formed a powerful army, largely composed of Greek +mercenaries. This army Nekhtharheb entrusted to the Athenian Chabrias. +The Persians, however, succeeded in causing his recall and in gaining +the services of his fellow-countryman Iphicrates. The invading army +consisted of 200,000 barbarians under Pharnabazus and 20,000 Greeks +under Iphicrates. After the Egyptians had experienced a reverse, +Iphicrates counselled an immediate advance on Memphis. His advice was +not followed by Pharnabazus; the Egyptian king collected his forces and +won a pitched battle near Mendes. Pharnabazus retreated and Egypt was +free. + +Nekhtharheb was succeeded by Tachos or Teos, whose short reign was +occupied by a war with Persia, in which the king of Egypt secured the +services of a body of Greek mercenaries under the Spartan king Agesilaus +and a fleet under the Athenian general Chabrias. He entered Phoenicia +with every prospect of success, but having offended Agesilaus he was +dethroned in a military revolt which gave the crown to Nekhtnebf or +Nectanebes II., the last native king of Egypt. At this moment a revolt +broke out. The prince of Mendes almost succeeded in overthrowing the new +king. Agesilaus defeated the rival pretender and left Nekhtnebf +established on the throne. But the opportunity of a decisive blow +against Persia was lost. The new king, Artaxerxes III. Ochus, determined +to reduce Egypt. A first expedition was defeated by the Greek +mercenaries of Nekhtnebf, but a second, commanded by Ochus himself, +subdued Egypt with no further resistance than that of the Greek garrison +of Pelusium. Nekhtnebf, instead of endeavouring to relieve them, +retreated to Memphis and fled thence to Ethiopia, 340 (?) B.C. Thus +miserably fell the monarchy of the Pharaohs, after an unexampled +duration of 3000 years, or as some think far longer. More than 2000 +years have since passed, and though Egypt has from time to time been +independent, not one native prince has sat on the throne of the +Pharaohs. "There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt" (Ezek. +xxx. 13) was prophesied in the days of Apries as the final state of the +land. + +Ochus treated his conquest barbarously. From this brief re-establishment +of Persian dominion (counted by Manetho as Dynasty XXXI.) no document +survives except one papyrus that appears to be dated in the reign of +Darius III. + + See J. H. Breasted, _A History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the + Persian Conquest_ (New York and London, 1905); _A History of the + Ancient Egyptians_ (New York and London, 1908); _Ancient Records of + Egypt: Historical Documents from the Earliest Times to the Persian + Conquest, collected, edited and translated_ (5 vols., Chicago, + 1906-1907); W. M. F. Petrie, _A History of Egypt_ (from the earliest + times to the XXXth Dynasty) (3 vols., London, 1899-1905); E. A. W. + Budge, _A History of Egypt_, vols. i-vii. (London, 1902); G. Maspero, + _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l'orient_ (6th ed., 1904), _The Dawn + of Civilization, The Struggle of the Nations, The Passing of the + Empires_ (London, 1904, &c.); P. E. Newberry and J. Garstang, _A Short + History of Ancient Egypt_ (London, 1904); G. Steindorff, _Die + Blutezeit des Pharaonenreiches_ (Dyn. XVIII.) (Bielefeld and Leipzig, + 1900); H. Winckler, _The Tell el Amarna Letters_ (Berlin, London and + New York, 1896). + +_The Conquest by Alexander._--When, in 332 B.C., after the battle of +Issus, Alexander entered Egypt, he was welcomed as a deliverer. The +Persian governor had not forces enough to oppose him, and he nowhere +experienced even the show of resistance. He visited Memphis, founded +Alexandria, and went on pilgrimage to the oracle of Ammon (Oasis of +Siwa). The god declared him to be his son, renewing thus an old Egyptian +convention or belief; Olympias was supposed to have been in converse +with Ammon, even as the mothers of Hatshepsut and Amenophis III. are +represented in the inscriptions of the Theban temples to have received +the divine essence. At this stage of his career the treasure and tribute +of Egypt were of great importance to the Macedonian conqueror. He +conciliated the inhabitants by the respect which he showed for their +religion; he organized the government of the natives under two officers, +who must have been already known to them (of these Petisis, an Egyptian, +soon resigned his share into the charge of his colleague Doloaspis, who +bears a Persian name.) But Alexander designed his Greek foundation of +Alexandria to be the capital, and entrusted the taxation of Egypt and +the control of its army and navy to Greeks. Early in 331 B.C. he was +ready to depart, and led his forces away to Phoenicia. A granite gateway +to the temple of Khnum at Elephantine bears his name in hieroglyphic, +and demotic documents are found dated in his reign. + +_The Ptolemaic Period._--On the division of Alexander's dominions in 323 +B.C., Egypt fell to Ptolemy the son of Lagus, the founder of the +Ptolemaic dynasty (see PTOLEMIES). Under these rulers the rich kingdom +was heavily taxed to supply the sinews of war and to support every kind +of lavish expenditure. Officials, and the higher ones were nearly all +Greeks, were legion, but the whole system was so judiciously worked that +there was little discontent amongst the patient peasantry. During the +reign of Philadelphus the land gained from the bed of the lake of Moeris +was assigned to veteran soldiers; the great armies of the Ptolemies were +rewarded or supported by grants of farm lands, and men of Macedonian, +Greek and Hellenistic extraction were planted in colonies and garrisons +or settled themselves in the villages throughout the country. Upper +Egypt, farthest from the centre of government, was probably least +affected by the new influences, though the first Ptolemy established the +Greek colony of Ptolemais to be its capital. Intermarriages, however, +gradually had their effect; after the revolt of the natives in the reign +of Ptolemy V., we find the Greek and Egyptian elements closely +intermingled. Ptolemy I. had established the cult of the Memphite +Serapis in a Graeco-Egyptian form, affording a common ground for native +and Hellenistic worshippers. The greater number of the temples to the +native deities in Upper Egypt and in Nubia (to 50 m. south of the +Cataract, within the Dodecaschoenus) were built under the Ptolemies. No +serious effort was made to extend the Ptolemaic rule into Ethiopia, and +Ergamenes, the Hellenizing king of Ethiopia, was evidently in alliance +with Philopator; in the next reign two native kings, probably supported +by Ethiopia, reigned in succession at Thebes. That famous city lost all +except its religious importance under the Ptolemies; after the +"destruction" or dismantling by Lathyrus it formed only a series of +villages. The population of Egypt in the time of Ptolemy I. is put at +7,000,000 by Diodorus, who also says that it was greater then than it +ever was before; at the end of the dynasty, in his own day, it was not +much less though somewhat diminished. Civil wars and revolts must have +greatly injured both Upper and Lower Egypt. It is remarkable that, while +the building and decoration of temples continued in the reigns of +Ptolemy Auletes and the later Ptolemies and Cleopatra, papyri of those +times whether Greek or Egyptian are scarcely to be found. + + + Christianity. + +_The Roman Period._--In 30 B.C. Augustus took Egypt as the prize of +conquest. He treated it as a part of his personal domain, free from any +interference by the senate. In the main lines the Ptolemaic organization +was preserved, but Romans were gradually introduced into the highest +offices. On Egypt Rome depended for its supplies of corn; entrenched +there, a revolting general would be difficult to attack, and by simply +holding back the grain ships could threaten Rome with starvation. No +senator therefore was permitted to take office or even to set foot in +the country without the emperor's special leave, and by way of +precaution the highest position, that of prefect, was filled by a Roman +of equestrian rank only. As the representative of the emperor, this +officer assumed the place occupied by the king under the old order, +except that his power was limited by the right of appeal to Caesar. The +first prefect, Cornelius Gallus, tamed the natives of Upper Egypt to the +new yoke by force of arms, and meeting ambassadors from Ethiopia at +Philae, established a nominal protectorate of Rome over the frontier +district, which had been abandoned by the later Ptolemies. The third +prefect, Gaius Petronius, cleared the neglected canals for irrigation; +he also repelled an invasion of the Ethiopians and pursued them far up +the Nile, finally storming the capital of Napata. But no attempt was +made to hold Ethiopia. In succeeding reigns much trouble was caused by +jealousies and quarrels between the Greeks and the Jews, to whom +Augustus had granted privileges as valuable as those accorded to the +Greeks. Aiming at the spice trade, Aelius Gallus, the second prefect of +Egypt under Augustus, had made an unsuccessful expedition to conquer +Arabia Felix; the valuable Indian trade, however, was secured by +Claudius for Egypt at the expense of Arabia, and the Red Sea routes were +improved. Nero's reign especially marks the commencement of an era of +prosperity which lasted about a century. Under Vespasian the Jewish +temple at Leontopolis in the Delta, which Onias had founded in the reign +of Ptolemy Philometor, was closed; worse still, a great Jewish revolt +and massacre of the Greeks in the reign of Trajan resulted, after a +stubborn conflict of many months with the Roman army under Marcius +Livianus Turbo, in the virtual extermination of the Jews in Alexandria +and the loss of all their privileges. Hadrian, who twice visited Egypt +(A.D. 130, 134), founded Antinoe in memory of his drowned favourite. +From this reign onwards buildings in the Graeco-Roman style were erected +throughout the country. A new Sothic cycle began in A.D. 139. Under +Marcus Aurelius a revolt of the Bucolic or native troops recruited for +home service was taken up by the whole of the native population and was +suppressed only after several years of fighting. The Bucolic war caused +infinite damage to the agriculture of the country and marks the +beginning of its rapid decline under a burdensome taxation. The province +of Africa was now of equal importance with Egypt for the grain supply of +the capital. Avidius Cassius, who led the Roman forces in the war, +usurped the purple, and was acknowledged by the armies of Syria and +Egypt. On the approach of Marcus Aurelius, the adherents of Cassius slew +him, and the clemency of the emperor restored peace. After the downfall +of the house of the Antonines, Pescennius Niger, who commanded the +forces in Egypt, was proclaimed emperor on the death of Pertinax (A.D. +193). Severus overthrew his rival (A.D. 194) and, the revolt having been +a military one, did not punish the province; in 202 he gave a +constitution to Alexandria and the nome capitals. In his reign the +Christians of Egypt suffered the first of their many persecutions. When +Christianity was planted in the country we do not know, but it must very +early have gained adherents among the learned Jews of Alexandria, whose +school of thought was in some respects ready to welcome it. From them it +rapidly passed to the Greeks. Ultimately the new religion spread to the +Egyptians; their own creed was worn out, and they found in Christianity +a doctrine of the future life for which their old belief had made them +not unready; while the social teaching of Christianity came with special +fitness to a subject race. The history of the Coptic Version has yet to +be written. It presents some features of great antiquity, and, unlike +all others, has the truly popular character of being written in the +three dialects of the language. Side by side there grew up an +Alexandrian church, philosophic, disputative, ambitious, the very centre +of Christian learning, and an Egyptian church, ascetic, contemplative, +mystical. The two at length influenced one another; still we can +generally trace the philosophic teachers to a Greek origin, the mystics +to an Egyptian. + +Caracalla, in revenge for an affront, massacred all the men capable of +bearing arms in Alexandria. His granting of the Roman citizenship to all +Egyptians in common with the other provincials was only to extort more +taxes. Under Decius, A.D. 250, the Christians again suffered from +persecution. When the empire broke up in the weak reign of Gallienus, +the prefect Aemilianus, who took the surname Alexander or Alexandrinus, +was made emperor by the troops at Alexandria, but was conquered by the +forces of Gallienus. In his brief reign of only a few months he had +driven back an invasion of the Blemmyes. This predatory tribe, issuing +from Nubia, was long to be the terror of Upper Egypt. Zenobia, queen of +Palmyra, after an unsuccessful invasion, on a second attempt conquered +Egypt, which she added to her empire, but lost it when Aurelian made war +upon her (A.D. 272). The province was, however, unsettled, and the +conquest of Palmyra was followed in the same year by the suppression of +a revolt in Egypt (A.D. 273). Probus, who had governed Egypt for +Aurelian and Tacitus, was subsequently chosen by the troops to succeed +Tacitus, and is the first governor of this province who obtained the +whole of the empire. He expelled the Blemmyes, who were dominating the +whole of the Thebaid. Diocletian invited the Nobatae to settle in the +Dodecaschoenus as a barrier against their incursions, and subsidized +both Blemmyes and Nobatae. The country, however, was still disturbed, +and in A.D. 296 a formidable revolt broke out, led by Achilleus, who as +emperor took the name Domitius Domitianus. Diocletian, finding his +troops unable to determine the struggle, came to Egypt, captured +Alexandria and put his rival to death (296). He then reorganized the +whole province, and the well-known "Pompey's Pillar" was set up by the +grateful and repentant Alexandrians to commemorate his gift to them of +part of the corn tribute. + +The Coptic era of Diocletian or of the Martyrs dates from the accession +of Diocletian (A.D. 284). The edict of A.D. 303 against the Christians, +and those which succeeded it, were rigorously carried out in Egypt, +where Paganism was still strong and face to face with a strong and +united church. Galerius, who succeeded Diocletian in the government of +the East, implacably pursued his policy, and this great persecution did +not end until the persecutor, perishing, it is said, of the dire malady +of Herod and Philip II. of Spain, sent out an edict of toleration (A.D. +311). + +By the edict of Milan (A.D. 313), Constantine, with the agreement of his +colleague Licinius, acknowledged Christianity as having at least equal +rights with other religions, and when he gained sole power he wrote to +all his subjects advising them, like him, to become Christians (A.D. +324). The Egyptian Church, hitherto free from schism, was now divided by +a fierce controversy, in which we see two Greek parties, rather than a +Greek and an Egyptian, in conflict. The council of Nicaea was called +together (A.D. 325) to determine between the Orthodox and the party of +the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. At that council the native Egyptian +bishops were chiefly remarkable for their manly protest against +enforcing celibacy on the clergy. The most conspicuous controversialist +on the Orthodox side was the young Alexandrian deacon Athanasius, who +returned home to be made archbishop of Alexandria (A.D. 326). After +being four times expelled by the Arians, and once by the emperor Julian, +he died, A.D. 373, at the moment when an Arian persecution began. So +large a proportion of the population had taken religious vows that under +Valens it became necessary to abolish the privilege of monks which +exempted them from military service. The reign of Theodosius I. +witnessed the overthrow of Arianism, and this was followed by the +suppression of Paganism, against which a final edict was promulgated +A.D. 390. In Egypt, the year before, the temple of Serapis at Alexandria +had been captured after much bloodshed by the Christian mob and turned +into a church. Generally the Coptic Christians were content to build +their churches within the ancient temples, plastering over or effacing +the sculptures which were nearest to the ground and in the way of the +worshippers. They do not seem to have been very zealous in the work of +destruction; the native religion was already dead and they had no fear +of it. The prosperity of the church was the sign of its decay, and +before long we find persecution and injustice disgracing the seat of +Athanasius. Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria (A.D. 415), expelled the +Jews from the capital with the aid of the mob, and by the murder of the +beautiful philosopher Hypatia marked the lowest depth to which ignorant +fanaticism could descend. A schism now produced lengthened civil war and +alienated Egypt from the empire. The distinction between religion and +politics seemed to be lost, and the government grew weaker and weaker. +The system of local government by citizens had now entirely disappeared. +Offices, with new Byzantine names, were now almost hereditary in the +wealthy land-owning families. The Greek rulers of the Orthodox faith +were unable to protect the tillers of the soil, and these being of the +Monophysite persuasion and having their own church and patriarch, hated +the Orthodox patriarch (who from the time of Justinian onwards was +identical with the prefect) and all his following. Towards the middle of +the 5th century, the Blemmyes, quiet since the reign of Diocletian, +recommenced their incursions, and were even joined in them by the +Nobatae. These tribes were twice brought to account severely for their +misdoings, but not effectually checked. It was in these circumstances +that Egypt fell without a conflict when attacked by Chosroes (A.D. 616). +After ten years of Persian dominion the success of Heraclius restored +Egypt to the empire, and for a time it again received a Greek governor. +The Monophysites, who had taken advantage of the Persian occupation, +were persecuted and their patriarch expelled. The Arab conquest was +welcomed by the native Christians, but with it they ceased to be the +Egyptian nation. Their language is still used in their churches, but it +is no longer spoken, and its literature, which is wholly ecclesiastical, +has been long unproductive. + +The decline of Egypt was due to the purely military government of the +Romans, and their subsequent alliance with the Greek party of +Alexandria, which never represented the country. Under weak emperors, +the rest of Egypt was exposed to the inroads of savages, and left to +fall into a condition of barbarism. Ecclesiastical disputes tended to +alienate both the native population and the Alexandrians. Thus at last +the country was merely held by armed force, and the authority of the +governor was little recognized beyond the capital, except where +garrisons were stationed. There was no military spirit in a population +unused to arms, nor any disinclination to be relieved from an arbitrary +and persecuting rule. Thus the Moslem conquest was easy. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY.--_Hellenistic Period._--See the special articles + ALEXANDRIA, &c., and especially PTOLEMIES; J. P. Mahaffy, _The Empire + of the Ptolemies_ (London, 1895), _A History of Egypt under_ _the + Ptolemaic Dynasty_ (London, 1899); A. Bouche-Leclercq, _Histoire des + Lagides_ (4 vols., Paris, 1903- ); E. A. W. Budge, _A History of + Egypt_, vols. vii.-viii. (London, 1902); J. G. Milne, _A History of + Egypt under Roman Rule_ (London, 1898); E. Gibbon, _Decline and Fall + of the Roman Empire_ (edited by J. B. Bury) (London, 1900). The + administration and condition of Egypt under the Ptolemaic and Roman + rules are abundantly illustrated in recently discovered papyri, see + especially the English publications of B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt + (_Memoirs of the Graeco-Roman Branch of the Egypt Exploration Fund_) + and F. G. Kenyon (British Museum Catalogues); also Mr Kenyon's annual + summaries in the _Archaeological Report of the Egypt Exploration + Fund_. An ample selection of the Greek inscriptions from Egypt is to + be found in W. Dittenberger, _Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae_ + (2 vols., Leipzig, 1903-1905). (R. S. P.; F. Ll. G.) + + +2. _Mahommedan Period._ + +(1) _Moslem Conquest of Egypt._--In accordance with the scheme of +universal conquest conceived by the founder of Islam, an army of some +4000 men was towards the end of the year A.D. 639 sent against Egypt +under the command of 'Amr (see 'AMR-IBN-EL-ASS), by the second caliph, +Omar I., who had some doubt as to the expediency of the enterprise. The +commander marched from Syria through El-'Arish, easily took Farama or +Pelusium, and thence proceeded to Bilbeis, where he was delayed for a +month; having captured this place, he proceeded to a point on the Nile +called Umm Dunain, the siege of which also occasioned him some +difficulty. After taking it, he crossed the Nile to the Fayum. On the +6th of June of the following year (640) a second army of 12,000 men, +despatched by Omar, arrived at Heliopolis (On). 'Amr recrossed the river +and joined it, but presently was confronted by a Roman army, which he +defeated at the battle of Heliopolis (July 640); this victory was +followed by the siege of Babylon, which after some futile attempts at +negotiation was taken partly by storm and partly by capitulation on Good +Friday, the 6th of April 641. 'Amr next proceeded in the direction of +Alexandria, which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on the 8th +of November 641, under which it was to be occupied by the Moslems on the +29th of September of the following year. The interval was spent by him +in founding the city Fostat (Fustat), near the modern Cairo, and called +after the camp (_Fossatum_) occupied by him while besieging Babylon; and +in reducing those coast towns that still offered resistance. The Thebaid +seems to have surrendered with scarcely any opposition. + +The ease with which this valuable province was wrenched from the Roman +empire appears to have been due to the treachery of the governor of +Egypt, Cyrus, patriarch of Alexandria, and the incompetence of the +generals of the Roman forces. The former, called by the Arabs Mukaukis +(Muqauqis) from his Coptic name Pkauchios, had for ten years before the +arrival of 'Amr maintained a fierce persecution of the Jacobite sect, to +which the bulk of the Copts belonged. During the siege of Babylon he had +been recalled and exiled, but after the death of Heraclius had been +reinstated as patriarch by Heraclonas, and been welcomed back to +Alexandria with general rejoicing in September 641. Since Alexandria +could neither have been stormed nor starved out by the Arabs, his +motives for surrendering it, and with it the whole of Egypt, have been +variously interpreted, some supposing him to have been secretly a +convert to Islam. The notion that the Arab invaders were welcomed and +assisted by the Copts, driven to desperation by the persecution of +Cyrus, appears to be refuted by the fact that the invaders treated both +Copts and Romans with the same ruthlessness; but the dissensions which +prevailed in the Christian communities, leading to riots and even civil +war in Alexandria and elsewhere, probably weakened resistance to the +common enemy. An attempt was made in the year 645 with a force under +Manuel, commander of the Imperial forces, to regain Alexandria for the +Byzantine empire; the city was surprised, and held till the summer of +646, when it was again stormed by 'Amr. In 654 a fleet was equipped by +Constans with a view to an invasion, but it was repulsed, and partly +destroyed by storm. From that time no serious effort was made by the +Eastern Empire to regain possession of the country. And it would appear +that at the time of the attempt by Manuel the Arabs were actually +assisted by the Copts, who at the first had found the Moslem lighter +than the Roman yoke. + + + Terms of capitulation. + +A question often debated by Arabic authors is whether Egypt was taken by +storm or capitulation, but, so far as the transference of the country +was accomplished by the first taking of Alexandria, there seems no doubt +that the latter view is correct. The terms were those on which conquered +communities were ordinarily taken under Moslem protection. In return for +a tribute of money (_jizyah_) and food for the troops of occupation +(_daribat-al-ta'am_), the Christian inhabitants of Egypt were to be +excused military service, and to be left free in the observance of their +religion and the administration of their affairs. + +From 639 to 968 Egypt was a province of the Eastern Caliphate, and was +ruled by governors sent from the cities which at different times ranked +as capitals. Like other provinces of the later Abbasid Caliphate its +rulers were, during this period, able to establish quasi-independent +dynasties, such being those of the Tulunids who ruled from 868 to 905, +and the Ikshidis from 935-969. In 969 the country was conquered by +Jauhar for the Fatimite caliph Mo'izz, who transferred his capital from +Mahdia (q.v.) in the Maghrib to Cairo. This dynasty lasted till 1171, +when Egypt was again embodied in the Abbasid empire by Saladin, who, +however, was himself the founder of a quasi-independent dynasty called +the Ayyubites or Ayyubids, which lasted till 1252. The Ayyubites were +followed by the Mameluke dynasties, usually classified as Bahri from +1252-1382, and Burji from 1382-1517; these sovereigns were nominally +under the suzerainty of Abbasid caliphs, who were in reality instruments +of the Mameluke sultans, and resided at Cairo. In 1517 Egypt became part +of the Ottoman empire and was governed by pashas sent from +Constantinople, whose influence about 1707 gave way to that of officials +chosen from the Mamelukes who bore the title Sheik al-balad. After the +episode of the French occupation, government by pashas was restored; +Mehemet Ali (appointed pasha in 1805) obtained from the Porte in 1841 +the right to bequeath the sovereignty to his descendants, one of whom, +Ismail Pasha, received the title Khedive, which is still held by Mehemet +Ali's descendants. + +(2) The following is a list of the governors of Egypt in these +successive periods:-- + + (a) _During the undivided Caliphate._ + + 'Amr-ibn-el-Ass, A.H. 18-24 (A.D. 639-645). + 'Abdallah b. Sa'd b. Abi Sarh, 24-36 (645-656). + Qais b. Sa'd b. 'Ubadah, 36 (657-658). + Mahommed b. Abu Bekr, 37-38 (658). + Ashtar Malik b. al-Harith (appointed, but never governed). + 'Amr-ibn-el-Ass, 38-43 (658-663). + 'Utbah b. Abu Sofian, 43-44 (664-665). + 'Utbah b. 'Amir, 44-45 (665). + Maslama b. Mukhallad, 45-62 (665-682). + Sa'id b. Yazid b. 'Alqamah, 62-64 (682-684). + Abdarrahman b. 'Utbah b. Jahdam, 64-65 (684). + Abdalaziz ('Abd al-'Aziz) b. Merwan, 65-86 (685-705). + 'Abdallah b. 'Abd al-Malik, 86-90 (705-708). + Qurrah b. Sharik al-'Absi, 90-96 (709-714). + 'Abd al-Malik b. Rifa'ah al-Fahmi, 96-99 (715-717). + Ayyub b. Shurahbil al-Asbahi, 99-101 (717-720). + Bishr b. Safwan al-Kalbi, 101-102 (720-721). + Hanzalah b. Safwan, 102-105 (721-724). + Mahommed b. 'Abd al-Malik, 105 (724). + Hurr b. Yusuf, 105-108 (724-727). + Hafs b. al-Walid, 108 (727). + 'Abd al-Malik b. Rifa'ah, 109 (727). + Walid b. Rifa'ah, 109-117 (727-735). + 'Abd al-Rahman b. Khalid, 117-118 (735). + Hanzalah b. Safwan, 118-124 (735-742). + Hafs b. al-Walid, 124-127 (742-745). + Hassan b. 'Atahiyah al-Tu'jibi, 127 (745). + Hafs b. al-Walid, 127 (745). + Hautharah b. Suhail al-Bahili, 128-131 (745-749). + Mughirah b. 'Ubaidallah al-Fazari, 131-132 (749). + 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan al-Lakhmi, 132 (750). + Salih b. 'Ali, 133 (750-751). + Abu 'Aun 'Abdalmalik b. Yazid, 133-136 (751-753). + Salih b. 'Ali, 136-137 (753-755)--second time. + Abu 'Aun, 137-141 (755-758)--second time. + Musa b. Ka'b b. 'Uyainah al-Tamimi, 141 (758-759). + Mahommed b. al-Ash'ath b. 'Uqbah al-Khuza i, 141-143 (759-760). + Humaid b. Qahtabah b. Shabib al-Ta'i, 143-144 (760-762). + Yazid b. Hatim b. Kabisah al-Muhallabi, 144-152 (762-769). + 'Abdallah b. 'Abdarrahman b. Moawiya b. Hudaij, 152-155 (769-772). + Mahommed b. Abdarrahman b. Moawiya b. Hudaij, 155 (772). + Musa b. 'Ulayy b. Rabah al-Lakhmi, 155-161 (772-778). + 'Isa b. Luqman b. Mahommed al-Jumahi, 161-162 (778). + Wadih, 162 (779). + Mansur b. Yazid b. Mansur al-Ru'aini, 162 (779). + Abu Salih Yahya b. Dawud b. Mamdud, 162-164 (779-780). + Salim b. Sawadah al-Tamimi, 164 (780-781). + Ibrahim b. Salih b. 'Ali, 165-167 (781-784). + Musa b. Mus'ab b. al-Rabi al-Khath'ami, 167-168 (784-785). + Usamah b. 'Amr b. 'Alqamah al-Ma'afiri, 168 (785). + al Fadl b. Salih b. 'Ali al-'Abbasi, 168-169 (785-786). + 'Ali b. Sulaiman b. 'Ali al-'Abbasi, 169-171 (786-787). + Musa b. 'Isa b. Musa al-'Abbasi, 171-172 (787-789). + Maslamah b. Yahya b. Qurrah al-Bajili, 172-173 (789-790). + Mahommed b. Zuhair al-Azdi, 173 (790). + Dawud b. Yazid b. Hatim al-Muhallabi, 174-175 (790). + Musa b. 'Isa al-'Abbasi, 175-176 (790-792). + Ibrahim b. Salih, 176 (792). + Salih b. Ibrahim, 176 (792). + Abdallah b. al-Musayyib b. Zuhair al Dabbi, 176-177 (792-793). + Ishaq b. Sulaiman b. 'Ali al-'Abbasi, 177-178 (793-794). + Harthamah b. A'yan, 178 (794-795). + 'Obaidallah b. al-Mahdi, 179 (795). + Musa b. 'Isa al-'Abbasi, 179-180 (795-796). + 'Obaidallah b. al-Mahdi, 180-181 (796-797)--second time. + Isma'il b. Salih b. 'Ali al-'Abbasi, 181-182 (797-798). + Isma'il b. 'Isa b. Musa al-'Abbasi, 182-183 (798). + Laith b. al-Fadl al-Abiwardi, 183-187 (798-803). + Ahmad b. Isma'il b. 'Ali al-'Abbasi, 187-189 (803-805). + 'Obaidallah b. Mahommed b. Ibrahim al-'Abbasi, 189-190 (805-806). + Husain b. Jamil, 190-192 (806-808). + Malik b. Dalham b. 'Isa al-Kalbi, 192-193 (808). + Hasan b. al-Tahtah, 193-194 (808-809). + Hatim b. Harthamah b. A'yan, 194-195 (809-811). + Jabir b. al-Ash'ath b. Yahya al-Ta'i, 195-196 (811-812). + 'Abbad b. Mahommed b. Hayyan al-Balkhi, 196-198 (812-813). + Mottalib b. 'Abdallah b. Malik al-Khuza'i, 198 (813-814). + 'Abbas b. Musa b. 'Isa al-'Abbasi, 198-199 (814). + Mottalib b. 'Abdallah, 199-200 (814-816)--second time. + Sari b. al-Hakam b. Yusuf, 200-201 (816). + Sulaiman b. Ghalib b. Jibril al-Bajili, 201 (816-817). + Sari b. al-Hakam, 201-205 (817-820). + Abu Nasr Mahommed b. al-Sari, 205 (820-821). + 'Obaidallah b. al-Sari, 205-211 (821-826). + 'Abdallah b. Tahir, 211-213 (826-829). + Mahommed b. Harun (al-Mo'tasim), 213-214 (829). + 'Umair b. Al-Walid al-Tamimi al-Badhaghisi, 214 (829). + 'Isa b. Yazid, 214 (829). + 'Abduyah b. Jabalah, 215-216 (830-831). + 'Isa b. Mansur b. Musa al-Rafi'i, 216-217 (831-832). + Nasr b. Abdallah Kaidar al-Safadi, 217-219 (832-834). + Muzaffar b. Kaidar, 219 (834). + Musa b. Abi'l-'Abbas Thabit al-Hanafi, 219-224 (834-839). + Malik b. Kaidar al Safadi, 224-226 (839-841). + 'Ali b. Yahya abu l-Hasan al-Armani, 226-228 (841-842). + 'Isa b. Mansur al-Rafi'i, 229-233 (843-847). + Harthamah b. al-Nadir al-Jabali, 233-234 (848-849). + Hatim b. Harthamah, 234 (849). + 'Ali b. Yahya, 234-235 (849-850). + Ishaq b. Yahya al-Khatlani, 235-236 (850-851). + 'Abd al-Wahid b. Yahya b. Mansur, 236-238 (851-852). + 'Anbasa b. Ishaq b. Shamir, 238-242 (852-856). + Yazid b. 'Abdallah b. Dinar, 242-253 (856-867). + Muzahim b. Khaqan al-Turki, 253-254 (867-868). + Ahmad b. Muzahim b. Khaqan, 254 (868). + Urjuz b. Ulugh Tarkhan al-Turki, 254 (868). + + _Tulunid house._ + + Ahmad b. Tulun, 254-270 (868-884). + Khomaruya b. Ahmad, 270-282 (884-896). + Jaish b. Khomaruya, 282 (896). + Harun b. Khomaruya, 283-292 (896-904). + Shaiban b. Ahmad, 292 (905). + 'Isa b. Mahommed al-Naushari, 292 (905). + Mahommed b. 'Ali al-Khalanji, 292-293 (905-906). + 'Isa al-Naushari, 293-297 (906-910)--second time. + Takin b. Abdallah al-Khazari, 297-302 (910-915). + Dhuka al-Rumi, 303-307 (915-919). + Takin b. 'Abdallah, 307-309 (919-921)--second time. + Abu Qabus Mahmud b. Hamal, 309 (921). + Hilal b. Badr, 309-311 (921-923). + Ahmad b. Kaighlagh, 311 (923). + Takin b. Abdallah, 311-321 (923-933)--third time. + Mahommed b. Takin, 321 (933). + + _Ikshidi house._ + + Mahommed b. Tughj al-Ikshid, 321 (933). + [Ahmad b. Kaighlagh, 321-322 (933-934)]. + Mahommed b. Tughj, 323-334 (934-946)--second time. + Unjur b. al-Ikshid, 334-349 (946-961). + 'Ali b. al-Ikshid, 349-355 (961-966). + Kafur b. Abdallah al-Ikshidi, 355-357 (966-968). + Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad b. 'Ali b. al-Ikshid, 357 (968). + + _(b) Fatimite Caliphs_, 357-567 (969-1171). + + Mo'izz Abu Tamim Ma'add (or li-din allah), 357-365 (969-975). + 'Aziz Abu Mansur Nizar (al-'Aziz billah), 365-386 (975-996). + Hakim [Abu 'Ali Mansur], 386-411 (996-1020). + Zahir [Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali], 411-427 (1020-1035). + Mostansir [Abu Tamim Ma'add], 427-487 (1035-1094). + Mosta'li [Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad], 487-495 (1094-1101). + Amir [Abu 'Ali Mansur], 495-524 (1101-1130). + Hafiz [Abu'l-Maimun 'Abd al-Majid], 524-544 (1130-1149). + Zafir [Abu'l-Mansur Isma'il], 544-549 (1149-1154). + Fa'iz [Abu'l-Qasim 'Isa], 549-555 (1154-1160). + 'Adid [Abu Mahommed 'Abdallah], 555-567 (1160-1171). + + _(c) Ayyubite Sultans_, 564-648 (1169-1250). + + Malik al-Nasir Salah al-din Yusuf b. Ayyub (SALADIN), 564-589 + (1169-1193). + Malik al-'Aziz 'Imad al-din Othman, 589-595 (1193-1198). + Malik al-Mansur Mahommed, 595-596 (1198-1199). + Malik al-'Adil Saif al-din Abu Bakr, 596-615 (1199-1218). + Malik AL-KAMIL Mahommed, 615-635 (1218-1238). + Malik al-'Adil II. Saif al-din Abu Bakr, 635-637 (1238-1240). + Malik al-Salih Najm al-din Ayyub, 637-647 (1240-1249). + Malik al-Mo'azzam Turanshah, 647-648 (1249-1250). + Malik al-Ashraf Musa, 648-650 (1250-1252). + + _(d) Bahri Mamelukes_, 648-792 (1250-1390). + + Shajar al-durr, 648 (1250). + Malik al-Mo'izz 'Izz al-din Aibek, 648-655 (1250-1257). + Malik al-Mansur Nureddin 'Ali, 655-657 (1257-1259). + Malik al-Mozaffar Saif al-din KOTUZ, 657-658 (1259-1260). + Malik al-Zahir [Rukn al-din (Rukneddin) BIBARS Bundukdari], + 658-676 (1260-1277). + Malik al-Sa'id Nasir al-din Barakah Khan, 676-678 (1277-1279). + Malik al-'Adil Badr al-din Salamish, 678 (1279). + Malik al-Mansur Saif al-din QALA'UN, 678-689 (1279-1290). + Malik al-Ashraf [Salah al-din KHALIL], 689-693 (1290-1293). + Malik al-Nasir [Nasir al-din Mahommed], 693-694 (1293-1294). + Malik al-'Adil [Zain al-din KITBOGA], 694-696 (1294-1296). + Mansur [Husam al-din LAJIN], 696-698 (1296-1298). + NASIR MAHOMMED (again), 698-708 (1298-1308). + Mozaffar [Rukn al-din Bibars Jashengir], 708-709 (1308-1310). + Nasir Mahommed (third time), 709-741 (1310-1341). + Mansur [Saif al-din ABU BAKR], 741-742 (1341). + Ashraf [Ala'u 'l-din KUCHUK], 742 (1341-1342). + Nasir [Shihab al-din Ahmad], 742-743 (1342). + Salih 'Imad al-din Isma'il], 743-746 (1342-1345). + Kamil [Saif al-din SHA'BAN], 746-747 (1345-1346). + Mozaffar [Saif al-din HAJJI], 747-748 (1346-1347). + Nasir [Nasir al-din Hasan], 748-752 (1347-1351). + Salih [Salah al-din Salih], 752-755 (1351-1354). + Nasir [Hasan] (again), 755-762 (1354-1361). + Mansur [Salah al-din Mahommed], 762-764 (1361-1363). + Ashraf [Nasir al-din Sha'ban], 764-778 (1363-1377). + Mansur ['Ala'u 'l-din 'Ali], 778-783 (1377-1381). + Salih [Salah al-din Hajji, 783-784 (1381-1382). + Barkuk or Barquq (see below), 784-791 (1382-1389). + Hajji again, with title of Mozaffar, 791-792 (1389-1390). + + _(e) Burji Mamelukes_, 784-922 (1382-1517). + + Zahir [Saif al-din Barquq], 784-801 (1382-1398) [interrupted by Hajji, + 791-792]. + Nasir [Nasir al-din FARAJ], 801-808 (1398-1405). + Mansur ['Izz al-din Abdalaziz ('Abd al-'Aziz)], 808-809 (1405-1406). + Nasir Faraj (again), 809-815 (1406-1412). + 'Adil Mosta'in (Abbasid caliph), 815 (1412). + Mu'ayyad [Sheikh], 815-824 (1412-1421). + Mozaffar [Ahmad], 824 (1421). + Zahir [Saif al-din Tatar], 824 (1421). + Salih [Nasir al-din Mahommed], 824-825 (1421-1422). + Ashraf [Saif al-din Barsbai], 825-842 (1422-1438). + 'Aziz [Jamal al-din Yusuf], 842 (1438). + Zahir [Saif al-din Jakmak], 842-857 (1438-1453). + Mansur [Fakhr al-din Othman], 857 (1453). + Ashraf [Saif al-din Inal], 857-865 (1453-1461). + Mu'ayyad [Shihab al-din Ahmad], 865 (1461). + Zahir [Saif al-din Khoshkadam], 865-872 (1461-1467). + Zahir [Saif al-din Yelbai or Bilbai], 872 (1467). + Zahir [Timurbogha], 872-873 (1467-1468). + Ashraf [Saif al-din (KAIT BEY)], 873-901 (1468-1495). + Nasir [Mahommed], 901-904 (1495-1498). + Zahir [Kansuh], 904-905 (1498-1499). + Ashraf [Janbalat or Jan Belat], 905-906 (1499-1501). + 'Adil Tumanbey, 906 (1501). + Ashraf [Kansuh Ghuri], 906-922 (1501-1516). + Ashraf [Tumanbey], 922 (1516-1517). + + _(f) Turkish Governors after the Ottoman Conquest._ + + Khair Bey, 923 (1517). + Mustafa Pasha, 926 (1520). + Ahmad, 929 (1523). + Qasim, 930 (1524). + Ibrahim, 931 (1525). + Suleiman, 933 (1527). + Dawud, 945 (1538). + 'Ali, 956 (1549). + Mahommed, 961 (1554). + Iskandar, 963 (1556). + 'Ali al-Khadim, 968 (1561). + Mustafa, 969 (1561). + 'Ali al-Sufi, 971 (1563). + Mahmud, 973 (1566). + Sinan, 975 (1567). + Hosain, 980 (1573). + Masih, 982 (1575). + Hasan al-Khadim, 988 (1580). + Ibrahim, 991 (1583). + Sinan, 992 (1584). + Uwais, 994 (1585). + Hafiz Ahmad, 999 (1591). + Kurt, 1003 (1595). + Sayyid Mahommed, 1004 (1596). + Khidr, 1006 (1598). + 'Ali al-Silahdar, 1009 (1601). + Ibrahim, 1012 (1604). + Mahommed al-Kurji, 1013 (1605). + Hasan, 1014 (1605). + Mahommed al-Sufi, 1016 (1607). + Ahmad al-Daftardar, 1022 (1613). + Mustafa Lafakli, 1026 (1617). + Ja'far, 1027 (1618). + Mustafa, 1028 (1619). + Hosain, 1028 (1619). + Mahommed, 1031 (1622). + Ibrahim, 1031 (1622). + Mustafa, 1032 (1623). + 'Ali, 1032 (1623). + Mustafa, 1032 (1624). + Bairam, 1036 (1626). + Mahommed, 1037 (1627). + Musa, 1040 (1631). + Khalil al-Bustanji, 1041 (1631). + Ahmad al-Kurji, 1042 (1633). + Hosain, 1045 (1636). + Mahommed b. Ahmad, 1047 (1638). + Mustafa al-Bustanji, 1049 (1639). + Maqsud, 1050 (1641). + Suyan Bey, 1054 (1644). + Ayyub, 1055 (1645). + Mahommed b. Haidar, 1057 (1647). + Ahmad, 1058 (1648). + 'Abd al-Rahman, 1061 (1651). + Mahommed al-Silahdar, 1062 (1652). + Ghazi, 1066 (1655). + Omar, 1067 (1652). + Ahmad, 1077 (1666). + Ibrahim, 1078 (1667). + Hosain, 1085 (1674). + Hasan al-Janbalat, 1087 (1676). + Othman, 1091 (1680). + Hasan al-Silahdar, 1099 (1688). + Ahmad, 1101 (1690). + 'Ali Qilij, 1102 (1691). + Isma'il, 1107 (1696). + Hosain, 1109 (1697). + Qara Mahommed or Ahmad, 1111 (1699). + Mahommed Rami, 1116 (1704). + 'Ali Muslim, 1118 (1706). + Hosain Ketkhuda, 1119 (1707). + Ibrahim Qabudan, 1121 (1709). + Khalil, 1122 (1710). + Wali, 1123 (1711). + 'Abidin, 1127 (1715). + 'Ali Izmirli, 1129 (1717). + Rajab, 1130 (1718). + Mahommed al-Bashimi, 1132 (1720). + 'Ali, 1138 (1728). + Bakir, 1141 (1729). + 'Abdallah Kuburlu, 1142 (1729). + Mahommed Silahdar, 1144 (1732). + Othman Halabi, 1146 (1733). + Bakir, 1148 (1735). + Mustafa, 1149 (1736). + Sulaiman b. al-'Azim, 1152 (1739). + 'Ali Hakim Oghlu, 1153 (1740). + Yahya, 1154 (1741). + Mahommed Yedkeshi, 1156 (1743). + Mahommed Raghib, 1158 (1745). + Ahmad Kuruzir, 1161 (1748). + Sharif 'Abdallah, 1163 (1750). + Mahommed Amin, 1166 (1753). + Mustafa, 1166 (1753). + 'Ali Hakim Oghlu, 1169 (1756). + Mahommed Sa'id, 1171 (1758). + Mustafa, 1173 (1759). + Ahmad Kamil, 1174 (1761). + Bakir, 1175 (1761). + Hasan, 1176 (1761). + Hamzah, 1179 (1765). + Mahommed Raqim, 1181 (1767). + Mahommed Urflu, 1182 (1768). + Ahmad, 1183 (1770). + Qara Khalil, 1184 (1770). + Mustafa Nabulsi, 1188 (1774). + Ibrahim 'Arabgirli, 1189 (1775). + Mahommed 'Izzet, 1190 (1776). + Isma'il, 1193 (1779). + Mahommed Malik, 1195 (1781). + Sharif 'Ali Qassab, 1196 (1782). + Mahommed Silahdar, 1198 (1783). + Mahommed Yeyen, 1200 (1785). + 'Abidin Sharif, 1201 (1787). + Isma'il Tunisi, 1203 (1788). + Salih Qaisarli, 1209 (1794). + Abu Bakr Tarabulsi, 1211 (1796). + + _French Occupation._ + + Khosrev, 1216 (1802). + Tahir, 1218 (1803). + Ali Jaza'irli' or Tarabulsi, 1218 (1803). + Khorshid, 1219 (1804). + + _(g) Hereditary Pashas (later Khedives), from 1220 (from 1805)._ + + Mehemet 'Ali, 1220-1264 (1805-1848). + Ibrahim, 1264 (1848). + 'Abbas I., 1264-1270 (1848-1854). + Sa'id, 1270-1280 (1854-1863). + Isma'il 1280-1300 (1863-1882). + Tewfik, 1300-1309 (1882-1892). + Abbas II., 1309 (1892). + +(3) _Period under Governors sent from the Metropolis of the eastern +Caliphate._--The first governor of the newly acquired province was the +conqueror 'Amr, whose jurisdiction was presently restricted to Lower +Egypt; Upper Egypt, which was divided into three provinces, being +assigned to Abdallah b. Sa'd, on whom the third caliph conferred the +government of Lower Egypt also, 'Amr being recalled, owing to his +unwillingness to extort from his subjects as much money as would satisfy +the caliph. In the troubles which overtook the Islamic empire with the +accession of Othman, Egypt was greatly involved, and it had to be +reconquered from the adherents of Ali for Moawiya (Mo'awiyah) by 'Amr, +who in A.H. 38 was rewarded for his services by being reinstated as +governor, with the right to appropriate the surplus revenue instead of +sending it as tribute to the metropolis. In the confusion which followed +on the death of the Omayyad caliph Yazid the Egyptian Moslems declared +themselves for Abdallah b. Zobair, but their leader was defeated in a +battle near Ain Shams (December 684) by Merwan b. Hakam (Merwan I.), who +had assumed the Caliphate, and the conqueror's son Abd al-'Aziz was +appointed governor. They also declared themselves against the usurper +Merwan II. in 745, whose lieutenant al-Hautharah had to enter Fostat at +the head of an army. In 750 Merwan II. himself came to Egypt as a +fugitive from the Abbasids, but found that the bulk of the Moslem +population had already joined with his enemies, and was defeated and +slain in the neighbourhood of Giza in July of the same year. The Abbasid +general, Salih b. Ali, who had won the victory, was then appointed +governor. + + + Coptic revolt. + +During the period that elapsed between the Moslem conquest and the end +of the Omayyad dynasty the nature of the Arab occupation had changed +from what had originally been intended, the establishment of garrisons, +to systematic colonization. Conversions of Copts to Islam were at first +rare, and the old system of taxation was maintained for the greater part +of the first Islamic century. This was at the rate of a dinar per +_feddan_, of which the proceeds were used in the first place for the pay +of the troops and their families, with about half the amount in kind for +the rations of the army. The process by which the first of these +contributions was turned into coin is still obscure; it is clear that +the corn when threshed was taken over by certain public officials who +deducted the amount due to the state. In general the system is well +illustrated by the papyri forming the Schott-Reinhardt collection at +Heidelberg (edited by C.H. Becker, 1906), which contain a number of +letters on the subject from Qurrah b. Sharik, governor from A.H. 90 to +96. The old division of the country into districts (_nomoi_) is +maintained, and to the inhabitants of these districts demands are +directly addressed by the governor of Egypt, while the head of the +community, ordinarily a Copt, but in some cases a Moslem, is responsible +for compliance with the demand. An official called "receiver" (_qabbal_) +is chosen by the inhabitants of each district to take charge of the +produce till it is delivered into the public magazines, and receives 5% +for his trouble. Some further details are to be found in documents +preserved by the archaeologist Maqrizi, from which it appears that the +sum for which each district was responsible was distributed over the +unit in such a way that artisans and tradesmen paid at a rate similar to +that which was enforced on those employed in agriculture. It is not +known at what time the practice of having the amount due settled by the +community was altered into that according to which it was settled by the +governor, or at what time the practice of deducting from the total +certain expenses necessary for the maintenance of the community was +abandoned. The researches of Wellhausen and Becker have made it clear +that the difference which is marked in later Islam between a poll-tax +(_jizyah_) and a land-tax (_kharaj_) did not at first exist: the papyri +of the 1st century know only of the jizyah, which, however, is not a +poll-tax but a land-tax (in the main). The development of the poll-tax +imposed on members of tolerated cults seems to be due to various causes, +chief of them the acquisition of land by Moslems, who were not at first +allowed to possess any, the conversion of Coptic landowners to Islam, +and the enforcement (towards the end of the 1st century of Islam) of the +poll-tax on monks. The treasury could not afford to lose the land-tax, +which it would naturally forfeit by the first two of the above +occurrences, and we read of various expedients being tried to prevent +this loss. Such were making the Christian community to which the +proselyte had belonged pay as much as it had paid when his lands +belonged to it, making proselytes pay as before their conversion, or +compelling them to abandon their lands on conversion. Eventually the +theory spread that all land paid land-tax, whereas members of tolerated +sects paid a personal tax also; but during the evolution of this +doctrine the relations between conquerors and conquered became more and +more strained, and from the time when the control of the finance was +separated from the administration of the country (A.D. 715) complaints +of extortion became serious; under the predecessor of Qurrah, 'Abdallah +b. 'Abd al-Malik, the country suffered from famine, and under this ruler +it was unable to recover. Under the finance minister Obaidallah b. +Habhab (720-734) the first government survey by Moslems was made, +followed by a census; but before this time the higher administrative +posts had been largely taken out of the hands of Copts and filled with +Arabs. The resentment of the Copts finally expressed itself in a revolt, +which broke out in the year 725, and was suppressed with difficulty. Two +years after, in order that the Arab element in Egypt might be +strengthened, a colony of North Arabians (Qaisites) was sent for and +planted near Bilbeis, reaching the number of 3000 persons; this +immigration also restored the balance between the two branches of the +Arab race, as the first immigrants had belonged almost exclusively to +the South Arabian stock. Meanwhile the employment of the Arabic language +had been steadily gaining ground, and in 706 it was made the official +language of the bureaux, though the occasional use of Greek for this +purpose is attested by documents as late as the year 780. Other revolts +of the Copts are recorded for the year 739 and 750, the last year of +Omayyad domination. The outbreaks in all cases are attributed to +increased taxation. + +The Abbasid period was marked at its commencement by the erection of a +new capital to the north of Fostat, bearing the name _'Askar_ or "camp." +Apparently at this time the practice of farming the taxes began, which +naturally led to even greater extortion than before; and a fresh rising +of the Copts is recorded for the fourth year of Abbasid rule. Governors, +as will be seen from the list, were frequently changed. The three +officials of importance whose nomination is mentioned by the historians +in addition to that of the governor were the commander of the bodyguard, +the minister of finance and the judge. Towards the beginning of the 3rd +Islamic century the practice of giving Egypt in fief to a governor was +resumed by the caliph Mamun, who bestowed this privilege on 'Abdallah b. +Tahir, who in 827 was sent to recover Alexandria, which for some ten +years had been held by exiles from Spain. 