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diff --git a/17331-8.txt b/17331-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01b576d --- /dev/null +++ b/17331-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9141 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The +Present Time, Volume 11 (of 12), by S. Rappoport + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The Present Time, Volume 11 (of 12) + +Author: S. Rappoport + +Release Date: December 17, 2005 [EBook #17331] +Last Updated: September 8, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +HISTORY OF EGYPT + +From 330 B.C. to the Present Time + + +By S. RAPPOPORT, Doctor of Philosophy, Basel; Member of the Ecole +Langues Orientales, Paris; Russian, German, French Orientalist and +Philologist + +VOL. XI. + +Containing over Twelve Hundred Colored Plates and Illustrations + +THE GROLIER SOCIETY + +PUBLISHERS, LONDON + + +[Illustration: Spines] + +[Illustration: Cover] + +[Illustration: Frontispiece] + +Dam at Aswan + + +[Illustration: 001.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + +[Illustration: 002.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + +THE ROMAN, CHRISTIAN, AND ARABIC PERIODS + + +_THE ROMAN ADMINISTRATION IN EGYPT--THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY--THE ARIAN +CONTROVERSY--THE GROWTH OF MONASTICISM--THE DECLINE OF ALEXANDRIA--THE +ARAB INVASION AND THE SPREAD OF MUHAMMEDANISM--THE ARAB DYNASTIES._ + +_Augustus remodels the government of Egypt--A new calendar +introduced--Egypt surveyed--Dissension between Jews and Greeks at +Alexandria--Strabo’s visit--The Egyptian religion at Rome--Wise +administration of Tiberius--The rise of the Therapeutæ--Lake +Mæris destroyed--The origin of Chemistry--The fable of the +Phoenix--Christianity introduced--Fiscal reforms under Galba--Vespasian +in Egypt--Fall of Jerusalem--The Nile Canal restored--Hadrian’s voyage +up the Nile--Death of Antinous--Christians and Gnostics--Astrology and +Astronomy--Roman roads in Egypt--Commerce and Sports--The Growth +of Christianity--Severus visits Egypt--The massacre of the +Alexandrians--Ammonius Saccas and the Alexandrian Platonists--The +School of Origen--Rise of Controversy--Decline of Commerce--Zenobia +in Syria--Growing importance of the Arabs--Revolt and recapture of +Alexandria--Persecution of the Christians under Diocletian--Introduction +of the Manichean heresy._ + +_Constantine the Great converted--Privileges of the clergy--Dogmatic +disputes--Council of Nicæa and the first Nicene Creed--Athanasian +and Arian controversies--Founding of Constantinople--Decline +of Alexandria--Imperial appointments in the Church--Religious +riots--Triumphs of Athanasius--Persecution by Bishop George of +Cappadocia--Early mission work--Development of the monastic +system--Text of the Bible--The monks and military service--Saracenic +encroachments--Theodosius overthrows Paganism--Destruction of the Great +Library--Pagan and Christian literature--Story of Hypatia--The Arabs +defeat the Romans--The Koptic New Testament--Egypt separated from +Rome--The Council of Chalcedon--Paganism restored in Upper Egypt--The +Henoticon--The writings of Hierocles--Relations with Persia--Inroads of +the Arabs--Justinian’s fiscal reforms--Coinage restored--The Persians +enter Egypt. The Life of Muhammed--Amr conquers Egypt--The legend of +Omar and the Great Library--The founding of Fostât--The Christians +taxed--Muhammedan oppression in Egypt--The Ommayad and Abbasid +dynasties--Caliph Harun er-Rashid--Turkish bodyguards--Rise of the +Tulunite Dynasty--Office of Prince of Princes--Reign of Muhammed +el-Ikshid--War with Byzantium--Fatimite Caliphs--The Ismailians and +Mahdism--Reign of Mustanssir--Turkish Rapacity--End of the Fatimite +Rule._ + + +[Illustration: 003.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER I--EGYPT UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE + + +_The Roman dominion on the Nile: Settlement of the Egyptian frontiers: +Religious developments: Rebellions._ + + +Augustus began his reign in Egypt in B.C. 30 by ordering all the statues +of Antony, of which there were more than fifty ornamenting the various +public buildings of the city, to be broken to pieces; and it is said +he had the meanness to receive a bribe of one thousand talents from +Archibus, a friend of Cleopatra, that the queen’s statues might be +left standing. It seems to have been part of his kingcraft to give the +offices of greatest trust to men of low birth, who were at the same time +well aware that they owed their employments to their seeming want of +ambition. Thus the government of Egypt, the greatest and richest of the +provinces, was given to Cornelius Gallus. + +Before the fall of the republic the senate had given the command of the +provinces to members of their own body only; and therefore Augustus, not +wishing to alter the law, obtained from the senate for himself all those +governments which he meant to give to men of lower rank. By this legal +fiction, these equestrian prefects were answerable for their conduct to +nobody but the emperor on a petition, and they could not be sued at law +before the senate for their misdeeds. But he made an exception in the +case of Egypt. While on the one hand in that province he gave to the +prefect’s edicts the force of law, on the other he allowed him to be +cited before the senate, though appointed by himself. The power thus +given to the senate they never ventured to use, and the prefect of Egypt +was never punished or removed but by the emperor. Under the prefect was +the chief justice of the province, who heard himself, or by deputy, all +causes except those which were reserved for the decision of the emperor +in person. These last were decided by a second judge, or in modern +language a chancellor, as they were too numerous and too trifling to be +taken to Rome. Under these judges were numerous freedmen of the emperor, +and clerks entrusted with affairs of greater and less weight. Of the +native magistrates the chief were the keeper of the records, the police +judge, the prefect of the night, and the _Exegetes_, or interpreter of +the Egyptian law, who was allowed to wear a purple robe like a Roman +magistrate. But these Egyptian magistrates were never treated as +citizens; they were barbarians, little better than slaves, and only +raised to the rank of the emperor’s freedmen. + +Augustus showed not a little jealousy in the rest of the laws by which +his new province was to be governed. While other conquered cities +usually had a senate or municipal form of government granted to them, +no city in Egypt was allowed that privilege, which, by teaching the +citizens the art of governing themselves and the advantages of union, +might have made them less at the mercy of their masters. He not only +gave the command of the kingdom to a man below the rank of a senator, +but ordered that no senator should even be allowed to set foot in Egypt +without leave from himself; and centuries later, when the weakness of +the country had led the emperors to soften some of the other stern laws +of Augustus, this was still strictly enforced. + +Among other changes then brought in by the Romans was the use of a fixed +year in all civil reckonings. The Egyptians, for all the common purposes +of life, called the day of the heliacal rising of the dogstar, about our +18th of July, their new year’s day, and the husbandman marked it with +religious ceremonies as the time when the Nile began to overflow; while +for all civil purposes, and dates of kings’ reigns, they used a year of +three hundred and sixty-five days, which, of course, had a movable +new year’s day. But by the orders of Augustus all public deeds were +henceforth dated by the new year of three hundred and sixty-five days +and a quarter, which was named, after Julius Cæsar, the Julian year. The +years from B.C. 24 were made to begin on the 29th of August, the day +on which the movable new year’s day then happened to fall, and were +numbered from the year following the last of Cleopatra, as from the +first year of the reign of Augustus. But notwithstanding the many +advantages of the Julian year, which was used throughout Europe for +sixteen centuries, till its faultiness was pointed out by Pope Gregory +XIII., the Egyptian astronomers and mathematicians distrusted it from +the first, and chose to stick to their old year, in which there could +be no mistake about its length. Thus there were at the same time three +years and three new year’s days in use in Egypt: one about the 18th +of July, used by the common people; one on the 29th of August, used by +order of the emperor; and one movable, used by the astronomers. + +By the conquest of Egypt, Augustus was also able to extend another of +the plans of his late uncle. Julius Cæsar, whose powerful mind found all +sciences within its grasp, had ordered a survey to be taken of the whole +of the Roman provinces, and the length of all the roads to be measured +for the use of the tax-gatherers and of the army; and Augustus was +now able to add Egypt to the survey. Polyclitus was employed on this +southern portion of the empire; and, after thirty-two years from its +beginning by Julius, the measurement of nearly the whole known world was +finished and reported to the senate. + +At Alexandria Augustus was visited by Herod, who hastened to beg of +him those portions of his kingdom which Antony had given to Cleopatra. +Augustus received him as a friend; gave him back the territory which +Antony had taken from him, and added the province of Samaria and the +free cities on the coast. He also gave to him the body of four hundred +Gauls, who formed part of the Egyptian army and had been Cleopatra’s +bodyguard. He thus removed from Alexandria the last remains of the +Gallic mercenaries, of whom the Ptolemies had usually had a troop in +their service. + +[Illustration: 007.jpg PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA] + +Augustus visited the royal burial-place to see the body of Alexander, +and devoutly added a golden crown and a garland of flowers to the other +ornaments on the sarcophagus of the Macedonian. But he would take no +pains to please either the Alexandrians or Egyptians; he despised them +both. When asked if he would not like to see the Alexandrian monarchs +lying in their mummy-cases in the same tomb, he answered: “No, I came to +see the king, not dead men,” His contempt for Cleopatra and her father +made him forget the great qualities of Ptolemy Soter. So when he was +at Memphis he refused to humour the national prejudice of two thousand +years’ standing by visiting the bull Apis. Of the former conquerors, +Cambyses had stabbed the sacred bull, Alexander had sacrificed to it; +had Augustus had the violent temper of either, he would have copied +Cambyses. The Egyptians always found the treatment of the sacred bull a +foretaste of what they were themselves to receive from their sovereigns. + +The Greeks of Alexandria, who had for some time past very unwillingly +yielded to the Jews the right of citizenship, now urged upon Augustus +that it should no longer be granted. Augustus, however, had received +great services from the Jews, and at once refused the prayer; and he set +up in Alexandria an inscription granting to the Jews the full privileges +of Macedonians, which they claimed and had hitherto enjoyed under +the Ptolemies. They were allowed their own magistrates and courts +of justice, with the free exercise of their own religion; and soon +afterwards, when their high priest died, they were allowed as usual +to choose his successor. The Greek Jews of Alexandria were indeed very +important, both from their numbers and their learning; they spread over +Syria and Asia Minor: they had a synagogue in Jerusalem in common with +the Jews of Cyrene and Libya; and we find that one of the chief teachers +of Christianity after the apostles was Apollos, the Alexandrian, who +preached the new religion in Ephesus, in Corinth, and in Crete. + +On his return to Rome, Augustus carried with him the whole of the royal +treasure; and though perhaps there might have been less gold and silver +than usual in the palace of the Ptolemies, still it was so large a sum +that when, upon the establishment of peace over all the world, the rate +of interest upon loans fell in Rome, and the price of land rose, the +change was thought to have been caused by the money from Alexandria. +At the same time were carried away the valuable jewels, furniture, and +ornaments, which had been handed down from father to son, with the +crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. These were drawn in waggons through the +streets of Rome in triumph; and with them were shown in chains to the +wondering crowd Alexander Helius and Cleopatra Selene, the children of +Cleopatra and Antony. + +Augustus threatened a severe punishment to the Alexandrians in the +building of a new capital. Only four miles from the Canopic or eastern +gate of Alexandria he laid out the plan of his new city of Meopolis, on +the spot where he had routed Mark Antony’s forces. Here he began +several large temples, and removed to them the public sacrifices and the +priesthood from the temples of Alexandria. But the work was carried +no farther, and soon abandoned; and the only change made by it in +Alexandria was that the temple of Serapis and the other temples were for +a time deserted. + +The rest of the world had long been used to see their finest works of +art carried away by their conquerors; and the Egyptians soon learned +that, if any of the monuments of which they were so justly proud were +to be left to them, it would only be because they were too heavy to be +moved by the Roman engineers. Beside many other smaller Egyptian works, +two of the large obelisks, which even now ornament Rome, were carried +away by Augustus, that of Thutmosis IV., which stands in the Piazza del +Popolo, and that of Psammetichus, on Monte Citorio. + +Cornelius Gallus, the prefect of Egypt, seems either to have +misunderstood, or soon forgotten, the terms of his appointment. He set +up statues of himself in the cities of Egypt, and, copying the kings +of the country, he carved his name and deeds upon the pyramids. On this +Augustus recalled him, and he killed himself to avoid punishment. The +emperor’s wish to check the tyranny of the prefects and tax-gatherers +was strongly marked in the case of the champion fighting-cock. The +Alexandrians bred these birds with great care, and eagerly watched their +battles in the theatre. A powerful cock, that had hitherto slain all +its rivals and always strutted over the table unconquered, had gained a +great name in the city; and this bird, Eros, a tax-gatherer, roasted +and ate. Augustus, on hearing of this insult to the people, sent for the +man, and, on his owning what he had done, ordered him to be crucified. +Three legions and nine cohorts were found force enough to keep this +great kingdom in quiet obedience to their new masters; and when +Heroopolis revolted, and afterwards when a rebellion broke out in the +Thebaid against the Roman tax-gatherers, these risings were easily +crushed. The spirit of the nation, both of the Greeks and Egyptians, +seems to have been wholly broken; and Petronius, who succeeded +Cornelius Gallus, found no difficulty in putting down a rising of the +Alexandrians. + +The canals, through which the overflowing waters of the Nile were +carried to the more distant fields, were, of course, each year more or +less blocked up by the same mud which made the fields fruitful; and the +clearing of these canals was one of the greatest boons that the monarch +could bestow upon the tillers of the soil. This had often been neglected +by the less powerful and less prudent kings of Egypt, in whose reigns +the husbandman believed that Heaven in its displeasure withheld part +of the wished-for overflow; but Petronius employed the leisure of his +soldiers on this wise and benevolent work. In order better to understand +the rise of the Nile, to fix the amount of the land-tax, and more fairly +to regulate the overflow through the canals, the Nilometer on the Island +of Elephantine was at this time made. + +[Illustration: 011.jpg THE NILOMETER AT ELEPHANTINE] + +It was under Ælius Gallus, the third prefect, that Egypt was visited by +Strabo, the most careful and judicious of all the ancient travellers. He +had come to study mathematics, astronomy, and geography in the museum, +under the successors of Euclid, Eratosthenes, and Hipparchus. He +accompanied the prefect in a march to Syênê (Aswan), the border town, +and he has left us a valuable account of the state of the country at +that time. Alexandria was the chief object that engaged his attention. +Its two harbours held more ships than were to be seen in any other port +in the world, and its export trade was thought greater than that of all +Italy. The docks on each side of the causeway, and the ship canal, from +the harbour of Eunostus to the Mareotic Lake, were full of bustle and +activity. The palace or citadel on the promontory of Lochias on one side +of the great harbour was as striking an object as the lighthouse on the +other. The temples and palaces covered a space of ground equal to more +than one-fourth part of the city, and the suburbs reached even beyond +the Mareotic Lake. Among the chief buildings were the Soma, which held +the bodies of Alexander and of the Ptolemies; the court of justice; +the museum of philosophy, which had been rebuilt since the burning by +Cæsar’s soldiers; the exchange, crowded with merchants, the temple of +Neptune, and Mark Antony’s fortress, called the Timonium, on a point of +land which jutted into the harbour; the Cæsarium, or new palace; and the +great temple of Serapis, which was on the western side of the city, and +was the largest and most ornamented of all these buildings. Farther off +was the beautiful gymnasium for wrestlers and boxers, with its porticoes +of a stadium in length, where the citizens used to meet in public +assembly. From the top of the temple of Pan, which rose like a +sugar-loaf in the middle of the city, and was mounted by a winding +staircase, the whole of this remarkable capital might be seen spread +out before the eye. On the east of the city was the circus, for +chariot races, and on the west lay the public gardens and pale green +palm-groves, and the Necropolis ornamenting the roadside with tombs for +miles along the seashore. Other tombs were in the catacombs underground +on the same side of the city. The banks of the Mareotic Lake were +fringed with vineyards, which bore the famed wine of the same name, +and which formed a pleasant contrast with the burning whiteness of the +desert beyond. The canal from the lake to the Nile marked its course +through the plain by the greater freshness of the green along its banks. +In the distance were the new buildings of Augustus’ city of Nicopolis. +The arts of Greece and the wealth of Egypt had united to adorn the +capital of the Ptolemies. Heliopolis, the ancient seat of Egyptian +learning, had never been wholly repaired since its siege by Cambyses, +and was then almost a deserted city. Its schools were empty, its +teachers silent; but the houses in which Plato and his friend Eudoxus +were said to have dwelt and studied were pointed out to the traveller, +to warm his love of knowledge and encourage him in the pursuit of +virtue. Memphis was the second city in Egypt, while Thebes and Abydos, +the former capitals, had fallen to the size and rank of villages. At +Memphis Strabo saw the bull-fights in the circus, and was allowed to +look at the bull Apis through a window of his stable. At Crocodilopolis +he saw the sacred crocodile caught on the banks of the lake and fed +with cakes and wine. Ptolemais, which was at first only an encampment of +Greek soldiers, had risen under the sovereigns to whom it owed its name +to be the largest city in the Thebaid, and scarcely less than Memphis. +It was built wholly by the Greeks, and, like Alexandria, it was under +Greek laws, while the other cities in Egypt were under Egyptian laws and +magistrates. It was situated between Panopolis and Abydos; but, while +the temples of Thebes, which were built so many centuries earlier, are +still standing in awful grandeur, scarcely a trace of this Greek city +can be found in the villages of El Menshieh and Girgeh (Cerkasoros), +which now stand on the spot. Strabo and the Roman generals did not +forget to visit the broken colossal statue of Amenhôthes, near Thebes, +which sent forth its musical sounds every morning, as the sun, rising +over the Arabian hills, first shone upon its face; but this inquiring +traveller could not make up his mind whether the music came from the +statue, or the base, or the people around it. He ended his tour with +watching the sunshine at the bottom of the astronomical well at Syênê, +which, on the longest day, is exactly under the sun’s northern edge, and +with admiring the skill of the boatmen who shot down the cataracts in +their wicker boats, for the amusement of the Roman generals. + +In the earlier periods of Egyptian history Ethiopia was peopled, or, at +least, governed, by a race of men, whom, as they spoke the same language +and worshipped the same gods as their neighbours of Upper Egypt, we must +call the Kopts. But the Arabs, under the name of Troglodyte, and other +tribes, had made an early settlement on the African side of the Red Sea. +So numerous were they in Upper Egypt that in the time of Strabo half the +population of the city of Koptos were Arabs; they were the camel-drivers +and carriers for the Theban merchants in the trade across the desert. +Some of the conquests of Ramses had been over that nation in southern +Ethiopia, and the Arab power must have further risen after the defeat of +the Ethiopians by Euergetes I. Ethiopia in the time of Augustus was held +by Arabs; a race who thought peace a state of disgraceful idleness, +and war the only employment worthy of men; and who made frequent hasty +inroads into Nubia, and sometimes into Egypt. They fought for plunder, +not for conquest, and usually retreated as quickly as they came, +with such booty as they laid their hands on. To use words which were +proverbial while the Nile swarmed with crocodiles, “They did as the dogs +do, they drank and ran away;” and the Romans found it necessary to place +a body of troops near the cataracts of Syênê to stop their marching +northward and laying waste the Thebaid. While the larger part of the +Roman legions was withdrawn into Arabia on an unsuccessful quest for +treasure, a body of thirty thousand of these men, whom we may call +either Arabs, from their blood and language, or Ethiopians, from their +country, marched northward into Egypt, and overpowered the three +Roman cohorts at Elephantine, Syênê, and Philas. Badly armed and badly +trained, they were led on by the generals of Candace, Queen of Napata, +to the fourth cataract. They were, however, easily driven back when +Gallus led against them an army of ten thousand men, and drove them to +Ethiopian Pselchis, now remaining as the modern village of Dakkeh. There +he defeated them again, and took the city by storm. From Pselchis he +marched across the Nubian desert two hundred and fifty miles to Premnis, +on the northerly bend of the river, and then made himself master of +Napata, the capital. A guard was at the moment left in the country to +check any future inroads; but the Romans made no attempts to hold it. + +[Illustration: 016.jpg ON THE EDGE OF THE DESERT] + +Of the state of the Ethiopie Arabs under Queen Candace we learn but +little from this hasty inroad; but some of the tribes must have been +very far from the barbarians that, from their ignorance of the arts +of war, the Romans judged them to be. Those nearest to the Egyptian +frontiers, the Troglodyte and Blemmyes, were unsettled, wandering, and +plundering; but the inhabitants of Meroë were of a more civilised race. +The Jews had settled in southern Ethiopia in large numbers, and for +a long time; Solomon’s trade had made them acquainted with Adule and +Auxum; some of them were employed in the highest offices, and must have +brought with them the arts of civilised life. A few years later (Acts +VIII. 27) we meet with a Jewish eunuch, the treasurer of Queen Candace, +travelling with some pomp from Ethiopia to the religious festivals at +Jerusalem. The Egyptian coins of Augustus and his successors are all +Greek; the conquest of the country by the Romans made no change in its +language. Though the chief part of the population spoke Koptic, it was +still a Greek province of the Roman empire; the decrees of the prefects +of Alexandria and of the upper provinces were written in Greek; and +every Roman traveller, who, like a schoolboy, has scratched his name +upon the foot of the musical statue of Amenhôthes, to let the world know +the extent of his travels, has helped to prove that the Roman government +of the country was carried on in the Greek language. The coins often +bear the eagle and thunderbolt on one side, while on the other is the +emperor’s head, with his name and titles; and, after a few years, they +are all dated with the year of the emperor’s reign. In the earliest he +is styled a Son of God, in imitation of the Egyptian title of Son of the +Sun. After Egypt lost its liberty, we no longer find any gold coinage in +the country; that metal, with everything else that was most costly, was +carried away to pay the Roman tribute. This was chiefly taken in money, +except, indeed, the tax on grain, which the Egyptian kings had always +received in kind, and which was still gathered in the same way, and +each year shipped to Rome, to be distributed among the idle poor of +that great city. At this time it amounted to twenty millions of bushels, +which was four times what was levied in the reign of Philadelphus. +The trade to the east was increasing, but as yet not large. About +one hundred and twenty small vessels sailed every year to India from +MyosHormos, which was now the chief port on the Red Sea. + +No change was made in the Egyptian religion by this change of masters; +and, though the means of the priests were lessened, they still carried +forward the buildings which were in progress, and even began new ones. +The small temple of Isis, at Tentyra, behind the great temple of Hâthor, +was either built or finished in this reign, and it was dedicated to the +goddess, and to the honour of the emperor as Jupiter Liberator, in a +Greek inscription on the cornice, in the thirty-first year of the reign, +when Publius Octavius was prefect of the province. + +[Illustration: 018.jpg A KOPTIC MAIDEN] + +The large temple at Talmis, in Nubia, was also then built, though not +wholly finished; and we find the name of Augustus at Philæ, on some of +the additions to the temple of Isis, which had been built in the reign +of Philadelphus. In the hieroglyphical inscriptions on these temples, +Augustus is called Autocrator Cæsar, and is styled Son of the Sun, King +of Upper and Lower Egypt, with the other titles which had always been +given by the priests to the Ptolemies and their own native sovereigns +for so many centuries. These claims were evidently unknown in Rome, +where the modesty of Augustus was almost proverbial. + +The Greeks had at all times been forward in owning the Egyptians as +their teachers in religion; and in the dog Cerberus, the judge Minos, +the boat of Charon, and the river Styx of their mythology, we see a +clear proof that it was in Egypt that the Greeks gained their faint +glimpse of the immortality of the soul, a day of judgment, and a future +state of rewards and punishments; and, now that Rome was in close +intercourse with Egypt, the Romans were equally ready to borrow thence +their religious ceremonies. They brought to Rome the Egyptian opinions +with the statues of the gods. They ran into the new superstition to +avoid the painful uneasiness of believing nothing, and, though the +Romans ridiculed their own gods, they believed in those of Egypt. So +fashionable was the worship of Isis and Serapis becoming in Italy, that +Augustus made a law that no Egyptian ceremonies should enter the city +or even the suburbs of Rome. His subjects might copy the luxuries, the +follies, and the vices of the Alexandrians, but not the gloomy devotion +of the Egyptians. But the spread of opinions was not so checked; +even Virgil taught the doctrine of the Egyptian millennium, or the +resurrection from the dead when the thousand years were ended; and the +cripple asking for alms in the streets of Rome would beg in the name of +the holy Osiris. + +Egypt felt no change on the death of Augustus. The province was well +governed during the whole of the reign of Tiberius, and the Alexandrians +completed the beautiful temple to his honour, named the Sebaste, or +Cæsar’s Temple. It stood by the side of the harbour, and was surrounded +with a sacred grove. It was ornamented with porticoes, and fitted up +with libraries, paintings, and statues, and was the most lofty building +in the city. In front of this temple they set up two ancient obelisks, +which had been made by Thutmosis III. and carved by Ramses II., and +which, like the other monuments of the Theban kings, have outlived +all the temples and palaces of their Greek and Roman successors. These +obelisks are now generally known as “Cleopatra’s Needles.” One of them, +in 1878, was taken to London and set up on the Thames Embankment; the +other was soon afterward brought to New York, and is now in Central Park +in that city. It is sixty-seven feet high to its sharpened apex, and +seven feet, seven inches in diameter at its base. On its face are +deeply incised inscriptions in hieroglyphic character, giving the names +Thutmosis III., Ramses II., and Seti II. + +[Illustration: 022b.jpg FRAGMENTS IN WOOD PAINTED] + +The harsh justice with which Tiberius began his reign was at Rome soon +changed into a cruel tyranny; but in the provinces it was only felt as +a check to the injustice of the prefects. On one occasion, when Æmilius +Rectus sent home from Egypt a larger amount of taxes than was usual, +he hoped that his zeal would be praised by Tiberius. But the emperor’s +message to the prefect was as stern as it was humane: “I should wish my +sheep to be sheared, but not to be flayed.” On the death of one of +the prefects, there was found among his property at Rome a statue of +Menelaus, carved in Ethiopian obsidian, which had been used in the +religious ceremonies in the temple of Heliopolis, and Tiberius returned +it to the priests of that city as its rightful owners. Another proof of +the equal justice with which this province was governed was to be seen +in the buildings then carried on by the priests in Upper Egypt. We find +the name of Tiberius carved in hieroglyphics on additions or repairs +made to the temples at Thebes, at Aphroditopolis, at Berenicê, on the +Red Sea, at Philæ, and at the Greek city of Parembole, in Nubia. The +great portico was at this time added to the temple at Tentyra, with an +inscription dedicating it to the goddess in Greek and in hieroglyphics. +As a building is often the work of years, while sculpture is only the +work of weeks, so the fashion of the former is always far less changing +than that of the latter. The sculptures on the walls of this beautiful +portico are crowded and graceless; while, on the other hand, the +building itself has the same grand simplicity and massive strength that +we find in the older temples of Upper Egypt. + +We cannot but admire the zeal of the Egyptians by whom this work +was then finished. They were treated as slaves by their Greek +fellow-countrymen; their houses were ransacked every third year by +military authority in search of arms; they could have had no help from +their Roman masters, who only drained the province of its wealth; and +the temple had perhaps never been heard of by the emperor, who could +have been little aware that the most lasting monument of his reign was +being raised in the distant province of Egypt. + +[Illustration: 024.jpg TEMPLE AT TENTYRA, ENLARGED BY ROMAN ARCHITECTS] + +The priests of the other parts of the country sent gifts out of their +poverty in aid of this pious work; and among the figures on the walls +we see those of forty cities, from Semneh, at the second cataract, to +Memphis and Saïs, in the Delta, each presenting an offering to the god +of the temple. + +In the third year of this reign Germanicus Cæsar, who, much against his +will, had been sent into the East as governor, found time to leave his +own province, and to snatch a hasty view of the time-honoured buildings +of Egypt. Descending the river to Thebes, and, while gazing on the +huge remains of the temples, he asked the priests to read to him the +hieroglyphical writing on the walls. He was told that it recounted the +greatness of the country in the time of King Ramses, when there were +seven hundred thousand Egyptians of an age to bear arms; and that +with these troops Ramses had conquered the Libyans, Ethiopians, Medes, +Persians, Bactrians, Scythians, Syrians, Armenians, Cappadocians, +Bithynians, and Lycians. He was also told the tributes laid upon each +of those nations; the weight of gold and silver, the number of chariots +and horses, the gifts of ivory and scents for the temples, and the +quantity of grain which the conquered provinces sent to feed the +population of Thebes. After listening to the musical statue of +Amenhothes, Germanicus went on to Elephantine and Syênê; and, on his +return, he turned aside to the pyramids and the Lake of Mceris, which +regulated the overflow of the Nile on the neighbouring fields. At +Memphis, Germanicus consulted the sacred bull Apis as to his future +fortune, and met with an unfavourable answer. The manner of consulting +Apis was for the visitor to hold out some food in his hand, and the +answer was understood to be favourable if the bull turned his head +to eat, but unfavourable if he looked another way. When Germanicus +accordingly held out a handful of grain, the well-fed animal turned his +head sullenly towards the other side of his stall; and on the death of +this young prince, which shortly followed, the Egyptians did not +forget to praise the bull’s foresight. This blameless and seemingly +praiseworthy visit of Germanicus did not, however, escape the notice +of the jealous Tiberius. He had been guilty of gaining the love of the +people by walking about without guards, in a plain Greek dress, and of +lowering the price of grain in a famine by opening the public granaries; +and Tiberius sternly reproached him with breaking the known law of +Augustus, by which no Roman citizen of consular or even of equestrian +rank might enter Alexandria without leave from the emperor. + +There were at this time about a million of Jews in Egypt. In Alexandria +they seem to have been about one-third of the population, as they +formed the majority in two wards out of the five into which the city was +divided. They lived under their own elders and Sanhedrim, going up at +their solemn feasts to worship in their own temple at Onion; but, from +their mixing with the Greeks, they had become less strict than their +Hebrew brethren in their observance of the traditions. Some few of them, +however, held themselves in obedience to the Sanhedrim in Jerusalem, and +looked upon the temple of Jerusalem as the only Jewish temple; and these +men were in the habit of sending an embassy on the stated solemn feasts +of the nation to offer the appointed sacrifices and prayers to Jahveh +in the holy city on their behalf. But though the decree by Cæsar, which +declared that the Jews were Alexandrian citizens, was engraved on a +pillar in the city, yet they were by no means treated as such, either by +the government, or by the Greeks, or by the Egyptians. + +[Illustration: 027.jpg ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.] + +When, during the famine, the public granaries seemed unable to supply +the whole city with food, even the humane Germanicus ordered that the +Jews, like the Egyptians, should have no share of the gift. They were +despised even by the Egyptians themselves, who, to insult them, said +that the wicked god Typhon had two sons, Hierosolymus and Judæus, and +that from these the Jews were descended. + +In the neighbourhood of Alexandria, on a hill near the shores of the +Lake Mareotis, was a little colony of Jews, who, joining their own +religion with the mystical opinions and gloomy habits of the Egyptians, +have left us one of the earliest known examples of the monastic life. +They bore the name of Therapeutæ. They had left, says Philo, their +worldly wealth to their families or friends; they had forsaken wives, +children, brethren, parents, and the society of men, to bury themselves +in solitude and pass their lives in the contemplation of the divine +essence. Seized by this heavenly love, they were eager to enter upon the +next world, as though they were already dead to this. Every one, whether +man or woman, lived alone in his cell or monastery, caring for neither +food nor raiment, but having his thoughts wholly turned to the Law and +the Prophets, or to sacred hymns of their own composing. They had their +God always in their thoughts, and even the broken sentences which they +uttered in their dreams were treasures of religious wisdom. They prayed +every morning at sunrise, and then spent the day in turning over the +sacred volumes, and the commentaries, which explained the allegories, +or pointed out a secondary meaning as hidden beneath the surface of even +the historical books of the Old Testament. At sunset they again prayed, +and then tasted their first and only meal. Selfdenial indeed was the +foundation of all their virtues. Some made only three meals in the week, +that their meditations might be more free; while others even attempted +to prolong their fast to the sixth day. During six days of the week they +saw nobody, not even one another. On the seventh day they met together +in the synagogue. Here they sat, each according to his age; the women +separated from the men. Each wore a plain, modest robe, which covered +the arms and hands, and they sat in silence while one of the elders +preached. As they studied the mystic powers of numbers, they thought the +number seven was a holy number, and that seven times seven made a great +week, and hence they kept the fiftieth day as a solemn festival. On that +day they dined together, the men on one side and the women on the other. +The rushy papyrus formed the couches; bread was their only meat, water +their drink, salt the seasoning, and cresses the delicacy. They would +keep no slaves, saying that all men were born equal. Nobody spoke, +unless it was to propose a question out of the Old Testament, or to +answer the question of another. The feast ended with a hymn of praise. + +[Illustration: 029.jpg BEDOUIN TENT IN THE DESERT] + +The ascetic Jews of Palestine, the Essenes on the banks of the Dead Sea, +by no means, according to Philo, thus quitted the active duties of life; +and it would seem that the Therapeutas rather borrowed their customs +from the country in which they had settled, than from any sects of the +Jewish nation. Some classes of the Egyptian priesthood had always held +the same views of their religious duties. These Egyptian monks slept on +a hard bed of palm branches, with a still harder wooden pillow for the +head; they were plain in their dress, slow in walking, spare in diet, +and scarcely allowed themselves to smile. They washed thrice a day, and +prayed as often; at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. They often fasted +from animal food, and at all times refused many meats as unclean. +They passed their lives alone, either in study or wrapped in religious +thought. They never met one another but at set times, and were seldom +seen by strangers. Thus, leaving to others the pleasures, wealth, and +lesser prizes of this life, they received from them in return what most +men value higher, namely, honour, fame, and power. + +The Romans, like the Greeks, feeling but little partiality in favour +of their own gods, were rarely guilty of intolerance against those of +others; and would hardly have checked the introduction of a new religion +unless it made its followers worse citizens. But in Rome, where +every act of its civil or military authorities was accompanied with a +religious rite, any slight towards the gods was a slight towards the +magistrate; many devout Romans had begun to keep holy the seventh day; +and Egypt was now so closely joined to Italy that the Roman senate made +a new law against the Egyptian and Jewish superstitions, and, in A.D. +19, banished to Sardinia four thousand men who were found guilty of +being Jews. + +Egypt had lost with its liberties its gold coinage, and it was now +made to feel a further proof of being a conquered country in having its +silver much alloyed with copper. But Tiberius, in the tenth year of his +reign, altogether stopped the Alexandrian mint, as well as those of the +other cities which occasionally coined; and after this year we find no +more coins, but the few with the head and name of Augustus Cæsar, which +seem hardly to have been meant for money, but to commemorate on some +peculiar occasions the emperor’s adoption by his stepfather. The Nubian +gold mines were probably by this time wholly deserted; they had been so +far worked out as to be no longer profitable. For fifteen hundred years, +ever since Ethiopia was conquered by Thebes, wages and prices had been +higher in Egypt than in the neighbouring countries. But this was now no +longer the case. Egypt had been getting poorer during the reigns of the +latter Ptolemies; and by this time it is probable that both wages and +prices were higher in Rome. + +It seems to have been usual to change the prefect of Egypt every few +years, and the prefect-elect was often sent to Alexandria to wait +till his predecessor’s term of years had ended. Thus in this reign of +twenty-three years Æmilius Rectus was succeeded by Vetrasius Pollio; +and on his death Tiberius gave the government to his freedman Iberus. +During the last five years Egypt was under the able but stern government +of Flaccus Avillius, whose name is carved on the temple of Tentyra with +that of the emperor. He was a man who united all those qualities of +prudent forethought, with prompt execution and attention to business, +which was so necessary in controlling the irritable Alexandrians, who +were liable to be fired into rebellion by the smallest spark. Justice +was administered fairly; the great were not allowed to tyrannise over +the poor, nor the people to meet in tumultuous mobs; and the legions +were regularly paid, so that they had no excuse for plundering the +Egyptians. + +On the death of Tiberius, in A.D. 37, the old quarrel again broke out +between Jews and Greeks. The Alexandrians were not slow in learning the +feelings of his successor, Caius, or Caligula, towards the Jews, nor +in turning against them the new law that the emperor’s statue should +be honoured in every temple of the empire. They had very unwillingly +yielded a half-obedience to the law of Augustus that the Jews should +still be allowed the privileges of citizenship; and, as soon as they +heard that Caligula was to be worshipped in every temple of the empire, +they denounced the Jews as traitors and rebels, who refused so to honour +the emperor in their synagogues. It happened, unfortunately, that their +countryman, King Agrippa, at this time came to Alexandria. He had full +leave from the emperor to touch there, as being the quickest and most +certain way of making the voyage from Rome to the seat of his own +government. Indeed, the Alexandrian voyage had another merit in the eyes +of a Jew; for, whereas wooden water-vessels were declared by the Law to +be unclean, an exception was made by their tradition in favour of the +larger size of the water-wells in the Alexandrian ships. Agrippa had +seen Egypt before, on his way to Rome, and he meant to make no stay +there; but, though he landed purposely after dark, and with no pomp or +show, he seems to have raised the anger of the prefect Flaccus, who felt +jealous at any man of higher rank than himself coming into his province. +The Greeks fell into the prefect’s humour, and during the stay of +Agrippa in Alexandria they lampooned him in songs and ballads, of which +the raillery was not of the most delicate kind. They mocked him by +leading about the streets a poor idiot dressed up with a paper crown and +a reed for a sceptre, in ridicule of his rather doubtful right to the +style of royalty. + +As these insults towards the emperor’s friend passed wholly unchecked +by the prefect, the Greeks next assaulted the Jews in the streets and +market-place, attacked their houses, rooted up the groves of trees +around their synagogues, and tore down the decree by which the +privileges of citizenship had been confirmed to them. The Greeks then +proceeded to set up by force a statue of the emperor in each Jewish +synagogue, as if the new decree had included those places of worship +among the temples, and, not finding statues enough, they made use of the +statues of the Ptolemies, which they carried away from the gymnasium +for that purpose. During the last reign, under the stern government +of Tiberius, Flaccus had governed with justice and prudence, but under +Caligula he seemed to have lost all judgment in his zeal against the +Jews. When the riots in the streets could no longer be overlooked, +instead of defending the injured party, he issued a decree in which +he styled the Jews foreigners; thus at one word robbing them of their +privileges and condemning them unheard. By this the Greeks were hurried +forward into further acts of injustice, and the Jews of resistance. But +the Jews were the weaker party: they were overpowered, and all driven +into one ward, and four hundred of their houses in the other wards were +plundered, and the spoil divided as if taken in war. They were stoned, +and even burnt in the streets, if they ventured forth to buy food for +their families. Flaccus seized and scourged in the theatre thirty-eight +of their venerable councillors, and, to show them that they were no +longer citizens, the punishment was inflicted by the hands of Egyptian +executioners. While the city was in this state of riot, the Greeks gave +out that the Jews were concealing arms; and Flaccus, to give them a +fresh proof that they had lost the rights of citizenship, ordered that +their houses should be forcibly entered and searched by a centurion and +a band of soldiers. + +During their troubles the Jews had not been allowed to complain to the +emperor, or to send an embassy to Rome to make known their grievances. +But the Jewish King Agrippa, who was on his way from Rome to his +kingdom, forwarded to Caligula the complaints of his countrymen, the +Jews, with an account of the rebellious state of Alexandria. The riots, +it is true, had been wholly raised by the prefect’s zeal in setting up +the emperor’s statue in the synagogues to be worshipped by the Jews, and +in carrying into effect the emperor’s decree; but, as he had not been +able to keep his province quiet, it was necessary that he should +be recalled, and punished for his want of success. To have found it +necessary to call out the troops was of course a fault in a governor; +but doubly so at a time and in a province where a successful general +might so easily become a formidable rebel. Accordingly, a centurion, +with a trusty cohort of soldiers, was sent from Rome for the recall +of the prefect. On approaching the flat coast of Egypt, they kept +the vessel in deep water till sunset, and then entered the harbour of +Alexandria in the dark. The centurion, on landing, met with a freedman +of the emperor, from whom he learned that the prefect was then at +supper, entertaining a large company of friends. The freedman led the +cohort quietly into the palace, into the very room where Flaccus was +sitting at table; and the first tidings that he heard of his government +being disapproved of in Rome was his finding himself a prisoner in his +own palace. The friends stood motionless with surprise, the centurion +produced the emperor’s order for what he was doing, and as no resistance +was attempted all passed off quietly; Flaccus was hurried on board the +vessel then at anchor in the harbour on the same evening and immediately +taken to Rome. + +It so happened that on the night that Flaccus was seized, the Jews +had met together to celebrate their autumnal feast, the feast of the +Tabernacles: not as in former years with joy and pomp, but in fear, +in grief, and in prayer. Their chief men were in prison, their nation +smarting under its wrongs and in daily fear of fresh cruelties; and it +was not without alarm that they heard the noise of soldiers moving to +and fro through the city, and the heavy tread of the guards marching by +torchlight from the camp to the palace. But their fear was soon turned +into joy when they heard that Flaccus, the author of all their wrongs, +was already a prisoner on board the vessel in the harbour; and they +gave glory to God, not, says Philo, that their enemy was going to be +punished, but because their own sufferings were at an end. + +The Jews then, having had leave given them by the prefect, sent +an embassy to Rome, at the head of which was Philo, the platonic +philosopher, who was to lay their grievances before the emperor, and to +beg for redress. The Greeks also at the same time sent their embassy, +at the head of which was the learned grammarian Apion, who was to accuse +the Jews of not worshipping the statue of the emperor, and to argue that +they had no right to the same privileges of citizenship with those who +boasted of their Macedonian blood. But, as the Jews did not deny the +charge that was brought against them, Caligula would hear nothing that +they had to say; and Philo withdrew with the remark, “Though the emperor +is against us, God will be our friend.” + +We learn the sad tale of the Jews’ suffering under Caligula from the +pages of their own historian only. But though Philo may have felt and +written as one of the sufferers, his truth is undoubted. He was a man +of unblemished character, and the writer of greatest learning and of the +greatest note at that time in Alexandria; being also of a great age, he +well deserved the honour of being sent on the embassy to Caligula. He +was in religion a Jew, in his philosophy a platonist, and by birth an +Egyptian: and in his numerous writings we may trace the three sources +from which he drew his opinions. He is always devotional and in earnest, +full of pure and lofty thoughts, and often eloquent. His fondness for +the mystical properties of numbers, and for finding an allegory or +secondary meaning in the plainest narrative, seems borrowed from the +Egyptians. According to the Eastern proverb every word in a wise book +has seventy-two meanings; and this mode of interpretation was called +into use by the necessity which the Jews felt of making the Old +Testament speak a meaning more agreeable to their modern views of +religion. In Philo’s speculative theology he seems to have borrowed less +from Moses than from the abstractions of Plato, whose shadowy hints he +has embodied in a more solid form. He was the first Jewish writer +that applied to the Deity the mystical notion of the Egyptians, that +everything perfect was of three parts. Philo’s writings are valuable as +showing the steps by which the philosophy of Greece may be traced +from the writings of Plato to those of Justin Martyr and Clemens +Alexandrinus. They give us the earliest example of how the mystical +interpretation of the Scriptures was formed into a system, by which +every text was made to unfold some important philosophic or religious +truth to the learned student, at the same time that to the unlearned +reader it conveyed only the simple historic fact. + +The Hellenistic Jews, while suffering under severe political +disabilities, had taken up a high literary position in Alexandria, and +had forced their opinions into the notice of the Greeks. The glowing +earnestness of their philosophy, now put forward in a platonic dress, +and heir improved style, approaching even classic elegance, laced their +writings on a lofty eminence far above anything which the cold, lifeless +grammarians of the museum were then producing. Apion, who went to Rome +to plead against Philo, was a native of the Great Oasis, but as he was +born of Greek parents, he claimed and received the title and privileges +of an Alexandrian, which he denied to the Jews who were born in the +city. He had studied under Didymus and Apollonius and Euphranor, and was +one of the most laborious of the grammarians and editors of Homer. All +his writings are now lost. Some of them were attacks upon the Jews and +their religion, calling in question the truth of the Jewish history +and the justice of that nation’s claim to high antiquity; and to these +attacks we owe Josephus’ _Answer_, in which several valuable fragments +of history are saved by being quoted against the pagans in support of +the Old Testament. One of his works was his _Ægyptiaca_, an account of +what he thought most curious in Egypt. But his learned trifling is now +lost, and nothing remains of it but his account of the meeting between +Androclus and the lion, which took place in the amphitheatre at Rome +when Apion was there on his embassy. Androclus was a runaway slave, who, +when retaken, was brought to Rome to be thrown before an African lion +for the amusement of the citizens, and as a punishment for his flight. +But the fierce and hungry beast, instead of tearing him to pieces, +wagged his tail at him, and licked his feet. It seems that the slave, +when he fled from his master, had gained the friendship of the lion in +the Libyan desert, first by pulling a thorn out of his foot, and then +by living three years with him in a cave; and, when both were brought +in chains to Rome, Androclus found a grateful friend in the amphitheatre +where he thought to have met with a cruel death. + +We may for a moment leave our history, to bid a last farewell to the +family of the Ptolemies. Augustus, after leading Selene, the daughter +of Cleopatra and Antony, through the streets of Rome in his triumph, had +given her in marriage to the younger Juba, the historian of Africa; and +about the same time he gave to the husband the kingdom of Mauritania, +the inheritance of his father. His son Ptolemy succeeded him on the +throne, but was soon turned out of his kingdom. We trace the last of +the Ptolemies in his travels through Greece and Asia Minor by the +inscriptions remaining to his honour. The citizens of Xanthus in Lycia +set up a monument to him; and at Athens his statue was placed beside +that of Philadelphus in the gymnasium of Ptolemy, near the temple of +Theseus, where he was honoured as of founder’s kin. He was put to death +by Caligula. Drusilla, another grandchild of Cleopatra and Antony, +married Antonius Felix, the procurator of Judæa, after the death of his +first wife, who was also named Drusilla. These are the last notices that +we meet with of the royal family of Egypt. + +As soon as the news of Caligula’s death (A.D. 41) reached Egypt, the +joy of the Jews knew no bounds. They at once flew to arms to revenge +themselves on the Alexandrians, whose streets were again the seat of +civil war. The governor did what he could to quiet both parties, but +was not wholly successful till the decree of the new emperor reached +Alexandria. In this Claudius granted to the Jews the full rights of +citizenship, which they had enjoyed under the Ptolemies, and which had +been allowed by Augustus; he left them to choose their own high priest, +to enjoy their own religion without hindrance, and he repealed the laws +of Caligula under which they had been groaning. At this time the Jewish +alabarch in Egypt was Demetrius, a man of wealth and high birth, who had +married Mariamne, the daughter of the elder Agrippa. + +[Illustration: 041.jpg EGYPTIAN THRESHING-MACHINE] + +The government under Claudius was mild and just, at least as far as +a government could be in which every tax-gatherer, every military +governor, and every sub-prefect was supposed to enrich himself by his +appointment. Every Roman officer, from the general down to the lowest +tribune, claimed the right of travelling through the country free of +expense, and seizing the carts and cattle of the villagers to carry him +forward to the next town, under the pretence of being a courier on the +public service. But we have a decree of the ninth year of this reign, +carved on the temple in the Great Oasis, in which Cneius Capito, the +prefect of Egypt, endeavours to put a stop to this injustice. He orders +that no traveller shall have the privilege of a courier unless he has a +proper warrant, and that then he shall only claim a free lodging; that +clerks in the villages shall keep a register of all that is taken on +account of the public service; and that if anybody make an unjust claim +he shall pay four times the amount to the informer and six times the +amount to the emperor. But royal decrees could do little or nothing +where there were no judges to enforce them; and the people of Upper +Egypt must have felt this law as a cruel insult when they were told that +they might take up their complaints to Basilides, at Alexandria. The +employment of the informer is a full acknowledgment of the weakness +of this absolute government, and that the prefect had not the power +to enforce his own decrees; and, when we compare this law with that +of Alexander on his conquest of the country, we have no difficulty in +seeing why Egypt rose under the Ptolemies and sunk under the selfish +policy of Augustus. + +Claudius was somewhat of a scholar and an author; he wrote several +volumes both in Greek and in Latin. The former he might perhaps think +would be chiefly valued in Alexandria; and when he founded a new college +in that city, called after himself the Claudian Museum, he ordered that +on given days every year his history of Carthage should be publicly +read in one museum, and his history of Italy in the other; thus securing +during his reign an attention to his writings which their merits alone +would not have gained. + +Under the government of Claudius the Egyptians were again allowed to +coin money; and in his first year begins that historically important +series in which every coin is dated with the year of the emperor’s +reign. The coins of the Ptolemies were strictly Greek in their +workmanship, and the few Egyptian characters that we see upon them are +so much altered by the classic taste of the die-engraver that we hardly +know them again. But it is far otherwise with the coins of the emperors, +which are covered with the ornaments, characters, and religious +ceremonies of the native Egyptians; and, though the style of art is +often bad, they are scarcely equalled by any series of coins whatever in +the service they render to the historian. + +It was in this reign that the route through Egypt to India first became +really known to the Greeks and Romans. The historian Pliny, who died in +79 A.D., has left us a contemporary account of these early voyages. “It +will not be amiss,” he says in his _Natural History_, “to set forth the +whole of the route from Egypt, which has been stated to us of late, upon +information on which reliance may be placed and is here published for +the first time. The subject is one well worthy of our notice, seeing +that in no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred +and fifty millions of sesterces [or two million dollars], giving back +her own wares in exchange, which are sold among us at fully one hundred +times their cost price. + +“Two miles distant from Alexandria is the town of Heliopolis. The +distance thence to Koptos, up the Nile, is three hundred and eight +miles; the voyage is performed, when the Etesian winds are blowing, in +twelve days. From Koptos the journey is made with the aid of camels, +stations being arranged at intervals for the supply of fresh water. The +first of these stations is called Hydreuma, and is distant twenty-two +miles; the second is situate on a mountain at a distance of one day’s +journey from the last; the third is at a second Hydreuma, distant from +Koptos ninety-five miles; the fourth is on a mountain; the next to that +is another Hydreuma, that of Apollo, and is distant from Koptos one +hundred and eighty-four miles; after which there is another on a +mountain; there is then another station at a place called the New +Hydreuma, distant from Koptos two hundred and thirty miles; and next +to it there is another called the Old Hydreuma, where a detachment +is always on guard, with a caravansary that affords lodging for two +thousand persons. The last is distant from the New Hydreuma seven +miles. After leaving it, we come to the city of Berenicê, situate upon +a harbour of the Red Sea, and distant from Koptos two hundred and +fifty-seven miles. The greater part of this distance is generally +travelled by night, on account of the extreme heat, the day being spent +at the stations; in consequence of which it takes twelve days to perform +the whole journey from Koptos to Berenicê. + +“Passengers generally set sail at midsummer before the rising of the +Dog-star, or else immediately after, and in about thirty days arrive +at Ocelis in Arabia, or else at Cane, in the region which bears +frankincense. To those who are bound for India, Ocelis is the best place +for embarkation. If the wind called Hippolus happens to be blowing, +it is possible to arrive in forty days at the nearest mart of India, +Muziris by name [the modern Mangalore]. This, however, is not a very +desirable place for disembarkation, on account of the pirates which +frequent its vicinity, where they occupy a place, Mtrias; nor, in fact, +is it very rich in articles of merchandise. Besides, the roadstead for +shipping is a considerable distance from the shore, and the cargoes +have to be conveyed in boats, either for loading or discharging. At the +moment that I am writing these pages,” continues Pliny, “the name of +the king of the place is Cælobotras. Another part, and a much more +convenient one, is that which lies in the territory of the people called +Neacyndi, Barace by name. Here King Pandian used to reign, dwelling at a +considerable distance from the mart in the interior, at a city known +as Modiera. The district from which pepper is carried down to Barace +in boats hollowed out of a single tree, is known as Cottonara. None of +these names of nations, ports, and cities are to be found in any of +the former writers, from which circumstance it would appear that the +localities have since changed their names. Travellers set sail from +India on their return to Europe, at the beginning of the Egyptian month +Tybus, which is our December, or, at all events, before the sixth day of +the Egyptian month Mechir, the same as our ides of January: if they do +this, they can go and return in the same year. They set sail from +India with a south-east wind, and, upon entering the Red Sea, catch the +south-west or south.” + +The places on the Indian coast which the Egyptian merchant vessels then +reached are verified from the coins found there; and as we know the +course of the trade-wind by which they arrived, we also know the part of +Africa where they left the shore and braved the dangers of the ocean. +A hoard of Roman gold coins of these reigns has been dug up in our own +days near Calicut, under the roots of a banyan-tree. It had been there +buried by an Alexandrian merchant on his arrival from this voyage, and +left safe under the cover of the sacred tree to await his return from a +second journey. But he died before his return, and his secret died with +him. The products of the Indian trade were chiefly silk, diamonds, and +other precious stones, ginger, spices, and some scents. The state of +Ethiopia was then such that no trade came down the Nile to Syênê; +and the produce of southern Africa was brought by coasting vessels to +Berenicê. These products were ivory, rhinoceros teeth, hippopotamus +skins, tortoise shell, apes, monkeys, and slaves, a list which throws +a sidelight both on the pursuits of the natives and the tastes of the +ultimate purchasers. + +[Illustration: 047.jpg AN ARAB GIRL] + +The Romans in most cases collected the revenues of a province by means +of a publican or farmer, to whom the taxes were let by auction; but such +was the importance of Egypt that the same jealousy which made them think +its government too great to be trusted to a man of high rank, made them +think its revenues too large to be trusted to one farmer. The smaller +branches of the Egyptian revenue were, however, let out as usual, and +even the collection of the customs of the whole of the Red Sea was not +thought too much to trust to one citizen. Annius Plocamus, who farmed +them in this reign, had a little fleet under his command to collect them +with; and, tempted either by trade or plunder, his ships were sometimes +as far out as the south coast of Arabia. On one occasion one of his +freedmen in the command of a vessel was carried by a north wind into +the open ocean, and after being fifteen days at sea found himself on the +coast of Ceylon. This island was not then wholly new to the geographers +of Egypt and Europe. It had been heard of by the pilots in the voyage of +Alexander the Great; Eratosthenes had given it a place in his map; and +it had often been reached from Africa by the sailors of the Red Sea in +wickerwork boats made of papyrus; but this was the first time it had +been visited by a European. + +In the neighbourhood of the above-mentioned road from Koptos to Berenicê +were the porphyritic quarries and the emerald mines, which were briskly +worked under the Emperor Claudius. The mountain was now named the +Claudian Mountain. + +As this route for trade became known, the geographers began to +understand the wide space that separates India from Africa. Hitherto, +notwithstanding a few voyages of discovery, it had been the common +opinion that Persia was in the neighbourhood of Ethiopia. The Greeks had +thought that the Nile rose in India, in opposition to the Jews, who said +that it was the river Gibon of the garden of Eden, which made a circuit +round the whole of the land of Cush, or Ethiopia. The names of these +countries got misused accordingly; and even after the mistake was +cleared up we sometimes find Ethiopia called India. + +The Egyptian chemists were able to produce very bright dyes by methods +then unknown to Greece or Rome. They dipped the cloth first into a +liquid of one colour, called a mordant, to prepare it, and then into +a liquid of a second colour; and it came out dyed of a third colour, +unlike either of the former. The ink with which they wrote the name of +a deceased person on the mummy-cloth, like our own marking-ink, was made +with nitrate of silver. Their knowledge of chemistry was far greater +than that of their neighbours, and the science is even now named from +the country of its birth. The later Arabs called it Alchemia, _the +Egyptian art_, and hence our words alchemy and chemistry. So also +Naphtha, or _rock oil_, from the coast of the Red Sea; and Anthracite, +or _rock fuel_, from the coast of Syria, both bear Egyptian names. +To some Egyptian stones the Romans gave their own names; as the black +glassy obsidian from Nubia they called after Obsidius, who found it; +the black Tiberian marble with white spots, and the Augustan marble with +regular wavy veins, were both named after the emperors. Porphyry was +now used for statues for the first time, and sometimes to make a kind of +patchwork figure, in which the clothed parts were of the coloured stone, +while the head, hands, and feet were of white marble. And it was thought +that diamonds were nowhere to be found but in the Ethiopian gold mines. + +Several kinds of wine were made in Egypt; some in the Arsinoïte nome on +the banks of the lake Mceris; and a poor Libyan wine at Antiplme on the +coast, a hundred miles from Alexandria. Wine had also been made in +Upper Egypt in small quantities a very long time, as we learn from the +monuments; but it was produced with difficulty and cost and was not +good; it was not valued by the Greeks. It was poor and thin, and drunk +only by those who were feverish and afraid of anything stronger. That +of Anthylla, to the east of Alexandria, was very much better. But better +still were the thick luscious Tæniotic and the mild delicate Mareotic +wines. This last was first grown at