On the division of the great Roman Empire (A. D. 395), in the time of
Theodosius, into the Western and Eastern Empires, Egypt became a
province of the latter, and sank deeper and deeper in barbarism and
weakness. It was conquered in 640 A. D. by the Saracens under Caliph
Omar. As a province of the caliphs it was under the government of the
celebrated Abbasides--Haroun-al-Rashid and Al-Mamun--and that of the
heroic Sultan Saladin. The last dynasty was, however, overthrown by the
Mamelukes (1250); and the Mamelukes in their turn were conquered by the
Turks (1516-17). The Mamelukes made repeated attempts to cast off the
Turkish yoke, and had virtually done so by the end of the eighteenth
century, when the French conquered Egypt and held it till 1801, when
they were driven out by the British.