Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/741

* EBESSA. 643 EDGEHILL. all who were not massacred wore sold as slaves. After many vicissitudes, in the coiu^e of which Edessa fell successively into the hands of the sultans of Egypt, the Hyzantines, the Mon.!;oN, Turkomans, and Pers-ians, the city was linally conquered by the Turks, and lias since formed a portion of the Turkish dominions. On its site stands the modern city of Orfa or Uriah, with a population estimated at from 20,000 to ao.OOO, mostly Mohammedans. The modern city has numerous mosques and bazaars; manufactures of cotton goods, goldsmiths' wares, and morocco leather, commerce in British manufactures ob- tained by way of .Meppo, and a larae trade in corn, etc., with Syria. It is regarded l)y the Orientals as a sacred city, because they believe it to have been the residence of Abraham. EDFTJ, ed'foo (Coptic Atbd) . A town of Up- per Egjpt, on the left bank of the Xilc (latitude 25° r "north, longitude 32° 10' east), about 60 miles above Thebes, The chief local deity was Horus (q.v.), whom the Greeks identilied with Apollo, and for this reason called the place Apollinopolis. As AjwUiiiopoJis Maiina it was distinguished from Apollinopolis I'arva (the modern Qfls), the seat of worship of the god Haroeris ( q.v. ) . Edfu was celebrated in Egyp- tian mythology as the scene of one of the great contests between Horus and Set. The legend is given in full in Wiedemann's Religion of the Ancient Egyptiatis (1897). The great temple of Horus at Edfu, which stands today almost intact, is in a better state of preservation than any other Egyptian temple. It was begim on the site of an older temple in B.C. 237. under the reign of Ptolemy III. (Euergetes I.), and was completed and dedicated under Euergetes II. about a century later. Considerable additions were made to it by later monarchs down to the year B.C. 57. Including the court, it is some 451 feet in length and its facade is 250 feet wide. A gateway, 50 feet high, between two immense py- lons, over 100 feet in height and covered with in- scriptions, gives entrance to a splendid court (161X140 feet) inclosed by a double colonnade of 32 pillars, each of a ditTerentdesign. At the up- per end of the court is the great portico, its roof supported by eighteen pillars, and then comes a hypostyle hall of 12 pillars. This gives access to two successive vestibules leading to the sanctuary, which is surrounded liy an 0])cn corridor. A number of chambers, ranged along the wall of the temple, open into this corridor. From the pylons extends the outer wall which incloses the court and all the temple buildings in a single great quadrangle. The principal buildings are richly decorated with sculptures and paintings, and contain numerous inscriptions, chiefly of a re- ligious or mythological character. Both the court and the temple were formerly nearly cov- ered up with rubbish, and Arab hovels were built against tl.e walls and even upon the roof: but early in the sixties Mariette, by permission of the Khedive, cleared away the df-bris .and re- moved the wretched buildings which encroached upon the temple. The .so-called Birth House, built by Euergetes II, and decorated by Sotcr II., stands near the entrance of the great temple of Horus. It is surrounded by a gallery whose roof is supjiorted by pillars adorned with figures of the god Bes, Consult: Lepsius. Ilrirfe iiiih Argyplrn. Arlliio- F>en, etc. (Berlin, 1852) ; Brugsch, Reiseherichte alls Aegyplcn (Leipzig, 1855): Mariette, Monu- ments of Upper Kg'ipl (London, 1877). EDGAR or EADGAK, .--d'ger (944-975). A king of tlic Kngli-h. caik<l Kilgar the Peaceful. He was a son of Eadward or Edmund the Magnif- icent. In 057 he became a ruler of Xorthumbria and Mercia. and on the death of his brother Edwy or Edwig in 958 he was called to the throne by the entire people, succeeding to the Kingdom of the West Saxons in addition to that which he already controlled. During his reign of seventeen years ho had for his chief adviser the able Uun- stan. Archbishop of Canterbury. Ho brought about the establishment of national consolida- tion, the refonnation of the clergy, the im|)rove- ment of the judiciary system, and the formation of a fleet to defend the coast against the Norse- men. EDGAB. The son of the Earl of Gloster, in Shakespeare's King Lenr, whose ill-treatment, wanderings, feigned madness, and sweet forgive- ness of his unjustly suspicious father form the secondarf plot of the play. EDGAR, James D.wiD (1841 — ). A Canadian legislator and author, born in (^)ucl)ec. He served in Parliament from 1872 to 1874, and was reelected in 1884, 1837, and 1891. In 1889 he was instrumental in securing tlu^ passage of the Canadian Copyright Act. He has since been Speaker of the Commons (1890), and in 1897 became a member of the Queen's Privy Council. In addition to his contributions to the daily press, he has published a volume of poems. This Canada of Ours, and Other Poems (1893), and The Insoli-rnt Act of ISG', (18G5). EDGAR ATH'ELING. or EADGAR THE AETHELING (c.l057-c.l 120). .tn English prince, a grandson of Edmund Ironside. He was borri in Hungary, whither his father had been exiled by Canute. After the death of Edward the ('onfessor, Edgar was the nearest heir to the crow^n, which passed, however, to Harold, from whom it was wrested by William the Conqueror. Edgar's life was a succession of fruitless strug- gles, his most noteworthy achievement being his exjiedition into Scotland (1097) for the purpose of reinstating his nephew Edgar as king of that country. In 1099 he engaged in the Crusade, and rctui'ned to England during the reign of Henry I, ED'GARTOWN. A town, port of entry, and county sc;it of Dukes County, ^lass.. on the eastern shore of the island of Martlia's Vineyard, 30 miles southeast of Xew Bedford (Map: Massachusetts, F 5). It has a small but well- sheltered harbor, and was formerly a whaling port, .•t present it is known chiefly as a sum- mer resort. Edgartown was founded in 1642 and was incorporated in 1G71. Its government is administered by a board of selectmen elected at the annual town meeting. Population, in 1900, 1209. EDGE'HILL. A hill ridge in Warwickshire. England, seven miles northwest of Banliury. It gave its name to llie first great battle of the Civil War. which was fought there on Sunday, Octol«'r 23, 1042, between the Royalist forces under Charles and the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex. The King's forces had the advantage in numbers and in cavalry, as well as in position upon the hill; Essex, however, had