Plinthine, but afterwards on all the +banks of the lake Mareotis. The Mareotic wine was white and sweet and +thin, and very little heating or intoxicating. Horace had carelessly +said of Cleopatra that she was drunk with Mareotic wine; but Lucan, who +better knew its quality, says that the headstrong lady drank wine far +stronger than the Mareotic. Near Sebennytus three kinds of wine were +made; one bitter named Peuce, a second sparkling named Æthalon, and +the third Thasian, from a vine imported from Thasus. But none of these +Egyptian wines was thought equal to those of Greece and Italy. Nor were +they made in quantities large enough or cheap enough for the poor; and +here, as in other countries, the common people for their intoxicating +drink used beer or spirits made from barley. + +[Illustration: 051.jpg FARMING IN EGYPT] + +The Egyptian sour wine, however, made very good vinegar, and it was then +exported for sale in Rome. During this half-century that great national +work, the lake of Moeris, by which thousands of acres had been flooded +and made fertile, and the watering of the lower country regulated, was, +through the neglect of the embankments, at once destroyed. The latest +traveller who mentions it is Strabo, and the latest geographer Pomponius +Mela. By its means the province of Arsinoë was made one of the most +fruitful and beautiful spots in Egypt. Here only does the olive grow +wild. Here the vine will grow. And by the help of this embanked lake the +province was made yet more fruitful. But before Pliny wrote, the bank +had given way, the pentup waters had made for themselves a channel into +the lake now called Birket el Kurun, and the two small pyramids, which +had hitherto been surrounded by water, then stood on dry ground. Thus +was the country slowly going to ruin by the faults of the government, +and ignorance in the foreign rulers. But, on the other hand, the +beautiful temple of Latopolis, which had been begun under the Ptolemies, +was finished in this reign; and bears the name of Claudius with those of +some later emperors on its portico and walls. + +In the Egyptian language the word for a year is _Bait_, which is also +the name of a bird. In hieroglyphics this word is spelt by a palm-branch +_Bai_ and the letter T, followed sometimes by a circle as a picture of +the year. Hence arose among a people fond of mystery and allegory a mode +of speaking of the year under the name of a palm-branch or of a bird; +and they formed a fable out of a mere confusion of words. The Greeks, +who were not slow to copy Egyptian mysticism, called this fabulous bird +the _Phoenix_ from their own name for the palm-tree. The end of any long +period of time they called the return of the phonix to earth. The Romans +borrowed the fable, though perhaps without understanding the allegory; +and in the seventh year of this reign, when the emperor celebrated the +secular games at Rome, at the end of the eighth century since the city +was built, it was said that the phoenix had come to Egypt and was thence +brought to Rome. This was in the consulship of Plautius and Vitellius; +and it would seem to be only from mistakes in the name that Pliny +places the event eleven years earlier, in the consulship of Plautius +and Papinius, and that Tacitus places it thirteen years earlier in the +consulship of Fabius and Vitellius. This fable is connected with some +of the remarkable epochs in Egyptian history. The story lost nothing by +travelling to a distance. In Rome it was said that this wonderful bird +was a native of Arabia, where it lived for five hundred years, that on +its death a grub came out of its body which in due time became a perfect +bird; and that the new phonix brought to Egypt the bones of its parent +in the nest of spices in which it had died, and laid them on the altar +in the temple of the sun in Heliopolis. It then returned to Arabia to +live in its turn for five hundred years, and die and give life again +to another as before. The Christians saw in this story a type of the +resurrection; and Clement, Bishop of Rome, quotes it as such in his +Epistle to the Corinthians. + +We find the name of Claudius on several of the temples of Upper Egypt, +particularly on that of Apollinopolis Magna, and on the portico of the +great temples of Latopolis, which were being built in this reign. + +In the beginning of the reign of Nero, 55 A.D., an Egyptian Jew, +who claimed to be listened to as a prophet, raised the minds of his +countrymen into a ferment of religious zeal by preaching about the +sufferings of their brethren in Judæa; and he was able to get together +a body of men, called in reproach the Sicarii, or _ruffians_, whose +numbers are variously stated at four thousand and thirty thousand, +whom he led out of Egypt to free the holy city from the bondage of the +heathen. But Felix, the Roman governor, led against them the garrison of +Jerusalem, and easily scattered the half-armed rabble. By such acts of +religious zeal on the part of the Jews they were again brought to blows +with the Greeks of Alexandria. The Macedonians, as the latter still +called themselves, had met in public assembly to send an embassy to +Rome, and some Jews who entered the meeting, which as citizens they had +a full right to do, were seized and ill-treated by them as spies. They +would perhaps have even been put to death if a large body of their +countrymen had not run to their rescue. The Jews attacked the assembled +Greeks with stones and lighted torches, and would have burned the +amphitheatre and all that were in it, if the prefect, Tiberius +Alexander, had not sent some of the elders of their own nation to calm +their angry feelings. But, though the mischief was stopped for a time, +it soon broke out again; and the prefect was forced to call out the +garrison of two Roman legions and five thousand Libyans before he +could re-establish peace in the city. The Jews were always the greatest +sufferers in these civil broils; and Josephus says that fifty thousand +of his countrymen were left dead in the streets of Alexandria. But this +number is very improbable, as the prefect was a friend to the Jewish +nation, and as the Roman legions were not withdrawn to the camp till +they had guarded the Jews in carrying away and burying the bodies of +their friends. + +It was a natural policy on the part of the emperors to change a prefect +whenever his province was disturbed by rebellion, as we have seen in the +case of Flaccus, who was recalled by Caligula. It was easier to send a +new governor than to inquire into a wrong or to redress a grievance; and +accordingly in the next year C. Balbillus was sent from Rome as prefect +of Egypt. He reached Alexandria on the sixth day after leaving the +Straits of Sicily, which was spoken of as the quickest voyage known. The +Alexandrian ships were better built and better manned than any others, +and, as a greater number of vessels sailed every year between that port +and Puteoli on the coast of Italy than between any other two places, no +voyage was better understood or more quickly performed. They were out of +sight of land for five hundred miles between Syracuse and Cyrene. Hence +we see that the quickest rate of sailing, with a fair wind, was at that +time about one hundred and fifty miles in the twenty-four hours. But +these ships had very little power of bearing up against the wind; and +if it were contrary the voyage became tedious. If the captain on sailing +out of the port of Alexandria found the wind westerly, and was unable to +creep along the African coast to Cyrene, he stood over to the coast of +Asia Minor, in hopes of there finding a more favourable wind. If a storm +arose, he ran into the nearest port, perhaps in Crete, perhaps in Malta, +there to wait the return of fair weather. If winter then came on, he had +to lie by till spring. Thus a vessel laden with Egyptian wheat, leaving +Alexandria in September, after the harvest had been brought down to the +coast, would sometimes spend five months on its voyage from that port to +Puteoli. Such was the case with the ship bearing the children of Jove +as its figurehead, which picked up the Apostle Paul and the historian +Josephus when they had been wrecked together on the island of Malta; and +such perhaps would have been the case with the ship which they before +found on the coast of Lycia, had it been able to reach a safe harbour, +and not been wrecked at Malta. + +[Illustration: 056.jpg EGYPTIAN THRESHING MACHINE] + +The rocky island of Malta, with the largest and safest harbour in +the Mediterranean, was a natural place for ships to touch at between +Alexandria and Italy. Its population was made up of those races which +had sailed upon its waters first from Carthage and then from Alexandria; +it was a mixture of Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Græco-Egyptians. To +judge from the skulls turned up in the burial-places, the Egyptians +were the most numerous, and here as elsewhere the Egyptian superstitions +conquered and put down all the other superstitions. While the island was +under the Phoenicians, the coins had the head of the Sicilian goddess +on one side, and on the other the Egyptian trinity of Isis, Osiris, and +Nepthys. When it was under the Greek rule the head on the coins received +an Egyptian head-dress, and became that of the goddess Isis, and on the +other side of the coin was a winged figure of Osiris. It was at +this time governed by a Roman governor. The large temple, built with +barbarian rudeness, and ornamented with the Phoenician palm-branch, was +on somewhat of a Roman plan, with a circular end to every room. But it +was dedicated to the chief god of Egypt, and is even yet called by its +Greek name Hagia Chem, _the temple of Chem_. The little neighbouring +island of Cossyra, between Sicily and Carthage, also shows upon its +coins clear traces of its taste for Egyptian customs. + +[Illustration: 057.jpg MALTESE COIN] + +The first five years of this reign, the _quinquennium Neronis_, while +the emperor was under the tutorship of the philosopher Seneca, became in +Rome proverbial for good government, and on the coinage we see marks of +Egypt being equally well treated. In the third year we see on a coin the +queen sitting on a throne with the word _agreement_, as if to praise +the young emperor’s good feeling in following the advice of his mother +Agrippina. On another the emperor is styled the young good genius, and +he is represented by the sacred basilisk crowned with the double crown +of Egypt. The new prefect, Balbillus, was an Asiatic Greek, and no doubt +received his Roman names of Tiberius Claudius on being made a freedman +of the late emperor. He governed the country mildly and justly; and +the grateful inhabitants declared that under him the Nile was more than +usually bountiful, and that its waters always rose to their just height. +But in the latter part of the reign the Egyptians smarted severely under +that cruel principle of a despotic monarchy that every prefect, every +sub-prefect, and even every deputy tax-gatherer, might be equally +despotic in his own department. + +[Illustration: 058.jpg COIN OF COSSYRA] + +On a coin of the thirteenth year of the reign of this ruler, we see a +ship with the word _emperor-bearer_, being that in which he then sailed +into Greece, or in which the Alexandrians thought that he would visit +their city. But if they had really hoped for his visit as a pleasure, +they must have thought it a danger escaped when they learned his +character; they must have been undeceived when the prefect Cæcinna +Tuscus was punished with banishment for venturing to bathe in the bath +which was meant for the emperor’s use if he had come on his projected +visit. + +During the first century and a half of Roman sway in Egypt the school +of Alexandria was nearly silent. We have a few poems by Leonides of +Alexandria, one of which is addressed to the Empress Poppæa, as the wife +of Jupiter, on his presenting a celestial globe to her on her birthday. +Pamphila wrote a miscellaneous history of entertaining stories, and her +lively, simple style makes us very much regret its loss. Chæremon, a +Stoic philosopher, had been, during the last reign, at the head of the +Alexandrian library, but he was removed to Rome as one of the tutors to +the young Nero. + +[Illustration: 059.jpg COIN OF NERO] + +He is ridiculed by Martial for writing in praise of death, when, from +age and poverty, he was less able to enjoy life. We still possess a +most curious though short account by him of the monastic habits of the +ancient Egyptians. He also wrote on hieroglyphics, and a small fragment +containing his opinion of the meanings of nineteen characters still +remains to us. But he is not always right; he thinks the characters were +used allegorically for thoughts, not for sounds; and fancies that the +priests used them to keep secret the real nature of the gods. + +He was succeeded at the museum by his pupil Dionysius, who had the +charge of the library till the reign of Trajan. Dionysius was also +employed by the prefect as a secretary of state, or, in the language of +the day, secretary to the embassies, epistles, and answers. He was the +author of the _Periegesis_, and aimed at the rank of a poet by writing +a treatise on geography in heroic verse. From this work he is named +Dionysius Periegetes. While careful to remind us that his birthplace +Alexandria was a Macedonian city, he gives due honour to Egypt and the +Egyptians. There is no river, says he, equal to the Nile for carrying +fertility and adding to the happiness of the land. It divides Asia from +Libya, falling between rocks at Syênê, and then passing by the old and +famous city of Thebes, where Memnon every morning salutes his beloved +Aurora as she rises. On its banks dwells a rich and glorious race of +men, who were the first to cultivate the arts of life; the first to make +trial of the plough and sow their seed in a straight furrow; and the +first to map the heavens and trace the sloping path of the sun. + +According to the traditions of the church, it was in this reign that +Christianity was first brought into Egypt by the Evangelist Mark, the +disciple of the Apostle Peter. Many were already craving for religious +food more real than the old superstitions. The Egyptian had been shaken +in his attachment to the sacred animals by Greek ridicule. The Greek had +been weakened in his belief of old Homer’s gods by living with men +who had never heard of them. Both were dissatisfied with the scheme of +explaining the actions of their gods by means of allegory. The crumbling +away of the old opinions left men more fitted to receive the new +religion from Galilee. Mark’s preaching converted crowds in Alexandria; +but, after a short stay, he returned to Rome, in about the eleventh +year of this reign, leaving Annianus to watch over the growing church. +Annianus is usually called the first bishop of Alexandria; and Eusebius, +who lived two hundred years later, has given us the names of his +successors in an unbroken chain. If we would inquire whether the early +converts to Christianity in Alexandria were Jews, Greeks, or Egyptians, +we have nothing to guide us but the names of these bishops. Annianus, +or Annaniah, as his name was written by the Arabic historians, was very +likely a Jew; indeed, the Evangelist Mark would begin by addressing +himself to the Jews, and would leave the care of the infant church to +one of his own nation. In the platonic Jews, Christianity found soil +so exactly suited to its reception that it is only by he dates that the +Thérapeute of Alexandria and their historian Philo are proved not to be +Christian; and, again, it was in the close union between the platonic +Jews and the platonists that Christianity found its easiest path to the +ears and hearts of the pagans. The bishops that followed seem to have +been Greek converts. Before the death of Annaniah, Jerusalem had been +destroyed by the Roman armies, and the Jews sunk in their own eyes +and in those of their fellow-citizens throughout the empire; hence the +second bishop of Alexandria was less likely to be of Hebrew blood; and +it was long before any Egyptians aimed at rank in the church. But though +the spread of Christianity was rapid, both among the Greeks and the +Egyptians, we must not hope to find any early traces of it in the +historians. It was at first embraced by the unlearned and the poor, +whose deeds and opinions are seldom mentioned in history; and we may +readily believe the scornful reproach of the unbelievers, that it was +chiefly received by the unfortunate, the unhappy, the despised, and the +sinful. When the white-robed priestesses of Ceres carried the sacred +basket through the streets of Alexandria, they cried out, “Sinners away, +or keep your eyes to the ground; keep your eyes to the ground!” When +the crier, standing on the steps of the portico in front of the great +temple, called upon the pagans to come near and join in the celebration +of their mysteries, he cried out, “All ye who are clean of hands and +pure of heart, come to the sacrifice; all ye who are guiltless in +thought and deed, come to the sacrifice.” + +But many a repentant sinner and humble spirit must have drawn back in +distrust from a summons which to him was so forbidding, and been glad +to hear the good tidings of mercy offered by Christianity to those who +labour and are heavy laden, and to the broken-hearted who would turn +away from their wickedness. While such were the chief followers of the +gospel, it was not likely to be much noticed by the historians; and we +must wait till it forced its way into the schools and the palace before +we shall find many traces of the rapidity with which it was spreading. + +[Illustration: 063.jpg ETHIOPIAN ARABS] + +During these reigns the Ethiopian Arabs kept up their irregular warfare +against the southern frontier. The tribe most dreaded were the Blemmyes, +an uncivilised people, described by the affrighted neighbours as having +no heads, but with eyes and mouth on the breast; and it was under that +name that the Arabs spread during each century farther and farther into +Egypt, separating the province from the more cultivated tribes of Upper +Ethiopia or Meroë. The cities along the banks of the Nile in Lower +Ethiopia, between Nubia and Meroë, were ruined by being in the debatable +land between the two nations. The early Greek travellers had counted +about twenty cities on each side of the Nile between Syênê and Meroë; +but when, in a moment of leisure, the Roman government proposed to +punish and stop the inroads of these troublesome neighbours, and sent +forward a tribune with a guard of soldiers, he reported on his return +that the whole country was a desert, and that there was scarcely a +city inhabited on either side of the Nile beyond Nubia. But he had not +marched very far. The interior of Africa was little known; and to seek +for the fountain of the Nile was another name for an impossible or +chimerical undertaking. + +But Egypt itself was so quiet as not to need the presence of so large +a Roman force as usual to keep it in obedience; and when Vespasian, who +commanded Nero’s armies in Syria, found the Jews more obstinate in their +rebellion and less easily crushed than he expected, the emperor sent the +young Titus to Alexandria, to lead to his father’s assistance all the +troops that could be spared. Titus led into Palestine through Arabia two +legions, the Fifth and the Tenth, which were then in Egypt. + +We find a temple of this reign in the oasis of Dakleh, or the Western +Oasis, which seems to have been a more flourishing spot in the time +of the Romans than when Egypt itself was better governed. It is so far +removed from the cities in the valley of the Nile that its position, and +even existence, was long unknown to Europeans, and to such hiding-places +as this many of the Egyptians fled, to be farther from the tyranny of +the Roman tax-gatherers. + +Hitherto the Roman empire had descended for just one hundred years +through five emperors like a family inheritance; but, on the death of +Nero, the Julian and Claudian families were at an end, and Galba, who +was raised to the purple by the choice of the soldiers, endeavoured to +persuade the Romans and their dependent provinces that they had regained +their liberties. The Egyptians may have been puzzled by the word +_freedom_, then struck upon the coins by their foreign masters, but must +have been pleased to find it accompanied with a redress of grievances. + +Galba began his reign with the praiseworthy endeavour of repairing the +injustice done by his cruel predecessor. He at once recalled the prefect +of Egypt, and appointed in his place Tiberius Julius Alexander, an +Alexandrian, a son of the former prefect of that name; and thus Egypt +was under the government of a native prefect. The peaceable situation of +the Great Oasis has saved a long Greek inscription of the decree which +was now issued in redress of the grievances suffered under Nero. It is +a proclamation by Julius Demetrius, the commander of the Oasis, quoting +the decree of Tiberius Julius Alexander, the new prefect of Egypt. + +The prefect acknowledges that the loud complaints with which he was met +on entering upon his government were well founded, and he promises that +the unjust taxes shall cease; that nobody shall be forced to act as a +provincial tax-gatherer; that no debts shall be cancelled or sales made +void under the plea of money owing to the revenue; that no freeman shall +be thrown into prison for debt, unless it be a debt due to the +royal revenue, and that no private debt shall be made over to the +tax-gatherer, to be by him collected as a public debt; that no property +settled on the wife at marriage shall be seized for taxes due from the +husband; and that all new charges and claims which had grown up within +the last five years shall be repealed. In order to discourage informers, +whom the prefects had much employed, and by whom the families in +Alexandria were much harassed, and to whom he laid the great falling off +in the population of that city, he orders, that if anybody should +make three charges and fail in proving them, he shall forfeit half his +property and lose the right of bringing an action at law. The land had +always paid a tax in proportion to the number of acres overflowed and +manured by the waters of the Nile; and the husbandmen had latterly been +frightened by the double threat of a new measurement of the land, and of +making it at the same time pay according to the ancient registers of the +overflow when the canals had been more open and more acres flooded; but +the prefect promises that there shall be no new measurements, and that +they shall only be taxed according to the actual overflow. In 69 A.D. +Galba was murdered, after a reign of seven months. Some of his coins, +however, are dated in the second year of his reign, according to the +Alexandrian custom of counting the years. They called the 29th of +August, the first new year’s day after the sovereign came to the throne, +the first day of his second year. + +Otho was then acknowledged as emperor by Rome and the East, while the +hardy legions of Germany thought themselves entitled to choose for +themselves. They set up their own general, Vitellius. The two legions in +Egypt sided with the four legions in Syria under Mucianus, and the +three legions which, under Vespasian, were carrying on the memorable +war against the Jews; and all took the oaths to Otho. We find no +hieroglyphical inscriptions during this short reign of a few weeks, but +there are many Alexandrian coins to prove the truth of the historian; +and some of them, like those of Galba, bear the unlooked-for word +_freedom_. In the few weeks which then passed between the news of Otho’s +death and of Vespasian being raised to the purple in Syria, Vitellius +was acknowledged in Egypt; and the Alexandrian mint struck a few coins +in his name with the figure of Victory. But as soon as the legions of +Egypt heard that the Syrian army had made choice of another emperor, +they withdrew their allegiance from Vitellius, and promised it to his +Syrian rival. + +Vespasian was at Cæsarea, in command of the army employed in the Jewish +war, when the news reached him that Otho was dead, and that Vitellius +had been raised to the purple by the German legions, and acknowledged +at Rome; and, without wasting more time in refusing the honour than was +necessary to prove that his soldiers were in earnest in offering it, he +allowed himself to be proclaimed emperor, as the successor of Otho. +He would not, however, then risk a march upon Rome, but he sent to +Alexandria to tell Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Egypt, what he +had done; he ordered him to claim in his name the allegiance of that +great province, and added that he should soon be there himself. The two +Roman legions in Egypt much preferred the choice of the Eastern to +that of the Western army, and the Alexandrians, who had only just +acknowledged Vitellius, readily took the oath to be faithful to +Vespasian. This made it less necessary for him to hasten thither, and he +only reached Alexandria in time to hear that Vitellius had been murdered +after a reign of eight months, and that he himself had been acknowledged +as emperor by Rome and the Western legions. His Egyptian coins in the +first year of his reign, by the word _peace_, point to the end of the +civil war. + +When Vespasian entered Alexandria, he was met by the philosophers and +magistrates in great pomp. The philosophers, indeed, in a city where, +beside the officers of government, talent formed the only aristocracy, +were a very important body; and Dion, Euphrates, and Apollonius had been +useful in securing for Vespasian the allegiance of the Alexandrians. +Dion was an orator, who had been professor of rhetoric, but he had given +up that study for philosophy. His orations, or declamations, gained for +him the name of Chrysostom, or _golden-mouthed_. Euphrates, his friend, +was a platonist, who afterwards married the daughter of the prefect of +Syria, and removed to Rome. Apollonius of Tyana, the most celebrated of +these philosophers, was one of the first who gained his eminence from +the study of Eastern philosophy, which was then rising in the opinions +of the Greeks as highly worth their notice. He had been travelling in +the East; and, boasting that he was already master of all the fabled +wisdom of the Magi of Babylon and of the Gymnosophists of India, he was +come to Egypt to compare this mystic philosophy with that of the hermits +of Ethiopia and the Thebaid. Addressing himself as a pupil to the +priests, he willingly yielded his belief to their mystic claims; and, +whether from being deceived or as a deceiver, whether as an enthusiast +or as a cheat, he pretended to have learned all the supernatural +knowledge which they pretended to teach. By the Egyptians he was +looked upon as the favourite of Heaven; he claimed the power of working +miracles by his magical arts, and of foretelling events by his knowledge +of astrology. In the Thebaid he was so far honoured that at the bidding +of the priests one of the sacred trees spoke to him, as had been their +custom from of old with favourites, and in a clear and rather womanly +voice addressed him as a teacher from heaven. + +It was to witness such practices as these, and to learn the art of +deceiving their followers, that the Egyptian priests were now consulted +by the Greeks. The oracle at Delphi was silent, but the oracle of Ammon +continued to return an answer. The mystic philosophy of the East had +come into fashion in Alexandria, and the priests were more celebrated as +magicians than as philosophers. They would tell a man’s fortune and the +year that he was to die by examining the lines of his forehead. Some of +them even undertook, for a sum of money, to raise the dead to life, or, +rather, to recall for a time to earth the unwilling spirits, and make +them answer any questions that might be put to them. Ventriloquism was +an art often practised in Egypt, and perhaps invented there. By this the +priests gained a power over the minds of the listeners, and could make +them believe that a tree, a statue, or a dead body, was speaking to +them. + +The Alexandrian men of letters seldom erred by wrapping themselves up in +pride to avoid the fault of meanness; they usually cringed to the great. +Apollonius was wholly at the service of Vespasian, and the emperor +repaid the philosopher by flattery as well as by more solid favours. +He kept him always by his side during his stay in Egypt; he acknowledged +his rank as a prophet, and tried to make further use of him in +persuading the Egyptians of his own divine right to the throne. +Vespasian begged him to make use of his prayers that he might obtain +from God the empire which he had as yet hardly grasped; but Apollonius, +claiming even a higher mission from Heaven than Vespasian was granting +to him, answered, with as much arrogance as flattery, “I have myself +already made you emperor.” With the intimacy between Vespasian and +Apollonius begins the use of gnostic emblems on the Alexandrian coins. +The imperial pupil was not slow in learning from such a master; and +the people were as ready to believe in the emperor’s miracles as in +the philosopher’s. As Vespasian was walking through the streets of +Alexandria, a man well known as having a disease in his eyes threw +himself at his feet and begged of him to heal his blindness. He had been +told by the god Serapis that he should regain his sight if the emperor +would but deign to spit upon his eyelids. Another man, who had lost the +use of a hand, had been told by the same god that he should be healed if +the emperor would but trample on him with his feet. Vespasian at first +laughed at them and thrust them off; but at last he so far yielded +to their prayers, and to the flattery of his friends, as to have the +physicians of Alexandria consulted whether it was in his power to heal +these unfortunate men. The physicians, like good courtiers, were not so +unwise as to think it impossible; besides, it seemed meant by the god as +a public proof of Vespasian’s right to the throne; if he were successful +the glory would be his, and if he failed the laugh would be against the +cripples. The two men were therefore brought before him, and in the face +of the assembled citizens he trampled on one and spit on the other; and +his flatterers declared that he had healed the maimed and given sight to +the blind. + +Vespasian met with further wonders when he entered the temple of Serapis +to consult the god as to the state and fortunes of the empire. He went +into the inner sanctuary alone, and, to his surprise, there he beheld +the old Basilides, the freedman of Claudius, one of the chief men of +Alexandria, whom he knew was then lying dangerously ill, and several +days’ journey from the city. He inquired of the priests whether +Basilides had been in the temple, and was assured that he had not. He +then asked whether he had been in Alexandria; but nobody had seen him +there. Lastly, on sending messengers, he learned that he was on his +death-bed eighty miles off. With this miracle before his eyes, he could +not distrust the answers which the priests gave to his questions. + +From Alexandria Vespasian sent back Titus to finish the siege of +Jerusalem. The Jewish writer Joseph, the son of Matthias, or Flavius +Josephus, as he called himself when he entered the service of the +emperor, was then in Alexandria. He had been taken prisoner by +Vespasian, but had gained his freedom by the betrayal of his country’s +cause. He joined the army of Titus and marched to the overthrow of +Jerusalem. Notwithstanding the obstinate and heroic struggles of the +Jews, Judæa was wholly conquered by the Romans, and Jerusalem and its +other fortresses either received Roman garrisons or were dismantled. +The Temple was overthrown in the month of September, A.D. 70. Titus made +slaves of ninety-seven thousand men, many of whom he led with him into +Egypt, and then sent them to work in the mines. These were soon followed +by a crowd of other brave Jews, who chose rather to quit their homes +and live as wanderers in Egypt than to own Vespasian as their king. They +knew no lord but Jahveh; to take the oaths or to pay tribute to Cæsar +was to renounce the faith of their fathers. But they found no safety in +Egypt. Their Greek brethren turned against them, and handed six hundred +of them up to Lupus, the governor of Egypt, to be punished; and their +countryman Josephus brands them all with the name of Sicarii. They tried +to hide themselves in Thebes and other cities less under the eyes of the +Roman governor. They were, however, followed and taken, and the courage +with which the boys and mere children bore their sufferings, sooner than +acknowledge Vespasian for their king, drew forth the praise of even the +time-serving Josephus. + +The Greek Jews of Egypt gained nothing by this treachery towards +their Hebrew brethren; they were themselves looked down upon by the +Alexandrians, and distrusted by the Romans. The emperor ordered Lupus to +shut up the temple at Onion, near Heliopolis, in which, during the last +three hundred years, they had been allowed to have an altar, in rivalry +to the Temple of Jerusalem. Even Josephus, whose betrayal of his +countrymen might have saved him from their enemies, was sent with many +others in chains to Rome, and was only set free on his making himself +known to Titus. Indeed, when the Hebrew Jews lost their capital and +their rank as a nation, their brethren felt lowered in the eyes of their +fellow-citizens, in whatever city they dwelt, and in Alexandria they +lost all hope of keeping their privileges; although the emperor refused +to repeal the edict which granted them their citizenship, an edict to +which they always appealed for protection, but often with very little +success. + +The Alexandrians were sadly disappointed in Vespasian. They had been +among the first to acknowledge him as emperor while his power was yet +doubtful, and they looked for a sum of money as a largess; but to their +sorrow he increased the taxes, and re-established some which had fallen +into disuse. They had a joke against him, about his claiming from one of +his friends the trifling debt of six oboli; and, upon hearing of their +witticisms, he was so angry that he ordered this sum of six oboli to be +levied as a poll-tax upon every man in the city, and he only remitted +the tax at the request of his son Titus. He went to Rome, carrying with +him the nickname of Cybiosactes, _the scullion_, which the Alexandrians +gave him for his stinginess and greediness, and which they had before +given to Seleucus, who robbed the tomb of Alexander the Great, at +Alexandria, of its famous golden sarcophagus. + +Titus saw the importance of pleasing the people; and his wish to humour +their ancient prejudices, at the ceremony of consecrating a new bull +as Apis, brought some blame upon him. He there, as became the occasion, +wore the state crown, and dazzled the people of Memphis with his regal +pomp; but, while thus endeavouring to strengthen his father’s throne, he +was by some accused of grasping at it for himself. + +The great temple of Kneph, at Latopolis, which had been the work of many +reigns and perhaps many centuries, was finished under Vespasian. It is +a building worthy of the best times of Egyptian architecture. It has a +grand portico, upheld by four rows of massive columns, with capitals in +the form of papyrus flowers. On the ceiling is a zodiac, like that at +Tentyra; and, though many other kings’ names are carved on the walls, +that of Vespasian is in the dedication over the entrance. + +Of the reign of Titus in Egypt we find no trace beyond his coins struck +each year at Alexandria, and his name carved on one or two temples which +had been built in former reigns. + +Of the reign of Domitian (81--96 A.D.) we learn something from the poet +Juvenal, who then held a military post in the province; and he gives +us a sad account of the state of lawlessness in which the troops lived +under his commands. All quarrels between soldiers and citizens were +tried by the officers according to martial law; and justice was very +far from being even-handed between the Roman and the poor Egyptian. +No witness was bold enough to come forward and say anything against a +soldier, while everybody was believed who spoke on his behalf. Juvenal +was at a great age when he was sent into Egypt; and he felt that the +command of a cohort on the very borders of the desert was a cruel +banishment from the literary society of Rome. His death in the camp was +hastened by his wish to return home. As what Juvenal chiefly aimed at +in his writings was to lash the follies of the age, he, of course, found +plenty of amusement in the superstitions and sacred animals of Egypt. +But he sometimes takes a poet’s liberty, and when he tells us that man’s +was almost the only flesh that they ate without sinning, we need not +believe him to the letter. He gives a lively picture of a fight which he +saw between the citizens of two towns. The towns of Ombos and Tentyra, +though about a hundred miles apart, had a long-standing quarrel +about their gods. At Ombos they worshipped the crocodile and the +crocodile-headed god Savak, while at Tentyra they worshipped the goddess +Hâthor, and were celebrated for their skill in catching and killing +crocodiles. So, taking advantage of a feast or holiday, they marched out +for a fight. The men of Ombos Avere beaten and put to flight; but one of +them, stumbling as he ran away, was caught and torn to pieces, and, +as Juvenal adds, eaten by the men of Tentyra. Their worship of beasts, +birds, and fishes, and even growing their gods in the garden, are +pleasantly hit off by him; they left nothing, said he, without worship, +but the goddess of chastity. The mother goddess, Isis, the queen of +heaven, was the deity to whom they bowed with the most tender devotion, +and to swear by Isis was their favourite oath; and hence the leek, in +their own language named Isi, was no doubt the vegetable called a god by +the satiric Juvenal. + +At the same time also the towns of Oxyrrhynchos and Cynopolis, in +the Heptanomos, had a little civil war about the animals which +they worshipped. Somebody at Cynopolis was said to have caught an +oxyrrhynchus fish in the Nile and eaten it; and so the people of +Oxyrrhynchos, in revenge, made an attack upon the dogs, the gods of +Cynopolis. They caught a number of them, killed them in sacrifice to +their offended fish-god, and ate them. The two parties then flew to arms +and fought several battles; they sacked one another’s cities in turns, +and the war was not stopped till the Roman troops marched to the spot +and punished them both. + +But we gain a more agreeable and most likely a more true notion of the +mystical religion and philosophy of the Egyptians in these days from the +serious enquiries of Plutarch, who, instead of looking for what he could +laugh at, was only too ready to believe that he saw wisdom hidden +under an allegory in all their superstitions. Many of the habits of +the priests, such as shaving the whole body, wearing linen instead of +cotton, and refusing some meats as impure, seem to have arisen from a +love of cleanliness; their religion ordered what was useful. And it +also forbade what was hurtful; so to stir the fire with a sword was +displeasing to the gods, because it spoilt the temper of the metal. +None but the vulgar now looked upon the animals and statues as gods; the +priests believed that the unseen gods, who acted with one mind and with +one providence, were the authors of all good; and though these, like the +sun and moon, were called in each country by a different name, yet, like +those luminaries, they were the same over all the world. + +[Illustration: 078b.jpg SCENE IN A SEPUUCHRAL CHAMBER] + +Outward ceremonies in religion were no longer thought enough without a +good life; and, as the Greeks said, that beard and cloak did not make a +philosopher, so the Egyptians said that white linen and a tonsure +would not make a follower of Isis. All the sacrifices to the gods had a +secondary meaning, or, at least, they tried to join a moral aim to the +outward act; as on the twentieth day of the month, when they ate honey +and figs in honour of Thot, they sang “Sweet is truth.” The Egyptians, +like most other Eastern polytheists, held the doctrine which was +afterwards called Manicheism; they believed in a good and in a wicked +god, who governed the world between them. Of these the former made +himself threefold, because three is a perfect number, and they adopted +into their religion that curious metaphysical opinion that everything +divine is formed of three parts; and accordingly, on the Theban +monuments we often see the gods in groups of three. They worshipped +Osiris, Isis, and Horus under the form of a right-angled triangle, in +which Horus was the side opposite to the right angle. The favourite +part of their mythology was the lamentation of Isis for the death of +her husband Osiris. By another change the god Horus, who used to be a +crowned king of manly stature, was now a child holding a finger to his +mouth, and thereby marking that he had not yet learned to talk. The +Romans, who did not understand this Egyptian symbol for youthfulness, +thought that in this character he was commanding silence; and they gave +the name of Harpocrates, _Horus the powerful_, to a god of silence. +Horus was also often placed as a child in the arms of his mother Isis; +and thus by the loving nature of the group were awakened the more tender +feelings of the worshipper. The Egyptians, like the Greeks, had always +been loud in declaring that they were beloved by their gods; but they +received their favours with little gratitude, and hardly professed that +they felt any love towards the gods in return. But after the time of the +Christian era, we meet with more kindly feelings even among the pagans. +We find from the Greek names of persons that they at least had begun to +think their gods deserving of love, and in this group of the mother and +child, such a favourite also in Christian art, we see in what direction +these more kindly feelings found an entrance into the Egyptian religion. +As fast as opinion was raising the great god Serapis above his fellows +and making the wrathful judge into the ruler of the world, so fast was +the same opinion creating for itself a harbour of refuge in the child +Horus and its mother. + +[Illustration: 080.jpg HARPOCRATES] + +The deep earnestness of the Egyptians in the belief of their own +religion was the chief cause of its being adopted by others. The Greeks +had borrowed much from it. Though in Rome it had been forbidden by law, +it was much cultivated there in private; and the engraved rings on the +fingers of the wealthy Romans which bore the figures of Harpocrates and +other Egyptian gods easily escaped the notice of the magistrate. But the +superstitious Domitian, who was in the habit of consulting astrologers +and Chaldæan fortune-tellers, allowed the Egyptian worship. He built +at Rome a temple to Isis, and another to Serapis; and such was the +eagerness of the citizens for pictures of the mother goddess with her +child in her arms that, according to Juvenal, the Roman painters all +lived upon the goddess Isis. For her temple in the Campus Martius, holy +water was even brought from the Nile to purify the building and the +votaries; and a regular college of priests was maintained there by their +zeal and at their cost, with a splendour worthy of the Roman capital. +Domitian, also, was somewhat of a scholar, and he sent to Alexandria for +copies of their books, to restore the public library at Rome which had +been lately burnt; while his garden on the banks of the Tiber was +richer in the Egyptian winter rose than even the gardens of Memphis and +Alexandria. + +During this century the coinage continues one of the subjects of chief +interest to the antiquary. In 92 A.D., in the eleventh year of his +reign, when Domitian took upon himself the tribunitian power at Rome +for a second period of ten years, the event was celebrated in Alexandria +with a triumphal procession and games in the hippodrome, of all which we +see clear traces on the Egyptian coins. + +[Illustration: 081.jpg COINS OF DOMITIAN] + +The coinage is almost the only trace of Nerva (96--98 A.D.) having +reigned in Egypt; but it is at the same time enough to prove the +mildness of his government. The Jews who by their own law were of old +required to pay half a shekel, or a didrachm, to the service of their +temple, had on their conquest been made to pay that sum as a yearly +tribute to the Ptolemies, and afterwards to the emperors. It was a +poll-tax levied on every Jew throughout the empire. But Nerva had the +humanity to relieve them from this insulting tribute, and well did he +deserve the honour of having it recorded on the coins struck in his +reign. + +The coinage of the eleventh year of his successor, Trajan (98-117 +A.D.), is very remarkable for its beauty, its technical skill, and +variety, even more so than that of the eleventh year of Domitian. + +[Illustration: 082.jpg COIN OF NERVA] + +The coins have hitherto proclaimed, in a manner unmistakably plain to +those who study numismatics, the games and conquests of the emperors, +the bountiful overflow of the Nile, and sometimes the worship of +Serapis; but we now enter upon the most brilliant and most important +period of the Egyptian coinage, and find a rich variety of fables taken +both from Egyptian and Greek mythology. The coins of Rome in this and +the following reigns show the wealth, good taste, and learning of the +nation, but they are surpassed by the coins of Egypt. While history +is nearly silent, and the buildings and other proofs of Roman good +government have perished, the coins alone are quite enough to prove +the well-being of the people. Among the Egyptian coins those of Trajan, +Hadrian, and the Antonines equal in number those of all the other +emperors together, while in beauty they far surpass them. They are +mostly of copper, of a small size, and thick, weighing about one hundred +and ten grains, and some larger of two hundred and twenty grains; the +silver coins are less common, and of mixed metal. + +Though the Romans, while admiring and copying everything that was Greek, +affected to look upon the Egyptians as savages, who were only known to +be human beings by their power of speech, still the Egyptian physicians +were held by them in the highest repute. The more wealthy Romans often +sailed to Alexandria for the benefit of their advice. Pliny the Elder, +however, thought that of the invalids who went to Egypt for their +health more were cured by the sea voyage than by the physicians on their +arrival. + +[Illustration: 083.jpg TRINITY OF ISIS, HORUS AND NEPHTHYS] + +One of Cicero’s physicians was an Egyptian. Pliny the Younger repaid his +Egyptian oculist, Harpocrates, by getting a rescript from the emperor +to make him a Roman citizen. But the statesman did not know under what +harsh laws his friend was born, for the grant was void in the case of an +Egyptian, the emperor’s rescript was bad as being against the law; and +Pliny had again to beg the greater favour that the Egyptian might first +be made a citizen of Alexandria, without which the former favour was +useless. Thus, even in Alexandria, a conquered province governed by +the despotic will of a military emperor, there were still some laws or +principles which the emperor found it not easy to break. The courts of +justice, those to whom the edicts were addressed and by whom they were +to be explained and carried into effect, claimed a power in some cases +above the emperor; and the first article in the Roman code was that an +imperial rescript, by whomsoever or howsoever obtained, was void if it +was against the law. As the lawyers and magistrates formed part of the +body of citizens, the Alexandrians had so far a share in the government +of their own affairs; but this was an advantage that the Egyptians lost +by being under the power of the Greek magistrates. + +[Illustration: 084.jpg COINS OF TRAJAN] + +Trajan always kept in the public granaries of Rome a supply of Egyptian +grain equal to seven times the _canon_, or yearly gift to the poor +citizens; and in this prudent course he was followed by all his +successors, until the store was squandered by the worthless Elagabalus. +One year, when the Nile did not rise to its usual height, and much of +the grain land of the Delta, instead of being moistened by its waters +and enriched by its mud, was left a dry, sandy plain, the granaries of +Rome were unlocked to feed the city of Alexandria. The Alexandrians then +saw the unusual sight of ships unloading their cargoes of wheat in their +harbour, and the Romans boasted that they took the Egyptian tribute +in grain, not because they could not feed themselves, but because the +Egyptians had nothing else to send them. + +Alexandria under the Romans was still the centre of the trading world, +not only having its own great trade in grain, but being the port through +which the trade of India and Arabia passed to Europe, and at which the +Syrian vessels touched in their way to Italy. The harbour was crowded +with masts and strange prows and uncouth sails, and the quays always +busy with loading and unloading; while in the streets might be seen men +of all languages and all dresses, copper-coloured Egyptians, swarthy +Jews, lively, bustling Greeks, and haughty Italians, with Asiatics from +the neighbouring coasts of Syria and Cilicia, and even dark Ethiopians, +painted Arabs, Bactrians, Scythians, Persians, and Indians, all gay with +their national costumes. Alexandria was a spot in which Europe met Asia, +and each wondered at the strangeness of the other. + +Of the Alexandrians themselves we receive a very unfavourable account +from their countryman, Dion Chrysostom. With their wealth, they +had those vices which usually follow or cause the loss of national +independence. They were eager for nothing but food and horse-races. They +were grave and quiet in their sacrifices and listless in business, but +in the theatre or in the stadium men, women, and children were alike +heated into passion, and overcome with eagerness and warmth of feeling. +A scurrilous song or a horse-race would so rouse them into a quarrel +that they could not hear for their own noise, nor see for the dust +raised by their own bustle in the hippodrome; while all those acts of +their rulers, which in a more wholesome state of society would have +called for notice, passed by unheeded. + +[Illustration: 086.jpg EGYPTIAN WIG (BRITISH MUSEUM)] + +They cared more for the tumble of a favourite charioteer than for the +sinking state of the nation. The ready employment of ridicule in the +place of argument, of wit instead of graver reason, of nicknames +as their most powerful weapon, was one of the worst points in the +Alexandrian character. Frankness and manliness are hardly to be looked +for under a despotic government where men are forbidden to speak their +minds openly; and the Alexandrians made use of such checks upon their +rulers as the law allowed them. They lived under an absolute monarchy +tempered only by ridicule. Though their city was four hundred years old, +they were still colonists and without a mother-country. They had very +little faith in anything great or good, whether human or divine. They +had few cherished prejudices, no honoured traditions, sadly little love +of fame, and they wrote no histories. But in luxury and delicacy they +set the fashion to their conquerors. The wealthy Alexandrian walked +about Rome in a scarlet robe, in summer fanning himself with gold, and +displaying on his fingers rings carefully suited to the season; as his +hands were too delicate to carry his heavier jewels in the warm weather. +At the supper tables of the rich, the Alexandrian singing boys were +much valued; the smart young Roman walked along the Via Sacra humming +an Alexandrian tune; the favourite comic actor, the delight of the +city, whose jokes set the theatre in a roar, was an Alexandrian; the +Retiarius, who, with no weapon but a net, fought against an armed +gladiator in the Roman forum, and came off conqueror in twenty-six such +battles, was an Alexandrian; and no breed of fighting-cocks was thought +equal to those reared in the suburbs of Alexandria. + +In the reign of Augustus the Roman generals had been defeated in their +attacks on Arabia; but under Trajan, when the Romans were masters of all +the countries which surround Arabia Nabatæa, and when Egypt was so +far quiet that the legions could be withdrawn without danger to the +provinces, the Arabs could hold out no longer, and the rocky fastness +of Petra was forced to receive a Roman garrison. The event was as usual +commemorated on the coins of Rome; and for the next four hundred years +that remarkable Arab city formed part of the Roman empire; and Europeans +now travelling through the desert from Mount Sinai to Jerusalem are +agreeably surprised at coming upon temples, carved out of the solid +rock, ornamented with Corinthian columns of the age of the Antonines. + +In the twelfth year of this reign, when Lucius Sulpicius Simius was +prefect, some additions which had been made to the temple at Panopolis +in the Thebaid were dedicated in the name of the emperor; and in the +nineteenth year, when Marcus Rutilius Lupus was prefect, a new portico +in the oasis of Thebes was in the same manner dedicated to Serapis and +Isis. A small temple, which had been before built at Denderah, near the +great temple of Venus, was in the first year of this reign dedicated to +the Empress Plotina, under the name of the great goddess, the Younger +Venus. + +The canal from the Nile near Bubastis to the Bitter Lakes, which had +been first made by Necho, had been either finished or a second time +made by Philadelphus; and in this reign that great undertaking was again +renewed. But the stream of the Nile was deserting the Bubastite branch, +which was less navigable than formerly; and the engineers now changed +the greater part of the canal’s bed. They thought it wiser to bring +water from a higher part of the Nile, so that the current in the canal +might run into the Red Sea instead of out, and its waters might still +be fresh and useful to agriculture. It now began at Babylon opposite +Memphis and entered the Red Sea at a town which, taking its name from +the locks, was called Clysmon, about ten miles to the south of Arsinoë. +This latter town was no longer a port, having been separated from the +sea by the continual advance of the sands. We have no knowledge of how +long the care of the imperial prefects kept this new canal open and in +use. It was perhaps one of the first of the Roman works that went to +decay; and, when we find the Christian pilgrims sailing along it seven +centuries later, on their way from England to the holy sepulchre, it had +been again opened by the Muhammedan conquerors of Egypt. + +[Illustration: 089.jpg ANTONINIAN TEMPLE NEAR SINAI] + +Writings which some now regard as literary forgeries appeared in +Alexandria about this time. They prophesied the re-establishment of +the Jews at Jerusalem, and, as the wished-for time drew near, all the +eastern provinces of the Roman empire were disturbed by rebellious +risings of the Jews. Moved by the religious enthusiasm which gave birth +to the writings, the Jews of Egypt in the eighteenth year of this +reign (116 A.D.) were again roused into a quarrel with their Greek +fellow-citizens; and in the next year, the last of the reign, they rose +against their Roman governors in open rebellion, and they were not put +down till the prefect Lupus had brought his forces against them. After +this the Jews of Cyrene marched through the desert into Egypt, under the +command of Lucuas, to help their brethren; and the rebellion took the +regular form of a civil war, with all its usual horrors. The emperor +sent against the Jews an army followed by a fleet, which, after numerous +skirmishes and battles, routed them with great slaughter, and drove +numbers of them back into the desert, whence they harassed the village +as robbers. By these unsuccessful appeals to force, the Jews lost all +right to those privileges of citizenship which they always claimed, and +which had been granted by the emperors, though usually refused by the +Alexandrians. The despair and disappointment of the Jews seem in many +cases to have turned their minds to the Christian view of the Old +Testament prophecies; henceforth, says Eusebius, the Jews embraced the +Christian religion more readily and in greater numbers. + +In A.D. 122, the sixth year of the reign of Hadrian, Egypt was honoured +by a visit from the emperor. He was led to Egypt at that time by some +riots of a character more serious than usual, which had arisen between +two cities, probably Memphis and Heliopolis, about a bull, as to whether +it was to be Apis or Mnevis. Egypt had been for some years without a +sacred bull; and when at length the priests found one, marked with the +mystic spots, the inhabitants of those two cities flew to arms, and +the peace of the province was disturbed by their religious zeal, each +claiming the bull as their own. + +Hadrian also undertook a voyage up the Nile from Alexandria in order to +explore the wonders of Egypt. This was the fashion then, for the ancient +monuments and the banks of this mysterious river offered just as many +attractions at that time as they have done to all nations since +the expedition of Napoleon. That animal-worship, which had remained +unchanged for centuries, a riddle of human religion, was bound to excite +the curiosity of strangers. In this divinisation of animals lay the +greatest contempt for human understanding, and it was a bitter satire +on the apotheosis of kings and emperors. For what was the divinity +of Sesostris, of Alexander, of Augustus, or Hadrian compared with +the heavenly majesty of the ox Apis, or the holy cats, dogs, kites, +crocodiles, and god-apes? Egypt was at this epoch already a museum of +the Pharaoh-time and its enbalamed culture. Strange buildings, rare +sculptures, hieroglyphics, and pictures still filled the ancient towns, +even though these had lost their splendour. Memphis and Heliopolis, +Bubastis, Abydos, Saïs, Tanis, and the hundred-gated Thebes had long +fallen into ruin, although still inhabited. + +The emperor’s escort must have been an extraordinary sight as it steered +up the stream on a fleet of dahabiehs. The emperor was accompanied by +students of the museum, interpreters, priests, and astrologers. Amongst +his followers were Verus and the beautiful Antinous. + +The Empress Sabina also accompanied him; she had the poetess Julia +Balbilla amongst her court ladies. They landed wherever there was +anything of interest to be seen, and there was more in those days than +there is now. They admired the great pyramids, the colossal sphinx, and +the sacred town of Memphis. This city, the ancient royal seat of the +Pharaohs, and even in Strabo’s time the second town in Egypt, was not +yet buried under the sand of the desert; its disappearance had, however, +already begun. Under the Ptolemies it had given much of the material of +her temples and palaces for the building of Alexandria. The great palace +of the Pharaohs had long been destroyed, but there still remained +many notable monuments, such as the temple of Phtah, the pyramids, the +necropolis, and the Serapeum, and they retained their ancient cult. +The town was still the chief seat of the Egyptian hierarchy and the +residence of Apis; for this very reason the Roman government had +destined it to be one of her strong military stations, for here a legion +was quartered. The emperor could walk through the time-worn avenues of +sphinxes which led to the wonderful vaults where the long succession of +divine animals was buried, each like a Pharaoh, in a magnificent granite +sarcophagus. Hadrian could admire the beautifully sculptured tomb of Di, +an Egyptian officer of the fifth dynasty, with less trouble than we +must experience now; for now the palaces, the pictures of the gods, +and almost all the pyramids are swallowed up in sand. Miserable Arab +villages, such as Saqqâra, have fixed themselves in the ruins of +Memphis, and from a thick palm grove one can look with astonishment +upon the torso of the powerful Ramses II. lying solitary there, the last +witness to the glory of the temple of Phtah, before which this colossus +once had its stand. In the neighbourhood of Memphis lay Heliopolis, the +town of the sun-god, with its ancient temple, and a school of Egyptian +wisdom, in which Plato is supposed to have studied. + +In Heliopolis the worship of the god Ra was preserved, the centre of +which was the holy animal Mnevis, a rival or comrade of Apis. Cambyses +had partly destroyed the temple and even the obelisks which the Pharaohs +had in the course of centuries erected to the sun-god; nowhere in Egypt +existed so many of these monuments as here and in Thebes. Hadrian saw +many of them lying half-burnt on the ground just as Strabo had done. +On the site of Heliopolis, now green with wheat-fields, only a single +obelisk has remained upright, which is considered as the oldest of all, +and was erected in the twelfth dynasty by Usirtasen I. + +The royal assemblage had arrived in the course of their journey at Besa, +a place on the right bank of the river, opposite Hermopolis, when a +strange event occurred. This was the death of Hadrian’s favourite, +Antinous, a young Greek from Claudiopolis, who had been degraded to the +position of Ganymede to the emperor on account of his beauty. It is not +known where the emperor first came across the youth; possibly in his +native land, Bithynia. Not till he came to Egypt did he become his +inseparable companion, and this must have been a deep offence to +his wife. The unfortunate queen was delivered in Besa from his hated +presence, for Antinous was drowned there in the Nile. + +His death was surrounded by mystery. Was it accident? Was he a victim? +Hadrian’s humanity protects him from the suspicion that he sacrificed +his victim in cold blood, as Tiberius had once sacrificed the beautiful +Hypatus in Capri. Had the fantastic youth sacrificed himself of his own +free will to the death divinities in order to save the emperor’s life? +Had the Egyptian priests foreseen in the stars some danger threatening +Hadrian, only to be averted by the death of his favourite? Such an idea +commended itself to the superstition of the time, especially in +this land and by the mysterious Nile. It corresponded, too, with the +emperor’s astrological arts. Was Antinous certain when he plunged into +the waves of the Nile that he would arise from them as a god? Hadrian +asserts in his memoirs that it was an accident, but no one believed him. +The divine honours which he paid to the dead youth lead us to suppose +that they formed the reward of a self-sacrifice, which, according to the +custom of those times, constituted a highly moral action, and was looked +upon as heroic devotion. At any rate, we will assume that this sacrifice +sank into the Nile without Hadrian’s will. Hadrian mourned for Antinous +with unspeakable pain and “womanly tears.” Now he was Achilles by the +corpse of Patroklus, or Alexander by the pyre of the dead Hephaistus. +He had the youth splendidly buried in Besa. This most extraordinary +intermezzo of all Nile journeys supplied dying heathendom with a new +god, and art with its last ideal form. Probably, also, during the +burial, far-sighted courtiers already saw the star of Antinous shining +in Egypt’s midnight sky, and then Hadrian saw it himself. + +In the mystical land of Egypt, life might still be poetical even in the +clear daylight of Roman universal history in the reign of Hadrian. The +death of the young Bithynian seems to have occurred in October, 130. +The emperor continued his journey as soon as he had given orders for +a splendid town to be erected on the site of Besa, in honour of his +friend. In November, 130, the royal company is to be found amongst the +ruins of Thebes. + +Thebes, the oldest town in Egypt, had been first put in the shade +by Memphis, and then destroyed by Cambyses. Since the time of the +Ptolemies, it had been called Diospolis, and Ptolemais had taken its +place as capital of the Thebaid. Already in Strabo’s time it was split +up. It formed on either side of the Nile groups of gigantic temples and +palaces, monuments, and royal graves similar to those scattered to-day +amongst Luxor, Karnak, Medinet-Habu, Deir-el-Bahari, and Kurna. + +[Illustration: 095.jpg COMMEMORATIVE COIN OF ANTINOUS] + +In Hadrian’s time the Rameseum, the so-called grave of Osymandias, on +the western bank of the Nile, the wonderful building of Ramses II., +must still have been in good repair. These pylons, pillars, arcades, and +courts, these splendid halls with their sculpture-covered walls, appear +even to have influenced the Roman art in the time of the emperors. Their +reflex influence has been even seen in Trajan’s forum, in which the +chief thing was the emperor’s tomb. + +In Alexandria the emperor mixed freely with the professors of the +museum, asking them questions and answering theirs in return; and he +dropped his tear of pity on the tomb of the great Pompey, in the form of +a Greek epigram, though with very little point. He laid out large sums +of money in building and ornamenting the city, and the Alexandrians were +much pleased with his behaviour. Among other honours that they paid +him, they changed the name of the month December, calling it the month +Hadrian; but as they were not followed by the rest of the empire the +name soon went out of use. The emperor’s patronage of philosophy was +rather at the cost of the Alexandrian museum, for he enrolled among its +paid professors men who were teaching from school to school in Italy and +Asia Minor. Thus Polemon of Laodicea, who taught oratory and philosophy +at Rome, Laodicea, and Smyrna, and had the right of a free passage for +himself and his servants in any of the public ships whenever he chose to +move from city to city for the purposes of study or teaching, had at +the same time a salary from the Alexandrian museum. Dionysius of Miletus +also received his salary as a professor in the museum while teaching +philosophy and mnemonicsat Miletus and Ephesus. Pancrates, the +Alexandrian poet, gained his salary in the museum by the easy task of a +little flattery. On Hadrian’s return to Alexandria from the Thebaid, the +poet presented to him a rose-coloured lotus, a flower well known in +India, though less common in Egypt than either the blue or white lotus, +and assured him that it had sprung out of the blood of the lion slain by +his royal javelin at a lion-hunt in Libya. + +[Illustration: 097.jpg ROSE-COLOURED LOTUS] + +The emperor was pleased with the compliment, and gave him a place in the +museum; and Pancrates in return named the plant the lotus of Antinous. +Pancrates was a warm admirer of the mystical opinions of the Egyptians +which were then coming into note in Alexandria. He was said to have +lived underground in holy solitude or converse with the gods for +twenty-three years, and during that time to have been taught magic by +the goddess Isis, and thus to have gained the power of working miracles. +He learned to call upon the queen of darkness by her Egyptian name +Hecate, and when driving out evil spirits to speak to them in the +Egyptian language. Whether these Greek students of the Eastern mysticism +were deceivers or deceived, whether they were led by a love of notoriety +or of knowledge, is in most cases doubtful, but they were surrounded by +a crowd of credulous admirers, who formed a strange contrast with the +sceptics and critics of the museum. + +Among the Alexandrian grammarians of this reign was Apollonius Dyscolus, +so called perhaps from a moroseness of manner, who wrote largely on +rhetoric, on the Greek dialects, on accents, prosody, and on other +branches of grammar. In the few pages that remain of his numerous +writings, we trace the love of the marvellous which was then growing +among some of the philosophers. He tells us many remarkable stories, +which he collected rather as a judicious inquirer than as a credulous +believer; such as of second sight; an account of a lad who fell asleep +in the field while watching his sheep, and then slept for fifty-seven +years, and awoke to wonder at the strangeness of the changes that had +taken place in the meanwhile; and of a man who after death used from +time to time to leave his body, and wander over the earth as a spirit, +till his wife, tired of his coming back again so often, put a stop to it +by having his mummy burnt. He gives us for the first time Eastern tales +in a Greek dress, and we thus learn the source from which Europe gained +much of its literature in the Middle Ages. The Alexandrian author of +greatest note at this time was the historian Appian, who tells us that +he had spent some years in Rome practising as a lawyer, and returned to +Egypt on being appointed to a high post in the government of his native +city. There he wrote his Roman history. + +In this reign the Jews, forgetful of what they had just suffered under +Trajan, again rose against the power of Rome; and, when Judæa rebelled +against its prefect, Tinnius Rufus, a little army of Jews marched out of +Egypt and Libya, to help their brethren and to free the holy land +(130 A.D.). But they were everywhere routed and put down with resolute +slaughter. + +[Illustration: 099.jpg VOCAL STATUE OF AMENHOTHES] + +Travellers, on reaching a distant point of a journey, or on viewing any +remarkable object of their curiosity, have at all times been fond of +carving or scribbling their names on the spot, to boast of their +prowess to after-comers; and never had any place been more favoured with +memorials of this kind than the great statue of Amenhôthes at Thebes. +This colossal statue, fifty-three feet high, was famed, as long as +the Egyptian priesthood lasted, for sending forth musical sounds +every morning at sunrise, when first touched by the sun’s rays; and no +traveller ever visited Thebes without listening for these remarkable +notes. The journey through Upper Egypt was at this time perfectly open +and safe, and the legs and feet of the statue are covered with names, +and inscriptions in prose and verse, of travellers who had visited it +at sunrise during the reigns of Hadrian and the Antonines. From these +curious memorials we learn that Hadrian visited Thebes a second time +with his queen, Sabina, in the fifteenth year of his reign. When the +empress first visited the statue she was disappointed at not hearing +the musical sounds; but, on her hinting threats of the emperor’s +displeasure, her curiosity was gratified on the following morning. +This gigantic statue of hard gritstone had formerly been broken in half +across the waist, and the upper part thrown to the ground, either by the +shock of an earthquake or the ruder shock of Persian zeal against the +Egyptian religion; and for some centuries past the musical notes had +issued from the broken fragments. Such was its fallen state when +the Empress Sabina saw it, and when Strabo and Juvenal and Pausanias +listened to its sounds; and it was not till after the reign of Hadrian +that it was again raised upright like its companion, as travellers now +see it. + +[Illustration: 100b..jpg The Slumber Song] + + From the painting by P. Grot. Johann + +From this second visit, and a longer acquaintance, Hadrian seems to have +formed a very poor opinion of the Egyptians and Egyptian Jews; and the +following curious letter, written in 134 A.D. to his friend Servianus, +throws much light upon their religion as worshippers of Serapis, at +the same time that it proves how numerous the Christians had become in +Alexandria, even within seventy years of the period during which the +evangelist Mark is believed to have preached there: + +“Hadrian Augustus to Servianus, the consul, greeting: + +“As for Egypt, which you were praising to me, dearest Servianus, I have +found its people wholly light, wavering, and flying after every breath +of a report. Those who worship Serapis are Christians, and those who +call themselves bishops of Christ are devoted to Serapis. There is +no ruler of a Jewish synagogue, no Samaritan, no presbyter of the +Christians, who is not a mathematician, an augur, and a soothsayer. The +very patriarch himself, when he came into Egypt, was by some said to +worship Serapis, and by others to worship Christ. As a race of men, they +are seditious, vain, and spiteful; as a body, wealthy and prosperous, +of whom nobody lives in idleness. Some blow glass, some make paper, and +others linen. There is work for the lame and work for the blind; even +those who have lost the use of their hands do not live in idleness. +Their one god is nothing; Christians, Jews, and all nations worship him. +I wish this body of men was better behaved, and worthy of their number; +for as for that they ought to hold the chief place in Egypt. I have +granted everything unto them; I have restored their old privileges, and +have made them grateful by adding new ones.” + + +Among the crowd of gods that had formerly been worshipped in Egypt, +Serapis had latterly been rising above the rest. He was the god of +the dead, who in the next world was to reward the good and punish the +wicked; and in the growing worship of this one all-seeing judge we +cannot but trace the downfall of some of the evils of polytheism. A +plurality in unity was another method now used to explain away the +polytheism. + +[Illustration: 102.jpg EGYPTIAN ORACLE] + +The oracle when consulted about the divine nature had answered, “I am +Ra, and Horus, and Osiris;” or, as the Greeks translated it, Apollo, +and Lord, and Bacchus; “I rule the hours and the seasons, the wind and +the storms, the day and the night; I am king of the stars and myself an +immortal fire.” Hence arose the opinion which seems to have been given +to Hadrian, that the Egyptians had only one god, and his mistake in +thinking that the worshippers of Serapis were Christians. The emperor, +indeed, himself, though a polytheist, was very little of an idolater; +for, though he wished to add Christ to the number of the Roman gods, +he on the other hand ordered that the temples built in his reign should +have no images for worship; and in after ages it was common to call +all temples without statues Hadrian’s temples. But there were other and +stronger reasons for Hadrian’s classing the Christians with the Egyptian +astrologers. A Christian heresy was then rising into notice in Egypt in +that very form, taking its opinions from the philosophy on which it was +engrafted. Before Christianity was preached in Alexandria, there were +already three religions or forms of philosophy belonging to the three +races of men who peopled that busy city; first, the Greek philosophy; +which was chiefly platonism; secondly, the mysticism of the Egyptians; +and lastly, the religion of the Jews. These were often more or less +mixed, as we see them all united in the works of Philo-Judæ; and in +the writings of the early converts we usually find Christianity clothed +in one or other of these forms, according to the opinions held by the +writers before their conversion. The first Christian teachers, the +apostolic fathers as they are called, because they had been hearers of +the apostles themselves, were mostly Jews; but among the Egyptians and +Greeks of Alexandria their religion lost much of its purely moral caste, +and became, with the former, an astrological mysticism, and with the +latter an abstract speculative theology. It is of the Egyptian Jews that +Hadrian speaks in his letter just quoted; many of them had been already +converted to Christianity, and their religion had taken the form of +Gnosticism. + +Gnosticism, or Science, for the name means no more, was not then new +in Alexandria, nor were its followers originally Christians. It was the +proud name claimed for their opinions by those who studied the Eastern +philosophy of the Magi; and Egypt seems to have been as much its native +soil as India. The name of Gnostic, says Weber, was generally given to +those who distinguished between belief on authority and gnosis, i.e., +between the ordinary comprehension and a higher knowledge only granted +to a few gifted or chosen ones. They were split up into different sects, +according as they approached more nearly the Eastern theosophy or the +platonic philosophy; but in general the Eastern conception, with its +symbols and unlimited fantasy, remained dominant. The “creed of those +who know” never reached actual monotheism, the conception of one +personal god, who created everything according to his own free will and +rules over everything with unlimited wisdom and love. The god of +the Gnostics is a dark, mysterious being which can only arrive at a +consciousness of itself through a manifold descending scale of forces, +which flow from the god himself. The visible world was created out of +dead and evil matter by Demiurgos, the divine work-master, a production +and subordinate of the highest god. Man, too, is a production of this +subordinate creator, a production subject to a blind fate, and a prey to +those powers which rule between heaven and earth, without free-will, +the only thing which makes the ideas of sin and responsibility possible. +Matter is the seat of evil, and as long as man stands under the +influence of this matter, he is in the hands of evil and knows no +freedom. Redemption can only reach him through those higher beings of +light, which free man from the power of matter and translate him into +the kingdom of light. According to the Gnostic teaching, Christ is +one of these beings of light; he is one of the highest who appeared on +earth, and is transformed into a mythical, allegorical being, with +his human nature, his sufferings and death completely suppressed. The +redeemed soul is then as a kind of angel, or ideal being, brought in +triumph into the idealistic realm of light as soon as it has purified +itself to the nature of a spirit, by means of penitence, chastisements, +and finally the death of the physical body. Hence the Gnostics attached +little importance to the means of mercy in the Church, to the Bible, or +the sacraments; they allowed the Church teaching to exist as a necessary +conception for the people, but they placed their own teachings far above +it as mysterious or secret teachings. As regards their morals and +mode of life, the Gnostics generally went to extremes. It was due to +Gnosticism that art and science found an entrance into the Church. It +preserved the Church from becoming stereotyped in form; but, built up +entirely on ideas and not on historical facts, it died from its own +hollowness and eccentricity. + +We still possess the traces of the Gnostic astrology in a number of +amulets and engraved gems, with the word _Abraxas_ or rather _Abrasax_ +and other emblems of their superstition, which they kept as charms +against diseases and evil spirits. The word _Abrasax_ may be translated +_Hurt me not_. To their mystic rites we may trace many of the reproaches +thrown upon Christianity, such as that the Christians worshipped the +head of an ass, using the animal’s Koptic name _Eeo_, to represent the +name of IAn, or Jahveh. To the same source we may also trace some of +the peculiarities of the Christian fathers, such as St. Ambrose calling +Jesus “the good scarabæus, who rolled up before him the hitherto +un-shapen mud of our bodies;” a thought which seems to have been +borrowed as much from the hieroglyphics as from the insect’s habits; and +perhaps from the Egyptian priests in some cases, using the scarabous +to denote the god Horus-Ra, and sometimes the word _only begotten_. We +trace this thought on the Gnostic gems where Ave see a winged griffin +rolling before him a wheel, the emblem of eternity. He sits like a +conqueror on horseback, trampling under foot the serpent of old, the +spirit of sin and death. His horse is in the form of a ram, with an +eagle’s head and the crowned asp or basilisk for its tail. Before him +stands the figure of victory giving him a crown; above are written the +words Alpha and Omega, and below perhaps the word [IAH], Jahveh. + +So far we have seen the form which Christianity at first took among the +Egyptians; but, as few writings by these Gnostics have come down to +our time, we chiefly know their opinions from the reproaches of their +enemies. It was not till the second generation of Gnostic teachers were +spreading their heresies that the Greek philosophers began to embrace +Christianity, or the Christians to study Greek literature; but as soon +as that was the case we have an unbroken chain of writings, in which +we find Christianity more or less mixed with the Alexandrian form of +platonism. + +[Illustration: 106.jpg KOPTIC CHARM AND SCARABEUS] + +The philosopher Justin, after those who had talked with the apostles, +is the earliest Christian writer whose works have reached us. He was a +Greek, born in Samaria; but he studied many years in Alexandria under +philosophers of all opinions. He did not, however, at once find in +the schools the wisdom he was in search for. The Stoic could teach him +nothing about God; the Peripatetic wished to be paid for his lessons +before he gave them; and the Pythagorean proposed to begin with music +and mathematics. + +[Illustration: 107.jpg GNOSTIC GEM] + +Not content with these, Justin turned to the platonist, whose purer +philosophy seemed to add wings to his thoughts, and taught him to mount +aloft towards true wisdom. While turning over in his mind what he had +thus learned in the several schools, dissatisfied with the philosopher’s +views, he chanced one day to meet with an old man walking on the +seashore near Alexandria, to whom he unbosomed his thoughts, and by whom +he was converted to Christianity. Justin tells us that there were no +people, whether Greeks or barbarians, or even dwellers in tent and +waggons, among whom prayers were not offered up to the heavenly father +in the name of the crucified Jesus. The Christians met every Sunday for +public worship, which began with a reading from the prophets, or from +the memoirs of the apostles called the gospels. This was followed by +a sermon, a prayer, the bread and wine, and a second prayer. Justin’s +quotations prove that he is speaking of the New Testament, which within +a hundred years of the crucifixion wras read in all the principal cities +in which Greek was spoken. Justin died as a martyr in 163 A.D. + +The platonic professorship in Alexandria had usually been held by an +Athenian, and for a short time Athenagoras of Athens taught that branch +of philosophy in the museum; but he afterwards embraced the Christian +religion, and then taught Christianity openly in Alexandria. He enjoys +with Justin the honour of being one of the first men of learning who +were converted, and, like Justin, his chief work is an apology for the +Christians, addressed to the emperor, Marcus Aurelius. + +[Illustration: 108.jpg GEMS SHOWING SYMBOL OF DEATH AND THE WORD [ÎAH] +JAVEH] + +Athenagoras confines himself in his defence to the resurrection from +the dead and the unity of the Deity, the points chiefly attacked by the +pagans. + +Hadrian’s Egyptian coins are remarkable both for number and variety. In +the sixth year of the reign we see a ship with spread sails, most likely +in gratitude for the emperor’s safe arrival in Egypt. In the eighth year +we see the head of the favourite Antinous, who had been placed among the +gods of the country. In the eleventh year, when the emperor took up the +tribunitial power at Rome for a second period of ten years, we find a +series of coins, each bearing the name of the nome or district in which +it was coined. This indeed is the most remarkable year of the most +remarkable reign in the whole history of coinage; we have numerous coins +for every year of this reign, and, in this year, for nearly every nome +in Egypt. Some coins are strongly marked with the favourite opinion of +the Gnostics as to the opposition between good and evil. + +[Illustration: 109.jpg Hadrian’s Egyptian coins] + +On one we have the war between the serpent of good and the serpent of +evil, distinguished by their different forms and by the emblems of Isis +and Serapis; on others the heads of Isis and Serapis, the principles of +love and fear; while on a third these two are united into a trinity by +Horus, who is standing on an eagle instead of having an eagle’s head, as +represented on previous coins. + +The beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138) was remarkable +as being the end of the Sothic period of one thousand four hundred and +sixty years; the movable new year’s day of the calendar had come round +to the place in the natural year from which it first began to move in +the reign of Menophres or Thûtmosis III.; it had come round to the day +when the dog-star rose heliacally. If the years had been counted from +the beginning of this great year, there could have been no doubt when it +came to an end, as from the want of a leap year the new year’s day +must have been always moving one day in four years; but no satisfactory +reckoning of the years had been kept, and, as the end of the period was +only known by observation, there was some little doubt about the exact +year. Indeed, among the Greek astronomers, Dositheus said the dog-star +rises heliacally twenty-three days after midsummer, Meton twenty-eight +days, and Euctemon thirty-one days; they thus left a doubt of thirty-two +years as to when the period should end, but the statesmen placed it in +the first year of the reign of Antoninus. This end of the Sothic period +Avas called the return to the phoenix, and had been looked forward to by +the Egyptians for many years, and is well marked on the coins of this +reign. The coins for the first eight years teem with astronomy. There +are several with the goddess Isis in a boat, which we know, from the +zodiac in the Memnonium at Thebes, was meant for the heliacal rising of +the dog-star. In the second and in the sixth year we find on the coins +the remarkable word aion, _the age_ or _period_, and an ibis with a +glory of rays round its head, meant for the bird phoenix. In the seventh +year we see Orpheus playing on his lyre while all the animals of the +forest are listening, thus pointing out the return of the golden age. +In the eighth year we have the head of Serapis circled by the seven +planets, and the whole within the twelve signs of the zodiac; and on +another coin we have the sun and moon within the signs of the zodiac. A +series of twelve coins for the same year tells us that the house of the +sun, in the language of the astrologers, is in the lion, that of the +moon in the crab, the houses of Venus in the scales and the bull, those +of Mars in the scorpion and the ram, those of Jupiter in the archer +and the fishes, those of Saturn in the sea-goat and aquarius, those of +Mercury in the virgin and the twins. On the coins of the same year we +have the eagle and thunderbolt, the sphinx, the bull Apis, the Nile and +crocodile, Isis nursing the child Horus, the hawk-headed Aroëris, and +the winged sun. On coins of other years we have a camelopard, Horus +sitting on the lotus-flower, and a sacrifice to Isis, which was +celebrated on the last day of the year. + +The coins also tell us of the bountiful overflow of the Nile, and of +the goodness of the harvests that followed; thus, in the ninth, tenth, +thirteenth, and seventeenth years, we see the river Nile in the form +of an old man leaning on a crocodile, pouring corn and fruit out of a +cornucopia, while a child by his side, with the figures 36, tells +us that in those years the waters of the Nile rose at Memphis to the +wished-for height of sixteen cubits. From these latter coins it would +seem that but little change had taken place in the soil of the Delta by +the yearly deposit of mud; Herodotus says that sixteen cubits was the +wished-for rise of the Nile at Memphis when he was there. And we should +almost think that the seasons were more favourable to the husbandman +during the reign of an Antonine than of a Caligula, did we not set it +down to the canals being better cleansed by the care of the prefect, and +to the mildness of the government leaving the people at liberty to enjoy +the bounties of nature, and at the same time making them more grateful +in acknowledging them. + +[Illustration: 112.jpg COINS OF ANTONINUS PIUS.] + +The mystic emblems on the coins are only what we might look for from the +spread of the Gnostic opinions, and the eagerness with which the Greeks +were copying the superstitions of the Egyptians; and, while astrology +was thus countenanced by the state, of course it was not less followed +by the people. The poor Jews took to it as a trade. In Alexandria the +Jewess, half beggar, half fortune-teller, would stop people in the +streets and interpret dreams by the help of the Bible, or sit under a +sacred tree like a sibyl, and promise wealth to those who consulted her, +duly proportioned to the size of the coin by which she was paid. We find +among the Theban ruins pieces of papyrus with inscriptions, describing +the positions of the heavens at particular hours in this reign, for the +astrologers therewith to calculate the nativities of the persons then +born. On one is a complete horoscope, containing the places of the sun, +moon, and every planet, noted down on the zodiac in degrees and minutes +of a degree; and with these particulars the mathematician undertook to +foretell the marriage, fortune, and death of the person who had been +born at the instant when the heavenly bodies were so situated; and, as +the horoscope was buried in the tomb with the mummy, we must suppose +that it was thought that the prognostication would hold good even in the +next world. + +But astrology was not the only end to which mathematics were then +turned. Claudius Ptolemy, the astronomer and geographer, was at that +time the ornament of the mathematical school of Alexandria. In his +writings he treats of the earth as the centre of the heavens, and the +sun, moon, and planets as moving in circles and epicycles round it. This +had been the opinion of some of the early astronomers; but since this +theory of the heavens received the stamp of his authority, it is now +always called the Ptolemaic system. + +In this reign was made a new survey of all the military roads in the +Roman empire, called the _Itinerary of Antoninus_. It included the +great roads of Egypt, which were only six in number. One was from +Contra-Pselcis in Nubia along the east bank of the Nile, to Babylon +opposite Memphis, and there turning eastward through Heliopolis and the +district of the Jews to Clysmon, where Trajan’s canal entered the Red +Sea. A second, from Memphis to Pelusium, made use of this for +about thirty miles, joining it at Babylon, and leaving it at Scense +Veteranorum. By these two roads a traveller could go from Pelusium to +the head of the Red Sea; but there was a shorter road through the desert +which joined the first at Serapion, about fifty miles from Clysmon, +instead of at Sceno Veteranorum, which was therefore about a hundred +miles shorter. A fourth was along the west bank of the Nile from Hiera +Sycaminon in Nubia to Alexandria, leaving the river at Andropolis, +about sixty miles from the latter city. A fifth was from Palestine to +Alexandria, running along the coast of the Mediterranean from Raphia to +Pelusium, and thence, leaving the coast to avoid the flat country, which +was under water during the inundation; it joined the last at Andropolis. +The sixth road was from Koptos on the Nile to Berenicê on the Red Sea. +These six were probably the only roads under the care of the prefect. +Though Syênê was the boundary of the province of Egypt, the Roman power +was felt for about one hundred miles into Nubia, and we find the names +of the emperors on several temples between Syênê and Hiera Sycaminon. +But beyond this, though we find inscriptions left by Roman travellers, +the emperors seem never to have aimed at making military roads, or +holding any cities against the inroads of the Blemmyes and other Arabs. + +To this survey we must add the valuable geographical knowledge given +by Arrian in his voyage round the shores of the Red Sea, which has come +down to us in an interesting document, wherein he mentions the several +seaports and their distances, with the tribes and cities near the +coast. The trade of Egypt to India, Ethiopia, and Arabia was then most +valuable, and carried on with great activity; but, as the merchandise +was in each case carried only for short distances from city to city, the +traveller could gain but little knowledge of where it came from, or even +sometimes of where it was going. + +[Illustration: 115.jpg STATUE OF THE NILE] + +The Egyptians sent coarse linen, glass bottles, brazen vessels, brass +for money, and iron for weapons of war and hunting; and they received +back ivory, rhinoceros’ teeth, Indian steel, Indian ink, silks, slaves, +tortoise-shell, myrrh, and other scents, with many other Eastern +articles of high price and little weight. The presents which the +merchants made to the petty kings of Arabia were chiefly horses, mules, +and gold and silver vases. Beside this, the ports on the Red Sea carried +on a brisk trade among themselves in grain, expressed oil, wicker +boats, and sugar. Of sugar, or honey from the cane, this is perhaps +the earliest mention found in history; but Arrian does not speak of +the sugar-cane as then new, nor does he tell us where it was grown. Had +sugar been then seen for the first time he would certainly have said +so; it must have been an article well known in the Indian trade. While +passing through Egypt on his travels, or while living there and holding +some post under the prefect, the historian Arrian has left us his name +and a few lines of poetry carved on the foot of the great sphinx near +the pyramids. + +At this time also the travellers continued to carve their names and +their feelings of wonder on the foot of the musical statue at Thebes and +in the deep empty tombs of the Theban kings. These inscriptions are full +of curious information. For example, it has been doubted whether the +Roman army was provided with medical officers. Their writers have not +mentioned them. But part of the Second Legion was at this time stationed +at Thebes; and one Asclepiades, while cutting his name in a tomb which +once held some old Theban, has cleared up the doubt for us, by saying +that he was physician to the Second Legion. + +Antoninus made a hippodrome, or race-course, for the amusement of the +citizens of Alexandria, and built two gates to the city, called the gate +of the sun and the gate of the moon, the former fronting the harbour and +the latter fronting the lake Mareotis, and joined by the great street +which ran across the whole width of the city. But this reign was not +wholly without trouble; there was a rebellion in which the prefect +Dinarchus lost his life, and for which the Alexandrians were severely +punished by the emperor. + +[Illustration: 117.jpg COINS OF MARCUS AURELIUS] + +The coins of Marcus Aurelius, the successor of Antoninus Pius, have a +rich variety of subjects, falling not far short of those of the last +reign. On those of the fifth year, the bountiful overflow of the Nile is +gratefully acknowledged by the figure of the god holding a cornucopia, +and a troop of sixteen children playing round him. It had been not +unusual in hieroglyphical writing to express a thought by means of a +figure which in the Koptic language had nearly the same sound; and we +have seen this copied on the coins in the case of a Greek word, when the +bird phoenix was used for the palm-branch phoenix, or the hieroglyphical +word _year_; and a striking instance may be noticed in the case of a +Latin word, as the sixteen children or _cupids_ mean sixteen _cubits_, +the wished-for height of the Nile’s overflow. The statue of the Nile, +which had been carried by Vespasian to Rome and placed in the temple of +Peace, was surrounded by the same sixteen children. On the coins of his +twelfth year the sail held up by the goddess Isis is blown towards the +Pharos lighthouse, as if in that year the emperor had been expected in +Alexandria. + +We find no coins in the eleventh or fourteenth years of this reign, +which makes it probable that it was in the eleventh year (A.D. 172) that +the rebellion of the native soldiers took place. These were very likely +Arabs who had been admitted into the ranks of the legions, but having +withdrawn to the desert they now harassed the towns with their marauding +inroads, and a considerable time elapsed before they were wholly put +down by Avidius Cassius at the head of the legions. But Cassius himself +was unable to resist the temptations which always beset a successful +general, and after this victory he allowed himself to be declared +emperor by the legions of Egypt; and this seems to have been the cause +of no coins being struck in Alexandria in the fourteenth year of the +reign. Cassius left his son Moecianus in Alexandria with the title of +Pretorian Prefect, while he himself marched into Syria to secure that +province. There the legions followed the example of their brethren in +Egypt, and the Syrians were glad to acknowledge a general of the Eastern +armies as their sovereign. But on Marcus leading an army into Syria he +was met with the news that the rebels had repented, and had put Cassius +to death, and he then moved his forces towards Egypt; but before his +arrival the Egyptian legions had in the same manner put Moecianus to +death, and all had returned to their allegiance. + +When Marcus arrived in Alexandria the citizens were agreeably surprised +by the mildness of his conduct. He at once forgave his enemies; and +no offenders were put to death for having joined in the rebellion. The +severest punishment, even to the children of Cassius, was banishment +from the province, but without restraint, and with the forfeiture of +less than half their patrimony. In Alexandria the emperor laid aside the +severity of the soldier, and mingled with the people as a fellow-citizen +in the temples and public places; while with the professors in the +museum he was a philosopher, joining them in their studies in the +schools. + +Borne and Athens at this time alike looked upon Alexandria as the centre +of the world’s learning. The library was then in its greatest glory; +the readers were numerous, and Christianity had as yet raised no doubts +about the value of its pagan treasures. All the wisdom of Greece, +written on rolls of brittle papyrus or tough parchment, was ranged in +boxes on the shelves. Of these writings the few that have been saved +from the wreck of time are no doubt some of the best, and they are +perhaps enough to guide our less simple taste towards the unornamented +grace of the Greek model. But we often fancy those treasures most +valuable that are beyond our reach, and hence when we run over the names +of the authors in this library we think perhaps too much of those which +are now missing. The student in the museum could have read the lyric +poems of Alcæus and Stersichorus, which in matter and style were +excellent enough to be judged not quite so good as Homer; the tender +lamentations of Simonides; the warm breathings of Sappho, the tenth +muse; the pithy iambics of Archilochus, full of noble flights and +brave irregularities; the comedies of Menander, containing every kind +of excellence; those of Eupolis and Cratinus, which were equal to +Aristophanes; the histories of Theopompus, which in the speeches were +as good as Thucydides; the lively, agreeable orations of Hyperides, the +accuser of Demosthenes; with the books of travels, chronologies, and +countless others of less merit for style and genius, but which, if they +had been saved, would not have left Egypt wholly without a history. + +[Illustration: 120.jpg ALEXANDRIAN FORMS OF WRITING] + +The trade of writing and making copies of the old authors employed +a great many hands in the neighbourhood of the museum. Two kinds of +handwriting were in use. One was a running hand, with the letters joined +together in rather a slovenly manner; and the other a neat, regular +hand, with the letters square and larger, written more slowly but read +more easily. Those that wrote the first were called _quick-writers_, +those that wrote the second were called _book-writers_. If an author was +not skilled in the use of the pen, he employed a _quickwriter_ to write +down his words as he delivered them. But in order that his work might be +published it was handed over to the _book-writers_ to be copied out more +neatly; and numbers of young women, skilled in penmanship, were employed +in the trade of copying books for sale. For this purpose parchment +was coming into use, though the old papyrus was still used, as an +inexpensive though less lasting writing material. + +Athenæus, if we may judge from Iris writings, was then the brightest of +the Alexandrian wits and men of learning. We learn from his own pages +that he was born at Naucratis, and was the friend of Pancrates, who +lived under Hadrian, and also of Oppian, who died in the reign of +Caracalla. His _Deipnosophist_, or table-talk of the philosophers, is a +large work full of pleasing anecdotes and curious information, gathered +from comic writers and authors without number that have long since been +lost. But it is put together with very little skill. His industry and +memory are more remarkable than his judgment or good taste; and the +table-talk is too often turned towards eating and drinking. His amusing +work is a picture of society in Alexandria, where everything frivolous +was treated as grave, and everything serious was laughed at. The wit +sinks into scandal, the humour is at the cost of morality, and the +numerous quotations are chosen for their point, not for any lofty +thoughts or noble feeling. Alexandria was then as much the seat of +literary wit as it was of dry criticism; and Martial, the lively author +of the _Epigrams_, had fifty years before remarked that there were few +places in the world where he would more wish his verses to be repeated +than on the banks of the Nile. + +Nothing could be lower than the poetic taste in Alexandria at this time. +The museum was giving birth to a race of poets who, instead of bringing +forth thoughts out of their own minds, found them in the storehouse of +the memory only. They wrote their patchwork poems by the help of Homer’s +lines, which they picked from all parts of the Iliad and Odyssey and +so put together as to make them tell a new tale. They called themselves +Homeric poets. + +Lucian, the author of the _Dialogues_, was at that time secretary to the +prefect of Egypt, and this philosopher found a broad mark for his +humour in the religion of the Egyptians, their worship of animals and +water-jars, their love of magic, the general mourning through the land +on the death of the bull Apis, their funeral ceremonies, their placing +of their mummies round the dinner-table as so many guests, and pawning a +father or a brother when in want of money. + +[Illustration: 122.jpg A SNAKE-CHARMER] + +So little had the customs changed that the young Egyptians of high birth +still wore their long hair tied in one lock, and hanging over the right +ear, as we see on the Theban sculptures fifteen centuries earlier. It +was then a mark of royalty, but had since been adopted by many families +of high rank, and continues to be used even in the twentieth century. + +[Illustration: 123.jpg THE SIGN OF NOBILITY] + +Before the end of this reign we meet with a strong proof of the spread +of Christianity in Egypt. The number of believers made it necessary for +the Bishop of Alexandria to appoint three bishops under him, to look +after the churches in three other cities; and accordingly Demetrius, who +then held that office, took upon himself the rank, if not the name, of +Patriarch of Alexandria. A second proof of the spread of Christianity +is the pagan philosophers thinking it necessary to write against it. +Celsus, an Epicurean of Alexandria, was one of the first to attack it. +Origen answered the several arguments of Celsus with skill and candour. +He challenges his readers to a comparison between the Christians and +pagans in point of morals, in Alexandria or in any other city. He +argues in the most forcible way that Christianity had overcome all +difficulties, and had spread itself far and wide against the power of +kings and emperors, and he says that nobody but a Christian ever died +a martyr to the truth of his religion. He makes good use of the Jewish +prophecies; but he brings forward no proofs in support of the truth of +the gospel history; they were not wanted, as Celsus and the pagans had +not considered it necessary to call it into question. + +Another proof of the number of Egyptian Christians is seen in the +literary frauds of which their writers were guilty, most likely to +satisfy the minds of those pagan converts that they had already made +rather than from a wish to make new believers. About this time was +written by an unknown Christian author a poem in eight books, named the +_Sibylline Verses_ which must not be mistaken for the pagan fragments +of the same name. It is written in the form of a prophecy, in the style +used by the Gnostics, and is full of dark sentences and half-expressed +hints. + +Another spurious Christian work of about the same time is the +_Clementina_, or the _Recognitions of Clemens_, Bishop of Rome. It is +an account of the travels of the Apostle Peter and his conversation with +Simon Magus; but the author’s knowledge of the Egyptian mythology, of +the opinions of the Greek philosophers, and of the astrological rules by +which fortunes are foretold from the planets’ places, amply prove that +he was an Egyptian or an Alexandrian. No name ranked higher among the +Christians than that of Clemens Romanus; and this is only one out of +several cases of Christian authors who wished to give weight to their +own opinions by passing them upon the world as his writings. + +Marcus Aurelius, who died in 181 A.D., had pardoned the children of the +rebel general Avidius Cassius, but Commodus began his reign by putting +them to death; and, while thus disregarding the example and advice of +his father, he paid his memory the idle compliment of continuing his +series of dates on his own coins. But the Egyptian coinage of Commodus +clearly betrays the sad change that was gradually taking place in the +arts of the country; we no longer see the former beauty and variety of +subjects; and the silver, which had before been very much mixed with +copper, was under Commodus hardly to be known from brass. + +[Illustration: 125.jpg CARTOUCHE OF COMMODUS] + +Commodus was very partial to the Egyptian superstitions, and he adopted +the tonsure, and had his head shaven like a priest of Isis, that he +might more properly carry an Anubis staff in sacred processions, which +continued to be a feature of the religious activities of the age. Upper +Egypt had latterly been falling off in population. It had been drained +of all its hoarded wealth. Its carrying trade through Koptos to the Red +Sea was much lessened. Any tribute that its temples received from the +piety of the neighbourhood was small. Nubia was a desert; and a few +soldiers at Syênê were enough to guard the poverty of the Thebaid +from the inroads of the Blemmyes. It was no longer necessary to +send criminals to the Oasis; it was enough to banish them to the +neighbourhood of Thebes. Hence we learn but little of the state of +the country. Now and then a traveller, after measuring the pyramids of +Memphis and the underground tombs of Thebes, might venture as far as the +cataracts, and watch the sun at noon on the longest day shining to the +bottom of the sacred well at Syênê, like the orator Aristides and his +friend Dion. But such travellers were few; the majority of those who +made this journey have left the fact on record. + +The celebrated museum, which had held the vast library of the Ptolemies, +had been burnt by the soldiers of Julius Cæsar in one of their battles +with the Egyptian army in the streets of Alexandria; but the loss had +been in part repaired by Mark Antony’s gift of the library from Pergamus +to the temple of Serapis. The new library, however, would seem to have +been placed in a building somewhat separated from the temple, as when +the temple of Serapis was burnt in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and +again when it was in part destroyed by fire in the second year of this +reign we hear of no loss of books; and two hundred years later the +library of the Serapium, it is said, had risen to the number of seven +hundred thousand volumes. The temple-keeper to the great god Serapis, or +one of the temple-keepers, at this time was Asclepiades, a noted boxer +and wrestler, who had been made chief of the wrestling-ground and had +received the high rank of the emperor’s freedman. He set up a statue to +his father Demetrius, an equally noted boxer and wrestler, who had been +chief priest of the wrestling-ground and of the emperor’s baths in the +last reign. + +[Illustration: 126.jpg THE ANUBIS STAFF] + +Another favourite in the theatre was Apolaustus of Memphis, who removed +to Rome, where he was crowned as conqueror in the games, and as a reward +made priest to Apollo and emperor’s freedman. + +The city of Canopus was still a large mart for merchandise, as the +shallow but safe entrance to its harbour made it a favourite with pilots +of the small trading vessels, who rather dreaded the rocks at the mouth +of the harbour of Alexandria. A temple of Serapis which had lately been +built at Canopus was dedicated to the god in the name of the Emperor +Commodus; and there some of the grosser superstitions of the polytheists +fled before the spread of Christianity and platonism in Alexandria. The +Canopic jars, which held those parts of the body that could not be made +solid in the mummy, and which had the heads of the four lesser gods +of the dead on their lids, received their name from this city. The +sculptures on the beautiful temples of Contra-Latopolis were also +finished in this reign, and the emperor’s names and titles were carved +on the walls in hieroglyphics, with those of the Ptolemies, under whom +the temple itself had been built. Commodus may perhaps not have been +the last emperor whose name and praises were carved in hieroglyphics; +but all the great buildings in the Thebaid, which add such value to the +early history of Egypt, had ceased before his reign. Other buildings of +a less lasting form were no doubt being built, such as the Greek temples +at Antinoopolis and Ptolemais, which have long since been swept away; +but the Egyptian priests, with their gigantic undertakings, their noble +plan of working for after ages rather than for themselves, were nearly +ruined, and we find no ancient building now standing in Egypt that was +raised after the time of the dynasty of the Antonines. + +[Illustration: 128.jpg CANOPIC JARS] + +But the poverty of the Egyptians was not the only cause why they built +no more temples. Though the colossal statue of Amenhôthes uttered +its musical notes every morning at sunrise, still tuneful amid the +desolation with which it was surrounded, and the Nile was still +worshipped at midsummer by the husbandman to secure its fertilising +overflow; nevertheless, the religion itself for which the temples had +been built was fast giving way before the silent spread of Christianity. +The religion of the Egyptians, unlike that of the Greeks, was no +longer upheld by the magistrate; it rested solely on the belief of its +followers, and it may have merged into Christianity the faster for the +greater number of truths which were contained in it than in the paganism +of other nations. The scanty hieroglyphical records tell us little +of thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Indeed that cumbersome mode of +writing, which alone was used in religious matters, was little fitted +for anything beyond the most material parts of their mythology. Hence +we must not believe that the Egyptian polytheism was quite so gross as +would appear from the sculptures; and indeed we there learn that they +believed, even at the earliest times, in a resurrection from the tomb, a +day of judgment, and a future state of rewards and punishments. + +The priests made a great boast of their learning and philosophy, and +could each repeat by heart those books of Thot which belonged to his own +order. The singer, who walked first in the sacred processions, bearing +the symbols of music, could repeat the books of hymns and the rules for +the king’s life. The soothsayer, who followed, carrying a clock and a +palm-branch, the emblem of the year, could repeat the four astrological +books; one on the moon’s phases, one on the fixed stars, and two on +their heliacal risings. The scribe, who walked next, carrying a book +and the flat rule which held the ink and pen, was acquainted with the +geography of the world and of the Nile, and with those books which +describe the motions of the sun, moon, and planets, and the furniture +of the temple and consecrated places. The master of the robes understood +the ten books relating to education, to the marks on the sacred +heifers, and to the worship of the gods, embracing the sacrifices, the +first-fruits, the hymns, the prayers, the processions, and festivals. +The prophet or preacher, who walked last, carrying in his arms the +great water-pot, was the president of the temple, and learned in the ten +books, called hieratic, relating to the laws, the gods, the management +of the temples, and the revenue. Thus, of the forty-two chief books of +Thot, thirty-six were learned by these priests, while the remaining +six on the body, its diseases, and medicines, were learned by the +Pastophori, priests who carried the image of the god in a small shrine. +These books had been written at various times: some may have been very +old, but some were undoubtedly new; they together formed the Egyptian +bible. Apollonius, or Apollonides Horapis, an Egyptian priest, had +lately published a work on these matters in his own language, named +Shomenuthi, _the book of the gods_. + +[Illustration: 130.jpg RELIGIOUS PROCESSION] + +But the priests were no longer the earnest, sincere teachers as of +old; they had invented a system of secondary meanings, by which they +explained away the coarse religion of their statues and sacred animals. + +They had two religions, one for the many and one for the few; one, +material and visible, for the crowds in the outer courtyards, in which +the hero was made a god and every attribute of deity was made a person; +and another, spiritual and intellectual, for the learned in the schools +and sacred colleges. Even if we were not told, we could have no doubt +but the main point of secret knowledge among the learned was a disbelief +in those very doctrines which they were teaching to the vulgar, and +which they now explained among themselves by saying that they had a +second meaning. This, perhaps, was part of the great secret of the +goddess Isis, the secret of Abydos, the betrayer of which was more +guilty than he who should try to stop the _baris_ or sacred barge in the +procession on the Nile. The worship of gods, before whose statues the +nation had bowed with unchanging devotion for at least two thousand +years was now drawing to a close. Hitherto the priests had been able to +resist all new opinions. + +[Illustration: 131.jpg SHRINE] + +The name of Amon-Ra had at one time been cut out from the Theban +monuments to make way for a god from Lower Egypt; but it had been cut in +again when the storm passed by. The Jewish monotheism had left the +crowd of gods unlessened. The Persian efforts had overthrown statues and +broken open temples, but had not been able to introduce their worship of +the sun. The Greek conquerors had yielded to the Egyptian mind without +a struggle; and Alexander had humbly begged at the door of the temple +to be acknowledged as a son of Amon. But in the fulness of time +these opinions, which seemed as firmly based as the monuments which +represented them, sunk before a religion which set up no new statues, +and could command no force to break open temples. + +The Egyptian priests, who had been proud of the superiority of their own +doctrines over the paganism of their neighbours, mourned the overthrow +of their national religion. “Our land,” says the author of Hermes +Trismegistus, “is the temple of the world; but, as wise men should +foresee all things, you should know that a time is coming when it will +seem that the Egyptians have by an unfailing piety served God in +vain. For when strangers shall possess this kingdom religion will +be neglected, and laws made against piety and divine worship, with +punishment on those who favour it. Then this holy seat will be full of +idolatry, idols’ temples, and dead men’s tombs. O Egypt, Egypt, there +shall remain of thy religion but vague stories which posterity will +refuse to believe, and words graven in stone recounting thy piety. The +Scythian, the Indian, or some other barbarous neighbour shall dwell in +Egypt. The Divinity shall reascend into the heaven; and Egypt shall be a +desert, widowed of men and gods.” + +The spread of Christianity among the Egyptians was such that their +teachers found it necessary to supply them with a life of Jesus, written +in their own language, that they might the more readily explain to +them his claim to be obeyed, and the nature of his commands. The Gospel +according to the Egyptians, for such was the name this work bore, has +long since been lost, and was little quoted by the Alexandrians. It was +most likely a translation from one of the four gospels, though it had +some different readings suited to its own church, and contained some +praise of celibacy not found in the New Testament; but it was not valued +by the Greeks, and was lost on the spread of the Koptic translation of +the whole New Testament. + +The grave, serious Christians of Upper Egypt were very unlike the lively +Alexandrians. But though the difference arose from peculiarities of +national character, it was only spoken of as a difference of opinion. +The Egyptians formed an ascetic sect in the church, who were called +heretics by the Alexandrians, and named Docetas, because they taught +that the Saviour was a god, and did not really suffer on the cross, but +was crucified only _in appearance_. They of necessity used the Gospel +according to the Egyptians, which is quoted by Cassianus, one of their +writers; many of them renounced marriage with, the other pleasures +and duties of social life, and placed their chief virtue in painful +self-denial; and out of them sprang that remarkable class of hermits, +monks, and fathers of the desert who in a few centuries covered Europe +with monasteries. + +It is remarkable that the translation of a gospel into Koptic introduced +a Greek alphabet into the Koptic language. Though for all religious +purposes the scribes continued to use the ancient hieroglyphics, in +which we trace the first steps by which pictures are made to represent +words and syllables rather than letters, yet for the common purposes of +writing they had long since made use of the _enchorial_ or common hand, +in which the earlier system of writing is improved by the characters +representing only letters, though sadly too numerous for each to have a +fixed and well-known force. But, as the hieroglyphics were also always +used for carved writing on all subjects, and the common hand only used +on papyrus with a reed pen, the latter became wholly an indistinct +running hand; it lost that beauty and regularity which the +hieroglyphics, like the Greek and Roman characters, kept by being carved +on stone, and hence it would seem arose the want of a new alphabet for +the New Testament. This was made by merely adding to the Greek alphabet +six new letters borrowed from the hieroglyphics for those sounds which +the Greeks did not use; and the writing was then written from left to +right like a European language instead of in either direction according +to the skill or fancy of the scribe. + +It was only upon the ancient hieroglyphics thus falling into disuse that +the Greeks of Alexandria, almost for the first time, had the +curiosity to study the principles on which they were written. Clemens +Alexandrinus, who thought no branch of knowledge unworthy of his +attention, gives a slight account of them, nearly agreeing with the +results of our modern discoveries. He mentions the three kinds of +writing; first, the _hieroglyphic_; secondly, the _hieratic_, which is +nearly the same, but written with a pen, and less ornamental than +the carved figures; and thirdly, the _demotic_, or common alphabetic +writing. He then divides the hieroglyphic into the alphabetic and +the symbolic; and lastly, he divides the symbolic characters into the +imitative, the figurative, and those formed like riddles. As instances +of these last we may quote, for the first, the three zigzag lines which +by simple imitation mean “water;” for the second, the oval which mean +“a name,” because kings’ names were written within ovals; and for the +third, a cup with three anvils, which mean “Lord of Battles,” because +“cup” and “lord” have nearly the same sound _neb_, and “anvils” and +“battles” have nearly the same sound _meshe_. + +In this reign Pantonus of Athens, a Stoic philosopher, held the first +place among the Christians of Alexandria. He is celebrated for uniting +the study of heathen learning with a religious zeal which led him to +preach Christianity in Abyssinia. + +[Illustration: 135.jpg HIEROGLYPHIC, HIERATIC, AND DEMOTIC WRITING] + +He introduced a taste for philosophy among the Christians; and, though +Athenagoras rather deserves that honour, he was called the founder +of the catechetical school which gave birth to the series of learned +Christian writers that flourished in Alexandria for the next century. To +have been a learned man and a Christian, and to have encouraged learning +among the catechists in his schools may seem deserving of no great +praise. Was the religion of Jesus to spread ignorance and darkness over +the world? But we must remember that a new religion cannot be introduced +without some danger that learning and science may get forbidden, +together with the ancient superstitions which had been taught in the +same schools; we shall hereafter see that in the quarrels between pagans +and Christians, and again between the several sects of Christians, +learning was often reproached with being unfavourable to true religion; +and then it will be granted that it was no small merit to have founded +a school in which learning and Christianity went hand in hand for nearly +two centuries. Pantænus has left no writings of his own, and is best +known through his pupil or fellow-student, Clemens. He is said to have +brought with him to Alexandria, from the Jewish Christians that he met +with on his travels, a copy of St. Matthew’s Gospel in the original +Hebrew, a work now unfortunately lost, which, if we possessed it, would +settle for us the disputed point, whether or no it contained all that +now bears that Apostle’s name in the Greek translation. + +The learned, industrious, and pious Clemens, who, to distinguish him +from Clemens of Rome, is usually called Clemens Alexandrinus, succeeded +Pantænus in the catechetical school, and was at the same time a +voluminous writer. He was in his philosophy a platonist, though +sometimes called of the Eclectic school. He has left an Address to the +Gentiles, a treatise on Christian behaviour called Pedagogus, and eight +books of Stromata, or _collections_, which he wrote to describe the +perfect Christian or Gnostic, to furnish the believer with a model for +his imitation, and to save him from being led astray by the sects of +Gnostics “falsely so called.” By his advice, and by the imitation of +Christ, the Christian is to step forward from faith, through love, to +knowledge; from being a slave, he is to become a faithful servant and +then a son; he is to become at last a god walking in the flesh. + +Clemens was not wholly free from the mysticism which was the chief mark +of the Gnostic sect. He thought much of the sacred power of numbers. +Abraham had three hundred and eighteen servants when he rescued Lot, +which, when written in Greek numerals thus, IHT formed the sacred sign +for the name of Jesus. Ten was a perfect number, and is that of the +commandments given to Moses. Seven was a glorious number, and there +are seven Pleiades, seven planets, seven days in the week; and the +two fishes and five barley loaves, with which the multitude were +miraculously fed, together make the number of years of plenty in Egypt +under Joseph. Clemens also quotes several lines in praise of the seventh +day, which he says were from Homer, Hesiod, and Callimachus; but here +there is reason to believe that he was deceived by the pious fraud of +some zealous Jew or Christian, as no such lines are now to be found in +the pagan poets. + +During the reign of Pertinax, which lasted only three months (194 A.D.), +we find no trace of his power in Egypt, except the money which the +Alexandrians coined in his name. It seems to have been the duty of the +prefect of the mint, as soon as he heard of an emperor’s death, to lose +no time in issuing coins in the name of his successor. It was one of the +means to proclaim and secure the allegiance of the province for the new +emperor. + +During the reign of Commodus, Pescennius Niger had been at the head of +the legion that was employed in Upper Egypt in stopping the inroads of +their troublesome neighbours, who already sometimes bore the name of +Saracens. He was a hardy soldier, and strict in his discipline, while he +shared the labours of the field and of the camp with the men under him. +He would not allow them the use of wine; and once, when the troops that +guarded the frontier at Syênê (Aswan) sent to ask for it, he bluntly +answered, “You have got the Nile to drink, and cannot possibly want +more.” Once, when a cohort had been routed by the Saracens, the men +complained that they could not fight without wine; but he would not +relax in his discipline. “Those who have just now beaten you,” said +Niger, “drink nothing but water.” He gained the love and thanks of the +people of Upper Egypt by thus bridling the lawlessness of the troops; +and they gave him his statue cut in black basalt, in allusion to his +name Niger. This statue was placed in his Roman villa. + +[Illustration: 138b.jpg A NATIVE OF ASWAN] + +But on the death of Pertinax, when Septimus Severus declared himself +emperor in Pannonia, Niger, who was then in the province of Syria, did +the same. Egypt and the Egyptian legions readily and heartily joined +his party, which made it unnecessary for him to stay in that part of +the empire; so he marched upon Greece, Thrace, and Macedonia. But there, +after a few months, he was met by the army of his rival, who also sent +a second army into Egypt; and he was defeated and slain at Cyzicus in +Mysia, after having been acknowledged as emperor in Egypt and Syria for +perhaps a year and a few months. + +[Illustration: 139b.jpg PAINTING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE FIFTH TOMB] + +We find no Alexandrian coins of Niger, although we cannot allow a +shorter space of time to his reign than one whole year, together with +a few months of the preceding and following years. Within that time +Severus had to march upon Rome against his first rival, Julian, to +punish the praetorian guards, and afterwards to conquer Niger. + +After the death of his rival, when Severus was the undisputed master of +the empire, and was no longer wanted in the other provinces, he found +leisure, in A.D. 196, to visit Egypt; and, like other active-minded +travellers, he examined the pyramids of Memphis and the temples at +Thebes, and laughed at the worship of Serapis and the Egyptian animals. +His visit to Alexandria wras marked by many new laws. Now that the +Greeks of that city, crushed beneath two centuries of foreign rule, had +lost any remains of courage or of pride that could make them feared by +their Roman master, he relaxed part of the strict policy of Augustus. He +gave them a senate and a municipal form of government, a privilege that +had hitherto been refused in distrust to that great city, though freely +granted in other provinces where rebellion was less dreaded. He also +ornamented the city with a temple to Rhea, and with a public bath, which +was named after himself the Bath of Severus. + +Severus made a law, says the pagan historian, forbidding anybody, under +a severe punishment, from becoming Jew or Christian. But he who gives +the blow is likely to speak of it more lightly than he who smarts under +it; and we learn from the historian of the Church that, in the tenth +year of this reign, the Christians suffered persecution from their +governors and their fellow-citizens. Among others who then lost their +lives for their religion was Leonides, the father of Origen. He left +seven orphan children, of whom the eldest, that justly celebrated +writer, was only sixteen years old, but was already deeply read in +the Scriptures, and in the great writers of Greece. As the property of +Leonides was forfeited, his children were left in poverty; but the young +Origen was adopted by a wealthy lady, zealous for the new religion, +by whose help he was enabled to continue his studies under Clemens. In +order to read the Old Testament in the original, he made himself master +of Hebrew, which was a study then very unusual among the Greeks, whether +Jews or Christians. + +In this persecution of the Church all public worship was forbidden to +the Christians; and Tertullian of Carthage eloquently complains that, +while the emperor allowed the Egyptians to worship cows, goats, or +crocodiles, or indeed any animal they chose, he only punished those that +bowed down before the Creator and Governor of the world. Of course, +at this time of trouble the catechetical school was broken up and +scattered, so that there was no public teaching of Christianity in +Alexandria. But Origen ventured to do that privately which was forbidden +to be done openly; and, when the storm had blown over, Demetrius, the +bishop, appointed him to that office at the head of the school which he +had already so bravely taken upon himself in the hour of danger. Origen +could boast of several pupils who added their names to the noble list of +martyrs who lost their lives for Christianity, among whom the best known +was Plutarch, the brother of Heraclas. Origen afterwards removed for a +time to Palestine, and fell under the displeasure of his own bishop for +being there ordained a presbyter. + +In Egypt Severus seems to have dated the years of his reign from the +death of Niger, though he had reigned in Rome since the deaths of +Pertinax and Julian. His Egyptian coins are either copper, or brass +plated with a little silver; and after a few reigns even those last +traces of a silver coinage are lost in this falling country. In tracing +the history of a word’s meaning we often throw a light upon the customs +of a nation. Thus, in Rome, gold was so far common that avarice was +called the love of gold; while in Greece, where silver was the metal +most in use, money was called _argurion_. In the same way it is +curiously shown that silver was no longer used in Egypt by our finding +that the brass coin of one hundred and ten grains weight, as being the +only piece of money seen in circulation, was named an _argurion_. + +The latter years of the reign of Caracalla were spent in visiting the +provinces of his wide empire; and, after he had passed through Thrace +and Asia Minor, Egypt had the misfortune to be honoured by a visit from +its emperor. The satirical Alexandrians, who in the midst of their own +follies and vices were always clever in lashing those of their rulers, +had latterly been turning their unseemly jokes against Caracalla. They +had laughed at his dressing like Achilles and Alexander the Great, while +in his person he was below the usual height; and they had not forgotten +his murder of his brother, and his talking of marrying his own mother. +Some of these dangerous witticisms had reached his ears at Rome, and +they were not forgotten. But Caracalla never showed his displeasure; +and, as he passed through Antioch, he gave out that he was going to +visit the city founded by Alexander the Great, and to consult the oracle +in the temple of Serapis. + +The Alexandrians in their joy got ready the hecatombs for his +sacrifices; and the emperor entered their city through rows of torches +to the sound of soft music, while the air was sweetened with costly +scents, and the road scattered with flowers. After a few days he +sacrificed in the temple of Serapis, and then visited the tomb of +Alexander, where he took off his scarlet cloak, his rings, and his +girdle covered with precious stones, and dutifully laid them on the +sarcophagus of the hero. The Alexandrians were delighted with their +visitor; and crowds flocked into the city to witness the daily and +nightly shows, little aware of the unforgiving malice that was lurking +in his mind. + +The emperor then issued a decree that all the youths of Alexandria of an +age to enter the army should meet him in a plain on the outside of the +city; they had already a Macedonian and a Spartan phalanx, and he was +going to make an Alexandrian phalanx. Accordingly the plain was filled +with thousands of young men, who were ranged in bodies according to +their height, their age, and their fitness for bearing arms, while their +friends and relations came in equal numbers to be witnesses of their +honour. + +The emperor moved through their ranks, and was loudly greeted with their +cheers, while the army which encircled the whole plain was gradually +closing round the crowd and lessening the circle. When the ring was +formed, Caracalla withdrew with his guards and gave the looked-for +signal. The soldiers then lowered their spears and charged on the +unarmed crowd, of whom a part were butchered and part driven headlong +into the ditches and canals; and such was the slaughter that the waters +of the Nile, which at midsummer are always red with the mud from the +upper country, were said to have flowed coloured to the sea with +the blood of the sufferers. Caracalla then returned to Antioch, +congratulating himself on the revenge that he had taken on the +Alexandrians for their jokes; not however till he had consecrated in the +temple of Serapis the sword with which he boasted that he had slain his +brother Geta. + +Caracalla also punished the Alexandrians by stopping the public games +and the allowance of grain to the citizens; and, to lessen the danger of +their rebelling, he had the fortifications carried between the rest +of the city and the great palace-quarter, the Bruchium, thus dividing +Alexandria into two fortified cities, with towers on the walls +between them. Hitherto, under the Romans as under the Ptolemies, the +Alexandrians had been the trusted favourites of their rulers, who made +use of them to keep the Egyptians in bondage. But under Caracalla that +policy was changed; the Alexandrians were treated as enemies; and we see +for the first time Egyptians taking their seat in the Roman senate, and +the Egyptian religion openly cultivated by the emperor, who then built a +temple in Rome to the goddess Isis. + +On the murder of Caracalla in A.D. 217, Macrinus, who was thought to be +the author of his death, was acknowledged as emperor; and though he only +reigned for about two months, yet, as the Egyptian new year’s day fell +within that time, we find Alexandrian coins for the first and second +years of his reign. The Egyptians pretended that the death of Caracalla +had been foretold by signs from heaven; that a ball of fire had fallen +on the temple of Serapis, which destroyed nothing but the sword with +which Caracalla had slain his brother; and that an Egyptian named +Serapion, who had been thrown into a lion’s den for naming Macrinus as +the future emperor, had escaped unhurt by the wild beasts. + +Macrinus recalled from Alexandria Julian, the prefect of Egypt, and +appointed to that post his friend Basilianus, with Marius Secundus, a +senator, as second in command, who was the first senator that had ever +held command in Egypt. He was himself at Antioch when Bassianus, a +Syrian, pretending to be the son of Caracalla, offered himself to the +legions as that emperor’s successor. When the news reached Alexandria +that the Syrian troops had joined the pretended Antoninus, the prefect +Basilianus at once put to death the public couriers that brought the +unwelcome tidings. But when, a few days afterwards, it was known that +Macrinus had been defeated and killed, the doubts about his successor +led to serious struggles between the troops and the Alexandrians. The +Alexandrians could have had no love for a son of Caracalla; Basilianus +and Secundus had before declared against him; but, on the other hand, +the choice of the soldiers was guided by their brethren in Syria. The +citizens flew to arms, and day after day was the battle fought in the +streets of Alexandria between two parties, neither of whom was strong +enough, even if successful, to have any weight in settling the fate of +the Roman empire. Marius Secundus lost his life in the struggle. The +prefect Basilianus fled to Italy to escape from his own soldiers; and +the province of Egypt then followed the example of the rest of the East +in acknowledging the new emperor. + +For four years Rome was disgraced by the sovereignty of Elagabalus, +the pretended son of Caracalla, and we find his coins each year in +Alexandria. He was succeeded by the young Alexander, whose amiable +virtues, however, could not gain for him the respect which he lost +by the weakness of his government. The Alexandrians, always ready to +lampoon their rulers, laughed at his wish to be thought a Roman; they +called him the Syrian, the high priest, and the ruler of the synagogue. +And well might they think slightly of his government, when a prefect of +Egypt owed his appointment to the emperor’s want of power to punish him. +Epagathus had headed a mutiny of the prætorian guards in Rome, in which +their general Ulpian was killed; and Alexander, afraid to punish the +murderers, made the ringleader of the rebels prefect of Egypt in order +to send him out of the way; so little did it then seem necessary to +follow the cautious policy of Augustus, or to fear a rebellion in that +province. But after a short time, when Epagathus had been forgotten by +the Roman legion, he was removed to the government of Crete, and then at +last punished with death. + +In this reign Ammonius Saccas became the founder of a new and most +important school of philosophy, that of the Alexandrian platonists. He +is only known to us through his pupils, in whose writings we trace the +mind and system of the teacher. The most celebrated of these pupils were +Plotinus, Herennius, and Origen, a pagan writer, together with Longinus, +the great master of the “sublime,” who owns him his teacher in elegant +literature. Ammonius was unequalled in the variety and depth of his +knowledge, and was by his followers called heaven-taught. He aimed at +putting an end to the triflings and quarrels of the philosophers by +showing that all the great truths were the same in each system, and +by pointing out where Plato and Aristotle agreed instead of where +they differed; or rather by culling opinions out of both schools of +philosophy, and by gathering together the scattered limbs of Truth, +whose lovely form had been hewn to pieces and thrown to the four winds +like the mangled body of Osiris. + +Origen in the tenth year of this reign (A.D. 231) withdrew to Cæsarea, +on finding himself made uncomfortable at Alexandria by the displeasure +of Demetrius the bishop; and he left the care of the Christian school to +Heraclas, who had been one of his pupils. Origen’s opinions met with no +blame in Cæsarea, where Christianity was not yet so far removed from its +early simplicity as in Egypt. + +The Christians of Syria and Palestine highly prized his teaching when +it was no longer valued in Alexandria. He died at Tyre in the reign of +Gallus. + +[Illustration: 149.jpg A MODERN SCRIBE] + +On the death of Demetrius, Heraclas, who had just before succeeded +Origen in the charge of the Christian school, was chosen Bishop of +Alexandria; and Christianity had by that time so far spread through the +cities of Upper and Lower Egypt that he found it necessary to ordain +twenty bishops under him, while three had been found enough by his +predecessor. From his being the head of the bishops, who were all styled +fathers, Heraclas received the title of _Papa_, pope or grandfather, the +title afterwards used by the bishops of Rome. + +Among the presbyters ordained by Heraclas was Ammonius Saccas, the +founder of the platonic school; but he afterwards forsook the religion +of Jesus; and we must not mistake him for a second Alexandrian Christian +of the name of Ammonius, who can hardly have been the same person as +the former, for he never changed his religion, and was the author of +the _Evangelical Canons_, a work afterwards continued by Eusebius of +Cæsarea. + +On the death of the Emperor Alexander, in A.D. 235, while Italy was +torn to pieces by civil wars and by its generals’ rival claims for the +purple, the Alexandrians seem to have taken no part in the struggles, +but to have acknowledged each emperor as soon as the news reached them +that he had taken the title. In one year we find Alexandrian coins of +Maximin and his son Maximus, with those of the two Gordians, who for a +few weeks reigned in Carthage, and in the next year we again have coins +of Maximin and Maximus, with those of Balbinus and Pupienus, and of +Gordianus Pius. + +The Persians, taking advantage of the weakness in the empire caused by +these civil wars, had latterly been harassing the eastern frontier; and +it soon became the duty of the young Gordian to march against them +in person. Hitherto the Roman armies had usually been successful; but +unfortunately the Persians, or, rather, their Syrian and Arab allies, +had latterly risen as much as the Romans had fallen off in courage and +warlike skill. The army of Gordian was routed, and the emperor himself +slain, either by traitors or by the enemy. Hereafter we shall see the +Romans paying the just penalty for the example that they had set to +the surrounding nations. They had taught them that conquest should be +a people’s chief aim, that the great use of strength was to crush +a neighbour; and it was not long before Egypt and the other Eastern +provinces suffered under the same treatment. So little had defeat +been expected that the philosopher Plotinus had left his studies in +Alexandria to join the army, in hopes of gaining for himself an insight +into the Eastern philosophy that was so much talked of in Egypt. After +the rout of the army he with difficulty escaped to Antioch, and thence +he removed to Rome, where he taught the new platonism to scholars of all +nations, including Serapion, the celebrated rhetorician, and Eustochius, +the physician, from Alexandria. + +[Illustration: 151.jpg SYMBOL OF EGYPT] + +Philip, who is accused by the historians of being the author of +Gordian’s death, succeeded him on the throne in 244; but he is only +known in the history of Egypt by his Alexandrian coins, which we find +with the dates of each of the seven years of his reign, and these seem +to prove that for one year he had been associated with Gordian in the +purple. In the reign of Decius, which began in 249, the Christians of +Egypt were again harassed by the zeal with which the laws against +their religion were put in force. The persecution began by their +fellow-citizens informing against them; but in the next year it was +followed up by the prefect Æmilianus; and several Christians were +summoned before the magistrate and put to death. Many fled for safety +to the desert and to Mount Sinai, where they fell into a danger of a +different kind; they were taken prisoners by the Saracens and carried +away as slaves. Dionysius, the Bishop of Alexandria, himself fled from +the storm, and was then banished to the village of Cephro in the desert. +But his flight was not without some scandal to the Church, as there were +not a few who thought that he was called upon by his rank at least to +await, if not to court, the pains of martyrdom. Indeed, the persecution +was less remarkable for the sufferings of the Christians than for the +numbers who failed in their courage, and renounced Christianity under +the threats of the magistrate. Dionysius, the bishop, who had shown no +courage himself, was willing to pardon their weakness, and after fit +proof of sorrow again to receive them as brethren. But his humanity +offended the zeal of many whose distance from the danger had saved them +from temptation; and it was found necessary to summon a council at Rome +to settle the dispute. In this assembly the moderate party prevailed; +and some who refused to receive back those who had once fallen away from +the faith were themselves turned out of the Church. + +Dionysius had succeeded Heraclas in the bishopric, having before +succeeded him as head of the catechetical school. He was the author of +several works, written in defence of the trinitarian opinions, on the +one hand against the Egyptian Gnostics, who said that there were eight, +and even thirty, persons in the Godhead, and, on the other hand, against +the Syrian bishop, Paul of Samosata, on the Euphrates, who said that +Jesus was a man, and that the Word and Holy Spirit were not persons, but +attributes, of God. + +But while Dionysius was thus engaged in a controversy with such opposite +opinions, Egypt and Libya were giving birth to a new view of the +trinity. Sabellius, Bishop of Ptolemais, near Cyrene, was putting forth +the opinion that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were only three names +for the one God, and that the creator of the world had himself appeared +upon earth in the form of Jesus. Against this opinion Dionysius again +engaged in controversy, arguing against Sabellius that Jesus was not the +creator, but the first of created beings. + +The Christians were thus each generation changing more and more, +sometimes leaning towards Greek polytheism and sometimes towards +Egyptian mysticism. As in each quarrel the most mysterious opinions +were thought the most sacred, each generation added new mysteries to +its religion; and the progress was rapid, from a practical piety, to a +profession of opinions which they did not pretend to understand. + +During the reigns of Gallus, of Æmilius Æmilianus, and of Valerian (A.D. +251-260), the Alexandrians coined money in the name of each emperor as +soon as the news reached Egypt that he had made Italy acknowledge his +title. Gallus and his son reigned two years and four months; Æmilianus, +who rebelled in Pannonia, reigned three months; and Valerian reigned +about six years. + +Egypt, as a trading country, now suffered severely from the want +of order and quiet government; and in particular since the reign +of Alexander Severus it had been kept in a fever by rebellions, +persecutions, and this unceasing change of rulers. Change brings the +fear of change; and this fear checks trade, throws the labourer out of +employment, and leaves the poor of the cities without wages and without +food. Famine is followed by disease; and Egypt and Alexandria were +visited in the reign of Gallus by a dreadful plague, one of those +scourges that force themselves on the notice of the historian. It was +probably the same disease that in a less frightful form had been not +uncommon in that country and in the lower parts of Syria. The physician +Aretæus describes it under the name of ulcers on the tonsils. It seems +by the letters of Bishop Dionysius that in Alexandria the population had +so much fallen off that the inhabitants between the ages of fourteen +and eighty were not more than those between forty and seventy had been +formerly, as appeared by old records then existing. The misery that the +city had suffered may be measured by its lessened numbers. + +During these latter years the eastern half of the empire was chiefly +guarded by Odenathus of Palmyra, the brave and faithful ally of Rome, +under whose wise rule his country for a short time held a rank among the +empires of the world, which it never could have gained but for an union +of many favourable circumstances. The city and little state of Palmyra +is situated about midway between the cities of Damascus and Babylon. +Separated from the rest of the world, between the Roman and the Parthian +empires, Palmyra had long kept its freedom, while each of those great +rival powers rather courted its friendship than aimed at conquering it. +But, as the cause of Rome grew weaker, Odenathus wisely threw his weight +into the lighter scale; and latterly, without aiming at conquest, he +found himself almost the sovereign of those provinces of the Roman +empire which were in danger of being overrun by the Persians. Valerian +himself was conquered, taken prisoner, and put to death by Sapor, King +of Persia; and Gallienus, his son, who was idling away his life in +disgraceful pleasures in the West, wisely gave the title of emperor to +Odenathus, and declared him his colleague on the throne. + +[Illustration: 155.jpg A HAREM WINDOW] + +No sooner was Valerian taken prisoner than every province of the Roman +empire, feeling the sword powerless in the weak hands of Gallienus, +declared its own general emperor; and when Macrianus, who had been +left in command in Syria, gathered together the scattered forces of the +Eastern army, and made himself emperor of the East, the Egyptians owned +him as their sovereign. As Macrianus found his age too great for the +activity required of a rebel emperor, he made his two sons, Macrianus, +junior, and Quietus, his colleagues; and we find their names on the +coins of Alexandria, dated the first and second years of their reign. +But Macrianus was defeated by Dominitianus at the head of a part of the +army of Aureolus, who had made himself emperor in Illyricum, and he lost +his life, together with one of his sons, while the other soon afterwards +met with the same fate from Odenathus. + +After this, Egypt was governed for a short time in the name of +Gallienus; but the fickle Alexandrians soon made a rebel emperor for +themselves. The Roman republic, says the historian, was often in +danger from the headstrong giddiness of the Alexandrians. Any civility +forgotten, a place in the baths not yielded, a heap of rubbish, or even +a pair of old shoes in the streets, was often enough to throw the state +into the greatest danger, and make it necessary to call out the troops +to put down the riots. Thus, one day, one of the prefect’s slaves was +beaten by the soldiers, for saying that his shoes were better than +theirs. On this a riotous crowd gathered round the house of Æmilianus to +complain of the conduct of his soldiers. He was attacked with stones and +such weapons as are usually within the reach of a mob. He had no choice +but to call out the troops, who, when they had quieted the city and were +intoxicated with their success, saluted him with the title of emperor; +and hatred of Gallienus made the rest of the Egyptian army agree to +their choice. + +This was in the year 265. The new emperor called himself Alexander, and +was even thought to deserve the name. He governed Egypt during his short +reign with great vigour. He led his army through the Thebaid, and drove +back the barbarians with a courage and activity which had latterly been +uncommon in the Egyptian army. Alexandria then sent no tribute to Rome. +“Well! cannot we live without Egyptian linen?” was the forced joke of +Gallienus, when the Romans were in alarm at the loss of the usual supply +of grain. But Æmilianus was soon beaten by Theodotus, the general of +Gallienus, who besieged him in the strong quarter of Alexandria called +the Bruchium, and then took him prisoner and strangled him. + +During this siege the ministers of Christianity were able to lessen some +of the horrors of war by persuading the besiegers to allow the useless +mouths to quit the blockaded fortress. Eusebius, afterwards Bishop of +Laodicea, was without the trenches trying to lessen the cruelties of the +siege; and Anatolius, the Christian peripatetic, was within the walls, +endeavouring to persuade the rebels to surrender. Gallienus in gratitude +to his general would have granted him the honour of a proconsular +triumph, to dazzle the eyes of the Alexandrians; but the policy of +Augustus was not wholly forgotten, and the emperor was reminded by +the priests that it was unlawful for the consular fasces to enter +Alexandria. + +The late Emperor Valerian had begun his reign with mild treatment of +the Christians; but he was overpersuaded by the Alexandrians. He then +allowed the power of the magistrate to be used, in order to check the +Christian religion. But in this weakness of the empire Gallienus could +no longer with safety allow the Christians to be persecuted for their +religion. Both their numbers and their station made it dangerous to +treat them as enemies; and the emperor ordered all persecution to be +stopped. The imperial rescript for that purpose was even addressed to +“Dionysius, Pinna, Demetrius, and the other bishops;” it grants them +full indulgence in the exercise of their religion, and by its very +address almost acknowledges their rank in the state. By this edict of +Gallienus the Christians were put on a better footing than at any time +since their numbers brought them under the notice of the magistrate. + +[Illustration: 158b.jpg EGYPTIAN SLAVE] + + From the painting by Siefèrt + +When the bishop Dionysius returned to Alexandria, he found the place +sadly ruined by the late siege. The middle of the city was a vast waste. +It was easier, he says, to go from one end of Egypt to the other than to +cross the main street which divided the Bruchium from the western end +of Alexandria. The place was still marked with all the horrors of last +week’s battle. Then, as usual, disease and famine followed upon war. Not +a house was without a funeral. Death was everywhere to be seen in its +most ghastly form. Bodies were left un-buried in the streets to be eaten +by the dogs. Men ran away from their sickening friends in fear. As the +sun set they felt in doubt whether they should be alive to see it +rise in the morning. Cowards hid their alarms in noisy amusements and +laughter. Not a few in very despair rushed into riot and vice. But the +Christians clung to one another in brotherly love; they visited the +sick; they laid out and buried their dead; and many of them thereby +caught the disease themselves, and died as martyrs to the strength of +their faith and love. + +As long as Odenathus lived, the victories of the Palmyrenes were always +over the enemies of Rome; but on his assassination, together with his +son Herodes, though the armies of Palmyra were still led to battle +with equal courage, its counsels were no longer guided with the same +moderation. + +[Illustraton: 159.jpg COINS OF ZENOBIA] + +Zenobia, the widow of Odenathus, seized the command of the army for +herself and her infant sons, Herennius and Timolaus; and her masculine +courage and stern virtues well qualified her for the bold task that she +had undertaken. She threw off the friendship of Rome, and routed the +armies which Gallienus sent against her; and, claiming to be descended +from Cleopatra, she marched upon Egypt, in 268 A.D., to seize the throne +of her ancestors, and to add that kingdom to Syria and Asia Minor, which +she already possessed. + +Zenobia’s army was led by her general, Zabda, who was joined by an +Egyptian named Timogenes; and, with seventy thousand Palmyrenes, +Syrians, and other barbarians, they routed the Roman army of fifty +thousand Egyptians under Probatus. The unfortunate Roman general put an +end to his own life; but nevertheless the Palmyrenes were unsuccessful, +and Egypt followed the example of Rome, and took the oaths to Claudius. +For three years the coins of Alexandria bear the name of that emperor. + +On the death of Claudius, his brother Quintillus assumed the purple in +Europe (A.D. 270); and though he only reigned for seventeen days the +Alexandrian mint found time to engrave new dies and to issue coined +money in his name. + +On the death of Claudius, also, the Palmyrenes renewed their attacks +upon Egypt, and this second time with success. The whole kingdom +acknowledged Zenobia as their queen; and in the fourth and fifth years +of her reign in Palmyra we find her name on the Alexandrian coins. The +Greeks, who had been masters of Egypt for six hundred years, either in +their own name or in that of the Roman emperors, were then for the first +time governed by an Asiatic. Palmyra in the desert was then ornamented +with the spoils of Egypt; and travellers yet admire the remains of eight +large columns of red porphyry, each thirty feet high, which stood in +front of the two gates to the great temple. They speak for themselves, +and tell their own history. From their material and form and size we +must suppose that these columns were quarried between Thebes and the Red +Sea, were cut into shape by Egyptian workmen under the guidance of Greek +artists in the service of the Roman emperors; and were thence carried +away by the Syrian queen to the oasis-city in the desert between +Damascus and Babylon. + +[Illustration: 161.jpg COIN OF ATHENODORUS] + +Zenobia was a handsome woman of a dark complexion, with an aquiline +nose, quick, piercing eyes, and a masculine voice. She had the +commanding qualities of Cleopatra, from whom her flatterers traced her +descent, and she was without her vices. While Syriac was her native +tongue, she was not ignorant of Latin, which she was careful to have +taught to her children; she carried on her government in Greek, and +could speak Koptic with the Egyptians, whose history she had studied +and written upon. In her dress and manners she joined the pomp of the +Persian court to the self-denial and military virtues of a camp. With +these qualities, followed by a success in arms which they seemed to +deserve, the world could not help remarking, that while Gallienus was +wasting his time with fiddlers and players, in idleness that would have +disgraced a woman, Zenobia was governing her half of the empire like a +man. + +Zenobia made Antioch and Palmyra the capitals of her empire, and Egypt +became for the time a province of Syria. Her religion like her language +was Syriac. The name of her husband, Odenathus, means sacred to the +goddess Adoneth, and that of her son, Vaballathus, means sacred to the +goddess Baaleth. But as her troops were many of them Saracens or Arabs, +a people nearly the same as the Blemmyes, who already formed part of the +people of Upper Egypt, this conquest gave a new rank to that part of +the population; and had the further result, important in after years, +of causing them to be less quiet in their slavery to the Greeks of +Alexandria. + +But the sceptre of Rome had lately been grasped by the firmer hand of +Aurelian, and the reign of Zenobia drew to a close. Aurelian at first +granted her the title of his colleague in the empire, and we find +Alexandrian coins with her head on one side and his on the other. But +he lost no time in leading his forces into Syria, and, after routing +Zenobia’s army in one or two battles, he took her prisoner at Emessa. +He then led her to Rome, where, after being made the ornament of his +triumph, she was allowed to spend the rest of her days in quiet, having +reigned for four years in Palmyra, though only for a few months in +Egypt. + +On the defeat of Zenobia it would seem that Egypt and Syria were +still left under the government of one of her sons, with the title of +colleague of Aurelian. The Alexandrian coins are then dated in the first +year of Aurelian and the fourth of Vaballathus, or, according to the +Greek translation of this name, of Athenodorus, who counted his years +from the death of Odenathus. + +The young Herodes, who had been killed with his father Odenathus, was +not the son of Zenobia, but of a former wife, and Zenobia always +acted towards him with the unkindness unfortunately too common in a +stepmother. She had claimed the throne for her infant sons, Herennius +and Timolaus; and we are left in doubt by the historians about +Vaballathus; Vopiscus, who calls him the son of Zenobia, does not tell +us who was his father. We know but little of him beyond his coins; but +from these we learn that, after reigning one year with Aurelian, he +aimed at reigning alone, took the title of Augustus, and dropped the +name of Aurelian from his coins. This step was very likely the cause of +his overthrow and death, which happened in the year 271. + +On the overthrow of Zenobia’s family, Egypt, which had been so fruitful +in rebels, submitted to the Emperor Aurelian, but it was only for a few +months. The Greeks of Alexandria, now lessened in numbers, were found to +be no longer masters of the kingdom. Former rebellions in Egypt had +been caused by the two Roman legions and the Greek mercenaries sometimes +claiming the right to appoint an emperor to the Roman world; but +Zenobia’s conquest had raised the Egyptian and Arab population in +their own opinion, and they were no longer willing to be governed by an +Alexandrian or European master. In 272 A.D. they set up Firmus, a native +of Seleucia, who took the title of emperor; and, resting his power +on that part of the population that had been treated as slaves +or barbarians for six hundred years, he aimed at the conquest of +Alexandria. + +Firmus was a man of great size and bodily strength, and, of course, +barbarian manners. He had gained great riches by trade with India; and +had a paper trade so profitable that he used to boast that he could feed +an army on papyrus and glue. His house was furnished with glass windows, +a luxury then but little known, and the squares of glass were fastened +into the frames by means of bitumen. His chief strength was in the Arabs +or Blemmyes of Upper Egypt, and in the Saracens who had lately been +fighting against Rome under the standard of Zenobia. Firmus fixed his +government at Koptos and Ptolemais, and held all Upper Egypt; but he +either never conquered Alexandria, or did not hold it for many months, +as for every year that he reigned in the Thebaid we find Alexandrian +coins bearing the name of Aurelian. Firmus was at last conquered by +Aurelian in person, who took him prisoner, and had him tortured and then +put to death. During these troubles Rome had been thrown into alarm at +the thoughts of losing the usual supply of Egyptian grain, as since the +reign of Elagabalus the Roman granaries had never held more than was +wanted for the year; but Aurelian hastened to send word to the Roman +people that the country was again quiet, and that the yearly supplies, +which had been delayed by the wickedness of Firmus, would soon arrive. +Had Firmus raised the Roman legions in rebellion, he would have been +honoured with the title of a rebel emperor; but, as his power rested on +the Egyptians and Arabs, Aurelian only boasted that he had rid the world +of a robber. + +[Illustration: 164.jpg STREET VENDORS IN METAL WARE] + +Another rebel emperor about this time was Domitius Domitiamis; but we +have no certain knowledge of the year in which he rebelled, nor, indeed, +without the help of the coins should we know in what province of the +whole Roman empire he had assumed the purple. The historian only tells +us that in the reign of Aurelian the general Domitianus was put to +death for aiming at a change. We learn, however, from the coins that he +reigned for part of a first and a second year in Egypt; but the subject +of his reign is not without its difficulties, as we find Alexandrian +coins of Domitianus with Latin inscriptions, and dated in the third year +of his reign. The Latin language had not at this time been used on the +coins of Alexandria; and he could not have held Alexandria for any +one whole year, as the series of Aurelian’s coins is not broken. It is +possible that the Latin coins of Domitianus may belong to a second and +later usurper of the same name. + +Aurelian had reigned in Rome from the death of Claudius; and, +notwithstanding the four rebels to whom we have given the title of +sovereigns of Egypt, money was coined in Alexandria in his name during +each of those years. His coinage, however, reminds us of the troubled +and fallen state of the country; and from this time forward copper, or, +rather, brass, is the only metal used. + +Aurelian left Probus in the command of the Egyptian army, and that +general’s skill and activity found full employment in driving back the +barbarians who pressed upon the province on each of the three sides on +which it was open to attack. + +[Illustration: 165.jpg COIN OF DOMITIANUS WITH LATIN INSCRIPTION] + +His first battles were against the Africans and Marmaridæ, who were +in arms on the side of Cyrene, and he next took the field against the +Palmyrenes and Saracens, who still claimed Egypt in the name of the +family of Zenobia. He employed the leisure of his soldiers in many +useful works; in repairing bridges, temples, and porticoes, and more +particularly in widening the trenches and keeping open the canals, and +in such other works as were of use in raising and forwarding the yearly +supply of grain to Rome. Aurelian increased the amount of the Egyptian +tribute, which was paid in glass, paper, linen, hemp, and grain; the +latter he increased by one-twelfth part, and he placed a larger number +of ships on the voyage to make the supply certain. + +The Christians were well treated during this reign, and their patriarch +Nero so far took courage as to build the Church of St. Mary in +Alexandria. This was probably the first church that was built in Egypt +for the public service of Christianity, which for two hundred years had +been preached in private rooms, and very often in secret. The service +was in Greek, as, indeed, it was in all parts of Egypt: for it does +not appear that Christian prayers were publicly read in the Egyptian +language before the quarrel between the two churches made the Kopts +unwilling to use Greek prayers. The liturgy there read was probably very +nearly the same as that afterwards known as the _Liturgy of St. Mark_. +This is among the oldest of the Christian liturgies, and it shows its +country by the prayer that the waters of the river may rise to their +just measure, and that rain may be sent from heaven to the countries +that need it. + +We learn from the historians that eight months were allowed to pass +between the death of Aurelian and the choice of a successor; and during +this time the power rested in the hands of his widow. The sway of a +woman was never openly acknowledged in Rome, but the Alexandrians and +Egyptians were used to female rule, and from contemporary coins we learn +that in Egypt the government was carried on in the name of the Empress +Severina. The last coins of Aurelian bear the date of the sixth year of +his reign, and the coins of Severina are dated in the sixth and seventh +years. But after Tacitus was chosen emperor by his colleagues of the +Roman senate, and during his short reign of six months (A.D. 276), his +authority was obeyed by the Egyptian legions under Probus, as is fully +proved by the Alexandrian coins bearing his name, all dated in the first +year of his reign. + +[Illustration: 167.jpg COIN OF SEVERINA] + +On the death of Tacitus, his brother Florian hoped to succeed to the +imperial power, and was acknowledged in the same year by the senate and +troops of Rome. But when the news reached Egypt it was at once felt by +the legions that Probus, both by his own personal qualities and by the +high state of discipline of the army under his command, and by his +success against the Egyptian rebels, had a better claim to the purple +than any other general. At first the opinion ran round the camp in a +whisper, and at last the army spoke the general wish aloud; they +snatched a purple cloak from a statue in one of the temples to throw +over him, they placed him on an earthen mound as a tribunal, and against +his will saluted him with the title of emperor. The choice of the +Egyptian legions was soon approved of by Asia Minor, Syria, and Italy; +Florian was put to death, and Probus shortly afterwards marched into +Gaul and Germany, to quiet those provinces. + +After a year or two, Probus was recalled into Egypt by hearing that the +Blemmyes had risen in arms, and that Upper Egypt was again independent +of the Roman power. Not only Koptos, which had for centuries been an +Arab city, but even Ptolemais, the Greek capital of the Thebaid, was now +peopled by those barbarians, and they had to be reconquered by Probus +as foreign cities, and kept in obedience by Roman garrisons; and on his +return to Rome he thought his victories over the Blemmyes of Upper Egypt +not unworthy of a triumph. + +By these unceasing wars, the Egyptian legions had lately been brought +into a high state of discipline, and, confident in their strength, and +in the success with which they had made their late general emperor of +the Roman world, they now attempted to raise up a rival to him in the +person of their present general Saturninus. Saturninus had been made +general of the Eastern frontier by Aurelian, who had given him strict +orders never to enter Egypt. “The Egyptians,” says the historian, +meaning, however, the Alexandrians, “are boastful, vain, spiteful, +licentious, fond of change, clever in making songs and epigrams against +their rulers, and much given to soothsaying and augury.” Aurelian well +knew that the loyalty of a successful general was not to be trusted in +Egypt, and during his lifetime Saturninus never entered that province. +But after his death, when Probus was called away to the other parts of +the empire, the government of Egypt was added to the other duties of +Saturninus; and no sooner was he seen there, at the head of an army that +seemed strong enough to enforce his wishes, than the fickle Alexandrians +saluted him with the title of emperor and Augustus. But Saturninus was +a wise man, and shunned the dangerous honour; he had hitherto fought +always for his country; he had saved the provinces of Spain, Gaul, and +Africa from the enemy or from rebellion; and he knew the value of his +rank and character too well to fling it away for a bauble. To escape +from further difficulties he withdrew from Egypt, and moved his +headquarters into Palestine. But the treasonable cheers of the +Alexandrians could neither be forgotten by himself nor by his troops; +he had withstood the calls of ambition, but he yielded at last to his +fears; he became a rebel for fear of being thought one, and he declared +himself emperor as the safest mode of escaping punishment. But he +was soon afterwards defeated and strangled, against the will of the +forgiving Probus. + +On the death of Probus, in A.D. 283, the empire fell to Carus and his +sons, Numerianus and Carinus, whose names are found on the Alexandrian +coins, but whose short reigns have left no other trace in Egypt. + +[Illustration: 169.jpg COIN OF TRAJAN’S SECOND LEGION] + +At this time also we find upon the coins the name of Trajan’s second +Egyptian legion, which was at all times stationed in Egypt, and which, +acting upon an authority that was usually granted to the Roman legions +in the various provinces, coined money of several kinds for their own +pay. + +The reign of Diocletian, beginning in A.D. 285, was one of suffering to +the Egyptians; and in the fourth year the people rose against the Roman +government, and gave the title of emperor to Achilleus, their leader +in the rebellion. Galerius, the Roman general, led an army against the +rebels, and marched through the whole of the Thebaid; but, though the +Egyptians were routed whenever they were bold enough to meet the legions +in battle, yet the rebellion was not very easily crushed. The Romans +were scarcely obeyed beyond the spot on which their army was encamped. +In the fourth year of the rebellion, A.D. 292, Diocletian came to Egypt, +and the cities of Koptos and Busiris were besieged by the emperor in +person, and wholly destroyed after a regular siege. + +When Diocletian reached the southern limits of Egypt he was able to +judge of the difficulty, and indeed the uselessness, of trying to hold +any part of Ethiopia; and he found that the tribute levied there was +less than the cost of the troops required to collect it. He therefore +made a new treaty with the Nobatæ, as the people between the first and +second cataracts were now called. He gave up to them the whole of Lower +Ethiopia, or the province called Nubia. The valley for seventy miles +above Syênê, which bore the name of the Dodecaschonos, had been held by +Augustus and his successors, and this was now given up to the original +inhabitants. Diocletian strengthened the fortifications on the isle +of Elephantine, to guard what was thenceforth the uttermost point of +defence, and agreed to pay to the Nobatae and Blemmyes a yearly sum of +gold on the latter promising no longer to harass Upper Egypt with their +marauding inroads, and on the former promising to forbid the Blemmyes +from doing so. What remains of the Roman wall built against the inroads +of these troublesome neighbours runs along the edge of the cultivated +land on the east side of the river for some distance to the north of the +cataract. But so much was the strength of the Greek party lessened, and +so deeply rooted among the Egyptians was their hatred of their rulers +and the belief that they should then be able to throw off the yoke, +that soon afterwards Alexandria declared in favour of Achilleus, and +Diocletian was again called to Egypt to regain the capital. Such was +the strength of the rebels that the city could not be taken without +a regular siege. Diocletian surrounded it with a ditch and wall, and +turned aside the canals that supplied the citizens with water. After a +tedious siege of eight months, Alexandria was at last taken by storm in +297, and Achilleus was put to death. A large part of the city was burnt +at the storming, nor would the punishment of the citizens have there +ended, but for Diocletian’s humane interpretation of an accident. The +horse on which he sat stumbled as he entered the city with his troops, +and he had the humanity to understand it as a command from heaven that +he should stop the pillage of the city; and the citizens in gratitude +erected near the spot a bronze statue of the horse to which they owed so +much. This statue has long since been lost, but we cannot be mistaken in +the place where it stood. The lofty column in the centre of the temple +of Serapis, now well known by the name of Pompey’s Pillar,* once held a +statue on the top, and on the base it still bears the inscription of +the grateful citizens, “To the most honoured emperor, the saviour of +Alexandria, the unconquerable Diocletian.” + + * See Volume X., page 317. + +This rebellion had lasted more than nine years, and the Egyptians seemed +never in want of money for the purposes of the war. Diocletian was +struck with their riches, and he ordered a careful search to be made +through Egypt for all writings on alchemy, an art which the Egyptians +studied together with magic and astrology. These books he ordered to be +burnt, under a belief that they were the great sources of the riches by +which his own power had been resisted. Want and misery no doubt caused +this rebellion, but the rebellion certainly caused more want and misery. +The navigation of the Nile was stopped, the canals were no longer kept +cleared, the fields were badly tilled, trade and manufactures were +ruined. Since the rebellions against the Persians, Egypt had never +suffered so much. It had been sadly changed by the troubles of the last +sixty years, during which it had been six times in arms against Rome; +and when the rebellion was put down by Diocletian, it was no longer +the same country that it had been under the Antonines. The framework of +society had been shaken, the Greeks had lessened in numbers, and still +more in weight. The fall of the Ptolemies, and the conquest by Rome, did +not make so great a change. The bright days of Egypt as a Greek +kingdom began with the building of Alexandria, and they ended with +the rebellions against Gallienus, Aurelian and Diocletian. The native +Egyptians, both Kopts and Arabs, now rise into more notice, as the Greek +civilisation sinks around them. And soon the upper classes among the +Kopts, to avoid the duty of maintaining a family of children in such +troubled times, rush by thousands into monasteries and convents, and +further lessen the population by their religious vows of celibacy. In +the twelfth year of the reign, that in which Alexandria rebelled and +the siege was begun, the Egyptian coinage for the most part ceased. +Henceforth, though money was often coined in Alexandria as in every +other great city of the empire, the inscriptions were usually in Latin, +and the designs the same as those on the coins of Rome. In taking leave +of this long and valuable series of coins with dates, which has been +our guide in the chronology of these reigns, we must not forget to +acknowledge how much we owe to the labours of the learned Zoega. In +his _Numi Ægypti Imperatorii_, the mere descriptions, almost without a +remark, speak the very words of history. + +The reign of Diocletian is chiefly remarkable for the new law which was +then made against the Christians, and for the cruel severity with which +it was put into force. The issuing of this edict in 304 A.D., which was +to root out Christianity from the world, took place in the twentieth +year of the reign, according to the Alexandrians, or in the nineteenth +year after the emperor’s first installation as consul, as years were +reckoned in the other parts of the empire. The churches, which since +the reign of Gallienus had been everywhere rising, were ordered to be +destroyed and the Bibles to be burnt, while banishment, slavery, and +death were the punishments threatened against those who obstinately +clung to their religion. In no province of the empire was the +persecution more severe than in Egypt; and many Christians fled to +Syria, where the law, though the same, was more mildly carried into +execution. But the Christians were too numerous to fly and too few +to resist. The ecclesiastical writers present us with a sad tale of +tortures and of death borne by those who refused to renounce their +faith,--a tale which is only made less sad by the doubt how far +the writers’ feelings may have misled their judgment, and made them +overstate the numbers. + +But we may safely rely upon the account which Eusebius gives us of what +he himself saw in Egypt. Many were put to death on the same day, some +beheaded and some burnt. The executioners were tired, and the hearts of +the pagan judges melted by the unflinching firmness of the Christians. +Many who were eminent for wealth, rank, and learning chose to lay down +their lives rather than throw a few grains of wheat upon the altar, or +comply with any ceremony that was required of them as a religious test. +The judges begged them to think of their wives and children, and pointed +out that they were the cause of their own death; but the Christians were +usually firm, and were beheaded for the refusal to take the test. +Among the most celebrated of the Egyptian martyrs were Peter, Bishop of +Alexandria, with Faustus, Dius, and Ammonius, presbyters under him; +the learned Phileas, Bishop of Thmuis, Hesychius, the editor of the +Septuagint, and the Bishops Pachomius and Theodorus; though the pagans +must have been still more surprised at Philoromus, the receiver-general +of the taxes at Alexandria. This man, after the prefect of Egypt and +the general of the troops, was perhaps the highest Roman officer in the +province. He sat in public as a judge in Alexandria, surrounded by a +guard of soldiers, daily deciding all causes relating to the taxes of +Egypt. He was accused of no crime but that of being a Christian, which +he was earnestly entreated to deny, and was at liberty indirectly to +disprove by joining in some pagan sacrifice. The Bishops of Alexandria +and Thmuis may have been strengthened under their trials by their rank +in the church, by having themselves urged others to do their duty in the +same case, but the receiver-general of the taxes could have had nothing +to encourage him but the strength of his faith and a noble scorn of +falsehood; he was reproached or ridiculed by all around him, but he +refused to deny his religion, and was beheaded as a common criminal. + +The ready ministers of this persecution were Culeianus, the prefect of +the Thebaid, and Hierocles, the prefect of Alexandria. The latter +was peculiarly well chosen for the task; he added the zeal of the +theologian to the ready obedience of the soldier. He had written against +the Christians a work named _Philalethes_ (the lover of truth), which we +now know only in the answer by Eusebius of Cæsarea. In this he denounced +the apostles as impostors, and the Christian miracles as trifling; and, +comparing them with the pretended miracles of Apollonius of Tyana, +he pronounced the latter more numerous, more important, and better +authenticated than the former by the evangelists; and he ridiculed +the Christians for calling Jesus a god, while the pagans did not raise +Apollonius higher than a man beloved by the gods. + +This persecution under Diocletian was one of the most severe that the +Christians ever underwent from the Romans. It did not, however, wholly +stop the religious services, nor break up the regular government of the +Church. In the catechetical school, Pierius, whom we have before spoken +of as a man of learning, was succeeded by Theognostus and then by +Serapion, whose name reminds us that the Egyptian party was gaining +weight in the Alexandrian church. It can hardly have been for his +superior learning, it may have been because his opinions were becoming +more popular than those of the Greeks, that a professor with an Egyptian +name was placed at the head of the catechetical school. Serapion was +succeeded by Peter, who afterwards gained the bishopric of Alexandria +and a martyr’s crown. But these men were little known beyond their +lecture-room. In the twentieth year of the reign, on the death of Peter, +the Bishop of Alexandria, who lost his life as a martyr, the presbyters +of the church met to choose a successor. Among their number was Arius, +whose name afterwards became so famous in ecclesiastical history, and +who had already, even before he was ordained a priest, offended many by +the bold manner in which he stated his religious opinions. But upon him, +if we may believe a partial historian, the majority of votes fell in +the choice of a patriarch of Alexandria, and had he not himself modestly +given way to the more ambitious Alexander, he might perhaps have been +saved from the treatment which he afterwards suffered from his rival. + +When, in the year 305, Diocletian and his colleague, Valerius Maximian, +resigned the purple, Egypt with the rest of the East was given to +Galerius, who had also as Cæsar been named Maximian on his Egyptian +coins, while Constantius Chlorus ruled the West. Galerius in 307 granted +some slight indulgence to the Christians without wholly stopping +the persecution. But all favour was again withdrawn from them by his +successor Maximin, who had indeed misgoverned Egypt for some years, +under the title of Cæsar, before the rank of Augustus was granted to +him. He encouraged private informers, he set townsman against townsman; +and, as the wishes of the emperor are quickly understood by all under +him, those who wished for his favour courted it by giving him an excuse +for his cruelties. The cities sent up petitions to him, begging that the +Christians might not be allowed to have churches within their walls. The +history of these reigns indeed is little more than the history of the +persecutions; and when the Alexandrian astronomers, dropping the era of +Augustus, began to date from the first year of Diocletian, the Christian +writers in the same way dated from the Era of the Martyrs. + +It can be no matter of surprise to us that, in a persecution which +threatened all classes of society, there should have been many who, when +they were accused of being Christians, wanted the courage to undergo +the pains of martyrdom, and escaped the punishment by joining in a pagan +sacrifice. When the storm was blown over, these men again asked to be +received into the Church, and their conduct gave rise to the very +same quarrel that had divided the Christians in the reign of Decius. +Meletius, a bishop of the Thebaid, was at the head of the party who +would make no allowance for the weakness of their brethren, and who +refused to grant to the repentant the forgiveness that they asked for. +He had himself borne the same trials without bending, he had been +sent as a criminal to work in the Egyptian mines, and had returned to +Alexandria from his banishment, proud of his sufferings and furious +against those who had escaped through cowardice. But the larger part of +the bishops were of a more forgiving nature; they could not all boast of +the same constancy, and the repentant Christians were re-admitted +into communion with the faithful, while the followers of Meletius were +branded with the name of heretics. + +In Alexandria, Meletius soon found another and, as it proved, a more +memorable occasion for the display of his zeal. He has the unenviable +honour of being the author of the great Arian quarrel, by accusing of +heresy Arius, at that time a presbyter of the church of Baucala near +Alexandria, and by calling upon Alexander, the bishop, to inquire into +his belief, and to condemn it if found unsound. Arius frankly and openly +acknowledged his opinions: he thought Jesus a created being, and would +speak of him in no higher terms than those used in the New Testament +and Apostles’ Creed, and defended his opinions by an appeal to the +Scriptures. But he soon found that his defence was thought weak, +and, without waiting to be condemned, he withdrew before the storm to +Palestine, where he remained till summoned before the council of Nicæa +in the coming reign. + +It was during these reigns of trouble, about which history is sadly +silent, when Greek learning was sinking, and after the country had +been for a year or two in the power of the Syrians, that the worship of +Mithra was brought into Alexandria, where superstitious ceremonies and +philosophical subtleties were equally welcome. Mithra was the Persian +god of the sun; and in the system of two gods, one good and the other +wicked, he was the god of goodness. + +[Illustration: 179.jpg SYMBOL OF MITHRA] + +The chief symbol in his worship was the figure of a young hero in +Phrygian cap and trousers, mounted on a sinking bull, and stabbing it +in sacrifice to the god. In a deserted part of Alexandria, called the +Mithrium, his rites were celebrated among ruins and rubbish; and his +ignorant followers were as ignorantly accused of there slaying their +fellow-citizens on his altars. + +It was about the same time that the eastern doctrine of Manicheism was +said to have been brought into Egypt by Papus, and Thomas or Hernias. +This sect, if sect it may be called, owed its origin to a certain +Majus Mani, banished from Persia under the Sassanides; this Mani was +a talented man, highly civilised through his studies and voyages in +distant lands. In his exile he conceived the idea of putting himself +forward as the reformer of the religions of all the peoples he had +visited, and of reducing them all to one universal religion. Banished by +the Christians, to whom he represented himself as the divinely inspired +apostle of Jesus, in whom the Comforter had appeared, he returned to +Persia, taking with him a book of the Gospels adorned by extraordinary +paintings. Here he obtained at first the favour of the king and the +people, till finally, after many changes of fortune, he was pursued by +the magi, and convicted in a solemn disputation of falsifying religion; +he was condemned to the terrible punishment of being flayed alive, after +which his skin was to be stuffed and hung up over the gates of the +royal city. His teaching consisted in a mixture of Persian and +Christian-Gnostic views; its middle final point was the dualism of good +and evil which rules in the world and in the human breast. + +According to Mani’s creed, there were originally two principles, God in +His kingdom of light, and the demon with his kingdom of darkness, and +these two principles existed independently of each other. The powers +of evil fell into strife with each other, until, hurled away by their +inward confusion, they reached the outermost edge of their own kingdom, +and from there beheld the kingdom of light in all its glory. Now they +ceased their strife among themselves and united to do battle to the +kingdom of light. To meet them, God created the “original man” who, +armed with the five pure elements, light, fire, air, water, and earth, +advanced to meet the hostile powers. He was defeated, though finally +saved; but a part of his light had thus made its way into the realm of +darkness. In order gradually to regain this light, God caused the mother +of life to create the visible world, in which that light lies hidden as +a living power or world-soul awaiting its deliverance from the bonds of +matter. In order to accomplish this redemption, two new beings of light +proceed from God, viz.: Christ and the Holy Ghost, of whom the former, +Christus Mithras, has his abode in the sun and moon, the latter in the +ether diffused around the entire world. Both attract the powers of light +which have sunk into the material world in order to lead them back, +finally, into the everlasting realm of light. To oppose them, however, +the demons created a new being, viz.: man, after the example of the +“original man,” and united in him the clearest light and the darkness +peculiar to themselves, in order that the great strife might be renewed +in his breast, and so man became the point of union of all the forces in +the universe, the microcosm in which two principles ever strive for the +mastery. Through the enticements of the material and the illusions +of the demon, the soul of light was held in bondage in spite of its +indwelling capacity for freedom, so that in heathenism and Judaism the +“son of everlasting light,” as the soul of the universe, was chained +to matter. In order to accomplish this work of redemption more quickly, +Christ finally leaves his throne at God’s right hand, and appears +on earth, truly in human form, but only with an apparent body; his +suffering and death on the cross are but illusions for the multitude, +although historical facts, and they serve at the same time as a symbol +of the light imprisoned in matter, and as a typical expression of +the suffering, poured out over the whole of nature (especially in the +plant-world), of the great physical _weltschmerz_. Christ, through his +teaching and power of attraction, began the deliverance of the light, +so that one can truly say that the salvation of the world proceeds +from rays which stream from the Cross; as, however, his teachings +were conceived by the apostles in a Jewish sense, and the Gospels +were disfigured, Mani appeared as the comforter promised by Christ +to accomplish the victory. In his writings only is the pure truth +preserved. Finally there will be a complete separation of the light from +the darkness, and then the powers of darkness will fall upon each other +again. + +The ignorant in all ages of Christianity seem to have held nearly the +same opinion in one form or other, thinking that sin has arisen either +from a wicked being or from the wickedness of the flesh itself. The Jews +alone proclaimed that God created good and God created evil. But we know +of few writers who have ever owned themselves Manicheans, though many +have been reproached as such; their doctrine is now known only in the +works written against it. Of all heresies among the Christians this is +the one most denounced by the ecclesiastical writers, and most severely +threatened by the laws when the law makers became Christian; and of +all the accusations of the angry controversialists this was the most +reproachful. We might almost think that the numerous fathers who have +written against the Manicheans must have had an easy victory when the +enemy never appeared in the field, when their writings were scarcely +answered, or their arguments denied; but perhaps a juster view would +lead us to remark how much the writers, as well as the readers, must +have felt the difficulty of accounting for the origin of evil, since men +have run into such wild opinions to explain it. + +Another heresy, which for a time made even as much noise as the last, +was that of Hieracas of Leontopolis. Even in Egypt, where for two +thousand years it had been the custom to make the bodies of the dead +into mummies, to embalm them against the day of resurrection, a custom +which had been usually practised by the Christians, this native Egyptian +ventured to teach that nothing but the soul would rise from the dead, +and that we must look forward to only a spiritual resurrection. Hieracas +was a man of some learning, and, much to the vexation of those who +opposed his arguments, he could repeat nearly the whole Bible by heart. + +The Bishop Hesychius, the martyr in the late persecution, was one of +the learned men of the time. He had published a new edition of the +Septuagint Old Testament, and also of the New Testament. This edition +was valued and chiefly used in Egypt, while that by Lucianus, +who suffered in the same persecution, was read in Asia Minor from +Constantinople to Antioch, and the older edition by Origen remained in +use in Palestine. But such was the credit of Alexandria, as the chief +seat of Christian learning, that distant churches sent there for +copies of the Scriptures, foreign translations were mostly made from +Alexandrian copies, and the greater number of Christians even now read +the Bible according to the edition by Hesychius. We must, however, fear +that these editors were by no means judicious in their labours. + +[Illustration: 184.jpg DOME PALM OF UPPER EGYPT] + +From the text itself we can learn that the early copiers of the Bible +thought those manuscripts most valuable which were most full. Many a +gloss and marginal note got written into the text. Their devotional +feelings blinded their critical judgment; and they never ventured to put +aside a modern addition as spurious. This mistaken view of their +duty had of old guided the Hebrew copiers in Jerusalem; and though in +Alexandria a juster criticism had been applied to the copies of Homer, +it was not thought proper to use the same good sense when making copies +of the Bible. So strong was the habit of grafting the additions into +the text that the Greek translation became more copious than the Hebrew +original, as the Latin soon afterwards became more copious than the +Greek. + +It was about this time, at least after Theodotion’s translation of +Daniel had received the sanction of the Alexandrian church, and when the +teachers of Christianity found willing hearers in every city of Egypt, +that the Bible was translated into the language of the country. We have +now parts of several Koptic versions. They are translated closely, and +nearly word by word from the Greek; and, being meant for a people among +whom that language had been spoken for centuries, about one word in five +is Greek. The Thebaic and Bashmuric versions may have been translated +from the edition by Hesychius; but the Koptic version seems older, and +its value to the Biblical critic is very great, as it helps us, with +the quotations in Origen and Clemens, to distinguish the edition of +the sacred text which was then used in Alexandria, and is shown in the +celebrated Vatican manuscript, from the later editions used afterwards +in Constantinople and Italy, when Christian literature flourished in +those countries. + +The Emperor Maximin died at Tarsus in A.D. 313, after being defeated by +Licinius, who like himself had been raised to the rank of Augustus by +Galerius, and to whom the empire of Egypt and the East then fell, +while Constantine, the son of Constantius, governed Italy and the West. +Licinius held his empire for ten years against the growing strength of +his colleague and rival; but the ambition of Constantine increased with +his power, and Licinius was at last forced to gather together his army +in Thrace, to defend himself from an attack. His forces consisted of +one hundred and fifty thousand foot, fifteen thousand horse, and three +hundred and fifty triremes, of which Egypt furnished eighty. He was +defeated near Adrianople; and then, upon a promise that his life should +be spared, he surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia. But the promise +was forgotten and Licinius hanged, and the Roman world was once more +governed by a single emperor. The growing strength of his colleague and +rival; but the ambition of Constantine increased with his power, and +Licinius was at last forced to gather together his army in Thrace, to +defend himself from an attack. His forces consisted of one hundred and +fifty thousand foot, fifteen thousand horse, and three hundred and +fifty triremes, of which Egypt furnished eighty. He was defeated near +Adrianople; and then, upon a promise that his life should be spared, he +surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia. But the promise was forgotten +and Licinius hanged, and the Roman world was once more governed by a +single emperor. + + + + +CHAPTER II.