Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/53

AEGYPTUS.

conventional. The common lotus (Nymphaea), rising out of a clod of earth, represented the Upper country; the root of the papyrus, upon a clod, the Lower. Sebena was the goddess of the Upper, Neith of the Lower country. A white crown denoted the former, a red crown the latter; white and red crowns united composed the diadem of the king of all the land. The Upper country, however, was generally subdivided into two portions, (1) Upper Egypt Proper, or the Thebaid (ή Θηβαίς, οί άνω τόποι), which extended from Syene to Hermopolis Magna, in lat. 28° N.: and (2) Middle Egypt, also called Heptanomis, or the Seven Cantons (ή μεταξύ χώρα: Έπτανομίς), which reached from the neighbourhood of Hermopolis to the apex of the Delta. This threefold partition has been adopted by the Arabs, who denominated Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt respectively, Said, Wustani, and El-Rif.

The tcavvUer who ascends the Nile from its nootbi to Syene passes through seven degrees of htztade, and virtually surveys two distinct regions. Lonrer Egypt is an immense plain: Upper Egypt, a nanoviqg valley. The ibnner, in Uie main, re- ■mUea the neighbouring coastland of Africa; the biter is more akin to Nabia, and its climate, its Fsma and its Fkia, indicafft the approaching tropic. The Ene of deoiarcatiaa commenoes aboat tibe 27th dq;ree of N. latitode. Bain rardy falls in the The- Ud: the sycamore and the acacia almost disappear; the liver pbnts and mollosca assume new types: the Tbetwi or Dbomn palm, with itsdivaricated branches, jcraws beside the date palm: the crocodile, the jackal, the river-hone, and hyena become more numerous.

We must now return to the general boundaries of Egypt which affected, in various degrees, the climate, the population, and the social and political character of the Nile-valley.

1. The Eastern boundary. In this region lay tbe pnncipal mineral wealth of Egypt, indnding the ^sanies, which famished mato^^fds for this land of nooameDtB. B^inning with tfie Pelasiac month of tbe Kife, and ak^ the frontier of Stony Arabia, we fad the barren and level r^on of CasioUs, whose only elaratian is the ridge or table land of Mt Car sias (6 fUUriof, Strab. pp. 38, 50, 55, 58, &&; Mek, L 10; Plin. v. 11, zii. 13; Lucan. viu. 539, X. 433> Tbe Egyptian Casins (^El Km or El KalUk) is, acoarding to Stnbo (xvi. 2), a round fm»<|rt4^ftf ridge (X6^s J^utMh^f). It contained the pxwe of Co. Pompeins Magnna, and a temple of Zens Caaos. At a very early period the Egyptians established colonies npon the Idnmaean and Ara- Han border. Copper, mixed with iron ore, and heaps of scoriae from Egyptian smelting-honses, are sdn found on the western flank of Mt. Sinai, and iasenptioDs at Wady-Magara in this district, and laerQi^jpfaioa and fragments of pottery at Surabit- El-Kai^m^ on the modern road from Snez to Sinai, attest the existence of settlements coeval with at bast the 18th dynasty of kings. Ascending from dK bead of the Mta, and about 50 miles frcm the Anfaian Sea, we come upon a range of tertiary BnM^tipnfli hills (TpMurov lBov 6poSj Ptol.; &Aa- iarrpiwrnf ip9t, id.) parallel with the Heptanomis, raDDB^ north and south, and sloping westward to tbe MIe, and eastward to the Bed Sea (fifrn rit, 'hfdtyd, Herod, ii. 8). A region of basalt and pajji f iy b^ins in the parallel oi Antaeopolis, and extends to that of Tentyra or Coptos (Tlopipvplrav Spn, id.). This is again succeeded by limestone

at Aos or Aeaa (AZbs, id.; Plin. vi. 29. § 33),

AEGYPTUS.

37

and at Acabe fAicd^i;, Ptol.), where, nearly opposite Latopolis, are vast quarries of white marble. From Mt. Smaragdus, which next follows, the Egyptians obtjuned the fine green breccia {Verde cP

Egitto)y and emenUds in abundance. The breccia quarries, as inscriptifms testify, were worked as fiur back as the 6th dynasty of kings (Manetho). The principal quarry was at Mount Zaburah. From Berenice southward are found, in various proportions, limestone and porphyry again. Mt. Bi^anites (BcuroMiTou Xidov Spos^ Ptol.), consisting of a species of h<»iiblend, terminated the eastern boundajy of the Nil&-VBlley. Beyond this, and of uncertain extent, are the gold mines S£. of the Thebaid. They are about ten days' journey S£. frt>m Apollinopolis Magna, in the present Bishdree desert. The process of gdd-washmg appears to be repre- sented on tombs of the age of Osirtasen. Silver and lead were also found, and sulphur aboimded in this mineral region.

The eastern frontier was mostly arid and barren, but neither uninhabited nor unfrequented by travellers. More than one caravan track, whose bearings are still marked by ruined cisterns and brick pyramids, followed the gorges of the hills; and occasional temples imply a settled population in towns or villages. The sides and passes of the mountains afforded also pasture for flocks and herds, and wild deer, wolves, &c found here their abode. Two principal roads, diverging from Coptos on the Nile — the northern leading to Philoteras (Kosseir), lat. 26^ 9', and Myos Hormoe or Arsinoe; the southern to Berenice — penetrated the mountain barrier, and connected the Nile-valley with the Red Sea. The population of this district was more Arabian than Coptic, and its physical characteristics were Arabian, not Libyan.

2. The Western boundary of Egypt is more particularly described under Oasis. The Libyan desert is not, as the ancients believed, merely an ocean of drifting sand, tenanted by serpents, and swept by pestilential blasts (Lucan, ix. 765): on the contrary, its gravelly surface presents considerable inequalities, and the blasts are noxious only in relaxing the human frame, or by obliterating the traveller's path with eddies of blinding sand. Everywhere this plateau rests upon a limestone basis, and descends in shelves to the Mediterranean.

3. The Northern boundary is the Mediterranean. From the western limit of Egypt to Pelusium the coast-line extends to about 180 geographical miles, and presents the convex form common to the alluvial deposits of great rivers. From the depression of its shore, the approach to Egypt is dangerous to the navigator. He finds himself in shallow water almost before be detects the low and sinuous mud banks which mask the land. Indeed, from Paraetoninm in Libya to Joppa in Syria, Pharos afforded the only secure approach, and the only good anchorage (Diod. ii 31). Nor is it probable that any considerable advance of the shore has taken place within historical times.

4. The Southern boundary is spoken of under Aethiopia.

II. Inhabitants.

The ancient Egyptians believed themselves to be autochthonous. This was no improbable conception in a land yearly covered with the life-teeming mud

of the Nile. When the conquests of Alexander had rendered the Greeks acquainted with Western India,