The land of Egypt, teeming with population, abounded in cities and
towns. Of these the greatest were Thebes, in Upper Egypt, and
Memphis, in Middle Egypt, whose site was near the modern Cairo.
=Abu-Simbel= (_ä´bōō-sim´bel_) on the Nile, in Lower Nubia is the site
of two very remarkable rockcut temples, among the most perfect and noble
specimens of Egyptian architecture. Here there is no exterior and
constructed part; the rock out of which they have been excavated rises
too near the river. Still the temples have their façade, as richly
decorated and as monumental in its character as those of the most
sumptuous edifices of Thebes.
The colossal statues here, instead of being isolated monoliths, are a
part of the façade itself, hewn out of the rock, though still forming
part of it. The façade of the smaller temple, that of Hathor, is
eighty-eight feet long and thirty-nine feet high. It has six colossal
figures, about thirty-two feet high, of which four represent Rameses,
and the other two his wife, Nefert-Ari. The façade of the great temple
is larger, being one hundred and twenty-six feet long and ninety-three
feet high.
Most striking are the four colossal figures of Rameses, two to the
right, two to the left of the door. These are the largest figures of
Egyptian sculpture, being sixty-six feet high. Everywhere are pictures
like those at Luxor and Karnak, representing the battles and triumphs of
Rameses.
=Abydos= (_a-bī´dos_), next to Thebes the most important city in the
ancient kingdom of Upper Egypt. Here was found, 1817, in a corridor of
the temple of Seti I. a very important tablet giving a succession of
sixty-five kings beginning with Menes, covering a period of about 2,200
years. A similar tablet containing eighteen names, found in the temple
of Rameses in 1818, was removed by the French consul-general, sent to
Paris, and finally purchased for the British Museum.
=Alexandria=, the third capital of Egypt, was founded by Alexander the
Great in the autumn of the year 332 B. C. It was situated originally on
the low tract of land which separates the lake Marcotis from the
Mediterranean, about fourteen miles west of the Canopic mouth of the
Nile. Before the city, in the Mediterranean, lay an island, upon which
stood the famous lighthouse, the Pharos, built in the time of Ptolemy
I. in the third century B. C, and said to have been four hundred feet
high. The island was connected with the mainland by a mole, thus forming
the two harbors.
The most magnificent quarter of the city, called the Brucheion,
contained the palaces of the Ptolemies, the Museum, for centuries the
focus of the intellectual life of the world, and the famous library; the
mausoleum of Alexander the Great and of the Ptolemies, the temple of
Poseidon, and the great theater.
To the south was the beautiful gymnasium. The Serapeum, or temple of
Serapis, stood in the Egyptian quarter.
Much of the space under the houses was occupied by vaulted subterranean
cisterns, which were capable of containing a sufficient quantity of
water to supply the whole population of the city for a year.
From the time of its foundation, Alexandria was the Greek capital of
Egypt. Its population in the time of its prosperity, amounted to about
three hundred thousand free citizens, and probably a larger number of
slaves. This population consisted mostly of Greeks, Jews and Egyptians,
together with settlers from all nations of the known world.
After the death of Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the residence
of the Ptolemies. They made it, next to Rome and Antioch, the most
magnificent city of antiquity, as well as the chief seat of Greek
learning and literature.
Alexandria had reached its greatest splendor when, on the death of
Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, in 30 B. C, it came into the
possession of the Romans. Its glory was long unaffected, and it was the
emporium of the world’s commerce.
In the reign of Caracalla, however, it suffered severely. The strife
between Christianity and heathenism in the third century--powerfully
described in Kingsley’s Hypatia--gave rise to bloody contests in
Alexandria. The rise of Constantinople only served to hasten its fall.
The choice of Cairo as capital of the Egyptian caliphs hastened the now
rapid decay of the city; the discovery of America, and of the passage to
India by the Cape of Good Hope, very much diminished its trade; and
when, in 1517, the Turks took the place, the remains of its former
splendor wholly vanished.
Under Mehemet Ali, however, the tide turned, and the city recovered
rapidly. It is now again one of the most important commercial places on
the Mediterranean with a population of about three hundred and fifty
thousand. The Suez Canal diverted part of its trade; but this was more
than compensated by the general impetus given to Egyptian prosperity.
Of the few remaining objects of antiquity the most prominent is Pompey’s
Pillar, as it is erroneously called. Of the so-called Cleopatra’s
Needles--two obelisks of the sixteenth century B. C. which long stood
here--one was taken to England and erected on the Thames Embankment,
London, 1878; and the other, presented by the khedive to the United
States, was set up at New York in 1881.
