



r.TiuoriA. 



KTIENNE, ST. 



... , 



of king*, (till it chow* that a tradition exi*td of ft very remote 

 influence of KtfaiopU over Egypt. ThU perhaps was the epoch when 

 the wonbip of Ainmon and Oiirui wai introduced into the Utter 

 country. Osiris, according to tradition, led a colony from Ethiopia 

 into Egypt, which received also from the parent itato the practice of 

 deifying king*, together with hieroglyphic*! writing, the mage of 

 tmWlming, the whole (acred ritual, and the form* of their sculptures. 

 (Diodorus, iii. 3.) Sesoatris U aaid to hare subsequently conquered 

 Kthiopia ; but thil was probably a partial incurniou, for Herodotus 

 ay* that Ethiopia was never conquered by any foreign power. We 

 hear nothing of the intercourse between Ethiopia and Egypt for many 

 centuries afterward*, during which the latter country made great 

 progress in civilisation and the art*, and built iU stupendous monu- 

 ment*. In the 8th century B.C. the Ethiopian invasion of Egypt took 

 place, and Sabakos, an Ethiopian king, reigned over both countries. 

 tierodotui, who lived between two and three centuries later, says 



ruling successively over at leait part of Egypt ; among these was 

 Tirhakan, mentioned in the Scriptures as having fought against 

 Sennacherib. (2 Kings, ziz. 9.) This period of renewed. intercourse 

 between Egypt and Ethiopia, under circumstances highly favourable 

 to the latter, was probably the time when the improved arts of Egypt 

 were introduced into Ethiopia, and it was then perhaps that the 

 splendid structures of Mount Barkal were executed. Again, under 

 the Ptolemies there is evidence to show that the Greco-Egyptian 

 colonies found their way into the regions of the Upper Nile and along 

 the shores of the Red Sea, and even as far as Axuui and Adulo in 

 Abyssinia [Afitru; AJCCM] : these colonies or adventurers probably 

 spread the Egyptian arts as improved by the Greeks into Ethiopia. 

 All them vicissitudes may account for the various styles of building 

 and sculpture found along the banks of the Upper Nile. The monu- 

 ments of Assour and El-Mesaourah are probably older than those of 

 Nags, and these much older than those of Barkal, which appear to be 

 anterior to the temple of Soleb. We know from a passage of Diodorus 

 that after the Ptolemies came to reign in Egypt a great change took 

 place in Ethiopian politics. In the time of the second Ptolemy the 

 Ethiopians had a king, Ergamenes, who had a knowledge of Greek 

 manners and philosophy. Being weary of the yoke of the hierarchy he 

 Went with a band of soldiers to the inaccessible place (by some sup- 

 posed to be Barkal, but more probably the sacred incloeure of Meroe, 

 El-Mesaourah), which contained the golden temple of the Ethiopians, 

 and massacred all the priests. 



Of the manners of the Ethiopians we know little, except what we 

 may infer from their monuments and the scanty records we have of 

 their religion and institutions, as above stated. Their sacred language 

 appears to have been the same as that of the Egyptian priests. From 

 some sculptures at Barkal it has been supposed that human sacrifices 

 were occasionally offered. A peculiarity in the Ethiopian institutions 

 is, that their women sometimes went to battle, and were not excluded 

 from the throne. Strabo (Casaub., p. 820) speaks of the Ethiopian 

 warrior queen named Candace. (See also ' Acts of the Apostles,' viii. i!7.) 

 On the propyla of one of the temples of Kaga, besides the hero or 

 king, is a female figure likewise of regal dignity, with a large knife in 

 each band, going to cut off the heads of a number of captives ; the 

 vulture is hovering over her head. The figures of both king and 

 queen are remarkable for the magnificence of their dress, and though 

 they have many characteristics of Egyptian style, they are much 

 thicker than the Egyptian form, especially the female, which is 

 remarkably large from the vest downwards. (Coilliaud's Plates, 

 14. 16.) 



After the Romans became possessed of Egypt, wo road of several 

 expeditions into Ethiopia, but of no permanent impression made by 

 them upon that region. Caius Petronius, prefect of Egypt under 

 Augustus, is said to have advanced as far as Nupato, called Tenape 

 1 y Dion, the first town of Ethiopia after Meroe. He defeated queen 

 Candace, who was obliged to sue for peace. But the Romans ulti- 

 mately kept none of their conquests in that quarter. In subsequent 

 times it appears that they conquered again, and retained a strip of 

 territory along the banks of the Nile of seven days' march above the 

 first cataract, but this was given up by Diocletian to the Nubtc or 

 NabaUt, on condition that they should j.rcvi nt the Ethiopians and 

 the Blemmyes from attacking Egypt. Of the vicissitudes and ulti- 

 mate dismemberment of the ancient kingdom of Mcroo wo have no 

 information. 



The early Christian historians seem to restrict the name of Ethio- 

 pians to a people occupying part of the country now called Abyssinia. 

 JWopitis and Cedrsous call the Axumites Ethiopians. [ADULE; 

 AXCM. J From those times the name of Ethiopia has been given more 

 particularly to Abyssinia, and the O. ex, or sacred language of that 

 country, has been called Ethiopian. 



The origin of the name ' Ethiopia' is uncertain. Salt nay* that 

 Itiopjawan is the favourite term by which the Abyssinians designate 

 themselves; but this name was probably introduced among the 

 Abyssinians by the half Greek* of the kingdom of Axum. The word 

 in Greek has the appearance of being significant, and is sometimes 

 interpreted 'dark-coloured;' but like many other Greek names of 



nations, it is probably a native Asiatic or African term corrupted into 

 the semblance of a genuine Greek word. 