'Abdallah b. Tahir decided to +reside at Bagdad, sending a deputy to Egypt to govern for him; and this +example was afterwards followed. In 828, when Mamun's brother Motasim +was feudal lord, a violent insurrection broke out in the Hauf, +occasioned, as usual, by excessive taxation; it was partly quelled in +the next year by Motasim, who marched against the rebels with an army of +4000 Turks. The rebellion broke out repeatedly in the following years, +and in 831 the Copts joined with the Arabs against the government; the +state of affairs became so serious that the caliph Mamun himself visited +Egypt, arriving at Fostat in February 832; his general Afshin fought a +decisive battle with the rebels at Basharud in the Hauf region, at which +the Copts were compelled to surrender; the males were massacred and the +women and children sold as slaves. + + + Turkish governors appointed. + +This event finally crushed the Coptic nation, which never again made +head against the Moslems. In the following year the caliph Motasim, who +surrounded himself with a foreign bodyguard, withdrew the stipends of +the Arab soldiers in Egypt; this measure caused some of the Arab tribes +who had been long settled in Egypt to revolt, but their resistance was +crushed, and the domination of the Arab element in the country from this +time gave way to that of foreign mercenaries, who, belonging to one +nation or another, held it for most of its subsequent history. Egypt was +given in fief to a Turkish general Ashnas (Ashinas), who never visited +the country, and the rule of individuals of Turkish origin prevailed +till the rise of the Fatimites, who for a time interrupted it. The +presence of Turks in Egypt is attested by documents as early as 808. +While the governor was appointed by the feudal lord, the finance +minister continued to be appointed by the caliph. On the death of Ashnas +in 844 Egypt was given in fief to another Turkish general Itakh, but in +850 this person fell out of favour, and the fief was transferred to +Montasir, son of the caliph Motawakkil. In 856 it was transferred from +him to the vizier Fath b. Khaqan, who for the first time appointed a +Turkish governor. The chief places in the state were also filled with +Turks. The period between the rise of the Abbasids and the +quasi-independent dynasties of Egypt was marked by much religious +persecution, occasioned by the fanaticism of some of the caliphs, the +victims being generally Moslem sectarians. (For Egypt under Motawakkil +see CALIPHATE, S c. par. 10.) + +The policy of these caliphs also led to severe measures being taken +against any members of the Alid family or adherents of their cause who +were to be found in Egypt. + + + Tulunid Dynasty. + +In the year 868 Egypt was given in fief to a Turkish general Bayikbeg, +who sent thither as his representative his stepson Ahmad b. Tulun, the +first founder of a quasi-independent dynasty. This personage was himself +the son of a Turk who, originally sent as a slave to Bagdad, had risen +to high rank in the service of the caliphs. Ahmad b. Tulun spent some of +his early life in Tarsus, and on his return distinguished himself by +rescuing his caravan, which conveyed treasure belonging to the caliph, +from brigands who attacked it; he afterwards accompanied the caliph +Mosta'in into exile, and displayed some honourable qualities in his +treatment of the fallen sovereign. He found a rival in Egypt in the +person of Ibn al-Modabbir, the finance minister, who occupied an +independent position, and who started the practice of surrounding +himself with an army of his own slaves or freedmen; of these Ibn Tulun +succeeded in depriving the finance minister, and they formed the nucleus +of an army by which he eventually secured his own independence. +Insurrections by adherents of the Alids gave him the opportunity to +display his military skill; and when in 870 his stepfather died, by a +stroke of luck the fief was given to his father-in-law, who retained +Ahmad in the lieutenancy, and indeed extended his authority to +Alexandria, which had till that time been outside it. The enterprise of +a usurper in Syria in the year 872 caused the caliph to require the +presence of Ahmad in that country at the head of an army to quell it; +and although this army was not actually employed for the purpose, it was +not disbanded by Ahmad, who on his return founded a fresh city called +Kata'i', "the fiefs," S.E. of modern Cairo, to house it. On the death of +Ahmad's father-in-law in the same year, when Egypt was given in fief to +the caliph's brother Mowaffaq (famous for his defeat of the Zanj), Ahmad +secured himself in his post by extensive bribery at headquarters; and in +the following year the administration of the Syrian frontier was +conferred on him as well. By 875 he found himself strong enough to +refuse to send tribute to Bagdad, preferring to spend the revenues of +Egypt on the maintenance of his army and the erection of great +buildings, such as his famous mosque; and though Mowaffaq advanced +against him with an army, the project of reducing Ahmad to submission +had to be abandoned for want of means. In 877 and 878 Ahmad advanced +into Syria and obtained the submission of the chief cities, and at +Tarsus entered into friendly relations with the representatives of the +Byzantine emperor. During his absence his son 'Abbas revolted in Egypt; +on the news of his father's return he fled to Barca, whence he +endeavoured to conquer the Aghlabite dominions in the Maghrib; he was, +however, defeated by the Aghlabite ruler, and returned to Barca, where +he was again defeated by his father's forces and taken prisoner. + +In 882 relations between Ahmad and Mowaffaq again became strained, and +the former conceived the bold plan of getting the caliph Mo'tamid into +his power, which, however, was frustrated by Mowaffaq's vigilance; but +an open rupture was the result, as Mowaffaq formally deprived Ahmad of +his lieutenancy, while Ahmad equally formally declared that Mowaffaq had +forfeited the succession. A revolt that broke out at Tarsus caused Ahmad +to traverse Syria once more in 883, but illness compelled him to return, +and on the 10th of May 884 he died at his residence in Kata'i'. He was +the first to establish the claim of Egypt to govern Syria, and from his +time Egypt grew more and more independent of the Eastern caliphate. He +appears to have invented the fiction which afterwards was repeatedly +employed, by which the money spent on mosque-building was supposed to +have been furnished by discoveries of buried treasure. + +He was succeeded by his son Khomaruya, then twenty years of age, who +immediately after his accession had to deal with an attempt on the part +of the caliph to recover Syria; this attempt failed chiefly through +dissensions between the caliph's officers, but partly through the +ability of Khomaruya's general, who succeeded in winning a battle after +his master had run away from the field. By 886 Mowaffaq found it +expedient to grant Khomaruya the possession of Egypt, Syria, and the +frontier towns for a period of thirty years, and ere long, owing to the +disputes of the provincial governors, Khomaruya found it possible to +extend his domain to the Euphrates and even the Tigris. On the death of +Mowaffaq in 891 the Egyptian governor was able to renew peaceful +relations with the caliphs, and receive fresh confirmation in his +possessions for thirty years. The security which he thereby gained gave +him the opportunity to indulge his taste for costly buildings, parks and +other luxuries, of which the chroniclers give accounts bordering on the +fabulous. After the marriage of his daughter to the caliph, which was +celebrated at enormous expense, an arrangement was made giving the +Tulunid sovereign the viceroyalty of a region extending from Barca on +the west to Hit on the east; but tribute, ordinarily to the amount of +300,000 dinars, was to be sent to the metropolis. His realm enjoyed +peace till his death in 896, when he fell a victim to some palace +intrigue at Damascus. + +His son and successor Abu'l-'Asakir Jaish was fourteen years old at his +accession, and being without adequate guidance soon revealed his +incompetence, which led to his being murdered after a reign of six +months by his troops, who gave his place to his brother Harun, who was +of about the same age. In the eight years of his government the Tulunid +empire contracted, owing to the revolts of the deputies which Harun was +unable to quell, though in 898 he endeavoured to secure a new lease of +the sovereignty in Egypt and Syria by a fresh arrangement with the +caliph, involving an increase of tribute. The following years witnessed +serious troubles in Syria caused by the Carmathians, which called for +the intervention of the caliph, who at last succeeded in defeating these +fanatics; the officer Mahommed b. Solaiman, to whom the victory was due, +was then commissioned by the caliph to reconquer Egypt from the +Tulunids, and after securing the allegiance of the Syrian prefects he +invaded Egypt by sea and land at once. Before the arrival of these +troops Harun had met his death at the hands of an assassin, or else in +an affray, and his uncle Shaiban, who was placed on the throne, found +himself without the means to collect an army fit to grapple with the +invaders. Fostat was taken by Mahommed b. Solaiman after very slight +resistance, at the beginning of 905, and after the infliction of severe +punishment on the inhabitants Egypt was once more put under a deputy, +'Isa al-Naushari, appointed directly by the caliph. + +The old regime was not restored without an attempt made by an adherent +of the Tulunids to reconquer Egypt ostensibly for their benefit, and for +a time the caliph's viceroy had to quit the capital. The vigorous +measures of the authorities at Bagdad speedily quelled this rebellion, +and the Tulunid palace at Kata'i' was then destroyed in order that there +might be nothing to remind the Egyptians of the dynasty. In the middle +of the year 914 Egypt was invaded for the first time by a Fatimite force +sent by the caliph al-Mahdi 'Obaidallah, now established at Kairawan. +The Mahdi's son succeeded in taking Alexandria, and advancing as far as +the Fayum; but once more the Abbasid caliph sent a powerful army to +assist his viceroy, and the invaders were driven out of the country and +pursued as far as Barca; the Fatimite caliph, however, continued to +maintain active propaganda in Egypt. In 919 Alexandria was again seized +by the Mahdi's son, afterwards the caliph al-Qa'im, and while his forces +advanced northward as far as Ushmunain (Eshmunain) he was reinforced by +a fleet which arrived at Alexandria. This fleet was destroyed by a far +smaller one sent by the Bagdad caliph to Rosetta; but Egypt was not +freed from the invaders till the year 921, when reinforcements had been +repeatedly sent from Bagdad to deal with them. The extortions +necessitated by these wars for the maintenance of armies and the +incompetence of the viceroys brought Egypt at this time into a miserable +condition; and the numerous political crises at Bagdad prevented for a +time any serious measures being taken to improve it. After a struggle +between various pretenders to the viceroyalty, in which some pitched +battles were fought, Mahommed b. Tughj, son of a Tulunid prefect of +Damascus, was sent by the caliph to restore order; he had to force his +entrance into the country by an engagement with one of the pretenders, +Ibn Kaighlagh, in which he was victorious, and entered Fostat in August +935. + + + Ikshidite Dynasty. + +Mahommed b. Tughj was the founder of the Ikshidi dynasty, so called from +the title Ikshid, conferred on him at his request by the caliph shortly +after his appointment to the governorship of Egypt; it is said to have +had the sense of "king" in Ferghana, whence this person's ancestors had +come to enter the service of the caliph Motasim. He had himself served +under the governor of Egypt, Takin, whose son he displaced, in various +capacities, and had afterwards held various governorships in Syria. One +of the historians represents his appointment to Egypt as effected by +bribery and even forgery. He united in his person the offices of +governor and minister of finance, which had been separate since the time +of the Tulunids. He endeavoured to replenish the treasury not only by +extreme economy, but by inflicting fines on a vast scale on persons who +had held offices under his predecessor and others who had rendered +themselves suspect. The disaffected in Egypt kept up communications with +the Fatimites, against whom the Ikshid collected a vast army, which, +however, had first to be employed in resisting an invasion of Egypt +threatened by Ibn Raiq, an adventurer who had seized Syria; after an +indecisive engagement at Lajun the Ikshid decided to make peace with Ibn +Raiq, undertaking to pay him tribute. The favour afterwards shown to Ibn +Raiq at Bagdad nearly threw the Ikshid into the arms of the Fatimite +caliph, with whom he carried on a friendly correspondence, one letter of +which is preserved. He is even said to have given orders to substitute +the name of the Fatimite caliph for that of the Abbasid in public +prayer, but to have been warned of the unwisdom of this course. In 941, +after the death of Ibn Raiq, the Ikshid took the opportunity of invading +Syria, which the caliph permitted him to hold with the addition of the +sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, which the Tulunids had aspired to +possess. He is said at this time to have started (in imitation of Ahmad +Ibn Tulun) a variety of vexatious enactments similar to those afterwards +associated with the name of Hakim, e.g. compelling his soldiers to dye +their hair, and adding to their pay for the purpose. + +In the year 944 he was summoned to Mesopotamia to assist the caliph, who +had been driven from Bagdad by Tuzun and was in the power of the +Hamdanids; and he proposed, though unsuccessfully, to take the caliph +with him to Egypt. At this time he obtained hereditary rights for his +family in the government of that country and Syria. The Hamdanid Saif +addaula shortly after this assumed the governorship of Aleppo, and +became involved in a struggle with the Ikshid, whose general, Kafur, he +defeated in an engagement between Homs and Hamah (Hamath). In a later +battle he was himself defeated by the Ikshid, when an arrangement was +made permitting Saif addaula to retain most of Syria, while a prefect +appointed by the Ikshid was to remain in Damascus. The Buyid ruler, who +was now supreme at Bagdad, permitted the Ikshid to remain in possession +of his viceroyalty, but shortly after receiving this confirmation he +died at Damascus in 946. + +The second of this dynasty was the Ikshid's son Unjur, who had been +proclaimed in his father's time, and began his government under the +tutelage of the negro Kafur. Syria was immediately overrun by Saif +addaula, but he was defeated by Kafur in two engagements, and was +compelled to recognize the overlordship of the Egyptian viceroy. At the +death of Unjur in 961 his brother Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali was made viceroy with +the caliph's consent by Kafur, who continued to govern for his chief as +before. The land was during this period threatened at once by the +Fatimites from the west; the Nubians from the south, and the Carmathians +from the east; when the second Ikshidi died in 965, Kafur at first made +a pretence of appointing his young son Ahmad as his successor, but +deemed it safer to assume the viceroyalty himself, setting an example +which in Mameluke times was often followed. He occupied the post little +more than three years, and on his death in 968 the aforementioned Ahmad, +called Abu'l-Fawaris, was appointed successor, under the tutelage of a +vizier named Ibn Furat, who had long served under the Ikshidis. The +accession of this prince was followed by an incursion of the Carmathians +into Syria, before whom the Ikshidi governor fled into Egypt, where he +had for a time to undertake the management of affairs, and arrested Ibn +Furat, who had proved himself incompetent. + +The administration of Ibn Furat was fatal to the Ikshidis and momentous +for Egypt, since a Jewish convert, Jacob, son of Killis, who had been in +the Ikshid's service, and was ill-treated by Ibn Furat, fled to the +Fatimite sovereign, and persuaded him that the time for invading Egypt +with a prospect of success had arrived, since there was no one in Fostat +capable of organizing a plan of defence, and the dissensions between the +Buyids at Bagdad rendered it improbable that any succour would arrive +from that quarter. The Fatimite caliph Mo'izz li-din allah was also in +correspondence with other residents in Egypt, where the Alid party from +the beginning of Abbasid times had always had many supporters; and the +danger from the Carmathians rendered the presence of a strong government +necessary. The Fatimite general Jauhar (variously represented as of +Greek, Slav and Sicilian origin), who enjoyed the complete confidence of +the Fatimite sovereign, was placed at the head of an army of 100,000 +men--if Oriental numbers are to be trusted--and started from Rakkada at +the beginning of March 969 with the view of seizing Egypt. + +Before his arrival the administration of affairs had again been +committed to Ibn Furat, who, on hearing of the threatened invasion, at +first proposed to treat with Jauhar for the peaceful surrender of the +country; but though at first there was a prospect of this being carried +out, the majority of the troops at Fostat preferred to make some +resistance, and an advance was made to meet Jauhar in the neighbourhood +of Giza. He had little difficulty in defeating the Egyptian army, and on +the 6th of July 969 entered Fostat at the head of his forces. The name +of Mo'izz was immediately introduced into public prayer, and coins were +struck in his name. The Ikshidi governor of Damascus, a cousin of +Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad, endeavoured to save Syria, but was defeated at +Ramleh by a general sent by Jauhar and taken prisoner. Thus the Ikshidi +Dynasty came to an end, and Egypt was transferred from the Eastern to +the Western caliphate, of which it furnished the metropolis. + +(4) _The Fatimite period_ begins with the taking of Fostat by Jauhar, +who immediately began the building of a new city, al-Kahira or Cairo, to +furnish quarters for the army which he had brought. A palace for the +caliph and a mosque for the army were immediately constructed, the +latter still famous as al-Azhar, and for many centuries the centre of +Moslem learning. Almost immediately after the conquest of Egypt, Jauhar +found himself engaged in a struggle with the Carmathians (q.v.), whom +the Ikshidi prefect of Damascus had pacified by a promise of tribute; +this promise was of course not held binding by the Fatimite general +(Ja'far b. Falah) by whom Damascus was taken, and the Carmathian leader +al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-A'sam received aid from Bagdad for the purpose of +recovering Syria to the Abbasids. The general Ja'far, hoping to deal +with this enemy independently of Jauhar, met the Carmathians without +waiting for reinforcements from Egypt, and fell in battle, his army +being defeated. Damascus was taken by the Carmathians, and the name of +the Abbasid caliph substituted for that of Mo'izz in public worship. +Hasan al-A'sam advanced from Damascus through Palestine to Egypt, +encountering little resistance on the way; and in the autumn of 971 +Jauhar found himself besieged in his new city. By a timely sortie, +preceded by the administration of bribes to various officers in the +Carmathian host, Jauhar succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on the +besiegers, who were compelled to evacuate Egypt and part of Syria. + +Meanwhile Mo'izz had been summoned to enter the palace that had been +prepared for him, and after leaving a viceroy to take charge of his +western possessions he arrived in Alexandria on the 31st of May 973, and +proceeded to instruct his new subjects in the particular form of +religion (Shi'ism) which his family represented. As this was in origin +identical with that professed by the Carmathians, he hoped to gain the +submission of their leader by argument; but this plan was unsuccessful, +and there was a fresh invasion from that quarter in the year after his +arrival, and the caliph found himself besieged in his capital. The +Carmathians were gradually forced to retreat from Egypt and then from +Syria by some successful engagements, and by the judicious use of +bribes, whereby dissension was sown among their leaders. Mo'izz also +found time to take some active measures against the Byzantines, with +whom his generals fought in Syria with varying fortune. Before his death +he was acknowledged as caliph in Mecca and Medina, as well as Syria, +Egypt and North Africa as far as Tangier. + +In the reign of the second Egyptian Fatimite 'Aziz billah, Jauhar, who +appears to have been cashiered by Mo'izz, was again employed at the +instance of Jacob b. Killis, who had been raised to the rank of vizier, +to deal with the situation in Syria, where a Turkish general Aftakin had +gained possession of Damascus, and was raiding the whole country; on the +arrival of Jauhar in Syria the Turks called the Carmathians to their +aid, and after a campaign of many vicissitudes Jauhar had to return to +Egypt to implore the caliph himself to take the field. In August 977 +'Aziz met the united forces of Aftakin and his Carmathian ally outside +Ramleh in Palestine and inflicted a crushing defeat on them, which was +followed by the capture of Aftakin; this able officer was taken to +Egypt, and honourably treated by the caliph, thereby incurring the +jealousy of Jacob b. Killis, who caused him, it is said, to be poisoned. +This vizier had the astuteness to see the necessity of codifying the +doctrines of the Fatimites, and himself undertook this task; in the +newly-established mosque of el-Azhar he got his master to make provision +for a perpetual series of teachers and students of his manual. It would +appear, however, that a large amount of toleration was conceded by the +first two Egyptian Fatimites to the other sects of Islam, and to other +communities. Indeed at one time in 'Aziz's reign the vizierate of Egypt +was held by a Christian, Jesus, son of Nestorius, who appointed as his +deputy in Syria a Jew, Manasseh b. Abraham. These persons were charged +by the Moslems with unduly favouring their co-religionists, and the +belief that the Christians of Egypt were in league with the Byzantine +emperor, and even burned a fleet which was being built for the Byzantine +war, led to some persecution. Aziz attempted without success to enter +into friendly relations with the Buyid ruler of Bagdad, 'Adod addaula, +who was disposed to favour the 'Alids, but caused the claim of the +Fatimites to descend from 'Ali to be publicly refuted. He then tried to +gain possession of Aleppo, as the key to 'Irak, but this was prevented +by the intervention of the Byzantines. His North African possessions +were maintained and extended by 'Ali, son of Bulukkin, whom Mo'izz had +left as his deputy; but the recognition of the Fatimite caliph in this +region was little more than nominal. + +His successor _Abu 'Ali al-Mansur_, who reigned under the title +_al-Hakim bi'amr allah_, came to the throne at the age of eleven, being +the son of 'Aziz by a Christian mother. He was at first under the +tutelage of the Slav Burjuwan, whose policy it was to favour the Turkish +element in the army as against the Maghribine, on which the strength of +the Fatimites had till then rested; his conduct of affairs was vigorous +and successful, and he concluded a peace with the Greek emperor. After a +few years' regency he was assassinated at the instance of the young +sovereign, who at an early age developed a dislike for control and +jealousy of his rights as caliph. He is branded by historians as the +Caligula of the East, who took a delight in imposing on his subjects a +variety of senseless and capricious regulations, and persecuting +different sections of them by cruel and arbitrary measures. It is +observable that some of those with which Hakim is credited are also +ascribed to Ibn Tulun and the Ikshid (Mahommed b. Tughj). He is perhaps +best remembered by his destruction of the church of the Holy Sepulchre +at Jerusalem (1010), a measure which helped to provoke the Crusades, but +was only part of a general scheme for converting all Christians and Jews +in his dominions to his own opinions by force. A more reputable +expedient with the same end in view was the construction of a great +library in Cairo, with ample provision for students; this was modelled +on a similar institution at Bagdad. It formed part of the great palace +of the Fatimites, and was intended to be the centre of their propaganda. +At times, however, he ordered the destruction of all Christian churches +in Egypt, and the banishment of all who did not adopt Islam. It is +strange that in the midst of these persecutions he continued to employ +Christians in high official positions. His system of persecution was not +abandoned till in the last year of his reign (1020) he thought fit to +claim divinity, a doctrine which is perpetuated by the Druses (q.v.), +called after one Darazi, who preached the divinity of Hakim at the time; +the violent opposition which this aroused among the Moslems probably led +him to adopt milder measures towards his other subjects, and those who +had been forcibly converted were permitted to return to their former +religion and rebuild their places of worship. Whether his disappearance +at the beginning of the year 1021 was due to the resentment of his +outraged subjects, or, as the historians say, to his sister's fear that +he would bequeath the caliphate to a distant relative to the exclusion +of his own son, will never be known. In spite of his caprices he appears +to have shown competence in the management of external affairs; +enterprises of pretenders both in Egypt and Syria were crushed with +promptitude; and his name was at times mentioned in public worship in +Aleppo and Mosul. + +His son _Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali_, who succeeded him with the title _al-Zahir +li'i'zaz din allah_, was sixteen years of age at the time, and for four +years his aunt Sitt al-Mulk acted as regent; she appears to have been an +astute but utterly unscrupulous woman. After her death the caliph was in +the power of various ministers, under whose management of affairs Syria +was for a time lost to the Egyptian caliphate, and Egypt itself raided +by the Syrian usurpers, of whom one, Salih b. Mirdas, succeeded in +establishing a dynasty at Aleppo, which maintained itself after Syria +and Palestine had been recovered for the Fatimites by Anushtakin +al-Dizbari at the battle of Ukhuwanah in 1029. His career is said to +have been marked by some horrible caprices similar to those of his +father. After a reign of nearly sixteen years he died of the plague. + +His successor, _Abu Tamim Ma'add_, who reigned with the title +_al-Mostansir_, was also an infant at the time of his accession, being +little more than seven years of age. The power was largely in the hands +of his mother, a negress, who promoted the interests of her kinsmen at +court, where indeed even in Hakim's time they had been used as a +counterpoise to the Maghribine and Turkish elements in the army. In the +first years of this reign affairs were administered by the vizier +al-Jarjara'i, by whose mismanagement Aleppo was lost to the Fatimites. +At his death in 1044 the chief influence passed into the hands of Abu +Sa'd, a Jew, and the former master of the queen-mother, and at the end +of four years he was assassinated at the instance of another Jew +(Sadakah, perhaps Zedekiah, b. Joseph al-Falahi), whom he had appointed +vizier. In this reign Mo'izz b. Badis, the 4th ruler of the dependent +Zeirid dynasty which had ruled in the Maghrib since the migration of the +Fatimite Mo'izz to Egypt, definitely abjured his allegiance (1049) and +returned to Sunnite principles and subjection to the Bagdad caliphate. +The Zeirids maintained Mahdia (see ALGIERS), while other cities of the +Maghrib were colonized by Arab tribes sent thither by the Cairene +vizier. This loss was more than compensated by the enrolment of Yemen +among the countries which recognized the Fatimite caliphate through the +enterprise of one 'Ali b. Mahommed al-Sulaihi, while owing to the +disputes between the Turkish generals who claimed supremacy at Bagdad, +Mostansir's name was mentioned in public prayer at that metropolis on +the 12th of January 1058, when a Turkish adventurer Basasiri was for a +time in power. The Egyptian court, chiefly owing to the jealousy of the +vizier, sent no efficient aid to Basasiri, and after a year Bagdad was +retaken by the Seljuk Toghrul Beg, and the Abbasid caliph restored to +his rights. In the following years the troubles in Egypt caused by the +struggles between the Turkish and negro elements in Mostansir's army +nearly brought the country into the dominion of the Abbasids. After +several battles of various issue the Turkish commander Nasir addaula b. +Hamdan got possession of Cairo, and at the end of 1068 plundered the +caliph's palace; the valuable library which had been begun by Hakim was +pillaged, and an accidental fire caused great destruction. The caliph +and his family were reduced to destitution, and Nasir addaula began +negotiations for restoring the name of the Abbasid caliph in public +prayer; he was, however, assassinated before he could carry this out, +and his assassin, also a Turk, appointed vizier. Mostansir then summoned +to his aid Badr al-Jamali, an Armenian who had displayed competence in +various posts which he had held in Syria, and this person early in 1074 +arrived in Cairo accompanied by a bodyguard of Armenians; he contrived +to massacre the chiefs of the party at the time in possession of power, +and with the title Amir al-Juyush ("prince of the armies") was given by +Mostansir complete control of affairs. The period of internal +disturbances, which had been accompanied by famine and pestilence, had +caused usurpers to spring up in all parts of Egypt, and Badr was +compelled practically to reconquer the country. During this time, +however, Syria was overrun by an invader in league with the Seljuk Malik +Shah, and Damascus was permanently lost to the Fatimites; other cities +were recovered by Badr himself or his officers. He rebuilt the walls of +Cairo, of more durable material than that which had been employed by +Jauhar--a measure rendered necessary partly by the growth of the +metropolis, but also by the repeated sieges which it had undergone since +the commencement of Fatimite rule. The time of Mostansir is otherwise +memorable for the rise of the Assassins (q.v.), who at the first +supported the claims of his eldest son Nizar to the succession against +the youngest Ahmed, who was favoured by the family of Badr. When Badr +died in 1094 his influence was inherited by his son al-Afdal Shahinshah, +and this, at the death of Mostansir in the same year, was thrown in +favour of _Ahmed_, who succeeded to the caliphate with the title +_al-Mosta'li billah_. + + + The Crusades. + +Mosta'li's succession was not carried through without an attempt on the +part of Nizar to obtain his rights, the title which he chose being +_al-Mostafa lidin allah_; for a time he maintained himself in +Alexandria, but the energetic measures of his brother soon brought the +civil war to an end. The beginning of this reign coincided with the +beginning of the Crusades, and al-Afdal made the fatal mistake of +helping the Franks by rescuing Jerusalem from the Ortokids, thereby +facilitating its conquest by the Franks in 1099. He endeavoured to +retrieve his error by himself advancing into Palestine, but he was +defeated in the neighbourhood of Ascalon, and compelled to retire to +Egypt. Many of the Palestinian possessions of the Fatimites then +successively fell into the hands of the Franks. After a reign of seven +years Mosta'li died and the caliphate was given by al-Afdal to an infant +son, aged five years at the time, who was placed on the throne with the +title _al-Amir biahkam allah_, and for twenty years was under the +tutelage of al-Afdal. He made repeated attempts to recover the Syrian +and Palestinian cities from the Franks, but with poor success. In 1118 +Egypt was invaded by Baldwin I., who burned the gates and the mosques of +Farama, and advanced to Tinnis, whence illness compelled him to retreat. +In August 1121 al-Afdal was assassinated in a street of Cairo, it is +said, with the connivance of the caliph, who immediately began the +plunder of his house, where fabulous treasures were said to be amassed. +The vizier's offices were given to one of the caliph's creatures, +Mahommed b. Fatik al-Bata'ihi, who took the title _al-Ma'mun_. His +external policy was not more fortunate than that of his predecessor, as +he lost Tyre to the Franks, and a fleet equipped by him was defeated by +the Venetians. On the 4th of October 1125 he with his followers was +seized and imprisoned by order of the Caliph Amir, who was now resolved +to govern by himself, with the assistance of only subordinate officials, +of whom two were drawn from the Samaritan and Christian communities. The +vizier was afterwards crucified with his five brothers. The caliph's +personal government appears to have been incompetent, and to have been +marked by extortions and other arbitrary measures. He was assassinated +in October 1129 by some members of the sect who believed in the claims +of Nizar, son of Mostansir. + +The succeeding caliph, _Abu'l-Maimun 'Abd al-Majid_, who took the title +_al-Hafiz lidin allah_, was not the son but the cousin of the deceased +caliph, and of ripe age, being about fifty-eight years old at the time; +for more than a year he was kept in prison by the new vizier, a son of +al-Afdal, whom the army had placed in the post; but towards the end of +1131 this vizier fell by the hand of assassins, and the caliph was set +free. The reign of Hafiz was disturbed by the factions of the soldiery, +between which several battles took place, ending in the subjection of +the caliph for a time to various usurpers, one of these being his own +son Hasan, who had been provoked to rebel by the caliph nominating a +younger brother as his successor. For some months the caliph was under +this son's control; but the latter, who aimed at conciliating the +people, speedily lost his popularity with the troops, and his father was +able to get possession of his person and cause him to be poisoned +(beginning of 1135). + +His son _Abu'l-Mansur Isma'il_, who was seventeen years old at the time +of Hafiz's death, succeeded him with the title _al-Zafir lia'da allah_. +From this reign to the end of the Fatimite period we have the journals +of two eminent men, Usamah b. Muniqdh and Umarah of Yemen, which throw +light on the leading characters. The civil dissensions of Egypt were +notorious at the time. The new reign began by an armed struggle between +two commanders for the post of vizier, which in January 1150 was decided +in favour of the Amir Ibn Sallar. This vizier was presently assassinated +by the direction of his stepson 'Abbas, who was raised to the vizierate +in his place. This event was shortly followed by the loss to the +Fatimites of Ascalon, the last place in Syria which they held; its loss +was attributed to dissensions between the parties of which the garrison +consisted. Four years later (April 1154) the caliph was murdered by his +vizier 'Abbas, according to Usamah, because the caliph had suggested to +his favourite, the vizier's son, to murder his father; and this was +followed by a massacre of the brothers of Zafir, followed by the raising +of his infant son _Abu'l-Qasim 'Isa_ to the throne. + +The new caliph, who was not five years old, received the title _al-Fa'iz +binasr allah_, and was at first in the power of 'Abbas. The women of the +palace, however, summoned to their aid Tala'i' b. Ruzzik, prefect of +Ushmunain, at whose arrival in Cairo the troops deserted 'Abbas, who was +compelled to flee into Syria, taking his son and Usamah with him. 'Abbas +was killed by the Franks near Ascalon, his son sent in a cage to Cairo +where he was executed, while Usamah escaped to Damascus. + + + Frankish invasion. + + Saladin. + +The infant Fa'iz, who had been permanently incapacitated by the scenes +of violence which accompanied his accession, died in 1160. Tala'i' chose +to succeed him a grandson of Zafir, who was nine years of age, and +received the title _al-'Adid lidin allah_. Tala'i', who had complete +control of affairs, introduced the practice of farming the taxes for +periods of six months instead of a year, which led to great misery, as +the taxes were demanded twice. His death was brought on by the rigour +with which he treated the princesses, one of whom, with or without the +connivance of the caliph, organized a plot for his assassination, and he +died in September 1160. His son Ruzzik inherited his post and maintained +himself in it for more than a year, when another prefect of Upper Egypt, +Shawar b. Mujir, brought a force to Cairo, before which Ruzzik fled, to +be shortly afterwards captured and beheaded. Shawar's entry into Cairo +was at the beginning of 1163; after nine months he was compelled to flee +before another adventurer, an officer in the army named Dirgham. +Shawar's flight was directed to Damascus, where he was favourably +received by the prince Nureddin, who sent with him to Cairo a force of +Kurds under Asad al-din Shirguh. At the same time Egypt was invaded by +the Franks, who raided and did much damage on the coast. Dirgham was +defeated and killed, but a dispute then arose between Shawar and his +Syrian allies for the possession of Egypt. Shawar, being unable to cope +with the Syrians, demanded help of the Frankish king of Jerusalem +Amalric (Amauri) I., who hastened to his aid with a large force, which +united with Shawar's and besieged Shirguh in Bilbeis for three months; +at the end of this time, owing to the successes of Nureddin in Syria, +the Franks granted Shirguh a free passage with his troops back to Syria, +on condition of Egypt being evacuated (October 1164). Rather more than +two years later Shirguh persuaded Nureddin to put him at the head of +another expedition to Egypt, which left Syria in January 1167, and, +entering Egypt by the land route, crossed the Nile at Itfih (Atfih), and +encamped at Giza; a Frankish army hastened to Shawar's aid. At the +battle of Babain (April 11th, 1167) the allies were defeated by the +forces commanded by Shirguh and his nephew Saladin, who was presently +made prefect of Alexandria, which surrendered to Shirguh without a +struggle. Saladin was soon besieged by the allies in Alexandria; but +after seventy-five days the siege was raised, Shirguh having made a +threatening movement on Cairo, where a Frankish garrison had been +admitted by Shawar. Terms were then made by which both Syrians and +Franks were to quit Egypt, though the garrison of Cairo remained; the +hostile attitude of the Moslem population to this garrison led to +another invasion at the beginning of 1168 by King Amalric, who after +taking Bilbeis advanced to Cairo. The caliph, who up to this time +appears to have left the administration to the viziers, now sent for +Shirguh, whose speedy arrival in Egypt caused the Franks to withdraw. +Reaching Cairo on the 6th of January 1169, he was soon able to get +possession of Shawar's person, and after the prefect's execution, which +happened some ten days later, he was appointed vizier by the caliph. +After two months Shirguh died of indigestion (23rd of March 1169), and +the caliph appointed Saladin as successor to Shirguh; the new vizier +professed to hold office as a deputy of Nureddin, whose name was +mentioned in public worship after that of the caliph. By appropriating +the fiefs of the Egyptian officers and giving them to his Kurdish +followers he stirred up much ill-feeling, which resulted in a +conspiracy, of which the object was to recall the Franks with the view +of overthrowing the new regime; but this conspiracy was revealed by a +traitor and crushed. Nureddin loyally aided his deputy in dealing with +Frankish invasions of Egypt, but the anomaly by which he, being a +Sunnite, was made in Egypt to recognize a Fatimite caliph could not long +continue, and he ordered Saladin to weaken the Fatimite by every +available means, and then substitute the name of the Abbasid for his in +public worship. Saladin and his ministers were at first afraid lest this +step might give rise to disturbances among the people; but a stranger +undertook to risk it on the 17th of September 1171, and the following +Friday it was repeated by official order; the caliph himself died during +the interval, and it is uncertain whether he ever heard of his +deposition. The last of the Fatimite caliphs was not quite twenty-one +years old at the time of his death. + +(5) _Ayyubite Period._--Saladin by the advice of his chief Nureddin +cashiered the Fatimite judges and took steps to encourage the study of +orthodox theology and jurisprudence in Egypt by the foundation of +colleges and chairs. On the death of the ex-caliph he was confirmed in +the prefecture of Egypt as deputy of Nureddin; and on the decease of the +latter in 1174 (12th of April) he took the title sultan, so that with +this year the Ayyubite period of Egyptian history properly begins. +During the whole of it Damascus rather more than Cairo counted as the +metropolis of the empire. The Egyptian army, which was motley in +character, was disbanded by the new sultan, whose troops were Kurds. +Though he did not build a new metropolis he fortified Cairo with the +addition of a citadel, and had plans made for a new wall to enclose both +it and the double city; this latter plan was never completed, but the +former was executed after his death, and from this time till the French +occupation of Egypt the citadel of Cairo was the political centre of the +country. It was in 1183 that Saladin's rule over Egypt and North Syria +was consolidated. Much of Saladin's time was spent in Syria, and his +famous wars with the Franks belong to the history of the Crusades and to +his personal biography. Egypt was largely governed by his favourite +Karakush, who lives in popular legend as the "unjust judge," though he +does not appear to have deserved that title. + +Saladin at his death divided his dominions between his sons, of whom +'Othman succeeded to Egypt with the title _Malik al-Aziz 'Imal al-ain_. +The division was not satisfactory to the heirs, and after three years +(beginning of 1196) the Egyptian sultan conspired with his uncle Malik +al-'Adil to deprive Saladin's son al-Afdal of Damascus, which had fallen +to his lot. The war between the brothers was continued with intervals of +peace, during which al-'Adil repeatedly changed sides: eventually he +with al-'Aziz besieged and took Damascus, and sent al-Afdal to Sarkhad, +while al-'Adil remained in possession of Damascus. On the death of +al-'Aziz on the 29th of November 1198 in consequence of a hunting +accident, his infant son Mahommed was raised to the throne with the +title _Malik al-Mansur Nasir al-din_, and his uncle al-Afdal sent for +from Sarkhad to take the post of regent or Atabeg. So soon as al-Afdal +had got possession of his nephew's person, he started on an expedition +for the recovery of Damascus: al-'Adil not only frustrated this, but +drove him back to Egypt, where on the 25th of January 1200 a battle was +fought between the armies of the two at Bilbeis, resulting in the defeat +of al-Afdal, who was sent back to Sarkhad, while al-'Adil assumed the +regency, for which after a few months he substituted the sovereignty, +causing his nephew to be deposed. He reigned under the title _Malik +al-'Adil Saif al-din_. His name was Abu Bakr. + +Though the early years of his reign were marked by numerous disasters, +famine, pestilence and earthquake, of which the second seems to have +been exceedingly serious, he reunited under his sway the whole of the +empire which had belonged to his brother, and his generals conquered for +him parts of Mesopotamia and Armenia, and in 1215 he got possession of +Yemen. He followed the plan of dividing his empire between his sons, the +eldest Mahommed, called _Malik al-Kamil_, being his viceroy in Egypt, +while al-Mu'azzam 'Isa governed Syria, al-Ashraf Musa his eastern and +al-Malik al-Auhad Ayyub his northern possessions. His attitude towards +the Franks was at the first peaceful, but later in his reign he was +compelled to adopt more strenuous measures. His death occurred at Alikin +(1218), a village near Damascus, while the Franks were besieging +Damietta--the first operation of the Fifth Crusade--which was defended +by al-Kamil, to whom his father kept sending reinforcements. The efforts +of al-Kamil after his accession to the independent sovereignty were +seriously hindered by the endeavour of an amir named Ahmed b. Mashtub to +depose him and appoint in his place a brother called al-Fa'iz Sabiq +al-din Ibrahim: this attempt was frustrated by the timely interposition +of al-Mu'azzam 'Isa, who came to Egypt to aid his brother in February +1219, and compelled al-Fa'iz to depart for Mosul. After a siege of +sixteen and a half months Damietta was taken by the Franks on Tuesday +the 6th of November 1219; al-Kamil thereupon proclaimed the Jihad, and +was joined at his fortified camp, afterwards the site of Mansura, by +troops from various parts of Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia, including the +forces of his brothers 'Isa and Musa. With these allies, and availing +himself of the advantages offered by the inundation of the Nile, +al-Kamil was able to cut off both the advance and the retreat of the +invaders, and on the 31st of August 1221 a peace was concluded, by which +the Franks evacuated Egypt. + +For some years the dominions of al-'Adil remained divided between his +sons: when the affairs of Egypt were settled, al-Kamil determined to +reunite them as before, and to that end brought on the Sixth Crusade. +Various cities in Palestine and Syria were yielded to Frederick II. as +the price of his help against the son of Mu'azzam 'Isa, who reigned at +Damascus with the title of Malik al-Nasir. About 1231-32 Kamil led a +confederacy of Ayyubite princes against the Seljuk Kaikobad into Asia +Minor, but his allies mistrusted him and victory rested with Kaikobad +(see SELJUKS). Before Kamil's death he was mentioned in public prayer at +Mecca as lord of Mecca (Hejaz), Yemen, Zabid, Upper and Lower Egypt, +Syria and Mesopotamia. + +At his death (May 8th, 1238) at Damascus, his son Abu Bakr was appointed +to succeed with the title _Malik al-'Adil Saif al-din_; but his elder +brother Malik al-Salih Najm al-din Ayyub, having got possession of +Damascus, immediately started for Egypt, with the view of adding that +country to his dominions: meanwhile his uncle Isma'il, prince of Hamath, +with the prince of Homs, seized Damascus, upon hearing which the troops +of Najm al-din deserted him at Nablus, when he fell into the hands of +Malik al-Nasir, prince of Kerak, who carried him off to that city and +kept him a prisoner there for a time; after which he was released and +allowed to return to Nablus. On the 31st of May 1240 the new sultan was +arrested at Bilbeis by his own amirs, who sent for Najm al-din to +succeed him; and on the 19th of June of the same year Najm al-din +entered Cairo as sultan, and imprisoned his brother in the citadel, +where he died in 1248. Meanwhile in 1244 Jerusalem had been finally +wrested from the Franks. The administration of Najm al-din is highly +praised by Ibn Khallikan, who lived under it. He made large purchases of +slaves (Mamelukes) for his army, and when the inhabitants of Cairo +complained of their lawlessness, he built barracks