Listed 16 sub titles with search on: Various locations for wider area of: "EGYPT Country MIDDLE EAST" .
EGYPT (Country) MIDDLE EAST
The Nile is mentioned by Homer under the name of Aegyptus river (Hom.Od. 258, 14.258).
ALEXANDRIA (Ancient city) EGYPT
Bruchium (Brucheion). The Royal or Greek quarter of the city of Alexandria (q.v.) enclosed by its own walls. Here were the finest of the public buildings, and upon it the Ptolemies lavished every form of ornament--obelisks, sphinxes, flowers and gardens, and colonnades. Among the great structures that stood here were the famous Library and Museum with its hundreds of thousands of volumes, its corridors, theatre, menagerie, and lecture-halls; the Palace of the Ptolemies; the Caesarium or Temple of the Caesars; the Mausoleum of the Ptolemies (containing the body of Alexander the Great); and the Arsinoeum, a monument raised by Ptolemy Philadelphus to his sister Arsinoe. The name is also written Pyruchium (Purocheion).
APHRODITOPOLIS (Ancient city) EGYPT
Aphthites nomos (ho Aphthites nomos), a nomos of Lower Egypt, in the Delta, mentioned
by Herodotus, between those of Bubastis and Tanis; but neither he nor any other
writer mentions such a city as Aphthis. The name seems to point to a chief seat
of the worship of Phthah, the Egyptian Hephaestus. (Herod. ii. 166.)
ARSINOI (Ancient city) EGYPT
Moeris Lacus (he Moirios limne, Herod. ii. 13, 148, seq.; Diod. i.
52; Moiridos limne, Strab. xviii. p. 810; Ptol. iv. 5. § § 20, 36; Moeris Lacus,
Mela, i. 9. § 5; Moeridis, Plin. v. 9. s. 9), was the most extensive and remarkable
of all the Aegyptian lakes. It formed the western boundary of the Arsinoite nome
in Middle Aegypt, and was connected with the Nile by the canal of Joseph (Bahr-Jusuf).
A portion of its ancient bed is represented by the modern Birket-el-Kerun. Of
all the remarkable objects in a land so replete with wonders, natural and artificial,
as Aegypt, the lake of Moeris was the most enigmatical to the ancients. herodotus
(ii. 149), who is followed by Pliny (v. 9. s. 9), regarded it as the work of man,
and ascribes it to a king of the same name. This supposition is incredible, and
runs counter both to local tradition and actual observation. Nothing, says a modern
traveller (Browne, Travels in Egypt, p. 169), can present an appearance so unlike
the works of men. On the NE. and S. is a rocky ridge, in every appearance primeval
; and Strabo (xvii. p. 112) observes upon the marine conformation of its shores
and the billowy colour and motion of its waters. So far as it has been hitherto
surveyed, indeed, Moeris is known to have been inclosed by elevated lands; and,
in early times, the bed of the Nile was too low to admit of its waters flowing
into the basin of the lake, even if there had been a natural communication between
the river and Moeris. Strabo believed it to be altogether a natural reservoir,
and that the canal which connected it with the Nile was alone the work of human
art. His opinion is doubtless the correct one, but admits perhaps of some modification.
The whole of the Arsinoite nome was indebted to human enterprise for much of its
extent and fertility. Geologically speaking, it was, in remote periods, a vast
limestone valley, the reservoir of waters descending from the encompassing hills,
and probably, if connected with the Nile at all, the communication was subterraneous.
As the accumulated waters gradually subsided, the summits and sides of the higher
ground were cultivated. The richness of the soi l- a deposit of clay and muriate
of lime, like that of the Oases - would induce its occupiers in every age to rescue
the land from the lake, and to run darns and embankments into the water. In the
dry season, therefore, Moeris would exhibit the spectacle of a body of water intersected
by peninsulas, and broken by islands, while, at the period of inundation, it would
wear the aspect of a vast basin. Accordingly, the accounts of eye-witnesses, such
as were Strabo and Herodotus, would vary according to the season of the year in
which they inspected it. Moreover, there are grounds for supposing that ancient
travellers did not always distinguish between the connecting canal, the Bahr-Jusuf,
and Moeris itself. The canal was unquestionably constructed by man's labour, nor
would it present any insuperable difficulties to a people so laborious as the
Aegyptians. There was also a further motive for redeeming the Moeriote district
generally, for the lands opposite to it, on the eastern bank of the Nile, were
generally barren, being either a sandy level or stone quarries, while the soil
of the Arsinoite nome was singularly fertile, and suited to various crops, corn,
vegetables, and fruit. If then we distinguish, as Strabo did, the canal (diorux)
from the lake (limne), the ancient narratives may be easily reconciled with one
another and with modern surveys. Even the words of Herodotus (hoti de cheiropoietos
esti kai orukte) may apply to the canal, which was of considerable extent, beginning
at Hermopolis (Ashnmuneen), and running 4 leagues W., and then turning from N.
