.178 



E G Y P T. 



i ; and, now Uiat the church had acquired con. 

 uderable influence in I a.vpt and with tin- Pope, a per- 

 aon toon appeared in tln> see nt' Alexandria, who abu- 

 ted his power, and degraded his character. 



Cyitt. It was Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria, and vicar of 



the Roman ixMitiff, who, by haughty and overbearing 

 conduct, created for himself a host <>t' enemies. In the 

 exert-ise of his power, In- encroached upon the authori- 

 ty of the civil magi-irate ; and Orestes, tlie prefect of 

 't, was assailed and abused by the adherents of 

 Cyril. But there was a darker shade to be added to 

 the character of the aspiring and violent bishop. Hy- 

 patia, the daughter of Theon, a celebrated master in the 

 school of Alexandria, was no less famous for learning 

 and elegant accomplishments, than she was for beauty 

 and virtuous qualities ; yet she had offended Cyril, and 

 her life was the forfeit. She was the friend of Orestes 

 the Roman prelect, and being unjustly accused of che- 

 rishing the irritation between him and Cyril, she was 

 attacked by the multitude in the streets of Alexandria, 

 and cruelly put to death. But the ambition of Cyril 

 was as violent in public life as in private, and his in- 

 temperate dispute with Nestorius, the bishop of Con- 

 stantinople, remains against him in the annals of the 

 church. See Suet. Dio Cast. Aur. Vilor. Euseb. Hist. 

 Zoiint. At Zenob. Horat. Socrat. Hitt. Sozomen. Baron. 

 Annul. Evagr. Eutych. and Abulpharag. 



V D. 616. The western empire of Rome having already fallen, 

 by the intrusion of the Huns and Goths, the Vandals, 

 and other warlike and uncultivated nations ; the eastern 

 empire, of which Constantinople was the head, was also 

 fallen into decay, and the Queen of Persia over-ran dif- 

 ferent parts of the Roman dominions. She likewise 

 obtained possession of the principal towns and parts of 

 Egypt. But her triumphs here were of short duration, 

 and Persia itself was soon added to the dominions of the 

 Mahommedan conquerors. 



iimar. Omar succeeded to the empire of Mahommed, and in 



A. D. 631. his reign Egypt was subdued by the arms of the caliph. 

 Amru Benalas marched his troops into Egypt, and, after 

 much resistance, got possession of Memphis. Mocaw- 

 cas, the prefect of Egypt, was hostile to the religious te- 

 nets of Constantinople ; and when the Persians were 

 besieging that capital, he had revolted from liis alle- 

 giance. For these reasons, Mocawcas supported the 

 interests of the Mahommedan invaders, and, after many 

 efforts, and various changes of fortune, the city of Alex- 

 andria surrendered to the Saracens. The town was 

 exposed to plunder ; but at length the people were ad- 

 mitted into the protection of the conquerors, and if they 

 did not become Muhommedans, they were to pay a cer- 

 tain ratio or tribute. Among other disasters which be- 

 fell Alexandria, its famous library was destroyed ; for 

 the Saracens were then a rude people, and unacquaint- 

 ed with the value of letters. And notwithstanding 

 what has been asserted by the author of the Decline 

 and Fall of the Roman Empire, the library was not 

 only destroyed, but learning must have suffered by 

 that unfortunate event; for it must have contained many 

 valuable writings of the Alexandrian school. 



Amru, the conqueror, was also constituted the gover- 

 nor of Egypt ; and having added to its boundaries, he 

 likewise regulated its internal affairs, and commanded a 

 an.il to be opened between the Nile and the Red Sea. 

 When Othman was raised to the caliphate, Amru was 

 removed from the government of Egypt ; but his MK-- 

 CCMOT Abdallah Bensaid was not acceptable to the peo- 

 ple of that province. He renewed the conquest of 



A ..T.I. 



Africa, and was successful in his views ; but the sue* 

 CMS was owing to the bravery ot'/obeir, and not to the 

 courage or conduct of Alxiallah. But l>eing afterwards 

 unfortunate, he was removed from the government of 

 1\'\ |it, and Amru restored to his former station. But 

 this salutary change was not of much avail, and the im- 

 provident conduct of Othman was hurtful to his domi- 

 nions, as well as fatal to himself. In the subsequent 

 caliphate, Egypt was involved in the civil wars, which 

 were occasioned by the competitors tor the dominions 

 of Mahommed ; and Egypt was not composed n> 

 at peace till Amru was again invested with the gou-rn- 

 ment of the country, with the most ample and almost 

 independent powers. 



During the contentions which ensued, Egypt threw 

 off the yoke of the Saracens ; but was again reduced to 

 submission, when Merwan the son of I lakem was raised 

 to the throne. In the caliphate of \Valid, Corrah Bcn- 

 sharik was invested with the government of Egypt ; 

 but he was licentious in his manners, and outraged the 

 feelings and the decency of the Christian adherents. 

 But while he was degrading himself by every species 

 of folly and vice, Mura, the lieutenant of the caliph's 

 armies, was traversing Africa in triumph, and had reach- 

 ed the fortress of Ceuta, or Pillar of Hercules, on the 

 African side. Count Julian, the Gothic commander of 

 this fortress, not only surrendered it to M ura, but of- 

 fered to conduct him into the bosom of Spain. 



It was jealousy and resentment among the Gothic 

 chiefs, which occasioned this offer to the Arabian war- 

 rior ; for Roderick, the usurper but reigning king of 

 Spain, had many enemies in his dominions, and he had 

 stirred up the vengeance of Julian, by his infamous 

 conduct to the daughter of that chief. Musa hesitated, 

 for he was fearful of a snare ; but one of his confiden- 

 tial generals was willing to make an experiment : and 

 having sailed from Ceuta, and landed at Calpe, the 

 other pillar of Hercules, the Saracen army pitched 

 their first camp where the impregnable works of Gib- 

 raltar are erected. The expedition was successful, and 

 Musa being jealous of Tarik or Tarif, his general set sail 

 for Spain, and completed the conquests which his fore- 

 runner had begun. If he treated his successful gene- 

 ral with unbecoming severity, Musa, in his turn, was de- 

 praded by the caliph, and died under the pressure of 

 infirmities and oorrnw. These things happened in the 

 beginning of the eighth century, und tile Saracens ob- 

 tained the chief possessions and management of Spain, 

 into which they introduced the literature of the East. 



For a considerable period of years, the affairs of 

 Egypt are scarcely mentioned ; for the public mind 

 and the national records were employed with animo- 

 sity and violence about the succession to the caliphate. 

 Formerly the family of Ali, the immediate descendants 

 of Mahommed, had been overpowered, in attempting 

 to assert their right to the throne ; and the house of 

 Ommiak, by power and good fortune, were raised to 

 the sovereign power. The Ommiades being in their 

 turn overthrown by the Abbassides or descendants of 

 Abbas, the uncle of the prophet retired into Spain, and 

 established their dynasty on the throne of Cordova. 

 But the family of Ommiah having many adherents in 

 Syria, and some being also attached to the descendants 

 of Ali, Almansur, the second caliph, founded a new ca- 

 pital on the western banks of the Tigris, and that city 

 was Bagdad, famous in the annals of eastern history. 



Haroii Alrashid succeeded to the caliphate, and in 

 his reign the affairs of Egypt come again into view. 

 Alrashid was a prince of^reat fame, and he is well 



Ilifiory. 



Mcrwin. 

 WalkL 



The Sar- 

 ci-ns in 



Spain. 



Competi- 

 tions for the 

 caliphate. 



Alrashid. 

 A. D. 786. 