--THE CHRISTIAN PERIOD IN EGYPT + + +_The Ascendency of the new religion: The Arian controversies: The +Zenith of monasticism: The final struggle of Paganism: The decline of +Alexandria._ + + +Coming under the Roman sway, the Greek world underwent, not only +politically but also intellectually, a complete change. As the +Roman conquest had worn away all political differences and national +divergences, and, by uniting the various races under the rule of the +empire was bringing to its consummation the work begun by the Macedonian +conqueror, it could not fail to influence the train of thought. On the +one hand the political and ideal structure of Greek life was crumbling +and bringing down the support and guiding principle supplied by the +duties of citizenship and the devotion to the commonwealth. Man was +thrown upon himself to find the principles of conduct. The customary +morality and religion had been shaken in their foundations. The +belief in the old gods and the old religion was undermined. Philosophy +endeavoured to occupy the place left vacant by the gradual decay of the +national religion. The individual, seeking for support and spiritual +guidance, found it, or at least imagined he had found it, in philosophy. +The conduct of life became the fundamental problem, and philosophy +assumed a practical aspect. It aimed at finding a complete art of +living. It had a thoroughly ethical stamp, and became more and more a +rival of and opposed to religion. Such were the tendencies of the Stoic +and Epicurean schools. The Roman rule was greatly favourable to such +a development of thought. The Romans were a practical nation, had no +conception of nor appreciation for purely theoretical problems, and +demanded practical lessons and philosophical investigations which would +serve as a guide for life. Thus the political tendency of the time +towards practical wisdom had imparted a new direction to philosophical +thought. Yet, as time went on, a deep feeling of dissatisfaction seized +the ancient world in the midst of all the glories of the Roman rule. +This huge empire could offer to the peoples, which it had welded +into one mighty unit, no compensation for the loss of their national +independence; it offered them no inner worth nor outer fortune. There +was a complete discord running through the entire civilisation of the +Græco-Roman world. The social condition of the empire had brought with +it extreme contrasts in the daily life. The contrasts had become more +pronounced. Abundance and luxury existed side by side with misery +and starvation. Millions were excluded from the very necessaries of +existence. With the sense of injustice and revolt against the +existing inequality of the state of society, the hope for some future +compensation arose. The millions excluded from the worldly possessions +turned longingly to a better world. The thoughts of man were turned +to something beyond terrestrial life, to heaven instead of earth. +Philosophy, too, had failed to give complete satisfaction. Man had +realised his utter inability to find knowledge in himself by his +unaided efforts. He despaired to arrive at it without the help of some +transcendental power and its kind assistance. Salvation was not to be +found in man’s own nature, but in a world beyond that of the senses. +Philosophy could not satisfy the cultured man by the presentation of its +ethical ideal of life, could not secure for him the promised happiness. +Philosophy, therefore, turned to religion for help. At Alexandria, +where, in the active work of its museum, all treasures of Grecian +culture were garnered, all religions and forms of worship crowded +together in the great throng of the commercial metropolis to seek a +scientific clarification of the feelings that surged and stormed within +them. The cosmopolitan spirit and broad-mindedness which had brought +nations together under the Egyptian government, which had gathered +scholars from all parts in the library and the museum, was favourable +also to the fusion and reconciliation in the evolution of thought. + +If Alexandria was the birthplace of that intellectual movement which has +been described, this was not only the result of the prevailing spirit of +the age, but was due to the influence of ideas; salvation could only be +found in the reconciliation of ideas. The geographical centre of this +movement of fusion and reconciliation was, however, in Alexandria. +After having been the town of the museum and the library, of criticism +and literary erudition, Alexandria became once again the meeting-place +of philosophical schools and religious sects; communication had become +easier, and various fundamentally different inhabitants belonging to +distinct social groups met on the banks of the Nile. Not only goods and +products of the soil were exchanged, but also ideas and thoughts. The +mental horizon was widened, comparisons ensued, and new ideas were +suggested and formed. This mixture of ideas necessarily created a +complex spirit where two currents of thought, of critical scepticism and +superstitious credulity, mixed and mingled. Another powerful factor was +the close contact in which Occidentalism or Greek culture found itself +with Orientalism. Here it was where the Greek and Oriental spirit mixed +and mingled, producing doctrines and religious systems containing germs +of tradition and science, of inspiration and reflection. Images and +formulas, method and ecstasy, were interwoven and intertwined. The +brilliant qualities of the Greek spirit, its sagacity and subtlety of +intelligence, its lucidity and facility of expression, were animated and +vivified by the Oriental spark, and gained new life and vigour. On +the other hand, the contemplative spirit of the Orient, which is +characterised by its aspiration towards the invisible and mysterious, +would never have produced a coherent system or theory had it not been +aided by Greek science. It was the latter that arranged and explained +the Oriental traditions, loosed their tongues, and produced those +religious doctrines and philosophical systems which culminated in +Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, the Judaism of Philo, and the Polytheism of +Julian the Apostate. + +It was the contemplative Oriental mind, with its tendency towards the +supernatural and miraculous, with its mysticism and religion, and Greece +with her subtle scrutinising and investigating spirit, which gave rise +to the peculiar phase of thought prevalent in Alexandria during the +first centuries of our era. It was tinctured with idealistic, mystic, +and yet speculative and scientific colours. Hence the religious spirit +in philosophy and the philosophic tendency in the religious system that +are the characteristic features. “East and West,” says Baldwin,* “met +at Alexandria.” The co-operative ideas of civilisations, cultures, +and religions of Rome, Greece, Palestine, and the farther East found +themselves in juxtaposition. Hence arose a new problem, developed partly +by Occidental thought, partly by Oriental aspiration. Religion and +philosophy became inextricably mixed, and the resultant doctrines +consequently belong to neither sphere proper, but are rather witnesses +of an attempt at combining both. + + * Baldwin: Dictionary of Philosophy. + +These efforts naturally came from two sides. On the one hand, the Jews +tried to accommodate their faith to the results of Western culture, in +which Greek culture predominated. On the other hand, thinkers whose +main impulse came from Greek philosophy attempted to accommodate their +doctrines to the distinctively religious problems which the Eastern +nations had brought with them. From whichever side the consequences be +viewed, they are to be characterised as theosophical rather than purely +philosophical, purely religious, or purely theological. + +The reign of Constantine the Great, who became sole ruler of the East +and West in 323, after ten years’ joint government with Licinius, is +remarkable for the change which was then wrought in the religion and +philosophy of the empire by the emperor’s embracing the Christian +faith. His conversion occurred in 312, and on his coming to the united +sovereignty the Christians were at once released from every punishment +and disability on account of their religion, which was then more than +tolerated; they were put upon a nearly equal footing with the pagans, +and every minister of the Church was released from the burden of +civil and military duties. Whether the emperor’s conversion arose from +education, from conviction, or from state policy, we have no means of +knowing; but Christianity did not reach the throne before it was the +religion of a most important class of his subjects, and the Egyptian +Christians soon found themselves numerous enough to call the Greek +Christians heretics, as the Greek Christians had already begun to +designate the Jewish. + +The Greeks of Alexandria had formed rather a school of philosophy than +a religious sect. Before Alexander’s conquest the Greek settlers +at Naucratis had thought it necessary to have their own temples and +sacrifices; but since the building of Alexandria they had been smitten +with the love of Eastern mysticism, and content to worship in the +temples of Serapis and Mithra, and to receive instruction from the +Egyptian priests. They had supported the religion of the conquered +Egyptians without wholly believing it; and had shaken by their ridicule +the respect for the very ceremonies which they upheld by law. Polytheism +among the Greeks had been further shaken by the platonists; and +Christianity spread in about equal proportions among the Greeks and the +Egyptians. Before the conversion of Constantine the Egyptian church +had already spread into every city of the province, and had a regular +episcopal government. Till the time of Heraclas and Dionysius, the +bishops had been always chosen by the votes of the presbyters, as the +archdeacons were by the deacons. Dionysius in his public epistles joins +with himself his fellow-presbyters as if he were only the first among +equals; but after that time some irregularities had crept into the +elections, and latterly the Church had become more monarchical. There +was a patriarch in Alexandria, with a bishop in every other large city, +each assisted by a body of priests and deacons. They had been clad in +faith, holiness, humility, and charity; but Constantine robed them in +honour, wealth, and power; and to this many of them soon added pride, +avarice, and ambition. + +This reign is no less remarkable for the religious quarrel which then +divided the Christians, which set church against church and bishop +against bishop, as soon as they lost that great bond of union, the fear +of the pagans. Jesus of Nazareth was acknowledged by Constantine as +a divine person; and, in the attempt then made by the Alexandrians to +arrive at a more exact definition of his nature, while the emperor was +willing to be guided by the bishops in his theological opinions, he +was able to instruct them all in the more valuable lessons of mutual +toleration and forbearance. The followers of early religions held +different opinions, but distinguished themselves apart only by outward +modes of worship, such as by sacrifices among the Greeks and Romans, +and among the Jews and Egyptians by circumcision, and abstinence from +certain meats. When Jesus of Nazareth introduced his spiritual religion +of repentance and amendment of life, he taught that the test by which +his disciples wrere to be known was their love to one another. After +his death, however, the Christians gave more importance to opinions +in religion, and towards the end of the third century they proposed to +distinguish their fellow-worshippers in a mode hitherto unknown to the +world, namely, by the profession of belief in certain opinions; for as +yet there was no difference in their belief of historic facts. This gave +rise to numerous metaphysical discussions, particularly among the more +speculative and mystical. + +At about this time the chief controversy was as to whether Christ was +of the _same_, or of _similar_ substance with God the Father, this being +the dispute which divided Christendom for centuries. This dispute and +others not quite so metaphysical were brought to the ears of the emperor +by Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, and Arius, the presbyter. The bishop +had been enquiring into the belief of the presbyter, and the latter +had argued against his superior and against the doctrine of the +_consubstantiality_ of the Father and the Son. The emperor’s letter +to the theologians, in this first ecclesiastical quarrel that was ever +brought before a Christian monarch, is addressed to Alexander and Arius, +and he therein tells them that they are raising useless questions, which +it is not necessary to settle, and which, though a good exercise for the +understanding, only breed ill-will, and should be kept by each man in +his own breast. He regrets the religious madness which has seized all +Egypt; and lastly he orders the bishop not to question the priest as +to his belief, and orders the priest, if questioned, not to return an +answer. But this wise letter had no weight with the Alexandrian divines. +The quarrel gained in importance from being noticed by the emperor; the +civil government of the country was clogged; and Constantine, after +having once interfered, was persuaded to call a council of bishops to +settle the Christian faith for the future. Nicæa in Bithynia was chosen +as the spot most convenient for Eastern Christendom to meet in; and two +hundred and fifty bishops, followed by crowds of priests, there met +in council from Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and +Libya, with one or two from Western Europe. + +At this synod, held in the year 325, Athanasius, a young deacon in the +Alexandrian church, came for the first time into notice as the champion +of Alexander against Arius, who was then placed upon his trial. All the +authority, eloquence, and charity of the emperor were needed to quell +the tumultuous passions of the assembly. It ended its stormy labours by +voting what was called the Homoousian doctrine, that Jesus was of one +substance with God. They put forth to the world the celebrated creed, +named, from the city in which they met, the Nicene creed, and they +excommunicated Arius and his followers, who were then all banished by +the emperor. The meeting had afterwards less difficulty in coming to +an agreement about the true time of Easter, and in excommunicating the +Jews; and all except the Egyptians returned home with a wish that the +quarrel should be forgotten and forgiven. + +This first attempt among the Christians at settling the true faith by +putting fetters on the mind, by drawing up a creed and punishing those +that disbelieved it, was but the beginning of theological difficulties. +These in Egypt arose as much from the difference of blood and language +of the races that inhabited the country as from their religious belief; +and Constantine must soon have seen that if as a theologian he had +decided right, yet as a statesman he had been helping the Egyptians +against the friends of his own Greek government in Alexandria. + +After a reasonable delay, Arius addressed to the emperor a letter either +of explanation or apology, asserting his full belief in Christianity, +explaining his faith by using the words of the Apostles’ Creed, and +begging to be re-admitted into the Church. The emperor, either from a +readiness to forgive, or from a change of policy, or from an ignorance +of the theological controversy, was satisfied with the apology, and +thereupon wrote a mild conciliatory letter to Athanasius, who had in +the meantime been made Bishop of Alexandria, expressing his wish +that forgiveness should at all times be offered to the repentant, and +ordering him to re-admit Arius to his rank in the Church. But the young +Athanasius, who had gained his favour with the Egyptian clergy, and had +been raised to his high seat by his zeal shown against Arius, refused +to obey the commands of the emperor, alleging that it was unlawful +to re-admit into the Church anybody who had once been excommunicated. +Constantine could hardly be expected to listen to this excuse, or +to overlook this direct refusal to obey his orders. The rebellious +Athanasius was ordered into the emperor’s presence at Constantinople, +and soon afterwards, in 335, called before a council of bishops at Tyre, +where he was deposed and banished. At the same council, in the thirtieth +year of this reign, Arius was re-admitted into communion with the +Church, and after a few months he was allowed to return to Alexandria, +to the indignation of the popular party in that city, while Athanasius +remained in banishment during the rest of the reign, as a punishment for +his disobedience. + +This practice of judging and condemning opinions gave power in the +Church to men who would otherwise have been least entitled to weight and +influence. Athanasius rose to his high rank over the heads of the elder +presbyters by his fitness for the harsher duties then required of an +archbishop. Theological opinions became the watchwords of two contending +parties; religion lost much of its empire over the heart; and the +mild spirit of Christianity gave way to angry quarrels and cruel +persecutions. + +Another remarkable event of this reign was the foundation of the new +city of Constantinople, to which the emperor removed the seat of his +government. Rome lost much by the building of the new capital, although +the emperors had for some time past ceased to live in Italy; but +Alexandria lost the rank which it had long held as the centre of Greek +learning and Greek thought, and it felt a blow from which Rome was saved +by the difference of language. The patriarch of Alexandria was no longer +the head of Greek Christendom. That rank was granted to the bishop of +the imperial city; many of the philosophers who hung round the palace +at Constantinople would otherwise have studied and taught in the museum; +and the Greeks, by whose superiority Egypt had so long been kept in +subjection, gradually became the weaker party. In the opinion of the +historian, as in the map of the geographer, Alexandria had formerly been +a Greek state on the borders of Egypt; but since the rebellion in the +reign of Diocletian it was becoming more and more an Egyptian city; and +those who in religion and politics thought and felt as Egyptians soon +formed the larger half of the Alexandrians. The climate of Egypt was +hardly fitted for the Greek race. Their numbers never could have been +kept up by births alone, and they now began to lessen as the attraction +to newcomers ceased. The pure Greek names henceforth become less common; +and among the monks and writers we now meet with those named after the +old gods of the country. + +[Illustration: 199.jpg THE ISLAND OF RHODHA] + +Constantine removed an obelisk from Egypt for the ornament of his new +city, and he brought down another from Heliopolis to Alexandria; but he +died before the second left the country, and it was afterwards taken +by his son to Rome. These obelisks were covered with hieroglyphics, +as usual, and we have a translation said to be made from the latter by +Hermapion, an Egyptian priest. In order to take away its pagan character +from the religious ceremony with which the yearly rise of the Nile wras +celebrated in Alexandria, Constantine removed the sacred cubit from the +temple of Serapis to one of the Christian churches; and nothwithstanding +the gloomy forebodings of the people, the Nile rose as usual, and the +clergy afterwards celebrated the time of its overflow as a Christian +festival. + +The pagan philosophers under Constantine had but few pupils and met +with but little encouragement. Alypius of Alexandria and his friend +Iamblichus, however, still taught the philosophy of Ammonius +and Plotinus. The only writings by Alypius now remaining are his +_Introduction to Music_; in which he explains the notation of the +fifteen modes or tones in their respective kinds of diatonic, chromatic, +and enharmonic. His signs are said to be Pythagorean. They are in pairs, +of which one is thought to represent the note struck on the lyre, and +the other the tone of the voice to be sung thereto. They thus imply +accord or harmony. The same signs are found in some manuscripts written +over the syllables of ancient poems; and thereby scholars, learned at +once in the Greek language, in the art of deciphering signs, and in the +science of music, now chant the odes of Pindar in strains not dissimilar +to modern cathedral psalmody. + +Sopator succeeded Iamblichus as professor of platonism in Alexandria, +with the proud title of successor to Plato, For some time he enjoyed the +friendship of Constantine; but, when religion made a quarrel between +the friends, the philosopher was put to death by the emperor. The pagan +account of the quarrel was that, when Constantine had killed his son, he +applied to Sopator to be purified from his guilt; and when the platonist +answered that he knew of no ceremony that could absolve a man from such +a crime, the emperor applied to the Christians for baptism. This +story may not be true, and the ecclesiastical historian remarks that +Constantine had professed Christianity several years before the murder +of his son; but then, as after his conversion he had got Sopator to +consecrate his new city with a variety of pagan ceremonies, he may in +the same way have asked him to absolve him from the guilt of murder. + +On the death of Constantine, in 337, his three sons, without entirely +dismembering the empire, divided the provinces of the Roman world into +three shares. Constantine II., the eldest son, who succeeded to the +throne of his father in Constantinople, and Constans, the youngest, +who dwelt in Rome, divided Europe between them; while Constantius, +the second son, held Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Egypt, of which +possessions Antioch on the Orontes was at that time the capital. Thus +Alexandria was doomed to a further fall. When governed by Rome it had +still been the first of Greek cities; afterwards, when the seat of the +empire was fixed at Constantinople, it became the second; but on this +division of the Roman world, when the seat of government came still +nearer to Egypt, and Antioch rose as the capital of the East, Alexandria +fell to be the third among Greek cities. Egypt quietly received its +political orders from Antioch. Its opinions also in some cases followed +those of the capital, and it is curious to remark that the Alexandrian +writers, when dating by the era of the creation, were now willing to +consider the world ten years less old than they used, because it was so +thought at Antioch. But it was not so with their religious opinions, +and as long as Antioch and its emperor undertook to govern the Egyptian +church there was little peace in the province. + +The three emperors did not take the same side in the quarrel which under +the name of religion was then unsettling the obedience of the Egyptians, +and even in some degree troubling the rest of the empire. Constantius +held the Arian opinions of Syria; but Constantine II. and Constans +openly gave their countenance to the party of the rebellious Athanasius, +who under their favour ventured to return to Alexandria, where, after +an absence of two years and four months, he was received in the warmest +manner by his admiring flock. But on the death of Constantine II., +who was shortly afterwards killed in battle by his brother Constans, +Constantius felt himself more master of his own kingdom; he deposed +Athanasius, and summoned a council of bishops at Antioch to elect a new +patriarch of Alexandria. Christian bishops, though they had latterly +owed their ordination to the authority of their equals, had always +received their bishoprics by the choice of their presbyters or of their +flocks; and though they were glad to receive the support of the emperor, +they were not willing to acknowledge him as their head. Hence, when the +council at Antioch first elected Eusebius of Æmisa into the bishopric of +Alexandria, he chose to refuse the honour which they had only a doubtful +right to bestow, rather than to venture into the city in the face of his +popular rival. The council then elected Gregory, whose greater courage +and ambition led him to accept the office. + +The council of Antioch then made some changes in the creed. A few years +later, a second council met in the same place, and drew up a creed more +near to what we now call the Athanasian; but it was firmly rejected by +the Egyptian and Roman churches. Gregory was no sooner elected to the +bishopric than he issued his commands as bishop, though, if he had +the courage, he had not at the time the power to enter Alexandria. +But Syrianus, the general of the Egyptian troops, was soon afterwards +ordered by the emperor to place him on his episcopal throne; and he led +him into the city, surrounded by the spears of five thousand soldiers, +and followed by the small body of Alexandrians that after this invasion +of their acknowledged rights still called themselves Arians. Gregory +entered Alexandria in the evening, meaning to take his seat in the +church on the next day; but the people in their zeal did not wait +quietly for the dreaded morning. They ran at once to the church, and +passed the night there with Athanasius in the greatest anxiety. In +the morning, when Gregory arrived at the church, accompanied with the +troops, he found the doors barricaded and the building full of men and +women, denouncing the sacrilege, and threatening resistance. But the +general gave orders that the church should be stormed, and the new +bishop carried in by force of arms; and Athanasius, seeing that all +resistance was useless, ordered the deacons to give out a psalm, and +they all marched out at the opposite door singing. After these acts of +violence on the part of the troops, and of resistance on the part of the +people, the whole city was thrown into an uproar, and the prefect was +hardly strong enough to carry on the government; the regular supply of +grain for the poor citizens of Alexandria, and for Constantinople, was +stopped; and the blame of the whole thrown upon Athanasius. He was a +second time obliged to leave Egypt, and he fled to Rome, where he was +warmly received by the Emperor Constans and the Roman bishop. But the +zeal of the Athanasian party would not allow Gregory to keep possession +of the church which he had gained only by force; they soon afterwards +set fire to it and burned it to the ground, choosing that there should +be no church at all rather than that it should be in the hands of the +Arians; and the Arian clergy and bishops, though supported by the favour +of the emperor and the troops of the prefect, were everywhere throughout +Egypt driven from their churches and monasteries. During this quarrel it +seems to have been felt by both parties that the choice of the people, +or at least of the clergy, was necessary to make a bishop, and that +Gregory had very little claim to that rank in Alexandria. Julius, the +Bishop of Rome, warmly espoused the cause of Athanasius, and he wrote a +letter to the Alexandrian church, praising their zeal for their bishop, +and ordering them to re-admit him to his former rank, from which he +had been deposed by the council of Antioch, but to which he had been +restored by the Western bishops. Athanasius was also warmly supported +by Constans, the emperor of the West, who at the same time wrote to his +brother Constantius, begging him to replace the Alexandrian bishop, +and making the additional threat that if he would not reinstate him he +should be made to do so by force of arms. + +Constantius, after taking the advice of his own bishops, thought it +wisest to yield to the wishes or rather the commands of his brother +Constans, and he wrote to Athanasius, calling him into his presence +in Constantinople. But the rebellious bishop was not willing to trust +himself within the reach of his offended sovereign; and it was not till +after a second and a third letter, pressing him to come and promising +him his safety, that he ventured within the limits of the Eastern +empire. Strong in his high character for learning, firmness, and +political skill, carrying with him the allegiance of the Egyptian +nation, which was yielded to him much rather than to the emperor, and +backed by the threats of Constans, Athanasius was at least a match +for Constantius. At Constantinople the emperor and his subject, the +Alexandrian bishop, made a formal treaty, by which it was agreed +that, if Constantius would allow the Homoousian clergy throughout his +dominions to return to their churches, Athanasius would in the same +way throughout Egypt restore the Arian clergy; and upon this agreement +Athanasius himself returned to Alexandria. + +Among the followers of Athanasius was that important mixed race with +whom the Egyptian civilisation chiefly rested, a race that may be called +Koptic, but half Greek and half Egyptian in their language and religion +as in their forefathers. But in feelings they were wholly opposed to the +Greeks of Alexandria. Never since the last Nectanebo was conquered by +the Persians, eight hundred years earlier, did the Egyptians seem so +near to throwing off the foreign yoke and rising again as an independent +nation. But the Greeks, who had taught them so much, had not taught them +the arts of war; and the nation remained enslaved to those who could +wield the sword. The return of Athanasius, however, was only the signal +for a fresh uproar, and the Arians complained that Egypt was kept in a +constant turmoil by his zealous activity. Nor were the Arians his only +enemies. He had offended many others of his clergy by his overbearing +manners, and more particularly by his following in the steps of +Alexander, the late bishop, in claiming new and higher powers for +the office of patriarch than had ever been yielded to the bishops of +Alexandria before their spiritual rank had been changed into civil rank +by the emperor’s adoption of their religion. Meletius headed a strong +party of bishops, priests, and deacons in opposing the new claims of the +archiepiscopal see of Alexandria. His followers differed in no point of +doctrine from the Athanasian party, but as they sided with the Arians +they were usually called heretics. + +By this time the statesmen and magistrates had gained a clear view of +the change which had come over the political state of the empire, first +by the spread of Christianity, and secondly by the emperor’s embracing +it. By supporting Christianity the emperors gave rank in the state to +an organised and well-trained body, which immediately found itself in +possession of all the civil power. A bishopric, which a few years before +was a post of danger, was now a place of great profit, and secured to +its possessor every worldly advantage of wealth, honour, and power. +An archbishop in the capital, obeyed by a bishop in every city, with +numerous priests and deacons under them, was usually of more weight than +the prefect. While Athanasius was at the height of his popularity +in Egypt, and was supported by the Emperor of the West, the Emperor +Constantius was very far from being his master. But on the death of +Constans, when Constantius became sovereign of the whole empire, he once +more tried to make Alexandria and the Egyptian church obedient to +his wishes. He was, however, still doubtful how far it was prudent to +measure his strength against that of the bishop, and he chose rather +to begin privately with threats before using his power openly. He first +wrote word to Athanasius, as if in answer to a request from the bishop, +that he was at liberty, if he wished, to visit Italy; but he sent the +letter by the hands of the notary Diogenes, who added, by word of +mouth, that the permission was meant for a command, and that it was the +emperor’s pleasure that he should immediately quit his bishopric and the +province. But this underhand conduct of the emperor only showed his own +weakness. Athanasius steadily refused to obey any unwritten orders, and +held his bishopric for upwards of two years longer, before Constantius +felt strong enough to enforce his wishes. Towards the end of that time, +Syrianus, the general of the Egyptian army, to whom this delicate task +was entrusted, gathered together from other parts of the province a +body of five thousand chosen men, and with these he marched quietly into +Alexandria, to overawe, if possible, the rebellious bishop. He gave +out no reason for his conduct; but the Arians, who were in the secret, +openly boasted that it would soon be their turn to possess the churches. +Syrianus then sent for Athanasius, and in the presence of Maximus the +prefect again delivered to him the command of Constantius, that he +should quit Egypt and retire into banishment, and he threatened to carry +this command into execution by the help of the troops if he met with any +resistance. Athanasius, without refusing to obey, begged to be shown the +emperor’s orders in writing; but this reasonable request was refused. He +then entreated them even to give him, in their own handwriting, an order +for his banishment; but this was also refused, and the citizens, +who were made acquainted with the emperor’s wishes and the bishop’s +firmness, waited in dreadful anxiety to see whether the prefect and the +general would venture to enforce their orders. The presbytery of the +church and the corporation of the city went up to Syrianus in solemn +procession to beg him either to show a written authority for the +banishment of their bishop, or to write to Constantinople to learn the +emperor’s pleasure. To this request Syrianus at last yielded, and gave +his word to the friends of Athanasius that he would take no further +steps till the return of the messengers which he then sent to +Constantinople. + +But Syrianus had before received his orders, which were, if possible, to +frighten Athanasius into obedience, and, if that could not be done, then +to employ force, but not to expose the emperor’s written commands to the +danger of being successfully resisted. He therefore only waited for an +opportunity of carrying them into effect; and at midnight, on the ninth +of February, A.D. 356, twenty-three days after the promise had been +given, Syrianus, at the head of his troops, armed for the assault, +surrounded the church where Athanasius and a crowded assembly were at +prayers. The doors were forcibly and suddenly broken open, the armed +soldiers rushed forward to seize the bishop, and numbers of his faithful +friends were slain in their efforts to save him. Athanasius, however, +escaped in the tumult; but though the general was unsuccessful, the +bodies of the slain and the arms of the soldiers found scattered through +the church in the morning were full proofs of his unholy attempt. The +friends of the bishop drew up and signed a public declaration describing +the outrage, and Syrianus sent to Constantinople a counter-protest +declaring that there had been no disturbance in the city. + +Athanasius, with nearly the whole of the nation for his friends, easily +escaped the vengeance of the emperor; and, withdrawing for a third time +from public life, he passed the remainder of this reign in concealment. +He did not, however, neglect the interests of his flock. He encouraged +them with his letters, and even privately visited his friends in +Alexandria. As the greater part of the population was eager to befriend +him, he was there able to hide himself for six years. Disregarding +the scandal that might arise from it, he lived in the house of a young +woman, who concealed him in her chamber, and waited on him with untiring +zeal. She was then in the flower of her youth, only twenty years of age; +and fifty years afterwards, in the reign of Theodosius II., when the +name of the archbishop ranked with those of the apostles, this woman +used to boast among the monks of Alexandria that in her youth she had +for six years concealed the great Athanasius. + +But though the general was not wholly successful, yet the Athanasian +party was for the time crushed. Sebastianus, the new prefect, was sent +into Egypt with orders to seize Athanasius dead or alive, wherever he +should be found within the province; and under his protection the Arian +party in Alexandria again ventured to meet in public, and proceeded +to choose a bishop. They elected to this high position the celebrated +George of Cappadocia, a man who, while he equalled his more popular +rival in learning and in ambition, fell far behind him in coolness of +judgment, and in that political skill which is as much wanted in the +guidance of a religious party as in the government of an empire. + +George was born at Epiphania in Cilicia, and was the son of a clothier, +but his ambition led him into the Church, as being at that time the +fairest field for the display of talent; and he rose from one station +to another till he reached the high post of Bishop of Alexandria. The +fickle, irritable Alexandrians needed no such firebrand to light up the +flames of discontent. George took no pains to conceal the fact that he +held his bishopric by the favour of the emperor and the power of the +army against the wishes of his flock. To support his authority, he +opened his doors to informers of the worst description; anybody who +stood in the way of his grasp at power was accused of being an enemy +to the emperor. He proposed to the emperor to lay a house-tax on +Alexandria, thereby to repay the expense incurred by Alexander the Great +in building the city; and he made the imperial government more unpopular +than it had ever been since Augustus landed in Egypt. He used the army +as the means of terrifying the Homoousians into an acknowledgment of the +Arian opinions. He banished fifteen bishops to the Great Oasis, +besides others of lower rank. He beat, tortured, and put to death; the +persecution was more cruel than any suffered from the pagans, except +perhaps that in the reign of Diocletian; and thirty Egyptian bishops are +said to have lost their lives while George was patriarch of Alexandria. +Most of these accusations, however, are from the pens of his enemies. At +this time the countries at the southern end of the Red Sea were becoming +a little more known to Alexandria. Meropius, travelling in the reign of +Constantine for curiosity and the sake of knowledge, had visited Auxum, +the capital of the Hexumito, in Abyssinia. His companion Frumentius +undertook to convert the people to Christianity and persuade them +to trade with Egypt; and, as he found them willing to listen to his +arguments, he came home to Alexandria to tell of his success and ask +for support. Athanasius readily entered into a plan for spreading the +blessings of Christianity and the power of the Alexandrian church. To +increase the missionary’s weight he consecrated him a bishop, and sent +him back to Auxum to continue his good work. His progress, however, was +somewhat checked by sectarian jealousy; for, when Athanasius was deposed +by Constantius, Frumentius was recalled to receive again his orders and +his opinions from the new patriarch. Constantius also sent an embassy to +the Homeritse on the opposite coast of Arabia, under Theophilus, a monk +and deacon in the Church. The Homerito were of Jewish blood though of +gentile faith, and were readily converted, if not to Christianity, at +least to friendship with the emperor. After consecrating their churches, +Theophilus crossed over to the African coast, to the Hexumito, to carry +on the work which Frumentius had begun. There he was equally successful +in the object of his embassy. Both in trade and in religion the +Hexumito, who were also of Jewish blood, were eager to be connected with +the Europeans, from whom they were cut off by Arabs of a wilder race. He +found also a little to the south of Auxum a settlement of Syrians, who +were said to have been placed there by Alexander the Great. These tribes +spoke the language called Ethiopie, a dialect of Arabic which was not +used in the country which we have hitherto called Ethiopia. + +[Illustration: 213.jpg TEMPLE OF ABU SIMBEL IN NUBIA] + +The Ethiopie version of the Bible was about this time made for their +use. It was translated out of the Greek from the Alexandrian copies, +as the Greek version was held in such value that it was not thought +necessary to look to the Hebrew original of the Old Testament. But these +well-meant efforts did little at the time towards making the Hexumitæ +Christians. Distance and the Blemmyes checked their intercourse with +Alexandria. It was not till two hundred years later that they could be +said in the slightest sense to be converted to Christianity. + +Though the origin of monastic life has sometimes been claimed for the +Essenes on the shores of the Dead Sea, yet it was in Egypt that it was +framed into a system, and became the model for the Christian world. It +took its rise in the serious and gloomy views of religion which always +formed part of the Egyptian polytheism, and which the Greeks remarked as +very unlike their own gay and tasteful modes of worship, and which were +readily engrafted by the Egyptian converts into their own Christian +belief. In the reigns of Constantine and his sons, hundreds of +Christians, both men and women, quitting the pleasures and trials of +the busy world, withdrew one by one into the Egyptian desert, where the +sands are as boundless as the ocean, where the sunshine is less cheerful +than darkness, to spend their lonely days and watchful nights in +religious meditation and in prayer. They were led by a gloomy view +of their duty towards God, and by a want of fellow-feeling for their +neighbour; and they seemed to think that pain and misery in this world +would save them from punishment hereafter. The lives of many of these +Fathers of the Desert were written by the Christians who lived at the +same time; but a full account of the miracles which were said to have +been worked in their favour, or by their means, would now only call +forth a smile of pity, or perhaps even of ridicule. + +“Prosperity and peace,” says Gibbon, “introduced the distinction of the +vulgar and the ascetic Christians. The loose and imperfect practice +of religion satisfied the conscience of the multitude. The prince or +magistrate, soldier or merchant, reconciled their fervent zeal, and +implicit faith, with the exercise of their profession, the pursuit of +their interest, and the indulgence of their passions; but the ascetics, +who obeyed and abused the rigid precepts of the gospel, were inspired +by the severe enthusiasm which represents man as a criminal and God as +a tyrant. They seriously renounced the business and the pleasures of the +age; abjured the use of wine, of flesh, and of marriage, chastised their +body, mortified their affections, and embraced a life of misery, as +the price of eternal happiness. The ascetics fled from a profane and +degenerate world to perpetual solitude, or religious society. Like the +first Christians of Jerusalem, they resigned the use, or the property, +of their temporal possessions; established regular communities of the +same sex and a similar disposition, and assumed the names of hermits, +monks, or anchorites, expressive of their lonely retreat in a natural +or artificial desert. They soon acquired the respect of the world, which +they despised, and the loudest applause was bestowed on this divine +philosophy, which surpassed, without the aid of science or reason, the +laborious virtues of the Grecian schools. The monks might indeed contend +with the Stoics in the contempt of fortune, of pain, and of death; +the Pythagorean silence and submission were revived in their servile +discipline; and they disdained, as firmly as the Cynics themselves, +all the forms and decencies of civil society. But the votaries of this +divine philosophy aspired to imitate a purer and more perfect model. +They trod in the footsteps of the prophets, who had retired to the +desert; and they restored the devout and contemplative life, which +had been instituted by the Essenians, in Palestine and Egypt. The +philosophic eye of Pliny had surveyed with astonishment a solitary +people who dwelt among the palm trees near the Dead Sea; who subsisted +without money, who were propagated without women, and who derived from +the disgust and repentance of mankind a perpetual supply of voluntary +associates. Antony, an illiterate youth of the lower part of The-baid, +distributed his patrimony, deserted his family and native home, and +executed his monastic penance with original and intrepid fanaticism. +After a long and painful novitiate among the tombs and in a ruined +tower, he boldly advanced into the desert three days’ journey to the +eastward of the Nile; discovered a lonely spot, which possessed the +advantages of shade and water, and fixed his last residence on Mount +Colzim near the Red Sea, where an ancient monastery still preserves the +name and memory of the saint. The curious devotion of the Christians +pursued him to the desert; and, when he was obliged to appear at +Alexandria, in the face of mankind, he supported his fame with +discretion and dignity. He enjoyed the friendship of Athanasius, whose +doctrine he approved; and the Egyptian peasant respectfully declined +a respectful invitation from the Emperor Constantine. The venerable +patriarch (for Antony attained the age of 105 years) beheld the numerous +progeny which had been formed by his example and his lessons. The +prolific colonies of monks multiplied on the sands of Libya, upon the +rocks of the Thebaid, and in the cities of the Nile. To the south of +Alexandria, the mountain and adjacent desert of Nitria were peopled by +five thousand anchorites; and the traveller may still investigate the +ruins of fifty monasteries, which were planted in that barren soil by +the disciples of Antony. In the Upper Thebaid, the vacant island of +Tabenna was occupied by Pachomius and fourteen hundred of his brethren. +That holy abbot successively founded nine monasteries of men and one +of women; and the festival of Easter sometimes collected fifty thousand +religious persons, who followed his angelic rules of discipline. +The stately and populous city of Oxyrrhynchos, the seat of Christian +orthodoxy, had devoted the temples, the public edifices, and even the +ramparts, to pious and charitable uses, and the bishop, who might preach +in twelve churches, computed ten thousand females and twenty thousand +males of the monastic profession.” + +The monks borrowed many of their customs from the old Egyptian priests, +such as shaving the head; and Athanasius in his charge to them orders +them not to adopt the tonsure on the head, nor to shave the beard. He +forbids their employing magic or incantations to assist their prayers. +He endeavours to stop their emulation in fasting, and orders those whose +strength of body enabled them to fast longest not to boast of it. But he +orders them not even to speak to a woman, and wishes them not to bathe, +as being an immodest act. The early Christians, as being a sect of Jews, +had followed many Jewish customs, such as observing the Sabbath as well +as the Lord’s day; but latterly the line between the two religions had +been growing wider, and Athanasius orders the monks not to keep holy the +Jewish Sabbath. After a few years their religious duties were clearly +laid down for them in several well-drawn codes. + +One of the earliest of these ascetics was Amnion, who on the morning of +his marriage is said to have persuaded his young wife of the superior +holiness of a single life, and to have agreed with her that they should +devote themselves apart to the honour of God in the desert. But, in thus +avoiding the pleasures, the duties, and the temptations of the world, +Amnion lost many of the virtues and even the decencies of society; he +never washed himself, or changed his garments, because he thought it +wrong for a religious man even to see himself undressed; and when he had +occasion to cross a canal, his biographer tells us that attendant angels +carried him over the water in their arms, lest, while keeping his vows, +he should be troubled by wet clothes. + +In the religious controversies, whether pagan or Christian, Rome had +often looked to Egypt for its opinions; Constans, when wanting copies +of the Greek Scriptures for Rome, had lately sent to Alexandria, and +had received the approved text from Athanasius. The two countries held +nearly the same opinions and had the same dislike of the Greeks; so +when Jerome visited Egypt he found the Church holding, he said, the true +Roman faith as taught by the apostles. Under Didymus, who was then the +head of the catechetical school, Jerome pursued his studies, having +the same religious opinions with the Egyptian, and the same dislike +to Arianism. But no dread of heresy stopped Jerome in his search for +knowledge and for books. He obtained copies of the whole of Origen’s +works, and read them with the greatest admiration. It is true that he +finds fault with many of his opinions; but no admirer of Origen could +speak in higher terms of praise of his virtues and his learning, of +the qualities of his head and of his heart, than Jerome uses while he +timidly pretends to think that he has done wrong in reading his works. + +At this time--the end of the eleventh century after the building of the +city--the emperor himself did not refuse to mark on his Roman coins the +_happy renewal of the years_ by the old Egyptian astrological fable of +the return of the phoenix. + +From the treatise of Julius Fermicus against the pagan superstitions, it +would seem that the sacred animals of the Egyptians were no longer kept +in the several cities in which they used to be worshipped, and that many +of the old gods had been gradually dropped from the mythology, which was +then chiefly confined to the worship of Isis and Osiris. The great week +of the year was the feast of Isis, when the priests joined the goddess +in her grief for the loss of the good Osiris, who had been killed +through jealousy by the wicked Typhon. The priests shaved their heads, +beat their breasts, tore the skin off their arms, and opened up the old +wounds of former years, in grief for the death of Osiris, and in honour +of the widowed Isis. The river Nile was also still worshipped for the +blessings which it scatters along its banks, but we hear no more of +Amon-Ra, Chem, Horus, Aroëris, and the other gods of the Thebaid, whose +worship ceased with the fall of that part of the country. + +[Illustration: 220.jpg COIN OF CONSTANTIUS] + +But great changes often take place with very little improvement; the +fall of idolatry only made way for the rise of magic and astrology. +Abydos in Upper Egypt had latterly gained great renown for the temple of +Bîsû, whose oracle was much consulted, not only by the Egyptians but by +Greek strangers, and by others who sent their questions in writing. +Some of these letters on parchment had been taken from the temple by +informers, and carried to the emperor, whose ears were never deaf to a +charge against the pagans. On this accusation numbers of all ranks were +dragged out of Egypt, to be tried and punished in Syria, with torture +and forfeiture of goods. Such indeed was the nation’s belief in these +oracles and prophecies that it gave to the priests a greater power than +it was safe to trust them with. By prophesying that a man was to be an +emperor, they could make him a traitor, and perhaps raise a village in +rebellion. As the devotedness of their followers made it dangerous for +the magistrates to punish the mischief-makers, they had no choice but to +punish those who consulted them. Without forbidding the divine oracle to +answer, they forbade anybody to question it. Parnasius, who had been +a prefect of Egypt, a man of spotless character, was banished for thus +illegally seeking a knowledge of the future; and Demetrius Cythras, an +aged philosopher, was put to the rack on a charge of having sacrificed +to the god, and only released because he persisted through his tortures +in asserting that he sacrificed in gratitude and not from a wish thus to +learn his future fate. + +In the falling state of the empire the towns and villages of Egypt found +their rulers too weak either to guard them or to tyrannise over them, +and they sometimes formed themselves into small societies, and took +means for their own defence. The law had so far allowed this as in some +cases to grant a corporate constitution to a city. But in other cases a +city kept in its pay a courtier or government servant powerful enough to +guard it against the extortions of the provincial tax-gatherer, or would +put itself under the patronage of a neighbour rich enough and strong +enough to guard it. This, however, could not be allowed, even if not +used as the means of throwing off the authority of the provincial +government; and accordingly at this time we begin to find laws against +the new crime of _patronage_. These associations gave a place of refuge +to criminals, they stopped the worshipper in his way to the temple, and +the tax-gatherer in collecting the tribute. But new laws have little +weight when there is no power to enforce them, and the orders from +Constantinople were little heeded in Upper Egypt. + +But this _patronage_ which the emperor wished to put down was weak +compared to that of the bishops and clergy, which the law allowed and +even upheld, and which was the great check to the tyranny of the civil +governor. While the emperor at a distance gave orders through his +prefect, the people looked up to the bishop as their head; and hence the +power of each was checked by the other. The emperors had not yet made +the terrors of religion a tool in the hands of the magistrate; nor had +they yet learned from the pontifex and augurs of pagan Rome the secret +that civil power is never so strong as when based on that of the +Church. + +On the death of Constantius, in 361, Julian was at once acknowledged as +emperor, and the Roman world was again, but for the last time, governed +by a pagan. The Christians had been in power for fifty-five years under +Constantine and his sons, during which time the pagans had been made +to feel that their enemies had got the upper hand of them. But on the +accession of Julian their places were again changed; and the Egyptians +among others crowded to Constantinople to complain of injustice done by +the Christian prefect and bishop, and to pray for a redress of wrongs. +They were, however, sadly disappointed in their emperor; he put them off +with an unfeeling joke; he ordered them to meet him at Chalcedon on the +other side of the straits of Constantinople, and, instead of following +them according to his promise, he gave orders that no vessel should +bring an Egyptian from Chalcedon to the capital; and the Egyptians, +after wasting their time and money, returned home in despair. But though +their complaints were laughed at, they were not overlooked, and the +author of their grievances was punished; Artemius, the prefect of Egypt, +was summoned to Chalcedon, and not being able to disprove the crimes +laid to his charge by the Alexandrians, he paid his life as the forfeit +for his mis-government during the last reign. + +While Artemius was on his trial the pagans of Alexandria remained quiet, +and in daily fear of his return to power, for after their treatment +at Chalcedon they by no means felt sure of what would be the emperor’s +policy in matters of religion; but they no sooner heard of the death of +Artemius than they took it as a sign that they had full leave to revenge +themselves on the Christians. The mob rose first against the Bishop +George, who had lately been careless or wanton enough publicly to +declare his regret that any of their temples should be allowed to stand; +and they seized him in the streets and trampled him to death. They next +slew Dracontius, the prefect of the Alexandrian mint, whom they accused +of overturning a pagan altar within that building. Their anger was then +turned against Diodorus, who was employed in building a church on a +waste spot of ground that had once been sacred to the worship of Mithra, +but had since been given by the Emperor Constantius to the Christians. +In clearing the ground, the workmen had turned up a number of human +bones that had been buried there in former ages, and these had been +brought forward by the Christians in reproach against the pagans as so +many proofs of human sacrifices. In his Christian zeal, Diodorus also +had wounded at the same time their pride and superstition by cutting off +the single lock from the heads of the young Egyptians. This lock had +in the time of Ramses been the mark of youthful royalty; under the +Ptolemies the mark of high rank; but was now common to all. Diodorus +treated it as an offence against his religion. For this he was attacked +and killed, with George and Dracontius. The mob carried the bodies of +the three murdered men upon camels to the side of the lake, and there +burned them, and threw the ashes into the water, for fear, as they said, +that a church should be built over their remains, as had been sometimes +done, even at that early date, over the bodies of martyrs. + +[Illustration: 225.jpg A YOUNG EGYPTIAN WEARING THE ROYAL LOCK] + +When the news of this outrage against the laws was brought to the +philosophical emperor, he contented himself with threatening by an +imperial edict that if the offence were repeated, he would visit it with +severe punishment. But in every act of Julian we trace the scholar +and the lover of learning. George had employed his wealth in getting +together a large library, rich in historians, rhetoricians, and +philosophers of all sects; and, on the murder of the bishop, Julian +wrote letter after letter to Alexandria, to beg the prefect and +his friend Porphyrius to save these books, and send them to him in +Cappadocia. He promised freedom to the librarian if he gave them up, and +torture if he hid them; and further begged that no books in favour of +Christianity should be destroyed, lest other and better books should be +lost with them. + +There is too much reason to believe that the friends of Athanasius +were not displeased at the murder of the Bishop George and their Arian +fellow-Christians; at any rate they made no effort to save them, and the +same mob that had put to death George as an enemy to paganism now joined +his rival, Athanasius, in a triumphal entry into the city, when, with +the other Egyptian bishops, he was allowed to return from banishment. +Athanasius could brook no rival to his power; the civil force of the +city was completely overpowered by his party, and the Arian clergy were +forced to hide themselves, as the only means of saving their lives. But, +while thus in danger from their enemies, the Arians pro-hooded to elect +a successor to their murdered bishop, and they chose Lucius to that post +of honour, but of danger. Athanasius, however, in reality and openly +filled the office of bishop; and he summoned a synod at Alexandria, at +which he re-admitted into the church Lucifer and Eusebius, two bishops +who had been banished to the Thebaid, and he again decreed that the +three persons in the Trinity were of one substance. + +Though the Emperor Julian thought that George, the late bishop, had +deserved all that he suffered, as having been zealous in favour of +Christianity, and forward in putting down paganism and in closing +the temples, yet he was still more opposed to Athanasius. That able +churchman held his power as a rebel by the help of the Egyptian mob, +against the wishes of the Greeks of Alexandria and against the orders of +the late emperor; and Julian made an edict, ordering that he should be +driven out of the city within twenty-four hours of the command reaching +Alexandria. The prefect of Egypt was at first unable, or unwilling, to +enforce these orders against the wish of the inhabitants; and Athanasius +was not driven into banishment till Julian wrote word that, if the +rebellious bishop were to be found in any part of Egypt after a day then +named, he would fine the prefect and the officers under him one hundred +pounds weight of gold. Thus Athanasius was for the fourth time banished +from Alexandria. + +Though the Christians were out of favour with the emperor, and never +were employed in any office of trust, yet they were too numerous for him +to venture on a persecution. But Julian allowed them to be ill-treated +by his prefects, and took no notice of their complaints. He made a law, +forbidding any Christians being educated in pagan literature, believing +that ignorance would stop the spread of their religion. In the churches +of Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria, this was felt as a heavy grievance; +but it was less thought of in Egypt. Science and learning were less +cultivated by the Christians in Alexandria since the overthrow of the +Arian party; and a little later, to charge a writer with Grascizing was +the same as saying that he wanted orthodoxy. + +Julian was a warm friend to learning and philosophy among the pagans. +He recalled to Alexandria the physician Zeno, who in the last reign had +fled from the Georgian faction, as the Christians were then called. He +founded in the same city a college for music, and ordered the Prefect +Ecdicius to look out for some young men of skill in that science, +particularly from among the pupils of Dioscorus; and he allotted them +a maintenance from the treasury, with rewards for the most skilful. At +Canopus, a pagan philosopher, Antoninus, the son of Eustathius, taking +advantage of the turn in public opinion, and copying the Christian monks +of the The-baid, drew round him a crowd of followers by his self-denial +and painful torture of the body. The Alexandrians flocked in crowds to +his dwelling; and such was his character for holiness that his death, in +the beginning of the reign of Theodosius, was thought by the Egyptians +to be the cause of the overthrow of paganism. + +But Egyptian paganism, which had slumbered for fifty years under the +Christian emperors, was not again to be awaked to its former life. +Though the wars between the several cities for the honour of their gods, +the bull, the crocodile, or the fish, had never ceased, all reverence +for those gods was dead. The sacred animals, in particular the bulls +Apis and Mnevis, were again waited upon by their priests as of old; but +it was a vain attempt. Not only was the Egyptian religion overthrown, +but the Thebaid, the country of that religion, was fallen too low to +be raised again. The people of Upper Egypt had lost all heart, not more +from the tyranny of the Roman government in the north than from the +attacks and settlement of the Arabs in the south. All changes in the +country, whether for the better or the worse, were laid to the charge +of these latter unwelcome neighbours; and when the inquiring traveller +asked to be shown the crocodile, the river-horse, and the other animals +for which Egypt had once been noted, he was told with a sigh that they +were seldom to be seen in the Delta since the Thebaid had been peopled +with the Blemmyes. Falsehood, the usual vice of slaves, had taken a deep +hold on the Egyptian character. A denial of their wealth was the means +by which they usually tried to save it from the Roman tax-gatherer; and +an Egyptian was ashamed of himself as a coward if he could not show +a back covered with stripes gained in the attempt to save his money. +Peculiarities of character often descend unchanged in a nation for many +centuries; and, after fourteen hundred years of the same slavery, the +same stripes from the lash of the tax-gatherer still used to be the +boast of the Egyptian peasant. Cyrene was already a desert; the only +cities of note in Upper Egypt were Koptos, Hermopolis, and Antinoopolis; +but Alexandria was still the queen of cities, though the large quarter +called the Bruchium had not been rebuilt; and the Serapeum, with its +library of seven hundred thousand volumes, was, after the capitol of +Rome, the chief building in the world. + +This temple of Serapis was situated on a rising ground at the west end +of the city, and, though not built like a fortification, was sometimes +called the citadel of Alexandria. It was entered by two roads; that on +one side was a slope for carriages, and on the other a grand flight of a +hundred steps from the street, with each step wider than that below +it. At the top of this flight of steps was a portico, in the form of a +circular roof, upheld by four columns. + +[Illustration: 231.jpg AN EGYPTIAN WATER-CARRIER] + +Through this was the entrance into the great courtyard, in the middle +of which stood the roofless hall or temple, surrounded by columns and +porticoes, inside and out. In some of the inner porticoes were the +bookcases for the library which made Alexandria the very temple of +science and learning, while other porticoes were dedicated to the +service of the ancient religion. The roofs were ornamented with gilding, +the capitals of the columns were of copper gilt, and the walls were +covered with paintings. In the middle of the inner area stood one lofty +column, which could be seen by all the country round, and even from +ships some distance out at sea. The great statue of Serapis, which had +been made under the Ptolemies, having perhaps marble feet, but for the +rest built of wood, clothed with drapery, and glittering with gold and +silver, stood in one of the covered chambers, which had a small window +so contrived as to let the sun’s rays kiss the lips of the statue on the +appointed occasions. This was one of the tricks employed in the sacred +mysteries, to dazzle the worshipper by the sudden blaze of light which +on the proper occasions was let into the dark room. The temple itself, +with its fountain, its two obelisks, and its gilt ornaments, has long +since been destroyed; and the column in the centre, under the name of +Pompey’s Pillar, alone remains to mark the spot where it stood, and is +one of the few works of Greek art which in size and strength vie with +the old Egyptian monuments. + +The reign of Julian, instead of raising paganism to its former strength, +had only shown that its life was spent; and under Jovian (A.D. 363--364) +the Christians were again brought into power. A Christian emperor, +however, would have been but little welcome to the Egyptians if, like +Constantius, and even Constantine in his latter years, he had leaned +to the Arian party; but Jovian soon showed his attachment to the Nicene +creed, and he re-appointed Athanasius to the bishopric of Alexandria. +But though Athanasius regained his rank, yet the Arian bishop Lucius +was not deposed. Each party in Alexandria had its own bishop; those who +thought that the Son was of the same substance with the Father looked up +to Athanasius, while those who gave to Jesus the lower rank of being of +a similar substance to the Creator obeyed Lucius. + +This curious metaphysical proposition was not, however, the only cause +of the quarrel which divided Egypt into such angry parties. The creeds +were made use of as the watchwords in a political struggle. Blood, +language, and geographical boundaries divided the parties; and religious +opinions seldom cross these unchanging and inflexible lines. + +Every Egyptian believed in the Nicene creed and the incorruptibility +of the body of Jesus, and hated the Alexandrian Greeks; while the more +refined Greeks were as united in explaining away the Nicene creed by +the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, and in despising the ignorant +Egyptians. Christianity, which speaks so forcibly to the poor, the +unlearned, and the slave, had educated the Egyptian population, +had raised them in their own eyes; and, as the popular party gained +strength, the Arians lost ground in Alexandria. At the same time the +Greeks were falling off: in learning and in science, and in all those +arts of civilisation which had given them the superiority. Like other +great political changes, this may not have been understood at the time; +but in less than a hundred years it was found that the Egyptians were no +longer the slaves, nor the Greeks the masters. + +On the death of Jovian, when Valentinian divided the Roman empire with +his brother, he took Italy and the West for his own kingdom, and gave to +Valens Egypt and the Eastern provinces, in which Greek was the language +of the government. Each emperor adopted the religion of his capital; +Valentinian held the Nicene faith, and Valens the Arian faith; and +unhappy Egypt was the only part of the empire whose religion differed +from that of its rulers. Had the creeds marked the limits of the +two empires, Egypt would have belonged to Rome; but, as geographical +boundaries and language form yet stronger ties, Egypt was given to +Constantinople, or rather to Antioch, the nearer of the two Eastern +capitals. + +By Valens, Athanasius was forced for the fifth time to fly from +Alexandria, to avoid the displeasure which his disobedience again drew +down upon him. But his flock again rose in rebellion in favour of their +popular bishop; and the emperor was either persuaded or frightened +into allowing him to return to his bishopric, where he spent the few +remaining years of his life in peace. Athanasius died at an advanced +age, leaving a name more famous than that of any one of the emperors +under whom he lived. He taught the Christian world that there was a +power greater than that of kings, namely the Church. He was often beaten +in the struggle, but every victory over him was followed by the defeat +of the civil power; he was five times banished, but five times he +returned in triumph. The temporal power of the Church was in its +infancy; it only rose upon the conversion of Constantine, and it was +weak compared to what it became in after ages; but, when the Emperor +of Germany did penance barefoot before Pope Hildebrand, and a king of +England was whipped at Becket’s tomb, we only witness the full-grown +strength of the infant power that was being reared by the Bishop of +Alexandria. His writings are numerous and wholly controversial, chiefly +against the Arians. The Athanasian creed seems to have been so named +only because it was thought to contain his opinions, as it is known to +be by a later author. + +On the death of Athanasius, the Homoousian party chose Peter as his +successor in the bishopric, overlooking Lucius, the Arian bishop, whose +election had been approved by the emperors Julian, Jovian, and Valens. +But as the Egyptian church had lost its great champion, the emperor +ventured to re-assert his authority. He sent Peter to prison, and +ordered all the churches to be given up to the Arians, threatening with +banishment from Egypt whoever disobeyed his edict. The persecution +which the Homoousian party throughout Upper Egypt then suffered from the +Arians equalled, says the ecclesiastical historian, anything that they +had before suffered from the pagans. Every monastery in Egypt was broken +open by Lucius at the head of an armed force, and the cruelty of +the bishop surpassed that of the soldiers. The breaking open of the +monasteries seems to have been for the purpose of making the inmates +bear their share in the military service of the state, rather than +for any religious reasons. When Constantine embraced Christianity, he +immediately recognised all the religious scruples of its professors; +and not only bishops and presbyters but all laymen who had entered the +monastic orders were freed from the duty of serving in the army. But +under the growing dislike of military service, and the difficulty of +finding soldiers, when to escape from the army many called themselves +Christian monks, this excuse could no longer be listened to, and Valens +made a law that monastic vows should not save a man from enlistment. +But this law was not easily carried into force in the monasteries on +the borders of the desert, which were often well-built and well-guarded +fortresses; and on Mount Nitria, in particular, many monks lost +their lives in their resistance to the troops that were sent to fetch +recruits. + +[Illustration: 237.jpg REMAINS OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE TEMPLE OF +LUXOR] + +The monastic institutions of Egypt had already reached their +full growth. They were acknowledged by the laws of the empire as +ecclesiastical corporations, and allowed to hold property; and by a new +law of this reign, if a monk or nun died without a will or any known +kindred, the property went to the monastery as heir at law. One of the +most celebrated of these monasteries was on Tabenna, where Pachomius +had gathered round him thirteen hundred followers, who owned him as the +founder of their order, and gave him credit for the gift of prophecy. +His disciples in the other monasteries of Upper Egypt amounted to six +thousand more. Anuph was at the head of another order of monks, and he +boasted that he could by prayer obtain from heaven whatever he wished. +Hor was at the head of another monastery, where, though wholly unable +to read or write, he spent his life in singing psalms, and, as his +followers and perhaps he himself believed, in working miracles. +Sera-pion was at the head of a thousand monks in the Ar-sinoïte nome, +who raised their food by their own labour, and shared it with their +poorer neighbours. Near Nitria, a place in the Mareotic nome which gave +its name to the nitre springs, there were as many as fifty cells; but +those who aimed at greater solitude and severer mortification withdrew +farther into the desert, to Scetis in the same nome, a spot already +sanctified by the trials and triumphs of St. Anthony. Here, in a +monastery surrounded by the sands, by the side of a lake whose waters +are Salter than the brine of the ocean, with no grass or trees to rest +the aching eye, where the dazzling sky is seldom relieved with a +cloud, where the breezes are too often laden with dry dust, these monks +cultivated a gloomy religion, with hearts painfully attuned to the +scenery around them. Here dwelt Moses, who in his youth had been a +remarkable sinner, and in his old age became even more remarkable as a +saint. It was said that for six years he spent every night in prayer, +without once closing his eyes in sleep; and that one night, when his +cell was attacked by four robbers, he carried them all off at once on +his back to the neighbouring monastery to be punished, because he would +himself hurt no man. Benjamin also dwelt at Scetis; he consecrated oil +to heal the diseases of those who washed with it, and during the eight +months that he was himself dying of a dropsy, he touched for their +diseases all who came to the door of his cell to be healed. Hellas +carried fire in his bosom without burning his clothes. Elias spent +seventy years in solitude on the borders of the Arabian desert near +Antinoopolis. Apelles was a blacksmith near Achoris; he was tempted +by the devil in the form of a beautiful woman, but he scorched the +tempter’s face with a red-hot iron. Dorotheus, who though a Theban had +settled near Alexandria, mortified his flesh by trying to live without +sleep. He never willingly lay down to rest, nor indeed ever slept till +the weakness of the body sunk under the efforts of the spirit. Paul, +who dwelt at Pherma, repeated three hundred prayers every day, and kept +three hundred pebbles in a bag to help him in his reckoning. He was the +friend of Anthony, and when dying begged to be wrapt in the cloak given +him by that holy monk, who had himself received it as a present from +Athanasius. His friends and admirers claimed for Paul the honour of +being the first Christian hermit, and they maintained their improbable +opinion by asserting that he had been a monk for ninety-seven years, and +that he had retired to the desert at the age