AEGINIUM (Aiyiviov: Eth. Alyvieús, Aeginiensis: Stagus), a town of the Tymphaei in Thessaly, is described by Livy as a place of great strength and nearly impregnable (Liv. xxxii. 15). It is frequently mentioned in the Roman wars in Greece. It was given up to plunder by L. Aemilius Paulus for having refused to open its gates after the battle of Pydna. It was here that Caesar in his march from Apollonia effected a junction with Domitius. It occupied the site of the modern Stagús, a town at a short distance from the Peneus. At this place Leake found an inscription, in which Aeginium is mentioned. Its situation, fortified on two sides by perpendicular rocks, accords with Livy's account of its position. (Strab. p. 327; Liv. xxxii. 15, xxxvi. 13, xliv. 46, xlv. 27; Caes. B. C. iii. 79; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 421, seq.)

AEGIPLANCTUS. [MEGARIS.] AEGIROESSA (Alyipóeora), a city which Herodotus (i. 149) enumerates among the 11 cities of Aeolis; but nothing is known of it. Forbiger conjectures that the historian may mean Aegeirus (Alyeipos), in the island of Lesbos. [G. L.]

AEGISSUS or AEGYPSUS (Alyooos, Hierocl. p. 637; Atyros, Procop. 4, 7; Aegypsus, Ov.), a town in Moesia, near the mouth of the Danube. It is mentioned by Ovid as having been taken from the king of Thrace, at that time under the protection of Rome, by a sudden incursion of the Getae, and recovered by Vitellius, who was in command of a Roman army in that quarter. Ovid celebrates the valour displayed by his friend Vestalis upon the occasion. (Ep. ex Ponto, i. 8. 13, iv.7.21.) [H.W.]

AEGITHALLUS (Alyianos, Diod.; AlyBaλos, Zonar.; Alyi@apos, Ptol.) a promontory on the W. coast of Sicily, near Lilybaeum, which was occupied and fortified by the Roman consul L. Junius during the First Punic War (B. C. 249), with a view to support the operations against Lilybaeum, but was recovered by the Carthaginian general Carthalo, and occupied with a strong garrison. Diodorus tells us it was called in his time ACELLUM, but it

is evidently the same with the Alyiapos &xpa of Ptolemy, which he places between Drepanum and Lilybaeum; and is probably the headland now called Capo S. Teodoro, which is immediately opposite to the island of Burrone. (Diod. xxiv. Exc. H. p. 50; Zonar. viii. 15; Ptol. iii. 4. § 4; Cluver. Sicil. p. 248.) [E. H. B.]

Here

AEGI TIUM (Aiyiriov), a town in Aetolia Epictetus, on the borders of Locris, situated in the midst of mountains, about 80 stadia from the sea. Demosthenes was defeated by the Aetolians, B.C. 426. Leake places it near Varnakova, where he found the remains of an ancient city. (Thuc. iii. 97; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 617.)

AE'GIUM (Alyov, Atyelov, Athen. p. 606: Eth. Aiyleús, Aegiensis: Vostitza), a town of Achaia, and one of the 12 Achaean cities, was situated upon the coast W. of the river Selinus, 30 stadia from Rhypae, and 40 stadia from Helice. It stood between two promontories in the corner of a bay, which formed the best harbour in Achaia next to that of Patrae. It is said to have been formed out of an union of 7 or 8 villages. It is mentioned in the Homeric catalogue; and, after the destruction of the neighbouring city of Helice by an earthquake, in B. c. 373 [HELICE], it obtained the territory of the latter, and thus became the chief city of Achaia. From this time Aegium was chosen as the place of meeting for the League, and it retained this distinction, on the revival of the League, till Philopoemen carried a law that the meeting might be held in any of the towns of the confederacy. Even under the Roman empire the Achaeans were allowed to keep up the form of their periodical meetings at Aegium, just as the Amphictyons were permitted to meet at Thermopylae and Delphi. (Paus. vii. 24. § 4.) The meetings were held in a grove near the sea, called Homagyrium or Homarium, sacred to Zeus Homagyrius or Homarius (Quayúpiov, 'Opάptov; in Strab. pp. 385, 387, 'Ouápiov should be read instead of 'Apvápiov and Alvápiov). Close to this grove was a temple of Demeter Panchaea. The words Homagyrium, assembly," and Homarium, "union," have reference to those meetings, though in later times they were explained as indicating the spot where Agamemnon assembled the Grecian There were chieftains before the Trojan War. several other temples and public buildings at Aegium, of which an account is given by Pausanias. (Hom. Il. ii. 574; Herod. i. 145; Pol. ii. 41, v. 93; Strab. pp. 337, 385, seq.; Paus. vii. 23, 24; Liv. xxxviii. 30; Plin. iv. 6.) Vostitza, which occupies the site of the ancient Aegium, is a place of some importance. It derives its name from the gardens by which it is surrounded (from Bóoтa, Booтávi, garden). It stands on a hill, terminating towards the sea in a cliff about 50 feet high. There is a remarkable opening in the cliff, originally perhaps artificial, which leads from the