Ethiopia* La*gagt*. Under the general designation of the Ethio- 

 pian languages, three different dialects are usually comprised naui'ly, 

 the ancient Ethiopian, or Gee*, the Tigre', and the Amharic. The 

 nncient language properly called the Ethiopian is now extinct, or at 

 least survives only as the language of books and of learned men 

 (whence it U also called ' lesana maa'haf,' or book-language) ; and its 

 place is now supplied by the two other dialects, of which the TignS 

 approaches nearest to the Ethiopic, whilst the Amharic has more 

 widely departed from it. 



The Ethiopian belongs to the family of languages usually called 

 the Semitic, and among them it shows the closest affinity to the 

 Arabic. It is written from the left to the right, in a peculiar alphabet, 

 which however appears to be of Semitic origin. The alphabet consists 

 of 28 consonants and 7 vowel sounds ; but the hitter are not expressed 

 by distinct characters, nor by points or accents, but by Blight changes 

 in the shape of the consonants, so that each character represent* an 

 entire syllable. Qesenius calculates that about one-third of the roots 

 and primitive words of the Ethiopian language exists also in Arabic; 

 and a considerable portion of the remainder is found in Hebrew, or 

 in the Chaldee and Syriac dialects. 



The literature extant in the Ethiopian language is almost exclu- 

 sively biblical and ecclesiastical : among the chief works are a 

 complete translation of the Old and New Testament, made by an 

 unknown author from the Alexandrian text of the Greek version, 

 probably not anterior to the 4th century ; and on apocryphal writ- 

 ing, peculiar to themselves, called the book of Henoch. There exists 

 moreover a translation of the Didascalia, together with 56 canones 

 and 81 constitutiones or rules of the early Christian church, con- 

 sidered by the Ethiopians as apostolical ; besides a collection of the 

 decrees of the councils, extracts from the writings of the early 

 fathers, liturgies, martyrologies, and histories of saints. The profane 

 literature of the Ethiopians comprises several chronicles. 



(Heeren, Historical llacarchet ; Gau, AntiquiUi dt la jVot ; anil 

 the antiquarian works of Rossellini, Wilkinson, Ac. ; ' Egyptian Anti- 

 quities,' in Lib. of Knt. Knowledge; Cailliaud, Voyage d M erof ; and 

 the Trarelt of Riippell, Waddington, Lord Valentin, Ac.) 



ETIENNE-DE-BAIOOBBY. [PYRENEES, BASSBS.] 



ET1ENNE-EN-DEVOLMY. [ALPES, HAUTBS.] 



ETIENNE-LES-ORGUES. [ALPES, BASSES.] 



ETIENNE, ST., a large manufacturing town in the department of 

 Loire in France, stands in a narrow valley on the Furens, a small 

 feederoftheLoire,in4526'9"N.lat.,423'43"E.long.,288mili.- 

 from Paris, and has 53,74 1 inhabitants including the commune. It is 

 situated at the junction of the railroads that lead to Lyou and Roanne, 

 from which it is distant respectively 35 and 51 miles ; and to the two 

 towns just named railways from Paris are nearly completed, one 

 through Dijon and Chalou, the other through Orleans and Bourges; 

 the latter is completed to Yareunes within 30 miles from Roauuc. By 

 these railroads, by the Loire, which is navigable from Routine, and by 

 the Rhone, the coals and other important products of St.-Etirune find 

 easy and rapid outlets to all parts of France. The older part of the 

 town is ill built; the modern part is well built, with njradous squares, 

 lofty houses, wide and regular streets; and the whole, always en- 

 veloped in the dense smoke of its numerous workshops and factories, 

 is superlatively dirty. The finest street is that through which tlio 

 road from Paris to Marseilles runs ; it divides the town into two ; 

 equal parts. In the middle of this street and of the town stands Up- 

 town-house, which, with the exception of an ancient church that dates 

 from the 1 1th century, is the most remarkable structure in St.-Etk-nuc. 

 The handsome obelisk, fountain, and the termini of the railroads to Lyon 

 and Koanne, also deserve attention. The town is well 1 ightc d with gas. 



St.-Etieuuc stands in the centre of one of the most important coal- 

 fields in France, from which about 600,000 tons of coal arc 

 annually. It is especially famous for the manufacture of Bilk-ribands 

 and fire-anus, including rifles and fowling-pieces. Its ribands, wlii<'h 

 are exported to all parts of the world, are unequalled fur richness 

 of colour and beauty of pattern ; of the quantity manufactured an 

 idea may be formed from the statement that their value amounts 

 annually to upwards of 40,000,000 francs. When government orders 

 for fire-arms fall off, the workmen turn their attention to making 

 fowling-pieces, of which 30,000 a year are sometimes disposed of, 

 besides a great number of pistols, &c. The manufacture if 

 importance is that of hardware and cutler}'. To these leading objects 

 of industry are to be added manufactures of scythes, nails of all kinds, 

 saw-blades, foils, anvils, vices, files, silk and cotton velvets, Ac. The 

 town has also many dyehouses and tanyards ; and in the suburb of 

 Tcrrc-Noiro there are important iron-forges and furnaces. 



I :t ieune is the seat of tribunals of first instance and of com- 

 merce : it has a consultative chamber of manufactures, a coui 

 Prud'-Uommes, a college, a school for deaf mutes, a mining school, 

 a small theatre, a public library, and a museum which contains 

 lection of the minerals and fossils of the neighbourhood ami also 

 specimens of the staple manufactures of the town. 



According to some accounts the town originated in a Roman station 

 named Forum, whence the town and river were named by corruption 

 Furens and Furauia : according to others it sprung up round a castle 