to S. for 3 leagues more, until it reaches the lake. Modern writers frequently
reproach the ancients with assigning an incredible extent to the lake; and some
of them surmise that Herodotus and Strabo do not speak of the same waters. But
the moderns have mostly restricted themselves to the canal, and have either not
explored Moeris itself, the NW shores of which are scarcely known, or have not
made allowance for its diminution by the encroaching sands and the detritus of
fallen embankments.
We infer, therefore, that the lake Moeris is a natural lake, about
the size of that of Geneva, and was originally a depression of the limestone plateau,
which intersects in this latitude the valley of the Nile. Even in its diminished
extent it is still at least 30 miles long, and 7 broad. Its direction is from
SW. to NE., with a considerable curve or elbow to the E. The present level of
its surface is nearly the same with that of the Mediterranean, with which indeed,
according to a tradition mentioned by Herodotus, it was connected by a subterranean
outlet into the Syrtes. If the lake, indeed, ever discharged any portion of its
waters into the sea, it must have been in pre-historic times.
The waters of Moeris are impregnated with the alkaline salts of the
neighbouring desert, and with the depositions - muriate of lime - of the surrounding
hills. But, although brackish, they are not so saline as to be noxious to fish
or to the crocodile, which in ancient times were kept in preserves, and tamed
by the priests of the Arsinoite nome. (Strab. xvii. p. 112; Aelian, Hist. A. x.
24.) The fisheries of the lake, especially at the point where the sluices regulated
the influx of the Bahr-Jusuf, were very productive. The revenue derived from them
was, in the Pharaonic era, applied to the purchase of the queen's wardrobe and
perfumes. Under the Persian kings they yielded, during the season of inundation,
when the canal fed the lake, a talent of silver daily to the royal treasury (150l.).
During the rest of the year, when the waters ebbed towards the Nile, the rent
was 30 minae, or 60l., daily. In modern times the right of fishing in the Birket-el-Kerun
has been farmed for 13 purses, or about 84l., yearly. (Laborde, Revue Francaise,
1829, p. 67.) It is probable, indeed, that a copious infusion of Nile water is
required to render that of Moeris palatable to man, or salutary for fish.
To Thoutrmosis III. the Aegyptians were probably indebted for the
canal which connected the lake of Moeris with the Nile. It may have been, in part,
a natural channel, but its dykes and embankments were constructed and kept in
repair by man. There is, indeed, some difficulty respecting the influx and reflux
of the water, since the level of the Bahr-Jusuf is much higher than that of the
Arsinoite nome and the lake; and Herodotus seems to say (ii. 149) that the waters
returned by the same channel by which they entered Moeris. As mention is made,
however, of sluices at their point of junction, it is possible that a series of
floodgates retained or impelled the water. The main dyke ran between the Memphite
and Arsinoite nomes.
Belzoni found remains of ancient cities on the western side of Moeris,
and is disposed to place the Great Labyrinth in that quarter. But if we may trust
the accounts of the best ancient writers, it certainly was not on that side of
the lake. Its shores and islands were, however, covered with buildings. Of the
ruins of Arsinoe mention has been made already. But Herodotus tells an extraordinary
story of pyramids seated in the lake itself (l. c.):- About the middle of it are
two pyramids, each rising 300 feet above the water; the part that is under the
water is just the same height. On the top of each is a colossus of stone seated
in a chair. This account is singular, as implying that pyramidal buildings were
sometimes employed as the bases of statues. But it is impossible to reconcile
this statement with the ascertained depth of the Birket-el-Kerun, which on an
average does not exceed 12 feet, and even where it is deepest is only 28. We may
indeed admit, that, so long as the fisheries were a royal monopoly, a larger body
of water was admitted from the Nile, and the ordinary depth of the lake may thus
have been greater than at present. It is also possible that much of the surrounding
country, now covered with sand, may formerly, during the inundation, have been
entirely submerged, and therefore that the pyramids which Herodotus saw, the sides
of which even now bear traces of submersion (Vyse, On the Pyramids, vol. iii.
