2Q0 E G Y P T. 
Antaeopolis; Paflalus; Panopolis; Cheuofcofcia ; Cxne, 
or Neapolis ; Apollinopolis, or tire village of Apollo; 
and the celebrated Thebes; which vied with the mod il<- 
luftrious cities in the univerfe for its extent, wealth, and 
population. Previous to its deftnuftion by Cambyfes, its 
extent is faid to have been no let's than fifty-two miles 
and a half: fo great was its wealth, that, after it had 
been plundered by tire Perfians, three hundred talents of 
gold, and two thoufand three hundred of diver, were 
found among the remains of the pillage ; and its popula¬ 
tion has been defcribed with peculiar animation by Ho¬ 
mer, who informs us, that front each of its hundred gates 
iflued two hundred warriors with their lrorfes and cha¬ 
riots. Some authors have, indeed, fuppofed that by the 
gates here fpoken of are to be underftood either the tem¬ 
ples of the city, or the palaces of certain powerful princes, 
but as this fuppolition is avowedly founded upon the 
aftertions of modern travellers refpedling the ruins ot 
Thebes, we beg leave to obferve, that Mr. Browne found 
lufficient vefiiges, in 1792, to eftablifii a contrary belief. 
“ From the roof of the great temple at Akfor,” fays he, 
“ may be feen an infulated rnafs, toward the fouth, which 
has apparently been a gate; and fome other imperfect re¬ 
mains may be difeovered with a telefcope, in the direc¬ 
tions weft and north, under the fame circumftances ; fo 
that from the fituation of thefe ruins, precifely oppofed 
to each other at the three cardinal points, it feems ex¬ 
tremely probable that they were three of the gates be¬ 
longing to the ancient city.” Among the auguft remains 
of this celebrated city, are fome temples and palaces, 
which have triumphed over the corroding hand of time, 
and ftill exhibit to the amazed fpectator-a profufion of 
majeftic column?, exquifite flatties, and brilliant paint¬ 
ings. We cannot give a livelier idea of the llrong 
effeifts of their appearance upon a contemplative mind, 
than is exprefled in the words of M. Sonnini, who vifited 
the fpot in the fummer of 1778 : “ It would be impofti- 
ble,” fays this traveller, “ to deferibe the fenfations 1 
experienced- at the fight of objects fo truly grand and 
majeftic. It was not fimply admiration, but an exftacy- 
which fufpended the ufe of my faculties: I remained a 
long time motionlefs with rapture, and was more than 
once inclined to proftrate rnyfelf in veneration before mo¬ 
numents the erection of which feerned to furpafs the ge¬ 
nius and the powers of man. Coloftal and other gigantic 
ftdtues, obelifks, avenues formed by rows of fphinxes which 
are ftill vifiblej porticoes of a prodigious elevation, immenfe 
colonnades, the pillars of which are fome twenty and fome 
thirty feet in circumference; paintings which ftill retain 
an incomparable brilliancy ; granite and marble laviftied 
in the ftrudlures; (tones of aftonifhing dimenfions forming 
the magnificent roofs ; and thoufands of proftrate columns 
which Titerally ftrew the 'ground, combine to ftrike the 
beholder with equal admiration and amazement.” 
Middle Egypt was called Heptdnomis on account of the 
feven noinesor prefectures into which it was divided. This 
part of Egypt was alfo celebrated for the magnificence of 
its cities, of which the molt remarkable were Memphis, 
Acanthus, Heracleopolis, Arfinoe, and Antmopolis.— 
Memphis, fuppofed to have been founded by Menes the 
firft Egyptian monarch, was for feveral ages the metro¬ 
polis of the whole kingdom. This part of Egypt contains 
the principal of its curiofities, viz. the obeitfics, the py¬ 
ramids, the labyrinth, the lake of Moeris, &c. 
Lower Egypt contains not only the Delta, but alfo 
Mareotis and Alexandria to the weft, and Cafiotis and 
Auguftamnica toward the eaft. Several places have been 
mentioned by the ancients as being fituafe in the Mareo- 
tic nome, but we find nothing relating to them worthy of 
notice. The famous city of Alexandria, which was for¬ 
merly reckoned next to Rome for the grandeur of its 
buildings and ricbriefs of its materials, is lituate between 
the lake Marea and the Canopic branch of the Nile. For 
a more particular defeription of this and the other ancient 
cities of Egypt, fee Under their refpective titles in this 
Encyclopaedia. 