for them on the +island of Roda (Rauda), whence they were called Bahri or Nile Mamelukes, +which became the name of the first dynasty that originated from them. +Much of his time was spent in campaigns in Syria, where the other +Ayyubites allied themselves against him with the Crusaders, whereas he +accepted the services of the Khwarizmians: eventually he succeeded in +recovering most of the Syrian cities. His name is commemorated by the +town of Salihia, which he built in the year 1246 as a resting-place for +his armies on their marches through the desert from Egypt to Palestine. +In 1249 he was recalled from the siege of Homs by the news of the +invasion of Egypt by Louis IX. (the Seventh Crusade), and in spite of +illness he hastened to Ushmum Tanna, in the neighbourhood of Damietta, +which he provisioned for a siege. Damietta was taken on the 6th of June +1249, owing to the desertion of his post by the commander Fakhr ud-din, +and the Banu Kinanah, to whom the defence of the place had been +entrusted: fifty-four of their chieftains were afterwards executed by +the sultan for this proceeding. On the 22nd of November the sultan died +of disease at Mansura, but his death was carefully concealed by the +amirs Lajin and Aktai, acting in concert with the Queen Shajar al-durr, +till the arrival from Syria of the heir to the throne, _Turanshah_, who +was proclaimed some four months later. At the battle of Fariskur, 6th of +April 1250, the invaders were utterly routed and the French king fell +into the hands of the Egyptian sultan. The Egyptian authorities now +resolved to raze Damietta, which, however, was rebuilt shortly after. +The sultan, who himself had had no share in the victory, advanced after +it from Mansura to Fariskur, where his conduct became menacing to the +amirs who had raised him to the throne, and to Shajar al-durr; she in +revenge organized an attack upon him which was successful, fire, water, +and steel contributing to his end. + +(6) _Period of Bahri Mamelukes._--The dynasties that succeeded the +Ayyubites till the conquest of Egypt by the Ottomans bore the title +Dynasties of the Turks, but are more often called Mameluke dynasties, +because the sultans were drawn from the enfranchised slaves who +constituted the court, and officered the army. The family of the fourth +of these sovereigns, Ka'a'un (Qala'un), reigned for 110 years, but +otherwise no sultan was able to found a durable dynasty: after the death +of a sultan he was usually succeeded by an infant son, who after a short +time was dethroned by a new usurper. + +After the death of the Sultan Turanshah, his step-mother at first was +raised to the vacant throne, when she committed the administration of +affairs to the captain of the retainers, Aibek; but the rule of a queen +caused scandal to the Moslem world, and Shajar al-durr gave way to this +sentiment by marrying Aibek and allowing the title sultan to be +conferred on him instead of herself. For policy's sake, however, Aibek +nominally associated with himself on the throne a scion of the Ayyubite +house, Malik al-Ashraf Musa, who died in prison (1252 or 1254). Aibek +meanwhile immediately became involved in war with the Ayyubite Malik +al-Nasir, who was in possession of Syria, with whom the caliph induced +him after some indecisive actions to make peace: he then successfully +quelled a mutiny of Mamelukes, whom he compelled to take refuge with the +last Abbasid caliph Mostasim in Bagdad and elsewhere. On the 10th of +April 1257 Aibek was murdered by his wife Shajar al-durr, who was +indignant at his asking for the hand of another queen: but Aibek's +followers immediately avenged his death, placing on the throne his +infant son _Malik al-Mansur_, who, however, was almost immediately +displaced by his guardian _Kotuz_, on the plea that the Mongol danger +necessitated the presence of a grown man at the head of affairs. In 1260 +the Syrian kingdom of al-Nasir was destroyed by Hulaku (Hulagu), the +great Mongol chief, founder of the Ilkhan Dynasty (see MONGOLS), who, +having finally overthrown the caliph of Bagdad (see CALIPHATE, sect. c. +S 37), also despatched a threatening letter to Kotuz; but later in the +same year Syria was invaded by Kotuz, who defeated Hulagu's lieutenant +at the battle of 'Ain Jalut (3rd of September 1260), in consequence of +which event the Syrian cities all rose against the Mongols, and the +Egyptian sultan became master of the country with the exception of such +places as were still held by the Crusaders. + + + Rule of Bibars. + + Abbasid caliphate revived. + +Before Kotuz had reigned a year he was murdered at Salihia by his +lieutenant Bibars (October 23rd, 1260), who was piqued, it is said, at +the governorship of Aleppo being withheld from him. The sovereignty was +seized by this person with the title of _Malik al-Qahir_, presently +altered to _al-Zahir_. He had originally been a slave of Malik al-Salih, +had distinguished himself at the battle after which Louis IX. was +captured, and had helped to murder Turanshah. Sultan Bibars, who proved +to be one of the most competent of the Bahri Mamelukes, made Egypt the +centre of the Moslem world by re-establishing in theory the Abbasid +caliphate, which had lapsed through the taking of Bagdad by Hulagu, +followed by the execution of the caliph. Bibars recognized the claim of +a certain Abu'l-Qasim Ahmed to be the son of Zahir, the 35th Abbasid +caliph, and installed him as Commander of the Faithful at Cairo with the +title _al-Mostansir billah_. Mostansir then proceeded to confer on +Bibars the title sultan, and to address to him a homily, explaining his +duties. This document is preserved in the MS. life of Bibars, and +translated by G. Weil. The sultan appears to have contemplated restoring +the new caliph to the throne of Bagdad: the force, however, which he +sent with him for the purpose of reconquering Irak was quite +insufficient for the purpose, and Mostansir was defeated and slain. This +did not prevent Bibars from maintaining his policy of appointing an +Abbasid for the purpose of conferring legitimacy on himself; but he +encouraged no further attempts at re-establishing the Abbasids at +Bagdad, and his principle, adopted by successive sultans, was that the +caliph should not leave Cairo except when accompanying the sultan on an +expedition. + +The reign of Bibars was spent largely in successful wars against the +Crusaders, from whom he took many cities, notably Safad, Caesarea and +Antioch; the Armenians, whose territory he repeatedly invaded, burning +their capital Sis; and the Seljukids of Asia Minor. He further reduced +the Isma'ilians or Assassins, whose existence as a community lasted on +in Syria after it had nearly come to an end in Persia. He made Nubia +tributary, therein extending Moslem arms farther south than they had +been extended by any previous sultan. His authority was before his death +recognized all over Syria (with the exception of the few cities still in +the power of the Franks), over Arabia, with the exception of Yemen, on +the Euphrates from Birah to Kerkesia (Circesium) on the Chaboras +(Khabur), whilst the amirs of north-western Africa were tributary to +him. His successes were won not only by military and political ability, +but also by the most absolute unscrupulousness, neither flagrant perjury +nor the basest treachery being disdained. He was the first sultan who +acknowledged the equal authority of the four schools of law, and +appointed judges belonging to each in Egypt and Syria; he was thus able +to get his measures approved by one school when condemned by another. + + + Kala'un. + +On the 1st of July 1277 Bibars died, and the events that followed set an +example repeatedly followed during the period of the Mamelukes. The +sultan's son _Malik al-Sa'id_ ascended the throne; but within little +more than two years he was compelled to abdicate in favour of his +father-in-law _Kala'un_, a Mameluke who had risen high in the former +sovereign's service. The accession of Kala'un was also marked by an +attempt on the part of the governor of Damascus to form Syria into an +independent kingdom, an attempt frequently imitated on similar +occasions. The Syrian forces were defeated at the battle of Jazurah +(April 26th, 1280) and Kala'un resumed possession of the country; but +the disaffected Syrians entered into relations with the Mongols, who +proceeded to invade Syria, but were finally defeated by Kala'un on the +30th of October 1281 under the walls of Homs (Emesa). + +The conversion to Islam of Nikudar Ahmad, the third of the Ilkhan rulers +of Persia, and the consequent troubles in the western Mongol empire, let +to a suspension of hostilities between Egypt and the Ilkhans (see +PERSIA: _History_, S B), though the latter did not cease to agitate in +Europe for a renewal of the Crusades, with little result. Kala'un, +without pursuing any career of active conquest, did much to consolidate +his dominions, and especially to extend Egyptian commerce, for which +purpose he started passports enabling merchants to travel with safety +through Egypt and Syria as far as India. After the danger from the +Mongols had ceased, however, Kala'un directed his energies towards +capturing the last places that remained in the hands of the Franks, and +proceeded to take Markab, Latakia, and Tripoli (April 26th, 1289). In +1290 he planned an attack on Acre, but died (November 10th) in the +middle of all his preparations. Under Kala'un we first hear of the +Burjite Mamelukes, who owe their name to the citadel (Burj) of Cairo, +where 3700 of the whole number of 12,000 Mamelukes maintained by this +sovereign were quartered. He also set an example, frequently followed, +of the practice of dismissing all non-Moslems from government posts: +this was often done by his successors with the view of conciliating the +Moslems, but it was speedily found that the services of the Jewish and +Christian clerks were again required. He further founded a hospital for +clinical research on a scale formerly unknown. + + + Malik al-Nasir. + + Mongol Wars. + + Decline of the Bahri power. + +Kala'un was followed by his son _Khalil_ (_Malik al-Ashraf Salah +al-din_), who carried out his father's policy of driving the Franks out +of Syria and Palestine, and proceeded with the siege of Acre, which he +took (May 18th, 1291) after a siege of forty-three days. The capture and +destruction of this important place were followed by the capture of +Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, Athlit and Beirut, and thus Syria was cleared of the +Crusaders. He also planned an expedition against the prince of Lesser +Armenia, which was averted by the surrender of Behesna, Marash and Tell +Hamdun. The disputes between his favourite, the vizier Ibn al-Sa'lus, +and his viceroy Baidara, led to his being murdered by the latter +(December 12th, 1293), who was proclaimed sultan, but almost immediately +fell a victim to the vengeance of the deceased sultan's party, who +placed a younger son of Kala'un, _Mahommed Malik al-Nasir_, on the +throne. This prince had the singular fortune of reigning three times, +being twice dethroned: he was first installed on the 14th of December +1293, when he was nine years old, and the affairs of the kingdom were +undertaken by a cabinet, consisting of a vizier ('Alam al-din Sinjar), a +viceroy (Kitboga), a war minister (Husam al-din Lajin al-Rumi), a +prefect of the palace (Rokneddin Bibars Jashengir) and a secretary of +state (Rokneddin Bibars Mansuri). This cabinet naturally split into +rival camps, in consequence of which Kitboga, himself a Mongol, with the +aid of other Mongols who had come into Egypt after the battle of Homs, +succeeded in ousting his rivals, and presently, with the aid of the +surviving assassins of the former sultan, compelling Malik al-Nasir to +abdicate in his favour (December 1st, 1294). The usurper was, however, +able to maintain himself for two years only, famine and pestilence which +prevailed in Egypt and Syria during his reign rendering him unpopular, +while his arbitrary treatment of the amirs also gave offence. He was +dethroned in 1296, and one of the murderers of Khalil, Husam al-din +_Lajin_, son-in-law of the sultan Bibars and formerly governor of +Damascus, installed in his palace (November 26th, 1296). It had become +the practice of the Egyptian sultans to bestow all offices of importance +on their own freedmen (Mamelukes) to the exclusion of the older amirs, +whom they could not trust so well, but who in turn became still more +disaffected. Husam al-din fell a victim to the jealousy of the older +amirs whom he had incensed by bestowing arbitrary power on his own +Mameluke Mengutimur, and was murdered on the 16th of January 1299. His +short reign was marked by some fairly successful incursions into +Armenia, and the recovery of the fortresses Marash and Tell Hamdun, +which had been retaken by the Armenians. He also instituted a fresh +survey and division of land in Egypt and Syria, which occasioned much +discontent. After his murder the deposed sultan Malik al-Nasir, who had +been living in retirement at Kerak, was recalled by the army and +reinstated as sultan in Cairo (February 7th, 1299), though still only +fourteen years of age, so that public affairs were administered not by +him, but by Salar the viceroy, and Bibars Jashengir, prefect of the +palace. The 7th Ilkhan, Ghazan Mahmud, took advantage of the disorder in +the Mameluke empire to invade Syria in the latter half of 1299, when his +forces inflicted a severe defeat on those of the new sultan, and seized +several cities, including the capital Damascus, of which, however, they +were unable to storm the citadel; in 1300, when a fresh army was +collected in Egypt, the Mongols evacuated Damascus and made no attempt +to secure their other conquests. The fear of further Mongolian invasion +led to the imposition of fresh taxes in both Egypt and Syria, including +one of 33% on rents, which occasioned many complaints. The invasion did +not take place till 1303, when at the battle of Marj al-Saffar (April +20th) the Mongols were defeated. This was the last time that the Ilkhans +gave the Egyptian sultans serious trouble; and in the letter written in +the sultan's name to the Ilkhan announcing the victory, the former +suggested that the caliphate of Bagdad should be restored to the titular +Abbasid caliph who had accompanied the Egyptian expedition, a suggestion +which does not appear to have led to any actual steps being taken. The +fact that the Mongols were in ostensible alliance with Christian princes +led to a renewal by the sultan of the ordinances against Jews and +Christians which had often been abrogated, as often renewed and again +fallen into abeyance; and their renewal led to missions from various +Christian princes requesting milder terms for their co-religionists. The +amirs Salar and Bibars having usurped the whole of the sultan's +authority, he, after some futile attempts to free himself of them, under +the pretext of pilgrimage to Mecca, retired in March 1309 to Kerak, +whence he sent his abdication to Cairo; in consequence of which, on the +5th of April 1309, _Bibars Jashengir_ was proclaimed sultan, with the +title _Malik al-Mozaffar_. This prince was originally a freedman of +Kala'un, and was the first Circassian who ascended the throne of Egypt. +Before the year was out the new sultan had been rendered unpopular by +the occurrence of a famine, and Malik al-Nasir was easily able to induce +the Syrian amirs to return to his allegiance, in consequence of which +Bibars in his turn abdicated, and Malik al-Nasir re-entered Cairo as +sovereign on the 5th of March 1310. He soon found the means to execute +both Bibars and Salar, while other amirs who had been eminent under the +former regime fled to the Mongols. The relations between their Ilkhan +and the Egyptian sultan continued strained, and the 8th Ilkhan Oeljeitu +(1304-1316) addressed letters to Philip the Fair and the English king +Edward I. (answered by Edward II. in 1307), desiring aid against Malik +al-Nasir; and for many years the courts of the sultan and the Ilkhan +continued to be the refuge of malcontents from the other kingdom. +Finally in 1322 terms of peace and alliance were agreed on between the +sultan and Abu Sa'id the 9th Ilkhan. The sultan also entered into +relations with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and in 1319 married a +daughter of the reigning prince Uzbeg Khan (see MONGOLS: _Golden +Horde_). Much of Malik al-Nasir's third administration was spent in +raids into Nubia, where he endeavoured to set up a creature of his own +as sovereign, in attempts at bringing the Bedouins of south-eastern +Egypt into subordination, and in persecuting the Nosairis, whose heresy +became formidable about this time. Like other Egyptian sultans he made +considerable use of the Assassins, 124 of whom were sent by him into +Persia to execute Kara Sonkor, at one time governor of Damascus, and one +of the murderers of Malik al-Ashraf; but they were all outwitted by the +exile, who was finally poisoned by the Ilkhan in recompense for a +similar service rendered by the Egyptian sultan. For a time Malik +al-Nasir was recognized as suzerain in north Africa, the Arabian Irak, +and Asia Minor, but he was unable to make any permanent conquests in any +of these countries. He brought Medina, which had previously been +governed by independent sherifs, to acknowledge his authority. His +diplomatic relations were more extensive than those of any previous +sultan, and included Bulgarian, Indian, and Abyssinian potentates, as +well as the pope, the king of Aragon and the king of France. He appears +to have done his utmost to protect his Christian subjects, incurring +thereby the reproaches of the more fanatical Moslems, especially in the +year 1320 when owing to incendiarism in Cairo there was danger of a +general massacre of the Christian population. His internal +administration was marked by gross extravagance, which led to his +viziers being forced to practise violent extortion for which they +afterwards suffered. He paid considerable attention to sheep-breeding +and agriculture, and by a canal which he had dug from Fuah to Alexandria +not only assisted commerce but brought 100,000 feddans under +cultivation. His taste for building and street improvement led to the +beautifying of Cairo, and his example was followed by the governors of +other great cities in the empire, notably Aleppo and Damascus. He paid +exceptionally high prices for Mamelukes, many of whom were sold by their +Mongol parents to his agents, and accustomed them to greater luxury than +was usual under his predecessors. In 1315 he instituted a survey of +Egypt, and of the twenty-four parts into which it was divided ten were +assigned to the sultan and fourteen to the amirs and the army. He took +occasion to abolish a variety of vexatious imposts, and the new budget +fell less heavily on the Christians than the old. Among the literary +ornaments of his reign was the historian and geographer Isma'il Abulfeda +(q.v.), to whom Malik al-Nasir restored the government of Hamath, which +had belonged to his ancestors, and even gave the title sultan. He died +on the 7th of June 1341. The son, _Abu Bakr_, to whom he had left the +throne, was able to maintain himself only a few months on it, being +compelled to abdicate on the 4th of August 1341 in favour of his infant +brother _Kuchuk_; the revolution was brought about by Kausun, a powerful +Mameluke of the preceding monarch. This person's authority was, however, +soon overthrown by a party formed by the Syrian prefects, and on the +11th of January _Malik al-Nasir Ahmad_, an elder son of the former +sultan of the same title, was installed in his place, though he did not +actually arrive in Cairo till the 6th of November, being unwilling to +leave Kerak, where he had been living in retirement. After a brief +sojourn in Cairo he speedily returned thither, thereby forfeiting his +throne, which was conferred by the amirs on his brother _Isma'il +al-Malik al-Salih_ (June 27th, 1342). This sultan was mainly occupied +during his short reign with besieging and taking Kerak, whither Ahmad +had taken refuge, and himself died on the 3rd of August 1345, when +another son of Malik al-Nasir, named _Sha'ban_, was placed on the +throne. The constant changes of sultan led to great disorder in the +provinces, and many of the subject principalities endeavoured to shake +off the Egyptian yoke. Sha'ban proved no more competent than his +predecessors, being given to open debauchery and profligacy, an example +followed by his amirs; and fresh discontent led to his being deposed by +the Syrian amirs, when his brother _Hajji_ was proclaimed sultan in his +place (September 18th, 1346). Hajji was deposed and killed on the 10th +of December 1347, and another infant son of Malik al-Nasir, _Hasan_, who +took his father's title, was proclaimed, the real power being shared by +three amirs, Sheikhun, Menjek and Yelbogha Arus. During this reign +(1348-1349) Egypt was visited by the "Black Death," which is said to +have carried off 900,000 of the inhabitants of Cairo and to have raged +as far south as Assuan. Towards the beginning of 1351 the sultan got rid +of his guardians and attempted to rule by himself; but though successful +in war, his arbitrary measures led to his being dethroned on the 21st of +August 1351 by the amirs, who proclaimed his brother Salih with the +title of _Malik al-Salih_. He too was only fourteen years of age. The +power was contested for by various groups of amirs, whose struggles +ended with the deposition of the sultan Salih on the 20th of October +1354, and the reinstatement of his brother _Hasan_, who was again +dethroned on the 16th of March 1361 by an amir Yelbogha, whom he had +offended, and who, having got possession of the sultan's person, +murdered him. The next day a son of the dethroned sultan Hajji was +proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Mansur_. On the 29th of May +1363 this sultan was also dethroned on the ground of incompetence, and +his place was given to another grandson of Malik al-Nasir, _Sha'ban_, +son of Hosain, then ten years old. The amir Yelbogha at first held all +real power and is said to have acquired a degree of authority which no +other subject ever held. During this reign, on the 8th of October 1365, +a landing was effected at Alexandria by a Frankish fleet under Peter I. +of Cyprus, which presently took possession of the city; the Franks were +speedily compelled to embark again after plundering the city, for which +compensation was afterwards demanded by Yelbogha from the Christian +population of Egypt and Syria. Alexandria was further made the seat of a +viceroy, having previously only had a prefect. On the 11th of December +1366 Yelbogha was himself attacked by the sultan, captured and slain. +His successor in the office of first minister was a mere tool in the +hands of his Mamelukes, who compelled him to institute and depose +governors, &c., at their pleasure. In 1374 the Egyptians raided Cilicia +and captured Leo VI., prince of Lesser Armenia, which now became an +Egyptian province with a Moslem governor. On the 15th of March 1377 the +sultan was murdered by the Mamelukes, owing to his refusing a largess of +money which they demanded. The infant son of the late sultan _'Ali_, a +lad of eight years, was proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Mansur_; the +power was in the hands of the ministers Kartai and Ibek, the latter of +whom overthrew the former with the aid of his own Mamelukes, Berekeh and +Barkuk. An insurrection in Syria which spread to Egypt presently caused +the fall of Ibek, and led to the occupation of the highest posts by the +Circassian freedmen Berekeh and Barkuk, of whom the latter ere long +succeeded in ousting the former and usurping the sultan's place; on the +19th of May 1381, when the sultan 'Ali died, his place was given to an +infant brother Hajji, but on the 26th of November 1382, _Barkuk_ set +this child aside and had himself proclaimed sultan (with the title +_Malik al-Zahir_), thereby ending the Bahri dynasty and commencing that +of the Circassians. For a short period, however, Hajji was restored, +when on the 1st of June 1389 Cairo was taken by Yelbogha, governor of +Damascus, and Barkuk expelled; Hajji reigned at first under the +guardianship of Yelbogha, who was then overthrown by Mintash; Barkuk, +who had been relegated to Kerak, succeeded in again forming a party, and +in a battle fought at Shakhab, January 1390, succeeded in gaining +possession of the person of the sultan Hajji, and on the 21st of January +he was again proclaimed sultan in Cairo. + + + Timur in Syria. + + Wars with European Powers. + +(7) _Period of Burji Mamelukes._--Barkuk presently entered into +relations with the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I., and by slaying an envoy of +Timur incurred the displeasure of the world-conqueror; and in 1394 led +an army into Syria with the view of restoring the Jelairid Ilkhan Ahmad +to Bagdad (as Barkuk's vassal), and meeting the Mongol invasion. Barkuk, +however, died (June 20th, 1399) before Timur had time to invade Syria. +According to the custom that had so often proved disastrous, a young son +of Barkuk, _Faraj_, then aged thirteen, was appointed sultan under the +guardianship of two amirs. Incursions were immediately made by the +Ottoman sultan into the territory of Egyptian vassals at Derendeh and +Albistan (Ablestin), and Malatia was besieged by his forces. Timur, who +was at this time beginning his campaign against Bayezid, turned his +attention first to Syria, and on the 30th of October 1400 defeated the +Syrian amirs near Aleppo, and soon got possession of the city and the +citadel. He proceeded to take Hamah, Homs (Emesa) and other towns, and +on the 20th of December started for Damascus. An endeavour was made by +the Egyptian sultan to relieve Damascus, but the news of an insurrection +in Cairo caused him to retire and leave the place to its fate. In the +first three months of 1401 the whole of Northern Syria suffered from +Timur's marauders. In the following year (September 29th, 1402) Timur +who had in the interval inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ottoman +sultan, sent to demand homage from Faraj, and his demand was readily +granted, together with the delivery of the princes who had sought refuge +from Timur in Egyptian territory. The death of Timur in February 1405 +restored Egyptian authority in Syria, which, however, became a +rendezvous for all who were discontented with the rule of Faraj and his +amirs, and two months after Timur's death was in open rebellion against +Faraj. Although Faraj succeeded in defeating the rebels, he was +compelled by insubordination on the part of his Circassian Mamelukes to +abdicate (September 20th, 1405), when his brother _Abd al-al-'aziz_ was +proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Mansur_; after two months this +prince was deposed, and Faraj, who had been in hiding, recalled. Most of +his reign was, however, occupied with revolts on the part of the Syrian +amirs, to quell whom he repeatedly visited Syria; the leaders of the +rebels were the amirs Newruz and Sheik Mahmudi, afterwards sultan. Owing +to disturbances and misgovernment the population of Egypt and Syria is +said to have shrunk to a third in his time, and he offended public +sentiment not only by debauchery, but by having his image stamped on his +coins. On the 23rd of May 1412, after being defeated and shut up in +Damascus, he was compelled by Sheik Mahmudi to abdicate, and an Abbasid +caliph, Mosta'in, was proclaimed sultan, only to be forced to abdicate +on the 6th of November of the same year in _Sheik's_ favour, who took +the title _Malik al-Mu'ayyad_, his colleague Newruz having been +previously sent to Syria, where he was to be autocrat by the terms of +their agreement. In the struggle which naturally followed between the +two, Newruz was shut up in Damascus, defeated and slain. Sheik himself +invaded Asia Minor and forced the Turkoman states to acknowledge his +suzerainty. After the sultan's return they soon rebelled, but were again +brought into subjection by Sheik's son Ibrahim; his victories excited +the envy of his father, who is said to have poisoned him. Sheik himself +died a few months after the decease of his son (January 13th, 1421), and +another infant son, _Ahmad_, was proclaimed with the title _Malik +al-Mozaffar_, the proclamation being followed by the usual dissensions +between the amirs, ending with the assumption of supreme power by the +amir _Tatar_, who, after defeating his rivals, on the 29th of August +1421 had himself proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. +This usurper, however, died on the 30th of November of the same year, +leaving the throne to an infant son _Mohammed_, who was given the title +_Malik al-Salih_; the regular intrigues between the amirs followed, +leading to his being dethroned on the following 1st of April 1422, when +the amir appointed to be his tutor, _Barsbai_, was proclaimed sultan +with the title _Malik al-Ashraf_. This sultan avenged the attacks on +Alexandria repeatedly made by Cyprian ships, for he sent a fleet which +burned Limasol, and another which took Famagusta (August 4th, 1425), but +failed in the endeavour to annex the island permanently. An expedition +sent in the following year (1426) succeeded in taking captive the king +of Cyprus, who was brought to Cairo and presently released for a ransom +of 200,000 dinars, on condition of acknowledging the suzerainty of the +Egyptian sultan and paying him an annual tribute. Barsbai appears to +have excelled his predecessors in the invention of devices for exacting +money from merchants and pilgrims, and in juggling with the exchange. +This led to a naval demonstration on the part of the Venetians, who +secured better terms for their trade, and to the seizure of Egyptian +vessels by the king of Aragon and the prince of Catalonia. In a census +made during Barsbai's reign, it was found that the total number of towns +and villages in Egypt had sunk to 2170, whereas in the 4th century A.H. +it had stood at 10,000. Much of Barsbai's attention was occupied with +raids into Asia Minor, where the Dhu 'l-Kadiri Turkomans frequently +rebelled, and with wars against Kara Yelek, prince of Amid, and Shah +Rokh, son of Timur. Barsbai died on the 7th of June 1438. In accordance +with the custom of his predecessors he left the throne to a son still in +his minority, _Abu'l-Mahasin Yusuf_, who took the title _Malik +al-'Aziz_, but as usual after a few months he was displaced by the +regent _Jakmak_, who on the 9th of September 1438 was proclaimed sultan +with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. In the years 1442-1444 this sultan sent +three fleets against Rhodes, where the third effected a landing, but was +unable to make any permanent conquest. In consequence of a lengthy +illness Jakmak abdicated on the 1st of February 1453, when his son +_'Othman_ was proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Mansur_. Though +not a minor, he had no greater success than the sons of the usurpers who +preceded him, being dethroned after six weeks (March 15th, 1453) in +favour of the amir _Inal al-'Ala'i_, who took the title _Malik +al-Ashraf_. His reign was marked by friendly relations with the Ottoman +sultan Mahommed II., whose capture of Constantinople (1453) was the +cause of great rejoicings in Egypt, but also by violent excesses on the +part of the Mamelukes, who dictated the sultan's policy. On his death on +the 26th of February 1461 his son _Ahmad_ was proclaimed sultan with the +title _Malik al-Mu'ayyad_; he had the usual fate of sultans' sons, +earned in his case by an attempt to bring the Mamelukes under +discipline; he was compelled to abdicate on the 28th of June 1461, when +the amir _Khoshkadam_, who had served as a general, was proclaimed +sultan. Unlike the other Mameluke sovereigns, who were Turks or +Circassians, this man had originally been a Greek slave. + + + Early relations with Turkey. + +In his reign (1463) there began the struggle between the Egyptian and +the Ottoman sultanates which finally led to the incorporation of Egypt +in the Ottoman empire. The dispute began with a struggle over the +succession in the principality of Karaman, where the two sultans +favoured rival candidates, and the Ottoman sultan Mahommed II. supported +the claim of his candidate with force of arms, obtaining as the price of +his assistance several towns in which the suzerainty of the Egyptian +sultan had been acknowledged. Open war did not, however, break out +between the two states in Khoshkadam's time. This sultan is said to have +taken money to permit innocent persons to be ill-treated or executed. He +died on the 9th of October 1467, when the Atabeg _Yelbai_ was selected +by the Mamelukes to succeed him, and was proclaimed sultan with the +title of _Malik al-Zahir_. This person, proving incompetent, was deposed +by a revolution of the Mamelukes on the 4th of December 1467, when the +Atabeg _Timurbogha_ was proclaimed with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. In +a month's time, however, there was another palace revolution, and the +new Atabeg _Kait Bey_ or _Kaietbai_ (January 31st, 1468) was proclaimed +sultan, the dethroned Timurbogha being, however, permitted to go free +whither he pleased. Much of Kait Bey's reign was spent in struggles with +Uzun Hasan, prince of Diarbekr, and Shah Siwar, chief of the +Dhu'l-Kadiri Turkomans. He also offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid +II. by entertaining his brother Jem, who was afterwards poisoned in +Europe. Owing to this, and also to the fact that an Indian embassy to +the Ottoman sultan was intercepted by the agents of Kait Bey, Bayezid +II. declared war against Egypt, and seized Adana, Tarsus and other +places within Egyptian territory; extraordinary efforts were made by +Kait Bey, whose generals inflicted a severe defeat on the Ottoman +invaders. In 1491, however, after the Egyptians had repeatedly defeated +the Ottoman troops, Kait Bey made proposals of peace which were +accepted, the keys of the towns which the Ottomans had seized being +restored to the Egyptian sultan. Kait Bey endeavoured to assist his +co-religionists in Spain who were threatened by King Ferdinand, by +threatening the pope with reprisals on Syrian Christians, but without +effect. As the consequence of a palace intrigue, which Kait Bey was too +old to quell, on the 7th of August 1496, a day before his death, his son +_Mahommed_ was proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Nasir_; this +was in order to put the supreme power into the hands of the Atabeg +Kansuh, since the new sultan was only fourteen years old. An attempt of +the Atabeg to oust the new sultan, however, failed. After a reign of +little more than two years, filled mainly with struggles between rival +amirs, _Malik al-Nasir_ was murdered (October 31st, 1498), and his uncle +and vizier _Kansuh_ proclaimed sultan with the title _Malik al-Zahir_. +His reign only lasted about twenty months; on the 30th of June 1500 he +was dethroned by Tumanbey, who caused _Jan Belat_, the Atabeg, to be +proclaimed sultan. A few months later _Tumanbey_, at the suggestion of +Kasrawah, governor of Damascus, whom he had been sent to reduce to +subjection, ousted Jan Belat, and was himself proclaimed sultan with the +title _Malik al-'Adil_ (January 25th, 1501). His reign lasted only one +hundred days, when he was displaced by _Kansuh al-Ghuri_ (April 20th, +1501). His reign was remarkable for a naval conflict between the +Egyptians and the Portuguese, whose fleet interfered with the pilgrim +route from India to Mecca, and also with the trade between India and +Egypt; Kansuh caused a fleet to be built which fought naval battles with +the Portuguese with varying results. + + + The Turkish conquest. + +In 1515 there began the war with the Ottoman sultan Selim I. which led +to the close of the Mameluke period, and the incorporation of Egypt and +its dependencies in the Ottoman empire (see TURKEY: _History_). Kansuh +was charged by Selim with giving the envoys of the Safawid Isma'il +passage through Syria on their way to Venice to form a confederacy +against the Turks, and with harbouring various refugees. The actual +declaration of war was not made by Selim till May 1515, when the Ottoman +sultan had made all his preparations; and at the battle of Merj Dabik, +on the 24th of August 1515, Kansuh was defeated by the Ottoman forces +and fell fighting. Syria passed quickly into the possession of the +Turks, whose advent was in many places welcome as meaning deliverance +from the Mamelukes. In Cairo, when the news of the defeat and death of +the Egyptian sultan arrived, the governor who had been left by Kansuh, +_Tumanbey_, was proclaimed sultan (October 17th, 1516). On the 20th of +January 1517 Cairo was taken by the Ottomans, and Selim shortly after +declared sultan of Egypt. Tumanbey continued the struggle for some +months, but was finally defeated, and after being captured and kept in +prison seventeen days was executed on the 15th of April 1517. + +(8) _The Turkish Period._--The sultan Selim left with his viceroy Khair +Bey a guard of 5000 janissaries, but otherwise made few changes in the +administration of the country. The register by which a great portion of +the land was a fief of the Mamelukes was left unchanged, and it is said +that a proposal made by the sultan's vizier to appropriate these estates +was punished with death. The Mameluke amirs were to be retained in +office as heads of twelve sanjaks into which Egypt was divided; and +under the next sultan, Suleiman I., two chambers were created, called +respectively the Greater and the Lesser Divan, in which both the army +and the ecclesiastical authorities were represented, to aid the pasha by +their deliberations. Six regiments altogether were constituted by the +conqueror Selim for the protection of Egypt; to these Suleiman added a +seventh, of Circassians. As will be seen from the tables, it was the +practice of the Porte to change the governor of Egypt at very short +intervals--after a year or even some months. The third governor, Ahmad +Pasha, hearing that orders for this execution had come from +Constantinople, endeavoured to make himself an independent ruler and had +coins struck in his own name. His schemes were frustrated by two of the +amirs whom he had imprisoned and who, escaping from their confinement, +attacked him in his bath and killed him. In 1527 the first survey of +Egypt under the Ottomans was made, in consequence of the official copy +of the former registers having perished by fire; yet this new survey did +not come into use until 1605. Egyptian lands were divided in it into +four classes--the sultan's domain, fiefs, land for the maintenance of +the army, and lands settled on religious foundations. + + + Troubles with the army. + +It would seem that the constant changes in the government caused the +army to get out of control at an early period of the Ottoman occupation, +and at the beginning of the 11th Islamic century mutinies became common; +in 1013 (1604) the governor Ibrahim Pasha was murdered by the soldiers, +and his head set on the Bab Zuwela. The reason for these mutinies was +the attempt made by successive pashas to put a stop to the extortion +called _Tulbah_, a forced payment exacted by the troops from the +inhabitants of the country by the fiction of debts requiring to be +discharged, which led to grievous ill-usage. In 1609 something like +civil war broke out between the army and the pasha, who had on his side +some loyal regiments and the Bedouins. The soldiers went so far as to +choose a sultan, and to divide provisionally the regions of Cairo +between them. They were defeated by the governor Mahommed Pasha, who on +the 5th of February 1610 entered Cairo in triumph, executed the +ringleaders, and banished many others to Yemen. The contemporary +historian speaks of this event as a second conquest of Egypt for the +Ottomans. A great financial reform was now effected by Mahommed Pasha, +who readjusted the burdens imposed on the different communities of Egypt +in accordance with their means. With the troubles that beset the +metropolis of the Ottoman empire, the governors appointed thence came to +be treated by the Egyptians with continually decreasing respect. In July +1623 there came an order from the Porte dismissing Mustafa Pasha and +appointing 'Ali Pasha governor in his place. The officers met and +demanded from the newly-appointed governor's deputy the customary +gratuity; when this was refused they sent letters to the Porte declaring +that they wished to have Mustafa Pasha and not 'Ali Pasha as governor. +Meanwhile 'Ali Pasha had arrived at Alexandria, and was met by a +deputation from Cairo telling him that he was not wanted. He returned a +mild answer; and, when a rejoinder came in the same style as the first +message, he had the leader of the deputation arrested and imprisoned. +Hereupon the garrison of Alexandria attacked the castle and rescued the +prisoner; whereupon 'Ali Pasha was compelled to embark. Shortly after a +rescript arrived from Constantinople confirming Mustafa Pasha in the +governorship. Similarly in 1631 the army took upon themselves to depose +the governor Musa Pasha, in indignation at his execution of Kitas Bey, +an officer who was to have commanded an Egyptian force required for +service in Persia. The pasha was ordered either to hand over the +executioners to vengeance or to resign his place; as he refused to do +the former he was compelled to do the latter, and presently a rescript +came from Constantinople, approving the conduct of the army and +appointing one Khalil Pasha as Musa's successor. Not only was the +governor unsupported by the sultan against the troops, but each new +governor regularly inflicted a fine upon his outgoing predecessor, under +the name of money due to the treasury; and the outgoing governor would +not be allowed to leave Egypt till he had paid it. Besides the +extortions to which this practice gave occasion the country suffered +greatly in these centuries from famine and pestilence. The latter in the +spring of 1619 is said to have carried off 635,000 persons, and in 1643 +completely desolated 230 villages. + + + Rise of the Beys. + +By the 18th century the importance of the pasha was quite superseded by +that of the beys, and two offices, those of Sheik al-Balad and Amir +al-Hajj, which were held by these persons, represented the real headship +of the community. The process by which this state of affairs came about +is somewhat obscure, owing to the want of good chronicles for the +Turkish period of Egyptian history. In 1707 the Sheik al-Balad, Qasim +Iywaz, is found at the head of one of two Mameluke factions, the +Qasimites and the Fiqarites, between whom the seeds of enmity were sown +by the pasha of the time, with the result that a fight took place +between the factions outside Cairo, lasting eighty days. At the end of +that time Qasim Iywaz was killed and the office which he had held was +given to his son Isma'il. Isma'il held this office for sixteen years, +while the pashas were constantly being changed, and succeeded in +reconciling the two factions of Mamelukes. In 1724 this person was +assassinated through the machinations of the pasha, and Shirkas Bey, of +the opposing faction, elevated to the office of Sheik al-Balad in his +place. He was soon driven from his post by one of his own faction called +Dhu'l-Fiqar, and fled to Upper Egypt. After a short time he returned at +the head of an army, and some engagements ensued, in the last of which +Shirkas Bey met his end by drowning; Dhu'l-Fiqar was himself +assassinated in 1730 shortly after this event. His place was filled by +Othman Bey, who had served as his general in this war. In 1743 Othman +Bey, who had governed with wisdom and moderation, was forced to fly from +Egypt by the intrigues of two adventurers, Ibrahim and Ridwan Bey, who, +when their scheme had succeeded, began a massacre of beys and others +thought to be opposed to them; they then proceeded to govern Egypt +jointly, holding the two offices mentioned above in alternate years. An +attempt made by one of the pashas to rid himself of these two persons by +a _coup d'etat_ signally failed owing to the loyalty of their armed +supporters, who released Ibrahim and Ridwan from prison and compelled +the pasha to fly to Constantinople. An attempt made by a subsequent +pasha in accordance with secret orders from Constantinople was so far +successful that some of the beys were killed. Ibrahim and Ridwan +escaped, and compelled the pasha to resign his governorship and return +to Constantinople. Ibrahim shortly afterwards fell by the hand of an +assassin who had aspired to occupy one of the vacant beyships himself, +which was conferred instead on 'Ali, who as 'Ali Bey was destined to +play an important part in the history of Egypt. The murder of Ibrahim +Bey took place in 1755, and his colleague Ridwan perished in the +disputes that followed upon it. + + + 'Ali Bey. + +'Ali Bey, who had first distinguished himself by defending a caravan in +Arabia against bandits, set himself the task of avenging the death of +his former master Ibrahim, and spent eight years in purchasing Mamelukes +and winning other adherents. He thereby excited the suspicions of the +Sheik al-Balad Khalil Bey, who organized an attack upon him in the +streets of Cairo, in consequence of which he fled to Upper Egypt. Here +he met one Salh Bey, who had injuries to avenge on Khalil Bey, and the +two organized a force with which they returned to Cairo and defeated +Khalil, who was forced to fly to Tanta, where for a time he concealed +himself; eventually, however, he was discovered, sent to Alexandria and +finally strangled. The date of 'Ali Bey's victory was 1164 A.H. (A.D. +1750), and after it he was made Sheik al-Balad. In that capacity he +executed the murderer of his former master Ibrahim; but the resentment +which this act aroused among the beys caused him to leave his post and +fly to Syria, where he won the friendship of the governor of Acre, Zahir +b. Omar, who obtained for him the goodwill of the Porte and +reinstatement in his post as Sheik al-Balad. In 1766, after the death of +his supporter the grand vizier Raghib Pasha, he was again compelled to +fly from Egypt to Yemen, but in the following year he was told that his +party at Cairo was strong enough to permit of his return. Resuming his +office he raised eighteen of his friends to the rank of bey, among them +Ibrahim and Murad, who were afterwards at the head of affairs, as well +as Mahommed Abu'l-Dhahab, who was closely connected with the rest of +'Ali Bey's career. He appears to have done his utmost to bring Egyptian +affairs into order, and by very severe measures repressed the brigandage +of the Bedouins of Lower Egypt. He appears to have aspired to found an +independent monarchy, and to that end endeavoured to disband all forces +except those which were exclusively under his own control. In 1769 a +demand came to 'Ali Bey for a force of 12,000 men to be employed by the +Porte in the Russian war. It was suggested, however, at Constantinople +that 'Ali would employ this force when he collected it for securing his +own independence, and a messenger was sent by the Porte to the pasha +with orders for his execution. 