The Romans drew vast quantities of gold from the mines of Nubia (nub means 'gold') and made Egypt their 'granary'. Egyptian religious beliefs and customs were perpetuated by the Roman emperors. Tiberius and Vespasian restored ancient Nilotic temples. The worship of Isis spread to Rome. Hadrian had to give a decision in a dispute between Memphis and Heliopolis regarding the sacred bull. But Egyptian native learning was decaying, and the knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was dying out. Christianity was introduced during the Roman period, and the Coptic Church established. In A.D. 642 the Romans finally abandoned Egypt, which, till 868, became a province of the successive Mohammedan caliphates of Medina, of Damascus, and Baghdad. The Turkish soldiery dominated Egypt for a period. The Shia heretics afterwards became powerful, and the Christians were well treated. In 1250 the Mamelukes (descendants of slaves) came into power. Their pomp-loving sultans and emirs lived in great splendour. They came under Turkish sway early in the sixteenth century, but when Napoleon conquered Egypt in the eighteenth century they were again semi-independent. The British drove the French out of Egypt. Mehemet Ali, an Albanian officer in a Turko-Albanian force, had himself declared Sultan of Egypt, but when
he overran Syria and threatened to march to Constantinople, Russia intervened. Britain and France afterwards prevailed on Mehemet Ali to rule Egypt as the viceroy of the Sultan of Turkey. His successor and grandson, Abbas I, built the first railway in Egypt. The next viceroy, Said Pasha, son of Mehemet Ali, granted to a French company the right to construct the Suez Canal. Egypt became bankrupt under his successor, Ismail Pasha, the first Khedive (Prince), during whose reign the Suez Canal was opened. He was deposed when the British and French took over the control of Egyptian finance. During the term of his successor, Tewfik Pasha, the Arabi Pasha rebellion took place. The military occupation of Egypt by British troops was followed by peace and good government. But trouble broke out in the Sudan. Mohammed Ahmed declared himself the Mahdi (Messiah) of the Mohammedans, and conquered a great part of the Sudan. In Nov., 1883, General Hicks ('Hicks Pasha') led an army of 10,000 Egyptians against the false prophet, but while marching across the driest part of the Sudan, misled by spies who acted as guides, his thirst-stricken army was entirely destroyed by the Mahdi's force. This victory gave the false prophet great prestige. In Jan., 1884, General Gordon was sent to Khartoum as Governor-General of the Sudan, but was completely isolated there. Khartoum was captured and the gallant general slain on 26th Jan., 1885, before a relieving force could reach him. The Mahdi died in June, 1885, and was succeeded by Abdullah the Khalifa. After a period of reorganization and preparation in Egypt, the reconquest of the Sudan was begun. Lord (then Sir Herbert) Kitchener was Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army, and his expeditionary force was strengthened by British regiments. In April, 1898, the Khalifa's army was defeated on the banks of the Atbara, and on 2nd Sept. Kitchener won a great victory near Omdurman. The Khalifa escaped, but was rounded up by Sir Reginald Wingate's force, and slain with his emirs at Umme Dubraykat on 24th Nov., 1899. Thereafter the Sudan came under the control of a British-Egyptian condominium, which appointed a Governor-General.
Built by Cheops (Khufu) and Cephron (Khafra) as their future tombs, in order to secure immortality by the preservation of the mummy.
At the time of the outbreak of the Great War, in the autumn of 1914, the Khedive of Egypt was in Constantinople. He sided with the Central Powers. He was consequently deposed by Britain, and Prince Hussein Kamil
was declared Sultan of Egypt; the suzerainty of Turkey terminated at the same time. The new ruler of Egypt was the uncle of the deposed Khedive, Abbas Pasha Hilmi (second son of the first Khedive, Ismail Pasha, and brother of Tewfik Pasha, the second Khedive). Hussein Kamil died in 1917 and was succeeded by Ahmed Fuad Pasha. Under the Peace Treaty, Egypt is recognized as an independent kingdom protected by Great Britain. The capital of modern Egypt is Cairo, situated near the site of ancient Memphis. Thebes is represented by Luxor and Karnak.—Bibliography: (Religion) Breasted, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt; Renouf, Book of the Dead; Budge, Gods of the Egyptians; Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians; Sayce, Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia; G. Elliot Smith, The Migrations of Early Culture; (History)—G. Elliot Smith, The Ancient Egyptians; Breasted, A History of Egypt; Flinders Petrie, A History of Egypt; King and Hall, Egypt and Western Asia in the Light of Recent Discoveries; H. R. Hall, The Ancient History of the Near East; Sir A. Colvin, The Making of Modern Egypt; Lord Cromer, Modern Egypt.
Egyptian Blue, a brilliant and very permanent pigment used by the Romans in the early centuries of the Christian era. It has been found in ancient frescoes in the Vatican, and also at Pompeii. The chemist Fouqué proved by analysis that it is a double silicate of calcium and copper.
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron perenoptĕrus), a bird that frequents both shores of the Mediterranean, but rarely passes farther north, though it has been found in the British islands. It is one of the smaller vultures, about the size of a raven. The general colour is white, the quill feathers of the wing being dark brown. It frequents the streets of Eastern towns, where it is protected on account of its services as a scavenger. This vulture is sometimes known as Pharaoh's Hen, on account of its frequent representation in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Spain it is called the quebranta-huesos (bone-smasher) in reference to its supposed habit of breaking up bones left by other vultures.
Ehrenberg (ā´rėn-berh), Christian Gottfried, a German scientist, born in 1795, died in 1876. After studying theology, medicine, and natural history, he joined in 1820 an expedition to Palestine, Egypt, and Abyssinia, returning to Berlin in 1825. In 1829 he accompanied Humboldt to the Ural and Altai ranges and to Central Siberia. His great work on Infusoria appeared in 1838, and was at once recognized as the highest authority on the subject. It was followed in 1854 by his Microgeology.
Ehrenbreitstein (ā´ren-brīt-stīn), a dismantled Prussian fortress formerly of great strength and situated opposite the confluence of the Moselle with the Rhine, on a precipitous rock 387 feet above the river, and inaccessible on three sides. It is connected with Coblentz on the opposite shore by a bridge of boats. The fortifications, which were erected between 1816 and 1820 at a cost of £1,200,000, could accommodate a garrison of 14,000 men, and possessed room for stores to last an army of 60,000 for a year.