Page:History of Egypt.pdf/2

 HISTORY OE EGYPT. CHAP. 1 IT is generally agreed, that the prices of the line of the Pharaoh's ſat on the throne of Egypt in an uninterrupted ſucceſſion, till Cambyſe II king of Perſia conquered the Egyptians, 520 years before the birth of Christ, and that in the reign of theſe princes, thoſe wonderful ſtructures, the pyramids, were raiſed, which cannot be viewed without aſtoniſhment. Egypt continued a part of the Perſian empire, till Alexander the Great vanquiſhed Darius, when it fell under the dominion of that prince who ſoon after built the celebrated city of Alexandria. The conqueſts of Alexander, who died in the prime of life being ſeized upon by his generals, the province of Egypt fell to the ſhare of Prolomy, by ſome ſuppoſid to have been a half-brother of Alexander, when it again became an independent Kingdom, about 300 years before Chriſt. His ſucceſſors, who ſonetimes extended their dominion over great part of Syria, ever after retained the name of Prolemics, and in that line Egypt continued between two and three hundred years, till the famous Cleopatra, the wife and ſiſter of Prolemy Dionyſius, the laſt king, aſcended the throne. After the death of Cleopatra, who bad been miſtreſs ſuceſſively to Julius Caeſar and Mark Anthony. Egypt became a Roman province, and thus remained till the reign of Omar. the ſecond calif of the ſucceſſors of Mahomet, who expelled the Romans, after it had been in their hands 700 years The famous library of Alexandria, ſaid to consist of 700 000 volumes, was collected by Prolemy, son of the ſirſt Prolemy ; and the faroe prince cauſed the Old Teftament to be tranſlated into Greek: this tranſlation is known by the name of the Septuagint About the time of the cruſades, between the years 1150 and 1190, Egypt waſ governed by Norreclin, whole ſon, the ſamous Saladine, was ſo dreadful to the Chriſtian adventurers, and retook ſrom them Jeruſalem. He inſtituted the military corps of Mamlouks, who, about the year 1242, advanced one of their own officers to the throne and