Sesostris became blind and killed himself. The successors of Sesostris are not remarkable. They built pyramids, whose remains we still admire; monuments built to celebrate their pride, but which did not even preserve their name to their posterity.

Egypt then fell into fresh disorder, owing to another invasion of Ethiopians; it was soon after divided between twelve kings. Psammetic, one of them, from 756 to 617, vanquished the rest, and remained master of the kingdom. He extended the maritime commerce that existed between the Egyptians and other nations; above all with Greece. It is only at this time that the history of Egypt commences with more certainty. Nechao, his son, in 617 to 681, extended, with greater advantage, navigation and commerce. He ordered Phoenician navigators to make the tour of Africa. They set sail from the Red Sea, and returned to the Mediterranean. (See the map.) Psammis reigned without glory, and Apries (594), after several unfortunate combats against the Lydians, was chased and strangled by his own subjects in his palace of Sais. Amasis, of low origin, mounted the throne from 570 to 626; he made himself popular by his wisdom, his laws, and his administration. He first thought of making each inhabitant inscribe their names on the magistrates' books, being obliged at the same time to make known their mode of obtaining a livelihood. He kept up relations with Greece, received with kindness the legislator Solon, and the philosopher Pythagoras, who owed much to the study of his laws. In the reign of Psammenit, son of Amasis, his successor, the cruel Cambyses, king of Persia, invaded Egypt, killed the king and principal inhabitants, pursued everybody with fury, and at last killed the sacred white ox Apis. Egypt was then attached as a province to Persia (525).

RELIGION.

The Egyptians adored the sun, the moon, the elements, animals, and nature, whose productions they personified under the names of Osiris, Isis, Typhon, and Nepthys. The ox, Apis, was the popular divinity; the other sacred animals were the cat, the dog, the ichneumon, called also Pharaoh's rat, the wolf, the crocodile, the falcon, and the ibis. Still, they lived in the belief of the existence of a Supreme Being; hence this inscription on the celebrated temple of Sais: "I am all that has been, is, or ever shall be; and no mortal has hitherto raised the veil that envelopes me."

GOVERNMENT.

The government of this kingdom was always a monarchy, intermingled with theocracy. Ancient laws formed a species of counterpoise to the tyranny of sovereigns, who were judged after death by their subjects, and then received the honour of being buried or not, according to the lives they had led, whether good or bad.

JUSTICE.

The most important sentences were given by thirty members, chosen from the three great towns, Memphis, Thebes, and Heliopolis. Amongst the most remarkable laws was the one which obliged the sons to follow the fathers' profession, and threatened with death those who could not prove they possessed honest means of existence. The Egyptians possessed all arts in perfection, and gave themselves up to the study of geometry and astronomy particularly.

Besides these famous pyramids, Egypt prided herself on many monuments of art, still admired by posterity. Beautiful statues, remarkable for majesty and grace, are still found there. The Sphinx, the statue of Memnon, the hundred gates of Thebes, the lake Moris, the temple of Danderah, the grottoes of Oxus, are the principal gigantic monuments.

The Egyptians taught divers branches of their knowledge on the walls of the temple and tombs, and on the numerous columns called Hermes. They made use of hieroglyphics as a language; also two other modes of expressing themselves, epistolographic and alphabetical.

MACEDONIAN DOMINATION.

After the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, several revolts succeeded each other. Amerte of Sais, one of the Egyptian kings, chased the Persians from his kingdom, and reigned six years; always occupied in trying to secure a throne that had been so often upset by foes. Egypt remained in this state for two centuries, sometimes subject to other powers, at other times in rebellion against her oppressors. Alexander the Great, in the 4th century, took it without trouble, and formed a Macedonian province of it. It is thought he meant to establish the seat of his empire there in founding Alexandria, which soon became the centre of commerce.

LAGIDES.

After the death of Alexander, Egypt became the prize of Ptolomus Soter (that is to say, saviour), the son of Lagus (hare), to whom the Conqueror had left the government. This country comprehended besides Egypt, properly so called, several other countries of some extent in Africa and Asia. Alexandria, owing to its advantageous position for commerce, became the capital of a new kingdom.

Ptolomus Soter (322-284) attracted many Phoenicians to Egypt, also Jews and Greeks, and patronized commerce. Alexandria soon became one of the greatest and most opulent towns known.

Ptolomus formed one of the most numerous and celebrated libraries of antiquity, composed of Greek books, and placed in a vast edifice called a museum, for the use of a society of savans whom the king paid. Ptolomus Philadelphus (who loves his brother), 284-246, his son, continued these establishments with success, but tarnished his glory by the murder of two of his brothers. It was in the reign of this prince, and by his order, that the Greek version of the sacred Hebrew books was written.