'Ali, being apprised by his agents at the +metropolis of the despatch of this messenger, ordered him to be waylaid +and killed; the despatches were seized and read by 'Ali before an +assembly of the beys, who were assured that the order for execution +applied to all alike, and he urged them to fight for their lives. His +proposals were received with enthusiasm by the beys whom he had created. +Egypt was declared independent and the pasha given forty-eight hours to +quit the country. Zahir Pasha of Acre, to whom was sent official +information of the step taken by 'Ali Bey, promised his aid and kept his +word by compelling an army sent by the pasha of Damascus against Egypt +to retreat. + +The Porte was not able at the time to take active measures for the +suppression of 'Ali Bey, and the latter endeavoured to consolidate his +dominions by sending expeditions against marauding tribes, both in north +and south Egypt, reforming the finance, and improving the administration +of justice. His son-in-law, Abu'l-Dhahab, was sent to subject the +Hawwarah, who had occupied the land between Assuan and Assiut, and a +force of 20,000 was sent to conquer Yemen. An officer named Isma'il Bey +was sent with 8000 to acquire the eastern shore of the Red Sea, and one +named Hasan Bey to occupy Jidda. In six months the greater part of the +Arabian peninsula was subject to 'Ali Bey, and he appointed as sherif of +Mecca a cousin of his own, who bestowed on 'Ali by an official +proclamation the titles Sultan of Egypt and Khakan of the Two Seas. He +then, in virtue of this authorization, struck coins in his own name +(1185 A.H.) and ordered his name to be mentioned in public worship. + +His next move turned out fatally. Abu'l-Dhahab was sent with a force of +30,000 men in the same year (A.D. 1771) to conquer Syria; and agents +were sent to negotiate alliances with Venice and Russia. Abu'l-Dhahab's +progress through Palestine and Syria was triumphant. Reinforced by 'Ali +Bey's ally Zahir, he easily took the chief cities, ending with Damascus; +but at this point he appears to have entered into secret negotiations +with the Porte, by which he undertook to restore Egypt to Ottoman +suzerainty. He then proceeded to evacuate Syria, and marched with all +the forces he could collect to Upper Egypt, occupying Assiut in April +1772. Having collected some additional troops from the Bedouins, he +marched on Cairo. Isma'il Bey was sent by 'Ali Bey with a force of 3000 +to check his advance; but at Basatin Isma'il with his troops joined +Abu'l-Dhahab. 'Ali Bey intended at first to defend himself so long as +possible in the citadel at Cairo; but receiving information to the +effect that his friend Zahir of Acre was still willing to give him +refuge, he left Cairo for Syria (8th of April 1772), one day before the +entrance of Abu'l-Dhahab. + +At Acre 'Ali's fortune seemed to be restored. A Russian vessel anchored +outside the port, and, in accordance with the agreement which he had +made with the Russian empire, he was supplied with stores and +ammunition, and a force of 3000 Albanians. He sent one of his officers, +'Ali Bey al-Tantawi, to recover the Syrian towns evacuated by +Abu'l-Dhahab, and now in the possession of the Porte. He himself took +Jaffa and Gaza, the former of which he gave to his friend Zahir of +Acre. On the 1st of February 1773 he received information from Cairo +that Abu'l-Dhahab had made himself Sheik al-Balad, and in that capacity +was practising unheard-of extortions, which were making Egypt with one +voice call for the return of 'Ali Bey. He accordingly started for Egypt +at the head of an army of 8000 men, and on the 19th of April met the +army of Abu'l-Dhahab at Salihia. 'Ali's forces were successful at the +first engagement; but when the battle was renewed two days later he was +deserted by some of his officers, and prevented by illness and wounds +from himself taking the conduct of affairs. The result was a complete +defeat for his army, after which he declined to leave his tent; he was +captured after a brave resistance, and taken to Cairo, where he died +seven days later. + +After 'Ali Bey's death Egypt became once more a dependency of the Porte, +governed by Abu'l-Dhahab as Sheik al-Balad with the title pasha. He +shortly afterwards received permission from the Porte to invade Syria, +with the view of punishing 'Ali Bey's supporter Zahir, and left as his +deputies in Cairo Isma'il Bey and Ibrahim Bey, who, by deserting 'Ali at +the battle of Salihia, had brought about his downfall. After taking many +cities in Palestine Abu'l-Dhahab died, the cause being unknown; and +Murad Bey (another of the deserters at Salihia) brought his forces back +to Egypt (26th of May 1775). + +Isma'il Bey now became Sheik al-Balad, but was soon involved in a +dispute with Ibrahim and Murad, who after a time succeeded in driving +Isma'il out of Egypt and establishing a joint rule (as Sheik al-Balad +and Amir al-Hajj respectively) similar to that which had been tried +previously. The two were soon involved in quarrels, which at one time +threatened to break out into open war; but this catastrophe was averted, +and the joint rule was maintained till 1786, when an expedition was sent +by the Porte to restore Ottoman supremacy in Egypt. Murad Bey attempted +to resist, but was easily defeated; and he with Ibrahim decided to fly +to Upper Egypt and await the trend of events. On the 1st of August 1782 +the Turkish commander entered Cairo, and, after some violent measures +had been taken for the restoration of order, Isma'il Bey was again made +Sheik al-Balad and a new pasha installed as governor. In January 1791 a +terrible plague began to rage in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, to which +Isma'il Bey and most of his family fell victims. Owing to the need for +competent rulers Ibrahim and Murad Bey were sent for from Upper Egypt +and resumed their dual government. These two persons were still in +office when Bonaparte entered Egypt. + + _Moslem Authorities._--Arabic literature being cosmopolitan, and + Arabic authors accustomed to travel from place to place to collect + traditions and obtain oral instruction from contemporary authorities, + or else to enjoy the patronage of Maecenates, the literary history of + Egypt cannot be dissociated from that of the other Moslem countries in + which Arabic was the chief literary vehicle. Hence the list of authors + connected with Egypt, which occupies pages 161-275 of Suyuti's work, + _Husn al-muhadarah fi akhbari Misr wal-Qahirah_ (Cairo, 1321 A.H.), + contains the names of persons like Mutanabbi, who stayed there for a + short time in the service of some patron; Abu Tammam, who lived there + before he acquired fame as a poet; 'Umara of Yemen, who came there at + a mature age to spend some years in the service of Fatimite viziers; + each of whom figures in lists of authors belonging to some other + country also. So long as the centre of the Islamic world was not in + Egypt, the best talent was attracted elsewhere; but after the fall of + Bagdad, Cairo became the chief seat of Islamic learning, and this + rank, chiefly owing to the university of Azhar, it has ever since + continued to maintain. The following composed special histories of + Egypt: Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, d. 257 A.H.; 'Abd al-Rahim b. Yunus, d. 347; + Mahommed b. Yusuf al-Kindi, d. somewhat later; Ibn Zulaq, d. 387; 'Izz + al-Mulk Mahommed al-Musabbihi, d. 420; Mahommed b. Salamah al-Qoda'i, + d. 454; Jamal al-din 'Ali al-Qifti, d. 568; Jamal al-din al-Halabi, d. + 623; 'Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, d. 629; Mahommed b. 'Abd al-Aziz + al-Idrisi (history of Upper Egypt), d. 649; his son Ja'far (history of + Cairo), d. 676; Ibn Sa'id, d. 685; Ibrahim b. Wasif Shah; Ibn + al-Mutawwaj, d. 703; Mahommed b. Dani'al, d. 710; Ja'far b. Tha'lab + Kamal al-din al-Adfu'i (history of Upper Egypt), d. 730; 'Abd al-Qarun + al-Halabi, d. 735; Ibn Habib, d. 779; Ibn Duqmaq, d. 790; Ibn Tughan, + Shihab al-din al-Auhadi, d. 790; Ibn al-Mulaqqin, d. 806; Maqrizi, + Taqiyy al-din Ahmad, d. 840; Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, d. 852; + al-Sakhawi, d. 902; Abu'l-Mahasin b. Taghribirdi, d. 874; Jalal al-din + al-Suyuti, d. 911; Ibn Zunbul al-Rammal; Ibn Iyas, d. after 928; + Mahommed b. Abi Surur, d. after 1017; Zain al-din al Karami, d. 1033; + 'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti, d. after 1236. Of many of the Mameluke + sultans there are special chronicles preserved in various European and + Oriental libraries. The works of many of the authors enumerated are + topographical and biographical as well as purely historical. To these + there should be added the Survey of Egypt, called _al-tuhfah + al-saniyyah_ of Ibn Ji'an, belonging to the time of Kait Bey; the + treatise on the Egyptian constitution called _Zubdat Kashf + al-Mamalik_, by Khalil al-Zahiri, of the same period; and the + encyclopaedic work on the same subject called _Subh al-Insha_, by + al-Qalqashandi, d. 821. + + Arabic poetry is in the main encomiastic and personal, and from the + beginning of the Omayyad period sovereigns and governors paid poets to + celebrate their achievements; of those of importance who are connected + with Egypt we may mention Nusaib, encomiast of 'Abd al-Aziz b. Merwan, + d. 180; the greater Nashi (Abu l-Abbas 'Abdallah), d. 293; Ibn + Tabataba, d. 345; Abu'l-Raqa'maq, encomiast of al-Mo'izz, d. 399; + Sari' al-Dila ('Ali b. 'Abd al-Wahid), encomiast of the Fatimite + al-Zahir, d. 412; Sanajat al-dauh (Mahommed b. al-Qasim), encomiast of + Hakim; 'Ali b. 'Abbad al-Iskandari, encomiast of the vizier al-Afdal, + executed by Hafiz; Ibn Qalaqis al-Iskandari, encomiast of the + Ayyubites, d. 607; Muhaddhab b. Mameti, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d. + 616; Ibn Sana' al-Mulk, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d. 658; Ibn + al-Munajjim, d. 626; Ibn Matruh, encomiast of the Ayyubites, d. 654; + Baha' al-din Zuhair, encomiast of al-Salih, d. 656; Ibn 'Ammar, d. + 675; al-Mi'mar, d. 749; Ibn Nubatah, d. 768; Ibn Abi Hajalah, d. 776; + Burhan al-din al-Qirati, d. 801; Ibn Mukanis, d. 864; Ibn Hijjah + al-Hamawi, d. 837. Poets distinguished for special lines are al-Hakim + b. Dani' al, d. 608, author of the Shadow-play; and al-Busiri + (Mahommed b. Sa'id), d. 694, author of the ode in praise of the + prophet called Burdah. The poets of Egypt are reckoned with those of + Syria in the _Yatimah_ of Tha' alibi; a special work upon them was + written by Ibn Fadl allah (d. 740); and a list of poets of the 11th + century is given by Khafaji in his _Raihanat al-alibba_. + + The needs of the Egyptian court produced a number of elegant + letter-writers, of whom the most famous were 'Abd al-Rahim b. 'Ali + al-Baisani, ordinarily known as al-Qadi' al-Fadil, d. 596, secretary + of state to Saladin and other Ayyubite sultans; 'Imad al-din + al-Ispahani, d. 597, also secretary of state and official chronicler; + and Ibn 'Abd al-Zahir, d. 692, secretary of state to Bibars I. and + succeeding sultans; he was followed by his son Fath al-din, to whom + the title "Secret writer" was first given. + + In the subject of law Egypt boasts that the Imam Shafi'i, founder of + one of the schools, resided at Fostat from 195 till his death in 204; + his system, though displaced for a time by that invented by the + Fatimites, and since the Turkish conquest by the Hanifite system, has + always been popular in Egypt: in Ayyubite times it was dominant, + whereas in Mameluke times all four systems were officially recognized. + The eminent jurists who flourished in Moslem Egypt form a very lengthy + list. Among the Egyptian traditionalists the most eminent is + Daraqutni, d. 385. + + Among Egyptian mystics the most famous as authors are the poet Ibn + al-Farid, d. 632, and Abd al-Wahhab Sha rani, d. 973. Abu'l-Hasan + al-Shadhili (d. 656) is celebrated as the founder of the Shadhili + order; but there were many others of note. The dictionary of + physicians, compiled in the 7th century, enumerates nearly sixty men + of science who resided in Egypt; the best-known among them are Sa'id + b. Bitriq, Moses Maimonides and Ibn Baitar. Of Egyptian miscellaneous + writers two of the most celebrated are Ibn Daqiq al'-id, d. 702, and + Jalal al-din Suyuti. + + _European Authorities._--For the Moslem conquest, A. J. Butler, _The + Arab Conquest of Egypt_ (Oxford, 1902); for the period before the + Fatimites, Wustenfeld, "Die Statthalter von Agypten," in _Abhandlungen + der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen_, vols. + xx. and xxi.; for the Fatimite period, Wustenfeld, "Geschichte der + Fatimiden-Chalifen," ibid. vols. xxvi. and xxvii.; for the Ayyubite + period, Ibn Khallikan's _Biographical Dictionary_, translated by M'G. + de Slane (London, 1842-1871); for the Mameluke period, Weil, + _Geschichte der Chalifen_, vols. iv. and v. (also called _Geschichte + des Abbasidenchalifats in Agypten_), (Stuttgart, 1860-1862); Sir W. + Muir, _The Mameluke or Slave Dynasty of Egypt_ (London, 1896); for the + Turkish period, G. Zaidan, _History of Modern Egypt_ (Arabic), vol. + ii. (Cairo, 1889). See also Maqrizi, _Description topographique et + historique de l'Egypte_, translated by Bouriant (Paris, 1895, &c.); C. + H. Becker, _Beitrage zur Geschichte Agyptens_ (Strassburg, 1902). + (D. S. M.*) + + + Battle of the Nile. + +(9) _From the French Occupation to the Rise of Mehemet Ali._--The +ostensible object of the French expedition to Egypt was to reinstate the +authority of the Sublime Porte, and suppress the Mamelukes; and in the +proclamation printed with the Arabic types brought from the Propaganda +press, and issued shortly after the taking of Alexandria, Bonaparte +declared that he reverenced the prophet Mahomet and the Koran far more +than the Mamelukes reverenced either, and argued that all men were equal +except so far as they were distinguished by their intellectual and moral +excellences, of neither of which the Mamelukes had any great share. In +future all posts in Egypt were to be open to all classes of the +inhabitants; the conduct of affairs was to be committed to the men of +talent, virtue, and learning; and in proof of the statement that the +French were sincere Moslems the overthrow of the papal authority in Rome +was alleged. That there might be no doubt of the friendly feeling of the +French to the Porte, villages and towns which capitulated to the +invaders were required to hoist the flags of both the Porte and the +French republic, and in the thanksgiving prescribed to the Egyptians for +their deliverance from the Mamelukes, prayer was to be offered for both +the sultan and the French army. It does not appear that the proclamation +convinced many of the Egyptians of the truth of these professions. After +the battle of Ambabah, at which the forces of both Murad Bey and Ibrahim +Bey were dispersed, the populace readily plundered the houses of the +beys, and a deputation was sent from al-Azhar to Bonaparte to ascertain +his intentions; these proved to be a repetition of the terms of his +proclamation, and, though the combination of loyalty to the French with +loyalty to the sultan was unintelligible, a good understanding was at +first established between the invaders and the Egyptians. A municipal +council was established in Cairo, consisting of persons taken from the +ranks of the sheiks, the Mamelukes and the French; and presently +delegates from Alexandria and other important towns were added. This +council did little more than register the decrees of the French +commander, who continued to exercise dictatorial power. The destruction +of the French fleet at the battle of the Nile, and the failure of the +French forces sent to Upper Egypt (where they reached the first +cataract) to obtain possession of the person of Murad Bey, shook the +faith of the Egyptians in their invincibility; and in consequence of a +series of unwelcome innovations the relations between conquerors and +conquered grew daily more strained, till at last, on the occasion of the +introduction of a house tax, an insurrection broke out in Cairo on the +22nd of October 1798, of which the headquarters were in the Moslem +university of Azhar. On this occasion the French general Dupuy, +lieutenant-governor of Cairo, was killed. The prompt measures of +Bonaparte, aided by the arrival from Alexandria of General J. B. Kleber, +quickly suppressed this rising; but the stabling of the French cavalry +in the mosque of Azhar gave great and permanent offence. In consequence +of this affair, the deliberative council was suppressed, but on the 25th +of December a fresh proclamation was issued, reconstituting the two +divans which had been created by the Turks; the special divan was to +consist of 14 persons chosen by lot out of 60 government nominees, and +was to meet daily. The general divan was to consist of functionaries, +and to meet on emergencies. + +In consequence of despatches which reached Bonaparte on the 3rd of +January 1799, announcing the intention of the Porte to invade the +country with the object of recovering it by force, Bonaparte resolved on +his Syrian expedition, and appointed governors for Cairo, Alexandria, +and Upper Egypt, to govern during his absence. From that ill-fated +expedition he returned at the beginning of June. Advantage had been +taken of this opportunity by Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey to collect their +forces and attempt a joint attack on Cairo, but this Bonaparte arrived +in time to defeat, and in the last week of July he inflicted a crushing +defeat on the Turkish army that had landed at Aboukir, aided by the +British fleet commanded by Sir Sidney Smith. Shortly after his victory +Bonaparte left Egypt, having appointed Kleber to govern in his absence, +which he informed the sheiks of Cairo was not to last more than three +months. Kleber himself regarded the condition of the French invaders as +extremely perilous, and wrote to inform the French republic of the +facts. A double expedition shortly after Bonaparte's departure was sent +by the Porte for the recovery of Egypt, one force being despatched by +sea to Damietta, while another under Yusuf Pasha took the land route +from Damascus by al-Arish. Over the first some success was won, in +consequence of which the Turks agreed to a convention (signed January +24, 1800), by virtue of which the French were to quit Egypt. The Turkish +troops advanced to Bilbeis, where they were received by the sheiks from +Cairo, and the Mamelukes also returned to that city from their +hiding-places. Before the preparations for the departure of the French +were completed, orders came to Sir Sidney Smith from the British +government, forbidding the carrying out of the convention unless the +French army were treated as prisoners of war; and when these were +communicated to Kleber he cancelled the orders previously given to the +troops, and proceeded to put the country in a state of defence. His +departure with most of the army to attack the Turks at Mataria led to +riots in Cairo, in the course of which many Christians were slaughtered; +but the national party were unable to get possession of the citadel, and +Kleber, having defeated the Turks, was soon able to return to the +capital. On the 14th of April he bombarded Bulak, and proceeded to +bombard Cairo itself, which was taken the following night. Order was +soon restored, and a fine of twelve million francs imposed on the +rioters. Murad Bey sought an interview with Kleber and succeeded in +obtaining from him the government of Upper Egypt. He died shortly +afterwards and was succeeded by Osman Bey al-Bardisi. + +On the 14th of June Kleber was assassinated by a fanatic named Suleiman +of Aleppo, said to have been incited to the deed by a Janissary refugee +at Jerusalem, who had brought letters to the sheiks of the Azhar, who, +however, refused to give him any encouragement. Three of these, +nevertheless, were executed by the French as accessories before the +fact, and the assassin himself was impaled, after torture, in spite of a +promise of pardon having been made to him on condition of his naming his +associates. The command of the army then devolved on General J. F. +(Baron de) Menou (1750-1810), a man who had professed Islam, and who +endeavoured to conciliate the Moslem population by various measures, +such as excluding all Christians (with the exception of one Frenchman) +from the divan, replacing the Copts who were in government service by +Moslems, and subjecting French residents to taxes. Whatever popularity +might have been gained by these measures was counteracted by his +declaration of a French protectorate over Egypt, which was to count as a +French colony. + + + French evacuation. + +In the first weeks of March 1801 the English, under Sir R. Abercromby, +effected a landing at Aboukir, and proceeded to invest Alexandria, where +on the 21st they were attacked by Menou; the French were repulsed, but +the English commander was mortally wounded in the action. On the 25th +fresh reinforcements arrived under Husain, the Kapudan Pasha, or high +admiral; and a combined English and Turkish force was sent to take +Rosetta. On the 30th of May, General A. D. Belliard, who had been left +in charge at Cairo, was assailed on two sides by the British forces +under General John Hely Hutchinson (afterwards 2nd earl of Donoughmore), +and the Turkish under Yusuf Pasha; after negotiations Belliard agreed to +evacuate Cairo and to sail with his 13,734 troops to France. On the 30th +of August, Menou at Alexandria was compelled to accept similar +conditions, and his force of 10,000 left for Europe in September. This +was the termination of the French occupation of Egypt, of which the +chief permanent monument was the _Description de l'Egypte_, compiled by +the French savants who accompanied the expedition. Further than this, +"it brought to the attention of a few men in Egypt a keen sense of the +great advantage of an orderly government, and a warm appreciation of the +advance that science and learning had made in Europe" (Hajji Browne, +_Bonaparte in Egypt and the Egyptians of to-day_, 1907, p. 268). + + + British, Turks and Mamelukes. + +Soon after the evacuation of Egypt by the French, the country became the +scene of more severe troubles, in consequence of the attempts of the +Turks to destroy the power of the Mamelukes. In defiance of promises to +the British government, orders were transmitted from Constantinople to +Husain Pasha, the Turkish high admiral, to ensnare and put to death the +principal beys. Invited to an entertainment, they were, according to the +Egyptian contemporary historian al-Jabarti, attacked on board the +flag-ship; Sir Robert Wilson and M. F. Mengin, however, state that they +were fired on, in open boats, in the Bay of Aboukir. They offered an +heroic resistance, but were overpowered, and some killed, some made +prisoners; among the last was Osman Bey al-Bardisi, who was severely +wounded. General Hutchinson, informed of this treachery, immediately +assumed threatening measures against the Turks, and in consequence the +killed, wounded and prisoners were given up to him. At the same time +Yusuf Pasha arrested all the beys in Cairo, but was shortly compelled by +the British to release them. Such was the beginning of the disastrous +struggle between the Mamelukes and the Turks. + +Mahommed Khosrev was the first Turkish governor of Egypt after the +expulsion of the French. The form of government, however, was not the +same as that before the French invasion, for the Mamelukes were not +reinstated. The pasha, and through him the sultan, endeavoured on +several occasions either to ensnare them or to beguile them into +submission; but these efforts failing, Mahommed Khosrev took the field, +and a Turkish detachment 7000 strong was despatched against them to +Damanhur, whither they had descended from Upper Egypt, and was defeated +by a small force under al-Alfi; or, as Mengin says, by 800 men commanded +by al-Bardisi, when al-Alfi had left the field. Their ammunition and +guns fell into the hands of the Mamelukes. + +In March 1803 the British evacuated Alexandria, and Mahommed Bey al-Alfi +accompanied them to England to consult respecting the means to be +adopted for restoring the former power of the Mamelukes, who meanwhile +took Minia and interrupted communication between Upper and Lower Egypt. +About six weeks after, the Arnaut (or Albanian) soldiers in the service +of Khosrev tumultuously demanded their pay, and surrounded the house of +the defterdar (or finance minister), who in vain appealed to the pasha +to satisfy their claims. The latter opened fire from the artillery of +his palace on the insurgent soldiery in the house of the defterdar, +across the Ezbekia. The citizens of Cairo, accustomed to such +occurrences, immediately closed their shops, and every man who possessed +any weapon armed himself. The tumult continued all the day, and the next +morning a body of troops sent out by the pasha failed to quell it. +Tahir, the commander of the Albanians, then repaired to the citadel, +gained admittance through an embrasure, and, having obtained possession +of it, began to cannonade the pasha over the roofs of the intervening +houses, and then descended with guns to the Ezbekia and laid close siege +to the palace. On the following day Mahommed Khosrev made good his +escape, with his women and servants and his regular troops, and fled to +Damietta by the river. This revolt marks the beginning in Egypt of the +breach between the Albanians and Turks, which ultimately led to the +expulsion of the latter, and of the rise to power of the Albanian +Mehemet Ali (q.v.), who was destined to rule the country for nearly +forty years and be the cause of serious European complications. + + + First appearance of Mehemet Ali. + +Tahir Pasha assumed the government, but in twenty-three days he met with +his death from exactly the same cause as that of the overthrow of his +predecessor. He refused the pay of certain of the Turkish troops, and +was immediately assassinated. A desperate conflict ensued between the +Albanians and Turks; and the palace was set on fire and plundered. The +masters of Egypt were now split into these two factions, animated with +the fiercest animosity against each other. Mehemet Ali, then in command +of an Albanian regiment, became the head of the former, but his party +was the weaker, and he therefore entered into an alliance with the +Mameluke leaders Ibrahim Bey and 'Osman Bey al-Bardisi. A certain Ahmed +Pasha, who was about to proceed to a province in Arabia, of which he had +been appointed governor, was raised to the important post of pasha of +Egypt, through the influence of the Turks and the favour of the sheiks; +but Mehemet Ali, who with his Albanians held the citadel, refused to +assent to their choice; the Mamelukes moved over from El-Giza, whither +they had been invited by Tahir Pasha, and Ahmed Pasha betook himself to +the mosque of al-Zahir, which the French had converted into a fortress. +He was compelled to surrender by the Albanians; the two chiefs of the +Turks who killed Tahir Pasha were taken with him and put to death, and +he himself was detained a prisoner. In consequence of the alliance +between Mehemet Ali and al-Bardisi, the Albanians gave the citadel over +to the Mamelukes; and soon after, these allies marched against Khosrev +Pasha, who having been joined by a considerable body of Turks, and being +in possession of Damietta, was enabled to offer an obstinate resistance. +After much loss on both sides, he was taken prisoner and brought to +Cairo; but he was treated with respect. The victorious soldiery sacked +the town of Damietta, and were guilty of the barbarities usual with them +on such occasions. + + + The Mamelukes and Ali Pasha. + +A few days later, Ali Pasha Jazairli landed at Alexandria with an +imperial firman constituting him pasha of Egypt, and threatened the +beys, who now were virtual masters of Upper Egypt, as well as of the +capital and nearly the whole of Lower Egypt. Mehemet Ali and al-Bardisi +therefore descended to Rosetta, which had fallen into the hands of a +brother of Ali Pasha, and having captured the town and its commander, +al-Bardisi purposed to proceed against Alexandria; but the troops +demanded arrears of pay which it was not in his power to give, and the +pasha had cut the dyke between the lakes of Aboukir and Mareotis, thus +rendering the approach to Alexandria more difficult. Al-Bardisi and +Mehemet Ali therefore returned to Cairo. The troubles of Egypt were now +increased by an insufficient inundation, and great scarcity prevailed, +aggravated by the taxation to which the beys were compelled to resort in +order to pay the troops; while murder and rapine prevailed in the +capital, the riotous soldiery being under little or no control. +Meanwhile, Ali Pasha, who had been behaving with violence towards the +Franks in Alexandria, received a _hatt-i-sherif_ from the sultan, which +he sent by his secretary to Cairo. It announced that the beys should +live peaceably in Egypt, with an annual pension each of fifteen purses +(a "purse" = 500 piastres) and other privileges, but that the government +should be in the hands of the pasha. To this the beys assented, but with +considerable misgivings; for they had intercepted letters from Ali to +the Albanians, endeavouring to alienate them from their side to his own. +Deceptive answers were returned to these, and Ali was induced by them to +advance towards Cairo at the head of 3000 men. The forces of the beys, +with the Albanians, encamped near him at Shalakan, and he fell back on a +place called Zufeyta. They next seized his boats conveying soldiers, +servants, and his ammunition and baggage; and, following him, they +demanded wherefore he brought with him so numerous a body of men, in +opposition to usage and to their previous warning. Finding they would +not allow his troops to advance, forbidden himself to retreat with them +to Alexandria, and being surrounded by the enemy, he would have hazarded +a battle, but his men refused to fight. He therefore went to the camp of +the beys, and his army was compelled to retire to Syria. In the hands of +the beys Ali Pasha again attempted treachery. A horseman was seen to +leave his tent one night at full gallop; he was the bearer of a letter +to Osman Bey Hasan, the governor of Kine. This offered a fair pretext to +the Mamelukes to rid themselves of a man proved to be a perfidious +tyrant. He was sent under a guard of forty-five men towards the Syrian +frontier; and about a week after, news was received that in a skirmish +with some of his own soldiers he had fallen mortally wounded. + +The death of Ali Pasha produced only temporary tranquillity; in a few +days (February 12, 1804) the return of Mahommed Bey al-Alfi (called the +Great) from England was the signal for fresh disturbances, which, by +splitting the Mamelukes into two parties, accelerated their final +overthrow. An ancient jealousy existed between al-Alfi and the other +most powerful bey, al-Bardisi. The latter was now supreme among the +Mamelukes, and this fact considerably heightened their old enmity. While +the guns of the citadel, those at Old Cairo, and even those of the +palace of al-Bardisi, were thrice fired in honour of al-Alfi, +preparations were immediately begun to oppose him. His partisans were +collected opposite Cairo, and al-Alfi the Less held Giza; but treachery +was among them; Husain Bey (a relative of al-Alfi) was assassinated by +emissaries of al-Bardisi, and Mehemet Ali, with his Albanians, gained +possession of Giza, which was, as usual, given over to the troops to +pillage. In the meanwhile al-Alfi the Great embarked at Rosetta, and not +apprehending opposition, was on his way to Cairo, when a little south of +the town of Manuf he encountered a party of Albanians, and with +difficulty made his escape. He gained the eastern branch of the Nile, +but the river had become dangerous, and he fled to the desert. There he +had several hairbreadth escapes, and at last secreted himself among a +tribe of Arabs at Ras al-Wadi. A change in the fortune of al-Bardisi, +however, favoured his plans for the future. That chief, in order to +satisfy the demands of the Albanians for their pay, gave orders to levy +heavy contributions from the citizens of Cairo; and this new oppression +roused them to rebellion. The Albanians, alarmed for their safety, +assured the populace that they would not allow the order to be executed; +and Mehemet Ali himself caused a proclamation to be made to that effect. +Thus the Albanians became the favourites of the people, and took +advantage of their opportunity. Three days later (March 12th, 1804) they +beset the house of the aged Ibrahim Bey, and that of al-Bardisi, both of +whom effected their escape with difficulty. The Mamelukes in the citadel +directed a fire of shot and shell on the houses of the Albanians which +were situated in the Ezbekia; but, on hearing of the flight of their +chiefs, they evacuated the place; and Mehemet Ali, on gaining possession +of it, once more proclaimed Mahommed Khosrev pasha of Egypt. For one day +and a half he enjoyed the title; the friends of the late Tahir Pasha +then accomplished his second degradation,[22] and Cairo was again the +scene of terrible enormities, the Albanians revelling in the houses of +the Mameluke chiefs, whose hareems met with no mercy at their hands. +These events were the signal for the reappearance of al-Alfi. + +The Albanians now invited Ahmed Pasha Khorshid to assume the reins of +government, and he without delay proceeded from Alexandria to Cairo. The +forces of the partisans of al-Bardisi were ravaging the country a few +miles south of the capital and intercepting the supplies of corn by the +river; a little later they passed to the north of Cairo and successively +took Bilbeis and Kalyub, plundering the villages, destroying the crops, +and slaughtering the herds of the inhabitants. Cairo was itself in a +state of tumult, suffering severely from a scarcity of grain, and the +heavy exactions of the pasha to meet the demands of his turbulent +troops, at that time augmented by a Turkish detachment. The shops were +closed, and the unfortunate people assembled in great crowds, crying "Ya +Latif! Ya Latif!" ("O Gracious [God]!") Al-Alfi and Osman Bey Hasan had +professed allegiance to the pasha; but they soon after declared against +him, and they were now approaching from the south; and having repulsed +Mehemet Ali, they took the two fortresses of Tura. These Mehemet Ali +speedily retook by night with 4000 infantry and cavalry; but the +enterprise was only partially successful. On the following day the other +Mamelukes north of the metropolis actually penetrated into the suburbs; +but a few days later were defeated in a battle fought at Shubra, with +heavy loss on both sides. This reverse in a measure united the two great +Mameluke parties, though their chiefs remained at enmity. Al-Bardisi +passed to the south of Cairo, and the Mamelukes gradually retreated +towards Upper Egypt. Thither the pasha despatched three successive +expeditions (one of which was commanded by Mehemet Ali), and many +battles were fought, but without decisive result. + +At this period another calamity befell Egypt; about 3000 Delis (Kurdish +troops) arrived in Cairo from Syria. These troops had been sent for by +Khorshid in order to strengthen himself against the Albanians; and the +events of this portion of the history afford sad proof of their ferocity +and brutal enormities, in which they far exceeded the ordinary Turkish +soldiers and even the Albanians. Their arrival immediately recalled +Mehemet Ali and his party from the war, and instead of aiding Khorshid +was the proximate cause of his overthrow. + +Cairo was ripe for revolt; the pasha was hated for his tyranny and +extortion, and execrated for the deeds of his troops, especially those +of the Delis: the sheiks enjoined the people to close their shops, and +the soldiers clamoured for pay. At this juncture a firman arrived from +Constantinople conferring on Mehemet Ali the pashalic of Jedda; but the +occurrences of a few days raised him to that of Egypt. + + + Struggle between Khorshid and Mehemet Ali. + +On the 12th of Safar 1220 (May 12th, 1805) the sheiks, with an immense +concourse of the inhabitants, assembled in the house of the kadi; and +the ulema, amid the prayers and cries of the people, wrote a full +statement of the heavy wrongs which they had endured under the +administration of the pasha. The ulema, in answer, were desired to go to +the citadel; but they were apprised of treachery; and on the following +day, having held another council at the house of the kadi, they +proceeded to Mehemet Ali and informed him that the people would no +longer submit to Khorshid. "Then whom will ye have?" said he. "We will +have _thee_," they replied, "to govern us according to the laws; for we +see in thy countenance that thou art possessed of justice and goodness." +Mehemet Ali seemed to hesitate, and then complied, and was at once +invested. On this, a bloody struggle began between the two pashas. +Khorshid, being informed of the insurrection, immediately prepared to +stand a siege in the citadel. Two chiefs of the Albanians joined his +party, but many of his soldiers deserted. Mehemet Ali's great strength +lay in the devotion of the citizens of Cairo, who looked on him as a +deliverer from their afflictions; and great numbers armed themselves, +advising constantly with Mehemet Ali, having the sayyid Omar and the +sheiks at their head, and guarding the town at night. On the 19th of the +same month Mehemet Ali began to besiege Khorshid. After the siege had +continued many days, Khorshid gave orders to cannonade and bombard the +town; and for six days his commands were executed with little +interruption, the citadel itself also lying between two fires. Mehemet +Ali's position at this time was very critical: his troops became +mutinous for their pay; the silahdar, who had commanded one of the +expeditions against the Mamelukes, advanced to the relief of Khorshid; +and the latter ordered the Delis to march to his assistance. The firing +ceased on the Friday, but began again on the eve of Saturday and lasted +until the next Friday. On the day following (May 28th) news came of the +arrival at Alexandria of a messenger from Constantinople. The ensuing +night in Cairo presented a curious spectacle; many of the inhabitants, +believing that this envoy would put an end to their miseries, fired off +their weapons as they paraded the streets with bands of music. The +silahdar, imagining the noise to be a fray, marched in haste towards the +citadel, while its garrison sallied forth and began throwing up +entrenchments in the quarter of Arab al-Yesar, but were repulsed by the +armed inhabitants and the soldiers stationed there; and during all this +time the cannonade and bombardment from the citadel, and on it from the +batteries on the hill, continued unabated. + + + Mehemet Ali granted the pashalic. + +The envoy brought a firman confirming Mehemet Ali and ordering Khorshid +to go to Alexandria, there to await further orders; but this he refused +to do, on the ground that he had been appointed by a _hatt-i-sherif_. +The firing ceased on the following day, but the troubles of the people +were rather increased than assuaged; murders and robberies were daily +committed by the soldiery, the shops were all shut and some of the +streets barricaded. While these scenes were being enacted, al-Alfi was +besieging Damanhur, and the other beys were returning towards Cairo, +Khorshid having called them to his assistance; but Mehemet Ali forced +them to retreat. + +Soon after this, a squadron under the command of the Turkish high +admiral arrived at Aboukir Bay, with despatches confirming the firman +brought by the former envoy, and authorizing Mehemet Ali to continue to +discharge the functions of governor. Khorshid at first refused to yield; +but at length, on condition that his troops should be paid, he evacuated +the citadel and embarked for Rosetta. + + + First massacre of the Mamelukes. + +Mehemet Ali now possessed the title of Governor of Egypt, but beyond the +walls of Cairo his authority was everywhere disputed by the beys, who +were joined by the army of the silahdar of Khorshid; and many Albanians +deserted from his ranks. To replenish his empty coffers he was also +compelled to levy exactions, principally from the Copts. An attempt was +made to ensnare certain of the beys, who were encamped north of Cairo. +On the 17th of August 1805 the dam of the canal of Cairo was to be cut, +and some chiefs of Mehemet Ali's party wrote, informing them that he +would go forth early on that morning with most of his troops to witness +the ceremony, inviting them to enter and seize the city, and, to deceive +them, stipulating for a certain sum of money as a reward. The dam, +however, was cut early in the preceding night, without any ceremony. On +the following morning, these beys, with their Mamelukes, a very numerous +body, broke open the gate of the suburb al-Husainia, and gained +admittance into the city from the north, through the gate called Bab +el-Futuh. They marched along the principal street for some distance, +with kettle-drums behind each company, and were received with apparent +joy by the citizens. At the mosque called the Ashrafia they separated, +one party proceeding to the Azhar and the houses of certain sheiks, and +the other continuing along the main street, and through the gate called +Bab Zuwela, where they turned up towards the citadel. Here they were +fired on by some soldiers from the houses; and with this signal a +terrible massacre began. Falling back towards their companions, they +found the bye-streets closed; and in that part of the main thoroughfare +called Bain al-Kasrain they were suddenly placed between two fires. Thus +shut up in a narrow street, some sought refuge in the collegiate mosque +Barkukia, while the remainder fought their way through their enemies and +escaped over the city-wall with the loss of their horses. Two Mamelukes +had in the meantime succeeded, by great exertions, in giving the alarm +to their comrades in the quarter of the Azhar, who escaped by the +eastern gate called Bab al-Ghoraib. A horrible fate awaited those who +had shut themselves up in the Barkukia. Having begged for quarter and +surrendered, they were immediately stripped nearly naked, and about +fifty were slaughtered on the spot; and about the same number were +dragged away, with every brutal aggravation of their pitiful condition, +to Mehemet Ali. Among them were four beys, one of whom, driven to +madness by Mehemet Ali's mockery, asked for a drink of water; his hands +were untied that he might take the bottle, but he snatched a dagger from +one of the soldiers, rushed at the pasha, and fell covered with wounds. +The wretched captives were then chained and left in the court of the +pasha's house; and on the following morning the heads of their comrades +who had perished the day before were skinned and stuffed with straw +before their eyes. One bey and two others paid their ransom and were +released; the rest, without exception, were tortured and put to death in +the course of the ensuing night. Eighty-three heads (many of them those +of Frenchmen and Albanians) were stuffed and sent to Constantinople, +with a boast that the Mameluke chiefs were utterly destroyed. Thus ended +Mehemet Ali's first massacre of his too confiding enemies. + +The beys, after this, appear to have despaired of regaining their +ascendancy; most of them retreated to Upper Egypt, and an attempt at +compromise failed. Al-Alfi offered his submission on the condition of +the cession of the Fayum and other provinces; but this was refused, and +that chief gained two successive victories over the pasha's troops, many +of whom deserted to him. + +At length, in consequence of the remonstrances of the English, and a +promise made by al-Alfi of 1500 purses, the Porte consented to reinstate +the twenty-four beys and to place al-Alfi at their head; but this +measure met with the opposition of Mehemet Ali and the determined +resistance of the majority of the Mamelukes, who, rather than have +al-Alfi at their head, preferred their present condition; for the enmity +of al-Bardisi had not subsided, and he commanded the voice of most of +the other beys. In pursuance of the above plan, a squadron under Salih +Pasha, shortly before appointed high admiral, arrived at Alexandria on +the 1st of July 1806 with 3000 regular troops and a successor to Mehemet +Ali, who was to receive the pashalik of Salonica. This wily chief +professed his willingness to obey the commands of the Porte, but stated +that his troops, to whom he owed a vast sum of money, opposed his +departure. He induced the ulema to sign a letter, praying the sultan to +revoke the command for reinstating the beys, persuaded the chiefs of the +Albanian troops to swear allegiance to him, and sent 2000 purses +contributed by them to Constantinople. Al-Alfi was at that time +besieging Damanhur, and he gained a signal victory over the pasha's +troops; but the dissensions of the beys destroyed their last chance of a +return to power. Al-Alfi and his partisans were unable to pay the sum +promised to the Porte; Salih Pasha received plenipotentiary powers from +Constantinople, in consequence of the letter from the ulema; and, on the +condition of Mehemet Ali's paying 4000 purses to the Porte, it was +decided that he should continue in his post, and the reinstatement of +the beys was abandoned. Fortune continued to favour the pasha. In the +following month al-Bardisi died, aged forty-eight years; and soon after, +a scarcity of provisions excited the troops of al-Alfi to revolt. That +bey very reluctantly raised the siege of Damanhur, being in daily +expectation of the arrival of an English army; and at the village of +Shubra-ment he was attacked by a sudden illness, and died on the 30th of +January 1807, at the age of fifty-five. Thus was the pasha relieved of +his two most formidable enemies; and shortly after he defeated Shahin +Bey, with the loss to the latter of his artillery and baggage and 300 +men killed or taken prisoners. + + + The British expedition of 1807. + +On the 17th of March 1807 a British fleet appeared off Alexandria, +having on board nearly 5000 troops, under the command of General A. +Mackenzie Fraser; and the place, being disaffected towards Mehemet Ali, +opened its gates to them. Here they first heard of the death of al-Alfi, +upon whose co-operation they had founded their chief hopes of success; +and they immediately despatched messengers to his successor and to the +other beys, inviting them to Alexandria. The British resident, Major +Missett, having represented the importance of taking Rosetta and +Rahmanieh, to secure supplies for Alexandria, General Fraser, with the +concurrence of the admiral, Sir John Duckworth, detached the 31st +regiment and the Chasseurs Britanniques, accompanied by some field +artillery under Major-General Wauchope and Brigadier-General Meade, on +this service; and these troops entered Rosetta without encountering any +opposition; but as soon as they had dispersed among the narrow streets, +the garrison opened a deadly fire on them from the latticed windows and +the roofs of the houses. They effected a retreat on Aboukir and +Alexandria, after a very heavy loss of 185 killed and 281 wounded, +General Wauchope and three officers being among the former, and General +Meade and nineteen officers among the latter. The heads of the slain +were fixed on stakes on each side of the road crossing the Ezbekia in +Cairo. + +Mehemet Ali, meanwhile, was conducting an expedition against the beys in +Upper Egypt, and he had defeated them near Assiut, when he heard of the +arrival of the British. In great alarm lest the beys should join them, +especially as they were far north of his position, he immediately sent +messengers to his rivals, promising to comply with all their demands if +they should join in expelling the invaders; and this proposal being +agreed to, both armies marched towards Cairo on opposite sides of the +river. + +To return to the unfortunate British expedition. The possession of +Rosetta being deemed indispensable, Brigadier-Generals Sir William +Stewart and Oswald were despatched thither with 2500 men. For thirteen +days a cannonade of the town was continued without effect; and on the +20th of April, news having come in from the advanced guard at Hamad of +large reinforcements to the besieged, General Stewart was compelled to +retreat; and a dragoon was despatched to Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, +commanding at Hamad, with orders to fall back. The messenger, however, +was unable to penetrate to the spot; and the advanced guard, consisting +of a detachment of the 31st, two companies of the 78th, one of the 35th, +and De Roll's regiment, with a picquet of dragoons, the whole mustering +733 men, was surrounded, and, after a gallant resistance, the survivors, +who had expended all their ammunition, became prisoners of war. General +Stewart regained Alexandria with the remainder of his force, having +lost, in killed, wounded and missing, nearly 900 men. Some hundreds of +British heads were now exposed on stakes in Cairo, and the prisoners +were marched between these mutilated remains of their countrymen. + + + Final massacre of the Mamelukes. + +The beys became divided in their wishes, one party being desirous of +co-operating with the British, the other with the pasha. These delays +proved ruinous to their cause; and General Fraser, despairing of their +assistance, evacuated Alexandria on the 14th of September. From that +date to the spring of 1811 the beys from time to time relinquished +certain of their demands; the pasha on his part granted them what before +had been withheld; the province of the Fayum, and part of those of Giza +and Beni-Suef, were ceded to Shahin; and a great portion of the Sa'id, +on the condition of paying the land-tax, to the others. Many of them +took up their abode in Cairo, but tranquillity was not secured; several +times they met the pasha's forces in battle and once gained a signal +victory. Early in the year 1811, the preparations for an expedition +against the Wahhabis in Arabia being complete, all the Mameluke beys +then in Cairo were invited to the ceremony of investing Mehemet Ali's +favourite son, Tusun, with a pelisse and the command of the army. As on +the former occasion, the unfortunate Mamelukes fell into the snare. On +the 1st of March, Shahin Bey and the other chiefs (one only excepted) +repaired with their retinues to the citadel, and were courteously +received by the pasha. Having taken coffee, they formed in procession, +and, preceded and followed by the pasha's troops, slowly descended the +steep and narrow road leading to the great gate of the citadel; but as +soon as the Mamelukes arrived at the gate it was suddenly closed before +them. The last of those to leave before the gate was shut were Albanians +under Salih Kush. To these troops their chief now made known the pasha's +orders to massacre all the Mamelukes within the citadel; therefore, +having returned by another way, they gained the summits of the walls and +houses that hem in the road in which the Mamelukes were confined, and +some stationed themselves upon the eminences of the rock through which +that road is partly cut. Thus securely placed, they began a heavy fire +on their victims; and immediately the troops who closed the procession, +and who had the advantage of higher ground, followed their example. Of +the betrayed chiefs, many were laid low in a few moments; some, +dismounting, and throwing off their outer robes, vainly sought, sword in +hand, to return, and escape by some other gate. The few who regained the +summit of the citadel experienced the same fate as the rest, for no +quarter was given. Four hundred and seventy Mamelukes entered the +citadel; and of these very few, if any, escaped. One of these is said to +have been a bey. According to some, he leapt his horse from the +ramparts, and alighted uninjured, though the horse was killed by the +fall; others say that he was prevented from joining his comrades, and +discovered the treachery while waiting without the gate. He fled and +made his way to Syria. This massacre was the signal for an +indiscriminate slaughter of the Mamelukes throughout Egypt, orders to +this effect being transmitted to every governor; and in Cairo itself the +houses of the beys were given over to the soldiery. During the two +following days the pasha and his son Tusun rode about the streets and +tried to stop the atrocities; but order was not restored until 500 +houses had been completely pillaged. The heads of the beys were sent to +Constantinople. + +A remnant of the Mamelukes fled to Nubia, and a tranquillity was +restored to Egypt to which it had long been unaccustomed. In the year +following the massacre the unfortunate exiles were attacked by Ibrahim +Pasha, the eldest son of Mehemet Ali, in the fortified town of Ibrim, in +Nubia. Here the want of provisions forced them to evacuate the place; a +few who surrendered were beheaded, and the rest went farther south and +built the town of New Dongola (correctly Dunkulah), where the venerable +Ibrahim Bey died in 1816, at the age of eighty. As their numbers +thinned, they endeavoured to maintain their little power by training +some hundreds of blacks; but again, on the approach of Ismail, another +son of the pasha of Egypt, sent with an army in 1820 to subdue Nubia and +Sennar, some returned to Egypt and settled in Cairo, while the rest, +amounting to about 100 persons, fled in dispersed parties to the +countries adjacent to Sennar. + + See A. A Paton, _History of the Egyptian Revolution_ (2 vols., 2nd + ed., enlarged 1870); and FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS. + (E. S. P.; S. L.