=Assuan= or =Assouan= (_äs-swän_), the ancient Syene is the southernmost
city of Egypt proper, on the right bank of the Nile, and beside the
first or lowest cataract. It is noted for its granite, and was the place
of banishment of Juvenal, the Roman poet. Here also is the great Nile
irrigation system, begun in 1898, including a dam at Assuan and another
at Assiout (two hundred and fifty miles nearer Cairo). The Assuan dam,
finished in 1902 was designed to raise the level of the Nile for one
hundred and forty miles above the first cataract. Its total length is
one and one-quarter miles, the maximum height from the foundation about
one hundred and thirty feet and the total weight of masonry over one
million tons.
The difference of level of the water above and below is sixty-seven
feet, and navigation is provided for by a series of four locks, each two
hundred and sixty feet by thirty-two feet. The dam is pierced with one
hundred and eighty openings, twenty feet by six feet, capable of
discharging fifteen thousand tons of water per second. The reservoir,
when opened, held something over one thousand million tons of water.
In 1907 the level was raised by twenty-three feet, steps being taken to
preserve (as far as is consistent with partial submersion) the ruins of
the temples on the island of Philæ within the area of the dam. Barrages
at Zifteh and at Esneh help to regulate the flow.
=Cairo= (_kī´rō_).--The present capital of Egypt, is situated one mile
east of the Nile. It has important transit trade, and is the
starting-point for tours to neighboring pyramids, the sites of Memphis
and Heliopolis, and the upper Nile. Its chief suburb is Bulak. It was
founded by the Fatimite caliphs about 970, and made the capital. It was
taken by the Turks in 1517, was held by the French 1798-1801, and was
occupied by the British in 1882. It was the scene of the massacre of the
Mamelukes in 1811.
There are about four hundred Mosques, some having six minarets, and
adorned with beautiful granite columns, brought from Heliopolis and
Memphis. About twenty deserve notice as works of art. The largest mosque
is El Azhar, at the center of the city, regarded as a University for all
Islam. The next in size is that of Sultan Hasan, in the Roumeyleh
square, the finest structure in modern Egypt, and extremely light and
elegant. It is built in the form of a parallelogram, and has a deep
frieze running round all the wall, adorned with Gothic and Arabesque
sculpture.
Other noticeable Mosques are the Tomb-Mosque of Kait Bey, built about
1470, one of the finest pieces of architecture in Cairo; and the Mosque
of Amra, the oldest mosque in Egypt (founded 643 A. D.), and a
remarkable Mohammedan monument.
The Citadel, or fortified Palace, erected by Saladin in 1176, was the
only place of defence in the city; it fell into ruin, but was thoroughly
repaired by a late pasha. Formerly it included a magnificent hall,
Saladin’s Hall, environed with twelve columns of granite, of prodigious
height and thickness, brought from the ruins of Alexandria. These
supported an open dome, under which Saladin distributed justice to his
subjects.
The view embraces the city, and above thirty miles along the Nile,
including the ruins of Old Cairo, site of Memphis, great Pyramids,
Obelisk of Heliopolis, and Pyramids of Sakkara. The Khedive resides at
the Abdin and Kubbeh Palaces.
The street scenes of Cairo are of inexhaustible interest and amusement;
civilization and semi-barbarism constantly jostle, the garb of the east
perpetually comparing, in the season, with the toilettes of London,
Berlin and Paris; refinement and coarseness, culture and ignorance,
Mohammedanism, paganism, Christianity, every tint of skin, all
conceivable phases of existence, present themselves in the throng of a
Cairo street.
=Gizeh= or =Ghizeh= (_gē´ze_) is situated on the Nile about three miles
west-southwest of Cairo. The Gizeh group consists of the Great Pyramid,
the second and third pyramids, and eight small pyramids.
THE GREAT PYRAMIDS is the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), of the
fourth dynasty. Its original height was four hundred and eighty-one feet
(present height, four hundred and fifty-one), and the original length of
the sides at the base, seven hundred and fifty-five. It is built of
solid masonry in large blocks, closely fitted, with use of mortar. The
exterior forms a series of steps, which were originally filled with
blocks of limestone accurately cut to form a smooth slope. The entrance,
originally concealed, is on the north side, forty-five feet above the
base and twenty-four feet to one side of the center. The passage slants
downward for three hundred and six feet; but the corridor, slanting
upward to the true sepulchral chambers, soon branches off from it. A
horizontal branch leads to the queen’s chamber, about eighteen feet
square, in the center of the pyramid, and the slanting corridor
continues in the Great Gallery, one hundred and fifty-one feet long,
twenty-eight feet high, and seven feet wide, to the vestibule of the
king’s chamber, which is thirty-four and one-half feet long, and
seventeen feet wide, and nineteen feet high, and one hundred and
forty-one feet above the base of the pyramid. It contains a plain, empty
sarcophagus.
