DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11715#0172
THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.
this great work had been completed when he was warned by the oracle to desist. This
admeasurement is evidently an excessive one. It probably includes the whole distance
from sea to sea, without making allowance for the branch of the Nile north of Bubastis,
where the canal commenced, or the Bitter Lakes, which lay in its course. The state-
ment of Pliny is probably nearer the truth. He gives it as fifty-seven Roman, equal to
sixty-two English, miles. The oracle called upon the king to suspend his operations,
on the ground that he was " working for the barbarians." This reason has been
rejected as absurd by recent historians. But it really was a piece of shrewd advice.
The canal, if completed as proposed, would have
afforded facilities for the invasion of Egypt by the
war-galleys of the Persians, with which the Egyp-
tians could not cope.
About a hundred years later, when the Per-
sian conquerors had succeeded for a time to
the throne of the Pharaohs, Darius, the son of
Hystaspes, resumed the work commenced so long
before. He cleared out the canal, which had be-
gun to silt up, and carried it forward to where Suez
now stands. When the Persian and Egyptian
empires had succumbed to the military prowess of
the Macedonian conqueror, and the power of the
Greek dynasty had been consolidated in Egypt,
Ptolemy Philadelphus (b.c. 2 5o) widened and
deepened the waterway, reconstructed the por-
tion at the southern end and completed the un-
dertaking upon so grand a scale that vessels of
war could enter the Nile from the Mediterranean,
and sail into the Gulf of Suez without difficulty.
Under the Romans, as might be expected from
the character of the people, the repairs and exten-
sions necessary from time to time were carried
out, so as to maintain this important line of com-
munication unbroken. In the anarchy and con-
fusion which followed upon the downfall of the
Roman empire, all the public works were allowed
to fall into dilapidation. The canals were choked
map of the ~canalT uP> an<^ remained unnavigable till the Arab con-
quest of Egypt. Under the vigorous administra-
tion of Amrou they were reopened. Corn and other provisions were conveyed along
them for the use of Mecca, Medina, and other Arabian towns. Th's continued, with
some interruptions, for about three hundred and fifty years. Since that time they have
been altogether neglected, though their course can yet be traced through the desert,
and they have been to some extent utilized for the construction ol the ship canal.
From this brief summary it will be seen that the canalization of the isthmus is no
new project. It was commenced more than three thousand years ago, and two thousand
years have elapsed since it was completed from sea to sea. During the French occupa-
168
this great work had been completed when he was warned by the oracle to desist. This
admeasurement is evidently an excessive one. It probably includes the whole distance
from sea to sea, without making allowance for the branch of the Nile north of Bubastis,
where the canal commenced, or the Bitter Lakes, which lay in its course. The state-
ment of Pliny is probably nearer the truth. He gives it as fifty-seven Roman, equal to
sixty-two English, miles. The oracle called upon the king to suspend his operations,
on the ground that he was " working for the barbarians." This reason has been
rejected as absurd by recent historians. But it really was a piece of shrewd advice.
The canal, if completed as proposed, would have
afforded facilities for the invasion of Egypt by the
war-galleys of the Persians, with which the Egyp-
tians could not cope.
About a hundred years later, when the Per-
sian conquerors had succeeded for a time to
the throne of the Pharaohs, Darius, the son of
Hystaspes, resumed the work commenced so long
before. He cleared out the canal, which had be-
gun to silt up, and carried it forward to where Suez
now stands. When the Persian and Egyptian
empires had succumbed to the military prowess of
the Macedonian conqueror, and the power of the
Greek dynasty had been consolidated in Egypt,
Ptolemy Philadelphus (b.c. 2 5o) widened and
deepened the waterway, reconstructed the por-
tion at the southern end and completed the un-
dertaking upon so grand a scale that vessels of
war could enter the Nile from the Mediterranean,
and sail into the Gulf of Suez without difficulty.
Under the Romans, as might be expected from
the character of the people, the repairs and exten-
sions necessary from time to time were carried
out, so as to maintain this important line of com-
munication unbroken. In the anarchy and con-
fusion which followed upon the downfall of the
Roman empire, all the public works were allowed
to fall into dilapidation. The canals were choked
map of the ~canalT uP> an<^ remained unnavigable till the Arab con-
quest of Egypt. Under the vigorous administra-
tion of Amrou they were reopened. Corn and other provisions were conveyed along
them for the use of Mecca, Medina, and other Arabian towns. Th's continued, with
some interruptions, for about three hundred and fifty years. Since that time they have
been altogether neglected, though their course can yet be traced through the desert,
and they have been to some extent utilized for the construction ol the ship canal.
From this brief summary it will be seen that the canalization of the isthmus is no
new project. It was commenced more than three thousand years ago, and two thousand
years have elapsed since it was completed from sea to sea. During the French occupa-
168