Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

CITIES OF EGYPT.

more pleasantly placed amid well-watered meadow-lands,
was then the great emporium of the border. It may be
that Pelusium was far more ancient. Except Memphis
we do not know the date of the foundation of a single
Egyptian town of importance ; there are no young cities
in that old country ; even Alexandria grew round and
swallowed up the more ancient Rhakotis. It seems as
if Egypt were so populous in the very beginning of her
history that almost every good site was held before the
written records were graven for our instruction.

The Hebrew name Sin, like the Greek Pelusium,
means ' muddy,' and is retained in the Arab ' Castle ot
Teeneh,' an outlying fort. If Dr. Brugsch's conjecture
is right, the Egyptians called the city Ha-snetem, ' the
abode of sweet repose.' The Shemites thought of the
weary waste of morass which here met their eyes, the
Egyptians of the delight of resting safely in the first
native town across the border. Lying, as the city did,
in the Shemite part of Egypt, the local worship under
the Empire was, like that of Zoan, a mixture of the
Egyptian and the Shepherd systems, according to the
policy of the Ramesside kings.

As the Egyptian monarchy waned, Pelusium grew in