Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/64

  The next important revolution of Egjpt was its temporaiy occapation bj Zenol»A, queen of Palmjra, in A. D. 269. The Egypto-Greeks were now at the end of six centuries again subject to an Asiatic monarch. But her power huted only a few months. This invasion, however, stimulated the native popu- lation, now considerably intermingled with Arabs, and they set up, after a few months' submission to Aurelian, a Syrian of Seleucia, named Ffarmus, as emperor, A. D. 272. (Vopisc. Firm. 5.) Firmuswas succeeded by a rdwl chieftain named Domitius Do- mitianus (Zosim. i. 49) ; but both of these pretenders were ultimately crushed by Auielian. Both Borne and Egypt suffered greatly during this period of anarchy : the one from the irr^ularity of the supply of com, the other from the ravages of predatory bands, and from the encroachments of the barbarians on either frontier. In a. d. 276, Probus, who hod been military prefect of Egypt, was, on the death of Tacitus, proclaimed emperor by his legions, and their choice was confirmed by the other provinces of the empire. Probus was soon recalled to his fermer province by the turbulence of the Blemmyes; and as even Ptolemais, the capital of the Thebaid, was in possession of the insurgents, we may estimate the power of the Arabs in die Nile-valley. So danger- ous, indeed, were these revolts, that Probus deemed his victory over the Blemmyes not unworthy of a triumph. (Vopisc. Prcb. 9, seq.)

The reign of Diocletian, A. d. 285, was a period of calamity to Egypt. A century of wars had ren- dered its people able and formidable soldiers; and Achilleus, the leader of the insurgents, was pro- claimed by them emperor. Diocletian personally directed his campaigns, and reduced, after a tedious siege, the cities of Coptos and Busiris. In this reign also the Roman frontier was withdrawn from Aethio- pia, and restored to Elephantine, whose fortifications were strengthened and garrisons augmented. Ga- lerius and Maximin successively misgoverned Egypt: whose history henceforward becomes little more than a record of a religious persecution.

After the time of Constantine, the administration and division of Egypt were completely changed. It was then divided into six provinces: (I) Aegyptus Propria; (2) Augustamnica; (3) Heptanomis (after- wards Arcadia); (4) Thebais; (5) Libya Inferior; (6) Libya Superior (consisting of Uie Gyrenaic Pen- tapoHs). The division into nomes lasted till the seventh century after Ghrist. All the authorities having any relation to the Boman province of Aegypt are collected by Marquardt, in Becker's Hcmdhuch der Riimischen Alterthumer^ voL iii. pt. i. p. 207, seq.

Under the Romans the chief roads in Egypt were six in number. One extended from Gontra-Pselcis in Nubia along the eastern bank of the Nile to Babylon opposite Memphis, and thence proceeded by Helio- polis to the point where Trajan's canal entered the Red Sea. A second led from Memphis to Pelusium. A third joined the first at Serapion, and afforded a shorter route across the desert. A fourth went along the western bank of the Nile from Hiera Sy- cominos in Nubia to Alexandria. A fifth reached from Palestine to Alexandria, and ran along the c^tast of the Mediterranean from Raphia to Pelusium, joining the fourth at Andropolis. The sixth road led from Goptos on the Nile to Berenice on the Red Sea, and contained ten stations, each about twenty- five miles apart from one another. The Roman roads in Egypt are described in the Itinerarium j Antonmi^ which is usually ascribed to the emperoiK M. Aurelius Antoninus. According to the traditions of the Ghurch, Chris- tianity was introduced into Egypt by the evangelist St. Mark. Its receptiaa and progress must be read in ecclesiastical annals. We can only remark here, that the gloomy and meditative genius of the Egyp- tians was a fiivourable soO for the growth of heresy; that the Arians and Athanasians shed torrents of blood in their controversies; and that monachism tended nearly as nrach as civil or religious wars to the depopulation of the Nile-valley. The deserts of the Thebaid, the marshes of the Delta, and the islands formed by the lagoons and estuaries of the Nile, were thronged with convents and hemutages; and the legends of the saints are, in considerable proportion, the growth of Egyptian fancy and ascetidsm. In the reign of Theodosius L, A. d. 379, the edict winch denounced Paganism levelled at one blow the ancient Polytheism of ike l^e-valley, and consigned to ruin and neglect all of its temples which had not pre- viously been converted, partially or wholly, into Christian Churches. From this epoch we may regard the history of the Egyptians, as a peculiar people, closed: their only subsequent revolutions henc^ forward being their subjugation by Persia in a. d. 618, and their conquest by Amrou, the general of the Khaliph Omar, in a. d. 640. The ydce of Arabia was then finally imposed upon the land of Mtsraznif and its modern history commences — a histoiy o( decrepitude and decline until the present century.

The sources of information fer Egyptian history and geography are of four kinds. (I) Works of geograpb^, such as those of Ptolemy, Strabo, Era- tosthenes, Pliny and Mela. (2) Of history, such as those of the fragments of Manetho, Africanus, the Syncellus, Eusebius, Herodotus and Diodorus already cited. (3) The Arabian chorographers, — and (4) the researches of modern travellers and Egyptologers from Elrcher to Bunsen and Lepsius; among the former we specially designate the worlcs of the eidet Niebuhr, Pococke and Brace, Burckhardt and Bel- zoni; the splendid collections of Dtfnon andthe French savans, 1798; Gau's work on the monuments of Lower Nubia, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson's MannerM and Customs of (he Ancient Egyptians^ 6 vols. Sto. To these may be added, as summaries of the writings of travellers and scholars, Heeren's Researches into the PoliticSy Intercourse^ and Trade of the Cartka-^ ffinianSf AethiopianSj cmd Egyptians^ 2 vols. 8yo. Engl. tnms. 1838; the recent work, Kenrick's An^ cient Egypt, 2 vols. 8vo. 1850 ; and the two Yolumev in the Library of Entertaining Ejiowledge, entitled The British Afuseum, Egyptian Anti^ptUies, which, under an unpretending form, contain a Ixrad of sound and various information. It would be easy to extend this catalogue of authorities; but the general reader will find all he seeks in the authors we have enumerated.

 AEGYS (Afywj: Eth. Alyvdrris, Pans.; Atywe^y, Theopomp. ap. Steph. B. s. v.), a town of Laconia, on the frontiers cf Arcadia, originally belonged to the Arcadians, but was conquered at an early period by Charilaus, the reputed nephew of Lycurgus, and annexed to Laconia. Its territoir, called Aeg^is (Al7i>ris), appears to have been originally of soma extent, and to have included all the villages in the districts of Maleatis and Cromitis. Even at the time of the foundation of Megalopolis, the inhabitants of these Arcadian districts, comprising Scirtonium, Malea, Cromi) Belbina, and Leuctrum, continued