of sixteen, when the Church +was persecuted in the reign of Valerian. All Egypt believed that the +monks were the especial favourites of Heaven, that they worked miracles, +and that divine wisdom flowed from their lips without the help or +hindrance of human learning. They were all Homoousians, believing +that the Son was of one substance with the Father; some as trinitarians +holding the opinions of Athanasius; some as Sabellians believing that +Jesus was the creator of the world, and that his body therefore was not +liable to corruption; some as anthropomorphites believing God was of +human form like Jesus; but all warmly attached to the Mcene creed, +denying the two natures of Christ, and hating the Arian Greeks of +Alexandria and the other cities. Gregory of Nazianzum remarks that Egypt +was the most Christ-loving of countries, and adds with true simplicity +that, wonderful to say, after having so lately worshipped bulls, goats, +and crocodiles, it was now teaching the world the worship of the Trinity +in the truest form. + +The pagans, who were now no longer able to worship publicly as they +chose, took care to proclaim their opinions indirectly in such ways as +the law could not reach. In the hippodrome, which was the noisiest of +the places where the people met in public, they made a profession of +their faith by the choice of which horses they bet on; and Christians +and pagans alike showed their zeal for religion by hooting and clapping +of hands. Prayers and superstitious ceremonies were used on both +sides to add to the horses’ speed; and the monk Hilarion, the pupil of +Anthony, gained no little credit for sprinkling holy water on the horses +of his party, and thus enabling Christianity to outrun paganism in the +hippodrome at Gaza. + +During these reigns of weakness and misgovernment, it was no doubt a +cruel policy rather than humanity that led the tax-gatherers to collect +the tribute in kind. More could be squeezed out of a ruined people by +taking what they had to give than by requiring it to be paid in copper +coin. Hence Valons made a law that no tribute throughout the empire +should be taken in money; and he laid a new land-tax upon Egypt, to the +amount of a soldier’s clothing for every thirty acres. + +The Saracens* had for some time past been encroaching on the Eastern +frontiers of the empire, and had only been kept back by treaties which +proved the weakness of the Romans, as the armies of Constantinople were +still called, and which encouraged the barbarians in their attacks. + + * The name _Saraceni_ was given by the Greeks and Romans to + the nomadic Arabs who lived on the borders of the desert. + During the Middle Ages, the Muhammedans, coming from + apparently the same localities, were also called Saracens. + +On the death of their king, the command over the Saracens fell to +their Queen Masvia, who broke the last treaty, laid waste Palestine and +Phoenicia with her armies, conquered or gained over the Arabs of Petra, +and pressed upon the Egyptians at the head of the Red Sea. On this, +Valens renewed the truce, but on terms still more favourable to the +invaders. Many of the Saracens were Christians, and by an article of the +treaty they were to have a bishop granted them for their church, and +for this purpose they sent Moses to Alexandria to be ordained. But +the Saracens sided with the Egyptians, in religion as well as policy, +against the Arian Greeks. Hence Moses refused to be ordained by Lucius, +the patriarch of Alexandria, and chose rather to receive his appointment +from some of the Homoousian bishops who were living in banishment in the +Thebaid. After this advance of the barbarians the interesting city +of Petra, which since the time of Trajan had been in the power or the +friendship of Rome or Constantinople, was lost to the civilised world. +This rocky fastness, which was ornamented with temples, a triumphal +arch, and a theatre, and had been a bishop’s see, was henceforth +closed against all travellers; it had no place in the map till it was +discovered by Burckhardt in our own days without a human being dwelling +in it, with oleanders and tamarisks choking up its entrance through +the cliff, and with brambles trailing their branches over the rock-hewn +temples. + +[Illustration: 243.jpg TEMPLE COURTYARD, MEDINET ABU] + +The reign of Theodosius, which extended from 379 to 395, is remarkable +for the blow then given to paganism. The old religion had been sinking +even before Christianity had become the religion of the emperors; it had +been discouraged by Constantine, who had closed many of the temples; but +Theodosius made a law in the first year of his reign that the whole +of the empire should be Christian, and should receive the trinitarian +faith. He soon afterwards ordered that Sunday should be kept holy, and +forbade all work and law-proceedings on that day; and he sent Cynegius, +the prefect of the palace, into Egypt, to see these laws carried into +effect in that province. + +The wishes of the emperor were ably followed up by Theophilus, Bishop of +Alexandria. He cleansed the temple of Mithra, and overthrew the statues +in the celebrated temple of Serapis, which seemed the very citadel of +paganism. He also exposed to public ridicule the mystic ornaments and +statues which a large part of his fellow-citizens still regarded as +sacred. It was not, however, to be supposed that this could be peaceably +borne by a people so irritable as the Alexandrians. The students in the +schools of philosophy put themselves at the head of the mob to stop the +work of destruction, and to revenge themselves upon their assailants, +and several battles were fought in the streets between the pagans +and the Christians, in which both parties lost many lives; but as the +Christians were supported by the power of the prefect, the pagans were +routed, and many whose rank would have made them objects of punishment +were forced to fly from Alexandria. + +No sooner had the troops under the command of the prefect put down the +pagan opposition than the work of destruction was again carried forward +by the zeal of the bishop. The temples were broken open, their ornaments +destroyed, and the statues of the gods melted for the use of the +Alexandrian church. One statue of an Egyptian god was alone saved from +the wreck, and was set up in mockery of those who had worshipped it; +and this ridicule of their religion was a cause of greater anger to the +pagans than even the destruction of the other statues. The great statue +of Serapis, which was made of wood covered with plates of metal, was +knocked to pieces by the axes of the soldiers. The head and limbs were +broken off, and the wooden trunk was burnt in the amphitheatre amid +the shouts and jeers of the bystanders. A conjectured fragment of this +statue is now in the British Museum. + +In the plunder of the temple of Serapis, the great library of more +than seven hundred thousand volumes was wholly broken up and scattered. +Orosius, the Spaniard, who visited Alexandria in the next reign, may be +trusted when he says that he saw in the temple the empty shelves, which, +within the memory of men then living, had been plundered of the books +that had formerly been got together after the library of the Bruchium +was burnt by Julius Cæsar. In a work of such lawless plunder, carried +on by ignorant zealots, many of these monuments of pagan genius and +learning must have been wilfully or accidentally destroyed, though the +larger number may have been carried off by the Christians for the other +public and private libraries of the city. How many other libraries this +city of science may have possessed we are not told, but there were no +doubt many. Had Alexandria during the next two centuries given birth to +poets and orators, their works, the offspring of native genius, might +perhaps have been written without the help of libraries; but the labours +of the mathematicians and grammarians prove that the city was still well +furnished with books, beside those on the Christian controversies. + +When the Christians were persecuted by the pagans, none but men of +unblemished lives and unusual strength of mind stood to their religion +in the day of trial, and suffered the penalties of the law; the weak, +the ignorant, and the vicious readily joined in the superstitions +required of them, and, embracing the religion of the stronger party, +easily escaped punishment. So it was when the pagans of Alexandria were +persecuted by Theophilus; the chief sufferers were the men of learning, +in whose minds paganism was a pure deism, and who saw nothing but +ignorance and superstition on the side of their oppressors; who thought +their worship of the Trinity only a new form of polytheism, and jokingly +declared that they were not arithmeticians enough to understand it. +Olympius, who was the priest of Serapis when the temple was sacked, and +as such the head of the pagans of Alexandria, was a man in every +respect the opposite of the Bishop Theophilus. He was of a frank, open +countenance and agreeable manners; and though his age might have allowed +him to speak among his followers in the tone of command, he chose rather +in his moral lessons to use the mild persuasion of an equal; and few +hearts were so hardened as not to be led into the paths of duty by his +exhortations. Whereas the furious monks, says the indignant pagan, were +men only in form, but swine in manners. Whoever put on a black coat, and +was not ashamed to be seen with dirty linen, gained a tyrannical power +over the minds of the mob, from their belief in his holiness; and these +men attacked the temples of the gods as a propitiation for their own +enormous sins. Thus each party reproached the other, and often unjustly. +Among other religious frauds and pretended miracles of which the pagan +priests were accused, was that of having an iron statue of Serapis +hanging in the air in a chamber of the temple, by means of a loadstone +fixed in the ceiling. The natural difficulties shield them from this +charge, but other accusations are not so easily rebutted. + +After this attack upon the pagans, their religion was no longer openly +taught in Alexandria. Some of the more zealous professors withdrew +from the capital to Canopus, about ten miles distant, where the ancient +priestly learning was still taught, unpersecuted because unnoticed; and +there, under the pretence of studying hieroglyphics, a school was opened +for teaching magic and other forbidden rites. When the pagan worship +ceased throughout Egypt, the temples were very much used as churches, +and in some cases received in their ample courtyard a smaller church of +Greek architecture, as in that of Medinet Abu. In other cases Christian +ornaments were added to the old walls, as in the rock temple of Kneph, +opposite to Abu Simbel, where the figure of the Saviour with a glory +round his head has been painted on the ceiling. The Christians, in order +to remove from before their eyes the memorials of the old superstition, +covered up the sculpture on the walls with mud from the Nile and white +plaster. This coating we now take away, at a time when the idolatrous +figures are no longer dangerous to religion, and we find the sculpture +and painting fresh as when covered up fourteen hundred years ago. + +[Illustration: 248.jpg CHRISTIAN PICTURE AT ABU SIMBE] + +It would be unreasonable to suppose that the Egyptians, upon embracing +Christianity, at once threw off all of their pagan rites. Among other +customs that they still clung to, was that of making mummies of the +bodies of the dead. St. Anthony had tried to dissuade the Christian +converts from that practice; not because the mummy-cases were covered +with pagan inscriptions, but he boldly asserted, what a very little +reading would have disproved, that every mode of treating a dead body, +beside burial, was forbidden in the Bible. St. Augustine, on the other +hand, well understanding that the immortality of the soul without the +body was little likely to be understood or valued by the ignorant, +praises the Egyptians for that very practice, and says that they were +the only Christians who really believed in the resurrection from the +dead. The tapers burnt before the altars were from the earliest times +used to light up the splendours of the Egyptian altars, in the darkness +of their temples, and had been burnt in still greater numbers in the +yearly festival of the candles. The playful custom of giving away +sugared cakes and sweetmeats on the twenty-fifth day of Tybi, our +twentieth of January, was then changed to be kept fourteen days earlier, +and it still marks the Feast of Epiphany or Twelfth-night. The division +of the people into clergy and laity, which was unknown to Greeks and +Romans, was introduced into Christianity in the fourth century by the +Egyptians. While the rest of Christendom were clothed in woollen, linen, +the common dress of the Egyptians, was universally adopted by the clergy +as more becoming to the purity of their manners. At the same time the +clergy copied the Egyptian priests in the custom of shaving the crown of +the head bald. + +The new law in favour of trinitarian Christianity was enforced with as +great strictness against the Arians as against the pagans. The bishops +and priests of that party wrere everywhere turned out of their churches, +which were then given up to the Homoousians. Theodosius summoned a +council of one hundred and fifty bishops at Constantinople, to re-enact +the Nicene creed; and in the future religious rebellions of the +Egyptians they always quoted against the Greeks this council of +Constantinople, with that of Nicasa, as the foundation of their faith. +By this religious policy, Theodosius did much to delay the fall of the +empire. He won the friendship of his Egyptian subjects, as well as of +their Saracen neighbours, all of whom, as far as they were Christian, +held to the Nicene creed. Egypt became the safest of his provinces; and, +when his armies had been recruited with so many barbarians that they +could no longer be trusted, these new levies wrere marched into Egypt +under the command of Hormisdas, and an equal number of Egyptians were +drafted out of the army of Egypt, and led into Thessaly. + +When the season came for the overflow of the Nile, in the first summer +after the destruction of the temples, the waters happened to rise more +slowly than usual; and the Egyptians laid the blame upon the Christian +emperor, who had forbidden their sacrificing the usual offerings in +honour of the river-god. + +[Illustration: 250.jpg MANFALOOT, SHOWING THE HEIGHT OF THE NILE IN +SUMMER] + +The alarm for the loss of their crops carried more weight in the +religious controversy than any arguments that could be brought against +pagan sacrifices; and the anger of the people soon threatened a serious +rebellion. Evagrius the prefect, being disturbed for the peace of the +country, sent to Constantinople for orders; but the emperor remained +firm; he would make no change in the law against paganism, and the fears +of the Egyptians and Alexandrians were soon put an end to by a most +plenteous overflow. + +Since the time of Athanasius, and the overthrow of the Arian party in +Alexandria, the learning of that city was wholly in the hands of the +pagans, and was chiefly mathematical. Diophantus of Alexandria is the +earliest writer on algebra whose works are now remaining to us, and has +given his name to the Diophantine problems. Pappus wrote a description +of the world, and a commentary on Ptolemy’s _Almagest_, beside a work +on geometry, published under the name of his _Mathematical Collections_. +Theon, a professor in the museum, wrote on the smaller astrolabe--the +instrument then used to measure the star orbits--and on the rise of the +Nile, a subject always of interest to the mathematicians of Egypt, from +its importance to the husbandman. From Theon’s astronomical observations +we learn that the Alexandrian astronomers still made use of the old +Egyptian movable year of three hundred and sixty-five days only, and +without a leap-year. Paul the Alexandrian astrologer, on the other hand, +uses the Julian year of three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter, +and he dates from the era of Diocletian. His rules for telling the day +of the week from the day of the month, and for telling on what day of +the week each year began, teach us that our present mode of dividing +time was used in Egypt. Horapollo, the grammarian, was also then a +teacher in the schools of Alexandria. He wrote in the Koptic language a +work in explanation of the old hieroglyphics, which has gained a notice +far beyond its deserts, because it is the only work on the subject that +has come down to us. + +The only Christian writings of this time, that we know of, are the +paschal letters of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, which were much +praised by Jerome, and by him translated into Latin. They are full of +bitter reproaches against Origen and his writings, and they charge him +with having treated Jesus more cruelly than Pilate or the Jews had done. +John, the famous monk of the Thebaid, was no writer, though believed to +have the gift of prophecy. He was said to have foretold the victory +of Theodosius over the rebel Maximus; and, when the emperor had got +together his troops to march against Eugenius, another rebel who +had seized the passes of the Julian Alps, he sent his trusty eunuch +Eutropius to fetch the holy Egyptian, or at least to learn from him what +would be the event of the war. John refused to go to Europe, but he +told the messenger that Theodosius would conquer the rebel, and soon +afterwards die; both of which came to pass as might easily have been +guessed. + +On the death of Theodosius, in 395, the Roman empire was again divided. +Arcadius, his elder son, ruled Egypt and the East, while Honorius, the +younger, held the West; and the reins of government at once passed +from the ablest to the weakest hands. But the change was little felt +in Egypt, which continued to be governed by the patriarch Theophilus, +without the name but with very nearly the power of a prefect. He was +a bold and wicked man, but as his religious opinions were for the +Homoousians as against the Arians, and his political feelings were for +the Egyptians as against the Greeks, he rallied to his government the +chief strength of the province. As the pagans and Arians of Alexandria +were no longer worthy of his enmity, he fanned into a flame a new +quarrel which was then breaking out in the Egyptian church. The monks +of Upper Egypt, who were mostly ignorant and unlettered men, were +anthropomorphites, or believers that God was in outward shape like a +man. They quoted from the Jewish Scriptures that he made man in his own +image, in support of their opinion. They held that he was of a strictly +human form, like Jesus, which to them seemed fully asserted in the +Nicene creed. In this opinion they were opposed by those who were better +educated, and it suited the policy of Theophilus to side with the more +ignorant and larger party. He branded with the name of Origenists those +who argued that God was without form, and who quoted the writings of +Origen in support of their opinion. This naturally led to a dispute +about Origen’s orthodoxy; and that admirable writer, who had been +praised by all parties for two hundred years, and who had been quoted as +authority as much by Athanasius as by the Arians, was declared to be a +heretic by a council of bishops. The writings of Origen were accordingly +forbidden to be read, because they contradicted the anthropomorphite +opinions. + +The quarrel between the Origenists and the anthropomorphites did not end +in words. A proposition in theology, or a doubt in metaphysics, was no +better cause of civil war than the old quarrels about the bull Apis or +the crocodile; but a change of religion had not changed the national +character. The patriarch, finding his party the stronger, attacked the +enemy in their own monasteries; he marched to Mount Nitria at the head +of a strong body of soldiers, and, enrolling under his banners the +anthropomorphite monks, attacked Dioscorus and the Origenists, set fire +to their monasteries, and laid waste the place. + +Theophilus next quarrelled with Peter, the chief of the Alexandrian +presbyters, whom he accused of admitting to the sacraments of the +church a woman who had not renounced the Manichean heresy; and he then +quarrelled with Isidorus, who had the charge of the poor of the church, +because he bore witness that Peter had the orders of Theophilus himself +for what he did. + +In this century there was a general digging up of the bodies of the +most celebrated Christians of former ages, to heal the diseases and +strengthen the faith of the living; and Constantinople, which as the +capital of the empire had been ornamented by the spoils of its subject +provinces, had latterly been enriching its churches with the remains of +numerous Christian saints. The tombs of Egypt, crowded with mummies that +had lain there for centuries, could of course furnish relics more easily +than most countries, and in this reign Constantinople received from +Alexandria a quantity of bones which were supposed to be those of the +martyrs slain in the pagan persecutions. The archbishop John Chrysostom +received them gratefully, and, though himself smarting under the +reproach that he was not orthodox enough for the superstitious +Egyptians, he thanks God that Egypt, which sent forth its grain to feed +its hungry neighbours, could also send the bodies of so many martyrs to +sanctify their churches. + +We have traced the fall of the Greek party in Alexandria, in the +victories over the Arians during the religious quarrels of the last +hundred years; and in the laws we now read the city’s loss of wealth +and power. The corporation of Alexandria was no longer able to bear the +expense of cleansing the river and keeping open the canals; and four +hundred _solidi_--about twelve hundred dollars--were each year set apart +from the custom-house duties of the city for that useful work. + +The arrival of new settlers in Alexandria had been very much checked by +the less prosperous state of the country since the reign of Diocletian. +We still find, however, that many of the men of note were not born in +Egypt. Paulus, the physician, was a native of Ægina. He has left a work +on diseases and their remedies. The chief man of learning was Synesius, +a platonic philosopher whom the patriarch Theophilus persuaded to join +the Christians. As a platonist he naturally leaned towards many of +the doctrines of the popular religion, but he could not believe in a +resurrection; and it was not till after Theophilus had ordained him +Bishop of Ptolemais near Cyrene that he acknowledged the truth of that +doctrine. Nor would he then put away or disown his wife, as the +custom of the Church required; indeed, he accepted the bishopric very +unwillingly. He was as fond of playful sport as he was of books, and +very much disliked business. He has left a volume of writings, which has +saved the names of two prefects of Cyrene; the one Anysius, under +whose good discipline even the barbarians of Hungary behaved like Roman +legionaries, and the other Poonius, who cultivated science in this +barren spot. To encourage Pasonius in his praiseworthy studies he made +him a present of an astrolabe, to measure the distances of the stars +and planets, an instrument which was constructed under the guidance of +Hypatia. + +Trade and industry were checked by the unsettled state of the country, +and misery and famine were spreading over the land. The African tribes +of Mazices and Auxoriani, leaving the desert in hope of plunder, overran +the province of Libya, and laid waste a large part of the Delta. The +barbarians and the sands of the desert were alike encroaching on the +cultivated fields. Nature seemed changed. The valley of the Nile was +growing narrower. Even within the valley the retreating wraters left +behind them harvests less rich, and fever more putrid. The quarries were +no longer worth working for their building stone. The mines yielded no +more gold. + +On the death of Arcadius, his son Theodosius was only eight years old, +but he was quietly acknowledged as Emperor of the East in 408, and he +left the government of Egypt, as heretofore, very much in the hands of +the patriarch. In the fifth year of his reign Theophilus died; and, as +might be supposed, a successor was not appointed without a struggle for +the double honour of Bishop of Alexandria and Governor of Egypt. + +[Illustration: 257.jpg QUARRIES AT TOORAH ON THE NILE] + +The remains of the Greek and Arian party proposed Timotheus, an +archdeacon in the church; but the Egyptian party were united in favour +of Cyril, a young man of learning and talent, who had the advantage of +being the nephew of the late bishop. Whatever were the forms by which +the election should have been governed, it was in reality settled by a +battle between the two parties in the streets; and though Abundantius, +the military prefect, gave the weight of his name, if not the strength +of his cohort, to the party of Timotheus, yet his rival conquered, +-and Cyril was carried into the cathedral with a pomp more like a pagan +triumph than the modest ordination of a bishop. + +Cyril was not less tyrannical in his bishopric than his uncle had +been before him. His first care was to put a stop to all heresy in +Alexandria, and his second to banish the Jews. The theatre was the spot +in which the riots between Jews and Christians usually began, and the +Sabbath was the time, as being the day on which the Jews chiefly crowded +in to see the dancing. On one occasion the quarrel in the theatre ran +so high that the prefect with his cohort was scarcely able to keep them +from blows; and the Christians reproached the Jews with plotting to burn +down the churches. But the Christians were themselves guilty of the very +crimes of which they accused their enemies. The next morning, as soon +as it was light, Cyril headed the mob in their attacks upon the Jewish +synagogues; they broke them open and plundered them, and in one day +drove every Jew out of the city. No Jew had been allowed to live in +Alexandria or any other city without paying a poll-tax, for leave +to worship his God according to the manner of his forefathers; but +religious zeal is stronger than the love of money; the Jews were driven +out, and the tax lost to the city. + +[Illustration: 258b.jpg Street and Mosque of Mahdjiar] + +Orestes, the prefect of Alexandria, had before wished to check the power +of the bishop; and he in vain tried to save the Jews from oppression, +and the state from the loss of so many good citizens. But it was useless +to quarrel with the patriarch, who was supported by the religious +zeal of the whole population. The monks of Mount Nitria and of the +neighbourhood burned with a holy zeal to fight for Cyril, as they had +before fought for Theophilus; and when they heard that a jealousy had +sprung up between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, more than +five hundred of them marched into Alexandria to avenge the affronted +bishop. They met the prefect Orestes as he was passing through the +streets in his open chariot, and began reproaching him with being a +pagan and a Greek. Orestes answered that he was a Christian, and he had +been baptised at Constantinople. But this only cleared him of the lesser +charge, he was certainly a Greek; and one of these Egyptian monks taking +up a stone threw it at his head, and the blow covered his face with +blood. They then fled from the guards and people who came up to help the +wounded prefect; but Ammonius, who threw the stone, was taken and put +to death with torture. The grateful bishop buried him in the church with +much pomp; he declared him to be a martyr and a saint, and gave him +the name of St. Thaumasius. But the Christians were ashamed of the +new martyr: and the bishop, who could not withstand the ridicule, soon +afterwards withdrew from him the title. + +Bad as was this behaviour of the bishop and his friends, the most +disgraceful tale still remains to be told. The beautiful and learned +Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician, was at that time +the ornament of Alexandria and the pride of the pagans. She taught +philosophy publicly in the platonic school which had been founded by +Ammonius, and which boasted of Plotinus as its pupil. She was as modest +as she wras graceful, eloquent, and learned; and though, being a pagan, +she belonged to neither of the rival Christian parties, yet, as she +had more hearers among the Greek friends of the prefect than among the +ignorant followers of the bishop, she became an object of jealousy with +the Homoousian party. A body of these Christians, says the orthodox +historian, attacked this admirable woman in the street; they dragged +her from her chariot, and hurried her off into the church named Cæsar’s +temple, and there stripped her and murdered her with some broken tiles. +She had written commentaries on the mathematical works of Diophantus, +and on the conic sections of Apollonius. The story of her life has been +related in the nineteenth century by Charles Kingsley in the novel which +bears her name. + +Arianism took refuge from the Egyptians within the camps of the Greek +soldiers. One church was dedicated to the honour of St. George, the late +bishop, within the lofty towers of the citadel of Babylon, which was +the strongest fortress in Egypt; and a second in the city of Ptolemais, +where a garrison was stationed to collect the toll of the Thebaid. St. +George became a favourite saint with the Greeks in Egypt, and in those +spots where the Greek soldiers were masters of the churches this Arian +and unpopular bishop was often painted on the walls riding triumphantly +on horseback and slaying the dragon of Athanasian error. On the other +hand, in Alexandria, where his rival’s politics and opinions held the +upper hand, the monastery of St. Athanasius was built in the most public +spot in the city, probably that formerly held by the Soma or royal +burial-place; and in Thebes a cathedral church was dedicated to St. +Athanasius within the great courtyard of Medinet-Abu, where the +small and paltry Greek columns are in strange contrast to the grand +architecture of Ramses III. which surrounds them. + +In former reigns the Alexandrians had been in the habit of sending +embassies to Constantinople to complain of tyranny or misgovernment, and +to beg for a redress of grievances, when they thought that justice could +be there obtained when it was refused in Alexandria. But this practice +was stopped by Theodosius, who made a law that the Alexandrians should +never send an embassy to Constantinople, unless it were agreed to by a +decree of the town council, and had the approbation of the prefect. The +weak and idle emperor would allow no appeal from the tyranny of his own +governor. + +We may pass over the banishment of John Chrysostom, Bishop of +Constantinople, as having less to do with the history of Egypt, though, +as in the cases of Arius and Nestorius, the chief mover of the attack +upon him was a bishop of Alexandria, who accused him of heresy, because +he did not come up to the Egyptian standard of orthodoxy. But among the +bishops who were deposed with Chrysostom was Palladius of Galatia, who +was sent a prisoner to Syênê. As soon as he was released from his bonds, +instead of being cast down by his misfortunes, he proposed to take +advantage of the place of his banishment, and he set forward on his +travels through Ethiopia for India, in search of the wisdom of the +Brahmins. He arrived in safety at Adule, the port on the Red Sea in +latitude 15°, now known as Zula, where he made acquaintance with Moses, +the bishop of that city, and persuaded him to join him in his distant +and difficult voyage. + +From Adule the two set sail in one of the vessels employed in the Indian +trade; but they were unable to accomplish their purpose, and Palladius +returned to Egypt worn out with heat and fatigue, having scarcely +touched the shores of India. On his return through Thebes he met with +a traveller who had lately returned from the same journey, and who +consoled him under his disappointment by recounting his own failure in +the same undertaking. His new friend had himself been a merchant in the +Indian trade, but had given up business because he was not successful in +it; and, having taken a priest as his companion, had set out on the +same voyage in search of Eastern wisdom. They had sailed to Adule on +the Abyssinian shore, and then travelled to Auxum, the capital of that +country. From that coast they set sail for the Indian ocean, and reached +a coast which they thought was Taprobane or Ceylon. But there they were +taken prisoners, and, after spending six years in slavery, and learning +but little of the philosophy that they were in search of, were glad to +take the first opportunity of escaping and returning to Egypt. Palladius +had travelled in Egypt before he was sent there into banishment, and +he had spent many years in examining the monasteries of the Thebaid and +their rules, and he has left a history of the lives of many of those +holy men and woman, addressed to his friend Lausus. + +When Nestorius was deposed from the bishopric of Constantinople for +refusing to use the words “Mother of God” as the title of Jesus’ +mother, and for falling short in other points of what was then thought +orthodoxy, he was banished to Hibe in the Great Oasis. While he was +living there, the Great Oasis was overrun by the Blemmyes, the Roman +garrison was defeated, and those that resisted were put to the sword. +The Blemmyes pillaged the place and then withdrew; and, being themselves +at war with the Mazices, another tribe of Arabs, they kindly sent their +prisoners to the Thebaid, lest they should fall into the hands of +the latter. Nestorius then went to Panopolis to show himself to the +governor, lest he should be accused of running away from his place of +banishment, and soon afterwards he died of the sufferings brought on by +these forced and painful journeys through the desert. + +About the same time Egypt was visited by Cassianus, a monk of Gaul, in +order to study the monastic institutions of the Thebaid. In his work on +that subject he has described at length the way of life and the severe +rules of the Egyptian monks, and has recommended them to the imitation +of his countrymen. But the natives of Italy and the West do not seem +to have been contented with copying the Theban monks at a distance. Such +was the fame of the Egyptian monasteries that many zealots from Italy +flocked there, to place themselves under the severe discipline of those +holy men. As these Latin monks did not understand either Koptic or +Greek, they found some difficulty in regulating their lives with the +wished-for exactness; and the rules of Pachomius, of Theodorus, and of +Oresiesis, the most celebrated of the founders, were actually sent to +Jerome at Rome, to be by him translated into Latin for the use of these +settlers in the Thebaid. These Latin monks made St. Peter a popular +saint in some parts of Egypt; and in the temple of Asseboua, in Nubia, +when the Christians plastered over the figure of one of the old gods, +they painted in its place the Apostle Peter holding the key in his hand. + +[Illustration: 264.jpg RAMSES II. AND ST. PETER] + +They did not alter the rest of the sculpture; so that Ramses II. is +there now seen presenting his offering to the Christian saint. The mixed +group gives us proof of the nation’s decline in art rather than of its +improvement in religion. + +Among the monks of Egypt there were also some men of learning and +industry, who in their cells in the desert had made at least three +translations of the New Testament into the three dialects of the Koptic +language; namely, the Sahidic of Upper Egypt, the Bashmuric of the +Bashmour province of the eastern half of the Delta, and the Koptic +proper of Memphis and the western half of the Delta. To these were +afterwards added the Acts of the council of Nicæa, the lives of the +saints and martyrs, the writings of many of the Christian fathers, the +rituals of the Koptic church, and various treatises on religion. + +Other monks were as busy in making copies of the Greek manuscripts +of the Old and New Testament; and, as each copy must have needed the +painful labour of months, and often years, their industry and zeal must +have been great. Most of these manuscripts were on papyrus, or on a +manufactured papyrus which might be called paper, and have long since +been lost; but the three most ancient copies on parchment which are the +pride of the Vatican, the Paris library, and the British Museum, are the +work of the Alexandrian penmen. + +Copies of the Bible were also made in Alexandria for sale in western +Europe; and all our oldest manuscripts show their origin by the Egyptian +form of spelling in some of the words. The Beza manuscript at Cambridge, +and the Clermont manuscript at Paris, which have Greek on one side of +the page and Latin on the other, were written in Alexandria. The Latin +is that more ancient version which was in use before the time of Jerome, +and which he corrected, to form what is now called the Latin Vulgate. +This old version was made by changing each Greek word into its +corresponding Latin word, with very little regard to the different +characters of the two languages. It was no doubt made by an Alexandrian +Greek, who had a very slight knowledge of Latin. + +Already the papyrus on which books were written was, for the most part, +a manufactured article and might claim the name of paper. In the time of +Pliny in the first century the sheets had been made in the old way; the +slips of the plant laid one across the other had been held together by +their own sticky sap without the help of glue. In the reign of Aurelian, +in the third century, if not earlier, glue had been largely used in the +manufacture; and it is probable that at this time, in the fifth century, +the manufactured article almost deserved the name of paper. But this +manufactured papyrus was much weaker and less lasting than that made +after the old and more simple fashion. No books written upon it remain +to us. At a later period, the stronger fibre of flax was used in the +manufacture, but the date of this improvement is also unknown, because +at first the paper so made, like that made from the papyrus fibre, was +also too weak to last. It was doubtless an Alexandrian improvement. +Flax was an Egyptian plant; paper-making was an Egyptian trade; and +Theophilus, a Roman writer on manufactures, when speaking of paper made +from flax, clearly points to its Alexandrian origin, by giving it the +name of Greek parchment. Between the papyrus of the third century, and +the strong paper of the eleventh century, no books remain to us but +those written on parchment. + +The monks of Mount Sinai suffered much during these reigns of weakness +from the marauding attacks of the Arabs. These men had no strong +monastery; but hundreds of them lived apart in single cells in the +side of the mountains round the valley of Feiran, at the foot of Mount +Serbal, and they had nothing to protect them but their poverty. +They were not protected by Egypt, and they made treaties with the +neighbouring Arabs, like an independent republic, of which the town of +Feiran was the capital. The Arabs, from the Jordan to the Red Sea, +made robbery the employment of their lives, and they added much to the +voluntary sufferings of the monks. + +[Illustration: 267.jpg THE PAPYRUS PLANT] + +Nilus, a monk who had left his family in Egypt, to spend his life in +prayer and study on the spot where Moses was appointed the legislator +of Israel, describes these attacks upon his brethren, and he boasts over +the Israelites that, notwithstanding their sufferings, the monks spent +their whole lives cheerfully in those very deserts which God’s chosen +people could not even pass through without murmuring. Nilus has left +some letters and exhortations. It was then, probably, that the numerous +inscriptions were made on the rocks at the foot of Mount Serbal, and on +the path towards its sacred peak, which have given to one spot the name +of Mokatteb, or the valley of writing. A few of these inscriptions are +in the Greek language. + +The Egyptian physicians had of old always formed a part of the +priesthood, and they seem to have done much the same after the spread +of Christianity. We find some monks named _Parabalani_, who owned +the Bishop of Alexandria as their head, and who united the offices of +physician and nurse in waiting on the sick and dying. As they professed +poverty they were maintained by the state and had other privileges; and +hence it was a place much sought after, and even by the wealthy. But to +lessen this abuse it was ordered by an imperial rescript that none but +poor people who had been rate-payers should be _Parabalani_; and their +number was limited, first to five hundred, but afterwards, at the +request of the bishop, to six hundred. A second charitable institution +in Alexandria had the care of strangers and the poor, and was also +managed by one of the priests. + +Alexandria was fast sinking in wealth and population, and several new +laws were now made to lessen its difficulties. One was to add a hundred +and ten bushels of grain to the daily alimony of the city, the supply on +which the riotous citizens were fed in idleness. By a second and a third +law the five chief men in the corporation, and every man that had filled +a civic office for thirty years, were freed from all bodily punishment, +and only to be fined when convicted of a crime. Theodosius built a +large church in Alexandria, which was called after his name; and the +provincial judges were told in a letter to the prefect that, if they +wished to earn the emperor’s praise, they must not only restore those +buildings which were falling through age and neglect but must also build +new ones. + +Though the pagan philosophy had been much discouraged at Alexandria by +the destruction of the temples and the cessation of the sacrifices, yet +the philosophers were still allowed to teach in the schools. Syrianus +was at the head of the Platonists, and he wrote largely on the Orphic, +Pythagorean, and Platonic doctrines. In his Commentary on Aristotle’s +Metaphysics he aims at showing how a Pythagorean or a Platonist would +successfully answer Aristotle’s objections. He seems to look upon the +writings of Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus as the true fountains of +Platonic wisdom, quite as much as the works of the great philosopher +who gave his name to the sect. Syrianus afterwards removed to Athens, to +take charge of the Platonic school in that city, and Athens became the +chief seat of Alexandrian Platonism. + +Olympiodorus was at the same time undertaking the task of forming a +Peripatetic school in Alexandria, in opposition to the new Platonism, +and he has left some of the fruits of his labour in his Commentaries on +Aristotle. But the Peripatetic philosophy was no longer attractive to +the pagans, though after the fall of the catechetical school it had +a strong following of Christian disciples. Olympiodorus also wrote +a history, but it has long since been lost, with other works of a +second-rate merit. He was a native of the Thebaid, and travelled over +his country. He described the Great Oasis as still a highly cultivated +spot, where the husbandman watered his fields every third day in summer, +and every fifth day in winter, from wells of two and three hundred feet +in depth, and thereby raised two crops of barley, and often three of +millet, in a year. Olympiodorus also travelled beyond Syênê into Nubia, +with some danger from the Blemmyes, but he was not able to see the +emerald mines, which were worked on Mount Smaragdus in the Arabian +desert between Koptos and Berenice, and which seem to have been the +chief object of his journey. + +Proclus came to Alexandria about the end of this reign, and studied +many years under Olympiodorus, but not to the neglect of the platonic +philosophy, of which he afterwards became such a distinguished ornament +and support. The other Alexandrians under whom Proclus studied were +Hero, the mathematician, a devout and religious pagan, Leonas, the +rhetorician, who introduced him to all the chief men of learning, and +Orion, the grammarian, who boasted of his descent from the race of +Theban priests. Thus the pagans still held up their heads in the +schools. Nor were the ceremonies of their religion, though unlawful, +wholly stopped. In the twenty-eighth year of this reign, when the people +were assembled in a theatre at Alexandria to celebrate the midnight +festival of the Nile, a sacrifice which had been forbidden by +Constantine and the council of Nicsea, the building fell beneath the +weight of the crowd, and upwards of five hundred persons were killed by +the fall. + +[Illustration: 271.jpg ARABS RESTING IN THE DESERT] + +It will be of some interest to review here the machinery of officers and +deputies, civil as well as military, by which Egypt was governed under +the successors of Constantine. The whole of the Eastern empire was +placed under two prefects, the pretorian prefect of the East and the +pretorian prefect of Illyricum, who, living at Constantinople, like +modern secretaries of state, made edicts for the government of the +provinces and heard the appeals. Under the prefect of the East were +fifteen consular provinces, together with Egypt, which was not any +longer under one prefect. There was no consular governor in Egypt +between the prefect at Constantinople and the six prefects of the +smaller provinces. These provinces were Upper Libya or Cyrene, Lower +Libya or the Oasis, the Thebaid, Ægyptiaca or the western part of the +Delta, Augustanica or the eastern part of the Delta, and the Heptanomis, +now named Arcadia, after the late emperor. Each of these was under +an Augustal prefect, attended by a _Princeps, a Cornicula-rius, +an Adjutor_, and others, and was assisted in civil matters by a +_Commentariensis_, a corresponding secretary, a secretary _ab actis_, +with a crowd of _numerarii_ or clerks. + +The military government was under a count with two dukes, with a number +of legions, cohorts, troops, and wedges of cavalry, stationed in about +fifty cities, which, if they had looked as well in the field as they do +upon paper, would have made Theodosius II. as powerful as Augustus. But +the number of Greek and Roman troops was small. The rest were barbarians +who held their own lives at small price, and the lives of the unhappy +Egyptians at still less. The Greeks were only a part of the fifth +Macedonian legion, and Trajan’s second legion, which were stationed at +Memphis, at Parembole, and at Apollinopolis; while from the names of +the other cohorts we learn that they were Franks, Portuguese, Germans, +Quadri, Spaniards, Britons, Moors, Vandals, Gauls, Sarmati, Assyrians, +Galatians, Africans, Numid-ians, and others of less known and more +remote places. Egypt itself furnished the Egyptian legion, part of which +was in Mesopotamia, Diocletian’s third legion of Thebans, the first +Maximinian legion of Thebans which was stationed in Thrace, Constantine’s +second Flavian legion of Thebans, Valens’ second Felix legion of +Thebans, and the Julian Alexandrian legion, stationed in Thrace. Beside +these, there were several bodies of native militia, from Abydos, Syênê, +and other cities, which were not formed into legions. The Egyptian +cavalry were a first and second Egyptian troop, several bodies of native +archers mounted, three troops on dromedaries, and a body of Diocletian’s +third legion promoted to the cavalry. These Egyptian troops were chiefly +Arab settlers in the Thebaid, for the Kopts had long since lost the use +of arms. The Kopts were weak enough to be trampled on; but the Arabs +were worth bribing by admission into the legions. The taxes of the +province were collected by a number of counts of the sacred largesses, +who wrere under the orders of an officer of the same title at +Constantinople, and were helped by a body of counts of the exports and +imports, prefects of the treasury and of the mints, with an army +of clerks of all titles and all ranks. From this government the +Alexandrians were exempt, living under their own military prefect and +corporation, and, instead of paying any taxes beyond the custom-house +duties at the port, they received a bounty in grain out of the taxes of +Egypt. + +Soon after this we find the political division of Egypt slightly +altered. It is then divided into eight governments; the Upper Thebaid +with eleven cities under a duke; the Lower Thebaid with ten cities, +including the Great Oasis and part of the Heptanomis, under a general; +Upper Libya or Cyrene under a general; Lower Libya or Parastonium under +a general; Arcadia, or the remainder of the Heptanomis, under a general; +Ægyptiaca, or the western half of the Delta, under an Augustalian +prefect; the first Augustan government, or the rest of the Delta, under +a _Corrector_; and the second Augustan government, from Bubastis to the +Red Sea, under a general. We also meet with several military stations +named after the late emperors: a Maximianopolis and a Dioclesianopolis +in the Upper Thebaid; a Theodosianopolis in the Lower Thebaid, and a +second Theodosianopolis in Arcadia. But it is not easy to determine what +villages were meant by these high-sounding names, which were perhaps +only used in official documents. + +The empire of the East was gradually sinking in power during this long +and quiet reign of Theodosius II.; but the empire of the West was being +hurried to its fall by the revolt of the barbarians in every one of its +widespread provinces. Henceforth in the weakness of the two countries +Egypt and Rome are wholly separated. After having influenced one another +in politics, in literature, and in religion for seven centuries, they +were now as little known to one another as they were before the day when +Fabius arrived at Alexandria on an embassy from the senate to Ptolemy +Philadelphus. + +Theological and political quarrels, under the name of the Homoousian +and Arian controversy, had nearly separated Egypt from the rest of the +empire during the reigns of Constantius and Valens, but they had been +healed by the wisdom of the first Theodosius, who governed Egypt by +means of a popular bishop; and the policy which he so wisely began +was continued by his successors through weakness. But in the reign of +Marcian (450--457) the old quarrel again broke out, and, though it was +under a new name, it again took the form of a religious controversy. +Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, died in the last reign; and as he had +succeeded his uncle, so on his death the bishopric fell to Dioscorus, +a relation of his own, a man of equal religious violence and of less +learning, who differed from him only in the points of doctrine about +which he should quarrel with his fellow-Christians. About the same +time Eutyches, a priest of Constantinople, had been condemned by his +superiors and expelled from the Church for denying the two natures of +Christ, and for maintaining that he was truly God, and in no respect +a man. This was the opinion of the Egyptian church, and therefore +Dioscorus, the Bishop of Alexandria, who had no right whatever to meddle +in the quarrels at Constantinople, yet, acting on the forgotten rule +that each bishop’s power extended over all Christendom, undertook of +his own authority to absolve Eutyches from his excommunication, and in +return to excommunicate the Bishop of Constantinople who had condemned +him. To settle this quarrel, a general council was summoned at +Chalcedon; and there six hundred and thirty-two bishops met and +condemned the faith of Eutyches, and further explained the Nicene creed, +to which Eutyches and the Egyptians always appealed. They excommunicated +Eutyches and his patron Dioscorus, who were banished by the emperor; and +they elected Proterius to the then vacant bishopric of Alexandria. + +In thus condemning the faith of Eutyches, the Greeks were +excommunicating the whole of Egypt. The Egyptian belief in the one +nature of Christ, which soon afterwards took the name of the Jacobite +faith from one of its popular supporters, might perhaps be distinguished +by the microscopic eye of the controversialist from the faith of +Eutyches; but they equally fell under the condemnation of the council of +Chalcedon. Egypt was no longer divided in its religious opinions. There +had been a party who, though Egyptian in blood, held the Arian and +half-Arian opinions of the Greeks, but that party had ceased to exist. +Their religion had pulled one way and their political feelings another; +the latter were found the stronger, as being more closely rooted to the +soil; and their religious opinions had by this time fitted themselves +to the geographical boundaries of the country. Hence the decrees of +the council of Chalcedon were rejected by the whole of Egypt; and the +quarrel between the Chalcedonian and Jacobite party, like the former +quarrel between the Athanasians and the Arians, was little more than +another name for the unwillingness of the Egyptians to be governed by +Constantinople. + +Proterius, the new bishop, entered Alexandria supported by the prefect +Floras at the head of the troops. + +But this was the signal for a revolt of the Egyptians, who overpowered +the cohort with darts and stones; and the magistrates were driven to +save their lives in the celebrated temple of Serapis. But they found no +safety there; the mob surrounded the building and set fire to it, and +burned alive the Greek magistrates and friends of the new bishop; and +the city remained in the power of the rebellious Egyptians. When the +news of this rising reached Constantinople the emperor sent to Egypt a +further force of two thousand men, who stormed Alexandria and sacked it +like a conquered city, and established Proterius in the bishopric. As a +punishment upon the city for its rebellion, the prefect stopped for some +time the public games and the allowance of grain to the citizens, and +only restored them after the return to peace and good order. + +In the weak state of the empire, the Blemmyes, and Nubades, or Nobatæ, +had latterly been renewing their inroads upon Upper Egypt; they +had overpowered the Romans, as the Greek and barbarian troops of +Constantinople were always called, and had carried off a large booty +and a number of prisoners. Maximinus, the imperial general, then led his +forces against them; he defeated them, and made them beg for peace. +The barbarians then proposed, as the terms of their surrender, never to +enter Egypt while Maximinus commanded the troops in the Thebaid; but the +conqueror was not contented with such an unsatisfactory submission, +and would make no treaty with them till they had released the Roman +prisoners without ransom, paid for the booty that they had taken, and +given a number of the nobles as hostages. On this Maximums agreed to a +truce of a hundred years. + +The people now called the Nubians, living on both sides of the cataract +of Syênê, declared themselves of the true Egyptian race by their +religious practices. They had an old custom of going each year to the +temple of Isis on the isle of Elephantine, and of carrying away one +of the statues with them and returning it to the temple when they had +consulted it. But as they were now being driven out of the province, +they bargained with Maximums for permission to visit the temple each +year without hindrance from the Roman guards. The treaty was written on +papyrus and nailed up in this temple. But friendship in the desert, says +the proverb, is as weak and wavering as the shade of the acacia tree; +this truce was no sooner agreed upon than Maximinus fell ill and died; +and the Nubades at once broke the treaty, regained by force their +hostages, who had not yet been carried out of the Thebaid, and overran +the province as they had done before their defeat. + +[Illustration: 279.jpg ISIS AS THE DOG-STAR] + +By this success of the Nubians, Christianity was largely driven out of +Upper Egypt; and about seventy years after the law of Thedosius L, by +which paganism was supposed to be crushed, the religion of Isis and +Serapis was again openly professed in the Thebaid, where it had perhaps +always been cultivated in secret. A certain master of the robes in one +of the Egyptian temple came at this time to the temple of Isis in the +island of Philæ, and his votive inscription there declares that he was +the son of Pachomius, a prophet, and successor by direct descent from a +yet more famous Pachomius, a prophet, who we may easily believe was the +Christian prophet who gathered together so many followers in the island +of Tabenna, near Thebes, and there founded an order of Christian monks. +These Christians now all returned to their paganism. Nearly all the +remains of Christian architecture which we meet with in the The-baid +were built during the hundred and sixty years between the defeat of the +Nubians by Diocletian, and their victories in the reign of Marcian. + +The Nubians were far more civilised than their neighbours, the Blemmyes, +whom they were usually able to drive back into their native deserts. We +find an inscription in bad Greek, in the great temple at Talmis, now +the village of Kalabshe, which was probably written about this time. +A conqueror of the name of Silco there declares that he is king of the +Nubians and all the Ethiopians; that in the upper part of his kingdom he +is called Mars, and in the lower part Lion; that he is as great as any +king of his day; that he has defeated the Blemmyes in battle again and +again; and that he has made himself master of the country between +Talmis and Primis. While such were the neighbours and inhabitants of +the Thebaid, the fields were only half-tilled, and the desert was +encroaching on the paths of man. The sand was filling up the temples, +covering the overthrown statues, and blocking up the doors to the tombs; +but it was at the same time saving, to be dug out in after ages, those +records which the living no longer valued. + +On the death of the Emperor Marcian, the Alexandrians, taking advantage +of the absence of the military prefect Dionysius, who was then fighting +against the Nubades in Upper Egypt, renewed their attack upon the Bishop +Proterius, and deposed him from his office. To fill his place they made +choice of a monk named Timotheus Ælurus, who held the Jacobite faith, +and, having among them two deposed bishops, they got them to ordain him +Bishop of Alexandria, and then led him by force of arms into the great +church which had formerly been called Caesar’s temple. Upon hearing +of the rebellion, the prefect returned in haste to Alexandria; but +his approach was only the signal for greater violence, and the enraged +people murdered Proterius in the baptistery, and hung up his body at the +Tetrapylon in mockery. This was not a rebellion of the mob. Timotheus +was supported by the men of chief rank in the city; the _Honorati_ who +had borne state offices, the _Politici_ who had borne civic offices, +and the _Navicularii_, or contractors for the freight of the Egyptian +tribute, were all opposed to the emperor’s claim to appoint the officer +whose duties were much more those of prefect of the city than patriarch +of Egypt. With such an opposition as this, the emperor would do nothing +without the greatest caution, for he was in danger of losing Egypt +altogether. But so much were the minds of all men then engrossed in +ecclesiastical matters that this political struggle wholly took the form +of a dispute in controversial divinity, and the emperor wrote a +letter to the chief bishops in Christendom to ask their advice in +his difficulty. These theologians were too busily engaged in their +controversies to take any notice of the danger of Egypt’s revolting from +the empire and joining the Persians; so they strongly advised Leo not to +depart from the decrees of the council of Chalcedon, or to acknowledge +as Bishop of Alexandria a man who denied the two natures of Christ. +Accordingly, the emperor again risked breaking the slender ties by +which he held Egypt; he banished the popular bishop, and forced the +Alexandrians to receive in his place one who held the Chalcedonian +faith. + +On the death of Leo, he was succeeded by his grandson, Leo the Younger, +who died in 473, after a reign of one year, and was succeeded by his +father Zeno, the son-in-law of the elder Leo. Zeno gave himself up at +once to debauchery and vice, while the empire was harassed on all sides +by the barbarians, and the provinces were roused into rebellion by the +cruelty of the prefects. The rebels at last found a head in Basilicus, +the brother-in-law of Leo. He declared himself of the Jacobite faith, +which was the faith of the barbarian enemies, of the barbarian troops, +and of the barbarian allies of the empire, and, proclaiming himself +emperor, made himself master of Constantinople without a battle, and +drove Zeno into banishment in the third year of his reign. + +The first step of Basilicus was to recall from banishment Timotheus +Ælurus, the late Bishop of Alexandria, and to restore him to the +bishopric (A.D. 477). He then addressed to him and the other recalled +bishops a circular letter, in which he repeals the decrees of the +council of Chalcedon, and re-establishes the Nicene creed, declaring +that Jesus was of one substance with the Father, and that Mary was the +mother of God. The march of Timotheus to the seat of his own government, +from Constantinople whither he had been summoned, was more like that +of a conqueror than of a preacher of peace. He deposed some bishops and +restored others, and, as the decrees of the council of Chalcedon were +the particular objects of his hatred, he restored to the city of Ephesus +the patriarchal power which that synod had taken away from it. Basilicus +reigned for about two years, when he was defeated and put to death by +Zeno, who regained the throne. + +As soon as Zeno was again master of the empire, he re-established the +creed of the council of Chalcedon, and drove away the Jacobite bishops +from their bishoprics. Death, however, removed Timotheus Ælurus before +the emperor’s orders were put in force in Alexandria, and the Egyptians +then chose Peter Mongus as his successor, in direct opposition to the +orders from Constantinople. But the emperor was resolved not to be +beaten; the bishopric of Alexandria was so much a civil office that to +have given up the appointment to the Egyptians would have been to allow +the people to govern themselves; so he banished Peter, and recalled to +the head of the Church Timotheus Salophaciolus, who had been living at +Canopus ever since his loss of the bishopric. + +But, as the patriarch of Alexandria enjoyed the ecclesiastical revenues, +and was still in appearance a teacher of religion, the Alexandrians, +in recollection of the former rights of the Church, still claimed the +appointment. They sent John, a priest of their own faith and dean of the +church of John the Baptist, as their ambassador to Constantinople, not +to remonstrate against the late acts of the emperor, but to beg that on +future occasions the Alexandrians might be allowed the old privilege of +choosing their own bishop. The Emperor Zeno seems to have seen through +the ambassador’s earnestness, and he first bound him by an oath not to +accept the bishopric if he should even be himself chosen to it, and +he then sent him back with the promise that the Alexandrians should +be allowed to choose their own patriarch on the next vacancy. But +unfortunately John’s ambition was too strong for his oath, and on the +death of Timotheus, which happened soon afterwards, he spent a large +sum of money in bribes among the clergy and chief men of the city, and +thereby got himself chosen patriarch. On this, the emperor seems to have +thought only of punishing John, and he at once gave up the struggle with +the Egyptians. Believing that, of the two patriarchs who had been chosen +by the people, Peter Mongus, who was living in banishment, would be +found more dutiful than John, who was on the episcopal throne, he +banished John and recalled Peter; and the latter agreed to the terms of +an imperial edict which Zeno then put forth, to heal the disputes in +the Egyptian church, and to recall the province to obedience. This +celebrated peace-making edict, usually called the Henoticon, is +addressed to the clergy and laity of Alexandria, Egypt, Libya, and the +Pentapolis, and is an agreement between the emperor and the bishops who +countersigned it, that neither party should ever mention the decrees of +the council of Chalcedon, which were the great stumbling-block with the +Egyptians. + +[Illustration: 285.jpg STREET SPRINKLER AT ALEXANDRIA] + +But in all other points the Henoticon is little short of a surrender to +the people of the right to choose their own creed; it styles Mary the +mother of God, and allows that the decrees of the council of Nicæa and +Constantinople contain all that is important of the true faith. John, +when banished by Zeno, like many of the former deposed bishops, fled to +Rome for comfort and for help. There he met with the usual support; and +Felix, Bishop of Rome, wrote to Constantinople, remonstrating with Zeno +for dismissing the patriarch. But this was only a small part of the +emperor’s want of success in his attempt at peace-making; for the crafty +Peter, who had gained the bishopric by subscribing to the peace-making +edict, was no sooner safely seated on his episcopal throne than he +denounced the council of Chalcedon and its decrees as heretical, and +drove out of their monasteries all those who still adhered to that +faith. Nephalius, one of these monks, wrote to the emperor at +Constantinople in complaint, and Zeno sent Cosmas to the bishop to +threaten him with his imperial displeasure, and to try to re-establish +peace in the Church. But the arguments of Cosmas were wholly +unsuccessful; and Zeno then sent an increase of force to Arsenius, the +military prefect, who settled the quarrel for the time by sending back +the most rebellious of the Alexandrians as prisoners to Constantinople. + +Soon after this dispute Peter Mongus died, and fortunately he was +succeeded in the bishopric by a peacemaker. Athanasius, the new bishop, +very unlike his great predecessor of the same name, did his best to heal +the angry disputes in the Church, and to reconcile the Egyptians to the +imperial government. + +Hierocles, the Alexandrian, was at this time teaching philosophy in his +native city, where his zeal and eloquence in favour of Platonism drew +upon him the anger of the Christians and the notice of the government. + +He was sent to Constantinople to be punished for not believing in +Christianity, for it does not appear that, like the former Hierocles, +he ever wrote against it. There he bore a public scourging from his +Christian torturers, with a courage equal to that formerly shown by +their forefathers when tortured by his. When some of the blood from +his shoulders flew into his hand, he held it out in scorn to the judge, +saying with Ulysses, “Cyclops, since human flesh has been thy food, now +taste this wine.” After his punishment he was banished, but was soon +allowed to return to Alexandria, and there he again taught openly as +before. Paganism never wears so fair a dress as in the writings of +Hierocles; his commentary on the Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans is +full of the loftiest and purest morality, and not less agreeable are the +fragments that remain of his writings on our duties, and his beautiful +chapter on the pleasures of a married life. In the Facetiæ of Hierocles +we have one of the earliest jest-books that has been saved from the +wreck of time. It is a curious proof of the fallen state of learning; +the Sophists had long since made themselves ridiculous; books alone will +not make a man of sense; and in the jokes of Hierocles the blunderer is +always called a man of learning. + +Ætius, the Alexandrian physician, has left a large work containing +a full account of the state of Egyptian medicine at this time. He +describes the diseases and their remedies, quoting the recipes of +numerous authors, from the King Nechepsus, Galen, Hippocrates, and +Hioscorides, down to Archbishop Cyril. He is not wholly free from +superstition, as when making use of a green jasper set in a ring; but he +observes that the patients recovered as soon when the stone was plain +as when a dragon was engraved upon it according to the recommendation of +Nechepsus. In Nile water he finds every virtue, and does not forget dark +paint for the ladies’ eyebrows, and Cleopatra-wash for the face. + +Anastasius, the next emperor, succeeding in 491, followed the wise +policy which Zeno had entered upon in the latter years of his reign, +and he strictly adhered to the terms of the peace-making edict. The +four patriarchs of Alexandria who were chosen during this reign, John, +a second John, Dioscorus, and Timotheus, were all of the Jacobite faith; +and the Egyptians readily believed that the emperor was of the same +opinion. When called upon by the quarrelling theologians, he would +neither reject nor receive the decrees of the council of Chalcedon, and +by this wise conduct he governed Egypt without any religious rebellion +during a long reign. + +The election of Dioscorus, however, the third patriarch of this +reign, was not brought about peaceably. He was the cousin of a former +patriarch, Timotheus Ælurus, which, if we view the bishopric as a civil +office, might be a reason for the emperor’s wishing him to have the +appointment. But it was no good reason with the Alexandrians, who +declared that he had not been chosen according to the canons of the +apostles; and the magistrates of the city were forced to employ the +troops to lead him in safety to his throne. After the first ceremony, he +went, as was usual at an installation, to St. Mark’s Church, and +there the clergy robed him in the patriarchal state robes. The grand +procession then moved through the streets to the church of St. John, +where the new bishop went through the communion service. But the city +was much disturbed during the whole day, and in the riot Theodosius, the +son of Calliopus, a man of Augustalian rank, was killed by the mob. The +Alexandrians treated the affair as murder, and punished with death those +who were thought guilty; but the emperor looked upon it as a rebellion +of the citizens, and the bishop was obliged to go on an embassy to +Constantinople to appease his just anger. + +Anastasius, who had deserved the obedience of the Egyptians by his +moderation, pardoned their ingratitude when they offended; but he was +the last Byzantine emperor who governed Egypt with wisdom, and the last +who failed to enforce the decrees of the council of Chalcedon. It may +well be doubted whether any wise conduct on the part of the rulers +could have healed the quarrel between the two countries, and made the +Egyptians forget the wrongs that they had suffered from the Greeks. + +In the tenth year of the reign of Anastasius, A.D. 501, the Persians, +after overrunning a large part of Syria and defeating the Roman +generals, passed Pelusium and entered Egypt. The army of Kobades +laid waste the whole of the Delta up to the very walls of Alexandria. +Eustatius, the military prefect, led out his forces against the invaders +and fought many battles with doubtful success; but as the capital was +safe the Persians were at last obliged to retire, leaving the people +ruined as much by the loss of a harvest as by the sword. Alexandria +suffered severely from famine and the diseases which followed in +its train; and history has gratefully recorded the name of Urbib, a +Christian Jew of great wealth, who relieved the starving poor of that +city with his bounty. Three hundred persons were crushed to death in the +church of Arcadius on Easter Sunday in the press of the crowd to receive +his alms. As war brought on disease and famine, they also brought on +rebellion. The people of Alexandria, in want of grain and oil, rose +against the magistrates, and many lives were lost in the attempt to +quell the riots. + +In the early part of this history we have seen ambitious bishops quickly +disposed of by banishment to the Great Oasis; and again, as the country +became more desolate, criminals were sufficiently separated from the +rest of the empire by being sent to Thebes. Alexandria was then the last +place in the world in which a pretender to the throne would be allowed +to live. But Egypt was now ruined; and Anastasius began his reign by +banishing, to the fallen Alexandria, Longinus, the brother of the late +king, and he had him ordained a presbyter, to mark him as unfit for the +throne. + +Julianus, who was during a part of this reign the prefect of Egypt, was +also a poet, and he has left us a number of short epigrams that +form part of the volume of Greek Anthology which was published at +Constantinople soon after this time. Christodorus of Thebes was another +poet who joined with Julianus in praising the Emperor Anastasius. He +also removed to Constantinople, the seat of patronage; and the fifth +book of the Greek Anthology contains his epigrams on the winners in the +horse-race in that city and on the statues which stood around the public +gymnasium. + +[Illustration: 291.jpg ILLUSTRATIONS FROM COPY OF DIOSCORIDE] + +The poet’s song, like the traveller’s tale, often related the wonders +of the river Nile. The overflowing waters first manured the fields, and +then watered the crops, and lastly carried the grain to market; and one +writer in the Anthology, to describe the country life in Egypt, tells +the story of a sailor, who, to avoid the dangers of the ocean, turned +husbandman, and was then shipwrecked in his own meadows. + +The book-writers at this time sometimes illuminated their more valuable +parchments with gold and silver letters and sometimes employed painters +to ornament them with small paintings. The beautiful copy of the work +of Dioscorides on Plants in the library at Vienna was made in this reign +for the Princess Juliana of Constantinople. In one painting the figure +of science or invention is holding up a plant, while on one side of her +is the painter drawing it on his canvas, and on the other side is the +author describing it in his book. Other paintings are of the plants and +animals mentioned in the book. A copy of the Book of Genesis, also in +the library at Vienna, is of the same class and date. A large part of it +is written in gold and silver; and it has eighty-eight small paintings +of various historical subjects. In these the story is well told, though +the drawing and perspective are bad and the figures crowded. But +these Alexandrian paintings are better than those made in Rome or +Constantinople at this time. + +With the spread of Christianity theatrical representations had been +gradually going out of use. The Greek tragedies, as we see in the works +of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, those models of pure taste in +poetry, are founded on the pagan mythology; and in many of them the gods +are made to walk and talk upon the stage. Hence they of necessity fell +under the ban of the clergy. As the Christians became more powerful the +several cities of the empire had one by one discontinued these +popular spectacles, and horse-races usually took their place. But the +Alexandrians were the last people to give up a favourite amusement; +and by the end of this reign Alexandria was the only city in the empire +where tragic and comic actors and Eastern dancers were to be seen in the +theatre. + +The tower or lighthouse on the island of Pharos, the work of days more +prosperous than these, had latterly been sadly neglected with the other +buildings of the country. For more than seven hundred years, the +pilot on approaching this flat shore after dark had pointed out to his +shipmate what seemed a star on the horizon, and comforted him with the +promise of a safe entrance into the haven, and told him of Alexander’s +tower. But the waves breaking against its foot had long since carried +away the outworks, and laid bare the foundations; the wall was +undermined and its fall seemed close at hand. The care of Anastasius, +however, surrounded it again with piles and buttresses; and this +monument of wisdom and science, which deserved to last for ever, was +for a little while longer saved from ruin. An epigram in the Anthology +informs us that Ammonius was the name of the builder who performed this +good work, and to him and to Neptune the grateful sailors then raised +their hands in prayer and praise. + +In 518 Justin I. succeeded Anastasius on the throne of Constantinople, +and in the task of defending the empire against the Persians. And this +task became every year more difficult, as the Greek population of his +Egyptian and Asiatic provinces fell off in numbers. For some years after +the division of the empire under the sons of Constantine, Antioch in +Syria had been the capital from which Alexandria received the emperor’s +commands. The two cities became very closely united; and now that the +Greeks were deserting Antioch, a part of the Syrian church began to +adopt the more superstitious creed of Egypt. Severus, Bishop of Antioch, +was successful in persuading a large party in the Syrian church to deny +the humanity of Christ, and to style Mary the mother of God. But the +chief power in Antioch rested with the opposite party. They answered +his arguments by threats of violence, and he had to leave the city for +safety. He fled to Alexandria, and with him began the friendship between +the two churches which lasted for several centuries. In Alexandria he +was received with the honour due to his religious zeal. But though +in Antioch his opinions had been too Egyptian for the Syrians, in +Alexandria they were too Syrian for the Egyptians. The Egyptians, who +said that Jesus had been crucified and died only in appearance, always +denied that his body was liable to corruption. Severus, however, argued +that it was liable to corruption before the resurrection; and this led +him into a new controversy, in which Timotheus, the Alexandrian bishop, +took part against his own more superstitious flock, and sided with +his friend, the Bishop of Antioch. Severus has left us, in the Syriac +language, the baptismal service as performed in Egypt. The priest +breathes three times into the basin to make the water holy, he makes +three crosses on the child’s forehead, he adjures the demons of +wickedness to quit him, he again makes three crosses on his forehead +with oil, he again blows three times into the water in the form of a +cross, he anoints his whole body with oil, and then plunges him in the +water. Many other natives of Syria soon followed Severus to Alexandria; +so many indeed that as Greek literature decayed in that city, Syriac +literature rose. Many Syrians also came to study the religious life in +the monasteries of Egypt, and after some time the books in the library +of the monastery at Mount Nit-ria were found to be half Arabic and half +Syriac. + +Justin, the new emperor, again lighted up in Alexandria the flames +of discord which had been allowed to slumber since the publication of +Zeno’s peace-making edict. But in the choice of the bishop he was not +able to command without a struggle. In the second year of his reign, on +the death of Timotheus, the two parties again found themselves nearly +equal in strength; and Alexandria was for several years kept almost in a +state of civil war between those who thought that the body of Jesus had +been liable to corruption, and those who thought it incorruptible. The +former chose Gaianas, whom his adversaries called a Manichean; and the +latter Theodosius, a Jacobite, who had the support of the prefect; and +each of these in his turn was able to drive his rival out of Alexandria. + +Those Persian forces which in the last reign overran the Delta were +chiefly Arabs from the opposite coast of the Red Sea. To make an end of +these attacks, and to engage their attention in another quarter, was the +natural wish of the statesmen of Constantinople; and for this purpose +Anastasius had sent an embassy to the Homeritæ on the southern coast +of Arabia, to persuade them to attack their northern neighbours. The +Homeritæ held the strip of coast now called Hadramout. They were +enriched, though hardly civilised, by being the channel along which +much of the Eastern trade passed from India to the Nile, to avoid the +difficult navigation of the ocean. They were Jewish Arabs, who had +little in common with the Arabs of Yemen, but had frequent intercourse +with Abyssinia and the merchants of the Red Sea. Part of the trade of +Solomon and the Tyrians was probably to their coast. To this distant and +little tribe the Emperor of Constantinople now sent a second pressing +embassy. Julianus, the ambassador, went up the Nile from Alexandria, +and then crossed the Red Sea, or Indian Sea as it was also called, to +Arabia. He was favourably received by the Homeritæ. Arethas, the king, +gave him an audience in grand barbaric state. He was standing in a +chariot drawn by four elephants; he wore no clothing but a cloth of gold +around his loins; his arms were laden with costly armlets and bracelets; +he held a shield and two spears in his hands, and his nobles stood +around him armed, and singing to his honour. When the ambassador +delivered the emperor’s letter, Arethas kissed the seal, and then kissed +Julianus himself. He accepted the gifts which Justin had sent, and +promised to move his forces northward against the Persians as requested, +and also to keep the route open for the trade to Alexandria. + +Justinian, the successor of Justin in 527, settled the quarrel between +the two Alexandrian bishops by summoning them both to Constantinople, +and then sending them into banishment. But this had no effect in healing +the divisions in the Egyptian church; and for the next half-century the +two parties ranged themselves, in their theological or rather political +quarrel, under the names of their former bishops, and called themselves +Gaianites and Theodosians. Nor did the measures of Justinian tend to +lessen the breach between Egypt and Constantinople. He appointed Paul to +the bishopric, and required the Egyptians to receive the decrees of the +council of Chalcedon. + +After two years Paul was displaced either by the emperor or by his +flock; and Zoilus was then seated on the episcopal throne by the help +of the imperial forces. He maintained his dangerous post for about six +years, when the Alexandrians rose in open rebellion, overpowered the +troops, and forced him to seek safety in flight; and the Jacobite party +then turned out all the bishops who held the Greek faith. + +When Justinian heard that the Jacobites were masters of Egypt he +appointed Apollinarius to the joint office of prefect and patriarch of +Alexandria, and sent him with a large force to take possession of his +bishopric. Apollinarius marched into Alexandria in full military dress +at the head of his troops; but when he entered the church he laid aside +his arms, and putting on the patriarchal robes began to celebrate the +rites of his religion. The Alexandrians were by no means overawed by the +force with which he had entered the city; they pelted him with a shower +of stones from every corner of the church, and he was forced to withdraw +from the building in order to save his life. But three days afterwards +the bells were rung through the city, and the people were summoned to +meet in the church on the following Sunday, to hear the emperor’s letter +read. When Sunday came the whole city flocked to hear and to disobey +Justinian’s orders. Apollinarius began his address by threatening his +hearers that, if they continued obstinate in their opinions, their +children should be made orphans and their widows given up to the +soldiery; and he was as before stopped with a shower of stones. But this +time he was prepared for the attack; this Christian bishop had placed +his troops in ambush round the church, and on a signal given they +rushed out on his unarmed flock, and by his orders the crowds within and +without the church were put to rout by the sword, the soldiers waded +up to their knees in blood, and the city and whole country yielded its +obedience for the time to bishops who held the Greek faith. + +Henceforth the Melchite or royalist patriarchs, who were appointed by +the emperor and had the authority of civil prefects, and were supported +by the power of the military prefect, are scarcely mentioned by the +historian of the Koptic church. They were too much engaged in civil +affairs to act the part of ministers of religion. They collected their +revenues principally in grain, and carried on a large export trade, +transporting their stores to those parts of Europe where they would +bring the best price. On one occasion we hear of a small fleet belonging +to the church of Alexandria, consisting of thirteen ships of about +thirty tons burden each, and bearing ten thousand bushels of grain, +being overtaken by a storm on the coast of Italy. The princely income +of the later patriarchs, raised from the churches of all Egypt under the +name of the offerings of the pious, sometimes amounted to two thousand +pounds of gold, or four hundred thousand dollars. But while these +Melchite or royalist bishops were enjoying the ecclesiastical revenues, +and administering the civil affairs of the diocese and of the great +monasteries, there was a second bishop who held the Jacobite faith, and +who, having been elected by the people according to the ancient forms of +the Church, equally bore the title of patriarch, and administered in +his more humble path to the spiritual wants of his flock. The Jacobite +bishop was always a monk. At his ordination he was declared to be +elected by the popular voice, by the bishops, priests, deacons, monks, +and all the people of Lower Egypt; and prayers were offered up through +the intercession of the Mother of God, and of the glorious Apostle +Mark. The two churches no longer used the same prayer-book. The Melchite +church continued to use the old liturgy, which, as it had been read in +Alexandria from time immemorial, was called the liturgy of St. Mark, +altered however to declare that the Son was of the same substance with +the Father. But the Koptic church made use of the newer liturgies +by their own champions, Bishop Cyril, Basil of Cæsaræ, and Gregory +Nazianzen. These three liturgies were all in the Koptic language, and +more clearly denied the two natures of Christ. Of the two churches the +Koptic had less learning, more bigotry, and opinions more removed from +the teachings of the New Testament; but then the Koptic bishop alone +had any moral power to lead the minds of his flock towards piety and +religion. Had the emperors been at all times either humane or politic +enough to employ bishops of the same religion as the people, they would +perhaps have kept the good-will of their subjects; but as it was, the +Koptic church, smarting under its insults, and forgetting the greater +evils of a foreign conquest, would sometimes look with longing eyes to +the condition of their neighbours, their brethren in faith, the Arabic +subjects of Persia. + +The Christianity of the Egyptians was mostly superstition; and as it +spread over the land it embraced the whole nation within its pale, not +so much by purifying the pagan opinions as by lowering itself to their +level, and fitting itself to their corporeal notions of the Creator. +This was in a large measure induced by the custom of using the old +temples for Christian churches; the form of worship was in part guided +by the form of the building, and even the old traditions were engrafted +on the new religion. Thus the traveller Antonius, after visiting the +remarkable places in the Holy Land, came to Egypt to search for the +chariots of the Egyptians who pursued Moses, petrified into rocks at the +bottom of the Red Sea, and for the footsteps left in the sands by the +infant Jesus while he dwelt in Egypt with his parents. At Memphis he +enquired why one of the doors in the great temple of Phtah, then used +as a church, was always closed, and he was told that it had been rudely +shut against the infant Jesus five hundred years before, and mortal +strength had never since been able to open it. + +The records of the empire declared that the first Cæsars had kept six +hundred and forty-five thousand men under arms to guard Italy, Africa, +Spain, and Egypt, a number perhaps much larger than the truth; but +Justinian could with difficulty maintain one hundred and fifty thousand +ill-disciplined troops, a force far from large enough to hold even those +provinces that remained to him. During the latter half of his reign +the eastern frontier of this falling empire was sorely harassed by the +Persians under their king Chosroes. They overran Syria, defeated the +army of the empire in a pitched battle, and then took Antioch. By these +defeats the military roads were stopped; Egypt was cut off from the rest +of the empire and could be reached from the capital only by sea. Hence +the emperor was driven to a change in his religious policy. He gave over +the persecution of the Jacobite opinions, and even went so far in one +of his decrees as to call the body of Jesus incorruptible, as he thought +that these were the only means of keeping the allegiance of his subjects +or the friendship of his Arab neighbours, all of whom, as far as they +were Christians, held the Jacobite view of the Nicene creed, and denied +the two natures of Christ. + +As the forces of Constantinople were driven back by the victorious +armies of the Persians, the emperors had lost, among other fortresses, +the capital of Arabia Nabataæ, that curious rocky fastness that well +deserved the name of Petra, and which had been garrisoned by Romans +from the reign of Trajan till that of Valens. On this loss it became +necessary to fortify a new frontier post on the Egyptian side of the +Elanitic Gulf. Justinian then built the fortified monastery near Mount +Sinai, to guard the only pass by which Egypt could be entered without +the help of a fleet; and when it was found to be commanded by one of the +higher points of the mountain he beheaded the engineer who built it, and +remedied the fault, as far as it could be done, by a small fortress +on the higher ground. This monastery was held by the Egyptians, and +maintained out of the Egyptian taxes. When the Egyptians were formerly +masters of their own country, before the Persian and Greek conquests, +they were governed by a race of priests, and the temples were their only +fortresses. + +[Illustration: 302.jpg FORTRESS NEAR MOUNT SINAI] + +The temples of Thebes were the citadels of the capital, and the temples +of Elephantine guarded the frontier. So now, when the military prefect +is too weak to make himself obeyed, the emperor tries to govern through +means of the Christian priesthood; and when it is necessary for the +Egyptians to defend their own frontier, he builds a monastery and +garrisons it with monks. + +Part of the Egyptian trade to the East was carried on through the +islands of Ceylon and Socotra; but it was chiefly in the hands of +uneducated Arabs of Ethiopia, who were little able to communicate to +the world much knowledge of the countries from which they brought their +highly valued goods. At Ceylon they met with traders from beyond the +Ganges and from China, of whom they bought the silk which Europeans had +formerly thought a product of Arabia. At Ceylon was a Christian church, +with a priest and a deacon, frequented by the Christians from Persia, +while the natives of the place were pagans. The coins there used were +Roman, borne thither by the course of trade, which during so many +centuries carried the gold and silver eastward. The trade was lately +turned more strongly into this channel because a war had sprung up +between the two tribes of Jewish Arabs, the Hexumitæ of Abyssinia +on the coast of the Red Sea near Adule, and the Homeritæ who dwelt in +Arabia on the opposite coast, at the southern end of the Red Sea. The +Homeritæ had quarrelled with the Alexandrian merchants in the Indian +trade, and had killed some of them as they were passing their mountains +from India to the country of the Hexumitae. + +Immediately after these murders the Hexumitæ found the trade injured, +and they took up arms to keep the passage open for the merchants. Hadad +their king crossed the Red Sea and conquered his enemies; he put to +death Damianus, the King of the Homeritse, and made a new treaty +with the Emperor of Constantinople. The Hexumitæ promised to become +Christians. They sent to Alexandria to beg for a priest to baptise them, +and to ordain their preachers; and Justinian sent John, a man of piety +and high character, the dean of the church of St. John, who returned +with the ambassadors and became bishop of the Hexumitae. + +It was possibly this conquest of the Homeritae by Hadad, King of the +Hexumitae, which was recorded on the monument of Adule, at the foot of +the inscription set up eight centuries earlier by Ptolemy Euergetes. The +monument is a throne of white marble. The conqueror, whose name had +been broken away before the inscription was copied, there boasts that +he crossed over the Red Sea and made the Arabians and Sabaaans pay him +tribute. On his own continent he defeated the tribes to the north of +him, and opened the passage from his own country to Egypt; he also +marched eastward, and conquered the tribes on the African incense coast; +and lastly, he crossed the Astaborus to the snowy mountains in which +that branch of the Nile rises, and conquered the tribes between that +stream and the Astapus. This valuable inscription, which tells us of +snowy mountains within the tropics, was copied by Cosmas, a merchant of +Alexandria, who passed through Adule on his way to India. + +Former emperors, Anastasius and Justin, had sent several embassies to +these nations at the southern end of the Red Sea; to the Homeritae, +to persuade them to attack the Persian forces in Arabia, and to the +Hexumitae, for the encouragement of trade. Justinian also sent an +embassy to the Homeritae under Abram; and, as he was successful in his +object, he entrusted a second embassy to Abram’s son. Nonnosus landed +at Adule on the Abyssinian coast, and then travelled inward for fifteen +days to Auxum, the capital. This country was then called Ethiopia; it +had gained the name which before belonged to the valley of the Nile +between Egypt and Meroë. On his way to Auxum, he saw troops of wild +elephants, to the number, as he supposed, of five thousand. After +delivering his message to Elesbaas, then King of Auxum, he crossed the +Red Sea to Caisus, King of the Homeritæ, a grandson of that Arethas +to whom Justin had sent his embassy. Notwithstanding the natural +difficulties of the journey, and those arising from the tribes through +which he had to pass, Nonnosus performed his task successfully, and on +his return home wrote a history of his embassies. + +The advantage gained to the Hexumitæ by their invasion of the Homeritæ +was soon lost, probably as soon as their forces were withdrawn. The +trade through the country of the Homeritae was again stopped; and such +was the difficulty of navigation from the incense coast of Africa to the +mouths of the Indus, that the loss was severely felt at Auxum. Elesbæs +therefore undertook to repeat the punishment which had been before +inflicted on his less civilised neighbours, and again to open the trade +to the merchants from the Nile. It was while he was preparing his forces +for this invasion that Cosmas, the Alexandrian traveller, passed through +Adule; and he copied for the King of Auxum the inscription above spoken +of, which recorded the victories of his predecessor over the enemies he +was himself preparing to attack. + +The invasion by Elesbæs, or Elesthæus as he is also named, was +immediately successful. The Homeritæ were conquered, their ruler was +overthrown; and, to secure their future obedience, the conqueror +set over these Jewish Arabs an Abyssinian Christian for their king. +Esimaphæus was chosen for that post; and his first duty was to convert +his new subjects to Christianity. Political reasons as well as religious +zeal would urge him to this undertaking, to make the conquered bear the +badge of the conqueror. For this purpose he engaged the assistance of +Gregentius, a bishop, who was to employ his learning and eloquence in +the cause. Accordingly, in the palace of Threlletum, in the presence of +their new king, a public dispute was held between the Christian bishop +and Herban, a learned Jew. Gregentius has left us an account of the +controversy, in which he was wholly successful, being helped, perhaps, +by the threats and promises of the king. The arguments used were not +quite the same as they would be now. The bishop explained the Trinity as +the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Mind or Father, and resting on +the Word or Son, which was then the orthodox view of this mysterious +doctrine. On the other hand, the Jew quoted the Old Testament to show +that the Lord their God was one Lord. It is related that suddenly the +Jews present were struck blind. Their sight, however, was restored to +them on the bishop’s praying for them; and they were then all thereby +converted and baptised on the spot. The king stood godfather to Herban, +and rewarded him with a high office under his government. + +[Illustration: 307.jpg PYRAMID OF MEDUM] + +Esimaphasus did not long remain King of the Homeritæ. A rebellion +soon broke out against him, and he was deposed. Elesbaas, King of Auxum, +again sent an army to recall the Homeritæ to their obedience, but this +time the army joined in the revolt; and Elesbæ then made peace with +the enemy, in hopes of thus gaining the advantages which he was unable +to grasp by force of arms. From a Greek inscription on a monument at +Auxum we learn the name of Æizanas, another king of that country, who +also called himself, either truly or boastfully, king of the opposite +coast. He set up the monument to record his victories over the Bougoto, +a people who dwelt between Auxum and Egypt, and he styles himself the +invincible Mars, king of kings, King of the Hexumito, of the Ethiopians, +of the Saboans, and of the Homerito. These kings of the Hexumito +ornamented the city of Auxum with several beautiful and lofty obelisks, +each made of a single block of granite like those in Egypt. + +Egypt in its mismanaged state seemed to be of little value to the empire +save as a means of enriching the prefect and the tax-gatherers; it +yielded very little tribute to Constantinople beyond the supply of +grain, and that by no means regularly. To remedy these abuses Justinian +made a new law for the government of the province, with a view of +bringing about a thorough reform. By this edict the districts of +Menelaites and Mareotis, to the west of Alexandria, were separated from +the rest of Egypt, and they were given to the prefect of Libya, whose +seat of government was at Parotonium, because his province was too poor +to pay the troops required to guard it. The several governments of Upper +Egypt, of Lower Egypt, of Alexandria, and of the troops were then given +to one prefect. The two cohorts, the Augustalian and the Ducal, into +which the two Boman legions had gradually dwindled, were henceforth to +be united under the name of the Augustalian Cohort, which was to contain +six hundred men, who were to secure the obedience and put down any +rebellion of the Egyptian and barbarian soldiers. The somewhat high +pay and privileges of this favoured troop were to be increased; and, to +secure its loyalty and to keep out Egyptians, nobody was to be admitted +into it till his fitness had been inquired into by the emperor’s +examiners. The first duty of the cohort was to collect the supply of +grain for Constantinople and to see it put on board the ships; and as +for the supply which was promised to the Alexandrians, the magistrates +were to collect it at their own risk, and by means of their own cohort. +The grain for Constantinople was required to be in that city before the +end of August, or within four months after the harvest, and the supply +for Alexandria not more than a month later. The prefect was made +answerable for the full collection, and whatever was wanting of that +quantity was to be levied on his property and his heirs, at the rate +of one solidus for three artabo of grain, or about three dollars for +fifteen bushels; while in order to help the collection, the export of +grain from Egypt was forbidden from every port but Alexandria, except in +small quantities. The grain required for Alexandria and Constantinople, +to be distributed as a free gift among the idle citizens, was eight +hundred thousand artabo, or four millions of bushels, and the cost +of collecting it was fixed at eighty thousand solidi, or about three +hundred thousand dollars. The prefect was ordered to assist the +collectors at the head of his cohort, and if he gave credit for the +taxes which he was to collect he was to bear the loss himself. If the +archbishop interfered, to give credit and screen an unhappy Egyptian, +then he was to bear the loss, and if his property was not enough the +property of the Church was to make it good; but if any other bishop gave +credit, not only was his property to bear the loss, but he was himself +to be deposed from his bishopric; and lastly, if any riot or rebellion +should arise to cause the loss of the Egyptian tribute, the tribunes +of the Augustalian Cohort were to be punished with forfeiture of all +property, and the cohort was to be removed to a station beyond the +Danube. + +Such was the new law which Justinian, the great Roman lawgiver, proposed +for the future government of Egypt. The Egyptians were treated as +slaves, whose duty was to raise grain for the use of their masters at +Constantinople, and their taskmasters at Alexandria. They did not even +receive from the government the usual benefit of protection from their +enemies, and they felt bound to the emperor by no tie either of love +or interest. The imperial orders wrere very little obeyed beyond those +places where the troops were encamped; the Arabs were each year pressing +closer upon the valley of the Nile, and helping the sands of the desert +to defeat the labours of the disheartened husbandmen; and the Greek +language, which had hitherto followed and marked the route of commerce +from Alexandria to Syênê, and to the island of Socotra, was now but +seldom heard in Upper Egypt. The Alexandrians were sorely harassed by +Haephasstus, a lawyer, who had risen by court favour to the chief post +in the city. He made monopolies in his own favour of all the necessaries +of life, and secured his ill-gotten gains by ready loans of part of +it to Justinian. His zeal for the emperor was at the cost of the +Alexandrians, and to save the public granaries he lessened the supply +of grain which the citizens looked for as a right. The city was sinking +fast; and the citizens could ill bear this loss, for its population, +though lessened, was still too large for the fallen state of Egypt. + +The grain of the merchants was shipped from Alexandria to the chief +ports of Europe, between Constantinople in the east and Cornwall in the +west. Britain had been left by the Romans, as too remote for them to +hold in their weakened condition; and the native Britons were then +struggling against their Saxon invaders, as in a distant corner of the +world, beyond the knowledge of the historian. But to that remote country +the Alexandrian merchants sailed every year with grain to purchase tin, +enlightening the natives, while they only meant to enrich themselves. +Under the most favourable circumstances they sometimes performed the +voyage in twenty days. The wheat was sold in Cornwall at the price of a +bushel for a piece of silver, perhaps worth about twenty cents, or for +the same weight of tin, as the tin and the silver were nearly of equal +worth. This was the longest of the ancient voyages, being longer than +that from the Red Sea to the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean; and +it had been regularly performed for at least eight centuries without +ever teaching the British to venture so far from their native shores. + +The suffering and riotous citizens made Alexandria a very unpleasant +place of abode for the prefect and magistrates. They therefore built +palaces and baths for their own use, at the public cost, at Taposiris, +about a day’s journey to the west of the city, at a spot yet marked +by the remains of thirty-six marble columns, and a lofty tower, once +perhaps a lighthouse. At the same time it became necessary to fortify +the public granaries against the rebellious mob. The grain was brought +from the Nile by barges on a canal to the village of Chaereum, and +thence to a part of Alexandria named Phialæ, or _The Basins_, where the +public granaries stood. In all riots and rebellions this place had been +a natural point of attack; and often had the starving mob broken +open these buildings, and seized the grain that was on its way to +Constantinople. But Justinian surrounded them with a strong wall +against such attacks for the future, and at the same time he rebuilt the +aqueduct that had been destroyed in one of the sieges of the city. + +In civil suits at law an appeal had always been allowed from the prefect +of the province to the emperor, or rather to the prefect of the East +at Constantinople; but as this was of course expensive, it was found +necessary to forbid it when the sum of money in dispute was small. +Justinian forbade all Egyptian appeals for sums less than ten pounds +weight of gold, or about two thousand five hundred dollars; for smaller +sums the judgment of the prefect was to be final, lest the expense +should swallow up the amount in dispute. + +In this reign the Alexandrians, for the first time within the records +of history, felt the shock of an earthquake. Their naturalists had very +fairly supposed that the loose alluvial nature of the soil of the Delta +was the reason why earthquakes were unknown in Lower Egypt, and believed +that it would always save them from a misfortune which often overthrew +cities in other countries. Pliny thought that Egypt had been always free +from earthquakes. But this shock was felt by everybody in the city; +and Agathias, the Byzantine historian, who, after reading law in the +university of Beirut, was finishing his studies at Alexandria, says that +it was strong enough to make the inhabitants all run into the street for +fear the houses should fall upon them. + +The reign of Justinian is remarkable for another blow then given to +paganism throughout the empire, or at least through those parts of the +empire where the emperor’s laws were obeyed. + +[Illustration: 313.jpg A MODERN HOUSE IN THE DELTA AT ROSETTA] + +Under Justinian the pagan schools were again and from that time forward +closed. Isidorus the platonist and Salustius the Cynic were among the +learned men of greatest note who then withdrew from Alexandria. Isidorus +had been chosen by Marinus as his successor in the platonic chair at +Athens, to fill the high post of the platonic successor; but he had left +the Athenian school to Zenodotus, a pupil of Proclus, and had removed +to Alexandria. Salustius the Cynic was a Syrian, who had removed with +Isidorus from Athens to Alexandria. He was virtuous in his morals though +jocular in his manners, and as ready in his witty attacks upon the +speculative opinions of his brother philosophers as upon the vices of +the Alexandrians. These learned men, with Damascius and others from +Athens, were kindly received by the Persians, who soon afterwards, when +they made a treaty of peace with Justinian, generously bargained that +these men, the last teachers of paganism, should be allowed to return +home, and pass the rest of their days in quiet. + +After the flight of the pagan philosophers, but little learning was left +in Alexandria. One of the most remarkable men in this age of ignorance +was Cosmas, an Alexandrian merchant, who wished that the world should +not only be enriched but enlightened by his travels. After making many +voyages through Ethiopia to India for the sake of gain, he gave up trade +and became a monk and an author. When he writes as a traveller about the +Christian churches of India and Ceylon, and the inscriptions which he +copied at Adule in Abyssinia, everything that he tells us is valuable; +but when he reasons as a monk, the case is sadly changed. He is of the +dogmatical school which forbids all inquiry as heretical. He fights +the battle which has been so often fought before and since, and is even +still fought so resolutely, the battle of religious ignorance against +scientific knowledge. He sets the words of the Bible against the results +of science; he denies that the world is a sphere, and quotes the Old +Testament against the pagan astronomers, to show that it is a plane, +covered by the firmament as by a roof, above which he places the kingdom +of heaven. His work is named _Christian Topography_, and he is himself +usually called Cosmas Indicopleustes, from the country which he visited. + +During the latter years of the government of Apollinarius, such was +his unpopularity as a spiritual bishop that both the rival parties, the +Gaianites and the Theodosians, had been building places of worship for +themselves, and the more zealous Jacobites had quietly left the churches +to Apollinarius and the Royalists. But on the death of an archdeacon +they again came to blows with the bishop; and a monk had his beard torn +off his chin by the Gaianites in the streets of Alexandria. The emperor +was obliged to interfere, and he sent the Abbot Photinus to Egypt to put +down this rebellion, and heal the quarrel in the Church. Apollinarius +died soon afterwards, and Justinian then appointed John to the joint +office of prefect of the city and patriarch of the Church. The new +archbishop was accused of being a Manichean; but this seems to mean +nothing but that he was too much of the Egyptian party, and that, +though he was the imperial patriarch, and not acknowledged by the Koptic +church, yet his opinions were disliked by the Greeks. On his death, +which happened in about three years, they chose Peter, who held the +Jacobite or Egyptian opinions, and whose name is not mentioned in the +Greek lists of the patriarchs. Peter’s death occurred in the same year +as that of the emperor. + +Under Justinian we again find some small traces of a national coinage in +Egypt. Ever since the reign of Diocletian, the old Egyptian coinage had +been stopped, and the Alexandrians had used money of the same weight, +and with the same Latin inscriptions, as the rest of the empire. But +under Justinian, though the inscriptions on the coins are still Latin, +they have the name of the city in Greek letters. Like the coins of +Constantinople, they have a cross, the emblem of Christianity; but while +the other coins of the empire have the Greek numeral letters, E, I, K, +A, or M, to denote the value, meaning 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40, the coins +of Alexandria have the letters 1 B for 12, showing that they were on a +different system of weights from those of Constantinople. On these the +head of the emperor is in profile. But later in his reign the style was +changed, the coins were made larger, and the head of the emperor had a +front face. On these larger coins the numeral letters are [A r] for 33. +We thus learn that the Alexandrians at this time paid and received +money rather by weight than by tale, and avoided all depreciation of the +currency. As the early coins marked 12 had become lighter by wear, those +which were meant to be of about three times their value were marked 33. + +During the period from 566 to 602 Justin II. reigned twelve years, +Tiberius reigned four years, and Mauricius, his son-in-law, twenty; and +under these sovereigns the empire gained a little rest from its enemies +by a rebellion among the Persians, which at last overthrew their king +Chosroes. He fled to Mauricius for help, and was by him restored to his +throne, after which the two kingdoms remained at peace to the end of his +reign. + +[Illustration: 316.jpg COINS OF JUSTINIAN] + +The Emperor Mauricius was murdered by Phocas, who, in 602, succeeded +him on the throne of Constantinople. No sooner did the news of his death +reach Persia than Chosroes, the son of Hormuz, who had married Maria, +the daughter of Mauricius, declared the treaty with the Romans at an +end, and moved his forces against the new emperor, the murderer of his +father-in-law. During the whole of his reign Constantinople was kept in +a state of alarm and almost of siege by the Persians; and the crimes and +misfortunes of Phocas alike prepared his subjects for a revolt. In the +seventh year Alexandria rebelled in favour of the young Heraclius, son +of the late prefect of Cyrene; and the patriarch of Egypt was slain +in the struggle. Soon afterwards Heraclius entered the port of +Constantinople with his fleet, and Phocas was put to death after an +unfortunate reign of eight years, in which he had lost every province of +the empire. + +During the first three years of the reign of Heraclius, Theodoras was +Bishop of Alexandria; but upon his death the wishes of the Alexandrians +so strongly pointed to John, the son of the prefect of Cyprus, that +the emperor, yielding to their request, appointed him to the bishopric. +Alexandria was not a place in which a good man could enjoy the pleasures +of power without feeling the weight of its duties. It was then suffering +under all those evils which usually befall the capital of a sinking +state. It had lost much of its trade, and its poorer citizens no longer +received a free supply of grain. The unsettled state of the country +was starving the larger cities, and the population of Alexandria was +suffering from want of employment. The civil magistrates had removed +their palace to a distance. But the new bishop seemed formed for these +unfortunate times, and, though appointed by the emperor, he was in every +respect worthy of the free choice of the citizens. He was foremost in +every work of benevolence and charity. The five years of his government +were spent in lightening the sufferings of the people, and he gained the +truly Christian name of John the Almsgiver. Beside his private acts of +kindness he established throughout the city hospitals for the sick and +almshouses for the poor and for strangers, and as many as seven lying-in +hospitals for poor women. John was not less active in outrooting all +that he thought heresy. + +The first years of the reign of Heraclius are chiefly marked by the +successes of the Persians. While Chosroes, their king, was himself +attacking Constantinople, one general was besieging Jerusalem and a +second overrunning Lower Egypt. Crowds fled before the invading army +to Alexandria as a place of safety, and the famine increased as the +province of the prefect grew narrower and the population more crowded. +To add to the distress the Nile rose to a less height than usual; the +seasons seemed to assist the enemy in the destruction of Egypt. The +patriarch John, who had been sending money, grain, and Egyptian workmen +to assist in the pious work of rebuilding the church of Jerusalem which +the Persians had destroyed, immediately found all his means needed, and +far from enough, for the poor of Alexandria. On his appointment to the +bishopric he found in its treasury eight thousand pounds of gold; he +had in the course of five years received ten thousand more from the +offerings of the pious, as his princely ecclesiastical revenue was +named; but this large sum of four million dollars had all been spent +in deeds of generosity or charity, and the bishop had no resource but +borrowing to relieve the misery with which he was surrounded. In the +fifth year the unbelievers were masters of Jerusalem, and in the eighth +they entered Alexandria, and soon held all the Delta; and in that +year the grain which had hitherto been given to the citizens of +Constantinople was sold to them at a small price, and before the end of +the year the supply from Egypt was wholly stopped. + +When the Persians entered Egypt, the patrician Nicetas, having no +forces with which he could withstand their advance, and knowing that no +succour was to be looked for from Constantinople, and finding that the +Alexandrians were unwilling to support him, fled with the patriarch John +the Almsgiver to Cyprus, and left the province to the enemy. As John +denied that the Son of God had suffered on the cross, his opinions would +seem not to have been very unlike those of the Egyptians; but as he was +appointed to the bishopric by the emperor, though at the request of the +people, he is not counted among the patriarchs of the Koptic church; +and one of the first acts of the Persians was to appoint Benjamin, a +Jacobite priest, who already performed the spiritual office of Bishop of +Alexandria, to the public exercise of that duty, and to the enjoyment of +the civil dignity and revenues. + +The troops with which Chosroes conquered and held Egypt were no doubt in +part Syrians and Arabs, people with whom the fellahs or labouring class +of Egyptians were closely allied in blood and feelings. Hence arose the +readiness with which the whole country yielded when the Roman forces +were defeated. But hence also arose the weakness of the Persians, and +their speedy loss of this conquest when the Arabs rebelled. Their rule, +however, in Egypt was not quite unmarked in the history of these dark +ages. + +At this time Thomas, a Syrian bishop, came to Alexandria to correct the +Syriac version of the New Testament, which had been made about a century +before by Philoxenus. He compared the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles with +the Greek manuscripts in the monastery of St. Anthony in the capital; +and we still possess the fruits of his learned labour, in which he +altered the ancient text to make it agree with the newer Alexandrian +manuscripts. From his copy the Philoxenian version is now printed. A +Syriac manuscript of the New Testament written by Alexandrian penmen +in the sixth year of Heraclius, is now to be seen in the library of the +Augustan friars in Rome. At the same time another Syrian scholar, Paul +of Tela, in Mesopotamia, was busy in the Alexandrian monastery of +St. Zacchæus in translating the Old Testament into Syriac, from the +Septuagint Greek; and he closes his labours with begging the reader to +pray for the soul of his friend Thomas. Such was now the reputation of +the Alexandrian edition of the Bible, that these scholars preferred it +both to the original Hebrew of the Old and to the earlier manuscripts +of the New Testament. Among other works of this time were the medical +writings of Aaron the physician of Alexandria, formerly written in +Syriac, and afterwards much valued by the Arabs. The Syrian monks in +numbers settled in the monastery of Mount Nitria; and in that secluded +spot there remained a colony of these monks for several centuries, +kept up by the occasional arrival of newcomers from the churches on the +eastern side of the Euphrates. + +For ten years the Egyptians were governed by the Persians, and had +a patriarch of their own religion and of their own choice; and the +building of the Persian palace in Alexandria proves how quietly they +lived under their new masters. But Heraclius was not idle under his +misfortunes. The Persians had been weakened by the great revolt of the +Arabs, who had formed their chief strength on the side of Constantinople +and Egypt; and Heraclius, leading his forces bravely against Chosroes, +drove him back from Syria and became in his turn the invader, and he +then recovered Egypt. The Jacobite patriarch Benjamin fled with the +Persians; and Heraclius appointed George to the bishopric, which was +declared to have been empty since John the Almsgiver fled to Cyprus. + +The revolt of the Arabs, which overthrew the power of the Persians in +their western provinces and for a time restored Egypt to Constantinople, +was the foundation of the mighty empire of the caliphs; and the Hegira, +or flight of Muhammed, from which the Arabic historians count their +lunar years, took place in 622, the twelfth year of Heraclius. The +vigour of the Arab arms rapidly broke the Persian yoke, and the Moslems +then overran every province in the neighbourhood. This was soon felt +by the Romans, who found the Arabs, even in the third year of their +freedom, a more formidable enemy than the Persians whom they had +overthrown; and, after a short struggle of only two years, Heraclius +was forced to pay a tribute to the Moslems for their forbearance in +not conquering Egypt. For eight years he was willing to purchase an +inglorious peace by paying tribute to the caliph; but when his treasure +failed him and the payment was discontinued, the Arabs marched against +the nearest provinces of the empire, offering to the inhabitants their +choice of either paying tribute or receiving the Muhammedan religion; +and they then began on their western frontier that rapid career of +conquest which they had already begun on the eastern frontier against +their late masters, the Persians. + +[Illustration: 322.jpg TAILPIECE] + + + + +CHAPTER III.--EGYPT DURING THE MUHAMMEDAN PERIOD + + +_The Rise of Muhammedanism: The Arabic Conquest of Egypt: The Ommayad +and Abbasid Dynasties._ + + +The course of history now follows the somewhat uneventful period +which introduced Arabian rule into the valley of the Nile. It is only +necessary to remind the reader of the striking incidents in the life of +Muhammed. He was born at Mecca, in Arabia, in July, 571, and spent his +earliest years in the desert. At the age of twelve he travelled with a +caravan to Syria, and probably on this occasion first came into contact +with the Jews and Christians. After a few youthful adventures, his +poetic and religious feelings were awakened by study. He gave himself +up to profound meditation upon both the Jewish and Christian ideals, and +subsequently beholding the archangel Gabriel in a vision, he proclaimed +himself as a prophet of God. After preaching his doctrine for three +years, and gaining a few converts (the first of whom was his wife, +Khadija), the people of Mecca rose against him and he was forced to +flee from the city in 614. New visions and subsequent conversions of +influential Arabs strengthened his cause, especially in Medina, whither +Muhammed was forced to flee a second time from Mecca in 622, this second +flight being known as the Hegira, from which dates the Muhammedan era. +In the next year, at Medina, he built his first mosque and married +Ayesha, and in 624 was compelled to defend his pretensions by an appeal +to arms. He was at first successful, and thereupon appointed Friday as +a day of public worship, and, being embittered against the Jews, ordered +that the attitude of prayer should no longer be towards Jerusalem, but +towards his birthplace, Mecca. In 625 the Muhammedans were defeated by +the Meccans, but one tribe after another submitted to him, and after a +series of victories Muhammed prepared, in 629, for further conquests +in Syria, but he died in 632 before they could be accomplished. His +successors were known as caliphs, but from the very first his disciples +quarrelled about the leadership, some affirming the rights of Ali, +who had married Muhammed’s daughter, Fatima, and others supporting +the claims of Abu Bekr, his father-in-law. There was also a religious +quarrel concerning certain oral traditions relating to the Koran, or +the Muhammedan sacred scriptures. Those who accepted the tradition were +known as Sunnites, and those who rejected it as Shiites, the latter +being the supporters of Ali, both sects, however, being known as Moslems +or Islamites. Omar, a Sunnite, obtained the leadership in 634, and +proceeded to carry out the prophet’s ambitious schemes of conquest. +He subdued successively Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia, and in 639 +directed operations against Egypt. The general in charge of this +expedition was Amr, who led four thousand men against Pelusium, which +surrendered after a siege of thirty days. This easy victory was crowned +by the capture of Alexandria. Amr entered the city on December 22, 640, +and he seems to have been surprised at his own success. He immediately +wrote to the caliph a letter in which he says: + +“I have conquered the town of the West, and I cannot recount all it +contains within its walls. It contains four thousand baths and twelve +thousand venders of green vegetables, four thousand Jews who pay +tribute, and four thousand musicians and mountebanks.” + +Amr was anxious to conciliate and gain the affection of the new subjects +he had added to the caliph’s empire, and during his short stay in +Alexandria received them with kindness and personally heard and attended +to their demands. It is commonly believed that in this period the +Alexandrian Library was dismantled; but, as we have already seen, the +books had been destroyed by the zeal of contending Christians. The story +that attributes the destruction of this world-famous institution to +the Arabian conquerors is so much a part of history, and has been so +generally accepted as correct, that the traditional version should be +given here. + +Among the inhabitants of Alexandria whom Amr had so well received, says +the monkish chronicler, was one John the Grammarian, a learned +Greek, disciple of the Jacobite sect, who had been imprisoned by its +persecutors. Since his disgrace, he had given himself up entirely to +study, and was one of the most assiduous readers in the famous library. +With the change of masters he believed the rich treasure would be +speedily dispersed, and he wished to obtain a portion of it himself. So, +profiting by the special kindness Amr had shown him, and the pleasure he +appeared to take in his conversation, he ventured to ask for the gift of +several of the philosophic books whose removal would put an end to his +learned researches. + +At first Amr granted this request without hesitation, but in his +gratitude John the Grammarian expatiated so unwisely on the extreme +rarity of the manuscripts and their inestimable value, that Amr, on +reflection, feared he had overstepped his power in granting the learned +man’s request. “I will refer the matter to the caliph,” he said, +and thereupon wrote immediately to Omar and asked the caliph for +his commands concerning the disposition of the whole of the precious +contents of the library. + +The caliph’s answer came quickly. “If,” he wrote, “the books contain +only what is in the book of God (the Koran), it is enough for us, and +these books are useless. If they contain anything contrary to the holy +book, they are pernicious. In any case, burn them.” + +[Illustration: 327.jpg COIN OF OMAR] + +Amr wished to organise his new government, and, having left a sufficient +garrison in Alexandria, he gave orders to the rest of his army to leave +the camp in the town and to occupy the interior of Egypt. “Where shall +we pitch our new camp?” the soldiers asked each other, and the answer +came from all parts, “Round the general’s tent.” The army, in fact, +did camp on the banks of the Nile, in the vicinity of the modern Cairo, +where Amr had ordered his tent to be left; and round this tent, which +had become the centre of reunion, the soldiers built temporary huts +which were soon changed into solid, permanent habitations. Spacious +houses were built for the leaders, and palaces for the generals, and +this collection of buildings soon became an important military town, +with strongly marked Muhammedan characteristics. It was called Fostât +(tent) in memory of the event, otherwise unimportant, which was the +origin of its creation. Amr determined to make his new town the capital +of Egypt; whilst still preserving the name of Fostât, he added that of +Misr,--a title always borne by the capital of Egypt, and which Memphis +had hitherto preserved in spite of the rivalry of Alexandria. + +Fostât was then surrounded by fortifications, and Amr took up his +residence there, forming various establishments and giving himself up +entirely to the organisation of the vast province whose government the +caliph had entrusted to him. The personal tax, which was the only one, +had been determined in a fixed manner by the treaty of submission he +had concluded with the Kopts; and an unimportant ground rent on landed +property was added in favour of the holy towns of Mecca and Medina, as +well as to defray some expenses of local administration. + +[Illustration: 329.jpg OLD CAIRO (FOSTAT)] + +Egypt was entirely divided into provincial districts, all of which +had their own governor and administrators taken from among the Kopts +themselves. The lands which had belonged to the imperial government of +Constantinople, and those of the Greeks who had abandoned Egypt or been +killed in the war against the Mussulmans, were either declared to be the +property of the new government or given out again as fiefs or rewards +to the chief officers of the army. All these lands were leased to the +Koptic farmers, and the respective rights of the new proprietors +or tenant farmers and of the peasant proprietors were determined by +decisive and invariable rules. Thus the agricultural population enjoyed +under the Mussulmans a security and ease which replaced the tyrannical +annoyances and arbitrary exactions of the Christian agents of the +treasury of Constantinople; for, in fact, little by little, there had +disappeared under these Greek agents the sound principles of the old +administration that had been established by the wise kings of ancient +Egypt, and which the Ptolemies had scrupulously preserved, as did also +the first governors under the Cæsars. + +After all these improvements in the internal administration, the +governor turned his attention to the question of justice, which until +that moment had been subject to the decision of financial agents, or +of the soldiers of the Greek government. Amr now created permanent and +regular tribunals composed of honourable, independent, and enlightened +men, who enjoyed public respect and esteem. To Amr dates back the first +of those _divans_, chosen from the élite of the population, as sureties +of the fairness of the _cadis_, which received appeals from first +judgments to confirm them, or, in the case of wrongful decisions, to +alter them. The decrees of the Arab judges had force only for those +Mussulmans who formed a part of the occupying army. Whenever a Koptic +inhabitant was a party in an action, the Koptic authorities had the +right to intervene, and the parties were judged by their equals in race +and religion. + +One striking act of justice succeeded in winning for Amr the hearts of +all. Despite the terror inspired by the religious persecutions which +Heraclius had carried on with so much energy, one man, the Koptic +patriarch Benjamin, had bravely kept his faith intact. He belonged +to the Jacobite sect and abandoned none of its dogmas, and in their +intolerance the all-powerful Melchites did not hesitate to choose him as +their chief victim. Benjamin was dispossessed of his patriarchal throne, +his liberty and life were threatened, and he only succeeded in saving +both by taking flight. He lived thus forgotten in the various refuges +that the desert monasteries afforded him, while Heraclius replaced him +by an ardent supporter of the opinions favoured at court. The whole of +Egypt was then divided into two churches separated from each other by an +implacable hatred. At the head of the Melchites was the new patriarch, +who was followed by a few priests and a small number of partisans who +were more attached to him by fear than by faith. The Jacobites, on the +other hand, comprised the immense majority of the population, who looked +upon the patriarch as an intruder chosen by the emperor. The church +still acknowledged as its real head Benjamin, the patriarch who had been +for thirteen years a wanderer, and whose return was ardently desired. +This wish found public expression as soon as the downfall of the +imperial power in Egypt permitted its free manifestation. Amr listened +to the supplications that were addressed to him, and, turning out the +usurper in his turn, recalled Benjamin from his long exile and replaced +him on the patriarchal throne. + +But even here Amr’s protection of the Koptic religion did not end. +He opened the door of his Mussulman town, and allowed them to live +in Fostât and to build churches there in the midst of the Mussulman +soldiers, even when Islamism was still without a temple in the city, or +a consecrated place worthy of the religion of the conquerors. + +Amr at length resolved to build in his new capital a magnificent mosque +in imitation of the one at Mecca. Designs were speedily drawn up, the +location of the new temple being, according to Arab authors, that of an +ancient pyre consecrated by the Persians, and which had been in ruins +since the time of the Ptolemies. + +[Illustration: 333.jpg A MODERN KOPT] + +The monuments of Memphis had often been pillaged by Greek and Roman +emperors, and now they were once again despoiled to furnish the mosque +of Amr with the beautiful colonnades of marble and porphyry which adorn +the walls, and on which, the Arab historians assure us, the whole Koran +was written in letters of gold. + +Omar died in 644, and under his successor, Othman, the Arabian conquests +were extended in Northern Africa. Othman dying in 656, the claims of Ali +were warmly supported, but not universally recognised, many looking to +Muawia as an acceptable candidate for the caliphate. This was especially +the view of the Syrian Muham-medans, and in 661 Muawia I. was elected +caliph. He promptly transferred the capital from Medina to Damascus, and +became in fact the founder of a dynasty known as the Ommayads, the new +caliph being a descendant of the famous Arabian chieftain Ommayad. Egypt +acknowledged the new authority and remained quiet and submissive. It +furnished Abd el-Malik, who became caliph in 685, not only with rich +subsidies and abundant provisions, but also with part of his troops. + +The attachment of the Egyptians to their new masters was chiefly owing +to the gentleness and wisdom of Abd el-Aziz ibn Merwan, who administered +the country after Amr was put to death in 689. He visited all the +provinces of Egypt, and, arriving at Alexandria, he ordered the +building of a bridge over the canal, recognising the importance of this +communication between the town and country. + +Benefiting by the religious liberty that Mussulman sovereignship had +secured them, the Kopts no longer attended to the quarrels of their +masters. They only occupied themselves in maintaining the quiet +peaceful-ness they had obtained by regular payment of their taxes, and +by supplying men and commodities when occasion demanded it. During the +reign of Abd el-Malik in Egypt the only remarkable event there was the +election, in 688, of the Jacobite Isaac as patriarch of Alexandria. The +Koptic clergy give him no other claim to historical remembrance than +the formulating of a decree ordaining “that the patriarch can only be +inaugurated on a Sunday.” + +[Illustration: 335.jpg MOSQUE OF AMR] + +Isaac was succeeded by Simon the Syrian, whom the Koptic church looks +upon as a saint, and for whom is claimed the power of reviving the dead. +He nevertheless died from the effects of poison given him at the altar +by some jealous rival. Arab historians relate how deputies came to Simon +from India to ask for a bishop and some priests. The patriarch refused +to comply with this request, but Abd el-Aziz, thinking that this +relation with India might prove politically useful, gave the order to +other and more docile priests. + +The patriarchal seat was empty for three years after the death of Simon. +The Kopts next appointed a patriarch named Alexander, who held the +office for a little over twenty years. The Koptic writers who recount +the history of this patriarch mention their discontent with the governor +Abd el-Aziz. The monks and other members of the clergy had grown very +numerous in Egypt and claimed to be exempt from taxation. Abd el-Aziz, +whose yearly tax was fixed, thought it unjust that the poorest classes +of the people should be made to pay while the priests, the bishop, +and the patriarch, all possessing abundance, should be privileged by +exemption. He therefore had a census made of all the monks and put +on them a tax of one dinar (about $2.53), while he exacted from the +patriarch an annual payment of three thousand dinars, or about $7,600. +This act of justice was the cause