Respecting these words, see Welcker, Epische Cyclus, p. 128.

town to the ordinary place of embarkation.

AEGOSPO'TAMI (Alyds Toтaμol, Aegos flumen, Pomp. Mel. ii. 2; Plin. ii. 59: Eth. AiyooTOTаuirηs), i. e. the Goat-River, a stream in the Chersonesus, with, at one time, a town of the same name upon it. It was here that the famous defeat of the Athenian fleet by Lysander took place, B. C. 405, which put a close to the Peloponnesian war. There seems, however, to have been no town there at this time, for it is mentioned as a great error on the part of the Athenian generals, that they remained at a station where they had no town at hand to supply a market for provisions. (Plut. Alc. 36; Diod. xiii. 105; Strab. p. 287; comp. Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 293.) In later times there must have been a town there, as the geographers especially mention it (Steph. Byz. s. v.), and there [H. W.]

are coins of it extant.

COIN OF AEGOSPOTAMI.

AEGO'STHENA (тà Alybodeva: Eth. Alyoobevírns: Ghermanó), a town in Megaris, on the Aleyonian or Corinthian gulf, at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, and on the borders of Boeotia. It possessed a temple of the seer Melampus. Between Aegosthena and Creusis, the port-town of Boeotia, there was no passage along the shore except a path on the mountain's side. The Lacedaemonians under Cleombrotus, in marching from Creusis to Aegosthena along this road in the winter of B. C. 379-378, were overtaken by a violent tempest; and such was the force of the wind, that the shields of the soldiers were wrested from their hands, and many of the asses that carried the burthens were blown over the precipices into the sea. It was by this road that the Lacedaemonians retreated after their defeat at Leuctra in 371. There was a sweet wine grown at Aegosthena. (Paus. i. 44. § 4, seq.; Xen. Hell. v. 4. SS 16-18, vi. 4. §§ 25-26; Athen. p. 440.; Steph. B. s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 405.)

AEGUSA. [AEGATES.]
AEGYPSUS.

[AEGISSUS.]

AEGYPTUS ALYUTтos: Eth. AlyúnTios, Aegyptius). I. Names and boundaries of Egypt. Egypt, properly so called, is that portion of the valley of the Nile which lies between lat. 24° 3′ and lat. 31° 37' N., or between the islands of Philae and Elephantine, and the Mediterranean Sea. In the language of the earliest inhabitants it was entitled CHEMI, or the Black Earth; by the Hebrews it was called MIZRAIM; by the Arabians MESR (comp. Méoтpη, Joseph. Antiq. i. 1); by

Egypt have in all ages been nearly the same, to the S., Aethiopia; to the E., the Arabian Gulf, the Stony Arabia, Idumaea, and the southwestern frontier of Palestine; to the N., the Mediterranean Sea; and to the W., the Libyan desert. Homer (Od. iv. 477) calls the Nile itself & Alyvπtos; nor is the appellation misapplied. For the Valley of Egypt is emphatically the "Gift of the Nile," without whose fertilising waters the tract from Syene to Cercasorum would only be a deep furrow in the sandy and gravelly desert running parallel with the Red Sea.