p. 84), may have been the truncated pyramids of Biahmu, now beyond the reach of
the Birket-el-Kerun, but within the range of the ancient Moeris. Herodotus, if,
as is probable, he visited the Arsinoite nome in the wet season, may have been
struck with the elevation of these monuments above the lake, and exaggerated their
proportions as well above as below its surface. Pococke (Travels, vol. i. p. 65)
tells us that he saw on its western extremity, a head of land setting out into
the lake, in a semicircular figure, with white cliffs and a height above, which
he thought might be the lower part of the two pyramids described by Herodotus.
And Pere Lucas (Voyages en Egypte, vol. ii. p. 48) observed an island in the middle
of the lake, a good league in circumference. He was assured by his guides that
it contained the ruins of several temples and tombs, two of which were loftier
and broader than the rest.
The region of Moeris awaits more accurate survey. The best accounts
of it, as examined by modern travellers, will be found in Belzoni, Travels; Champollion,
l'Egypte, vol. i. p. 329; Jomard, Descript. de l'Egypte, vol. i. p. 79; Ritter,
Erdkunde, vol. i. p. 803.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EGYPT (Country) MIDDLE EAST
At the E. mouth of the Nile, near the Arabian frontier of Egypt, Pelusian mouth, Greek settlements there, Psammenitus' encampment there in Cambyses' invasion.
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 23/7/2001: 67 for Pelusium.
Province of Egypt.
Aias or Aeas (Aias oros, Ptol. iv. 5. § 14; Plin. vi. 29. s. 33), was a headland
of the limestone range which separates Upper Egypt from the Red Sea. It was in
the parallel of Thebes, and S. of the modern Koseir (Philoteras), in lat. 29 1/4.
The district occupied by the Icthyophagi commenced a little to the north of the
headland of Aias.
Alabastra or Alabastron (Alabastra, Alabastron polis, Ptol. iv. 5. § 59; Plin. v. 9. s. 11, xxxvii. 8. s. 32), a city of Egypt, whose site is differently stated by Pliny and Ptolemy. Pliny places it in Upper Egypt; Ptolemy in the Heptanomis. It would accordingly be either south or north of the Mons Alabastrites. It was doubtless connected with the alabaster quarries of that mountain. If Alabastra stood in the Heptanomis, it was an inland town, connected with the Nile by one of the many roads which pervade the region between that river and the Arabian hills.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alabastrites Mons (Alabastrinon oros, Ptol. iv. 5. § 27), formed a portion of the limestone rocks which run westward from the Arabian hills into Upper and Middle Egypt. This upland ridge or spur was to the east of the city of Hermopolis Magna, in lat. 27 1/4, and gave its name to the town of Alabastra. It contained large quarries of the beautifully veined and white alabaster which the Egyptians so largely employed for their sarcophagi and other works of art. The grottoes in this ridge are by some writers supposed to occupy the site of the city Alabastra, but this was probably further from the mountain. They were first visited by Sir Gardner Wilkinson in 1824. The grottoes of Koum-el-Ahmar are believed to be the same with the ancient excavations. They contain the names of some of the earliest Egyptian kings, but are inferior in size and splendour to the similar grottoes at Benihassan. The sculptures in these catacombs are chiefly devoted to military subjects-processions, in which the king, mounted on a chariot, is followed by his soldiers on foot, or in war-chariots, with distinctive weapons and standards. The monarch is also represented as borne in a kind of open litter or shrine, and advancing with his offerings to the temple of Phtah. His attendants seem, from their dress, to belong to the military caste alone. (Wilkinson, Topography of Thebes, p. 386.; Mod. Egypt, vol. ii. p. 43.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MAREIA (Ancient city) EGYPT
Mareotis or Mareia (he Mareotis or Mareia limne, Strab. xvii. pp.