[Illustration: =SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE GREAT PYRAMID OF CHEOPS OR KHUFU=
This cross-section clearly exhibits the known passages within the seven
million ton monument, which for six thousand years has stood to
commemorate Cheops (See page 350).]
THE SECOND PYRAMID, or pyramid of Chephren (Khafra), was originally four
hundred and seventy-two feet high and seven hundred and six feet in
base-measurement. It has two entrances, and interior passages and
chambers similar to those of the Great Pyramid. It retains at the top,
part of its smooth exterior casing.
THE THIRD PYRAMID, that of Menkaura, was two hundred and fifteen feet
high, and three hundred and forty-six feet to a side at the base. The
entrance-passages and sepulchral chambers are similar to those of the
other pyramids. All three were built by the fourth dynasty. Temples, now
ruined, stand before the eastern faces of the second and third pyramids.
SPHINX (_sfingks_).--This celebrated figure is a quarter of a mile
southeast of the Great Pyramid. According to present opinion, it is
older than any of the pyramids. It consists of an enormous figure of a
crouching sphinx of the usual Egyptian type, hewn from the natural rock,
with the flaws and cavities filled in with masonry. The body is one
hundred and forty feet long; the head measures about thirty feet from
the top of the forehead to the chin, and is fourteen feet wide. Except
the head and shoulders, the figure has for ages generally been buried in
the desert sand.
Between the paws were found an altar, a crouching lion with fragments of
others, and three large inscribed tablets, one, fourteen feet high,
against the Sphinx’s breast, and the two others extending from it on
each side, thus forming a sort of shrine. The Sphinx was a local
personification of the sun-god.
=Heliopolis= (_hē-li-op´ō-lis_) the City of the Sun, or On--the oldest,
perhaps, in this land of antiquities--was a sort of sacerdotal and
university town, where Herodotus sought the wisest men in Egypt. Here
Plato is said to have graduated. Here also lived Potiphar, who bought
Joseph the patriarch. It consisted for the most part of temples and
colleges; of which nothing now remains but a few isolated mounds, and
one extremely ancient Obelisk. At the village of Metariyeh is reputed to
be the place where the Virgin, St. Joseph and the infant Jesus stopped,
under a sycamore.
=Memphis= (_mĕm´fis_) after the fall of Thebes, became the capital of
Egypt, and kept its importance till the conquest by Cambyses. It was
built by Menes on the western bank of the Nile, south of Cairo. It
suffered from the Hyksos, and was captured by the Assyrians and stormed
by Cambyses. It continued to exist under the Roman Empire, but was
gradually abandoned and ruined after the Mohammedan conquest in the
seventh century A. D. The ruins of Sakkara are near it. The desert sands
have overwhelmed its famous avenue of sphinxes; and the great Pyramids
of Gizeh, and the colossal Sphinx, are the chief memorials of the past
in its vicinity.
Although various opinions have prevailed as to their use, the Pyramids
were really nothing more than the tombs of monarchs of Egypt who
flourished from the first to the twelfth dynasty. With the exception of
some very late pyramids in Nubia, none were constructed after the
twelfth dynasty; the later kings were buried at Abydos, Thebes, and
other places, in tombs of a totally different construction.
=Thebes= (_thēbz_) is the No or No Ammon of Scripture, and is situated
on the Nile opposite Karnak and Luxor. It was at the height of its
splendor, as capital of Egypt from about 1600 to 1100 B. C. Its vastness
is shown by the existing remains, known (from the names of modern
villages) as the ruins of Karnak, Luxor, etc. They consist of obelisks,
sphinxes, colossal statues, temples, and tombs cut in the rock,--mighty
monuments, with their countless sculptured details and inscriptions,
themselves the historians of the Egyptian Empire of three thousand years
ago. It was enriched by the spoils of Asia and the tributes of Ethiopia,
and its fame and reputation had reached the early Greeks. At the Persian
conquest in the sixth century B. C. Cambyses destroyed many of its
noblest monuments.
At the present day the glory of Thebes consists in its ancient temples.
Of these the best known are the El Kurna, the Rameseum and Medinet-Abu
temples, founded by Seti I., Rameses II., and Rameses III. respectively.
To Amenhotep III. are ascribed two temples on the west side of the city,
as also the well-known temple at Luxor.
LUXOR (_luk´sor_).--The present front of the latter temple was preceded,
at the end of a great dromos of sphinxes leading to Karnak, by two
beautiful obelisks of red granite, one of which still remains, and the
other stands in the Place de la Concorde, Paris.
