A. D.

518. Justinus I.

527. Justinian. The Monophysites separated from the Melkites, or "Royalists," and chose their own patriarch; they were afterwards called Copts,

.* In this reign Narses was sent to Phila to put an end to the pagan rites and worship which were celebrated there. He imprisoned the priests, and carried off the statues of the gods from the temple of Phile to Constantinople,

565. Justinus II.

569 (or 570, or 571). Birth of Muḥammad, the Prophet.

578. Tiberius II.

582. Mauricius,

602. Phocas.

610. Heraclius. The Persians under Chosroes took

Egypt, and held the country for ten years; they
were expelled by Heraclius A.D. 629.
In 639
the Arabs captured Pelusium, and marched.
against Heliopolis and defeated the Romans
there; they then occupied the country south of
Memphis and besieged the fortress of Babylon.
This fortress was built by Turbo in 116, and was
captured by 'Amr ibn al-'Âși in 640.

MUHAMMADANS.

622. With this year the Muḥammadans begin the Era of the Hijra, ie., the "Era of the Flight."

The name given to the native Christians of Egypt by the Arabs, from ΚΥΠΤ&ΙOC for Αγύπτιος.

A. D.

622.

The "Flight" referred to is that of Muḥammad
the Prophet, who fled from Mecca to Madîna to
escape from the cabals which were made against
him in that city. He left Mecca on the fourth
day of the month Rabi al-Awwal, and arrived at
Madina eight days later. The fourth day of
Rabi al-Awwal is, according to Caussin de
Perceval, the true equivalent of June 19-20,
the Muḥammadans beginning their day at sunset ;
Muḥammadans, however, prefer to declare that
the Flight took place on Friday, July 16th,
1822.

The years of the Hijra are Lunar years, each of
which has nearly 11 days less than the solar year.
The Hijra's course is divided into cycles of
30 years, of which 19 are common years, each
one being composed of 354 days, and II are
intercalary years, which have 355 days each. The
1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 11th months of the Lunar
year have each 30 days, and the other six months
of the year have 29 days each, except in an inter-
calary year, when the twelfth month has a thirtieth
day. The eleven intercalary years are the 2nd,
5th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 24th, 26th,
and 29th of each cycle of 30 years.
The average
length of a year is taken at 354 days, the twelfth
part of which is 291, thus approaching nearly to
the true lunation, there being (as is asserted) a
difference of but 3 seconds of time, which will not
amount to a day in less than 2,260 years. The
months of this era, like ours, consist of weeks, each
day of which begins in the evening after sunset,
and is termed by the Catholic Church ferial; thus
our Sunday is the first feria of the Muhammadan
week, and our Saturday the seventh feria,

A.D.

632. The Khalifa Abû Bakr. The death of Muḥammad the Prophet took place on 8th June, A.D. 632.

634. The Khalifa 'Omar.

640. 'Amr ibn al-'Âși conquers Egypt. 'Amr began his expedition against Egypt with about 4,000 men, but the Khalifa Omar sent him reinforcements, and by the time the famous general arrived at 'Arish his army numbered 16,000 men. Having vanquished the garrison at Pelusium, he marched along the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and passed by way of Bubastis to Heliopolis. A truce of four days was obtained for George, the Mukawķis, the governor of Upper Egypt, by the Coptic Patriarch Benjamin, and it seems that the Egyptian official, who was a Jacobite Copt, and a hater of the ruling class in Egypt, greatly aided the Arab general. The Arabs moved on towards Memphis, and soon after, under Zubêr, 'Amr's colleague, made a general assault upon the fortress of Babylon, scaled the walls, and so became masters of the capital of Upper Egypt. George, the Mukawķis, arranged the details of the capitulation, and a capitation tax of two dînârs for every male adult, besides other payments. 'Amr then marched on Alexandria, and as the Greeks took to their ships and fled, George, the Mukawķis, who had gone to Alexandria after the fall of Babylon, offered to capitulate on the same terms as he had made for that city. Amr returned to Memphis, and made the head-quarters of the army at Fustât, near which the modern town of Cairo has grown up. Amr refused to possess himself of any land, and he was not even given a site whereon to build a house. One of his most useful works was to re

A.D.

640.

open the old canal which ran from Belbês through the Wâdi Tûmîlât to the Bitter Lakes, and thence to the Red Sea; by this means it was possible to convey corn which had been loaded into ships at Memphis from that city into Yenbô, the port of Madîna in Arabia, without transhipment. This canal was in use for about eighty years, when it became silted up. After the second siege of Alexandria (A.D. 664) the Arabs made Fusțâț the capital of Egypt. Mr. Butler has proved that AlMukawķis is no other than Cyrus, who was appointed Patriarch and Governor of Alexandria by Heraclius after the recovery of Egypt from the Persians.

644. 'Othmân. The governor of Egypt was ‘Abd-Allâh ibn Sa'ad.

Marwan II., the last of the 'Ummayyad dynasty,

was put to death in Egypt.

A.D.

II. THE 'ABBÂSID KHALIFAS

(Who lived at Hamra al-Kuswâ near al-Fusțât).

750. As-Saffaḥ.

754. Al-Mansûr.

775. Al-Mahdi.

785. Al-Hadi.

786. Hârûn ar-Rashid.

809. Al-Amin.

813. Al-Ma'mûn. He visited Egypt and opened the

Great Pyramid.

833. Al-Mu'taṣim.

842. Al-Wathik.

847. Al-Mutawakkil.

861. Al-Muntasir.

862. Al-Musta'in.

866. Al-Mu'tazz.

III. TULÛNID KHALIFAS.

(This Dynasty lasted 37 years and 4 months.)

868. Aḥmad ibn Ţûlûn was born in 835, and came to

Egypt in 868; he died in 884. He was a man of considerable learning, and was renowned for his knowledge of Arabic grammar and literature; his power of work was great, and he was just as well as generous. He arrived in Egypt a poor man, and when he died he left behind him a sum of money equal to £2,500,000, and yet he never increased the taxes on the people. He crushed three rebellions in Egypt, conquered Mesopotamia, and made Egypt