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Outlines of scripture geography and history
Outlines of scripture geography and history Author:Edward Hughes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. Egypt. Egypt is called in Hebrew Mitsraim, in Arabic Mesr. The Copts, or descendants of the ancient Egyptians, term it Chami or CJiemi, " the d... more »ark land," in allusion to its dark rich soil. The appellation by which this country is known to Europeans comes from the Greek AZyvrttof, (jEgyptvs), and appears to contain a root resembling the word Copt; so that Eyypt may perhaps mean "the land of the Copts" (from cu'a for yaTa and xuce-os). The ancient Egyptian name is said to have resembled the modern Coptic one. Before the limits of Asia and Africa were correctly established, some of the early geographers made Egypt a part of Asia, while others regarded the Nile as the dividing limit, and assigned the portion of Egypt lying east of that river to Asia, and the remainder to Africa. This country is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by the little river of El Arisli, on the borders of Palestine; and the Syrian or Arabian desert, which extends from'the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez; and from thence southwards by the west coast of the lied Sea; and on the west by the Libyan desert. To the south its boundary, from the oldest time, has been fixed at the rapids, or cataracts of Assouan, the ancient Syene, which are formed by a number of granite rocks that lie across the bed of the river Nile. The political limits of Egypt have extended, both in ancient and modern times, further south along the valley of the Nile, into the country known by the general name of Nubia. Its breadth, as marked by its physical boundaries, may be considered to have extended from the shores of the Red Sea, to the range of hills which bounds the valley of the Nile to the west. Soil and Climate. The valley of the Nile is enclosed by the Libyan and Arabian mountain chai...« less