Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/847

* MAMELUKES. MAMIANI BELLA ROVEEE. established his powur uvir .';:'j'ria. The ceU'brated Bibais ruled from 1200 to 1277. He waged war against the Christians in Syria, and in 12GS put an end to the principality of Antioeh. His ainiies o^•erran Armenia and jienetraled far into Asia Minor. His power toward the south extended as far as Xubia, Al-ilansur (1279-90) carried on successful wars against the Mongols and Chris- tians. He took Damascus and made himself mas- ter of Tri]iolis, whieli for two centuries had been held by tile Chi-istians. Al-Mansur's two sons ruled in succession and increased the power of the sultanate, while at the same time the condition of the peojde was improved by the construction of important public works. Cairo was greatly beau- tilied and rose in importance as one of the cap- itals of the East. There followed a period of steady decline during which the real power passed from the hands of the Sultans to the eonnnanders of the troops, which were now largely composed of Circassians. In 1.389 the last Bahrite ruler was deposed and Barkuk, first of the Circassian or Burgite Mamelukes, ascended the throne. During the reign of Barkuk Egypt was tincatened by the power of Timur, who Avrested from Barkuk's son, Faraj, a great part of Syria. Barsa Bey (1422-37) reduced C-prus to tile position of a vassal State, and exercised considerable influence in the Eastern Mediter- ranean. Kait Bey (1467-96) carried on war against Sultan Bajazet IT. in support, partly, of the claims of the latter's brother, Jem. After Kait Bey's death, five sultans ruled within as many years, most of them perishing by assas- sination. In 1501 Kansuh El-Ghuri was raised to the throne. After reigning for fifteen years, he engaged in war with the Ttirkish Sultan, Selim I., and was overthrown and slain in a san- guinary battle at JIarj Dabik, near Aleppo (I.">16l. The Mamelukes under Tuman Bey II. resisted the invasion of Egypt by Selim and fell in large numbers on the field or during their des- perate defense of the capital. Their dynasty dis- appeared from the throne, and Egypt became a Turkish province (1317). To conciliate the sur- viving Mamelukes, Selim divided Eg;s'pt into twenty-four military provinces and placed Mam- eluke beys over them subject to the supreme atx- tlinrily of a Turkish paslia. With the decay of the Turkish Empire, the Mameluke beys arro- gated to themselves greater powers and finally ruled in almost virtual independence. Xapoleon encountered the ilamelukes under Murad Bey in the battle of the Pyramids. July 21. 1798, and utterly defeated them. After the expulsion of the French from Egypt th-' Mamelukes contended with the Turks for dominion. The ambitious Mebemet Ali (q.v.) determined to crush and ex- terminate this militarv aristocracy. On August 17. 1805, more than one hundred of the Mame- luK-e<^ were enticed into Cairo and slaughtered. On March 1, 1811, treachery was again resorted tn and nearly 470 Mamelukes were shot down in the citadel at Cairo. This was followed by a general slaughter of Mamelukes all over Egypt. A remnant of them fled to Xubia. where they were followed by Tlirahim Pasha (q.v.). who put to death some and dispersed the rest. With their disappearance, Egypt was rescued from the con- ditions of anarchy into which the struggle of the beys had ijlunged it for so many years. Consult Makrizi's history of the Mameluke sultans, trans- lated by Quatremfere (3 vols., Paris, 1837-41). MAMER'CUS. The son of Xuma Pom])ilius, and the name of a prominent Koman family of the .Emilian gens which traced its descent to him. MAM'ERTINE PRISON, The, called also the Career TuUiamim. One of the few' remains of the ancient P.orae of the royal period, and, nex"t to the walls of Roma Quadrata, the earliest building extant. It is of three jieriods: to the earliest — supposed traditionally to be the time of Ancus ilartius — belongs the lower chamber; to the second, still in the royal or more probably the early repulilican era, belongs the dipper chamber; to a restoration of much later date (Tiberius), is due the facade built when part of the circular chamber was cut ofi'. The origiiuil chamber was circular, with a false pointed dome, its walls being built of large blocks set in overhanging courses. It is a matter of dispute whether this chamber was used as a well, A theory favored by the name Tulliamim (from lulliis. "a spring'), or as a royal or princely tomb, a theory favored by many analogous exani])les and by the absence of water corrosion. When the upper chanilier was built, presumably ' for a prison (Livy L 33, 8), the builders discovered the earlier build- ing below it and made an awkward connection by cutting off the ujiper part of the false dome and covering the opening with that slabs which formed the floor of the upper chamber, with a connecting trap-door. This floor was considerably above the level of the Forum, on the declivity, and wis reached by a flight of stairs called the Heiilce Gemonia- (".stairs of sighs'), where the execution of important prisoners took place and their boAies were exposed during the triumphal pro- cessions, before the ascent to the Capitol. The Mamertine Prison itself is connected -n-ith many of the most tragic events of Roman history. Its horrors were described by Sallust. King Jugur- tha was stan-ed in it, and Lentulus, Cethegus, and others who had conspired with Catiline were killed here. MAMERTINES (Lat. mnmcriini, sons of Mars). The Campanian mercenaries of Agatho- cles, ruler of Syracuse, who in B.C. 282 seized the town of Messaiia and were instrumental in liring- ing on the First Punic War through their re- quests made both to the Romans and Carthagin- ians for and against Hiero of Syracuse (B.C. 204). MAMIANI BELLA ROVERE, ma'me-a'ne del'lii ro-va'ra, Tekenzio, Count (1799-1885). An Italian poet, philosopher, and statesman, born at Pesaro. From boyhood a patriot, he was con- cerned in the qua si-revolution that followed the accession of Gregory XVI., was captured by the Auslrians, and after a short imprisonment went to France. Upon his return to Italy in 1847 he held the post of Minister of the Interior under Pius K. from May to August, 1848. He then went to Turin, where he founded with Gioberti the 'Society for the Advancement of Italian Unity.' He Avas recalled to Kome, and after the flight of the Pope took the portfolio of Foreign Affairs under Galetti, but held it only for a few weeks. When the French took the city in 1849, ^lamiani withdrew to Genoa and estab- lished the Accademia di Filosofia Italica. He was elected Deputy from Genoa in 1856. and later Cavour gave him the post of Minister of Public Instruction (1800). Afterwards he was made