-P.; D. S. M.*) + + +3. _Modern History._ + + Wars in Arabia. + +(1) _Rule of Mehemet Ali._--Mehemet Ali was now undisputed master of +Egypt, and his efforts henceforth were directed primarily to the +maintenance of his practical independence. The suzerainty of the sultan +he acknowledged, and at the reiterated commands of the Porte he +despatched in 1811 an army of 8000 men, including 2000 horse, under the +command of his son Tusun, a youth of sixteen, against the Wahhabis +(q.v.). After a successful advance, this force met with a serious +repulse at the pass of Jedeida, near Safra, and retreated to Yembo' +(Yambu). In the following year Tusun, having received reinforcements, +again assumed the offensive, and captured Medina after a prolonged +siege. He next took Jidda and Mecca, defeating the Wahhabis beyond the +latter place and capturing their general. But some mishaps followed, and +Mehemet Ali, who had determined to conduct the war in person, left Egypt +for that purpose in the summer of 1813. In Arabia he encountered serious +obstacles from the nature of the country and the harassing mode of +warfare adopted by his adversaries. His arms met with various fortunes; +but on the whole his forces proved superior to those of the enemy. He +deposed and exiled the sharif of Mecca, and after the death of the +Wahhabi leader Saud II. he concluded in 1815 a treaty with Saud's son +and successor, Abdullah. Hearing of the escape of Napoleon from +Elba--and fearing danger to Egypt from the plans of France or Great +Britain--Mehemet Ali returned to Cairo by way of Kosseir and Kena. He +reached the capital on the day of the battle of Waterloo. His return was +hastened by reports that the Turks, whose cause he was upholding in +Arabia, were treacherously planning an invasion of Egypt. + +During Mehemet Ali's absence in Arabia his representative at Cairo had +completed the confiscation, begun in 1808, of almost all the lands +belonging to private individuals, who were forced to accept instead +inadequate pensions. By this revolutionary method of land +"nationalization" Mehemet Ali became proprietor of nearly all the soil +of Egypt, an iniquitous measure against which the Egyptians had no +remedy. The attempt which in this year (1815) the pasha made to +reorganize his troops on European lines led, however, to a formidable +mutiny in Cairo. Mehemet Ali's life was endangered, and he sought refuge +by night in the citadel, while the soldiery committed many acts of +plunder. The revolt was reduced by presents to the chiefs of the +insurgents, and Mehemet Ali ordered that the sufferers by the +disturbances should receive compensation from the treasury. The project +of the _Nizam Gedid_ (New System), as the European system was called, +was, in consequence of this mutiny, abandoned for a time. + +Tusun returned to Egypt on hearing of the military revolt at Cairo, but +died in 1816 at the early age of twenty. Mehemet Ali, dissatisfied with +the treaty concluded with the Wahhabis, and with the non-fulfilment of +certain of its clauses, determined to send another army to Arabia, and +to include in it the soldiers who had recently proved unruly. This +expedition, under his eldest son Ibrahim Pasha, left in the autumn of +1816. The war was long and arduous, but in 1818 Ibrahim captured the +Wahhabi capital of Deraiya. Abdullah, their chief, was made prisoner, +and with his treasurer and secretary was sent to Constantinople, where, +in spite of Ibrahim's promise of safety, and of Mehemet Ali's +intercession in their favour, they were put to death. At the close of +the year 1819, Ibrahim returned to Cairo, having subdued all present +opposition in Arabia. + +Meanwhile the pasha had turned his attention to the improvement of the +manufactures of Egypt, and engaged very largely in commerce. He created +for himself a monopoly in the chief products of the country, to the +further impoverishment of the people, and set up and kept going for +years factories which never paid. But some of his projects were sound. +The work of digging (1819-1820) the new canal of Alexandria, called the +Mahmudiya (after the reigning sultan of Turkey), was specially +important. The old canal had long fallen into decay, and the necessity +of a safe channel between Alexandria and the Nile was much felt. Such +was the object of the canal then excavated, and it answered its purpose; +but the sacrifice of life was enormous (fully 20,000 workmen perished), +and the labour of the unhappy fellahin was forced. Another notable fact +in the economic progress of the country was the development of the +cultivation of cotton in the Delta in 1822 and onwards. The cotton grown +had been brought from the Sudan by Maho Bey, and the organization of the +new industry--from which in a few years Mehemet Ali was enabled to +extract considerable revenues--was entrusted to a Frenchman named Jumel. + + + Conquest of the Sudan begun. + +In 1820 Mehemet Ali ordered the conquest of the eastern Sudan to be +undertaken. He first sent an expedition westward (Feb. 1820) which +conquered and annexed the oasis of Siwa. Among the pasha's reasons for +wishing to extend his rule southward were the desire to capture the +valuable caravan trade then going towards the Red Sea, and to secure the +rich gold mines which he believed to exist in Sennar. He also saw in the +campaign a means of getting rid of the disaffected troops, and of +obtaining a sufficient number of captives to form the nucleus of the new +army. The forces destined for this service were led by Ismail, then the +youngest son of Mehemet Ali; they consisted of between 4000 and 5000 +men, Turks and Arabs, and left Cairo in July 1820. Nubia at once +submitted, the Shagia Arabs immediately beyond the province of Dongola +were worsted, the remnant of the Mamelukes dispersed, and Sennar reduced +without a battle. Mahommed Bey, the defterdar, with another force of +about the same strength, was then sent by Mehemet Ali against Kordofan +with a like result, but not without a hard-fought engagement. In October +1822 Ismail was, with his retinue, burnt to death by Nimr, the _mek_ +(king) of Shendi; and the defterdar, a man infamous for his cruelty, +assumed the command of those provinces, and exacted terrible retribution +from the innocent inhabitants. Khartum was founded at this time, and in +the following years the rule of the Egyptians was largely extended and +control obtained of the Red Sea ports of Suakin and Massawa (see SUDAN: +_History_). + +In 1824 a native rebellion of a religious character broke out in Upper +Egypt headed by one Ahmad, an inhabitant of Es-Salimiya, a village +situated a few miles above Thebes. He proclaimed himself a prophet, and +was soon followed by between 20,000 and 30,000 insurgents, mostly +peasants, but some of them deserters from the "Nizam Gedid," for that +force was yet in a half-organized state, and in part declared for the +impostor. The insurrection was crushed by Mehemet Ali, and about +one-fourth of Ahmad's followers perished, but he himself escaped and was +never after heard of. Few of these unfortunates possessed any other +weapon than the long staff (_nebbut_) of the Egyptian peasant; still +they offered an obstinate resistance, and the combat in which they were +defeated resembled a massacre. This movement was the last internal +attempt to destroy the pasha's authority. + + + Sufferings of the fellahin. + +The fellahin, a patient, long-suffering race save when stirred by +religious fanaticism, submitted to the kurbash, freely used by the +Turkish and Bashi Bazuk tax-gatherers employed by Mehemet Ali to enforce +his system of taxation, monopolies, corvee and conscription. Under this +regime the resources of the country were impoverished, while the +finances fell into complete and incomprehensible chaos. + +A vivid picture of the condition to which Egypt was reduced is painted +in the report drawn up in 1838 by the British consul-general, Colonel +Campbell:-- + + "The government (he wrote), possessing itself of the necessaries of + life at prices fixed by itself, disposes of them at arbitrary prices. + The fellah is thus deprived of his harvest and falls into arrears with + his taxes, and is harassed and bastinadoed to force him to pay his + debts. This leads to deterioration of agriculture and lessens the + production. The pasha having imposed high taxes has caused the high + prices of the necessaries of life. It would be difficult for a + foreigner now coming to Egypt to form a just idea of the actual state + of the country as compared with its former state. In regard to the + general rise in prices, all the ground cultivated under the Mamelukes + was employed for producing food--wheat, barley, beans, &c.--in immense + quantities. The people reared fowls, sheep, goats, &c., and the prices + were one-sixth, or even one-tenth, of those at present. This continued + until Mehemet Ali became viceroy in 1805. From that period until the + establishment of monopolies prices have gradually increased; but the + great increase has chiefly taken place since 1824, when the pasha + established his regular army, navy and factories." + +The conclusion in 1838 of a commercial treaty with Turkey, negotiated by +Sir Henry Bulwer (Lord Dalling), struck a death-blow to the system of +monopolies, though the application of the treaty to Egypt was delayed +for some years. The picture of Egypt under Mehemet Ali is nevertheless +not complete without regard being had to the beneficent side of his +rule. Public order was rendered perfect; the Nile and the highways were +secure to all travellers, Christian or Moslem; the Bedouin tribes were +won over to peaceful pursuits, and genuine efforts were made to promote +education and the study of medicine. To European merchants, on whom he +was dependent for the sale of his exports, Mehemet Ali showed much +favour, and under his influence the port of Alexandria again rose into +importance. It was also under Mehemet Ali's encouragement that the +overland transit of goods from Europe to India via Egypt was resumed. + + + Ibrahim in the Morea. + +Mehemet Ali was fully conscious that the empire which he had so +laboriously built up might at any time have to be defended by force of +arms against his master Sultan Mahmud II., whose whole policy had been +directed to curbing the power of his too ambitious valis, and who was +under the influence of the personal enemies of the pasha of Egypt, +notably of Khosrev, the grand vizier, who had never forgiven his +humiliation in Egypt in 1803. Mahmud also was already planning reforms +borrowed from the West, and Mehemet Ali, who had had plenty of +opportunity of observing the superiority of European methods of warfare, +was determined to anticipate the sultan in the creation of a fleet and +an army on modern lines, partly as a measure of precaution, partly as an +instrument for the realization of yet wider schemes of ambition. Before +the outbreak of the War of Greek Independence in 1821 he had already +expended much time and energy in organizing a fleet and in training, +under the supervision of French instructors, native officers and +artificers; though it was not till 1829 that the opening of a dockyard +and arsenal at Alexandria enabled him to build and equip his own +vessels. By 1823, moreover, he had succeeded in carrying out the +reorganization of his army on European lines, the turbulent Turkish and +Albanian elements being replaced by negroes and fellahin.[23] His +foresight was rewarded by the invitation of the sultan to help him in +the task of subduing the Greek insurgents, offering as reward the +pashaliks of the Morea and of Syria. Mehemet Ali had already, in 1821, +been appointed governor of Crete, which he had occupied with a small +Egyptian force. In the autumn of 1824 a fleet of sixty Egyptian +war-ships carrying a large force of disciplined troops concentrated in +Suda Bay, and, in the following March, Ibrahim as commander-in-chief +landed in the Morea. But for the action of European powers the +intervention of Mehemet Ali would have been decisive. His naval +superiority wrested from the Greeks the command of the sea, on which the +fate of the insurrection ultimately depended, while on land the Greek +irregular bands were everywhere routed by Ibrahim's disciplined troops. +The history of the events that led up to the battle of Navarino and the +liberation of Greece is told elsewhere (see NAVARINO and GREEK +INDEPENDENCE, WAR OF); the withdrawal of the Egyptians from the Morea +was ultimately due to the action of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, who +early in August 1828 appeared before Alexandria and induced the pasha, +by no means sorry to have a reasonable excuse, by a threat of +bombardment, to sign a convention undertaking to recall Ibrahim and his +army. + + + The Syrian campaigns. + +Before the final establishment of the new kingdom of Greece, the Eastern +question had late in 1831 entered into a new and more perilous phase, +owing to the revolt of Mehemet Ali against the sultan on pretext of +chastising the ex-slave Abdullah, pasha of Acre, for refusing to send +back Egyptian fugitives from the effects of Mehemet Ali's "reforms." The +true reason was the refusal of Sultan Mahmud to hand over Syria +according to agreement, and Mehemet Ali's determination to obtain at all +hazards what had been from time immemorial an object of ambition to the +rulers of Egypt. For ten years from this date the relations of sultan +and pasha remained in the forefront of the questions which agitated the +diplomatic world. It was not only the very existence of the Ottoman +empire that seemed to be at stake, but Egypt itself had become more than +ever an object of attention, to British statesmen especially, and in the +issue of the struggle were involved the interests of Great Britain in +the two routes to India by the Isthmus of Suez and the valley of the +Euphrates. The diplomatic and military history of this period will be +found sketched in the article on Mehemet Ali. Here it will suffice to +say that the victorious career of Ibrahim, who once more commanded in +his father's name, beginning with the storming of Acre on the 27th of +May 1832, and culminating in the rout and capture of Reshid Pasha at +Konia on the 21st of December, was arrested by the intervention of +Russia. As the result of endless discussions between the representatives +of the powers, the Porte and the pasha, the convention of Kutaya was +signed on the 14th of May 1833, by which the sultan agreed to bestow on +Mehemet Ali the pashaliks of Syria, Damascus, Aleppo and Itcheli, +together with the district of Adana. The announcement of the pasha's +appointment had already been made in the usual way in the annual firman +issued on the 3rd of May. Adana, reserved for the moment, was bestowed +on Ibrahim under the style of _muhassil_, or collector of the crown +revenues, a few days later. + +Mehemet Ali now ruled over a virtually independent empire, subject only +to a moderate tribute, stretching from the Sudan to the Taurus +Mountains. But though he was hailed, especially in France, as the +pioneer of European civilization in the East, the unsound foundations of +his authority were not long in revealing themselves. Scarcely a year +from the signing of the convention of Kutaya the application by Ibrahim +of Egyptian methods of government, notably of the monopolies and +conscription, had driven Syrians, Druses and Arabs, who had welcomed him +as a deliverer, into revolt. The unrest was suppressed by Mehemet Ali in +person, and the Syrians were terrorized and disarmed. But their +discontent encouraged Sultan Mahmud to hope for revenge, and a renewal +of the conflict was only staved off by the anxious efforts of the +powers. At last, in the spring of 1839, the sultan ordered his army, +concentrated under Reshid in the border district of Bir on the +Euphrates, to advance over the Syrian frontier. Ibrahim, seeing his +flank menaced, attacked it at Nezib on the 24th of June. Once more the +Ottomans were utterly routed. Six days later, before the news reached +Constantinople, Mahmud died. Once more the Ottoman empire lay at the +feet of Mehemet Ali; but the powers were now more prepared to meet a +contingency which had been long foreseen. Their intervention was prompt; +and the dubious attitude of France, which led to her exclusion from the +concert and encouraged Mehemet Ali to resist, only led to his obtaining +less favourable terms. (See MEHEMET ALI.) + + + Mehemet Ali's authority confined to Egypt. + +The end was reached early in 1841. New firmans were issued which +confined the pasha's authority to Egypt, the Sinai peninsula and certain +places on the Arabian side of the Red Sea, and to the Sudan. The most +important of these documents are dated the 13th of February 1841. The +government of the pashalik of Egypt was made hereditary in the family of +Mehemet Ali.[24] A map showing the boundaries of Egypt accompanied the +firman granting Mehemet Ali the pashalik, a duplicate copy being +retained by the Porte. The Egyptian copy is supposed to have been lost +in a fire which destroyed a great part of the Egyptian archives. The +Turkish copy has never been produced and its existence now appears +doubtful. The point is of importance, as in 1892 and again in 1906 +boundary disputes arose between Turkey and Egypt (see below). Various +restrictions were laid upon Mehemet Ali, emphasizing his position of +vassalage. He was forbidden to maintain a fleet, and his army was not to +exceed 18,000 men. The pasha was no longer a figure in European +politics, but he continued to occupy himself with his improvements, real +or imaginary, in Egypt. The condition of the country was deplorable; in +1842 a murrain of cattle was followed by a destructive Nile flood; in +1843 there was a plague of locusts, whole villages were depopulated. +Meantime the uttermost farthing was wrung from the wretched fellahin, +while they were forced to the building of magnificent public works by +unpaid labour. In 1844-1845 there was some improvement in the condition +of the country as a result of financial reforms the pasha was compelled +to execute. Mehemet Ali, who had been granted the honorary rank of grand +vizier in 1842, paid a visit to Stamboul in 1846, where he became +reconciled to his old enemy Khosrev Pasha, whom he had not seen since he +spared his life at Cairo in 1803. In 1847 Mehemet Ali laid the +foundation stone of the great barrage across the Nile at the beginning +of the Delta. He was barely persuaded from ordering the barrage to be +built with stone from the pyramids! Towards the end of 1847 the aged +pasha's mind began to give way, and by the following June he was no +longer capable of administering the government. In September 1848 +Ibrahim was acknowledged by the Porte as ruler of the pashalik, but he +died in the November following. Mehemet Ali survived another eight +months, dying on the 2nd of August 1849, aged eighty. He had done a +great work in Egypt; the most permanent being the weakening of the tie +binding the country to Turkey, the starting of the great cotton +industry, the recognition of the advantages of European science, and the +conquest of the Sudan. (F. R. C.) + + + Abbas I. and Said Pasha. + +(2) _From the Death of Mehemet Ali to the British Occupation._--On +Ibrahim's death in November 1848 the government of Egypt fell to his +nephew Abbas I (q.v.), the son of Tusun. Abbas put an end to the system +of commercial monopolies, and during his reign the railway from +Alexandria to Cairo was begun at the instigation of the British +government. Opposed to European ways, Abbas lived in great seclusion, +and after a reign of less than six years he was murdered (July 1854) by +two of his slaves. He was succeeded by his uncle Said Pasha, the +favourite son of Mehemet Ali, who lacked the strength of mind or +physical health needed to execute the beneficent projects which he +conceived. His endeavour, for instance, to put a stop to the slave +raiding which devastated the Sudan provinces was wholly ineffectual. He +had a genuine regard for the welfare of the fellahin, and a land law of +1858 secured to them an acknowledgment of freehold as against the crown. +The pasha was much under French influence, and in 1856 was induced to +grant to Ferdinand de Lesseps a concession for the construction of the +Suez Canal. Lord Palmerston was opposed to this project, and the British +opposition delayed the ratification of the concession by the Porte for +two years. To the British Said also made concessions--one to the Eastern +Telegraph Company, and another (1854) allowing the establishment of the +Bank of Egypt. He also began the national debt by borrowing L3,293,000 +from Messrs Fruhling & Goschen, the actual amount received by the pasha +being L2,640,000. In January 1863 Said Pasha died and was succeeded by +his nephew Ismail, a son of Ibrahim Pasha. + + + Ismail's megalomania + +The reign of Ismail (q.v.), from 1863 to 1879, was for a while hailed as +introducing a new era into modern Egypt. In spite of his vast schemes of +reform and the _eclat_ of his Europeanizing innovations, his oriental +extravagance led to bankruptcy, and his reign is historically important +simply for its compelling European intervention in the internal affairs +of Egypt. Yet in its earlier years much was done which seemed likely to +give Ismail a more important place in history. In 1866 he was granted by +the sultan a firman--obtained on condition of the increase of the +tribute from L376,000 to L720,000--by which the succession to the throne +of Egypt was made to descend "to the eldest of thy male children and in +the same manner to the eldest sons of thy successors," instead of, after +Turkish law, to the eldest male of the family. In the following year +another firman bestowed upon him the title of _khedive_ in lieu of that +of _vali_, borne by Mehemet Ali and his immediate successors. In 1873 a +further firman placed the khedive in many respects in the position of an +independent sovereign. Ismail re-established and improved the +administrative system organized by Mehemet Ali, and which had fallen +into decay under Abbas's indolent rule; he caused a thorough remodelling +of the customs system, which was in an anarchic state, to be made by +English officials; in 1865 he established the Egyptian post office; he +reorganized the military schools of his grandfather, and gave some +support to the cause of education. Railways, telegraphs, lighthouses, +the harbour works at Suez, the breakwater at Alexandria, were carried +out by some of the best contractors of Europe. Most important of all, +the Suez Canal was opened in 1869. But the funds required for these +public works, as well as the actual labour, were remorselessly extorted +from a poverty-stricken population. + + A striking picture of the condition of the people at this period is + given by Lady Duff Gordon in _Last Letters from Egypt_. Writing in + 1867 she said: "I cannot describe the misery here now--every day some + new tax. Every beast, camel, cow, sheep, donkey and horse is made to + pay. The fellaheen can no longer eat bread; they are living on + barley-meal mixed with water, and raw green stuff, vetches, | &c. The + taxation makes life almost impossible: a tax on every crop, on every + animal first, and again when it is sold in the market; on every man, + on charcoal, on butter, on salt.... The people in Upper Egypt are + running away by wholesale, utterly unable to pay the new taxes and do + the work exacted. Even here (Cairo) the beating for the year's taxes + is awful." + + + Steps leading to the deposition of Ismail. + +In the years that followed the condition of things grew worse. Thousands +of lives were lost and large sums expended in extending Ismail's +dominions in the Sudan (q.v.) and in futile conflicts with Abyssinia. In +1875 the impoverishment of the fellah had reached such a point that the +ordinary resources of the country no longer sufficed for the most urgent +necessities of administration; and the khedive Ismail, having repeatedly +broken faith with his creditors, could not raise any more loans on the +European market. The taxes were habitually collected many months in +advance, and the colossal floating debt was increasing rapidly. In these +circumstances Ismail had to realize his remaining assets, and among them +sold 176,602 Suez Canal shares to the British government for +L3,976,582[25] (see BEACONSFIELD). This comparatively small financial +operation brought about the long-delayed crisis and paved the way for +the future prosperity of Egypt, for it induced the British government to +inquire more carefully into the financial condition of the country. In +December 1875 Mr Stephen Cave, M.P., and Colonel (afterwards Sir John) +Stokes, R.E., were sent to Egypt to inquire into the financial +situation; and Mr Cave's report, made public in April 1876, showed that +under the existing administration national bankruptcy was inevitable. +Other commissions of inquiry followed, and each one brought Ismail more +under European control. The establishment of the Mixed Tribunals in +1876, in place of the system of consular jurisdiction in civil actions, +made some of the courts of justice international. The Caisse de la +Dette, instituted in May 1876 as a result of the Cave mission, led to +international control over a large portion of the revenue. Next came (in +November 1876) the mission of Mr (afterwards Lord) Goschen and M. +Joubert on behalf of the British and French bondholders, one result +being the establishment of Dual Control, i.e. an English official to +superintend the revenue and a French official the expenditure of the +country. Another result was the internationalization of the railways and +the port of Alexandria. Then came (May 1878) a commission of inquiry of +which the principal members were Sir Rivers Wilson, Major Evelyn Baring +(afterwards Lord Cromer) and MM. Kremer-Baravelli and de Blignieres. One +result of that inquiry was the extension of international control to the +enormous landed property of the khedive. Driven to desperation, Ismail +made a virtue of necessity and accepted, in September 1878, in lieu of +the Dual Control, a constitutional ministry, under the presidency of +Nubar Pasha (q.v.), with Rivers Wilson as minister of finance and de +Blignieres as minister of public works. Professing to be quite satisfied +with this arrangement, he pompously announced that Egypt was no longer +in Africa, but a part of Europe; but before seven months had passed he +found his constitutional position intolerable, got rid of his irksome +cabinet by means of a secretly-organized military riot in Cairo, and +reverted to his old autocratic methods of government. England and France +could hardly sit still under this affront, and decided to administer +chastisement by the hand of the suzerain power, which was delighted to +have an opportunity of asserting its authority. On the 26th of June 1879 +Ismail suddenly received from the sultan a curt telegram, addressed to +him as ex-khedive of Egypt, informing him that his son Tewfik was +appointed his successor. Taken unawares, he made no attempt at +resistance, and Tewfik was at once proclaimed khedive. + + + Re-establishment of Dual Control. + + Arabi and the revolt of 1882. + +After a short period of inaction, when it seemed as if the change might +be for the worse, England and France summoned up courage to look the +situation boldly in the face, and, in November 1879, re-established the +Dual Control in the persons of Major Baring and M. de Blignieres. For +two years the Dual Control governed Egypt, and initiated the work of +progress that England was to continue alone. Its essential defect was +what might be called insecurity of tenure. Without any efficient means +of self-protection and coercion at its disposal, it had to interfere +with the power, privileges and perquisites of a class which had long +misgoverned the country. This class, so far as its civilian members were +concerned, was not very formidable, because these were not likely to go +beyond the bounds of intrigue and passive resistance; but it contained a +military element who had more courage, and who had learned their power +when Ismail employed them for overturning his constitutional ministry. +Among the mutinous soldiers on that occasion was a fellah officer +calling himself Ahmed Arabi the Egyptian. He was not a man of +exceptional intelligence or remarkable powers of organization, but he +was a fluent speaker, and could exercise some influence over the masses +by a rude kind of native eloquence. Behind him were a group of men, much +abler than himself, who put him forward as the figurehead of a party +professing to aim at protecting the Egyptians from the grasping tyranny +of their Turkish and European oppressors. The movement began among the +Arab officers, who complained of the preference shown to the officers of +Turkish origin; it then expanded into an attack on the privileged +position and predominant influence of foreigners, many of whom, it must +be confessed, were of a by no means respectable type; finally, it was +directed against all Christians, foreign and native.[26] The government, +being too weak to suppress the agitation and disorder, had to make +concessions, and each concession produced fresh demands. Arabi was first +promoted, then made under-secretary for war, and ultimately a member of +the cabinet. The danger of a serious rising brought the British and +French fleets in May 1882 to Alexandria, and after a massacre (11th of +June) had been perpetrated by the Arab mob in that city, the British +admiral bombarded the forts (11th of July 1882). The leaders of the +national movement prepared to resist further aggression by force. A +conference of ambassadors was held in Constantinople, and the sultan was +invited to quell the revolt; but he hesitated to employ his troops +against Mussulmans who were professing merely to oppose Christian +aggression. + +(3) _Egypt occupied by the British._--At last the British government +determined to employ armed force, and invited France to co-operate. The +French government declined, and a similar invitation to Italy met with a +similar refusal. England therefore, having to act alone, landed troops +at Ismailia under Sir Garnet Wolseley, and suppressed the revolt by the +battle of Tell-el-Kebir on the 13th of September 1882. The khedive, who +had taken refuge in Alexandria, returned to Cairo, and a ministry was +formed under Sherif Pasha, with Riaz Pasha as one of its leading +members. On assuming office, the first thing it had to do was to bring +to trial the chiefs of the rebellion. Had the khedive and Riaz been +allowed a free hand, Arabi and his colleagues would have found little +mercy. Thanks to the intervention of the British government, their lives +were spared. Arabi pleaded guilty, was sentenced to death, the sentence +being commuted by the khedive to banishment; and Riaz resigned in +disgust. This solution of the difficulty was brought about by Lord +Dufferin, then British ambassador at Constantinople, who had been sent +to Egypt as high commissioner to adjust affairs and report on the +situation. One of his first acts, after preventing the application of +capital punishment to the ringleaders of the revolt, was to veto the +project of protecting the khedive and his government by means of a +Praetorian guard recruited from Asia Minor, Epirus, Austria and +Switzerland, and to insist on the principle that Egypt must be governed +in a truly liberal spirit. Passing in review all the departments of the +administration, he laid down the general lines on which the country was +to be restored to order and prosperity, and endowed, if possible, with +the elements of self-government for future use. + + + Sir Evelyn Baring appointed consul-general, 1884. + +The laborious task of putting these general indications into a practical +shape fell to Sir Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer), who arrived as +consul-general and diplomatic agent, in succession to Sir Edward Malet, +in January 1884. At that moment the situation was singularly like that +which had existed on two previous occasions: firstly, when Ismail was +deposed; and secondly, when the Dual Control had undermined the existing +authority without having any power to enforce its own. For the third +time in little more than three years the existing authority had been +destroyed and a new one had to be created. But there was one essential +difference: the power that had now to reorganize the country possessed +in the British army of occupation a support sufficient to command +respect. Without that support Sir Evelyn Baring could have done little +or nothing; with it he did perhaps more than any other single man could +have done. His method may be illustrated by an old story long current in +Cairo. Mehemet Ali was said to have appointed as _mudir_ or governor in +a turbulent district a young and inexperienced Turk, who asked, "But how +am I to govern these people?" "Listen," replied the pasha; "buy the +biggest and heaviest _kurbash_ you can find; hang it up in the centre of +the _mudirieh_, well within your reach, and you will very seldom require +to use it." The British army of occupation was Sir Evelyn's _kurbash_; +it was well within his reach, as all the world knew, and its simple +presence sufficed to prevent disorder and enforce obedience. He had one +other advantage over previous English reformers in Egypt: his position +towards France was more independent. The Dual Control had been abolished +by a khedivial decree of 18th January 1883, and replaced by an English +financial adviser. France naturally objected; but having refused to +co-operate with England in suppressing the revolt, she could not +reasonably complain that her offer of co-operation in the work of +reorganization was declined. But though Dual Control was at an end, the +Caisse de la Dette remained, and this body was to prove a constant clog +on the financial measures of the Egyptian government. + + + The Policy of evacuation. + +At first the intention of the British government was simply to restore +the power of the khedive, to keep his highness for some time in the +right path by friendly advice, and to withdraw the British troops as +soon as possible. As Lord Granville explained in a circular to the +powers, the position of England in Egypt imposed on her "the duty of +giving advice with the object of securing that the order of things to be +established shall be of a satisfactory character and possess the +elements of stability and progress." But there was to be no embarking on +a general scheme of reforms, which would increase unnecessarily the +responsibilities of the protecting power and necessitate the indefinite +prolongation of the military occupation. So far, therefore, as the +British government had a definite policy in Egypt, it was a _politique +de replatrage_. Even this policy was not strictly adhered to. Mr +Gladstone's cabinet was as unstable as the public opinion it sought to +conciliate. It had its hot fits and its cold fits, and it gave orders +now to advance and now to retreat. In the long run circumstances proved +too strong for it, and it had to undertake a great deal more than it +originally intended. Each little change in the administration engendered +a multitude of others, so that the modest attempts at reform were found +to be like the letting out of water. A tiny rill gradually became a +boisterous stream, and the boisterous stream grew into a great river, +which spread to all sections of the administration and ended by +inundating the whole country. + + + The Sudan question. + +Of the numerous questions awaiting solution, the first to claim +immediate attention was that of the Sudan. The British government had +begun by excluding it from the problem, and by declaring that for events +in these outlying territories it must not be held responsible. In that +sphere of activity, therefore, the Egyptian government might do as it +thought fit. The principle of limited liability which this attitude +assumed was soon found to be utterly untenable. The Sudan was an +integral part of the khedive's dominions, and caused, even in ordinary +times, a deficit of L200,000 to the Egyptian treasury. At that moment +it was in a state of open rebellion, stirred up by a religious fanatic +who proclaimed himself a mahdi of Islam. An army of 10,000 men under an +English officer, Colonel William Hicks, formerly of the Bombay army, +otherwise Hicks Pasha, had been sent to suppress the revolt, and had +been annihilated in a great battle fought on the 5th of November 1883, +near Obeid. The Egyptian government wished to make a new attempt to +recover the lost province, and the idea was certainly very popular among +the governing class, but Sir Evelyn Baring vetoed the project on the +ground that Egypt had neither soldiers nor money to carry it out. In +vain the khedive and his prime minister, Sherif Pasha, threatened to +resign, and the latter actually carried out his threat. The British +representative remained firm, and it was decided that the Sudan should +be, for the moment at least, abandoned to its fate. Nubar, though as +strongly opposed to the abandonment policy as Sherif, consented to take +his place and accepted somewhat reluctantly the new regime, which he +defined as "the administration of Egypt under the government of Baring." +By this time the Mahdi was master of the greater part of the Sudan, but +Khartum and some other fortified points still held out. The efforts made +to extricate the garrisons, including the mission of General Gordon, the +fall of Khartum, and the Nile Expedition under Lord Wolseley, are +described below separately in the section of this article dealing with +the military operations. The practical result was that the khedive's +authority was limited to the Nile valley north of Wadi Halfa. + + + Internal reorganization + +With the internal difficulties Sir Evelyn Baring had been struggling +bravely ever since his appointment, trying to evolve out of the +ever-changing policy and contradictory orders of the British government +some sort of coherent line of action, and to raise the administration to +a higher standard. For two or three years it seemed doubtful whether he +would succeed. All over Egypt there was a feeling of unrest, and the +well-meant but not very successful efforts of the British to improve the +state of things were making them very unpopular. The introduction of +English officials and English influence into all the administrative +departments was resented by the native officials, and the action of the +irrigation officers in preventing the customary abuses of the +distribution of water was resented by the great landowners, who had +been, from time immemorial, in the habit of taking as much as they +wanted, to the detriment of the fellahin. Even these latter, who gained +most by the reforms, considered that they had good reason to complain, +for the defeat of Arabi and the re-establishment of order had enabled +the Christian money-lenders to return and insist on the payment of +claims, which were supposed to have been extinguished by the rebellion. +Worst of all, the government was drifting rapidly towards insolvency, +being quite unable to fulfil its obligations to the bondholders and meet +the expenses of administration. All departments were being starved, and +even the salaries of poorly paid officials were in arrear. To free +itself from its financial difficulties the government adopted a heroic +remedy which only created fresh troubles. On the advice of Lord +Northbrook, who was sent out to Cairo in September 1884 to examine the +financial situation, certain revenues which should have been paid into +the Caisse for the benefit of the bondholders were paid into the +treasury for the ordinary needs of the administration. Immediately the +powers protested against this infraction of the law of liquidation, and +the Caisse applied for a writ to the Mixed Tribunals. In this way the +heroic remedy failed, and to the internal difficulties were added +international complications. + +Fortunately for Egypt, the British government contrived to solve the +international difficulty by timely concessions to the powers, and +succeeded in negotiating the London Convention of March 1885, by which +the Egyptian government was relieved from some of the most onerous +stipulations of the law of liquidation, and was enabled to raise a loan +of L9,000,000 for an annual payment of L135,000. After paying out of the +capital the sums required for the indemnities due for the burning of +Alexandria and the deficits of the years 1882 and 1883, it still had a +million sterling, and boldly invested it in the improvement of +irrigation. The investment proved most remunerative, and helped very +materially to save the country from bankruptcy and internationalism. The +danger of being again subjected to the evils of an international +administration was very great, for the London Convention contained a +stipulation to the effect that if Egypt could not pay her way at the end +of two years, another international commission would be appointed. + +To obviate this catastrophe the British reformers set to work most +energetically. Already something in the way of retrenchment and reform +had been accomplished. The public accounts had been put in order, and +the abuses in the collection of the land tax removed. The constant drain +of money and men for the Sudan had been stopped. A beginning had been +made for creating a new army to replace the one that had been disbanded +and to allow of a portion of the British garrison being withdrawn. In +this work Sir Evelyn Wood had shown much sound judgment as well as great +capacity for military organization, and had formed an efficient force +out of very unpromising material (see the section above on the _Egyptian +Army_). His colleague in the department of public works, Sir Colin +Scott-Moncrieff, had been not less active. By mitigating the hardships +of the _corvee_, and improving the irrigation system, on which the +prosperity of the country mainly depends, he had conferred enormous +benefits on the fellahin, and had laid the foundation of permanent +budgetary equilibrium for the future. Not less active was Sir Edgar +Vincent, the financial adviser, who kept a firm hold on the +purse-strings and ruthlessly cut down expenditure in all departments +except that of irrigation (see S Finance). + +The activity of the British officials naturally produced a certain +amount of discontent and resistance on the part of their Egyptian +colleagues, and Lord Granville was obliged to declare very plainly that +such resistance could not be tolerated. Writing (January 1884) to Sir +Evelyn Baring, he said: + + "It should be made clear to the Egyptian Ministers and Governors of + Provinces that the responsibility which for the time rests on England + obliges H.M. Government to insist on the adoption of the policy which + they recommend; and that it will be necessary that those Ministers and + Governors who do not follow