INFLUENCE OF THE PTOLEMAIC EPOCH. 173 



The history of the contemplation of the universe embracer 

 the enumeration of all the means which have brought nations 

 into closer contact vjiih one another, rendered larger portions 

 of the earth more accessible, and thus extended the sphere of 

 human knowledge. One of the most important of these 

 means was the opening of a road of commimi cation from the 

 Red Sea to the Mediterranean by means of the Nile. At the 

 point where the scarcely-connected continents present a line 

 of bay-like indentations, the excavation of a canal was begun, 

 if not by Sesostris (Rameses Miamoun), to whom Aristotle and 

 Strabo ascribe the undertaking, at any rate by Neku, although 

 the work was relinquished in consequence of the threaten- 

 ing oracular denunciations directed against it by the priests. 

 Herodotus saw and described a canal completed by Darius 

 Hystaspes, one of the Achsemenidae, which entered the Nile 

 somewhat above Bubastus. This canal, after having fallen 

 into decay, was restored by Ptolemy Philadelphus in so perfect 

 a manner that, although (notwithstanding the skillful arrange- 

 ment of sluices) it was not navigable at all seasons of the 

 year, it nevertheless contributed to facilitate Ethiopian, Ara 

 bian, and Indian commerce at the time of the Roman domin- 

 ion under Marcus Aurelius, or even as late as Septimius Se- 

 verus, and, therefore, a century and a half after its construc- 

 tion. A similar object of furthering international communi- 

 cation through the Red Sea led to a zealous prosecution of 

 the works necessary for forming a harbor in Myos Hormos and 

 Berenice, which was connected with Coptos by means of an 

 admirably made artificial road.* 



All these various mercantile and scientific enterprises of the 

 Lagides were based on an irrepressible striving to acquire new 

 territories and penetrate to distant regions, on an idea of con- 

 nection and unity, and on a desire to open a wider field of 

 action by their commercial and political relations. This di 

 rection of the Hellenic mind, so fruitful in results, and which 

 had been long preparing in silence, was manifested, under its 



itself called Hippalus, and a portion of the Eiythreau oi- Indian Ocean 

 was known as the Sea of Hippalus. Letronne, in the Journal des Sa- 

 vans, 1818, p. 405; Reinaud, Relation des Voyages dans VInde, t. i., 



p. XXX. 



* See the reseai'ches of Letronne on the construction of the canal 

 between the Nile and the Red Sea, from the time of Neku to the Calif 

 Omar, or during an interval of more than 1300 yeai-s, in the Revue dei 

 deux Mondes, t. xxvii., 1841, p. 215-235. Compare, also, Letronne, De 

 la Civilisation Egyplienne depuis Psammitichus jusqnW la conqu^te 

 d' Alexandre. 1845, p. lG-19. 