Before the large double gateway of the court are two colossal seated
statues. The court is surrounded by a double range of columns. Beyond,
the avenue to the buildings of Amenhotep makes a sharp angle and meets
the gateway of the court, which is surrounded by a double colonnade. The
buildings behind the court contain a great number of chambers and an
isolated sanctuary, all profusely sculptured and colored.
KARNAK (_kär´nak_).--The temple here originally founded in the twelfth
dynasty, owes much of its magnificence to later kings. The Great Temple
extends to a length of about twelve hundred feet from west to east, and
is comparatively regular in plan. The double gateway of the great court
is about three hundred and seventy feet wide; the court is colonnaded at
the sides, and has an avenue of columns in the middle.
A second gateway follows, and opens on the famous hall, one hundred and
seventy by three hundred and twenty-nine feet, with central avenue of
twelve columns sixty-two feet high and eleven and one-half feet in
diameter, and one hundred and twenty-two columns forty-two and one-half
feet high at the sides. A narrow court follows, ornamented with figures
and containing two obelisks.
Behind this building is another large open court, at the back of which
stands the edifice of Thothmes III., an extensive building containing a
large hall and many comparatively small halls and chambers.
The mural sculptures are vast in quantity, and highly interesting in
character, particularly those which portray the racial characteristics
of various conquered Asiatic peoples.
=Suez= (_sōō-ez´_).--A seaport of Egypt, situated at the head of the
Gulf of Suez, is best known as the southern terminus of the Suez Canal.
It was the ancient Arsinoë and the terminus of an ancient canal built by
the Egyptian king, Rameses II., between the Nile delta and the Red Sea.
This, having been allowed to fill up and become disused, was reopened by
Darius I. of Persia. It was once more cleared and made serviceable for
the passage of boats by Arab conquerors of Egypt.
In 1841 the French diplomat Lesseps set himself to study the isthmus of
Suez thoroughly, and in 1854 he managed to enlist the interest of Said
Pasha, khedive of Egypt, in his scheme for connecting the Mediterranean
with the Red Sea.
Two years later the Porte granted its permission and the Universal
Company of the Maritime Suez Canal was formed, receiving important
concessions from the ruler of Egypt. The work was begun in 1859, and in
1869, the canal was duly opened for vessels. Between 1885 and 1889 the
canal was enlarged and improved, and altogether over one hundred million
dollars were spent in its construction. The total length is one hundred
miles; the width of the water-surface was at first one hundred and fifty
to three hundred feet, the width at the bottom seventy-two feet, and the
minimum depth twenty-six feet. At Port Said two strong breakwaters, six
thousand nine hundred and forty and six thousand and twenty feet long
respectively, were run out into the Mediterranean; at Suez another
substantial mole was constructed.
The making of the canal was facilitated by the existence of three or
four valleys or depressions (formerly lakes), which, when the water
reached them, became converted into lakes. Immediately south of Port
Said the canal crosses Lake Menzaleh (twenty-eight miles long); and
three more--Lake Ballah, Lake Timsah (five miles long), and the Bitter
Lakes (twenty-three miles) are traversed to the south of it. The highest
point or elevation that was cut through does not exceed fifty feet above
sea-level. At intervals of five or six miles sidings or side-basins are
provided to enable vessels to pass one another. By 1890 the canal had
been deepened to twenty-eight feet, and widened between Port Said and
the Bitter Lakes to one hundred and forty-four feet, and from the Bitter
Lakes to Suez to two hundred and thirteen feet.
In 1875 Lord Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of England bought for the
British Government the khedive’s shares--nearly half the canal
stock--for $20,500,000. They are now valued at about $150,000,000, and
bring in over $5,000,000 annual revenue.
From Suez there is a tourist route to Mount Sinai, near the coast, under
the range called Jebel-et-Tih past Elim, Pharaoh’s Quarries, and
Rephi-dim. The Sinai District comprises Mount Horeb, the Valley of
Jethro, Church of the Burning Bush, Chapel of Elijah, and other
historical sites. Thence it leads to Akabah, and up the deep pass of
Wady Moosa, to Mount Hor (or Petra), Zoar, and Mount Seir, Beersheba and
Hebron. (See Holy Land).
[Illustration: =GREAT ASSYRIAN MONARCH, ASHURBANIPAL, AS A LION HUNTER=
This famous conqueror was one of the most enlightened of Assyrian
rulers. He encouraged literature, and through his wise counsels the
annals of Babylonia and Assyria, written on clay tablets, have been
preserved for us in the library of his palace. From these we have
learned practically all we know of Babylonian-Assyrian history and
religion.]