AEGYPTUS,
Egypt, a large Country of Africa, water'd by the River Nile, which ren∣ders it very fruitful. It was at first inhabited by Misraim, the second Son of Cham, which signifies Egypt. 'Tis divided into two parts, the Upper and the Lower. The Upper con∣tains Thebais, which the Prophets Esay and Je∣remy call Phetros: The Greeks call the Lower Egypt, Delta, upon the account of the linkeness of its figure to that of their Letter Δ. The Original of the founding a Kingdom in this vast Country is uncertain and fabulous: only we know that it had Kings from Abraham's time. Misraim was the Father of Ludim, from whom the Ethiopians are descended, who dis∣pute the Antiquity of their Original with the Egyptians; but this they did out of vanity only, and upon very bad grounds. The first Kings were called Pharaohs, and the latter Ptolemy's-Egypt was represented in the antient Medals by the Goddess Isis, the great Deity of the Egypti∣ans; she held in one hand a Sphere, as being the Mother of Arts and Sciences, and in the other a Vessel or Amphora fill'd with Ears of Corn, to shew its Fertility, which proceeds from the Overflowing of the Nile ••hat waters it, and fattens it with the slim•• 〈…〉〈…〉 be∣hind when it retires into its 〈…〉〈…〉 Egypt was reduc'd into a Province by Aug•••••••••• Caesar, after the Defeat of Cleopatra, who was the last Queen of it, in the year of the World 4015, according to Petavius, or in 3915, acccording