Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/410

 402 EDESSA EDFOO sor of Baldwin, was surnamed the Great by reason of his victories over the Saracens. Jocelin II., who reigned after him, was defeated by the sultan Nour ed-Din, who captured Edes- sa and exterminated the inhabitants. It was plundered by Tamerlane in 1393, subsequently annexed to Persia, and in 1637 fell into the hands of the Turks, who changed its name to Urfa or Orfah. The modern town is large and well built, with a wall 7 m. in circuit, and 40,000 or 50,000 inhabitants, of whom about 4,000 are Armenians, 1,000 Jacobites, and the rest Turks, Arabs, Kurds, and Jews. Its grand mosque has considerable architectural merit ; within it The Castle of Edessa. are several schools for the instruction of young men in religion and law. Among the antiqui- ties are the ruins of a tower said to have been the palace of Nimrod, and the catacombs in the rock beneath. It derives great commercial importance from its position on the route be- tween Aleppo and Kurdistan. II. The ancient capital of Macedonia (probably the same as JSgffl, now Vodena), situated on a branch of the river Ludias and on the Egnatian way, at the entrance of the pass leading from the moun- tain provinces into up- per Macedonia, and also by another branch into Pelagonia and Lynces- tis. The town was the cradle of the Macedo- nian dynasty, and even after the removal of the seat of government to Pella, in the plains below, Edessa was still the national sanctuary and the burial place of the kings. From its commanding position it continued to be of im- portance under the Roman and Byzantine emperors. Taken by Basil II., the conqueror of Bulgaria, it was strongly fortified under his reign (976-1025), and was called Bodina, whence the modern name. The modern town, which has few remains of antiquity, is 45 m. W. by N". of Salonica. The locality is still celebrated for its scenery. EDFOO (Coptic, Atbo ; anc. Apollinopolis Magna a city of upper Egypt, about 2 m. from the left bank of the Nile, 50 m. S. S. E. of Thebes. It has about 2,000 inhabitants, and manufactories of earthenware. Here are remarkable ruins of two temples partly cov- ered by sand, built by the Ptolemies after the ancient Pharaonic models. The entrance Ruins at Edfoo. to the larger temple was by a gateway 17 ft. wide and 50 ft. high, between two trun- cated pyramids, 134 ft. long, 37 ft. wide at the base, and 114 ft. high. This entrance leads to a court 161 ft. long and 140 ft. wide, surrounded by walls ; on each side is a row of pillars at some distance from the wall, the