At a fnrall diftance from Alexandria was the ifland of 
Pharos, and the famous light-houfe or tower of the fame 
name. The ifland Antirrhodes has been alfo mentioned 
by the ancients as lying at a fliort difiance from the fliore, 
b.ut this has been totally deftroyed by the fea. About 
three miles diftant was the city of Nicopolis, greatly em- 
■belliflied by Auguftus after the defeat of Antony; and 
at the diftance of one hundred and twenty fhidia was Ca¬ 
nopus, reputed infamous on account of the lewd diver- 
fions which the Alexandrians there indulged in. On the 
narrow trad! of land, between the fea and the canal that 
runs from Alexandria to Canopus, were Zephyrium, the 
Lefter Tapofiris, and Thonis,; and to the fouth of Cano¬ 
pus ftood Shadia, Anthylla, Momemphis, Andropolis, 
and Latona. The Delta is encompaffed by the arms of 
the Nile, lying between the Canopic branch to the weft, 
and the Pelufian to the eaft. It is faid to have contained 
feveral famous cities, of which .we enumerate Sais, once 
the metropolis of Lower Egypt, and celebrated for a 
magnificent temple of Minerva ; Butus, famous for the 
oracle of Latona ; Leontopolis, where particular adora¬ 
tion was paid to the lion ; and Tanis, formerly honoured 
by the refidence of the Pharaohs. Thefe are the chief 
cities in the Delta, which, together with the province of 
A 1 Feyyum, may be regarded as the mod fertile and 
beft cultivated piart of Egypt. It is now faid to contain 
360 villages, and yields a variety of fruit in fo great an 
abundance, that when a fcarcity is experienced in other 
parts of the kingdom, the Delta is crowned with an exu¬ 
berant produce. The other cities of Lower Egypt are 
Bubaftus, which formerly contained a fplendid temple of 
Diana ; Babylon, faid by Jofepluis to have been built 
on the fite of the ancient Latopolis ; Pelufium, called by 
Hirtius the key of Egypt, becaufe whoever was matter 
of this city had a free paffage into Egypt ; and Heliopo¬ 
lis, or the city of the fun, where a magnificent temple 
was erefted to the great luminary of heaven, and where 
particular worfhip was paid to a bull under the name of 
Menevis. 
ORIGINAL HISTORY. 
No part of ancient hiftory feems more abftrufe than that 
of the firft Egyptian mOnarchs. According to the account 
of its own hiftorians, gods and demi-gods governed it 
fucceflively, through a feries of twenty thoufand years. 
But the abfurdity of fuch an afiertion is fufficiently ob¬ 
vious. To thefe gods and heroes fucceeded mortals as 
fovereigns of Egypt, of whom Manetho has left 11s thirty 
dynafties or principalities, which, if allowed to be fuc- 
ceflive, make up a feries of time of more than five thou¬ 
fand three hundred years, to the reign of Alexander the 
Great; but this is evidently erroneous: befides, Eratof- 
thenes, the hiftorian of Cyrene, has written a catalogue 
of thirty-eight kings of Thebes, all different from thofe 
of Manetho. Much labour has been ufed by the literati 
in attempting to clear up thefe difficulties ; but it is ge¬ 
nerally fuppofed that the kings of thefe dynafties did. not 
reign fucceflively, but many of them at the fame time, 
and in different parts of Egypt. 
Pharaoh, in feripture hiftory, is the common name of the 
early kings of Egypt. Jofephus fays, that all the kings of 
Egypt, from Minaeus, the founder of Memphis, who lived 
feveral ages before Abraham, have always had tire name 
or Pharaoh, down to the times of Solomon, for more than 
3300 yearsi He adds, that in the Egyptian language, the 
word Pharaoh fignifies king ;' and that thofe princes did 
not affiime this name but when they afeended the throne, 
at which time they quitted alfo their former name. Hence, 
fays Jofephus, Herodotus names none of the kings of 
Egypt after Minaeus, the builder of Memphis, though 
he had 330 kings for his fucceftors, becaufe they had all 
the name of Pharaoh ; but becaufe this name did not pafs 
to 