of many complaints among the clergy, +but they were soon suppressed and were without result. + +[Illustration: 337a.jpg COIN OF ABU BEKR] + +After more than twenty years of a prosperous government of Egypt, Abd +el-Aziz ibn Merwan died at Fostât in the year 708 (a.h. 86) at the very +time when, with many fresh plans for the future, he had completed the +building of a large and magnificent palace called ed-Dar el-mudahaba +(the golden house), and a quarter of the town called Suk el-hammam (the +pigeon market). The Caliph Abd el-Malik felt deeply the loss of this +brother, whose qualities he highly appreciated and whom he had appointed +as his successor. + +He now named as his heir to the caliphate Walid, his eldest son, and +replaced Abd el-Aziz in the government of Egypt with his second son, +Abd Allah ibn Abd el-Malik. The Kopts hoped to obtain from the new +governor the repeal of the act that exacted yearly tribute from the +clergy, but Abd Allah did not think it fair to grant this unjust +discrimination against the poorer classes of the Egyptians. Those monks +who have written the history of the patriarchs have therefore painted +Abd Allah in even blacker colours than they did his predecessor. For +the rest, Abd Allah only held the reins of government in Egypt until the +death of his father, which occurred a few months later. + +[Illustration: 337b.jpg COIN OF OTHMAN] + +Suleiman succeeded his brother Walid I. The new caliph vigorously put +into execution all the plans his brother had formed for the propagation +of the religion of the Prophet. In the first year of his reign he +conquered Tabaristan and Georgia, and sent his brother Maslama to lay +fresh siege to Constantinople. On his accession to the throne Suleiman +placed the government of Egypt in the hands of Assama ibn Yazid, with +the title of agent-general of finances. + +The Koptic clerical historians, according to their usual habit, portray +this governor as still worse than his predecessors, but in this case +the Mussulman authorities are in agreement in accusing him of the most +iniquitous extortions and most barbarous massacres. The gravest reproach +they bring against him is that, calling all the monks together, he told +them that not only did he intend to maintain the old regulations of Abd +el-Aziz, by which they had to pay an annual tax of one dinar ($2.53), +but also that they would be obliged to receive yearly from his agents an +iron ring bearing their name and the date of the financial transaction, +for which ring they were to make personal contribution. He forced +the wearing of this ring continually, and the hand found without this +strange form of receipt was to be cut off. Several monks who endeavoured +to evade this strict order were pitilessly mutilated, while a number of +them, rebelling against the payment of the tax, retired into convents, +thinking they could safely defraud the treasury. Assama, however, sent +his soldiers to search these retreats, and all the monks found without +rings were beheaded or put to death by the bastinado. + +[Illustration: 338.jpg COIN OF MALIK] + +Careful about all that related to the Egyptian revenues, Assama +commanded the keeping up of the various Nilometers, which still served +to regulate the assessment of the ground tax. In the year 718 he learned +that the Nilometer established at Helwan, a little below Fostât, had +fallen in, and hastened to report the fact to the caliph. By the orders +of this prince the ruined Nilometer was abandoned, and a new one built +at the meridional point of the island now called Rhodha, just between +Fostât and Gizeh. + +[Illustration: 339.jpg CITADEL OF CAIRO (FOSTAT).] + +But of all the financial transactions of Assama, the one that vexed most +the inhabitants of Egypt, and which brought down on him the most violent +and implacable hatred, was the ordinance by which all ascending or +descending the Nile were obliged to provide themselves with a passport +bearing a tax. This exorbitant claim was carried out with an abusive +and arbitrary sternness. A poor widow, the Oriental writers say, was +travelling up the Nile with her son, having with her a correct passport, +the payment of which had taken nearly all she possessed. The young man, +while stretched along the boat to drink of the river’s water, was seized +by a crocodile and swallowed, together with the passport he carried +in his breast. The treasury officers insisted that the wretched widow +should take a fresh one; and to obtain payment for it she sold all she +had, even to the very clothes she wore. Such intolerable exactions +and excesses ended by thoroughly rousing the indignant Egyptians. The +malcontents assembled, and a general revolt would have been the result +but for the news of the death of the Caliph Suleiman (717), which gave +birth to the hope that justice might be obtained from his successor. + +The next caliph was Omar II., a grandson of Merwan I., who had been +nominated as his successor by Suleiman. In his reign the Muhammedans +were repulsed from Constantinople, and the political movement began +which finally established the Abbasid dynasty at Baghdad. Omar dying +in the year 720, Yazid II., a son of Abd el-Malik, succeeded to the +caliphate, and reigned for four years, history being for the most part +silent as to the general condition of Egypt under these two caliphs. +It is recorded that in the year 720, one of Yazid’s brothers, by name +Muhammed ibn Abd el-Malik, ruled over Egypt. The Kopts complained of his +rule, and declared that during the whole reign of Yazid ibn Abd el-Malik +the Christians were persecuted, crosses overthrown, and churches +destroyed. + +[Illustration: 341.jpg A CROCODILE USED AS A TALISMAN] + +Yazid was succeeded, in 724 A.D., by his brother Hisham, surnamed +Abu’l-Walid, the fourth son of Abd el-Malik to occupy the throne of +Islam, who, having been appointed by his brother as his successor, took +possession of the throne on the very day of his death. Muhammed was +replaced in Egypt by his cousin, Hassan ibn Yusuf, who only held office +for three years, resigning voluntarily in the year 730 a.d., or 108 of +the Hegira. The Caliph Hisham replaced him by Hafs ibn Walid, who was +deposed a year later, and in the year 109 of the Hegira the caliph +appointed in his place Abd el-Malik ibn Rifa, who had already governed +Egypt during the caliphate of Walid I. Hisham made many changes in +the governorship of Egypt, and amid a succession of rulers appointed +Handhala to the post. He had already been governor of Egypt under Yazid +II. He administered the province for another six years, and, according +to the Christian historians of the East, pursued the same course of +intolerance and tyranny that he had adopted when he governed Egypt for +the first time under Yazid. + +The Caliph Hisham enjoined Handhala to be gentle with his subjects and +to treat the Christians with kindness, but far from conforming with +these wise and kindly intentions, he overwhelmed them with vexations and +tyrannous acts. He doubled the taxes by a general census, subjecting not +only men but also their animals to an impost. The receipts for the +new duty had to be stamped with the impression of a lion, and every +Christian found without one of these documents was deprived of one of +his hands. + +In the year 746 (a.h. 124), on being informed of these abuses, the +caliph deprived him of the government of Egypt, and, giving him the +administration of Mauritania, appointed as his successor Hafs ibn Walid, +who, according to some accounts, had previously governed Egypt for +sixteen years, and who had left pleasanter recollections behind him. +Hafs, however, now only held office for a year. + +Nothing of political importance happened in Egypt under the long reign +of Hisham, the only events noticed by the Christian historians being +those which relate solely to their ecclesiastical history. The 108th +year of the Hegira saw the death of Alexander, the forty-third Koptic +Patriarch of Alexandria. Since the conquest of Egypt by Omar, for a +period of about twenty-four years, the patriarchate had been in the +hands of the Jacobites; all the bishops in Egypt belonged to that sect, +and they had established Jacobite bishops even in Nubia, which they had +converted to their religion. The orthodox Christians elected Kosmas as +their patriarch. At that time the heretics had taken possession of all +the churches in Egypt, and the patriarch only retained that of Mar-Saba, +or the Holy Sabbath. Kosmas, by his solicitations, obtained from +Hisham an order to his financial administrator in Egypt, Abd Allah ibn +es-Sakari, to see that all the churches were returned to the sect to +which they belonged. + +After occupying the patriarchal throne for only fifteen months, +Kosmas died. In the 109th year of the Hegira (a. d. 727-28) Kosmas was +succeeded by the patriarch Theodore. He occupied the seat for eleven +years. His patriarchate was a period of peace and quiet for the church +of Alexandria, and caused a temporary cessation of the quarrels between +the Melchites and the Jacobites. A vacancy of six years followed his +death until, in the year 127 of the Hegira (749 a. d.), Ibn Khalil was +promoted to the office of patriarch, and held his seat for twenty-three +years. + +Walid II. succeeded to the caliphate in the year 749. One of his first +acts was to take the government of Egypt from Hafs, in spite of the +kindness of his rule, the wisdom and moderation of which had gained +for him the affection of all the provinces which he governed. He was +replaced by Isa ibn Abi Atta, who soon created a universal discontent, +as his administrative measures were oppressive. + +In the year 750 the Ommayads were supplanted by the Abbasids, who +transferred the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The first Abbasid +caliph was Abu’l-Abbas, who claimed descent from Abbas, the uncle of +Muhammed. The caliph Merwan II., the last of the Ommayads, in his flight +from his enemies came to Egypt and sent troops from Fostât to hold +Alexandria. He was now pursued to his death by the Abbasid general Salih +ibn Ali, who took possession of Postât for the new dynasty in 750. The +change from the Ommayad to the Abbasid caliphs was effected with little +difficulty, and Egypt continued to be a province of the caliphate and +was ruled by governors who were mostly Arabs or members of the Abbasid +family. + +Abu’l-Abbas, after being inaugurated, began his rule by recalling all +the provincial governors, whom he replaced by his kinsmen and partisans. +He entrusted the government of Egypt to his paternal uncle, Salih ibn +Ali, who had obtained the province for him. Salih, however, did not rule +in person, but was represented by Abu Aun Abd el-Malik ibn Yazid, whom +he appointed vice-governor. The duties of patriarch of Alexandria were +then performed by Michel, commonly called Khail by the Kopts. This +patriarch was of the Jacobite sect and the forty-fifth successor of St. +Mark: he held the office about three years. He in turn was succeeded by +the patriarch Myna, a native of Semennud (the ancient Sebennytus). + +In the year 754 Abu’l-Abbas died at the age of thirty-two, after +reigning four years, eight months, and twenty-six days, the Arabian +historians being always very precise in recording the duration of the +reign of the caliphs. He was the first of the caliphs to appoint a +vizier, the Ommayad caliphs employing only secretaries during their +administration. The successor of Abu’l-Abbas was his brother Abu +Jafar, surnamed El-Man-sur. Three years after his accession he took the +government of Egypt from his uncle, and in less than seven years Egypt +passed successively through the hands of six different governors. These +changes were instigated by the mistrustful disposition of the caliph, +who saw in every man a traitor and conspirator, dismissing on the +slightest provocation his most devoted adherents, some of whom were even +put to death by his orders. His last choice, Yazid ibn Hatim, governed +Egypt for eight years, and the caliph bestowed the title of Prince +of Egypt (Emir Misri) upon him, which title was also borne by his +successors. + +These continual changes in the government of Egypt had not furthered +the prosperity and well-being of the inhabitants. Each ruler, certain +of speedy dismissal, busied himself with his personal affairs to the +detriment of the country, anxious only to amass by every possible +means sufficient money to compensate him for his inevitable deposition. +Moreover, each governor increased the taxation levied by his +predecessor. Such was the greed and rapacity of these governors that +every industry was continually subjected to increased taxation; the +working bricklayer, the vender of vegetables, the camel-driver, the +gravedigger, all callings, even that of mendicant, were taxed, and the +lower classes were reduced to eating dog’s flesh and human remains. At +the moment when Egypt, unable to support such oppression longer, was on +the verge of insurrection, the welcome tidings of the death of El-Mansur +arrived. + +Muhammed el-Mahdi, son of El-Mansur, succeeded his father and was the +third caliph of the house of Abbas. He was at Baghdad when his father +expired near Mecca, but, despite his absence, was immediately proclaimed +caliph. El-Mahdi betrayed in his deeds that same fickleness which +had signalised the caliphate of his father, El-Mansur. He appointed +a different governor of Egypt nearly every year. These many changes +resulted probably from the political views held by the caliph, or +perhaps he already perceived the tendency shown by each of his provinces +to separate itself from the centre of Islamism. Perhaps also he already +foresaw those divisions which destroyed the empire about half a century +later. Thus his prudence sought, in allowing but a short period of power +to each governor, to prevent their strengthening themselves sufficiently +in their provinces to become independent. + +Egypt remained calm and subdued under these constant changes of +government. Syria and the neighbouring provinces followed suit, and the +Caliph el-Mahdi profited by this peaceful state of things to attack the +Emperor of the Greeks. His second son, Harun, undertook the continuation +of this war, and the young prince displayed such talent and bravery +that he gained brilliant victories, and returned to Baghdad after having +captured several cities from the Greeks, overthrown their generals, +and forced Constantinople to pay an annual tribute of seventy thousand +dinars (about $180,000). The Caliph el-Mahdi rewarded Harun by solemnly +naming him the future successor of his eldest son, Musa el-Hadi, whom he +had just definitely declared his heir to the throne. Shortly after this +decision, el-Mahdi died, in the year 785, having reigned ten years and +two months. + +Musa el-Hadi, his eldest son, succeeded him, being the fourth caliph +of the race of Abbasids. On ascending the throne, he withdrew the +government of Egypt from Fadl ibn Salih, appointing in his place Ali ibn +Suleiman, also a descendant of Abbas. El-Hadi plotted against the claims +of Harun to the succession, but he died before his plans had matured, +and Harun became caliph in the year 786. + +The reign of Harun er-Rashid was the most brilliant epoch of the empire +of Islamism, and his glory penetrated from the far East to the western +countries of Europe, where his name is still celebrated. + +[Illustration: 347.jpg DOOR OF AN ARABIAN HOUSE.] + +Harun seems to have been as reluctant as his father and grandfather were +before him to leave a province too long in the hands of a governor, and +he even surpassed them in his precautionary measures. In the year 171 +of the Hegira, he recalled Ali ibn Suleiman, and gave the government of +Egypt to Musa ibn Isa, a descendant of the Caliph Ali. + +Thereafter the governors were changed on an average of once a year, +and their financial duties were separately administered. Musa ibn Isa, +however, held the appointment of Governor of Egypt on three separate +occasions, and of his third period Said ibn Batrik tells the following +anecdote: + +“While Obaid Allah ibn el-Mahdi was ruling in Egypt,” he relates, “he +sent a beautiful young Koptic slave to his brother, the caliph, as a +gift. The Egyptian odalisk so charmed the caliph that he fell violently +in love with her. Suddenly, however, the favourite was laid prostrate +by a malady which the court physicians could neither cure nor even +diagnose. The girl insisted that, being Egyptian, only an Egyptian +physician could cure her. The caliph instantly ordered his brother to +send post haste the most skilful doctor in Egypt. This proved to be the +Melchite patriarch, for in those days Koptic priests practised medicine +and cultivated other sciences. The patriarch set out for Baghdad, +restored the favourite to health, and in reward received from the +caliph an imperial diploma, which restored to the orthodox Christians +or Melchites all those privileges of which they had been deprived by the +Jacobite heretics since their union with the conqueror Amr ibn el-Asi.” + +If this story be true, one cannot but perceive the plot skilfully laid +and carried out by the powerful clergy, to whom any means, even the +sending of a concubine to the caliph, seemed legitimate to procure the +restoration of their supremacy and the humiliation of their adversaries. + +[Illustration: 349.jpg A VEILED BEAUTY] + +The year 204 of the Hegira was memorable for the death of the Iman +Muhammed ibn Idris, surnamed esh-Shafi. This celebrated doctor was the +founder of one of the four orthodox sects which recognised the Moslem +religion, and whose followers take the name “Shafites” from their chief. +The Iman esh-Shafi died at Fostât when but forty-three years old. His +dogmas are more especially followed in Egypt, where his sect is still +represented and presided over by one of the four Imans at the head of +the famous Mosque Jam el-Azar, or mosque of flowers. + +The distance of Egypt from Baghdad, the caliph’s capital, was the cause +of the neglect of many of his commands, and upon more than one occasion +was his authority slighted. Thus it happened that for more than five +years the government of Egypt was in the hands of Abd Allah ibn es-Sari, +whom the soldiers elected, but whose appointment was never confirmed by +the caliph. Abd Allah ibn Tahir, the son of the successful general, had, +in the year a.h. 210, settled at Belbeys in Egypt. With a large number +of partisans, he assumed almost regal privileges. In 211 a.h. he +proceeded to Fostât and there dismissed Abd Allah ibn es-Sari and +replaced him by Ayad ibn Ibrahim, whom he also dismissed the following +year, giving the governorship to Isa ibn Yazid, surnamed el-Jalud. In +the year 213, the Caliph el-Mamun ordered Abd Allah ibn Tahir to retire, +and confided the government of Egypt and also that of Syria to his own +brother el-Mutasim, third son of the Caliph Ilarun er-Rashid. + +In the year 218 of the Hegira (a. d. 833), Muhammed el-Mutasim succeeded +his brother el-Mamun. He was the first caliph who brought the name of +God into his surname. On ascending the throne, he assumed the title +el-Mutasim b’lllah, that is “strengthened by God,” and his example was +followed by all his successors. + +From the commencement of this reign, el-Mutasim b’lllah was forced to +defend himself against insurgents and aspirants to the caliphate. In +the year 219 of the Hegira, Kindi, the Governor of Egypt, died, and the +caliph named his son, Mudhaffar ibn Kindi, as his successor. Mudhaffar +ibn Kindi, dying the following year, was succeeded by Musa, son of +Abu’l-Abbas, surnamed esh-Shirbani by some writers, esh-Shami (the +Syrian) by others. In the year 224 Musa was recalled and his place +taken by Malik, surnamed by some el-Hindi (the Indian), by others ibn +el-Kindi. A year later the caliph dismissed Malik, and sent Ashas to +Egypt in his place. This was the last governor appointed by el-Mutasim +b’lllah, for the caliph died of fever in the year 227 of the Hegira. + +Oriental historians have noticed that the numeral eight affected this +caliph in a singular manner. Between himself and Abbas, the head of his +house, there were eight generations; he was born in the month of Shaban, +the eighth month of the Mussulman year; he was the eighth Abbasidian +caliph, and ascended the throne in the year 218, aged thirty-eight years +and eight months; he reigned eight years, eight months, and eight days, +and died in the forty-eighth year of his age, leaving eight sons and +eight daughters. He fought in eight battles, and on his death eight +million dinars and eighty thousand dirhems were discovered in his +private treasury. It is this singular coincidence which gave him the +name Mutamma. + +[Illustration: 351.jpg TOMB OF A SHEIKH] + +But a sadder fatality exercised its influence over the Caliph Mutamma, +for from him dates the beginning of the decadence of his dynasty, and +to him its first cause may be ascribed. The fact is, Mutasim was +uneducated, without ability, and lacking in moral principles; he was +unable even to write. Endowed with remarkable strength and muscles +of iron, he was able, so Arab historians relate, to lift and carry +exceptionally heavy weights; to this strength was added indomitable +courage and love of warfare, fine weapons, horses, and warriors. This +taste led him, even before the death of his father, to organise a picked +corps, for which he selected the finest, handsomest, and strongest of +the young Turkish slaves taken in war, or sent as tribute to the caliph. + +The vast nation, sometimes called Turks, sometimes Tatars, was +distributed, according to all Oriental geographers, over all the +countries of Northern Asia, from the river Jihun or Oxus to Kathay or +China. That the Turks and the Arabs, both bent upon a persistent +policy of conquest, should come into more or less hostile contact +was inevitable. The struggle was a long one, and during the numerous +engagements many prisoners were taken on both sides. Those Turks who +fell into the hands of the Arabs were sent to the different provinces +of their domain, where they became slaves of the chief emirs and of the +caliphs themselves, where, finding favour in the eyes of the caliphs, +they were soon transferred to their personal retinue. The distrust which +the caliphs felt for the emirs of their court, whose claims they were +only able to appease by making vassals of them, caused them to commit +the grave error of confiding in these alien slaves, who, barbaric +and illiterate as they were, now living in the midst of princes, soon +acquired a knowledge of Muhammedanism, the sciences, and, above all, the +politics of the country. + +It was not long before they were able to fill the most responsible +positions, and, given their freedom by the caliphs, were employed by the +government according to their abilities. Not only were they given the +chief positions at court, but the government of the principal provinces +was entrusted to them. They repaid these favours later by the blackest +ingratitude, especially when the formation of a Turkish guard brought +a number of their own countrymen under their influence. Ever anxious to +augment his own body-guard, and finding the number of Turks he annually +received as tribute insufficient, el-Mutasim purchased a great many +for the purpose of training them for that particular service. But these +youths speedily abused the confidence shown them by the caliph, who, +perceiving that their insolence was daily growing more insupportable to +the inhabitants of Baghdad, resolved to leave the capital, rebuild the +ancient city of Samarrah and again make it the seat of the empire. + +At this time the captain of the caliph’s guard was one Tulun, a +freedman, whom fate would seem to have reduced to servitude for the +purpose of showing that a slave might found a dynasty destined to rule +over Egypt and Syria. Tulun belonged to the Toghus-ghur, one of the +twenty-four tribes composing the population of Turkestan. His family +dwelt near Lake Lop, in Little Bukhara. He was taken prisoner in battle +by Nuh ibn Assad es-Samami, then in command at Bukhara. This prince, +who was subject to the Caliph Mamun, paid an annual tribute of slaves, +Turkish horses, and other valuables. In the year 815 a. d., Tulun was +among the slaves sent as tribute to the caliph, who, attracted by his +bearing, enrolled him in his own body-guard. + +Before long he had so gained the caliph’s confidence that Mamun gave him +his freedom and the command of the guard, at the same time appointing +him Emir es-sitri, prince of the veil or curtain. This post, which was a +mark of the greatest esteem, comprised the charge of the personal safety +of the sovereign, by continually keeping watch without the curtain or +rich drapery which hung before the private apartments, and admitting no +one without a special order. Tulun spent twenty years at the court of +el-Mamun and of his successor, Mutasim, and became the father of several +children, one of which, Ahmed ibn Tulun,* known later as Abu l’Abbas, +was the founder of the Tulunide dynasty in Egypt and Syria. + + * Ahmed ibn Tulun was, according to some historians, born at + Baghdad in the year 220 of the Hegira, in the third year of + the reign of el-Mutasim b’ Illah. Others claim Samarrah as + his birthplace. His mother, a young Turkish slave, was named + Kassimeh, or some say, Hachimeh. Some historians have denied + that Ahmed was the son of Tulun, one of them, Suyuti, in a + manuscript belonging to Marcel, quotes Abu Asakar in + confirmation of this assertion, who pretends he was told by + an old Egyptian that Ahmed was the son of a Turk named Mahdi + and of Kassimeh, the slave of Tulun. Suyuti adds that Tulun + adopted the child on account of his good qualities, but this + statement is unsupported and seems contradicted by + subsequent events. + +Before Ahmed ibn Tulun had reached an age to take part in political +affairs, two caliphs succeeded Mutasim b’lllah. The first was his son +Harun abu Jafar, who, upon his accession, assumed the surname el-Wathik +b’lllah (trusting in God). Wathik carried on the traditional policy of +continually changing the governors of the provinces, and, dying in the +year 847, was succeeded by his half-brother Mutawakkil. In the following +year the new caliph confided the government of Egypt to Anbasa, but +dismissed him a few months later in favour of his own son el-Muntasir +ibn el-Mutawakkil, whom two years afterwards the caliph named as his +successor to the throne. El-Muntasir was to be immediately succeeded by +his two younger brothers, el-Mutazz b’lllah and el-Mujib b’lllah. + +Mutawakkil then proceeded to divide his kingdom, giving Africa and +all his Eastern possessions, from the frontier of Egypt to the eastern +boundary of his states, to his eldest son. His second son, el-Mutazz, +received Khorassan, Tabaristan, Persia, Armenia, and Aderbaijan as his +portion, and to el-Mujib, his third son, he gave Damascus, Hemessa, the +basin of the Jordan, and Palestine. + +These measures, by which the caliph hoped to satisfy the ambitions +of his sons, did not have the desired effect. Despite the immense +concessions he had received, el-Muntasir, anxious to commence his rule +over the whole of the Islam empire, secretly conspired against his +father and meditated taking his life. Finding that in Egypt he was too +far from the scene of his intrigues, he deputed the government of that +country to Yazid ibn Abd Allah, and returned to his father’s court to +encourage the malcontents and weave fresh plots. His evil schemes soon +began to bear fruit, for, in the year 244 of the Hegira, his agents +stirred up the Turkish soldiery at Damascus to insurrection on the +ground of deferred payment. Whereupon the caliph paid them the arrears, +and left Damascus to retire to Samarrah. + +[Illustration: 356.jpg THE MOSQUE OF IBN TULUN, CAIRO.] + +At length, in the year 861 (a.h. 247), Mutawakkil discovered the +scarcely concealed treachery of his son, and reproved him publicly. +Some days later the caliph was murdered at night by the captain of his +Turkish Guard, and Muntasir, who is commonly supposed to have +instigated the crime, was immediately proclaimed as his successor in the +government. + +The most important event in Egypt during the reign of Mutawakkil was the +falling in of the Nilometer at Fostât. This disaster, was the result of +an earthquake of considerable violence, which was felt throughout +Syria. The caliph ordered the reconstruction of the Nilometer, which was +accomplished the same year, and the Nilometer of the Island of Rhodha +was then called Magaz el-jedid, or the New Nilometer. + +After reigning scarcely a year, Muntasir himself succumbed, most +probably to poison, and his cousin Ahmed was elected to the caliphate by +the Turkish soldiery, with the title of Mustain. During his brief reign +the Moslems were defeated by the Byzantines at Awasia, and in 866 the +Turkish soldiers revolted against the caliph and elected his brother +Mutazz in his place. Mustain was, however, allowed to retire to Ma’szit. +He was permitted to take an attendant with him, and his choice fell upon +Ahmed, the son of Tulun, already mentioned. Ahmed served the dethroned +prince truly, and had no part in the subsequent murder of this unhappy +man. + +In the meantime the mother of Ahmed had married the influential General +Baik-Bey, and when the latter was given the rulership of Egypt in the +year 868 a. d. (254 a.h.), he sent his stepson as proxy, according to +the custom of the time. On the 23d Ramadhan 254 (15th September, 868), +Ahmed ibn Tulun arrived at Fostât. He encountered great difficulties, +and discovered that at Alexandria and also in other districts there were +independent emirs, who were not directly under the ruler. Soon after his +arrival an insurrection broke out in Upper Egypt. Ahmed showed himself +born to the place; he crushed the uprising and also suppressed a second +revolt that was threatening. By degrees he cleverly undermined the power +of his colleagues, and made his own position in Fostât secure. + +When Muaffik was nominated commander-in-chief of the West by his brother +Mustamid (elected caliph in 870), Ahmed managed to secure the good-will +of the vizier of the caliph and thus to obtain the command in Egypt. +He kept the regent in Baghdad in a state of complacency, occasionally +sending him tribute; but, as wars with the Sinds began to trouble the +caliphate, he did not think it worth while to trouble himself further +about Baghdad, and decided to keep his money for himself. Muaffik +was not the man to stand this, and prepared to attack Ahmed, but the +disastrous results of the last war had not yet passed away. When the +army intended for Egypt was camping in Mesopotamia, there was not enough +money to pay the troops, and the undertaking had to be deferred. + +Ahmed had a free hand over the enormous produce of Egypt. The compulsory +labour of the industrious Kopt brought in a yearly income of four +million gold dinars ($10,120,000), and yet these people felt themselves +better off than formerly on account of the greater order and peace that +existed under his energetic government. It cannot be denied that Ahmed +in the course of years became much more extravagant and luxurious, +but he used his large means in some measure for the betterment of the +country. He gave large sums not only for the erection of palaces and +barracks, but also for hospitals and educational advancement. To this +day is to be seen the mosque of Ibn Tulun, built by him in the newer +part of Fostât,--a district which was later annexed to the town of +Cairo. + +[Illustration: 359.jpg SANCTUARY OF THE MOSQUE OF IBN TULUN] + +The numerous wars in which Muaffik was involved gave Ahmed the +opportunity of extending his power beyond the boundaries of Egypt. The +ruler of the caliphate of Damascus died in the year 897, and soon after +Ahmed marched into Syria, and, with the exception of Antioch, which +had to be taken by force, the whole country fell into the hands of +the mighty emir. The commanders of isolated districts did not feel +themselves encouraged to offer any resistance, for they had no feeling +of faithfulness for the government, nor had they any hope of assistance +from Baghdad. + +The triumphant march of Tulun was hindered in the year 879 by bad news +from Fostât. One of his sons, El-Abbas, had quarrelled with his father, +and had marched to Barca, with troops which he led afterwards to +disaster, and had taken with him money to the amount of 1,000,000 dinars +($2,530,000). He thought himself safe from his enraged father there, +but the latter quickly returned to Fostât, and the news of the ample +preparations which he was hastening for the subjection of his rebel +son caused El-Abbas to place himself still farther out of his reach. He +suddenly attacked the state of Ibrahim II. (the Aghlabite), and caused +serious trouble with his soldiery in the eastern districts of Tripolis. +The neighbouring Berbers gave Ibrahim their assistance, and Abbas was +defeated and retreated to Barca in 880. He remained there some time +until an army sent by Ahmed annihilated his troops and he himself was +taken prisoner. + +The rebellion of his son was the turning-point in Ahmed’s career: Lulu, +his general in Mesopotamia, deserted him for Muaffik, and an endeavour +to conquer Mecca was frustrated by the unexpected resistance of numbers +of newly arrived pilgrims. Ahmed now caused the report to be spread that +Muaffik was a conspirator against the representatives of the Prophet, +thus depriving him of his dignity. + +[Illustration: 361.jpg THE MOSQUE OF IBN TULUN] + +The emir had also besieged in vain at Tarsus his former general +Jasman, who had become presumptuous on account of his victory over the +Byzantines. He would eventually have made up for this defeat, but +an illness overcame him while encamped before Tarsus. He obeyed his +doctor’s orders as little as the caliph’s, and his malady, aggravated +by improper diet, caused his death in his fifty-first year at Fostât in +884, whither he had withdrawn. He left seventeen sons,--enough to assure +a dynasty of a hundred years. Khumarawaih, who inherited the kingdom, +had not many of his father’s characteristics. He was a good-natured, +pleasure-loving young man, barely twenty years old, and with a marked +distaste for war. He did, however, notwithstanding his peace-loving +proclivities, fight the caliph’s forces near Damascus, and defeat them, +never having seen a battle before. The emir fled from the scene in a +panic. + +When Muatadid became caliph in 892, he offered his daughter Katr en-Neda +(Dewdrop) in marriage to the caliph’s son. The Arabic historians relate +that Khuma-rawaih was fearful of assassination, and had his couch +guarded by a trained lion, but he was finally put to death (a.h. 282), +according to some accounts by women, and according to others by his +eunuchs. The death of Khu-marawaih was the virtual downfall of the +Tulunid dynasty. + +The officers of the army then at first made Gaish Abu’l-Asakir (one of +Khumarawaih’s sons) emir; but, when this fourteen-year-old boy seemed +incapable of anything but stupid jokes, they put his brother Harun on +the throne. Every commanding officer, however, did as he liked. Rajib, +the commander of the army of defence, declared himself on the side of +the caliph, and the Syrian emirs gave themselves up to his general, +Muhammed ibn Suleiman, without any resistance. At the close of the year +he was before Fostât, and at the same time a fleet appeared at Damietta. +A quarrel arose amongst Harun’s body-guard, in which the unlucky prince +was killed (904). His uncle Shaiban, a worthy son of Ahmed, made a last +stand, but was obliged to give in to the superior force. + +Muhammed behaved with his Turks in the most outrageous way in Fostât: +the plundering was unrestrained, and that part of Fostât which Ahmed +had built was almost entirely destroyed. The adherents of the reigning +family were grossly maltreated, many of them killed, and others sent to +Baghdad. The governors changed in rapid succession; disorder, want, and +wretchedness existed throughout the entire country west of the caliph’s +kingdom. At this period the provinces of the empire had already fallen +into the hands of the numerous minor princes, who, presuming on the +caliph’s weakness, had declared themselves independent sovereigns. +Nothing remained to the Abbasids but Baghdad, a few neighbouring +provinces, and Egypt. + +Under the Caliphs Muktadir, Kahir, and Rahdi, Egypt had an almost +constant change of governors. One of them, Abu Bekr Muhammed, ultimately +became the founder of a new dynasty,--the Ikshidite,--destined to rule +over Egypt and Syria. Abu Bekr Muhammed was the son of Takadj, then +governor of Damascus. His father had been chief emir at the court of the +Tulunid princes, and, after the fall of this dynasty, remained in Egypt, +where he occupied a post under the government. Intrigues, however, drove +him to Syria, whither his partisans followed him. He first entered the +army of the caliph, and, capturing the town of Ramleh, was given the +governorship of Damascus as reward. His son Abu Bekr Muhammed did not go +to Egypt to fulfil the duties with which he had been invested, and only +retained the title for one month. He was subsequently reinstated, +and this time repaired thither. But Ahmed ibn Kighlagh, who was then +governing Egypt, refused to retire and was only defeated after several +engagements, when he and his followers proceeded to Barca in Africa. + +In the year 328 of the Hegira, the caliph Radhi bestowed the honour of +Emir el-Umara (Prince of Princes) upon Muhammed ibn Raik. This officer, +discontented with the government of Palestine, led an army into Syria +and expelled Badra, the lieutenant of Muhammed el-Ikshid. The latter +left Egypt at once, entrusting the government of that country to his +brother, el-Hassan, and brought his forces to Faramah, where the troops +of Muhammed ibn Raik were already stationed. Thanks to the mediation +of several emirs, matters were concluded peacefully, and Muhammed +el-Ikhshid returned to Fostât. Upon his arrival, however, he learnt that +Muhammed ibn Raik had again left Damascus and was preparing to march +upon Egypt. + +This intelligence obliged Muhammed el-Ikshid to return at once to Syria. +He encountered the advance-guard of the enemy and promptly led the +attack; his right wing was scattered, but the centre, commanded +by himself, remained firm, and Muhammed ibn Raik retreated towards +Damascus. Husain, brother of el-Ikshid, lost his life in the combat. +Despite the enmity between them, Muhammed ibn Raik sent his own son +to el-Ikshid, charged with messages of condolence for the loss he had +sustained and bearing proposals of peace. Muhammed el-Ikshid received +the son of his enemy with much respect, and invested him with a mantle +of honour. He then consented to cede Damascus, in consideration of an +annual tribute of 140,000 pieces of gold, and the restoration of all +that portion of Palestine between Ramleh and the frontiers of Egypt. +After having concluded all the arrangements relative to this treaty, +Muhammed el-Ikshid returned to Egypt in the year 329 of the Hegira. + +[Illustration: 365.jpg COIN OF ABU BEKR.] + +The Caliph Rahdi died in the same year (940 a. d.). He was thirty +years of age, and had reigned six years, ten months, and ten days. His +brother, Abu Ishak Ibrahim, succeeded him, and was henceforth known by +the name of Muttaki. A year later Muhammed el-Ikshid was acknowledged +Prince of Egypt by the new caliph. Shortly after, he learnt that his +former enemy, Muhammed ibn Raik had been killed by the Hamdanites; +he thereupon seized the opportunity to recover those provinces he had +granted him, and, marching into Syria, captured Damascus and all the +possessions he had relinquished upon the conclusion of their treaty. +Feeling now that his position was secure, he caused his son Kasim to be +recognised by the emirs and the entire army as his successor. + +The year 332 of the Hegira was a disastrous one in Baghdad. The office +of Prince of Princes, bestowed according to the caprice of the Turkish +officers upon any of their leaders, was now become a position superior +even to that of caliph. It was held at this time by a Turk named Turun, +who so oppressed the caliph Muttaki that the latter was forced to fly +from his capital and retire to Mosul. He then besought help from the +Hamdanites, who immediately rallied their forces and, accompanied by the +caliph, marched upon Baghdad. They were, however, completely routed by +Turun and obliged V to retreat. Muttaki showed his gratitude to the two +princes by conferring a mantle of honour upon them, which, for some +time past, had been the only gift that Islam sovereigns had been able to +bestow. + +Leaving Mosul, the caliph proceeded to Rakkah, and there was invited by +Turun to return to Baghdad. Seeing that his adherents, the Hamdanites, +were greatly discouraged by their recent reverses, Muttaki resolved to +accept the offer. When Muhammed el-Ikshid heard this, he hastened to +Rakkah and offered the caliph refuge in Egypt. But the caliph refused, +agreeing, however, as Muhammed el-Ikshid promised to supply him with the +necessary funds, not to return to Baghdad and place himself in the power +of Turun. In spite of his promise, when Turun, fearing that the caliph +had found powerful friends, came to him, and, casting himself before +Muttaki, paid him all the homage due to an Islam sovereign, he allowed +himself to be overruled, and accompanied Turun back to Baghdad. Hardly +had the unfortunate caliph set foot in his capital when he was murdered, +after reigning four years and eleven months. Turun now proclaimed +Abd Allah Abu’l Kasim, son of Muttaki, caliph, who, after a short and +uneventful reign, was succeeded by his uncle, Abu’l Kasim el-Fadhl, +who was the last of the Abbasid caliphs whom Egypt acknowledged as +suzerains. + +After Muttaki’s return to Baghdad, Muhammed el-Ikshid remained for some +time in Damascus, and then set out for Egypt. His return was signalised +by the war with Saif ed-Dowlah, Prince of Hamdan. The campaign was of +varying success: After a disastrous battle, in which the Egyptians lost +four thousand men as prisoners, Muhammed el-Ikshid left Egypt with +a numerous army and arrived at Maarrah. Saif ed-Dowlah determined to +decide the war with one desperate effort, and first secured the +safety of his treasure, his baggage, and his harem by sending them to +Mesopotamia. Then he marched upon el-Ikshid, who had taken his position +at Kinesrin. + +Muhammed divided his forces into two corps, placing in the vanguard all +those who carried lances; he himself was in the rear with ten thousand +picked men. Saif ed-Dowlah charged the vanguard and routed it, but the +rear stood firm; this resistance saved el-Ikshid from total defeat. The +two armies separated after a somewhat indecisive engagement, and +Saif ed-Dowlah, who could claim no advantage save the capture of his +adversaries’ baggage, went on to Maubej, where he destroyed the bridge, +and, entering Mesopotamia, proceeded towards Rakkah; but Muhammed +el-Ikshid was already stationed there, and the hostile armies, separated +only by the Euphrates, faced one another for several days. + +Negotiations were then opened, and peace was concluded. The conditions +were that Hemessa, Aleppo, and Mesopotamia should belong to Saif +ed-Dowlah, and all the country from Hemessa to the frontiers of Egypt +remain in the possession of Muhammed el-Ikshid. A trench was dug between +Djouchna and Lebouah, in those places where there were no natural +boundaries, to mark the separation of the two states. To ratify this +solemn peace, Saif ed-Dowlah married the daughter of Muhammed el-Ikshid; +then each prince returned to his own province. The treaty was, however, +almost immediately set aside by the Hamdanites, and el-Ikshid, forced to +retrace his steps, defeated them in several engagements and seized the +town of Aleppo. + +Thus we see that the year 334 of the Hegira (a. d. 946) was full +of important events, to which was soon added the death of Muhammed +el-Ikshid. He died at Damascus, in the last month of the year +(Dhu’l-Kada), aged sixty, and had reigned eleven years, three months, +and two days. He was buried at Jerusalem. Muhammed el-Ikshid was a man +possessing many excellent talents, and chiefly renowned as an admirable +soldier. Brave, without being rash, quick to calculate his chances, he +was able always to seize the advantage. On the other hand, however, +he was so distrustful and timid in the privacy of his palace that he +organised a guard of eight thousand armed slaves, one thousand of +whom kept constant watch. He never spent the entire night in the same +apartment or tent, and no one was ever permitted to know the place where +he slept. + +We are told that this prince could muster four hundred thousand men; +although historians do not definitely specify the boundaries of his +empire, which, of course, varied from time to time, we may nevertheless +believe that his kingdom, as that of his predecessors, the Tulunites, +extended over Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, as far as the +Euphrates, and even included a large portion of Arabia. The Christians +of the East charge him with supporting his immense army at their +expense, and persecuting and taxing them to such an extent that they +were forced to sell many possessions belonging to their Church before +they could pay the required sums. + +But, if we may credit a contemporary historian more worthy of belief, +these expenses were covered by the treasure Muhammed el-Ikshid himself +discovered. In fact, el-Massudi, who died at Cairo in the year 346 of +the Hegira, relates that el-Ikshid, knowing much treasure to be buried +there, was greatly interested in the excavation of the subterraneous +tombs of the ancient Egyptian kings. “The prince” he adds, “was +fortunate enough to come across a portion of those tombs, consisting of +vast rooms magnificently decorated. There he found marvellously wrought +figures of old and young men, women, and children, having eyes of +precious stones and faces of gold and silver.” + +Muhammed el-Ikshid was succeeded by his son, Abu’l Kasim Muhammed, +surnamed Ungur. The prince being only an infant, Kafur, the favourite +minister of the late caliph, was appointed regent. This Kafur was a +black slave purchased by el-Ikshid for the trifling sum of twenty pieces +of gold. He was intelligent, zealous, and faithful, and soon won the +confidence of his master. Nobility of race in the East appertains only +to the descendants of the Prophet, but merit, which may be found in +prince and subject alike, often secures the highest positions, and even +the throne itself for those of the humblest origin. Such was the fate +of Kafur. He showed taste for the sciences, and encouraged scholars; +he loaded the poets with benefits, and they sang his praises without +measure so long as he continued his favours, but satirised him with +equal vigour as soon as his munificence diminished. Invested with +supreme authority, Kafur served the young prince with a devotion and +fidelity worthy of the highest praise. His first step was to dismiss Abu +Bekr Muhammed, the receiver of the Egyptian tributes, against whom he +had received well-merited complaints. In his place he appointed a native +of Mardin, also called Muhammed, of whose honesty and kindliness he was +well aware. He then took his pupil to Egypt, which country they reached +in the month of Safar in the year 335 of the Hegira. + +Saif ed-Dowlah, hearing of the death of Muhammed el-Ikshid, and the +departure of Ungur, deemed this a favourable opportunity to despoil his +brother-in-law; he therefore marched upon Damascus, which he captured; +but the faithful Kafur promptly arrived upon the scene with a powerful +army, and, routing Saif ed-Dowlah, who had advanced as far as Ramleh, +drove him back to Rakkah, and relieved Damascus. The remainder of the +reign of Ungur passed peacefully, thanks to the watchfulness and wise +government of Kafur. + +In the year 345 of the Hegira, the King of Nubia invaded the Egyptian +territories, advancing to Syene, which he pillaged and laid waste. +Kafur at once despatched his forces overland and along the Nile, and +simultaneously ordered a detachment embarking from the Red Sea to +proceed along the southern coast, attack the enemy in the rear and +completely cut off their retreat. The Nubians, thus surprised on all +sides, were defeated and forced to retreat, leaving the fortress of Rym, +now known as Ibrim, and situated fifty miles from Syênê, in the hands of +the Egyptians. No other events of note took place during the lifetime of +Ungur, who, having reigned fourteen years and ten days, died in the year +349 of the Hegira, leaving his brother Ali, surnamed Abu’l-Hasan, as his +successor. + +[Illustration: 371.jpg MOSQUE TOMB NEAR SYENE] + +The reign of Abu’l-Hasan Ali, the second son of Muhammed el-Ikshid, +lasted but five years. His name, as that of his brother Ungur (Abu +Hurr), is but little known in history. Kafur was also regent during the +reign of Abu’l-Hasan Ali. + +In the year 352 of the Hegira, Egypt was stricken with a disastrous +famine. The rise of the Nile, which the previous year had been but +fifteen cubits, was this year even less, and suddenly the waters fell +without irrigating the country. Egypt and the dependent provinces were +thus afflicted for nine consecutive years. During this time, whilst +the people were agitated by fear for the future, a rupture took place +between Abu’l-Hasan Ali and Kafur. This internal disturbance was soon +followed by war; and in the year 354 the Greeks of Constantinople, +led by the Emperor Nicepherous Phocas, advanced into Syria. They took +Aleppo, then in the possession of the Hamdanites, and, encountering +Saif ed-Dowlah, overthrew him also. The governor of Damascus, Dalim +el-Ukazly, and ten thousand men came to the rescue of the Hamdanites, +but Phocas beat a retreat on hearing of his approach. + +Abu’l-Hasan Ali died in the year 355 of the Hegira. The regent +Kafur then ascended the throne, assuming the surname el-Ikshid. He +acknowledged the paramount authority of the Abbasid caliph, Muti, and +that potentate recognised his supreme power in the kingdom of Egypt. +During the reign of Kafur, which only lasted two years and four months, +the greater portion of Said was seized by the Fatimites, already +masters of Fayum and Alexandria, and the conquerors were on the point of +encroaching still farther, when Kafur died in the year 357 a.h. Ahmed, +surnamed Abu’l Fawaris, the son of Abu’l-Hasan Ali, and consequently +grandson of Mu-hammed el-Ikshid, succeeded Kafur. + +The prince was only eleven years old, and therefore incapable of +properly controlling Egypt, Syria, and his other domains. Husain, one +of his relatives, invaded Syria, but in his turn driven back by the +Karmates, returned to Egypt and strove to depose Ahmed. These divisions +in the reigning family severed the ties which united the provinces of +the Egyptian kingdom. To terminate the disturbances, the emirs resolved +to seek the protection of the Fatimites. The latter, anxious to secure +the long-coveted prize, gladly rendered assistance, and Husain was +forced to return to Syria, where he took possession of Damascus, and the +unfortunate Ahmed lost the throne of Egypt. + +With him perished the Ikshid dynasty, which, more ephemeral even than +that of the Tulunid, flourished only thirty-four years and twenty-four +days. + +The period upon which this history is now about to enter is of more than +usual interest, for it leads immediately to the centuries during which +the Arabic forces came into contact with the forces of Western Europe. +The town and the coast of Mauritania were then ruled by the Fatimites, +a dynasty independent of the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad. The Fatimites +belonged to the tribes of Koramah, who dwelt in the mountains situated +near the town of Fez in the extreme west of Africa. In the year 269 of +the Hegira, they began to extend their sway in the western regions of +Africa, pursuing their conquests farther east. The Fatimite caliph Obaid +Allah and his son Abu’l Kasim cherished designs not only upon Egypt, +but even aimed at the destruction of the Abbasid caliphate, these plans +being so far successful as to leave the Fatimites in secure possession +of Alexandria, and more or less in power in Fayum. + +The Fatimite caliphs had lofty and pretentious claims to the allegiance +of the Moslem world. They traced their descent from Fatima, a daughter +of the Prophet, whom Muhammed himself regarded as one of the four +perfect women. At the age of fifteen she married Ali, of whom she was +the only wife, and the partisans of Ali, as we have seen, disputed with +Omar the right to the leadership of Islam upon the Prophet’s death. +Critics are not wanting who dispute the family origin of Obaid Allah, +but his claim appears to have been unhesitatingly admitted by his own +immediate followers. The Fatimite successes in the Mediterranean gave +them a substantial basis of political power, and doubtless this outward +and material success was more important to them than their claim to both +a physical and mythical descent from the founder of their religion. + +Some accounts trace the descent of Obaid from Abd Allah ibn Maimun +el-Kaddah, the founder of the Ismailian sect, of which the Carmathians +were a branch. The Ismailians may be best regarded as one of the several +sects of Shiites, who originally were simply the partisans of Ali +against Omar, but by degrees they became identified as the upholders of +the Koran against the validity of the oral tradition, and when, later, +the whole of Persia espoused the cause of Ali, the Shiite belief +became tinged with all kinds of mysticism. The Ismailians believed, for +instance, in the coming of a Messiah, to whom they gave the name Mahdi, +and who would one day appear on earth to establish the reign of justice, +and revenge the wrongs done to the family of Ali. The Ismailians +regarded Obaid himself as the Mahdi, and they also believed in +incarnations of the “universal soul,” which in former ages had appeared +as the Hebrew Prophets, but which to the Muhammedan manifested itself as +imans. The iman is properly the leader of public worship, but it is not +so much an office as a seership with mystical attributes. The Muhammedan +imans so far have numbered eleven, the twelfth, and greatest (El-Mahdi), +being yet to come. The Ismailians also introduced mysticism into the +interpretation of the Koran, and even taught that its moral precepts +were not to be taken in a literal sense. Thus the Fatimite caliphs +founded their authority upon a combination of political power and +superstition. + +Abu’l Kasim, who ruled at Alexandria, was succeeded in 945 by his son, +El-Mansur. Under his reign the Fatimites were attacked by Abu Yazid, a +Berber, who gathered around him the Sunnites, and the revolutionaries +succeeded in taking the Fatimite capital Kairwan. El-Mansur, however, +soon defeated Abu Yazid in a decisive battle and rebuilt a new city, +Mansuria, on the site of the modern Cairo, to commemorate the event. +Dying in 953, he was succeeded by Muiz ad-Din. + +Muiz came to the throne just at the time when dissensions as to the +succession were undermining the Ikshid dynasty. Seizing the opportunity +in the year 969, Muiz equipped a large and well-armed force, with a +formidable body of cavalry, the whole under the command of Abu’l-Husain +Gohar el-Kaid, a native of Greece and a slave of his father El-Mansur. +This general, on his arrival near Alexandria, received a deputation from +the inhabitants of Fostât charged to negotiate a treaty. Their overtures +were favourably entertained, and the conquest of the country seemed +probable without bloodshed. But while the conditions were being +ratified, the Ikshidites prevailed on the people to revoke their offer, +and the ambassadors, on their return, were themselves compelled to seek +safety in flight. + +Gohar el-Kaid incurred no delay in pushing his troops forward. He forced +the passage of the Nile a few miles south of El-Gizeh at the head of his +troops, and the Ikshidites suffered a disastrous defeat. To the honour +of the African general, it is related that the inhabitants of Fostât +were pardoned and the city was peaceably occupied. The submission of the +rest of Egypt to Muiz was secured by this victory. In the year 359 a.h. +Syria was also added to his domains, but shortly after was overrun by +the Carmathians. The troops of Muiz met with several reverses, Damascus +was taken, and those lawless freebooters, joined by the Ikshidites, +advanced to Ain Shems. In the meanwhile, Gohar had fortified Cairo (the +new capital which he had founded immediately north of Fostât) and taken +every precaution to repel the invaders; a bloody battle was fought in +the year 361 before the city walls, without any decisive result. Later, +however, Gohar obtained a victory over the enemy which proved to be a +decisive one. + +Muiz subsequently removed his court to his new kingdom. In Ramadhan 362, +he entered Cairo, bringing with him the bodies of his three predecessors +and vast treasure. Muiz reigned about two years in Egypt, dying in the +year 365 a.h. He is described as a warlike and ambitious prince, but, +notwithstanding, he was especially distinguished for justice and was +fond of learning. He showed great favour to the Christians, especially +to Severus, Bishop of El-Ashmunein, and the patriarch Ephrem; and under +his orders, and with his assistance, the church of the Mu’allakah, +in Old Misr, was rebuilt. He executed many useful works (among others +rendering navigable the Tanitic branch of the Nile, which is still +called the canal of Muiz), and occupied himself in embellishing Cairo. +Gohar, when he founded that city, built the great mosque named El-Azhar, +the university of Egypt, which to this day is crowded with students from +all parts of the Moslem world. + +Aziz Abu-Mansur Nizar, on coming to the throne of his father, +immediately despatched an expedition against the Turkish chief +El-Eftekeen, who had taken Damascus a short time previously. Gohar again +commanded the army, and pressed the siege of that city so vigorously +that the enemy called to their aid the Carmathians. Before this united +army he was forced to retire slowly to Ascalon, where he prepared to +stand a siege; but, being reduced to great straits, he purchased his +liberty with a large sum of money. On his return from this disastrous +campaign, Aziz took command in person, and, meeting the enemy at Ramleh, +was victorious after a bloody battle; while El-Eftekeen, being betrayed +into his hands, was with Arab magnanimity received with honour and +confidence, and ended his days in Egypt in affluence. Aziz followed his +father’s example of liberality. It is even said that he appointed a Jew +his vizier in Syria, and a Christian to the same post in Egypt. These +acts, however, nearly cost him his life, and a popular tumult obliged +him to disgrace both these officers. After a reign of twenty-one years +of great internal prosperity, he died (a.h. 386) in a bath at Bilbeis, +while preparing an expedition against the Greeks who were ravaging +his possessions in Syria. Aziz was distinguished for moderation and +mildness, but his son and successor rendered himself notorious for very +opposite qualities. + +Hakim Abu Ali Mansur commenced his reign, according to Moslem +historians, with much wisdom, but afterwards acquired a reputation for +impiety, cruelty, and unreasoning extravagance, by which he has been +rendered odious to posterity. He is said to have had at the same time +“courage and boldness, cowardice and timorousness, a love for learning +and vindictiveness towards the learned, an inclination to righteousness +and a disposition to slay the righteous.” He also arrogated to himself +divinity, and commanded his subjects to rise at the mention of his name +in the congregational prayers, an edict which was obeyed even in the +holy cities, Mecca and Medina. He is most famous in connection with the +Druses, a sect which he founded and which still holds him in veneration +and believes in his future return to the earth. He had made himself +obnoxious to all classes of his subjects when, in the year 397 a.h., he +nearly lost his throne by foreign invasion. + +[Illustration: 379.jpg MOSQUE OF HAKIM] + +Hisham, surnamed Abu-Rekweh, a descendant of the house of Ommaya in +Spain, took the province of Barca with a considerable force and subdued +Upper Egypt. The caliph, aware of his danger, immediately collected +his troops from every quarter of the kingdom, and marched against the +invaders, whom, after severe fighting, he defeated and put to flight. +Hisham himself was taken prisoner, paraded in Cairo with every +aggravation of cruelty, and put to death. Hakim having thus by vigorous +measures averted this danger, Egypt continued to groan under his tyranny +until the year 411 a.h., when he fell by domestic treachery. His sister +Sitt el-Mulk had, in common with the rest of his subjects, incurred his +displeasure; and, being fearful for her life, she secretly and by night +concerted measures with the emir Saif ed-Dowlah, chief of the guard, +who very readily agreed to her plans. Ten slaves, bribed by five hundred +dinars each ($1,260), having received their instructions, went forth on +the appointed day to the desert tract southward of Cairo, where Hakim, +unattended, was in the habit of riding, and waylaid him near the village +of Helwan, where they put him to death. + +Within a week Hakim’s son Ali had been raised to the caliphate with +the title of Dhahir, at the command of Sitt el-Mulk. As Dhahir was only +eighteen years old, and in no way educated for the government, Sitt +el-Mulk took the reins of government, and was soon looked upon as the +instigator of Hakim’s death. This suspicion was strengthened by the +fact that his sister had the heir to the throne--who was at that time +governor of Aleppo--murdered, and also the chief who had conspired with +her in assassinating Hakim. She survived her brother for about four +years, but the actual ruler was the Vizier Ali el-Jar jar. + +Dhahir’s reign offers many points of interest. Peace and contentment +reigned in the interior, and Syria continued to be the chief point of +interest to the Egyptian politics. Both Lulu and his son Mansur, who +received princely titles from Hakim, recognised the suzerainty of the +Fatimites. Later on a disagreement arose between Lulu’s son and Dhahir. +One of the former’s slaves conspired against his master, and gave Aleppo +into the hands of the Fatimites, whose governor maintained himself there +till 1023. In this year, however, Aleppo fell into the power of the Benu +Kilab, who defended the town with great success against Romanus in +1030. Not till Dhahir’s successor came to the throne in 1036 was Aleppo +reconquered by the Fatimites, but only to fall, after a few years, again +into the hands of a Kilabite, whom the caliph was obliged to acknowledge +as governor until he of his own free will exchanged the city for several +other towns in Syria; but even then the strife about the possession of +Aleppo was not yet at an end. + +Mustanssir ascended the throne at the age of four years. His mother, +although black and once a slave, had great influence in the choice of +the viziers and other officials, and even when the caliph became of age, +he showed very few signs of independence. His reign, which lasted sixty +years, offers a constant alternation of success and defeat. At one time +his dominion was limited to the capital Cairo, at another time he was +recognised as lord of Africa, Sicily, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and even of +the Abbassid capital, Baghdad. A few days later his dominion was again +on the point of being extinguished. The murder of a Turk by the negroes +led to a war between the Turkish mercenaries and the blacks who formed +the caliph’s body-guard. The latter were joined by many of the other +slaves, but the Turks were supported by the Ketama Berbers and some of +the Bedouin tribes, and also the Hamdanite Nasir ed-Dowlah, who had +long been in the Egyptian service. The blacks, although supported by the +caliph’s mother, were completely defeated, and the caliph was forced to +acknowledge the authority of Nasir ed-Dowlah. He thereupon threatened +to abdicate, but when he learned that his palace with all its treasures +would then be given up to plunder, he refrained from fulfilling his +threat. The power of the Hamdanites and the Turks increased with +every victory over the negroes, who finally could no longer maintain +themselves at all in Upper Egypt. The caliph was treated with contempt, +and had to give up his numerous treasures, one by one, to satisfy the +avarice of his troops. Even the graves of his ancestors were at last +robbed of all they contained, and when, at last, everything had been +ransacked, even his library, which was one of the largest and finest, +was not spared. The best manuscripts were dispersed, some went to +Africa, others were destroyed, many were damaged or purposely mutilated +by the Sunnites, simply because they had been written by the Shiites; +still others were burnt by the Turks as worthless material, and the +leather bands which held them made into sandals. + +[Illustration: 383.jpg MUSTANSSIR’S GATE AT CAIRO] + +Meanwhile war between Mustanssir and Nasir ed-Dowlah continued to be +waged in Egypt and Syria, until at last the latter became master of +Cairo and deprived the caliph once more completely of his independence. + +Soon after, a conspiracy with Ildeghiz, a Turkish general, at its head, +was formed against Nasir ed-Dowlah, and he, together with his relations +and followers, was brutally murdered. Ildeghiz behaved in the same way +as his predecessor had-done towards the caliph, and the latter appealed +to Bedr el-Jemali for help. Bedr proceeded to Acre with his best Syrian +troops, landed in the neighbourhood of Damietta and proceeded towards +the capital, which he entered without difficulty (January, 1075). He was +appointed general and first vizier, so that he now held both the highest +military and civil authority. + +In order to strengthen his position, he had all the commanders of the +troops and the highest officials murdered at a ball. Under his rule, +peace and order were at last restored to Egypt, and the income of the +state was increased under his excellent government. + +Bedr remained at his post till his death, and his son El-Afdhal was +appointed by Mustanssir to succeed him. Upon the death of Mustanssir +(1094), his successor El-Mustali Abu’l Kasim retained El-Afdhal in +office. He was afterwards murdered under Emir (December, 1121) because, +according to some, he was not a zealous enough Shiite, but, according +to others, because the caliph wished to gain possession of the enormous +treasures of the vizier and to be absolutely independent. Emir was +also murdered (October 7, 1130), and was succeeded by his cousin, who +ascended the throne under the name of Hafiz, and appointed a son of +El-Afdhal as vizier, who, just as his father had done, soon became the +real ruler, and did not even allow the caliph’s name to be mentioned in +the prayers; whereupon he also was murdered at the caliph’s instigation. +After other viziers had met with a similar fate, and amongst them a son +of the caliph himself, at last Hafiz ruled alone. His son and successor, +Dhafir (1149-1150), also frequently changed his viziers because they +one and all wished to obtain too much influence. The last vizier, +Abbas, murdered the caliph (March-April, 1154), and placed El-Faiz, the +five-year-old son of the dead caliph, on the throne, but the child died +in his eleventh year (July, 1160). Salih, then vizier, raised Adid, a +descendant of Alhagiz, to the caliphate and gave him his daughter to +wife, for which reason he was murdered at the desire of the harem. His +son Adil maintained himself for a short time, and then El-Dhargham and +Shawir fought for the post; as the former gained the victory, Shawir +fled to Syria, called Nureddin to his aid, and their army, under Shirkuh +and Saladin, put an end in 1171 to the rule of the Fatimites. + +END OF VOL. XI. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt From 330 B.C. To The +Present Time, Volume 11 (of 12), by S. 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