789-799 ; Mareia, Steph. B. s. v.; Mareotis Libya, Plin. v. 10. s. 11; Justin.
xi. 1), the modern Birket-el-Mariout, was a considerable lake in the north of
the Delta, extending south-westward of the Canopic arm of the Nile, and running
parallel to the Mediterranean, from which it was separated by a long and narrow
ridge of sand, as far as the tower of Perseus on the Plinthinetic bay. The extreme
western point of the lake was about 26 miles distant from Alexandreia; and on
that side it closely bordered upon the Libyan desert. ‘At its northern extremity
its waters at one time washed the walls of Alexandreia on their southern side,
and before the foundation.of that city Mareotis was termed the Lake above Pharus.
In breadth it was rather more than 150 stadia, or about 22 English miles, and
in length nearly 300 stadia, or about 42 English miles. One canal connected the
lake with the Canopic arm of the Nile, and another with the old harbour of Alexandreia,
the Portus Eunostus. The shores of the Mareotis, were planted with olives and
vineyards; the papyrus which lined its banks and those of the eight islets which
studded its waters was celebrated for its fine quality; and around its margin
stood the country-houses and gardens of the opulent Alexandrian merchants. Its
creeks and quays were filled with Nile boats, and its export and import trade
in the age of Strabo surpassed that of the most flourishing havens of Italy.
Under the later Caesars, and after Alexandreia was occupied by the
Arabs, the canals which fed the lake were neglected, and its depth and compass
were materially reduced. In the 16th century A.D. its waters had retired about
2 miles from the city walls; yet it still presented an ample sheet of water, and
its banks were adorned with thriving date-plantations. The lake, however, continued
to recede and to grow shallower; and, according to the French traveller Savary,
who visited this district in 1777, its bed was then, for the most part, a sandy
waste. In 1801 the English army in Aegypt, in order to annoy the French garrison
in Alexandria, bored the narrow isthmus which separates the Birket-el-Mariout
from the Lake of Madieh or Aboukir, and re-admitted the sea-water. About 450 square
miles were thus converted into a salt-marsh. But subsequently Mehemet Ali repaired
the isthmus, and again diverted the sea from the lake. It is now of very unequal
depth. At its northern end, near Alexandreia, it is about 14 feet deep, at its
opposite extremity not more than 3 or 4. Westward it forms a long and shallow
lagoon, separated from the sea by a bar of sand, and running towards Libya nearly
as far as the Tower of the Arabs. The lands surrounding the ancient Mareotis were
designated as the Mareotic Nome (Mareotes Nomos, Ptol. iv. 5. §§ 8, 34); but this
was probably not one of the established Nomes of Pharaonic Aegypt.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
NILOS (River) EGYPT
Nilupolis (Neiloupolis, Ptol. v. 5. § 57; Steph. B. s.v.: Neilopolires),
was a city of Middle Aegypt, built upon an island of the Nile, in the Heracleopolite
nome, and about eight miles NE. of Heracleopolis Magna. Nilupolis is sometimes
called simply Nilus, and appears to be the town mentioned under the latter name
by Hecataeus ( Fragment. 277). It was existing as late as the 5th century A. D.,
since it is mentioned in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 430.
Nili Paludes (hai tou Neilou limnai, Ptol. iv. 9. § 3; Strab. xvii. p. 786) were described by the ancient geographers as two immense lagoons, which received the first floods of the periodical rains that from May to September fall upon the Abyssinian highlands, and swell all the rivers flowing northward from that table-land. From these lagoons the Astapus (Bahr-el-Azrek, Blue River) and the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White River, respectively derived their waters; and since they were the principal tributaries of the Nile, the lakes which fed them were termed the Nilotic Marshes. The ancients placed the Nili Paludes vaguely at the foot of the Lunae Montes; and the exploring party, sent by the emperor Nero, described them to Seneca the philosopher as of boundless extent, covered with floating weeds, and containing black and slimy water, impassable either by boats or by wading. There is, however, some probability that this exploring party saw only the series of lagoons produced by the level and sluggish stream of the White River, since the descriptions of modern travellers in that region accord closely with Seneca's narrative (Nat. Quaest. vi. 8). The White River itself, indeed, resembles an immense lagoon. It is often from five to seven miles in width, and its banks are so low as to be covered at times with slime to a distance of two or three miles from the real channel. This river, as less remote than the Abyssinian highlands from the ordinary road between Syene and the S. of Meroe (Sennaar), is more likely to have fallen under the notice of Nero's explorers; and the extent of slimy water overspread with aquatic plants, corresponds with Seneca's description of the Nili Paludes as immensas quarum exitus nec incolae noverant nec sperare quisquam potest.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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