Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/726

702 702 EGYPT [DIVISIONS. Hierocles. Proper, L. Pharbaethites, *apj3ai9iT7js, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nil. Pkaturites, Plin., the same as Pathyrites ? L. Phthemphu, *06/i&amp;lt;/&amp;gt;ou0&amp;lt;, Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Phtheneu, Nu., Ptenethu, Plin., *6fv6rov, Ptol. L. Phylace vel Scbedia, *I/AOK^, 2x5ia, Agatharch. See Mene- laites. L. Prosopites, ITpoffanriTTjt, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Ptenethu, Plin. See Phtheneu. ab, L. Saites, SafrTjj, 2aiVt&amp;lt;Jj, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Schedia, Agatharch. See Phylace. L. Sebennytae duo, 2e/3evi/uT7)s &vta r6iruv, ^.e^evfvrrjs KOTOI T&ifdtv. Ptol.; Sebennytes, Her. Strab. Plin. Nu. L. Sethroites, 2e0pcojT7jy, Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Tanites, Tavlrr,!, Her. Strab. Plin. Ptol. Nu. T. Tenthyrites, Tentyrites, Tfv6vp iTt]s, Agatharch. Plin. Ptol. TfvrvplTTis, Nu. L. Thebanus, &t]&cuos, Her. T. Thebarum, T)$U&amp;gt;V vo^ds, Ptol., ri/3a ii$s, Her. See Perithebte. T. Thinites, Qivir^, Plin. Ptol. Nu. L. Thmuites, ^OUI TTJJ, Her. L. Xoites, EofrTjr, Plin. Ptol. Nu. It is very remarkable that the Arsinoi te Nome of the Heptanomis does not appear in the hieroglyphic lists, because Sebek, the cro codile-headed divinity there worshipped was, at least in later times, disliked in most parts of Egypt (Brugsch, llist., 2 ed., 109, The Notitia Dignitatum, composed under Theodosius II, A.D. 408-450, gives a new a division of Egypt into four provinces ^Egyptus, Augustarnnica, Arcadia, and Thebai s. Roughly the first comprised all Lower Egypt except the part east of the Delta, which was assigned to the second, and Arcadia appears to have succeeded the Heptanomis (Parthey, Erdkunde, 518, taf. vii.) About the time of Justinian I. this division is found to be further developed, according to the statements of Egypt contained six eparchies : 1. Egypt uTmajo?, the west of Lower Egypt to the Sebennytic branch of the Nile; 2. The First Augusta, Avyovo-Ta a, the north-eastern part of Lower Egypt to the Syrian border ; 3. The Second Augusta, Avyova-ra /?, the territory southward of the First Augusta; 4. Arcadia, the earlier Heptanomis ; 5. The Nearer Thebai s, lyyio-ra, extending to Panos, or Panopolis, and including the Great Oasis ; 6. The Upper Thebais, 0^/3ais r) avw. as far as Philre. The division into nomes had evidently been almost effaced at this time (Id. 520 taf IX.). The Copts preserved the oldest division of the country, and called^ Lower Egypt, the Northern Region, 6JL8.PIT (Mem.), AAglT, etc. (Sail.), Upper Egypt, the Southern Region, pHC (Mem.), JUUkpHC (Sah.) The names of the nomes were also known to them, and are given by Champollion in L Egypte sous les Pharaons. Like the Copts, the Arabs generally know of but two divisions, the names of which are such as the people of the desert would naturally give to the country watered by the Nile,. Lower Egypt is called Er-Reef, the cultivated, or fertile, and Upper Egypt, Es-Sa eed, the happy, or for tunate. Under the Memlook sultans of the Bahree dynasty, as we learn from the list appended to De Sacy s Abd-Allatif, re ferring to A.H. 715 (A.D. 1315-6), the provinces of Egypt were less numerous than the ancient nomes. They are for Lower Egypt the territory of Cairo and the provinces of Kalyoob, the Sharkeeyeh, the Dakahleeyeh, Ed-Diinydt, the Gharbeeyeh, Menoof, Abyar and Benee-Nasr, the Boheyreh, Fooweh, Nesterawiyeh, Alexandria, and El- Geezeh ; and for Upper Egypt the