Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/473

EGYPT 465 polls, Sais, Busiris, Naucratis, Mendes, Tanis, and Pelusium, in Lower Egypt. The conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great was much facilitated by the hatred of the natives to their Persian masters. He conciliated the priests by sacrificing tothe sacred bull Apis, whom the Persians had treated with indignity ; and in order to restore to the people their ancient laws and usages, he established two judge- ships, with jurisdiction over the whole coun- try, and appointed two eminent Egyptians to these offices, directing also all the Greek offi- cers to regard the customs of Egypt in admin- istering the government. But the greatest and most permanent benefit which the Mace- donian conqueror bestowed upon Egypt was the foundation of Alexandria, whose capacities to be made a port of the first class and an em- porium for the commerce of the eastern Medi- terranean he perceived at a glance while pass- ing through the place on his way to visit the oracle of Ammon. The city which he ordered to be built there became in a few years one of the great capitals of the world and the chief centre of Greek civilization. Alexander effect- ed not merely a political, but a social and in- tellectual revolution in Egypt, which for a thousand years after the conquest remained essentially a Greek country the Greeks being the dominant if not the most numerous race. After the death of Alexander, 323 B. C., and the division of his empire among the Macedonian captains, Egypt became subject to Ptolemy, surnamed Soter, an able and enlightened ruler, who after a splendid reign of 38 years abdicated in favor of his son Ptol- emy Philadelphus, and died two years after- ward. The early part of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus was disturbed by civil war with his rebellious brothers, two of whom he put to death. The domestic state of Egypt was greatly improved under his administration, and Upper Egypt, which had been in a turbulent condi- tion for half a century, was reduced to order and made safe for merchants and other trav- ellers. The port of Berenice on the Ked sea was constructed, and other cities were built or enlarged, to facilitate the trade with India, which was at that time extensive and profit- able. The museum of Alexandria and its fa- mous library, both founded by Ptolemy Soter, were under him and his son at the height of their prosperity. Demetrius Phalereus was librarian, Euclid was head of the mathematical school, and the poets Theocritus, Callimachus, and Philsetas were reckoned among the ornaments of the court. The Jews at this time were nu- merous in Egypt, and with the king's sanction the version of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint was made from the Hebrew into the Greek. The dominions of Ptolemy Philadelphus comprised besides Egypt a considerable part of Ethiopia, together with Palestine, Coele-Syria, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, Cyprus, and the Cyclades. His army is said to have num- bered 200,000 foot and 20,000 horse, 2,000 char- iots, 400 elephants, and a navy of 1,500 ships of war and 1,000 transports. Commerce and the arts, science and literature, directed by Greek genius and Greek energy, were carried to a height of splendor that rivalled the bright- est days of the elder Pharaohs. Alexandria, the capital, was a superb city, adorned with magnificent edifices, and preeminent through- out the civilized world as a seat of learning, sci- ence, and trade. ' Ptolemy Philadelphus reign- ed like his father 38 years (285-247), and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Euergetes, who had a brilliant and prosperous reign of 25 years. He rebuilt many of the great temples of Egypt and founded others, and his court was thronged by artists and authors. Under his profligate and tyrannical son, Ptolemy Philopator, the kingdom began to decline ; and in the reign of the next king, Ptolemy Epiphanes, a minor, the king's guardians were forced to invoke the protection of the Romans against the ambi- tious designs of the sovereigns of Syria and Macedon, who had formed a combination against Egypt. The result of their interfe- rence was that, after a century and a half of turbulence and misrule, under eight sovereigns bearing the name of Ptolemy, the last of whom, Ptolemy XIII., reigned jointly with his sister and wife, the famous Cleopatra, Egypt was reduced to the condition of a Roman province by Augustus Csesar, 30 B. C. It remained sub- ject to the emperors of Rome for more than three centuries, with the short and doubtful exception of a period when it may have been held by Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. It was looked upon as the most valuable of the prov- inces of the empire, as the granary of Rome, upon whose harvests the idle and turbulent millions of the imperial metropolis depended for their daily bread. Its history during this long period is a record only of fruitless re- bellions and of savage persecutions of the Chris- tians, whose religion had been early introduced and made rapid progress. After the transfer of the seat of the empire to Constantinople, A. D. 330, the Christians of Egypt triumphed over the pagans, and for another period of three centuries its history presents little but theolo- gical contests, which not unfrequently broke out into civil strife. The first of these con- tests was the Arian controversy ; Arius, who was pronounced a heretic by the council of Nice (325), being a presbyter of the church of Alexandria, while Athanasius, his orthodox opponent, was archbishop. By the emperor Constantius II. Athanasius was removed from his see and an Arian appointed in his place, while the orthodox Christians were grievously persecuted. When Julian the Apostate be- came emperor, the pagan mob of Alexandria rose against the Christians and murdered the Arian archbishop, and Athanasius finally re- gained the archiepiscopate. The emperor Va- lens appointed an Arian to succeed him, and the persecutions of the orthodox were renewed. Theodosius I. in 379 issued stringent edicts