Egypt still remained flourishing and powerful under Ptolomus Evergites (benefactor), 246-221, the son and successor of Ptolomus Philadelphus. This king rendered himself master of Syria and Cilicia, and extended his conquests to Babylon. He had married his sister Berenice. This princess made a vow to consecrate her hair to Venus if her husband returned safe from his expedition. On the return of Ptolomus she accomplished her vow, and the hair having disappeared, it was announced by the astronomer Conon that Jupiter had stolen it.

After Ptolomus Philopator (who poisoned his father), the kingdom fell into great confusion, owing to the vices and incapacity of its princes. The Romans then meddled with the affairs of Egypt for their own advantage, and Julius Cæsar decided the quarrels of the family in favour of Cleopatra, celebrated for her beauty and intrigue. This princess, having afterwards married Antony, conceived the project of becoming Queen of Rome, but after the battle of Actium she killed herself, in order to escape being carried away captive in the suite of Octavius. Egypt then became a Roman empire.

For nearly seven centuries Egypt was successively in the power of either the Eastern or Western Roman Empire.

At the end of the 7th century, the fanatic Omar, one of the successors of Mahomet, the Arabian legislator, who had carried carnage and desolation everywhere, burnt the library of Alexandria and overcame Egypt.

Towards the end of the 12th century (1171), the Turconians chased the caliphs, successors of Omar, and were in their turn chased (1250) by the Mamelukes, paid soldiers whom they kept about them.

MODERN HISTORY.

The dynasty of the Mamelukes, whose chief took the name. of sultan, reigned in 1517.

In the 16th century (1517), Selim I., Emperor of the Turks, took possession of Egypt and abolished the Mamelukes. In order to make his government more certain he introduced a sort of aristocratic government, composed of twenty-four beys, or mamelukes, at whose head he placed a pacha, or governor.

The form of government introduced by Selim I. answered the purpose tolerably for two hundred years, but towards the commencement of the 18th century the pacha's powers became weakened, the beys and mamelukes alone exercised absolute power, and poor, unfortunate Egypt, pillaged and devastated, languished in the most frightful slavery.

In 1798 the French Republic sent troops to Egypt, under the command of Bonaparte. The conquest was rapid and brilliant. After several combats the Mamelukes, overcome and dispersed, left the government between the hands of the Europeans, who conducted themselves like civilized people. The French gained the battle of the Pyramids 1st of July, 1798.

At the end of four years of hard work, undertaken by savan Frenchmen, such as M. Marge and Bertholet, Peyre, Morut and Meekain, Deuon, Arnolet, Champy, Delisle, Savigny, Coute, the French evacuated Egypt in 1801, being forced to do so by the Turks and English.

The French general, Kleber, was assassinated at Cairo by a young Syrian named Soulegman (1800).

After the departure of the French and the tentatives of the English (1807), Egypt became the theatre of a bloody anarchy. The Mamelukes and the Pachas sent over by the Turks, disputed vehemently the supreme power, but Mahomet Ali managed, by his cunning, to re-seize his authority. Mahomet Ali, a pacha

endowed with great qualities, thought it necessary for the tranquillity of Egypt to overthrow the turbulent Mamelukes. The 1st of March, 1811, he shut them up in a chateau at Cairo, under pretence of celebrating some particular ceremony, the beys and Mamelukes, to the number of 500, and massacred them without pity. This terrible act pacified Europe, and Mahomet was made Viceroy by the Porte. He made many salutary reforms in the administration. Abon Abas is to-day on the throne (1850).

ASSYRIANS.

The Assyrians considered themselves the most ancient nation on earth, and occupy consequently the first place in profane history. In order to have a precise idea of this monarchy, it is best to divide it into two kingdoms, that of Babylon and Assyria; they were reunited afterwards by Belus, who left the kingdom on his death to his son Ninus, who inherited his father's courage. This prince made many conquests-built Nineveh, a celebrated town situated on the eastern borders of the Tigris. After him Semiramis, his wife, governed the Assyrians, and extended their empire as far as Ethiopia and Lybia. They owe him the foundation of Babylon, a superb town, celebrated for its gardens and palaces.

The successors of Semiramis are almost unknown up to the time of Sardanapalus (759), a weak-minded prince, who thought only of effeminacy and pleasure. This prince's name is still used to express the character of people who think only of lassitude and pleasure.

Belesis and Arbaces, officers belonging to the suite of Sardanapalus, put themselves at the head of the malcontents. The king killed himself rather than fall into their hands. The first empire of Assyria ends thus; and from its ashes three kingdoms arise. First, that of the Medes; second, that of the Ninevites; and thirdly, that of the Babylonians.

SECOND EMPIRE OF ASSYRIA.

(See the Persians.)
NINEVITES.

The kings of Nineveh retained the names of kings of Assyria. They were most powerful. Amongst their conquests they reckon that of the kingdom of Israel or Samaria.