provinces of Atfeeh, the Feiyoom, Behnese, Ashmooneyn, Maufaloot, Asyoot Akhmeem, and Koos. At the time of the French occupa tion the provinces had boon reduced in number to sixteen, and the division of the Middle Provinces introduced, thus rovivine, the Heptanomis, The Northern Provinces El- Akaleem el-Bahreeyeh, were the Gharbeeyeh, that of Er- Rasheed, the Boheyreh, that of El-Mansooreh, the Manoo- feeyeh, that of Ed-Dimyat, the Sharkeeyeh, the Kalyoo- beeyeh, and that of El-Geezeh. The Middle Provinces, El- Akaleem el-Wustaneeyeh, were that of Atfeeh, the Feiyoom, and those of Benee-Suweyf or Behnese, and of El-Minyeh or Ashmooneyn. 1 The Southern Provinces, El-Akaleem el-Kibleeyeh, were those of Asyoot, Girga, and Kine. There is no doubt that these provinces sometimes correspond to the ancient nomes, though generally composed of the territories of more than one. (Cf. Jomard in Descr. de I figypte, 2d ed. ix. 594, 595.) By Mehemet Ali a new division was formed into districts governed by a mudeer, of which Lower Egypt, including a small portion of the Middle Provinces, contained four, and the rest of Egypt three. At the present time Egypt is divided into fifteen provinces, each governed by a mudeer. I. LOWER EGYPT 1. Boheyreh chief towil, Demenhoor. 2. El-Geezeh ,, El-Geczeh. 3. Kalyoobeeyeh ,, Kalyoob. 4. Sharkeeyeh ,, Zagazeeg. 5. Menoofeeyeh ,, Sheybeen. 6. Gharbeeyeh ,, Tan tab. . 7. Dakahleeyeh ,, Mansoora.h. II. MIDDLE EGYPT 1. Benee-Suweyf and Feiyoom 2. El-Minyeh and Bence-Mazar (double province) III. UPPER EGYPT 1. Asyoot 2. Girgji 3. Kiiie and Kuseyr (double province) 4. Isne Edmor.d (L figypte, 269, 270). It will be readily understood that much confusion pre vails as to the divisions of the country, more especially at times when an arbitrary administrative division has been used side by side with a popular one, depending upon what nature and artificial aids, such as canals and dikes, have done to map out the country. The general appearance of Egypt is remarkably uniform. The Delta is a level plain richly cultivated, and varied alone by the lofty dark-brown mounds of ancient cities, and the villages in groves of palm-trees, standing on mounds often if not always ancient. We sometimes see groves of palm-trees bssides those around the villages, but other trees are, except in some parts, rare. In Upper Egypt the valley is in as rich a state of cultivation, but very narrow and bounded by mountains of no great height, which hem it in. They form the edge of the desert on either side of the valley, which has been cut through a rocky table-land by the river. They rarely take the form of peaks. Sometimes they approach the river in bold promontories, and at others are divided by valleys with the beds of torrents which flov only at very long intervals. The bright green of the fields, the reddish-brown or dull green of the great river, and the tender tints of the bare yellow rocks, beneath the deep blue sky, always form a beautiful view. In form the landscape varies little and is not remarkable ; in coloui its qualities are always splendid, and under a general uniformity show continual variety. Climate. The climate of Egypt, being remarkably equa ble, is healthy to those who can bear great heat, and who avoid the unwholesome tracts of the country, such as the Benee-Suweyf. El-Minyeh. Asyoot. Soohag. Kiue. Isne. 1 M. Jomard states that the older appellations were used for the two provinces of Benee-Suweyf and El-Minyeh, though these towns had succeeded the enrlier chief places after which the provinces were uamed. Descr. de I Egypte, ix. 594.