158 



THAT'S IT; 



Diospolis of the Greeks, and the 

 Noph of Scripture, the oldest city 

 in the world except Babylon, and 

 probably built by Mizraim and 

 his family, on their first entrance 

 into the country, was of such 

 dimensions and architectural mag- 

 nificence, that at this day its 

 ruins, 11, are said to extend, on 

 either bank of the Nile, for a 

 circuit of twenty-seven miles. 



Memphis, the Noph of the Bible, and long the 

 seat of government, was founded by Menes, one 

 of the ancient kings, and to which city he 

 transferred the seat of empire from Thebes. 

 Memphis was built on the western side of the 

 Nile, and stood nearly opposite the present 

 capital of Cairo. It was here upon the arid 

 sands, and beyond the margin of the fertile 

 earth, were erected those stupendous sepulchres 

 of dead kings, the Pyramids, which still stand 

 as strong, and in appearance everlasting, as 

 when first raised as monuments of man's ambi- 

 tion and vanity. Alexandria, founded by the 

 Macedonian after his conquest of Tyre and 

 Phoenicia, b.c. 332, and long the great seat of 

 all the learning then known in the world, be- 

 came, from its situation between the Mediter- 

 ranean and Lake Mceris, the first commercial 

 city, and the centre of all the commerce of India 

 and Europe. 



The irruption of the Saracens, with the cap- 

 ture and sack of Alexandria, and the destruction 

 of its magnificent library in 640, with their 

 triumphant passage through Numidia and 

 Mauritania, totally changed the political and 

 religious state both of the country and society. 



Ipsambul, on the west side of 

 the Nile, in Nubia, is a place 

 remarkable for the remains of 

 two rock-hewn temples. These 

 temples are excavations made in 

 the solid mass of the sandstone 

 mountain. Colossal figures of 

 Rameses the Great guard the 

 entrance of either temple. Two 

 of these gigantic guardian deities 

 were modelled on a reduced scale 

 by Mr. Bonomi, the Eastern tra- 

 veller, for the Crystal Palace, at 

 Sydenham. Of these gigantic 

 statues, 12, there were originally 

 four, but one of them, having 

 been shattered by a rocky slip 

 from the mountain above, has 



now a large portion of his head 

 resting upon his lap. 



12 



Alexandria, the modern capital 

 of Egypt, and largest city in the 

 whole continent of Africa, is 

 situated on the main terminal 

 branch or mouth of the Nile, and 

 between Lake Mareaotis and the 

 Mediterranean Sea. The city 

 was founded by Alexander the 

 Great, b.c. 332, while on his way 

 to consult the oracle at the tem- 

 ple of Jupiter Ammon. Demo- 

 crates, the celebrated rebuilder 

 of the Ephesian temple, was in- 

 trusted by the Macedonian to 

 draw out the plan, and superin- 

 tend the building of the imperial 

 city. 



Under the enlightened reign of the Ptolemies, 

 for several hundred years, Alexandria became 

 the capital of the world for learning ; schools 

 for all sciences, and each branch of philosophy, 

 were established and at once encouraged by the 

 learned Ptolemies, and universally patronized 

 by the student and scholar. Even Athens 

 veiled her imperious head, as no longer the 

 great mistress of human wisdom, that pre- 

 eminence being now claimed by Alexandria. 

 Here, too, exclusively came the student of 

 physic, as the recognised fountain head of 

 medical and surgical knowledge; for in Alex- 

 andria only could the surgeon study his art, no 

 other heathen state permitting the dissectionof 

 the human body. Mathematics, astronomy, 