this course should cease to hold their + offices." + + + Relations between British and native officials. + +Nubar Pasha, who continued to be prime minister, resisted occasionally. +What he chiefly objected to was direct interference in the provincial +administration and the native tribunals, and he succeeded for a time in +preventing such interference. Sir Benson Maxwell and Mr Clifford Lloyd, +who had been sent out to reform the departments of justice and the +interior, after coming into conflict with each other were both recalled, +and the reforming activity was for a time restricted to the departments +of war, public works and finance. Gradually the tension between natives +and foreigners relaxed, and mutual confidence was established. +Experience had evolved the working principle which was officially +formulated at a much later period: "Our task is not to rule the +Egyptians, but as far as possible to teach the Egyptians to rule +themselves.... European initiative suggests measures to be executed by +Egyptian agency, while European supervision controls the manner in which +they are executed." If that principle had been firmly laid down and +clearly understood at the beginning, a good deal of needless friction +would have been avoided. + + + International problems. + +The international difficulty remained. The British position in Egypt was +anomalous, and might easily give rise to international complications. +The sultan might well protest against the military occupation of a +portion of his empire by foreign troops. It was no secret that France +was ready to give him diplomatic support, and other powers might adopt a +similar attitude. Besides this, the British government was anxious to +terminate the occupation as soon as possible. With a view to +regularizing the situation and accelerating the evacuation, Sir Henry +Drummond Wolff was sent to Constantinople in August 1885 on a special +mission. On the 24th of October of that year he concluded a preliminary +convention by which an Ottoman and a British high commissioner, acting +in concert with the khedive, should reorganize the Egyptian army, +tranquillize the Sudan by pacific means, and consider what changes might +be necessary in the civil administration. When the two commissioners +were assured of the security of the frontier and the good working and +stability of the Egyptian government, they should present reports to +their respective governments, and these should consult as to the +conclusion of a convention regulating the withdrawal of the English +troops. Mukhtar Pasha and Sir Henry Drummond Wolfe were appointed +commissioners, and their joint inquiry lasted till the end of 1886, when +the former presented his report and the latter went home to report +orally. The remaining stipulations of the preliminary convention were +duly carried out. Sir Henry Drummond Wolff proceeded to Constantinople +and signed on the 22nd of May 1887 the definitive convention, according +to which the occupation should come to an end in three years, but +England should have a right to prolong or renew it in the event of +internal peace or external security being seriously threatened. The +sultan authorised the signature of this convention, but under pressure +of France and Russia he refused to ratify it. Technically, therefore, +the preliminary convention still remains in force, and in reality the +Ottoman commissioner continued to reside in Cairo till the close of +1908. + + + Progress of reform. + +The steadily increasing prosperity of the country during the years 1886 +and 1887 removed the danger of national bankruptcy and international +interference, and induced Sir Evelyn Baring to widen the area of +administrative reforms. In the provinces the local administration and +the methods of dispensing justice were still scandalously +unsatisfactory, and this was the field to which the British +representative next directed his efforts. Here he met with unexpected +opposition on the part of the prime minister, Nubar Pasha, and a +conflict ensued which ended in Nubar's retirement in June 1888. Riaz +Pasha took his place, and remained in office till May 1891. During these +three years the work of reform and the prosperity of the country made +great progress. The new Egyptian army was so far improved that it gained +successes over the forces of the Mahdi; the burden of the national debt +was lightened by a successful conversion; the _corvee_ was +abolished;[27] the land tax was reduced 30% in the poorest provinces, +and in spite of this and other measures for lightening the public +burdens, the budgetary surplus constantly increased; the quasi-judicial +special commissions for brigandage, which were at once barbarous and +inefficient, were abolished; the native tribunals were improved, and Mr +(afterwards Sir John) Scott, an Indian judge of great experience and +sound judgment, was appointed judicial adviser to the khedive. This +appointment was opposed by Riaz Pasha, and led to his resignation on the +plea of ill-health. His successor, Mustafa Pasha Fehmi, continued the +work and co-operated cordially with the English officials. The very +necessary reform of the native tribunals was then taken seriously in +hand. The existing procedure was simplified and accelerated; the working +of the courts was greatly improved by a carefully organized system of +inspection and control; the incompetent judges were eliminated and +replaced by men of better education and higher moral character; and for +the future supply of well-qualified judges, barristers, and law +officials, an excellent school of law was established. Later on the +reforming activity was extended to prisons, public health, and +education, and has attained very satisfactory results. + + + Accession of Abbas. + +In January 1892 the khedive Tewfik, who had always maintained cordial +relations with Sir Evelyn Baring, died suddenly, and was succeeded by +his son, Abbas Hilmi, a young man without political experience, who +failed at first to understand the peculiar situation in which a khedive +ruling under British protection is necessarily placed. Aspiring to +liberate himself at once from foreign control, he summarily dismissed +Mustafa Pasha Fehmi (15th January 1893), whom he considered too amenable +to English influence, and appointed in his place Fakhri Pasha, who was +not a _persona grata_ at the British Agency. Such an incident, which +might have constituted a precedent for more important acts of a similar +kind, could hardly be overlooked by the British representative. He had +always maintained that what Egypt most required, and would require for +many years to come, was an order of things which would render +practically impossible any return to that personal system of government +which had well-nigh ruined the country. In this view the British agent +was warmly supported by Lord Rosebery, then secretary of state for +foreign affairs. The young khedive was made therefore to understand that +he must not make such changes in the administration without a previous +agreement with the representative of the protecting power; and a +compromise was effected by which Fakhri Pasha retired, and the post of +premier was confided once more to Riaz. With this compromise the +friction between the khedive and Sir Evelyn Baring, who had now become +Lord Cromer, did not end. For some time Abbas Hilmi clung to his idea of +liberating himself from all control, and secretly encouraged a +nationalist and anti-British agitation in the native press; but he +gradually came to perceive the folly, as well as the danger to himself, +of such a course, and accordingly refrained from giving any overt +occasion for complaint or protest. In like manner the relations between +the British officials and their Egyptian colleagues gradually became +more cordial, so that it was found possible at last to reform the local +administration in the provinces according to the recommendations of Mr +(afterwards Sir) Eldon Gorst, who had been appointed adviser to the +ministry of the interior. Nubar Pasha, it is true, who succeeded Riaz as +prime minister in April 1894, objected to some of Mr Gorst's +recommendations, and in November 1895 resigned. He was succeeded by +Mustafa Fehmi, who had always shown a conciliatory spirit, and who had +been on that account, as above stated, summarily dismissed by the +khedive in January 1893. After his reinstatement the Anglo-Egyptian +condominium worked without serious friction. + + + Fashoda. + +The success of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, and the consequent +economic and financial prosperity of Egypt proper, rendered it possible, +during 1896-1898, to recover from the Mahdists the Sudanese provinces +(see _Military Operations_), and to delimit in that part of Africa, in +accordance with Anglo-Egyptian interests, the respective spheres of +influence of Great Britain and France. The arrangement was not effected +without serious danger of a European conflict. Taking advantage of the +temporary weakness of Egypt, the French government formed the project of +seizing the Upper Nile valley and uniting her possessions in West Africa +with those at the entrance to the Red Sea. With this object a small +force under Major Marchand was sent from the French Congo into the +Bahr-el-Ghazal, with orders to occupy Fashoda on the Nile; whilst a +Franco-Abyssinian Expedition was despatched from the eastward, to join +hands with Major Marchand. The small force from the French Congo reached +its destination, and a body of Abyssinian troops, accompanied by French +officers, appeared for a short time a little higher up the river; but +the grand political scheme was frustrated by the victorious advance of +an Anglo-Egyptian force under General Kitchener and the resolute +attitude of the British government. Major Marchand had to retire from +Fashoda, and as a concession to French susceptibilities he was allowed +to retreat by the Abyssinian route. By an agreement signed by Lord +Salisbury and the French ambassador on the 21st of March 1899, and +appended to Art. IV. of the Anglo-French convention of June 14th, 1898, +which dealt with the British and French spheres of influence in the +region of the Niger, France was excluded from the basin of the Nile, and +a line marking the respective spheres of influence of the two countries +was drawn on the map from the northern frontier of the Congo Free State +to the southern frontier of the Turkish province of Tripoli. + + + The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. + +The administration of the Sudan (q.v.) was organized on the basis of an +agreement between the British and Egyptian governments signed on the +19th of January 1899. According to that agreement the British and +Egyptian flags are used together, and the supreme military and civil +command is vested in a governor-general, who is appointed by the khedive +on the recommendation of the British government, and who cannot be +removed without the British government's consent. Neither consular +jurisdiction, nor that of the mixed tribunals, was permitted, the Sudan +being made absolutely free of the international fetters which bound +Egypt. Sir Reginald Wingate, the sirdar of the Egyptian army (in which +post he succeeded Lord Kitchener at the close of 1899) was named +governor-general, and in the work of regeneration of the country, the +officials, British, Egyptian and Sudanese, had the cordial co-operation +of the majority of the inhabitants. + + + Egypt's growing prosperity. + +The growing prosperity of Egypt in the opening years of the 20th century +was very marked, and is reflected in the annual reports on the country +supplied to the British foreign office by Lord Cromer. Thus, in 1901 he +was able to declare that "the foundations on which the well-being and +material prosperity of a civilized community should rest have been +laid.... The institution of slavery is virtually defunct. The _corvee_ +has been practically abolished. Law and order everywhere reign supreme. +The _curbash_ is no longer employed as an instrument of government." So +little danger to internal peace was apprehended that during this year +Arabi Pasha, who had been in exile in Ceylon since 1882, was permitted +to return to Egypt. This happy condition had been brought about largely +as the result of giving fiscal reform, accompanied by substantial relief +to the taxpayers, the first place in the government's programme, and +with the abolition of octroi duties in 1902 disappeared the last of the +main defects in the fiscal system as existing at the time of the British +occupation. In these conditions the machinery of government, despite its +many imperfections and anomalies, worked smoothly. Land increased in +value as irrigation schemes were completed, and European capital was +increasingly eager to find employment in the country. The bulk of the +fellahin enjoyed a material prosperity to which they had been strangers +for centuries. In the midst of this return of plenty Lord Cromer (in his +report for 1903) sounded a note of warning:-- + + "As regards moral progress (he wrote), all that can be said is that it + must necessarily be slower than advance in a material direction. I + hope and believe, however, that some progress is being made. In any + case the machinery which will admit of progress has been created. The + schoolmaster is abroad.... Every possible facility and every + encouragement are afforded for the Egyptians to advance along the path + of moral improvement. More than this no government can do. It remains + for the Egyptians to take advantage of the opportunities offered to + them." + + + The Anglo-French understanding of 1904. + +The facilities enjoyed by the British and Egyptian governments for +securing the material if not the moral development of Egypt were greatly +enlarged in 1904, as the result of the understanding then come to +between France and Great Britain. The natural irritation in France +arising from the British occupation of the Nile valley, and the +non-fulfilment of the pledge to withdraw the British garrison from +Egypt, which had grown less acute with the passing of years, flamed out +afresh at the time of the Fashoda crisis, while the Anglo-Boer war of +1899-1902 led to another access of irritation against England. During +1903 a great change came over public opinion on both sides of the +Channel, with the result that the statesmen of both countries were +enabled to complete negotiations settling many points in dispute between +the two nations. On the 8th of April 1904 a declaration was signed by +the representatives of France and Great Britain which virtually +recognized the dominant position of France in Morocco and of Britain in +Egypt. The chief provisions concerning Egypt were:-- + + "His Britannic Majesty's government declare that they have no + intention of altering the political status of Egypt. + + "The government of the French Republic, for their part, declare that + they will not obstruct the action of Great Britain in that country by + asking that a limit of time be fixed for the British occupation, or in + any other manner. + + "His Britannic Majesty's government, for their part, will respect the + rights which France, in virtue of treaties, conventions and usage, + enjoys in Egypt." + +Similar declarations and engagements were made by Germany, Austria and +Italy. Annexed to the Anglo-French agreement was the text of a proposed +khedivial decree altering the relations between Egypt and the foreign +bondholders. With the consent of the powers this decree (promulgated on +the 28th of November 1904) came into operation on the 1st of January +1905. The combined effect of the declaration and the khedivial decree +was great. The first-named put an end to an anomalous situation and gave +a practically valid sanction to the presence of Britain in Egypt, +removing all ground for the reproach that Great Britain was not +respecting its international obligations. In effect it was a European +recognition that Britain was the protecting power in Egypt. It put a +period to a question which had long embittered the relations between +England and France, and locally it caused the cessation of the +systematic opposition of the French agents in Cairo to everything +tending to strengthen the British position--however beneficial to Egypt +the particular scheme opposed might be. Scarcely less important were the +results of the khedivial decree. By it Egypt achieved in effect +financial independence. The power of the Caisse de la Dette, which had +virtually controlled the execution of the international agreements +concerning the finances, was swept away, together with almost all the +other financial fetters binding Egypt. The Railway and Port of +Alexandria Board ceased to exist. For the first time since 1875 Egypt +was free to control her own revenue. In return she pledged the greater +part of the land tax to the service of the debt. The functions of the +Caisse were restricted to the receipt of the funds necessary for this +service. It was entirely deprived of its former power to interfere in +the machinery of government. Moreover, some L10,000,000, being +accumulated surpluses in the hands of the Caisse after meeting the +charges of the debt, were handed over to the Egyptian treasury. The +Egyptian government was henceforth free to take full advantage of the +financial prosperity of the country. + + + Evils of the Capitulations. + +In one respect the Anglo-French agreement made no alteration--it left +untouched the extra-territoriality enjoyed by Europeans in Egypt in +virtue of the treaties with Turkey, i.e. the system of Capitulations. +One of the anomalies under that system had, it is true, been got rid of, +for, as has been stated, consular jurisdiction in civil matters had been +replaced in 1876 by that of the Mixed Tribunals. In criminal cases, +however, foreign consuls still exercised jurisdiction, but the main evil +of the Capitulations regime was the absence of any proper machinery for +enacting laws applicable to the whole of the inhabitants of Egypt. No +change could be made in any law applicable to Europeans without the +unanimous consent of fifteen foreign powers--a state of affairs wholly +incompatible with the condition of Egypt in the 20th century, "an +oriental country which has assimilated a very considerable portion of +European civilization and which is mainly governed by European methods." +It was, however, far easier to acknowledge that the Capitulations regime +was defective and had outlived its time than to devise a remedy and get +all the nations interested to accept it. The solution favoured by Lord +Cromer (vide Blue-books, _Egypt No. 1_ (1906), pp. 1-8, and _Egypt No. +1_ (1907), pp. 10-26) was the creation of a council--distinct from the +existing native legislative council and assembly--composed of Europeans, +which should have the power to pass legislation which when promulgated +by the Egyptian government, with the assent of the British government, +would bind all foreigners resident in Egypt. Every reservation for the +benefit of British subjects should enure for the benefit of subjects of +other powers. The jurisdiction exercised by consuls in civil and +criminal affairs Lord Cromer proposed should cease _pari passu_ with the +provision by the Egyptian government, under the powers conferred by the +treaty required to set up the new council, of courts having competence +to deal with such matters, various safeguards being introduced to +prevent injustice in criminal cases. As to civil cases the proposal was +to make permanent the Mixed Tribunals, hitherto appointed for +quinquennial periods (so that if not reappointed consular jurisdiction +in civil cases would revive). + + + The pan-Islamic movement. + +While the removal of ancient jealousies among the European powers +interested in Egypt helped to smooth the path pursued by the Egyptian +administration under the guiding hand of Great Britain, the intrigues of +the Turks and the danger of a revival of Moslem fanaticism threatened +during 1905-1906 to disturb the peace of the country. A party had also +arisen, whose best-known leader was Mustafa Kamel Pasha (1874-1908), +which held that Egypt was ready for self-government and which saw in the +presence of the British a hindrance to the attainment of their ideal. +This "national" party lent what weight it had to the pan-Islamic +agitation which arose in the summer and autumn of 1905, regardless of +the fact that a pan-Islamic triumph meant the re-assertion of direct +Turkish rule in Egypt and the end of the liberty the Egyptians enjoyed. +The pan-Islamic press, allowed full licence by the Cairo authorities, +spread abroad rumours that the Egyptian government intended to construct +fortifications in the Sinai peninsula with the design of menacing the +railway, under construction by Turkey, from Damascus to Mecca. This +baseless report led to what is known as the Taba incident (see below). +This incident inflamed the minds of many Egyptians, and almost all the +opposition elements in the country were united by the appeal to +religious fanaticism, of which the incident was partly the effect and +partly the cause. The inflammatory writing of the newspapers indicated, +encouraged by many persons holding high positions both inside and +outside Egypt, created, by every process of misrepresentation, an +anti-Christian and anti-European feeling among the mass of the people. +After more than a quarter of a century of just rule, i.e. since the +accession of Tewfik, the tyranny of the Turkish system was apt to be +forgotten, while the appeal to rally in support of their khalif found a +response in the hearts of many Egyptians. The feeling entertained by +large numbers even of the educated class of Egyptians was strikingly +illustrated by the terms of an anonymous letter received by Lord Cromer +in May 1906. The writer, probably a member of the Ulema class, +addressing the British agent as the reformer of Egypt, said:-- + + " ... He must be blind who sees not what the English have wrought in + Egypt; the gates of justice stand open to the poor; the streams flow + through the land and are not stopped by order of the strong; the poor + man is lifted up and the rich man pulled down, the hand of the + oppressor and the briber is struck when outstretched to do evil. Our + eyes see these things and they know from whom they come.... While + peace is in the land the spirit of Islam sleeps.... But it is said, + 'There is war between England and Abdul Hamid Khan.' If that be so a + change must come. The words of the Imam are echoed in every heart, and + every Moslem hears only the cry of the Faith.... Though the Khalif + were hapless as Bayezid, cruel as Murad, or mad as Ibrahim, he is the + shadow of God, and every Moslem must leap up at his call.... You will + say, 'The Egyptian is more ungrateful than a dog, which remembers the + hand that fed him. He is foolish as the madman who pulls down the + roof-tree of his house upon himself.' It may be so to worldly eyes, + but in the time of danger to Islam the Moslem turns away from the + things of this world and thirsts only for the service of his Faith, + even though he looks in the face of death...." + + + Denshawai. + +To establish confidence in the minds of the Egyptian public that the +authorities could maintain order and tranquillity, it was determined to +increase permanently the strength of the British garrison. An incident +occurred in June 1906 which illustrated the danger which might arise if +anything happened to beget the idea that the protecting power had +weakened its hold. While mounted infantry of the British army were +marching from Cairo to Alexandria, five officers went (on the 13th of +June) to the village of Denshawai to shoot pigeons.[28] An attack was +made on the party by the villagers. The officers were told by their +guide that they might shoot, but the villagers had not given permission +and were incensed at the shooting of their pigeons by other officers in +the previous year. A premeditated attack was made on the officers; a gun +seized from one of them went off and slightly injured four natives--one +a woman. The attack had been preceded by a trifling fire at a threshing +floor, either accidentally caused (but not by the officers' shots) or +lit as a signal for the assault. Captain S. C. Bull of the 6th Dragoons +received serious injuries and died a few hours later, and two other +officers were seriously injured. A number of persons were arrested and +tried by a special tribunal created in 1895 to deal with offences +against the army of occupation. On the 27th of the same month four of +the ringleaders were sentenced to death, others received various terms +of imprisonment,[29] and seven were sentenced to fifty lashes. The +executions and floggings were carried out the next day at the scene of +the outrage and in the presence of some five hundred natives. The +quieting effect that this drastic action might have had was marred by +the fact that certain members of the British parliament called in +question the justice of the sentences--passed unanimously by a court of +which the best English and the best native judge were members. For a +time there was considerable ferment in Egypt. The Anglo-Egyptian +authorities received, however, the firm support of Sir Edward Grey, the +foreign secretary in the liberal administration formed in December 1905. +As far as responsible statesmen were concerned the change of government +in Great Britain made no difference in the conduct of Egyptian affairs. + + + The Taba incident. + +The Taba incident, to which reference has been made, arose in the +beginning of 1906 over the claim of the sultan of Turkey to jurisdiction +in the Sinai peninsula. The origin of the dispute dated back, however, +to 1892, when Abbas Hilmi became khedive. Mehemet Ali and his successors +up to and including Tewfik had not only administered the Sinai peninsula +but certain posts on the Hejaz or Arabian side of the gulf of Akaba. The +firman of investiture issued by the sultan on the occasion of the +succession of Abbas differed, however, from the text of former firmans, +the intention being, apparently, to exclude Egypt from the +administration of the Sinai peninsula. The British government intervened +and after considerable pressure upon Turkey obtained a telegram (dated +the 8th of April 1892) from the grand vizier in which it was declared +that the _status quo_ was maintained in the Sinai peninsula, but that +the sultan resumed possession of the posts in the Hejaz heretofore +garrisoned by Egypt. To this last course Great Britain raised no +objection. As officially stated by the British government at the time, +the eastern frontier of the Sinai peninsula was taken to be a line +running in a south-easterly direction from Rafa, a place on the +Mediterranean, east of El Arish, to the head of the gulf of Akaba. The +fort of Akaba and other posts farther east Egypt abandoned. So matters +rested until in 1905 in consequence of lawlessness among the Bedouins of +the peninsula a British official was appointed commandant and inspector +of the peninsula and certain administrative measures taken. The report +was spread by pan-Islamic agents that the intention of the Egyptian +government was to construct fortifications on the frontier near Akaba, +to which place the Turks were building a branch railway from the +Damascus-Mecca line. In January 1906 the sultan complained to the +British ambassador at Constantinople of Egyptian encroachments on +Turkish territory, whereupon the khedive asked that the frontier should +be delimited, a request which Turkey rejected. A small Egyptian force +was then directed to occupy Taba, a port near Akaba but on the western +side of the gulf. Before this force could reach Taba that place had been +seized by the Turkish commandant at Akaba. A period of considerable +tension ensued, the Turks removing the boundary posts at Rafa and +sending strong reinforcements to the frontier. The British government +intervened on behalf of the khedive and consistently maintained that the +Rafa-Akaba line must be the frontier. In April a conference was held +between the khedive and Mukhtar Pasha, the Ottoman commissioner. It then +appeared that Turkey was unwilling to recognize the British +interpretation of the telegram of the 8th of April 1892. Turkey claimed +that the peninsula of Sinai consisted only of the territory south of a +straight line from Akaba to Suez, and that Egyptian territory north of +that line was traced from Rafa to Suez. As a compromise Mukhtar Pasha +suggested as the frontier a line drawn direct from Rafa to Ras Mahommed +(the most southern point of the Sinai peninsula), which would have left +the whole of the gulf of Akaba in Turkish territory. In other words the +claim of the Porte was, to quote Lord Cromer:-- + + "to carry the Turkish frontier and strategical railways to Suez on the + banks of the canal; or that if the Ras Mahommed line were adopted, the + Turkish frontier would be advanced to the neighbourhood of Nekhl, i.e. + within easy striking distance of Egypt, and that ... the gulf of Akaba + ... would practically become a _mare clausum_ in the possession of + Turkey and a standing menace to the security of the trade route to the + East." + +Such proposals could not be entertained by Great Britain; and as the +sultan remained obstinate the British ambassador on the 3rd of May +presented a note to the Porte requiring compliance with the British +proposals within ten days. The Turkish ambassador in London was informed +by Sir Edward Grey, foreign secretary, that if it were found that +Turkish suzerainty in Egypt were incompatible with the rights of the +British government to interfere in Egyptian affairs, and with the +British occupation, the British position in Egypt would be upheld by the +whole force of the empire. Thereupon the sultan gave way and agreed (on +the 14th of May) that the line of demarcation should start at Rafa and +run towards the south-east "in an approximately straight line as far as +a point on the gulf of Akaba at least 3 m. distant from Akaba."[30] The +Turkish troops were withdrawn from Taba, and the delimitation of the +frontier was undertaken by a joint Turco-Egyptian commission. An +agreement was signed on the 1st of October finally settling the frontier +line. + +With the ending of this dispute and the strengthening of the British +garrison in Egypt a demonstration was given of the ability of the +protecting power to maintain its position. At the same time +encouragement was given to that section of Egyptian society which sought +the reform of various Moslem institutions without injury to the +principles underlying the faith of Islam: a more truly national movement +than that of the agitators who clamoured for parliamentary government. + + + Resignation of Lord Cromer. + +In April 1907, a few days after the appearance of his report for 1906, +in which the "Nationalist" and pan-Islamic movements were shown to be +detrimental to the welfare of Egypt, Lord Cromer resigned his post of +British agent and consul-general. His resignation, dictated by reasons +of health, was described by Sir Edward Grey as "the greatest personal +loss which the public service of this country (Britain) could suffer." +Lord Cromer's work was in a sense complete. He left the country in a +state of unexampled material prosperity, free from the majority of the +international fetters with which it was bound when he took up his task +in 1883, and with the legitimate expectation that the work he had done +would endure. The magnitude of the task he had accomplished is shown by +the preceding pages, and it need only be added that the transformation +effected in Egypt and the Sudan, during his twenty-four years' occupancy +of the British Agency, was carried out in every department under his +guidance and inspiration. Lord Cromer was succeeded by Sir Eldon Gorst, +who had served in Egypt eighteen years under him, and was at the time of +his appointment to Cairo an assistant under secretary of state for +foreign affairs. + +Notwithstanding, or, rather, as a consequence of, the unexampled +material prosperity of the country, 1907 was a year of severe financial +crisis, due to over-trading, excessive credit and the building mania +induced by the rapid economic progress of Egypt, and aggravated by the +unfavourable monetary conditions existing in America and Europe during +the latter part of the year. Though the crisis had results disastrous to +the speculators, the position of the fellahin was hardly affected; the +cotton crop was marketed with regularity and at an average price higher +than that of 1906, while public revenue showed a satisfactory increase. +The noisy "Nationalist" agitation which was maintained during this +period of financial stringency reacted unfavourably on public order. +Although the degree of insecurity prevailing in the provinces was +greatly exaggerated--serious crime in 1907 being less than in the +preceding year--an increasing number of crimes were left untraced to +their authors. The release of the Denshawai prisoners in January 1908 +and the death of Mustafa Kamel in the following month had a quieting +effect on the public mind; while the fact that in the elections +(December 1907) for the legislative council and the general assembly +only 5% of the electors went to the polls, afforded a striking +commentary alike on the appreciation of the average Egyptian of the +value of parliamentary institutions and of the claims of the +"Nationalist" members of the assembly to represent the Egyptian people. +The "Nationalists" were, too, divided into many warring +sections--Mahommed Bey Ferid, chosen as successor to Mustafa Kamel, had +to contend with the pretensions of several other "leaders." The khedive, +moreover, markedly abstained from any association with the agitation of +the Nationalists, who viewed with disfavour his highness's personal +friendship with Sir Eldon Gorst. The agitators gained their chief +strength from the support accorded them by certain Radical politicians +in England. A number of members of the council and assembly visited +England in July 1908 and were received by Sir Edward Grey, who gave them +assurances that Great Britain would always strive to remedy the +legitimate grievances of Egyptians. + +The establishment of constitutional rule in Turkey in the summer of 1908 +excited the hopes of the Egyptian Nationalists, and a deputation was +sent to Constantinople to confer with the Young Turk committee. From the +Young Turks, however, the deputation received no encouragement for their +agitation and returned with the advice to work in co-operation with the +British. In view of the rumours current, Sir Eldon Gorst, in the form of +an interview in _El Mokattam_, a widely read native paper, restated +(October 1908) the British view as to the occupation of the country and +the demand for a parliament. Great Britain, he declared, had no +intention of proclaiming a protectorate over Egypt; on the other hand, +recent events in Turkey in no way affected the question of +self-government in Egypt. It would be folly to think of introducing +unrestricted parliamentary government at present, the conditions for its +successful working not existing. The "wild and foolish" agitation on +this question only served to confirm the impression that the Egyptians +were not yet fit to govern themselves. At the same time steps were being +taken to give them a much greater part in the management of local +affairs. If the Egyptians showed that the existing institutions and the +new provincial councils could do useful work, it would prove the best +argument for extending their powers. Sir Eldon Gorst's statements were +approved by the British government. + +In November 1908 Mustafa Fehmi, who had been premier since 1895, +resigned, and was succeeded by Boutros Pasha, a Copt of marked ability, +who had been for several years foreign minister. Boutros incurred the +enmity of the "Nationalists" and was murdered in February 1910. + (D. M. W.; F. R. C.) + + AUTHORITIES.--D. A. Cameron, _Egypt in the Nineteenth Century_ + (London, 1898), a clear and useful summary of events up to 1882; E. + Dicey, _The Story of the Khedivate_ (London, 1902); J. C. McCoan, + _Egypt under Ismail_ (London, 1899); P. Mouriez, _Histoire de + Mehemet-Ali_ (4 vols., Paris, 1855-1858); L. Brehier, _L'Egypte de + 1789 a 1900_ (Paris, 1901); C. de Freycinet, _La Question d'Egypte_ + (Paris, 1905). See also MEHEMET ALI. + + For the period immediately preceding and during the British occupation + the standard authority is Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_ (2 vols., + London, 1908). In this invaluable work the history of Egypt from 1875 + to 1892 and that of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan from 1882 to 1907 is + treated fully. Lord Cromer's annual reports (1888-1906) to the British + government on the affairs of Egypt should also be consulted. Next in + interest are Alfred (Lord) Milner's _England in Egypt_ (11th ed., + London, 1904), and Sir A. Colvin's _The Making of Modern Egypt_ + (London, 1906). Consult also _Khedives and Pashas_ (London, 1884), by + C. F. Moberly Bell (published anonymously); D. M. Wallace, _Egypt and + the Egyptian Question_ (London, 1883); W. S. Blunt, _Secret History of + the English Occupation of Egypt_ (2nd ed., London, 1907), a partisan + record; C. v. Malortie, _Egypt_, _Native Rulers and Foreign + Interference_, 2 vols. (London, 1883); O. Borelli, _Choses politiques + d'Egypte_, 1883-1895 (Paris, 1895); H. Resener, _Agypten unter + englischer Okkupation_ (Berlin, 1896). Morley's _Life of Gladstone_ + and Fitzmaurice's _Life of Granville_ throw considerable light on the + inner history of the period 1880-1893. See further the historical + works cited in SUDAN: _Anglo-Egyptian_, and those given at the end of + the first section of this article. + + For military operations 1882-1899 see C. Royle, _The Egyptian + Campaigns 1882 to 1899_, revised ed. (London, 1900); H. Brackenbury, + _Narrative of the Advance of the River Column of the Nile + Expeditionary Force_ (Edinburgh, 1885); Sir W. F. Butler, _Campaign of + the Cataracts_ (London, 1887); Count A. E. W. Gleichen, _With the + Camel Corps up the Nile_ (London, 1888); _Gordon's Last Journal_ + (London, 1885); Sir C. W. Wilson, _From Korti to Khartum_ (Edinburgh, + 1886); J. Grant, _Cassell's History of the War in the Soudan_, 6 vols. + (London, 1885 et seq.); "An Officer," _Sudan Campaigns_ 1896-1899 + (London, 1899); G. W. Steevens, _With Kitchener to Khartum_ + (Edinburgh, 1898); W. S. Churchill, _The River War_, new edition + (London, 1902). + + Bibliographical notes for each section of this article are given in + their several places. The following bibliographies may be consulted: + Ibrahim Hilmi, _Literature of Egypt and the Soudan_, 2 vols. (London, + 1886-1888); H. Jolowicz, _Bibliotheca aegyptiaca_ (Leipzig, 1858; + supplement, 1861); M. Hartmann, _The Arabic Press of Egypt_ (London, + 1899). (F. R. C.) + + +MILITARY OPERATIONS OF 1882-1885 + + Bombardment of Alexandria. + +In February 1879 a slight outbreak of discharged officers and soldiers +occurred at Cairo, which led to the despatch of British and French ships +to Alexandria. On the 26th of June of that year Ismail Pasha was removed +from Egypt, and Tewfik assumed the khediviate, becoming practically the +_protege_ of the two western powers. On the 1st of February 1881 a more +serious disturbance arose at Cairo from the attempt to try three +colonels, Ahmed Arabi, Ali Fehmy, and Abd-el-Al, who had been arrested +as the ringleaders of the military party. The prisoners were released by +force, and proceeded to dictate terms to the khedive. Again British and +French warships were despatched to Alexandria, and were quickly +withdrawn, their presence having produced no apparent impression. It +soon became clear that the khedive was powerless, and that the military +party, headed by Arabi, threatened to dominate the country. The "dual +note," communicated to the khedive on the 6th of January 1881, contained +an intimation that Great Britain and France were prepared to afford +material support if necessary; but the fall of Gambetta's ministry +produced a reaction, and both governments proceeded to minimize the +meaning of their language. The khedive was practically compelled to form +a government in which Arabi was minister of war and Mahmud Sami premier, +and Arabi took steps to extend his influence throughout his army. The +situation now became critically serious: for the third time ships were +sent to Alexandria, and on the 25th of May 1882 the consuls-general of +the two powers made a strong representation to Mahmud Sami which +produced the resignation of the Egyptian ministry, and a demand, to +which the khedive yielded, by the military party for the reinstatement +of Arabi. The attitude of the troops in Alexandria now became +threatening; and on the 29th the British residents pointed out that they +were "absolutely defenceless." This warning was amply justified by the +massacres of the 11th of June, during which more than one hundred +persons, including an officer and two seamen, were killed in the streets +of Alexandria, almost under the guns of the ships in harbour. It was +becoming clear that definite action would have to be taken, and on the +15th the channel squadron was ordered to Malta. By the end of June +twenty-six warships, representing the navies of Great Britain, France, +Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, the United States, Spain, Greece and +Turkey, lay off the port of Alexandria, and large numbers of refugees +were embarked. The order received by Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour +(afterwards Lord Alcester) on the 3rd of July was as follows:-- + + "Prevent any attempt to bar channel into port. If work is resumed on + earthworks, or fresh guns mounted, inform military commander that you + have orders to prevent it; and if not immediately discontinued, + destroy earthworks and silence batteries if they open fire, having + given sufficient notice to population, shipping and foreign + men-of-war." + +On the 9th the admiral received a report that working parties had been +seen in Fort Silsileh "parbuckling two smoothbore guns--apparently +32-pounders--towards their respective carriages and slides, which were +facing in the direction of the harbour." Fort Silsileh was an old work +at the extreme east of the defences of Alexandria, and its guns do not +bear on the harbour. On the 10th an ultimatum was sent to Toulba Pasha, +the military commandant, intimating that the bombardment would commence +at sunrise on the following morning unless "the batteries on the isthmus +of Ras-el-Tin and the southern shore of the harbour of Alexandria" were +previously surrendered "for the purpose of disarming." The fleet +prepared for action, and the bearer of the reply, signed by the +president of the council, and offering to dismount three guns in the +batteries named, only succeeded in finding the flagship late at night. +This proposal was rejected, and at 7 A.M. on the 11th of July the +"Alexandra" opened fire and the action became general. The attacking +force was disposed in three groups: (1) the "Alexandra," "Sultan" and +"Superb," outside the reef, to engage the Ras-el-Tin and the earthworks +under weigh; (2) the "Monarch," "Invincible" and "Penelope," inside the +harbour, to engage the Meks batteries; and (3) the "Inflexible" and +"Temeraire," to take up assigned stations outside the reef and to +co-operate with the inshore squadron. The gunboats "Beacon," "Bittern," +"Condor," "Cygnet" and "Decoy" were to keep out of fire at first and +seek opportunities of engaging the Meks batteries. Meks fort was +silenced by about 12.45 P.M., and a party from the "Invincible" landed +and disabled the guns. As the fire delivered under weigh was not +effective, the offshore squadron anchored at about 10.30 A.M., and +succeeded in silencing Fort Ras-el-Tin at about 12.30 P.M., and Fort +Adda, by the explosion of the main magazine, at 1.35 P.M. The +"Inflexible" weighed soon after 8 A.M. and engaged Ras-el-Tin, +afterwards attacking Forts Pharos and Adda. The "Condor," followed by +the "Beacon," "Bittern" and "Decoy," engaged Fort Marabout soon after 8 +A.M. till 11 A.M., when the gunboats were recalled. After the works were +silenced, the ships moved in closer, with a view to dismount the +Egyptian guns. The bombardment ceased at 5 P.M.; but a few rounds were +fired by the "Inflexible" and "Temeraire" on the morning of the 12th at +the right battery in Ras-el-Tin lines. + + The bombardment of the forts of Alexandria is interesting as a gauge + of the effect to be expected from the fire of ships under specially + favourable conditions. The Egyptians at different times during the day + brought into action about 33 R.M.L. guns (7-in. to 10-in.), 3 R.B.L. + guns (40 prs.), and 120 S.B. guns (6.5-in. and 10-in.), with a few + mortars. These guns were disposed over a coast-line of about 10 sea + miles, and were in many cases indifferently mounted. The Egyptian + gunners had been little trained, and many of them had never once + practised with rifled ordnance. Of seventy-five hits on the hulls of + the ships only five can with certainty be ascribed to projectiles from + rifled guns, and thirty were unquestionably due to the old + smoothbores, which were not provided with sights. The total loss + inflicted was 6 killed and 27 wounded. The British ships engaged fired + 1741 heavy projectiles (7-in. to 16-in.) and 1457 light (7-prs. to + 64-prs.), together with 33,493 machine-gun and rifle bullets. The + result was comparatively small. About 8 rifled guns and 19 smoothbores + were dismounted or disabled and 4 and 1 temporarily put out of action + respectively. A considerable portion of this injury was inflicted, + after the works had been silenced, by the deliberate fire of the + ships. As many as twenty-eight rifled guns and 140 smoothbores would + have opened fire on the following day. The Egyptians made quite as + good a stand as could be expected, but were driven from their guns, + which they were unable to use with adequate effect; and the + bombardment of Alexandria confirms previous experience that the fire + of ships cannot really compete with that of well-mounted and + well-handled guns on shore. + +In the afternoon of the 12th, fires, which were the work of +incendiaries, began to break out in the best quarters of Alexandria; and +the town was left to murder and pillage till the following day, when a +party of bluejackets and marines was landed at about 3 P.M. + + + British expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley. + + Tell-el-Kebir. + +Military intervention being now imperatively demanded, a vote of credit +for L2,300,000 was passed in the British House of Commons on the 27th of +July. Five days later the French government failed to secure a similar +vote, and Great Britain was left to deal with the Egyptian question +alone. An expeditionary force detailed from home stations and from +Malta was organized in two divisions, with a cavalry division, corps +troops, and a siege train, numbering in all about 25,000 men. An Indian +contingent numbering about 7000 combatants, complete in all arms and +with its own transport, was prepared for despatch to Suez. General Sir +Garnet Wolseley was appointed commander-in-chief, with +Lieutenant-General Sir J. Adye as chief of the staff. The plan of +operations contemplated the seizure of Ismailia as the base for an +advance on Cairo, Alexandria and its suburbs to be held defensively, and +the Egyptian forces in the neighbourhood to be occupied by +demonstrations. The expeditionary force having rendezvoused at +Alexandria, means were taken by Rear-Admiral Hoskins and Sir W. Hewett +for the seizure of the Suez canal. Under orders from the former, Captain +Fairfax, R.N., occupied Port Said on the night of 19th August, and +Commander Edwards, R.N., proceeded down the canal, taking possession of +the _gares_ and dredgers, while Captain Fitzroy, R.N., occupied Ismailia +after slight opposition. Before nightfall on the 20th of August the +canal was wholly in British hands. Meanwhile, leaving Sir E. Hamley in +command at Alexandria, Sir G. Wolseley with the bulk of the +expeditionary force arrived at Port Said on the 20th of August, a naval +demonstration having been made at Abukir with a view to deceive the +enemy as to the object of the great movement in progress. The advance +from Ismailia now began. On the 21st Major-General Graham moved from +Ismailia with about 800 men and a small naval force, occupying Nefiche, +the junction with the Suez line, at 1.30 A.M. without opposition. On the +22nd he made a reconnaissance towards Suez, and on the 23rd another to +El-Magfar, 4 m. from Nefiche. It now appeared that the enemy had dammed +the sweet-water canal and blocked the railway at Tell-el-Mahuta, where +entrenchments had been thrown up and resistance seemed to be +contemplated. At 4 A.M. on the 24th Sir Garnet Wolseley advanced with 3 +squadrons of cavalry, 2 guns, and about 1000 infantry, placed under the +orders of Lieutenant-General Willis. The enemy showed in force, +estimated at 7000 with 12 guns, and a somewhat desultory action ensued. +Reinforcements from Ismailia were ordered up, and the British cavalry, +operating on the right, helped to check the enemy's attack, which showed +little vigour. At night the troops, now reinforced by the Guards +Brigade, an infantry battalion, 2 cavalry regiments and 10 guns, +bivouacked on the ground. Early on the morning of the 25th the advance +was continued to Tell-el-Mahuta, which the enemy evacuated, while the +mounted troops and horse artillery pressed on to Mahsama, capturing the +Egyptian camp, with 7 guns and large quantities of ammunition and +supplies. On the same evening Major-General Graham, with about 1200 +marines (artillery and light infantry), reached Mahsama, and on the +following day he occupied Kassassin without opposition. The advance +guard had now outrun its communications and was actually short of food, +while a considerable force was distributed at intervals along the line +Ismailia-Kassassin. The situation on the 27th tempted attack by an +enterprising enemy, and Major-General Graham's force, consisting of a +squadron of the 19th Hussars, the York and Lancaster Regiment, the duke +of Cornwall's Light Infantry, the Marine Artillery Battalion and two +R.H.A. guns, short of ammunition, was in danger of being overwhelmed by +vastly superior numbers from Tell-el-Kebir. On the 28th Major-General +Graham's troops were attacked, and after repulsing the enemy, made a +general advance about 6.45 P.M. The cavalry, summoned by heliograph from +Mahsama, co-operated, and in a moonlight charge inflicted considerable +loss. The British casualties amounted to 14 killed and 83 wounded. +During the lull which followed the first action of Kassassin, strenuous +efforts were made to bring up supplies and troops and to open up railway +communication to the front. On the 9th of September the Egyptians again +attacked Kassassin, but were completely repulsed by 9 A.M., with a loss +of 4 guns, and were pursued to within extreme range of the guns of +Tell-el-Kebir. The British casualties were 3 killed and 78 wounded. The +three following days were occupied in concentrating troops at Kassassin +for the attack on Tell-el-Kebir, held by about 38,000 men with 60 guns. +The Egyptian defences consisted of a long line of trench (2-1/2 m.) +approximately at right angles to the railway and the sweet-water canal. +At 11 P.M. on the 12th of September the advance of about 15,000 men +commenced; the 1st division, under Lieutenant-General Willis, was on the +right, and the 2nd division, under Lieutenant-General Hamley, was on the +left. Seven batteries of artillery, under Brigadier-General Goodenough, +were placed in the centre. The cavalry, under Major-General Drury Lowe, +was on the right flank, and the Indian contingent, under Major-General +Macpherson, starting one hour later, was ordered to move south of the +sweet-water canal. The night was moonless, and the distance to be +covered about 6-1/4 m. The ground was perfectly open, slightly +undulating, and generally firm gravel. The conditions for a night march +were thus ideal; but during the movement the wings closed towards each +other, causing great risk of an outbreak of firing. The line was, +however, rectified, and after a halt the final advance began. By a +fortunate accident the isolated outwork was just missed in the darkness +by the left flank of the 2nd Division; otherwise a premature alarm would +have been given, which must have changed all the conditions of the +operation. At dawn the Highland Brigade of the 2nd Division struck the +enemy's trenches, and carried them after a brief struggle. The 1st +Division attacked a few minutes later, and the cavalry swept round the +left of the line of entrenchments, cutting down any fugitives who +attempted resistance and reaching the enemy's camp in rear. The Indian +contingent, on the south of the canal, co-operated, intercepting the +Egyptians at the canal bridge. The opposition encountered at some points +was severe, but by 6 A.M. all resistance was at an end. The British loss +amounted to 58 killed, 379 wounded and 22 missing; nearly 2000 Egyptians +were killed, and more than 500 wounded were treated in hospital. An +immediate pursuit was ordered, and the Indian contingent, under +Major-General Macpherson, reached Zagazig, while the cavalry, under +Major-General Drury Lowe, occupied Belbeis and pushed on to Cairo, 65 m. +from Tell-el-Kebir, next day. On the evening of the 14th the 10,000 +troops occupying Abbasia barracks, and 5000 in the citadel of Cairo, +surrendered. On the 15th General Sir Garnet Wolseley, with the brigade +of Guards under H.R.H. the duke of Connaught, entered the city. + +The prompt following up of the victory at Tell-el-Kebir saved Cairo from +the fate of Alexandria and brought the rebellion to an end. The Egyptian +troops at Kafr Dauar, Abukir and Rosetta surrendered without opposition, +and those at Damietta followed on the 23rd of September, after being +threatened with attack. On the 25th the khedive entered Cairo, where a +review of the British troops was held on the 30th. The expeditionary +force was now broken up, leaving about 10,000 men, under Major-General +Sir A. Alison, to maintain the authority of the khedive. In twenty-five +days, from the landing at Ismailia to the occupation of Cairo, the +rebellion was completely suppressed, and the operations were thus +signally successful. + + + The Sudan question. + +The authority of the khedive and the maintenance of law and order now +depended absolutely on the British forces left in occupation. Lord +Dufferin, who had been sent to Cairo to draw up a project of +constitutional reforms, advocated the re-establishment of a native army, +not to exceed 5000 to 6000 men, with a proportion of British officers, +for purely defence purposes within the Delta; and on the 13th of +December 1882 Sir Evelyn Wood left England to undertake the organization +of this force, with the title of sirdar. Lord Dufferin further advised +the formation of a gendarmerie, which "should be in a great measure a +mounted force and empowered with a semi-military character" (despatch of +January 1st, 1883). The strength of this military police force was fixed +at 4400 men with 2562 horses, and Baker Pasha (General Valentine Baker) +was entrusted with its formation, with the title of inspector-general. + +In a despatch of the 6th of February 1883 Lord Dufferin dealt with the +Sudan, and stated that Egypt "could hardly be expected to acquiesce" in +a policy of withdrawal from her Southern territories. At the same time +he pointed out that, + + "Unhappily, Egyptian administration in the Sudan had been almost + uniformly unfortunate. The success of the present mahdi in raising the + tribes and extending his influence over great tracts of country was a + sufficient proof of the government's inability either to reconcile the + inhabitants to its rule or to maintain order. The consequences had + been most disastrous. Within the last year and a half the Egyptians + had lost something like 9000 men, while it was estimated that 40,000 + of their opponents had perished." + +Moreover, to restore tranquillity in the Sudan, + + "the first step necessary was the construction of a railway from + Suakin to Berber, or what, perhaps, would be more advisable, to + Shendi, on the Nile. The completion of this enterprise would at once + change all the elements of the problem." + + + Disaster to Hicks Pasha. + +The immense responsibilities involved were most imperfectly understood +by the British government. Egyptian sovereignty in the Sudan dates from +1820, when Mehemet Ali sent a large force into the country, and +ultimately established his authority over Sennar and Kordofan. In 1865 +Suakin and Massawa were assigned to Egyptian rule by the sultan, and in +1870 Sir Samuel Baker proceeded up the Nile to the conquest of the +Equatorial provinces, of which General Gordon was appointed +governor-general in 1874. In the same year Darfur and Harrar were +annexed, and in 1877 Gordon became governor-general of the Sudan, where, +with the valuable assistance of Gessi Pasha, he laboured to destroy the +slave trade and to establish just government. In August 1879 he returned +to Cairo, and was succeeded by Raouf Pasha. Misrule and oppression in +every form now again prevailed throughout the Sudan, while the slave +traders, exasperated by Gordon's stern measures, were ready to revolt. +The authority of Egypt was represented by scattered garrisons of armed +men, badly officered, undisciplined and largely demoralized. In such +conditions a leader only was required to ensure widespread and dangerous +rebellion. A leader appeared in the person of Mahommed Ahmed, born in +1848, who had taken up his abode on Abba Island, and, acquiring great +reputation for sanctity, had actively fomented insurrection. In August +1881 a small force sent by Raouf Pasha to arrest Mahommed Ahmed was +destroyed, and the latter, proclaiming himself the mahdi, stood forth as +the champion of revolt. Thus, at the time when the Egyptian army was +broken up at Tell-el-Kebir, the Sudan was already in flames. On the 7th +of June 1882, 6000 men under Yusef Pasha, advancing from Fashoda, were +nearly annihilated by the mahdists. Payara and Birket in Kordofan +quickly fell, and a few days before the battle of Tell-el-Kebir was +fought, the mahdi, with a large force, was besieging El Obeid. That town +was captured, after an obstinate defence, on the 17th of January 1883, +by which time almost the whole of the Sudan south of Khartum was in open +rebellion, except the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Equatorial provinces, where +for a time Lupton Bey and Emin Pasha were able to hold their own. +Abd-el-Kader, who had succeeded Raouf, telegraphed to Cairo for 10,000 +additional troops, and pointed out that if they were not sent at once +four times this number would be required to re-establish the authority +of the government in the Sudan. After gaining some small successes, +Abd-el-Kader was superseded by Suliman Niagi on the 20th of February +1883, and on the 26th of March Ala-ed-din Pasha was appointed +governor-general. Meanwhile 5000 men, who had served in the Egyptian +army, were collected and forcibly despatched to Khartum via Suakin. In +March 1883 Colonel William Hicks, late of the Bombay army, who in +January had been appointed by the khedive chief of the staff of the army +of the Sudan, found himself at Khartum with nine European officers and +about 10,000 troops of little military value. The reconquest of the +Sudan having been determined upon, although Sir E. Malet reported that +the Egyptian government could not supply the necessary funds, and that +there was great risk of failure, Colonel Hicks, who had resigned his +post on the 23rd of July, and had been appointed commander-in-chief, +started from Khartum on 9th September, with a total force of about +10,000 men, including non-combatants, for Kordofan. On the 22nd of May +Sir E. Malet had informed Sherif Pasha that, + + "although Colonel Hicks finds it convenient to communicate with Lord + Dufferin or with me, it must not be supposed that we endorse in any + way the contents of his telegrams.... Her Majesty's government are in + no way responsible for his operations in the Sudan, which have been + undertaken under the authority of His Highness's government." + +Colonel Hicks was fully aware of the unfitness of his rabble forces for +the contemplated task, and on the 5th of August he telegraphed: "I am +convinced it would be best to keep the two rivers and province of +Sennar, and wait for Kordofan to settle itself." Early in November the +force from Khartum was caught by the mahdists short of water at Kashgil, +near El Obeid, and was almost totally destroyed, Colonel Hicks, with all +his European officers, perishing. Sinister rumours having reached Cairo, +Sir E. Baring (Lord Cromer), who had succeeded Sir E. Malet, telegraphed +that "if Colonel Hicks's army is destroyed, the Egyptian government will +lose the whole of the Sudan, unless some assistance from the outside is +given," and advised the withdrawal to some post on the Nile. On the +following day Lord Granville replied: "We cannot lend English or Indian +troops; if consulted, recommend abandonment of the Sudan within certain +limits"; and on the 25th he added that "Her Majesty's government can do +nothing in the matter which would throw upon them the responsibilities +for operations in the Sudan." In a despatch of the 3rd of December Sir +E. Baring forcibly argued against British intervention in the affairs of +the Sudan, and on the 13th of December Lord Granville telegraphed that +"Her Majesty's government recommend the ministers of khedive to come to +an early decision to abandon all territory south of Assuan, or, at +least, of Wadi Halfa." On the 4th of January 1884 Sir E. Baring was +directed to insist upon the policy of evacuation, and on the 18th +General Gordon left London to assist in its execution. + + + Defeat of General Baker. + +The year 1883 brought a great accession of power to the mahdi, who had +captured about 20,000 rifles, 19 guns and large stores of ammunition. On +the Red Sea littoral Osman Digna, a slave dealer of Suakin, appointed +amir of the Eastern Sudan, raised the local tribes and invested Sinkat +and Tokar. On the 16th of October and the 4th of November Egyptian +reinforcements intended for the former place were destroyed, and on the +2nd of December a force of 700 men was annihilated near Tamanieb. On the +23rd of December General Valentine Baker, followed by about 2500 men, +gendarmerie, blacks, Sudanese and Turks, with 10 British officers, +arrived at Suakin to prepare for the relief of Sinkat and Tokar. The +khedive appears to have been aware of the risks to be incurred, and in a +private letter he informed the general that "I rely upon your prudence +and ability not to engage the enemy except under the most favourable +circumstances." The tragedy of Kashgil was repeated on the 4th of +February 1884, when General Baker's heterogeneous force, on the march +from Trinkitat to Tokar, was routed at El Teb by an inferior body of +tribesmen. Of 3715 men, 2375, with 11 European officers, were killed. +Suakin was now in danger, and on the 6th of February British bluejackets +and marines were landed for the defence of the town. + + + British expedition under Sir G. Graham: battles of El Teb and Tamanieb. + +Two expeditions in the Sudan led by British officers having thus ended +in disaster, and General Gordon with Lieutenant-Colonel J. D. Stewart +having reached Khartum on the 18th of February, the policy of British +non-intervention in regard to Sudan affairs could no longer be +maintained. Public opinion in England was strongly impressed by the fact +that the Egyptian garrisons of Tokar and Sinkat were perishing within +striking distance of the Red Sea littoral. A British force about 4400 +strong, with 22 guns, made up of troops from Egypt and from units +detained on passage from India, was rapidly concentrated at Suakin and +placed under the orders of Major-General Sir G. Graham, with +Major-Generals Sir R. Buller and J. Davis as brigadiers. News of the +fall of Sinkat, where the starving garrison, under Tewfik Bey, made a +gallant sortie and was cut to pieces, reached Suakin on the 12th of +February. On the 24th General Graham's force disembarked at Trinkitat +and received information of the surrender of Tokar. At 8 A.M. on the +29th the force advanced towards Tokar in square, and came under fire at +11.20 A.M. from the enemy entrenched at El Teb. The tribesmen made +desperate efforts to rush the square, but were repulsed, and the +position was taken by 2 P.M. The cavalry, 10th and 19th Hussars, under +Brigadier-General Sir H. Stewart, became involved in a charge against an +unbroken enemy, and suffered somewhat severely. The total British loss +was 34 killed and 155 wounded; that of the tribesmen was estimated at +1500 killed. On the following day Tokar was reached, and on the 2nd of +March the force began its return to Suakin, bringing away about 700 +people belonging to the late garrison and the civil population, and +destroying 1250 rifles and a quantity of ammunition found in a +neighbouring village. On the 9th of March the whole force was back at +Suakin, and on the evening of the 11th an advance to Tamai began, and +the force bivouacked and formed a zeriba in the evening. Information was +brought by a native that the enemy had assembled in the Khor Ghob, a +deep ravine not far from the zeriba. At about 8.30 A.M. on the 13th the +advance began in echelon of brigade squares from the left. The left and +leading square (2nd Brigade) moved towards the khor, approaching at a +point where a little ravine joined it. The enemy showing in front, the +leading face of the square was ordered to charge up to the edge of the +khor. This opened the square, and a mass of tribesmen rushed in from the +small ravine. The brigade was forced back in disorder, and the naval +guns, which had been left behind, were temporarily captured. After a +severe hand-to-hand struggle, in which the troops behaved with great +gallantry, order was restored and the enemy repulsed, with the aid of +the fire from the 1st Brigade square and from dismounted cavalry. The +1st Brigade square, having a sufficient field of fire, easily repelled +all attempts to attack, and advancing as soon as the situation had been +restored, occupied the village of Tamai. The British loss was 109 killed +and 104 wounded; of the enemy nearly 2000 were killed. On the following +day the force returned to Suakin. + +Two heavy blows had now been inflicted on the followers of Osman Digna, +and the road to Berber could have been opened, as General Graham and +Brigadier-General Sir H. Stewart suggested. General Gordon, questioned +on the point, telegraphed from Khartum, on the 7th of March, that he +might be cut off by a rising at Shendi, adding, "I think it, therefore, +most important to follow up the success near Suakin by sending a small +force to Berber." He had previously, on the 29th of February, urged that +the Suakin-Berber road should be opened up by Indian troops. This, and +General Gordon's proposal to send 200 British troops to Wadi Halfa, was +opposed by Sir E. Baring, who, realizing soon afterwards the gravity of +the situation, telegraphed on the 16th of March:-- + + "It has now become of the utmost importance not only to open the road + between Suakin and Berber, but to come to terms with the tribes + between Berber and Khartum." + +The government refused to take this action, and Major-General Graham's +force was employed in reconnaissances and small skirmishes, ending in +the destruction of the villages in the Tamanieb valley on 27th March. On +the 28th the whole force was reassembled at Suakin, and was then broken +up, leaving one battalion to garrison the town. + + + Entanglement of General Gordon at Khartum. + +The abrupt disappearance of the British troops encouraged the tribesmen +led by Osman Digna, and effectually prevented the formation of a native +movement, which might have been of great value. The first attempt at +intervention in the affairs of the Sudan was made too late to save +Sinkat and Tokar. It resulted only in heavy slaughter of the tribesmen, +which afforded no direct or indirect aid to General Gordon or to the +policy of evacuation. The public announcement of the latter was a grave +mistake, which increased General Gordon's difficulties, and the +situation at Khartum grew steadily worse. On the 24th of March Sir E. +Baring telegraphed:-- + + "The question now is, how to get General Gordon and Colonel Stewart + away from Khartum.... Under present circumstances, I think an effort + should be made to help General Gordon from Suakin, if it is at all a + possible military operation.... We all consider that, however + difficult the operations from Suakin may be, they are more practicable + than any operations from Korosko and along the Nile." + +A telegram from General Gordon, received at Cairo on the 19th of April, +stated that + + "We have provisions for five months and are hemmed in.... Our position + will be much strengthened when the Nile rises.... Sennar, Kassala and + Dongola are quite safe for the present." + +At the same time he suggested "an appeal to the millionaires of America +and England" to subscribe money for the cost of "2000 or 3000 nizams" +(Turkish regulars) to be sent to Berber. A cloud now settled down upon +Khartum, and subsequent communications were few and irregular. The +foreign office and General Gordon appeared to be somewhat at cross +purposes. The former hoped that the garrisons of the Sudan could be +extricated without fighting. The latter, judging from the tenor of some +of his telegrams, believed that to accomplish this work entailed the +suppression of the mahdi's revolt, the strength of which he at first +greatly underestimated. He had pressed strongly for the employment of +Zobeir as "an absolute necessity for success" (3rd of March); but this +was refused, since Sir H. Gordon advised at this time that it would be +dangerous. On the 9th of March General Gordon proposed, "if the +immediate evacuation of Khartum is determined upon irrespective of +outlying towns," to send down the "Cairo _employes_" and the garrison to +Berber with Lieutenant-Colonel J. D. Stewart, to resign his commission, +and to proceed with the stores and the steamers to the equatorial +provinces, which he would consider as placed under the king of the +Belgians. On the 13th of March Lord Granville gave full power to General +Gordon to "evacuate Khartum and save that garrison by conducting it +himself to Berber without delay," and expressed a hope that he would not +resign his commission. + + + Relief expedition: question of route. + +By the end of March 1884 Sir E. Baring and the British officers in Egypt +were convinced that force would have to be employed, and the growing +danger of General Gordon, with the grave national responsibility +involved, began to be realized in Great Britain. Sir Henry Gordon, +however, who was in personal communication with Mr Gladstone, considered +that his brother was in no peril, and for some time disbelieved in the +need for a relief expedition. Meanwhile it was at least necessary to +evolve some plan of action, and on the 8th of April the adjutant-general +addressed a memorandum to the secretary of state for war detailing the +measures required for placing 6500 British troops "in the neighbourhood +of Shendi." The battle of the routes began much earlier, and was +continued for some months. Practically the choice lay between the Nile +and the Suakin-Berber road. The first involved a distance of 1650 m. +from Cairo along a river strewn with cataracts, which obstructed +navigation to all but small boats, except during the period of high +water. So great was this obstruction that the Nile had never been a +regular trade route to the Sudan. The second entailed a desert march of +about 250 m., of which one section, Obak-Bir Mahoba (52 m.), was +waterless, and the rest had an indifferent water supply (except at +Ariab, about half-way to Berber), capable, however, of considerable +development. From Berber the Nile is followed (210 m.) to Khartum. This +was an ancient trade route with the Sudan, and had been used without +difficulty by the reinforcements sent to Hicks Pasha in 1883, which were +accompanied by guns on wheels. The authorities in Egypt, headed by +General Stephenson, subsequently supported by the Admiral Lord John Hay, +who sent a naval officer to examine the river as far as Dongola, were +unanimous in favour of the Suakin-Berber route. From the first +Major-General Sir A. Clarke, then inspector-general of fortifications, +strongly urged this plan, and proposed to begin at once a metre gauge +railway from Suakin, to be constructed by Indian labour under officers +skilled in laying desert lines. Some preliminary arrangements were made, +and on the 14th of June the government sanctioned certain measures of +preparation at Suakin. On the other side were the adjutant-general (Lord +Wolseley) and a small number of officers who had taken part in the Red +River expedition of 1870. The memorandum of the adjutant-general above +referred to was based on the hypothesis that Khartum could not hold out +beyond the 15th of November, and that the expedition should reach Berber +by the 20th of October. Steamers were to be employed in such reaches as +proved practicable, but the force was to be conveyed in special +whale-boats, by which "the difficulty of transport is reduced to very +narrow limits." The mounted force was to consist of 400 men on native +horses and 450 men on horses or camels. The question of routes continued +to be the subject of animated discussion, and on the 29th of July a +committee of three officers who had served in the Red River expedition +reported:-- + + "We believe that a brigade can easily be conveyed in small boats from + Cairo to Dongola in the time stated by Lord Wolseley; and, further, + that should it be necessary to send a still larger force by water to + Khartum, that operation will present no insuperable difficulties." + + + Lord Wolseley sent out; Nile route adopted. + +This most inconclusive report, and the baseless idea that the adoption +of the Nile route would involve no chance of bloodshed, which the +government was anxious to avoid, seem to have decided the question. On +the 8th of August the secretary of state for war informed General +Stephenson that "the time had arrived when some further measures for +obtaining accurate information as to his (General Gordon's) position, +and, if necessary, for tendering him assistance, should be adopted." +General Stephenson still urged the Suakin-Berber route, and was informed +on the 26th of August that Lord Wolseley would be appointed to take over +the command in Egypt for the purposes of the expedition, for which a +vote of credit had been taken in the House of Commons on the 5th of +August. On the 9th of September Lord Wolseley arrived at Cairo, and the +plan of operations was somewhat modified. A camel corps of 1100 men +selected from twenty-eight regiments at home was added, and the +"fighting force to be placed in line somewhere in the neighbourhood of +Shendi" was fixed at 5400. The construction of whale-boats began on the +12th of August, and the first batch arrived at Wadi Halfa on the 14th of +October, and on the 25th the first boat was hauled through the second +cataract. The mounted forces proceeded up the banks, and the first +half-battalion embarked at Gemai, 870 m. from Khartum, on the 5th of +November, ten days before the date to which it had been assumed General +Gordon could hold out. In a straggling procession the boats worked their +way up to Korti, piloted by Canadian _voyageurs_. The labour was very +great, and the troops, most of whom were having their first lesson in +rowing, bore the privations of their unaccustomed conditions with +admirable cheerfulness. By the 25th of December 2220 men had reached +Korti, of whom about 800 only had been conveyed by the whale-boats, the +last of which did not arrive till the 27th of January. Beyond Korti lay +the very difficult section of the river to Abu Hamed, which was quite +unknown. Meanwhile news of the loss of the "Abbas" and of the murder of +Colonel J. D. Stewart and his party on the 18th of September had been +received. A letter from Gordon, dated the 4th of November and received +on the 17th of November, stated that his steamers would await the +expedition at Metemma, and added, "We can hold out forty days with ease; +after that it will be difficult." In his diary, on the 13th of December, +when his difficulties had become extreme, he noted that "if the +expeditionary force does not come in ten days, the town may fall." + + + Stewart's Desert Column; battle of Abu Klea wells. + + Failure of relief expedition. + +It was clear at Korti that something must be done at once; and on the +13th of December 1100 men, with 2200 camels, under General Sir H. +Stewart, were despatched to occupy Jakdul wells, 96 m. on the desert +route to Metemma. Stewart returned on the 5th of January, and started +again on the 8th, with orders to establish a fort at Abu Klea and to +occupy Metemma. The Desert Column, 1800 men, with 2880 camels in poor +condition and 153 horses, found the enemy in possession of Abu Klea +wells on the 16th, and was desperately attacked on the 17th. The want +of homogeneity of the force, and the unaccustomed tactics imposed upon +the cavalry, somewhat hampered the defence, and the square was broken at +the left rear corner. Driven back upon the camels in the centre, the +troops fought hand to hand with the greatest gallantry. Order was +quickly restored, and the attack was repulsed, with a loss of 74 killed +and 94 wounded. At least 1100 of the enemy were killed. The wells being +occupied and a zeriba formed, the column started on the evening of the +18th. The wrong road was taken, and great confusion occurred, during the +night, but at dawn this was rectified; and after forming a rough fort +under fire, by which General Sir H. Stewart was fatally wounded, an +advance was made at 3 P.M. The square was again heavily attacked, but +the Arabs could not get to close quarters and in the evening a bivouac +was formed on the Nile. The British losses on this day were 23 killed +and 98 wounded. The Desert Column was now greatly exhausted. On the 20th +the village of Gubat was occupied; and on the following day Sir C. +Wilson, on whom the command had devolved, advanced against Metemma, +which was found too strong to assault. On this day General Gordon's four +steamers arrived; and on the morning of the 24th Sir C. Wilson, with 20 +British soldiers in red coats and about 280 Sudanese, started in the +"Bordein" and "Telahawiyeh" for Khartum. The "Bordein" grounded on the +following day, and again on the 26th, by which twenty-four hours were +lost. At 11 A.M. on the 28th Khartum was sighted, and it soon became +clear that the town was in the hands of the enemy. After reconnoitring +farther, the steamers turned and proceeded down stream under a heavy +fire, the Sudanese crews showing signs of disaffection. The +"Telahawiyeh" was wrecked on the 29th of January and the "Bordein" on +the 31st, Sir C. Wilson's party being rescued on the 4th of February by +Lord C. Beresford in the "Safieh," which had come up from Gubat on +receipt of news carried there by Lieutenant Stuart Wortley in a +row-boat. Khartum had been taken and General Gordon killed on the +morning of the 26th of January 1885, having thus held out thirty-four +days beyond the date when he had expected the end. The garrison had been +reduced to starvation; and the arrival of twenty British soldiers, with +orders to return at once, could not have affected the situation. The +situation of the Desert Column and of its transport was most imperfectly +understood at Korti, where impossible plans were formed. Fortunately +Major-General Sir R. Buller, who arrived at Gubat on the 11th of +February, decided upon withdrawal, thus averting impending disaster, and +by the 16th of March the Desert Column had returned to Korti. + +The advance from Korti of the River Column, under Major-General Earle, +began on the 28th of December, and great difficulties of navigation were +encountered. On the 10th of February an action was fought at Kirbekan +with about 800 of the enemy, entailing a loss of 10 killed, including +Major-General Earle, and 47 wounded. The column, now commanded by +Brigadier-General Brackenbury, continued its slow advance, and on the +morning of the 24th of February it was about 26 m. below Abu Hamed, a +point where the Korosko desert route strikes the Nile, 350 m. from +Khartum. Here it received orders to retire, and it reached Korti on the +8th of March. + + + Suakin operations. + +The verbal message received from General Gordon on the 30th of December +1884 rendered the extreme danger of the position at Khartum painfully +apparent, and the secretary of state for war, acting on Sir E. Baring's +advice, offered to make an active demonstration from Suakin. To this +proposal Lord Wolseley demurred, but asked that ships of war should be +sent to Suakin, and that "marines in red coats should be frequently +landed and exercised." Lord Hartington replied that the government did +not consider that a demonstration of this kind could be effective, and +again suggested stronger measures. On the 8th of January 1885 Lord +Wolseley repeated that "the measures you propose will not assist my +operations against Khartum," adding:-- + + "I have from first endeavoured to impress on government that I am + strong enough to relieve Khartum, and believe in being able to send a + force, when returning by way of Berber, to Suakin, to open road and + crush Osman Digna." + +On this very day the small Desert Column started from Korti on its +hazardous mission to the relief of a town fully 270 m. distant, held by +a starving garrison, and invested by 30,000 fighting men, mostly armed +with good rifles. Before reaching the Nile the Desert Column had lost +300 men and was unable to take Metemma, while its transport had +completely broken down. On the 8th of February Lord Wolseley +telegraphed, "The sooner you can now deal with Osman Digna the better," +and recommended the despatch of Indian troops to Suakin, to "co-operate +with me in keeping road to Berber open." On the 11th of February, the +day on which Sir R. Buller most wisely decided to withdraw the Desert +Column from a position of extreme danger, it was determined at Korti +that the River Column should proceed to attack Berber, and Lord Wolseley +accepted the proposal of the government to make a railway from Suakin, +telegraphing to Lord Harrington:-- + + "By all means make railway by contract to Berber, or as far as you + can, during summer. It will be invaluable as a means of supply, and I + recommend it being begun immediately. Contract to be, if possible, for + so much per ton military stores and supplies and men carried, per + mile." + + + Battle of Hashin. + +Every effort was now concentrated upon sending an expeditionary force to +Suakin, and before the end of March about 13,000 men, including a +brigade from India and a field battery from New South Wales, with nearly +7000 camels and 1000 mules, were there assembled. Lieutenant-General Sir +G. Graham was placed in command of this force, with orders to break down +the power of Osman Digna and to press the construction of the railway +towards Berber. The troops at Suakin, on arrival, were much harassed by +small night attacks, which ceased as soon as the scattered camps were +drawn together. On the 19th of March Sir G. Graham, with the cavalry +brigade and the infantry of the Indian contingent, reconnoitred as far +as Hashin, finding the country difficult on account of the dense mimosa +scrub. The enemy occupied the hills and fired upon the cavalry. On the +20th Sir G. Graham, with about 9000 men, again advanced to Hashin, and +Dehilbat hill was taken by the Berkshire regiment and the Royal Marines. +A squadron of the 9th Royal Lancers, which was dismounted in the thick +bush, was driven back with the loss of 9 men; but elsewhere the Arabs +never succeeded in closing, and the troops returned to Suakin in the +afternoon, leaving the East Surrey regiment in a zeriba covering some +low hills near Hashin village. The total British loss was 9 killed and +39 wounded. + + + McNeill's zeriba. + +On the 22nd of March a force, consisting of two British and three Indian +battalions, with a naval brigade, a squadron of lancers, two companies +of engineers, and a large convoy of camels carrying water and supplies, +under Major-General Sir J. McNeill, started from Suakin for Tamai, with +orders to form a half-way zeriba. The advance was much impeded by the +dense bush, and the force halted at Tofrik, about 6 m. out, at 10.30 +A.M. A native had brought information that the enemy intended to attack +while the zeriba was being formed, and this actually occurred. The force +was caught partly unprepared soon after 2.30 P.M., and severe fighting +took place. The enemy were repulsed in about twenty minutes, the naval +brigade, the Berkshire regiment, the Royal Marines, and the 15th Sikhs +showing the greatest gallantry. The casualties, including those among +non-combatants, were 150 killed, 148 missing, and 174 wounded. More than +500 camels were killed. The tribesmen lost more than 1000 killed. As +soon as firing was heard at Suakin, Sir G. Graham, with two battalions +of Guards and a battery of horse artillery, started for Tofrik, but +returned on being assured that reinforcements were not required. On the +24th and 26th convoys proceeding in square to Tofrik were attacked, the +enemy being repulsed without difficulty. On the 2nd of April a force +exceeding 7000 men, with 14 guns and 1600 transport animals, started +from Suakin at 4.30 A.M., and bivouacked twelve hours later at Tesela +Hill. Next morning an advance was made towards Tamai, and a number of +huts in the Khor Ghob were burned. The force then returned to Suakin. +The railway was now pushed on without interruption, reaching Otao on the +30th. On the night of the 6th of May a combined movement was made from +Suakin and Otao, which resulted in the surprise and break-up of a force +of the enemy under Mahommed Sardun, and the capture of a large number of +sheep and goats. The moral effect of this operation was marked, and +large numbers of tribesmen placed themselves unconditionally at the +disposal of Sir G. Graham. A great native movement could now have been +organized, which would have kept the route to Berber and enabled the +railway to be rapidly pushed forward. + + + Political and military situation at end of operations. + +Meanwhile many communications had passed between the war office and Lord +Wolseley, who at first believed that Berber could be taken before the +summer. In a long despatch of the 6th of March he discussed the general +situation, and pointed out that although the force at his disposal "was +amply sufficient" for raising the siege of Khartum and defeating the +mahdi, the conditions were changed by the fall of the town. It was now +"impossible ... to undertake any offensive operations until about the +end of the summer," when twelve additional British battalions, four +strong squadrons of British cavalry, and two R.H.A. batteries, together +with a large extension of the Wadi Halfa railway, eleven steamers, and +three hundred more whale-boats, would be required. He considered it +necessary to hold Dongola, and he reported that he was "distributing +this army along the left bank of the Nile, on the open reach of water" +between the Hannek cataract and Abu Dom, opposite Merawi. On the 30th of +March Lord Wolseley quitted the army and proceeded to Cairo. A cloud +having arisen on the frontiers of Afghanistan, the withdrawal of the +troops from the Sudan was ordered on the 11th of May. On the formation +of Lord Salisbury's cabinet, the new secretary of state for war, Mr W. +H. Smith, inquired whether the retirement could be arrested, but +Major-General Sir R. Buller reported that the difficulties of +reoccupation would be great, and that if Dongola was to be held, a fresh +expedition would be required. On the 22nd of June, before the British +rearguard had left Dongola, the mahdi died. The withdrawal of the Suakin +force began on the 17th of May, and the friendly tribes, deprived of +support, were compelled to make terms with Osman Digna, who was soon +able to turn his attention to Kassala, which capitulated in August, +nearly at the same time as Sennar. + +The failure of the operations in the Sudan had been absolute and +complete, and the reason is to be sought in a total misconception of the +situation, which caused vacillation and delay, and in the choice of a +route by which, having regard to the date of the decision, the relief of +General Gordon and Khartum was impossible. (G. S. C.) + + +MILITARY OPERATIONS IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN, 1885 TO 1896 + +The operations against Mahdism during the eleven years from the end of +the Nile expedition and the withdrawal from the Sudan to the +commencement of the Dongola campaign will be more easily understood if, +instead of narrating them in one chronological sequence, the operations +in each province are considered separately. The mahdi, Mahommed Ahmed, +died at Omdurman on the 22nd of June 1885. He was succeeded by the +principal khalifa, Abdullah el Taaisha, a Baggara Arab, who for the next +thirteen years ruled the Sudan with despotic power. Cruel, vicious, +unscrupulous and strong, the country groaned beneath his oppression. He +removed all possible rivals, concentrated at Omdurman a strong military +force composed of men of his own tribe, and maintained the ascendancy of +that tribe over all others. As the British troops retired to Upper +Egypt, his followers seized the evacuated country, and the khalifa +cherished the idea, already formulated by the mahdi, of the conquest of +Egypt, but for some years he was too much occupied in quelling risings, +massacring the Egyptians in the Sudan, and fighting Abyssinia, to move +seriously in the matter. + +_Upper Egypt._--Mahommed el Kheir, dervish amir of Dongola, however, +advanced towards the frontier in the autumn of 1885, and at the end of +November came in touch with the frontier field force, a body of some +3000 men composed in nearly equal parts of British and Egyptian troops. +A month of harassing skirmishes ensued, during which the Egyptian troops +showed their mettle at Mograka, where 200 of them held the fort against +a superior number of dervishes, and in combats at Ambigol, Kosha and +Firket. Sir Frederick Stephenson, commanding the British army of +occupation in Egypt, then concentrated the frontier field force at +Firket, and attacked the main body of the enemy at Ginnis on the 30th of +December 1885, completely defeating it and capturing two guns and twenty +banners. It was here the new Egyptian army received its baptism of fire +and acquitted itself very creditably. Although checked, the dervishes +were not discouraged, and continued to press upon the frontier in +frequent raids, and thus in many bloody skirmishes the fighting +qualities of the Egyptian troops were developed. In April 1886 the +frontier was drawn back to Wadi Halfa, a fortified camp at the northern +end of the desolate defile, Batn-el-Hagar, through which the Nile +tumbles amid black, rocky hills in a succession of rapids, and debouches +on a wide plain. The protection of the frontier was now left in the +hands of the Egyptian army, a British force remaining at Assuan, 200 m. +to the north, as a reserve in case of emergency, and two years later +even this precaution was deemed unnecessary. + +In October 1886 Wad en Nejumi, the amir who had defeated Hicks Pasha in +Kordofan three years before, and led the assault at Khartum when General +Gordon was slain in January 1885, replaced Mahommed el Kheir as +"commander of the force for the conquest of Egypt," and brought large +reinforcements to Dongola. An advanced column under Nur-el-Kanzi +occupied Sarras in April 1887, was attacked by the Egyptian force under +Colonel H. Chermside on the 28th of that month, and after a stubborn +resistance was defeated with great loss. Nur-el-Kanzi was killed and ten +standards taken. + + + Battle of Toski. + +The troubles in Darfur and with Abyssinia (q.v.) induced the khalifa to +reduce the garrisons of the north; nevertheless, the dervishes +reoccupied Sarras, continued active in raids and skirmishes, and +destroyed the railway south of Sarras, which during the Nile expedition +of 1884 and 1885 had been carried as far as Akasha. It was not until May +1889 that an invasion of the frontier on a large scale was attempted. At +this time the power and prestige of the khalifa were at their height: +the rebellions in Darfur and Kordofan had been stamped out, the +anti-mahdi was dead, and even the dervish defeat by the Abyssinians had +been converted by the death of King John and the capture of his body +into a success. It was therefore an opportune time to try to sweep the +Turks and the British into the sea. On the 22nd of June Nejumi was at +Sarras with over 6000 fighting men and 8000 followers. On the 2nd of +July Colonel J. Wodehouse headed off a part of this force from the river +at Argin, and, after a sharp action, completely defeated it, killing +900, among whom were many important amirs, and taking 500 prisoners and +12 banners, with very small loss to his own troops. A British brigade +was on its way up stream, but the sirdar, who had already arrived to +take the command in person, decided not to wait for it. The Egyptian +troops, with a squadron of the 20th Hussars, concentrated at Toski, and +thence, on the 3rd of August, General Grenfell, with slight loss, gained +a decisive victory. Wad en Nejumi, most of his amirs, and more than 1200 +Arabs were killed; 4000 prisoners and 147 standards were taken, and the +dervish army practically destroyed. No further serious attempts were +made to disturb the frontier, of which the most southerly outpost was at +once advanced to Sarras. + +The escape from Omdurman of Father Ohrwalder and of two of the captive +nuns in December 1891, of Father Rossignoli in October 1894, and of +Slatin Bey in February 1895, revealed the condition of the Sudan to the +outside world, threw a vivid light on the rule of the khalifa, and +corroborated information already received of the discontent which +existed among the tribes with the oppression and despotism under which +they lived. + +_The Eastern Sudan._--In 1884 Colonel Chermside, governor of the Red Sea +littoral, entered into arrangements with King John of Abyssinia for the +relief of the beleaguered Egyptian garrisons. Gera, Amadib, Senhit and +Gallabat were, in consequence, duly succoured, and their garrisons and +Egyptian populations brought away to the coast by the Abyssinians in +1885. Unfortunately famine compelled the garrison of Kassala to +capitulate on the 30th of July of that year, and Osman Digna hurried +there from Tamai to raise a force with which to meet the Abyssinian +general, Ras Alula, who was preparing for its relief. By the end of +August Osman Digna had occupied Kufit, in the Barea country, with 10,000 +men and entrenched himself. On the 23rd of September Ras Alula attacked +him there with an equal number of men and routed him with great +slaughter. Over 3000 dervishes with their principal amirs, except Osman +Digna, lay dead on the field, and many more were killed in the pursuit. +The Abyssinians lost 40 officers and 1500 men killed, besides many more +wounded. Instead of marching on to Kassala, Ras Alula, who at this time +was much offended by the transfer of Massawa by the Egyptians to Italy, +made a triumphant entry into Asmara, and absolutely refused to make any +further efforts to extricate Egyptian garrisons from the grip of the +khalifa. Meanwhile Osman Digna, who had fled from Kufit to Kassala, +wreaked his vengeance upon the