An account of the Nile is given elsewhere. [NILUS.] Here it is sufficient to remark that the valley which it irrigates is generally, except in the Delta or Lower Egypt, a narrow strip of alluvial deposit, occupying less than half the space between the Arabian mountains and the Libyan desert. The average breadth of this valley from one of these barriers to the other, as far as lat. 30° N., is about 7 miles; while that of the cultivable land, depending upon the overflow of the river, scarcely exceeds 5 miles. Between Cairo in Lower and Edfoo (Apollinopolis Magna) in Upper Egypt the extreme breadth is about 11 miles: the narrowest part, including the river itself, is about 2 miles. But northward, between Edfoo and Assouan (Syene), the valley contracts so much that, in places, there is scarcely any soil on either side of the river, and the granite or limestone springs up from its banks a mural entrenchment. The whole area of the valley between Syene and the bifurcation of the Nile at Cercasorum contains about 2255 square miles, exclusive of the district of Fayoom (Arsinoe, Moeris), which comprises about 340. The Delta itself is estimated at 1976 square miles between the main branches of the river- the modern Damietta and Rosetta arms. But both E. and W. of this tract stretches a considerable level of irrigated land, which, including the Delta, embraces about 4500 square miles. The length of Egypt from Syene to the Mediterranean is about 526 miles. The total surface of modern Egypt is somewhat larger than that of the country in ancient times, since, in spite of a less regular system of irrigation, the inundations of the Nile have increased since the eras of the Pharaohs and the Ptolemies.

Egypt, in its general configuration, is a long rock-bound valley, terminating in a deep bay, and resembling in form an inverted Greek upsilon [1]. Its geological structure is tripartite. The Nilevalley shelves down to the Mediterranean in a series of steps, consisting of sandy or gravelly plateaus, separated by granite or limestone ridges, which the river cuts diagonally. From Syene to Edfoo granite or red sandstone prevails: at Edfoo limestone succeeds; until in lat. 30° 10' the rocks diverge NE. and NW., and the alluvial Delta fills up an embayed triangle, whose apex is at Cercasorum, and whose base is the sea.

The political and physical divisions of Egypt so nearly coincide that we may treat of them under one head. From Syene to Cercasorum the whole of the Nile-valley was denominated Upper Egypt: with the fork of the river Lower Egypt began. This was indeed a natural division between the primitive and the alluvial regions: and the distinction was recognised from the earliest times by different monumental symbols-natural and

conventional. The common lotus (Nymphaea), rising out of a clod of earth, represented the Upper country; the root of the papyrus, upon a clod, the Lower. Sebena was the goddess of the Upper, Neith of the Lower country. A white crown denoted the former, a red crown the latter; white and red crowns united composed the diadem of the king of all the land. The Upper country, however, was generally subdivided into two portions, (1) Upper Egypt Proper, or the Thebaid (n On6ats, oi ávw тóño), which extended from Syene to Hermopolis Magna, in lat. 28° N.: and (2) Middle Egypt, also called Heptanomis, or the Seven Cantons (n μeratù xúpa: 'EnTavoμís), which reached from the neighbourhood of Hermopolis to the apex of the Delta. This threefold partition has been adopted by the Arabs, who denominated Upper, Middle, and Lower Egypt respectively, Said, Wustáni, and El-Rif.

and at Acabe ('Axán, Ptol.), where, nearly opposite Latopolis, are vast quarries of white marble. From Mt. Smaragdus, which next follows, the Egyp tians obtained the fine green breccia (Verde d' Egitto), and emeralds in abundance. The breccia quarries, as inscriptions testify, were worked as far back as the 6th dynasty of kings (Manetho). The principal quarry was at Mount Zaburah. From Berenice southward are found, in various proportions, limestone and porphyry again. Mt. Basanites (Baravirov Xítov opos, Ptol.), consisting of a species of hornblend, terminated the eastern boundary of the Nile-valley. Beyond this, and of uncertain extent, are the gold mines SE. of the Thebaid. They are about ten days' journey SE. from Apolli. nopolis Magna, in the present Bisháree desert. The process of gold-washing appears to be represented on tombs of the age of Osirtasen. Silver and lead were also found, and sulphur abounded in this mineral region.

