KOPP. 587 KORAN. 'May Laws.' In 1887 he wag appointed Prince liisliojf of Bre.slau, in which capacity he is also <ntitled to a seat in tiie Austrian Upper House. He was made a cardinal in 1893. KOPP, .Joseph EiTVcn (1793-18G0). A Swiss historian, born at Beromiinster. in the Canton of Lucerne. He studied philology in Freiburg (Baden) ; was professor of Greek at the Lyceum of Lucerne from 1819 to 1841, and was president of the Swiss Council of Education from 1841 to 184.3. when he retired on account of the opposi- tion e.xcited by his hostilit}- to the Jesuits. He devoted much labor to the study of the history of the Swiss Federation, and is the founder of scientiac investigation concerning Swiss his- torj. It was through his careful study of early documents that the story of William Tell was first shown to be legendary. His Geschichte der eidgenossisclien Biinde (1845-49; last ed. 1882) is eonsid'^red his most valuable work. He also published Amthehe tiammlung der iiltern cidge- vossischfti Abschiede (1839). Consult Liitolf, Jottciih Eutycli Kopp (Lucerne, 1868). KOPPEN, kep'pcn. Peter Ivanovitcii (1703- 18(i4). A Russian statistician and arch.-eologist, born at Kharkov. He was educated at the univer- sity of his native city, made numerous journeys to investigate the ethnology, archaeology, and his- tory of Russia, and aided by the ancient manu- scripts collected during his travels, he began to publish the results of his researches, in German, soon after 1818. While most of these are included iiniong the memoirs of the Academy of Saint Petersburg, of which he was a member, mention should be made of his Knlturgeschichte Rusn- iands (182.5) and his Geschichte des Weinbaues tiiid M'eiiihaiidets in Kusslnnd (1832). He is prol)ablv best known for his Kthnographische Karte dcs europiiischen Russlnnds, published (4 vols., 18.51) by the Russian Society of Geography, and by his memoir on the ninth census of Euro- ]iean Russia (185(5). KOPPEN, Vladimir Peter ( 1846— ) . A Rus- sian-German meteorologist, born at Saint Peters- burg, and educated there, at Heidelberg, and at Leipzig. After a year in the Central Physical Observatory at Saint Petersburg, he became con- nected with the German Naval Observatory at Hamburg, of which he was appointed meteorolo- gist in 187.5. His writings have appeared mainly in technical journals, especially the Mctentolo- flische Zeitschrift, of which he was editor from '1884 to 1891. In 1891 he was made editor of the Annahn der Hgdrograpliie tiiid mnritimen ilete- orologie. — His sister Natalie (1832 — ) is also a meteorologist and an author, and has contrih- iited to the Vienna Zeitschrift fiir Meteorologie and to Rijttger's Russische Revue articles on the weather of the Crimea. KOP'TOS (Gk. KoTTTis, Lat. Coptos) . The Greek name of the modern Kuft (better Quft), a town of Upper Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile. 27 miles north of Luxor. It is now an un- important town of about 2500 inhabitants, but in Greek and medifeval times it was a city of con- siderable importance as the starting-point of the caravan routes to the ports on the Red Sea (Berenice and Myos Hormos). and therefore a centre of the trade with .Vrabia. India, etc. It was also famous for its qiiarries and gold-mines. The siege and destruction of Koptos by Diocletian after a revolt in a.d. 292 were followed by a Vol. XI.— 38. rajjid revival of the city, which for a time was oHicially called .Justinianopolis. Its decline began when Keneh took the trailic lo the Red Sea. Ex- cavations conducted near Koptos by Flinders Petrie in the winter 1893-94 proved that this was a very old town. ^lonuments from all periods of Egyptian history were found in the temple of the itiiypliallic local god Min — even statues from the prehistoric age. Consult Petrie, KoptoS' (Lon- don, 189C). KOBAIS, ku'ra', Ger. pron. kg'res, Adaman- Tios. See Corat, Adama?;tios. KORAN, kO'ran or ko-riin' (Ar. kur'un, lec- tion, from kara'a, to read; cf. the later Heb. Mikra, the written Book, i.e. the Bible). The sacred book of the Jlohanuncdans. The name was given by Mohammed himself to a single revelation, or a collection of revelations, and was afterwards applied to the body of his utterances as gathered together in one book, forming the basis for the religious, social, civil, commercial, military, and legal regulation of Islam. The Ko- ran is also known under various other names, such as: Furk-an (salvation); Al-Mushaf (the vol- ume); Al-KitOb (the Book, in the sense of 'Bible') ; Al-Dhikr (the reminder, or the admoni- tion ) . According to the orthodox views the Koran is coeval with God, uncreated, eternal. Its first transcript was written from the beginning in rays of light upon a gigantic tablet resting by the throne of the Almighty-, and upon this tablet are also found the divine decrees relating to things past and future. A copy of it, in a book bound in white silk, jewels, and gold, was brought down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, in the blissful and mysterious night of AlKadr, in the month of Ramadan. Portions of it were, dur- ing a space of twenty-three years, communicated to ilohamnied, at both Mecca and Medina, either by Gabriel in human shape, "with the sound of bells," or through inspiration from the Holy Ghost, in the Prophet's breast," or by God Him- self, "veiled and unveiled, in waking or in the dreams of night." Traditicms vary with res])ect to the length of the individual portions revealed at a time, between single letters, verses, and entire chapters (or suras). Setting aside the fanciful and semi-mystical speculations, there is general agreement among Mohanuncdans that the earliest revelation is represented by verses 1 to 5 of sura xcvi., which begins with the words, "Proclaim the name of thy Lord, who has created all things." At the beginning of his career Mohammed did not make any efforts to have his utterances pre- served. While it is possible that he was able to read and write, he certainly did not write any of the suras himself. It was only as his move- ment spread that the importance attached to the Prophet's 'revelations' suggested the necessity of giving them a tnore permanent form, and in the second part of his career, after the flight to Me- dina (622), he appears s.vstcniatically to have dictated his revelations to a scribe : and it would appear that he also revised the form of earlier utterances which had been either orally preserved or written down proniiscuovisly by some of his zealous followers. Within a year of Mohammed's death (032) the first attempt at a collection of the Prophet's titterances was made by Abu-bekr. He intrusted the task to Zaid ibn Thabit. the last secretarj' of Mohannned. Copies of these
