months.*

The Sôma formed a part of the Cæsareum, and contained the bodies of Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies, his successors. The Theatre, which faced the island of Antirhodus, the Sôma, and the Museum and Library, all stood in the royal buildings in the Bruchium quarter of the town, between Lochias and the Heptastadium. The stone sarcophagus (now in the British Museum, No. 10), which was thought to have belonged to Alexander the Great, was made for Nectanebus I., the first king of the XXXth

"The spirit of Amrou ('Amr ibn el-'Âși) was more curious and liberal than that of his brethren, and in his leisure hours the Arabian chief was pleased with the conversation of John, the last disciple of Ammonius, and who derived the surname of Philoponus from his laborious studies of grammar and philosophy. Emboldened by this familiar intercourse, Philoponus presumed to solicit a gift, inestimable in his opinion, contemptible in that of the Barbarians: the royal library, which alone, among the spoils of Alexandria, had not been appropriated by the visit and the seal of the conqueror. Amrou was inclined to gratify the wish of the grammarian, but his rigid integrity refused to alienate the minutest object without the consent of the caliph; and the well-known answer of Omar was inspired by the ignorance of a fanatic. 'If these writings of the Greeks agree with the book of God, they are useless and need not be preserved: if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.' The sentence was executed with blind obedience: the volumes of paper or parchment were distributed to the 4,000 baths of the city; and such was their incredible multitude that six months were barely sufficient for the consumption of this precious fuel." (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. li.) The chief authority for this statement is Bar-Hebraeus (born A.D. 1226, died at Marâghah in Âdhurbâigan, July 30th, 1286), and it has been repeated by several Arabic writers. Both Gibbon and Renaudot thought the story incredible, but there is no reason why it should be. Gibbon appears to have thought that the second Alexandrian library was pillaged or destroyed when Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, destroyed the image of Serapis; there is, however, no proof that it was, and it seems more probable that it remained comparatively unhurt until the arrival of 'Amr ibn el-'Âși. See the additional notes in Gibbon, ed. Smith, Vol. III., p. 419, and Vol. VI., P. 338.

dynasty, B.C. 378. The PANEUM, or temple of Pan, is probably represented by the modern Kôm ed-Dik. The JEWS' QUARTER lay between the sea and the street, to the east of Lochias. The NECROPOLIS was situated at the west of the city. The GYMNASIUM stood a little to the east of the Paneum, on the south side of the street which ends, on the east, in the Canopic Gate.

Pompey's Pillar was erected by Pompey, a Roman prefect, in honour of Diocletian, some little time after A.D. 302.* It is made of granite brought from Aswân; the shaft is about 70 feet, and the whole monument, including its pedestal, is rather more than 100 feet high. The fragments of the columns which lie around the base of this pillar are thought to have belonged to the Serapeum.

A few years ago there were to be seen in Alexandria the two famous granite obelisks called Cleopatra's Needles. They were brought from Heliopolis during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, and set up before the Temple of Cæsar. Until quite lately one of them remained upright; the other had fallen. They are both made of Aswân granite; one measured 67 feet in height, the other 68 feet; the diameter of each is about 7 feet. The larger obelisk was given by Muḥammad 'Ali to the English early in this century, but it was not removed until 1877, when it was transported to England at the expense of Sir Erasmus Wilson, and it now stands on the Thames Embankment. The smaller obelisk was taken to New York a few years later. The inscriptions show that both were made during the reign of Thothmes III., about B.C. 1600, and that Rameses II., who lived about 250 years later, added lines of inscriptions recording his titles of honour and greatness.

* The Greek inscription recording this fact is published in Boeckh, Corpus Inscriptionum Græcarum, t. iii., p. 329, where it is also thus restored : Τὸν [όσ]ιώτατον Αὐτοκράτορα, τὸν πολιοῦχον ̓Αλεξανδρείας, Διοκλητιανὸν τὸν ἀνίκητον πο[μπήϊ]ος ἔπαρχος Αιγύπτου.

The Catacombs, which were built early in the fourth century of our era, are on the coast near the harbour and on the coast near the new port.

The Walls of the city were built by Muḥammad 'Ali, and appear to have been laid upon the foundation of ancient walls.

On the south side of Alexandria lies Lake Mareotis, which in ancient days was fed by canals running from the Nile. During the middle ages the lake nearly dried up, and the land which became available for building purposes in consequence was speedily covered with villages. In the year 1801, the English dug a canal across the neck of land between the lake and the sea, and flooded the whole district thus occupied. During the last few years an attempt has been made to pump the water out; it would seem with considerable success.