The eastern frontier was mostly arid and barren, but neither uninhabited nor unfrequented by travellers. More than one caravan track, whose bearings are still marked by ruined cisterns and brick pyramids, followed the gorges of the hills; and occasional temples imply a settled population in towns or villages. The sides and passes of the moun

We must now return to the general boundaries of Egypt which affected, in various degrees, the climate, the population, and the social and political character of the Nile-valley.

1. The Eastern boundary. In this region lay the principal mineral wealth of Egypt, including the quarries, which furnished materials for this land of monuments. Beginning with the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, and along the frontier of Stony Arabia, we find the barren and level region of Casiotis, whose only elevation is the ridge or table land of Mt. Casius (8 Kários, Strab. pp. 38, 50, 55, 58, &c.; Mela, i. 10; Plin. v. 11, xii. 13; Lucan. viii. 539, x. 433). The Egyptian Casius (El Kas or El Katish) is, according to Strabo (xvi. 2), a round sandstone ridge (λópos diváōns). It contained the grave of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, and a temple of Zens Casius. At a very early period the Egyptians established colonies upon the Idumaean and Arabian border. Copper, mixed with iron ore, and heaps of scoriae from Egyptian smelting-houses, are still found on the western flank of Mt. Sinai, and inscriptions at Wady-Magara in this district, and hieroglyphics and fragments of pottery at SurabitEl-Kadim, on the modern road from Suez to Sinai, attest the existence of settlements coeval with at least the 18th dynasty of kings. Ascending from the head of the Delta, and about 50 miles from the Arabian Sea, we come upon a range of tertiary limestone hills (Τρωικοῦ λίθου ὄρος, Ptol.; ἀλαCaσTρívov opos, id.) parallel with the Heptanomis, running north and south, and sloping westward to the Nile, and eastward to the Red Sea (opn тà 'Apabiká, Herod. ii. 8). A region of basalt and porphyry begins in the parallel of Antaeopolis, and extends to that of Tentyra or Coptos (Пoppupírov opos, id.). This is again succeeded by limestone at Aias or Aeas (Atas, id.; Plin. vi. 29. § 33),

and wild deer, wolves, &c. found here their abode. Two principal roads, diverging from Coptos on the Nile-the northern leading to Philoteras (Kosseir), lat. 26° 9', and Myos Hormos or Arsinoe; the southern to Berenice-penetrated the mountainbarrier, and connected the Nile-valley with the Red Sea. The population of this district was more Arabian than Coptic, and its physical characteristics were Arabian, not Libyan.

2. The Western boundary of Egypt is more particularly described under OASIS. The Libyan desert is not, as the ancients believed, merely an ocean of drifting sand, tenanted by serpents, and swept by pestilential blasts (Lucan, ix. 765): on the contrary, its gravelly surface presents considerable inequalities, and the blasts are noxious only in relaxing the human frame, or by obliterating the traveller's path with eddies of blinding sand. Everywhere this plateau rests upon a limestone basis, and descends in shelves to the Mediterranean.

3. The Northern boundary is the Mediterranean. From the western limit of Egypt to Pelusium the coast-line extends to about 180 geographical miles. and presents the convex form common to the allu vial deposits of great rivers. From the depression of its shore, the approach to Egypt is dangerous to the navigator. He finds himself in shallow water almost before he detects the low and sinuous mud banks which mask the land. Indeed, from Paraetonium in Libya to Joppa in Syria, Pharos afforded the only secure approach, and the only good anchorage (Diod. ii. 31). Nor is it probable that any considerable advance of the shore has taken place within historical times.

4. The Southern boundary is spoken of under Aethiopia.

II. Inhabitants.

The ancient Egyptians believed themselves to be autochthonous. This was no improbable conception in a land yearly covered with the life-teeming mud of the Nile. When the conquests of Alexander had rendered the Greeks acquainted with Western India