unhappy captives at Kassala. + + + Handub. + + Battle of Afafit. + +In the neighbourhood of Suakin there were many tribes disaffected to the +khalifa's cause, and in the autumn of 1886 Colonel H. Kitchener, who was +at the time governor of the Red Sea littoral, judiciously arranged a +combination of them to overthrow Osman Digna, with the result that his +stronghold at Tamai was captured on the 7th of October, 200 of his men +killed, and 50 prisoners, 17 guns and a vast store of rifles and +ammunition captured. For about a year there was comparative quiet. Then +at the end of 1887 Osman Digna again advanced towards Suakin, but his +force at Taroi was routed by the "Friendlies," and he fell back on +Handub. Kitchener unsuccessfully endeavoured to capture Osman Digna on +the 17th of January 1888, but in the attack was himself severely +wounded, and was shortly after invalided. Later in the year Osman Digna +collected a large force and besieged Suakin. In December the sirdar +arrived with reinforcements from Cairo, and on the 20th sallied out and +attacked the dervishes in their trenches at Gemaiza, clearing the whole +line and inflicting considerable loss on the enemy, who retired towards +Handub, and the country was again fairly quiet for a time. During 1889 +and 1890 Tokar became the centre of dervish authority, while Handub +continued to be occupied for the khalifa. In January 1891 Osman Digna +showed signs of increased activity, and Colonel (afterwards Sir Charles) +Holled Smith, then governor of the Red Sea littoral, attacked Handub +successfully on the 27th and occupied it, then seized Trinkitat and Teb, +and on the 19th of February fought the decisive action of Afafit, +occupied Tokar, and drove Osman Digna back to Temrin with a loss of 700 +men, including all his chief amirs. This action proved the final blow to +the dervish power in the neighbourhood of Suakin, for although raiding +continued on a small scale, the tribes were growing tired of the +khalifa's rule and refused to support Osman Digna. + +In the spring of 1891 an agreement was made between England and Italy by +which the Italian forces in Eritrea were at liberty, if they were able, +to capture and occupy Kassala, which lay close to the western boundary +of their new colony, on condition that they restored it to Egypt at a +future day when required to do so. Three years passed before they +availed themselves of this agreement. In 1893 the dervishes, 12,000 +strong, under Ahmed Ali, invaded Eritrea, and were met on the 29th of +December at Agordat by Colonel Arimondi with 2000 men of a native force. +Ahmed Ali's force was completely routed and himself killed, and in the +following July Colonel Baratieri, with 2500 men, made a fine forced +march from Agordat, surprised and captured Kassala on the 17th of that +month, and continued to hold it for three years and a half. + + _The Abyssinian Frontier._--On the Abyssinian frontier Ras Adal was in + command of a considerable force of Abyssinians early in 1886, and in + June of that year he invaded Gallabat and defeated the dervishes on + the plain of Madana; the dervish amir Mahommed Wad Ardal was killed + and his camp captured. In the following year the amir Yunis ed Dekeim + made two successful raids into Abyssinian territory, upon which Ras + Adal collected an enormous army, said to number 200,000 men, for the + invasion of the Sudan. The khalifa sent the amir Hamdan Abu Angar, a + very skilful leader, with an army of over 80,000 men against him. Abu + Angar entered Abyssinia and, in August 1887, attacked Ras Adal in the + plain of Debra Sin and, after a prolonged battle, defeated the + Abyssinians, captured their camp, and marched on Gondar, the ancient + capital of Abyssinia, which he sacked, and then returned into + Gallabat. King John, the negus of Abyssinia, burning to avenge this + defeat, marched, in February 1889, with an enormous army to Gallabat, + where the amir Zeki Tumal commanded the khalifa's forces, some 60,000 + strong, and had strongly fortified the town and the camp. On the 9th + of March 1889 the Abyssinians made a terrific onslaught, stormed and + burnt the town, and took thousands of prisoners. A small party of + dervishes still held a zeriba when King John was struck by a stray + bullet. The Abyssinians decided to retire, fighting ceased, and they + moved off with their prisoners and the wounded negus. That night the + king died, and the greater part of the army having gone ahead with the + prisoners, a party of Arabs pursued the rearguard, which consisted of + the king's bodyguard, routed them, and captured the king's body, which + was sent to Omdurman to confirm the report of a brilliant victory sent + by Zeki Tumal to the khalifa. Internal strife prevented the new negus + of Abyssinia from prosecuting the war, which thus, in spite of the + Abyssinian success, resulted in the increased prestige of the khalifa. + From this time, however, the dervishes ceased to trouble the + Abyssinians. + + _Darfur and Kordofan._--On the outbreak of the mahdi's rebellion + Slatin Bey was governor of the province, and when Madibbo, the + insurgent sheikh of Rizighat, attacked and occupied Shakka and was + following up his success, Slatin twice severely defeated him, and, + having concentrated his forces at El Fasher, repulsed the enemy again + at Om Shanga. Mahdism, however, spread over Darfur in spite of + Slatin's efforts to stay it. He fought no fewer than twenty-seven + actions in various parts of his province, but his own troops, in + course of time, became infected with the new faith and deserted him. + He was obliged to surrender at Dara in December 1883, and was a + prisoner, first at Obeid and then at Omdurman, until he escaped in + 1895. In January 1884 Zogal, the new dervish amir of the province, + attacked El Fasher, where Said Bey Guma and an Egyptian garrison 1000 + strong with 10 guns was still holding out, and captured it. He also + reduced the Jebel Marra district, where the loyal hill-people gave him + some trouble. + + After the death of the mahdi in 1885, Madibbo revolted against the + khalifa, but was defeated by Karamalla, the dervish amir of the + Bahr-el-Ghazal, and was caught and executed. A war then sprang up + between Karamalla and Sultan Yusef, who had succeeded Zogal as amir of + Darfur. Yusef was joined in 1887 by Sultan Zayid, the black ruler of + Jebel Marra, and Karamalla's trusted general, Ketenbur, was defeated + with great slaughter at El Towaish on the 29th of June 1887. Osman wad + Adam (Ganu), amir of Kordofan, was sent by the khalifa to Karamalla's + assistance. He forced back the Darfurians near Dara on the 26th of + December, routed Zayid in a second battle, entered El Fasher, and, in + 1888, became complete master of the situation, the two sultans being + killed. The Darfurian chiefs then allied themselves with Abu Gemaiza, + sheikh of the Masalit Arabs, who had proclaimed himself "Khalifa + Osman," and was known as the anti-mahdi. The revolt assumed large + proportions, and became the more dangerous to Abdullah, the khalifa, + by reason of its religious character, wild rumours spreading over the + country and reaching to Egypt and Suakin of the advent to power of an + opposition mahdi. Abu Gemaiza attacked a portion of Osman Adam's + force, under Abd-el-Kader, at Kebkebia, 30 m. from El Fasher, and + almost annihilated it on the 16th of October 1888; and a week later + another large force of Osman Adam met with the same fate at the same + place. Instead of following up his victories, Abu Gemaiza retired to + Dar Tama to augment his army, to which thousands flocked as the news + of his achievements spread far and wide. He again advanced to El + Fasher in February 1889, but was seized with smallpox. His army, + however, under Fiki Adam, fought a fierce battle close to El Fasher on + the 22nd, which resulted in its defeat and dispersion, and Abu Gemaiza + himself dying the following day, the movement collapsed. + + In 1891 Darfur and Kordofan were again disturbed, and Sultan Abbas + succeeded in turning the dervishes out of the Jebel Marra district. + Two years later a saint of Sokoto, Abu Naal Muzil el Muhan, collected + many followers and for a time threatened the khalifa's power, but the + revolt gradually died out. + + _The Bahr-el-Ghazal._--The first outbreak in favour of Mahdism in the + Bahr-el-Ghazal took place at Liffi in August 1882, when the Dinka + tribe, under Jango, revolted and was defeated by Lupton Bey with + considerable slaughter at Tel Gauna, and again in 1883 near Liffi. In + September of that year Lupton's captain, Rufai Aga, was massacred with + all his men at Dembo, and Lupton, short of ammunition, was forced to + retire to Dem Suliman, where he was completely cut off from Khartum. + After gallantly fighting for eighteen months he was compelled by the + defection of his troops to surrender on the 21st of April 1884 to + Karamalla, the dervish amir of the province. He died at Omdurman in + 1888. + + In 1890 the Shilluks in the neighbourhood of Fashoda rose against the + khalifa, and the dervish amir of Gallabat, Zeki Tumal, was engaged for + two years in suppressing the rebellion. He got the upper hand in 1892, + and was recalled to oppose an Italian force said to be advancing from + Massawa; but on reporting that it was impossible to invade Eritrea, as + the khalifa wished him to do, he was summoned to Omdurman and put to + death. The country then relapsed into its original barbarous + condition, and dervish influence was nominal only. In 1892 the Congo + State expedition established posts up to the seventh parallel of north + latitude. In 1893 the dervish amir, Abu Mariam, fought with the Dinka + tribe and was killed and his force destroyed, the fugitives taking + refuge in Shakka. In the following year the Congo expedition + established further posts, and in consequence the khalifa sent 3000 + men, under the amir Khatem Musa, from Shakka to reoccupy the + Bahr-el-Ghazal. The Belgians at Liffi retired before him, and he + entered Faroga. Famine and disease broke out in Khatem Musa's camp in + 1895, and a retreat was made towards Kordofan. + + _Equatoria._--In the Equatorial Province, which extended from the + Albert Nyanza to Lado, Emin Bey, who had a force of 1300 Egyptian + troops and 3000 irregulars, distributed among many stations, held out, + hoping for reinforcements. In March 1885, however, Amadi fell to the + dervishes, and on the 18th of April Karamalla arrived near Lado, the + capital, and sent to inform Emin of the fall of Khartum. Emin and + Captain Casati, an Italian, moved south to Wadelai, giving up the + northern posts, and opened friendly relations with Kabarega, king of + Unyoro. On the 26th of February 1886 Emin received despatches from + Cairo via Zanzibar, from which he learned all that had occurred during + the previous three years, and that "he might take any step he liked, + should he decide to leave the country." He determined to remain where + he was and "hold together, as long as possible, the remnant of the + last ten years." His troops were in a mutinous state, wishing to go + north rather than south, as Emin had ordered them to do, and + unsuccessfully endeavoured to carry him with them by force. + + His communications to Europe through Zanzibar led to the relief + expedition under H. M. Stanley, which went to his rescue by way of the + Congo in 1887, and after encountering incredible dangers and + experiencing innumerable sufferings, met with Emin and Casati at + Nsabe, on the Albert Nyanza, on the 29th of April 1888. Stanley went + back in May to pick up his belated rearguard, leaving Mounteney + Jephson and a small escort to accompany Emin round his province. The + southern garrisons decided to go with Emin, but the troops at Labore + mutinied, and a general revolt broke out, headed by Fadl-el-Maula, + governor of Fabbo. On arriving at Dufile in August 1888, Emin and + Jephson were made prisoners by the Egyptian mutineers. In the meantime + the arrival of Stanley at Lake Albert had caused rumours, which + quickly spread to Omdurman, of a great invading white pasha, with the + result that in July the khalifa sent up the river three steamers and + six barges, containing 4000 troops, to oppose this new-comer. In + October Omar-Saleh, the Mahdist commander, took Rejaf and sent + messengers to Dufile to summon Emin to surrender; but on the 15th of + November the mutineers released both Emin and Jephson, who returned to + Lake Albert with some 600 refugees, and joined Stanley in February + 1889. The expedition arrived at Zanzibar at the end of the year. + + Emin's mutinous troops kept the dervishes at bay between Wadelai and + Rejaf, and eventually severely defeated them, driving them back to + Rejaf. They did not, however, follow up their victory, and under the + leadership of Fadl-el-Maula Bey remained about Wadelai, while the + dervishes strengthened their post at Rejaf. In 1893 Fadl-el-Maula Bey + and many of his men took service with Baert of the Congo State + expedition. The bey was killed fighting the dervishes at Wandi in + January 1894, and the remnant of his men eventually were found by + Captain Thruston from Uganda on the 23rd of March 1894 at Mahagi, on + the Albert Nyanza, whither they had drifted from Wadelai in search of + supplies. They were enlisted by Thruston and brought back under the + British flag to Uganda. + + In consequence of the Franco-Congolese Treaty of 1894, Major + Cunningham and Lieutenant Vandeleur were sent from Uganda to Dufile, + where they planted the British flag on the 15th of January 1895. + + +SUDAN OPERATIONS, 1896-1900 + + Dongola campaign, 1896. + +The wonderful progress--political, economical and social--which Egypt +had made during British occupation, so ably set forth in Sir Alfred +Milner's _England in Egypt_ (published in 1892), together with the +revelation in so strong a light of the character of the khalifa's +despotism in the Sudan and the miserable condition of his misgoverned +people, as detailed in the accounts of their captivity at Omdurman by +Father Ohrwalder and Slatin Bey (published in 1892 and 1896), stirred +public opinion in Great Britain, and brought the question of the +recovery of the Sudan into prominence. A change of ministry took place +in 1895, and Lord Salisbury's cabinet, which had consistently assailed +the Egyptian policy of the old, was not unwilling to consider whether +the flourishing condition of Egyptian finance, the prosperity of the +country and the settled state of its affairs, with a capable and proved +little army ready to hand, did not warrant an attempt being made to +recover gradually the Sudan provinces abandoned by Egypt in 1885 on the +advice of Mr Gladstone's government. + +Such being the condition of public and official sentiment, the crushing +defeat of the Italians by the Abyssinians at the battle of Adowa on the +1st of March 1896, and the critical state of Kassala--held by Italy at +British suggestion, and now closely invested by the dervishes--made it +not only desirable but necessary to take immediate action. + +On the 14th of March 1896 Major-General Sir H. Kitchener, who succeeded +Sir Francis Grenfell as sirdar of the Egyptian army in 1892, received +orders to reoccupy Akasha, 50 m. south of Sarras, and to carry the +railway on from Sarras. Subsequent operations were to depend upon the +amount of resistance he encountered. On the 20th of March Akasha was +occupied without opposition by an advanced column of Egyptian troops +under Major J. Collinson, who formed an entrenched camp there. The +reserves of the Egyptian army were called out, and responded with +alacrity. The troops were concentrated at Wadi Halfa; the railway +reconstruction, under Lieutenant E. P. Girouard, R.E., pushed southward; +and a telegraph line followed the advance. At the commencement of the +campaign the Egyptian army, including reserves, consisted of 16 +battalions of infantry, of which 6 were Sudanese, 10 squadrons of +cavalry, 5 batteries of artillery, 3 companies of garrison artillery, +and 8 companies of camel corps, and it possessed 13 gunboats for river +work. Colonel H. M. L. Rundle was chief of the staff; Major F. R. +Wingate was head of the intelligence department, with Slatin Bey as his +assistant; and Colonel A. Hunter was in command of Sarras, and south. +The 1st battalion of the North Staffordshire regiment moved up from +Cairo to join the Egyptian army. + +In the meantime the advance to Akasha had already relieved the pressure +at Kassala, Osman Digna having withdrawn a considerable force from the +investing army and proceeded with it to Suakin. To meet Osman Digna's +movement Lieutenant-Colonel G. E. Lloyd, the Suakin commandant, advanced +to the Taroi Wells, 19 m. south of Suakin, on the 15th of April to +co-operate with the "Friendlies," and with Major H. M. Sidney, advancing +with a small force from Tokar. His cavalry, under Major M. A. C. B. +Fenwick, went out to look for Sidney's force, and were surprised by a +large number of dervishes. Fenwick, with some 40 officers and men, +seized an isolated hill and held it through the night, repulsing the +dervishes, who were the same night driven back with such heavy loss in +attacking Lloyd's zeriba that they retired to the hills, and comparative +quiet again reigned at Suakin. At the end of May an Indian brigade +arrived for garrison duty, and the Egyptian troops were released for +service on the Nile. + +The dervishes first came in contact with the Egyptian cavalry on the +Nile near Akasha, on the 1st of May, and were repulsed. The army +concentrated at Akasha early in June, and on the 6th Kitchener moved to +the attack of Firket 16 m. away, where the amir Hamuda, with 3000 men, +was encamped. The attack was made in two columns: one, under Colonel +Hunter, marching along the river-bank, approached Firket from the north; +while the other, under Major Burn-Murdoch, making a detour through the +desert, approached it from the south. The co-operation of the two +columns was admirably timed, and on the morning of the 7th the dervish +camp was surrounded, and, after a sharp fight, Hamuda and many amirs and +about 1000 men were killed, and 500 prisoners taken. The dash and +discipline of the Egyptian troops in this victory were a good augury for +the future. + +By the end of June the railway was advanced beyond Akasha, and +headquarters were at Kosha, 10 m. farther south. Cholera and fever were +busy both with the North Staffordshire regiment at Gemai, whither they +had been moved on its approach, and with the Egyptian troops at the +front, and carried off many officers and men. The railway reached Kosha +early in August; the cholera disappeared, and stores were collected and +arrangements steadily made for a farther advance. The North +Staffordshire moved up to the front, and in September the army moved on +Kerma, which was found to be evacuated, the dervishes having crossed the +river to Hafir. There they were attacked by the gunboats and Kitchener's +artillery from the opposite bank, and forced to retire, with their +commander, Wad Bishara, seriously wounded. Dongola was bombarded by the +gunboats and captured by the army on the 23rd of September. Bishara and +his men retreated, but were pursued by the Egyptians until the retreat +became a hopeless rout. Guns, small arms and ammunition, with large +stores of grain and dates, were captured, many prisoners taken, while +hundreds surrendered voluntarily, among them a brother of the amir Wad +en Nejumi. The dervish Dongola army had practically ceased to exist. +Debba was seized on the 3rd October, Korti and Merawi occupied soon +after, and the principal sheiks came in and submitted to the sirdar. The +Dongola campaign was over, and the province recovered to Egypt. The +Indian brigade at Suakin returned to India, and was replaced by +Egyptians. The North Staffordshire returned to Cairo. The work of +consolidation began, and preparations were made for a farther advance +when everything should be ready. + + + The Sudan campaign, 1897. + +The railway up the right bank of the Nile was continued to Kerma, in +order to evade the difficulties of the 3rd cataract; but the sirdar had +conceived the bold project of cutting off the great angle of the Nile +from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamed, involving nearly 600 m. of navigation and +including the 4th cataract, by constructing a railway across the Nubian +desert, and so bringing his base at Wadi Halfa within a few hours of his +force, when it should have advanced to Abu Hamed, instead of ten days. +Early in 1897 this new line of railway was commenced from Wadi Halfa +across the great Nubian desert 230 m. to Abu Hamed. The first-mentioned +line reached Kerma in May, and by July the second had advanced 130 m. +into the desert towards Abu Hamed, when it became necessary, before it +was carried farther, to secure that terminus by an advance from Merawi. + +In the meantime the khalifa was not idle. He occupied Abu Klea wells and +Metemma; recalled the amir Ibrahim Khalil, with 4000 men, from the +Ghezira; brought to Omdurman the army of the west under Mahmud--some +10,000 men; entrusted the line of the Atbara--Ed Darner, Adarama, Asubri +and El Fasher--to Osman Digna; constructed defences in the Shabluka +gorge; and personally superintended the organization and drill of the +forces gathered at Omdurman, and the collection of vast stores of food +and supplies of camels for offensive expeditions. + +Towards the end of June the chief of the Jaalin tribe, Abdalla wad Said, +who occupied Metemma, angered by the khalifa, made his submission to +Kitchener and asked for support, at the same time foolishly sending a +defiant letter to the khalifa. The sirdar sent him rifles and ammunition +across the desert from Korti; but before they arrived, Mahmud's army, +sent by the khalifa, swept down on Metemma on the 1st of July and +massacred Abdalla wad Said and his garrison. + +On the 29th of July, after several reconnaissances, Major-General +Hunter, with a flying column, marched up the Nile from near Merawi to +Abu Hamed, 133 m. distant, along the edge of the Monassir desert. He +arrived on the 7th of August and captured it by storm, the dervishes +losing 250 killed and 50 prisoners. By the end of the month the gunboats +had surmounted the 4th cataract and reached Abu Hamed. Berber was found +to be deserted, and occupied by Hunter on the 5th of September, and in +the following month a large force was entrenched there. The khalifa, +fearing an attack on Omdurman, moved Osman Digna from Adarama to Shendi. +In the 23rd of October Hunter, with a flying column lightly equipped, +left Berber for Adarama, which he burned on the 2nd of November, and +after reconnoitring for 40 m. up the Atbara, returned to Berber. The +Nile was falling, and Kitchener decided to keep the gunboats above the +impassable rapid at Um Tuir, 4 m. north of the confluence of the Atbara +with the Nile, where he constructed a fort. The gunboats made repeated +reconnaissances up the river, bombarding Metemma with effect. The +railway reached Abu Hamed on the 4th of November, and was pushed rapidly +forward along the right bank of the Nile towards Berber. + +The forces of the khalifa remaining quiet, the sirdar visited Kassala +and negotiated with the Italian General Caneva for its restoration to +Egypt. The Italians were anxious to leave it; and on Christmas day 1897 +Colonel (afterwards General Sir Charles) Parsons, with an Egyptian force +from Suakin, took it formally over, together with a body of Arab +irregulars employed by the Italians. These troops were at once +despatched to capture the dervish posts at Asabri and El Fasher, which +they did with small loss. + + + Sudan campaign, 1898. + +On his return from Kassala to Berber the sirdar received information of +an intended advance of the khalifa northward. He at once ordered a +concentration of Egyptian troops towards Berber, and telegraphed to +Cairo for a British brigade. By the end of January the concentration was +complete, and the British brigade, under Major-General Gatacre, was at +Dakhesh, south of Abu Hamed. Disagreement among the khalifa's generals +postponed the dervish advance and gave Kitchener much-needed time. But +at the end of February, Mahmud crossed the Nile to Shendi with some +12,000 fighting men, and with Osman Digna advanced along the right bank +of the Nile to Aliab, where he struck across the desert to Nakheila, on +the Atbara, intending to turn Kitchener's left flank at Berber. The +sirdar took up a position at Ras el Hudi, on the Atbara. His force +consisted of Gatacre's British brigade (1st Warwicks, Lincolns, +Seaforths and Camerons) and Hunter's Egyptian division (3 brigades under +Colonels Maxwell, MacDonald and Lewis respectively), Broadwood's +cavalry, Tudway's camel corps and Long's artillery. The dervish army +reached Nakheila on the 20th of March, and entrenched themselves there +in a formidable zeriba. After several reconnaissances in which fighting +took place with Mahmud's outposts, it was ascertained from prisoners +that their army was short of provisions and that great leakage was going +on. Kitchener, therefore, did not hurry. He sent his flotilla up the +Nile and captured Shendi, the dervish depot, on the 27th of March. On +the 4th of April he advanced to Abadar. A final reconnaissance was made +on the 5th. On the following day he bivouacked at Umdabia, where he +constructed a strong zeriba, which was garrisoned by an Egyptian +battalion, and on the night of the 7th he marched to the attack of +Mahmud's zeriba, which, after an hour's bombardment on the morning of +the 8th of April, was stormed with complete success. Mahmud and several +hundred dervishes were captured, 40 amirs and 3000 Arabs killed, and +many more wounded; the rest escaped to Gedaref. The sirdar's casualties +were 80 killed and 472 wounded. + +Preparations were now made for the attack on the khalifa's force at +Omdurman; and in the meantime the troops were camped in the +neighbourhood of Berber, and the railway carried on to the Atbara. At +the end of July reinforcements were forwarded from Cairo; and on the +24th of August the following troops were concentrated for the advance at +Wad Hamad, above Metemma, on the western bank of the 6th +cataract:--British division, under Major-General Gatacre, consisting of +1st Brigade, commanded by Colonel A. G. Wauchope (1st Warwicks, +Lincolns, Seaforths and Camerons), and 2nd Brigade, commanded by Colonel +the Hon. N. G. Lyttelton (1st Northumberlands and Grenadier Guards, 2nd +Lancashire and Rifle Brigade); Egyptian division, under Major-General +Hunter, consisting of four brigades, commanded by Colonels MacDonald, +Maxwell, Lewis and Collinson; mounted troops--21st Lancers, camel corps, +and Egyptian cavalry; artillery, under Colonel Long, 2 British +batteries, 5 Egyptian batteries, and 20 machine guns; detachment of +Royal Engineers. The flotilla, under Commander Keppel, R.N., consisted +of 10 gunboats and 5 transport steamers. The total strength was nearly +26,000 men. + + + Battle of Omdurman. + +While the army moved along the west bank of the river, a force of Arab +irregulars or "Friendlies" marched along the east bank, under command of +Major Stuart-Wortley and Lieutenant Wood, to clear it of the enemy as +far as the Blue Nile; and on the 1st of September the gunboats bombarded +the forts on both sides of the river and breached the great wall of +Omdurman. Kitchener met with no opposition; and on the 1st of September +the army bivouacked in zeriba at Egeiga, on the west bank of the Nile, +within 4 m. of Omdurman. Here, on the morning of the 2nd of September, +the khalifa's army, 40,000 strong, attacked the zeriba, but was repulsed +with slaughter. Kitchener then moved out and marched towards Omdurman, +when he was again twice fiercely attacked on the right flank and rear, +MacDonald's brigade bearing the brunt. MacDonald distinguished himself +by his tactics, and completely repulsed the enemy. The 21st Lancers +gallantly charged a body of 2000 dervishes which was unexpectedly met in +a khor on the left flank, and drove them westward, the Lancers losing a +fifth of their number in killed and wounded. The khalifa was now in full +retreat, and the sirdar, sending his cavalry in pursuit, marched into +Omdurman. The dervish loss was over 10,000 killed, as many wounded, and +5000 prisoners. The khalifa's black flag was captured and sent home to +Queen Victoria. The British and Egyptian casualties together were under +500. The European prisoners of the khalifa found in Omdurman--Charles +Neufeld, Joseph Ragnotti, Sister Teresa Grigolini, and some 30 +Greeks--were released; and on Sunday the 4th of September the sirdar, +with representatives from every regiment, crossed the river to Khartum, +where the British and Egyptian flags were hoisted, and a short service +held in memory of General Gordon, near the place where he met his death. + +The results of the battle of Omdurman were the practical destruction of +the khalifa's army, the extinction of Mahdism in the Sudan, and the +recovery of nearly all the country formerly under Egyptian authority. + +The khalifa fled with a small force to Obeid in Kordofan. The British +troops were quickly sent down stream to Cairo, and the sirdar, shortly +afterwards created Lord Kitchener of Khartum, was free to turn his +attention to the reduction of the country to some sort of order. + + + Captain Marchand at Fashoda. + +He had first, however, to deal with a somewhat serious matter--the +arrival of a French expedition at Fashoda, on the White Nile, some 600 +m. above Khartum. He started for the south on the 10th of September, +with 5 gunboats and a small force, dispersed a body of 700 dervishes at +Reng on the 15th, and four days later arrived at Fashoda, to find the +French Captain Marchand, with 120 Senegalese soldiers, entrenched there +and the French flag flying. He arranged with Marchand to leave the +political question to be settled by diplomacy, and contented himself +with hoisting the British and Egyptian flags to the south of the French +flag, and leaving a gunboat and a Sudanese battalion to guard them. He +then steamed up the river and established a post at Sobat; and after +sending a gunboat up the Bahr-el-Ghazal to establish another post at +Meshra-er-Rek, he returned to Omdurman. The French expedition had +experienced great difficulties in the swampy region of the +Bahr-el-Ghazal, and had reached Fashoda on the 10th of July. It had been +attacked by a dervish force on the 25th of August, and was expecting +another attack when Kitchener arrived and probably saved it from +destruction. The Fashoda incident was the subject of important +diplomatic negotiations, which at one time approached an acute phase; +but ultimately the French position was found to be untenable, and on the +11th of December Marchand and his men returned to France by the Sobat, +Abyssinia and Jibuti. In the following March the spheres of interest of +Great Britain and France in the Nile basin were defined by a declaration +making an addition to Article IV. of the Niger convention of the +previous year. + +During the sirdar's absence from Omdurman Colonel Hunter commanded an +expedition up the Blue Nile, and by the end of September had occupied +and garrisoned Wad Medani, Sennar, Karkoj and Roseires. In the meantime +Colonel Parsons marched with 1400 men from Kassala on the 7th of +September, to capture Gedaref. He encountered 4000 dervishes under the +amir Saadalla outside the town, and after a desperate fight, in which he +lost 50 killed and 80 wounded, defeated them and occupied the town on +the 22nd. The dervishes left 500 dead on the field, among whom were four +amirs. Having strongly entrenched himself, Parsons beat off, with heavy +loss to the dervishes, two impetuous attacks made on the 28th by Ahmed +Fedil. But the garrison of Gedaref suffered from severe sickness, and +Colonel Collinson was sent to their aid with reinforcements from +Omdurman. He steamed up the Blue Nile and the Rahad river to +Ain-el-Owega, whence he struck across the desert, reaching Gedaref on +the 21st of October, to find that Ahmed Fedil had gone south with his +force of 5000 men towards Roseires. Colonel Lewis, who was at Karkoj +with a small force, moved to Roseires, where he received reinforcements +from Omdurman, and on the 26th of December caught Ahmed Fedil's force as +it was crossing the Blue Nile at Dakheila, and after a very severe fight +cut it up. The dervish loss was 500 killed, while the Egyptians had 24 +killed and 118 wounded. Two thousand five hundred fighting men +surrendered later, and the rest escaped with Ahmed Fedil to join the +khalifa in Kordofan. + + + Operations in the Sudan, 1899. + +On the 25th of January 1899 Colonel Walter Kitchener was despatched by +his brother, in command of a flying column of 2000 Egyptian troops and +1700 Friendlies, which had been concentrated at Faki Kohi, on the White +Nile, some 200 m. above Khartum, to reconnoitre the khalifa's camp at +Sherkela, 130 m. west of the river, in the heart of the Baggara country +in Kordofan, and if possible to capture it. The position was found to be +a strong one, occupied by over 6000 men; and as it was not considered +prudent to attack it with an inferior force at such a distance from the +river base, the flying column returned. No further attempt was made to +interfere with the khalifa in his far-off retreat until towards the end +of the year, when, good order having been generally established +throughout the rest of the Sudan, it was decided to extend it to +Kordofan. + + + Death of the khalifa. + +In the autumn of 1899 the khalifa was at Jebel Gedir, a hill in southern +Kordofan, about 80 m. from the White Nile, and was contemplating an +advance. Lord Kitchener concentrated 8000 men at Kaka, on the river, 380 +m. south of Khartum, and moved inland on the 20th of October. On +arriving at Fongor it was ascertained that the khalifa had gone north, +and the cavalry and camel corps having reconnoitred Jebel Gedir, the +expedition returned. On the 13th November the amir Ahmed Fedil debouched +on the river at El Alub, but retired on finding Colonel Lewis with a +force in gunboats. Troops and transport were then concentrated at Faki +Kohi, and Colonel Wingate sent with reinforcements from Khartum to take +command of the expedition and march to Gedid, where it was anticipated +the khalifa would be obliged to halt. A flying column, comprising a +squadron of cavalry, a field battery, 6 machine guns, 6 companies of the +camel corps, and a brigade of infantry and details, in all 3700 men, +under Wingate, left Faki Kohi on the 21st of November. The very next day +he encountered Ahmed Fedil at Abu Aadel, drove him from his position +with great loss, and captured his camp and a large supply of grain he +was convoying to the khalifa. Gedid was reached on the 23rd, and the +khalifa was ascertained to be at Om Debreikat. Wingate marched at +midnight of the 24th, and was resting his troops on high ground in front +of the khalifa's position, when at daybreak of the 25th his picquets +were driven in and the dervishes attacked. They were repulsed with great +slaughter, and Wingate advancing, carried the camp. The khalifa Abdullah +el Taaisha, unable to rally his men, gathered many of his principal +amirs around him, among whom were his sons and brothers, Ali Wad Helu, +Ahmed Fedil, and other well-known leaders, and they met their death +unflinchingly from the bullets of the advancing Sudanese infantry. Three +thousand men and 29 amirs of importance, including Sheik-ed-din, the +khalifa's eldest son and intended successor, surrendered. The dervish +loss in the two actions was estimated at 1000 killed and wounded, while +the Egyptian casualties were only 4 killed and 29 wounded. Thus ended +the power of the khalifa and of Mahdism. + +On the 19th of January 1900 Osman Digna, who had been so great a +supporter of Mahdism in the Eastern Sudan, and had always shown great +discretion in securing the safety of his own person, was surrounded and +captured at Jebel Warriba, as he was wandering a fugitive among the +hills beyond Tokar. + + The reconquest of Dongola and the Sudan provinces during the three + years from March 1896 to December 1898, considering the enormous + extent and difficulties of the country, was achieved at an + unprecedentedly small cost, while the main item of expenditure--the + railway--remains a permanent benefit to the country. The figures + are:-- + + Railways LE.1,181,372 + Telegraphs 21,825 + Gunboats 154,934 + Military 996,223 + ------------ + Total LE.2,354,354 + + Towards this expense the British government gave a grant-in-aid of + L800,000, and the balance was borne by the Egyptian treasury. The + railway, delayed by the construction of the big bridge over the + Atbara, was opened to the Blue Nile opposite Khartum, 187 m. from the + Atbara, at the end of 1899. (R. H. V.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] By the Greek and Roman geographers Egypt was usually assigned to + Libya (Africa), but by some early writers the Nile was thought to + mark the division between Libya and Asia. The name occurs in Homer as + [Greek: Aigyptos], but is of doubtful origin. + + [2] A vivid description of Cairo during the prevalence of plague in + 1835 will be found in A. W. Kinglake's _Eothen_. + + [3] A _kantar_ equals 99 lb. + + [4] To the ministry of public instruction was added in 1906 a + department of agriculture and technical instruction. + + [5] The place of publication is London unless otherwise stated. + + [6] The figures of the debt are always given in L sterling. The + budget figures are in LE. (pounds Egyptian), equal to L1, 0s. 6d. + + [7] _Egypt_, No. 1 (1905), p. 20. + + [8] Similar mortality, though on a smaller scale, recurred in 1889, + when Sudanese battalions coming from Suakin were detained temporarily + in Cairo. + + [9] Formerly transcribed _hau_ or "heap"-problems. + + [10] Clepsydras inscribed in hieroglyphic are found soon after the + Macedonian conquest. + + [11] Annual reports of the progress of the work are printed in the + _Sitzungsberichte_ of the Berlin Academy of Sciences; see also Erman, + _Zur agyptischen Sprachforschung_, ib. for 1907, p. 400, showing the + general trend of the results. + + [12] In the temple of Philae, where the worship of Isis was permitted + to continue till the reign of Justinian, Brugsch found demotic + inscriptions with dates to the end of the 5th century. + + [13] The Arabic dialects, which gradually displaced Coptic as + Mahommedanism supplanted Christianity, adopted but few words of the + old native stock. + + [14] In the articles referring to matters of Egyptology in this + edition, Graecized forms of Old Egyptian names, where they exist, are + commonly employed; in other cases names are rendered by their actual + equivalents in Coptic or by analogous forms. Failing all such means, + recourse is had to the usual conventional renderings of hieroglyphic + spelling, a more precise transcription of the consonants in the + latter being sometimes added. + + [15] It seems that "acrophony" (giving to a sign the value of the + first letter of its name) was indulged in only by priests of the + latest age, inventing fantastic modes of writing their "vain + repetitions" on the temple walls. + + [16] In the prehistoric age when absolute dating is out of reach a + "sequence dating" by means of the sequence of types in pottery, + tools, &c., has been proposed in Petrie's _Diospolis Parva_, pp. 4 et + sqq. The earliest prehistoric graves yet known are placed at S.D. 30, + and shortly before S.D. 80 the period of the first historic dynasty + is entered. + + [17] Ten-day periods as subdivisions of the month can be traced as + far back as the Middle Kingdom. The day consisted of twenty-four + hours, twelve of day (counted from sunrise to sunset) and twelve of + night; it began at sunrise. + + [18] For the "sequence" dating (S.D.) used by archaeologists for the + prehistoric period see above (S Art and Archaeology, ad init. note). + + [19] Reisner (_Early Dynastic Cemeteries_, p. 126), from his work in + the prehistoric cemeteries, believes that Egypt was too uncivilized + at that early date to have performed this scientific feat. + + [20] The history of Hatshepsut has been very obscure, and the + mutilations of her cartouches have been variously accounted for. + Recent discoveries by M. Legrain at Karnak and Prof. Petrie at Sinai + have limited the field of conjecture. The writer has followed M. + Naville's guidance in his biography of the queen (in T. M. Davis, + _The Tomb of Hatshopsitu_, London, 1906, pp. 1 et seq.), made with + very full knowledge of the complicated data. + + [21] This, it may be remarked, is the time vaguely represented by the + Dodecarchy of Herodotus. + + [22] Khosrev Pasha afterwards filled several of the highest offices + at Constantinople. He died on the 1st of February 1855. He was a + bigot of the old school, strongly opposed to the influences of + Western civilization, and consequently to the assistance of France + and Great Britain in the Crimean War. + + [23] The work was carried out under the supervision of the Frenchman, + Colonel Seve, who had turned Mahommedan and was known in Islam as + Suleiman Pasha. The effectiveness of the new force was first tried in + the suppression of a revolt of the Albanians in Cairo (1823) by six + disciplined Sudanese regiments; after which Mehemet Ali was no more + troubled with military _emeutes_. + + [24] THE DYNASTY OF MEHEMET ALI. + + (i.) Mehemet Ali, + b. 1769, d. 1849. + | + +-------------+----------+---+-------+--------------+-------------+ + | | | | | | + (ii.) Ibrahim, Tusun, Ismail, (iv.) Said, Abdul Halim, Mehemet Ali, + b. 1789, b. 1796, b. 1798, b. 1823, b. 1831, the Younger, + d. 1848. d. 1816. d. 1822. d. 1863. d. 1894. and other + | | | children. + | (iii.) Abbas I., Tusun + | b. 1813, d. 1854. d. 1876. + | | + | El Hami. + | | + | Amina (married the Khedive Tewfik). + | + +---+-----------+--------------------+ + | | | + Ahmed, (v.) Ismail (Khedive), Mustapha Fazil, + d. 1858. b. 1830, d. 1895. d. 1875. + | + +--+-------------+-------------+------------+ + | | | | + (vi.) Tewfik, Hussein Kamil. Hassan. 8 other children. + b. 1853, d. 1892. + | + +------------------+------------+ + | | | + (vii.) Abbas II., Mehemet Ali. 2 daughters. + b. 1874. + | + +----------------+--------------+ + | | | + Mahommed Abdul, Abdul Kader, 4 daughters. + b. 1890. b. 1902. + + [25] Part of this money was devoted to an expedition sent against + Abyssinia in 1876 to avenge losses sustained in the previous year. + The new campaign was, however, equally unsuccessful. + + [26] Lord Cromer, writing in 1905, declared that the movement "was, + in its essence, a genuine revolt against misgovernment," and "was not + essentially anti-European" (vide _Egypt No. 1_, 1905, p. 2). + + [27] Except in so far as it was necessary to call out men to guard + the banks of the Nile in the season of high flood. + + [28] The Egyptians keep large numbers of pigeons, which are allowed + to be shot only by permission of the village omdeh (head-man). After + the occurrence here related, officers were prohibited from shooting + pigeons in any circumstances. + + [29] On the 8th of January 1908, the anniversary of the khedive's + accession, the whole of the Denshawai prisoners were pardoned and + released. For the Denshawai incident see the British parliamentary + papers, _Egypt No. 3_ and _Egypt No. 4_ of 1906. + + [30] See _Egypt No. 2_ (1906), Correspondence respecting the + Turco-Egyptian Frontier in the Sinai Peninsula (with a map). + + + + +EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED (1795-1876), German naturalist, was born +at Delitzsch in Saxony on the 19th of April 1795. After studying at +Leipzig and Berlin, where he took the degree of doctor of medicine in +1818, he was appointed professor of medicine in the university of Berlin +(1827). Meanwhile in 1820 he was engaged in a scientific exploration +conducted by General von Minutoli in Egypt. They investigated parts of +the Libyan desert, the Nile valley and the northern coasts of the Red +Sea, where Ehrenberg made a special study of the corals. Subsequently +parts of Syria, Arabia and Abyssinia were examined. Some results of +these travels and of the important collections that had been made were +reported on by Humboldt in 1826; and afterwards Ehrenberg was enabled to +bring out two volumes _Symbolae physicae_ (1828-1834), in which many +particulars of the mammals, birds, insects, &c., were made public. Other +observations were communicated to scientific societies. In 1829 he +accompanied Humboldt through eastern Russia to the Chinese frontier. On +his return he gave his attention to microscopical researches. These had +an important bearing on some of the infusorial earths used for polishing +and other economic purposes; they added, moreover, largely to our +knowledge of the microscopic organisms of certain geological formations, +especially of the chalk, and of the modern marine and freshwater +accumulations. Until Ehrenberg took up the study it was not known that +considerable masses of rock were composed of minute forms of animals or +plants. He demonstrated also that the phosphorescence of the sea was due +to organisms. He continued until late in life to investigate the +microscopic organisms of the deep sea and of various geological +formations. He died in Berlin on the 27th of June 1876. + + PUBLICATIONS.--_Die Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene Organismen_ (2 + vols. fol., Leipzig, 1838); _Mikrogeologie_ (2 vols. fol., Leipzig, + 1854); and "Fortsetzung der mikrogeologischen Studien," in _Abhandl. + der k. Akad. der Wissenschaft_ (Berlin, 1875). + + + + +EHRENBREITSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on +the right bank of the Rhine, facing Coblenz, with which it is connected +by a railway bridge and a bridge of boats, on the main line of railway +Frankfort-on-Main-Cologne. Pop. (including the garrison) 5300. It has an +Evangelical and two Roman Catholic churches, a Capuchin monastery, +tanneries, soap-works and a considerable trade in wine. Above the town, +facing the mouth of the Mosel, on a rock 400 ft. high, lies the +magnificent fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, considered practically +impregnable. The sides towards the Rhine and the south and south-east +are precipitous, and on the south side, on which is the winding +approach, strongly defended. The central fort or citadel is flanked by a +double line of works with three tiers of casemate batteries. The works +towards the north and north-east end in a separate outlying fort. The +whole forms a part of the system of fortifications which surround +Coblenz. + +The site of the castle is said to have been occupied by a Roman fort +built in the time of the emperor Julian. In the rith century the castle +was held by a noble named Erembert, from whom it is said to have derived +its name. In the 12th century it came into the possession of Archbishop +Hillin (de Fallemagne) of Trier, who strengthened the defences in 1153. +These were again extended by Archbishop Henry II. (de Fenetrange) in +1286, and by Archbishop John II. of Baden in 1481. In 1631 it was +surrendered by the archbishop elector Philip Christopher von Soetern to +the French, but was recovered by the Imperialists in 1637 and given to +the archbishop elector of Cologne. It was restored to the elector of +Trier in 1650, but was not strongly fortified until 1672. In 1688 the +French bombarded it in vain, but in 1759 they took it and held it till +1762. It was again blockaded in 1795, 1796 and 1797, in vain; but in +1799 they starved it into surrender, and at the peace of Luneville in +1801 blew it up before evacuating it. At the second peace of Paris the +French paid 15,000,000 francs to the Prussian government for its +restoration, and from 1816 to 1826 the fortress was reconstructed by +General E. L. Aster (1778-1855). + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th +Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. 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