Between Alexandria and Cairo are the following important

towns:

I. DAMANHÛR* (Eg.,

www Temȧien-Heru, 'Town of Horus,' the capital of the Mudîrîyeh of Beḥêreh. This was the Hermopolis Parva of the Romans.

II. KAFR EZ-ZAIYÂT, on the east side of the river, situated among beautiful and fertile fields.

III. ŢANȚA, the capital of Gharbîyeh, situated between the Rosetta and Damietta arms of the Nile. This town is celebrated for three Fairs, which are held here in January, April, and August, in honour of the Muhammedan saint Seyyid el-Bedawi, who was born at Fez about A.D. 1200, and who lived and died at Tanța. Each fair lasts eight days, and the greatest day in each fair is the Friday; the most important fair is that held in August.

IV. BENHA el-'Asal, 'Benha of the Honey,' the capital of

*It is called Tingwp by the Copts.

Kalyûb. It obtained this name because a Copt called Makawkas* sent, among other gifts, a jar of honey to Muḥammad the Prophet. The Arabic geographers state that the best honey in Egypt comes from Benha. Quite close to this town are the ruins of the ancient city of Athribis.

About forty miles to the east of Alexandria lies the town of Rosetta, not far from the ancient Bolbitane. It was founded towards the end of the ninth century, and was once a flourishing seaport; it has become famous in modern times on account of the trilingual inscription, called the 'Rosetta Stone,' which was found here in 1799 by a French officer called Boussard. This inscription was inscribed on a block of basalt, and contained a decree by the Egyptian priests in honour of Ptolemy V., Epiphanes, dated in the eighth year of his reign (B.C. 196). The hiero glyphic, demotic, and Greek texts enabled Young and Champollion to work out the phonetic values of a number of the hieroglyphic characters employed to write the names of the Greek rulers. The stone is preserved in the British Museum.

* Makawķas was "Prince of the Copts," and "Governor of Alexandria and Egypt"; he was a Jacobite, and a strong hater of the Melchites or "Royalists." He was invited to become a follower of Muḥammad the Prophet, but he declined. When Egypt was captured by 'Amr ibn el-'Âși he betrayed the Copts, but by means of paying tribute he secured to himself the liberty of professing the Christian religion, and he asked that, after his death, his body might be buried in the church of St. John at Alexandria. He sent, as gifts to the Prophet, two Coptic young women, sisters, called Maryam and Shîrîn; two girls, one eunuch, a horse, a mule, an ass, a jar of honey, an alabaster jar, a jar of oil, an ingot of gold, and some Egyptian linen. (Gagnier, La vie de Mahomet, pp. 38, 73.) Makawkas, appears to be the Arabic transcription of the Greek μeyavxýs "famous," a title which was bestowed upon George, the son of Menas Parkabios, who was over the taxes of Egypt, and who was addressed by Muḥanımad the Prophet as "Prince of the Copts."

SUEZ AND THE SUEZ CANAL.

The town of Suez practically sprang into existence during the building of the Suez Canal, which was opened in 1869; before that time it was an insignificant village with a few hundred inhabitants. Ancient history is almost silent about it, even if it be identified with Clysma* Praesidium. It is situated at the north end of the Gulf of Suez, and is now important from its position at the south end of the Suez Canal. A fresh-water canal from Cairo to Suez was built in 1863, but before the cutting of this canal the inhabitants obtained their water either from the Wells of Moses (about eight miles from Suez) or Cairo. It was at one time considered to be near the spot where the Israelites crossed the 'Sea of Sedge'; there is little doubt, however, that the passage was made much nearer the Mediterranean.

The neck of land which joins Asia to Africa, or the Isthmus of Suez, is nearly one hundred miles wide; on the south side is the Gulf of Suez, on the north the Mediterranean. The Red Sea and the Mediterranean appear to have been united in ancient days. Modern investiga

tions have proved that so far back as the time of Rameses II. or earlier a canal was cut between Pelusium and Lake Timsah, and it is almost certain that it was well fortified. The Asiatics who wished to invade Egypt were compelled to cross the Isthmus of Suez, and a canal would not only serve as a water barrier against them, but be useful

* Clysma, in Arabic Ķulzum, is said by the Arab geographers to have been situated on the coast of the sea of Yemen, on the Egyptian side, at the far end, three days from Cairo and four days from Pelusium. (Juynboll, Lex. Geog. Arab., t. ii., p. FF.)