"The City Of Heroes, Or Of Cleopatra,
By Some Called Arsinoe, Is In The Uttermost Bounds Of The Sinus
Arabicus, Which Is Towards Egypt.".
Pliny, in the VI.
Book of his
Natural History, seems to call the port of Suez Danao, on account of
the trench or canal opened between the Nile and the Red Sea. The
latitude of Suez is 29 deg. 45' N. being the nearest town and port of the
Red Sea to the great city of Cairo, called anciently Babylon of Egypt.
From Suez to the Levant Sea or Mediterranean, at that mouth of one of
the seven branches of the Nile which is called Pelusium, is about 40
leagues by land, which space is called the isthmus, or narrow neck of
land between the two seas. On this subject Strabo writes in his XVII.
book, "The isthmus between Pelusium and the extreme point of the Arabian
Gulf where stands the City of Heroes, is 900 stadia." This is the port
of the Red Sea to which Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, after the victory
obtained by Augustus over Antony, commanded ships to be carried by land
from the Nile, that they might flee to the Indians.
Sesostris King of Egypt and Darius King of Persia undertook at different
periods to dig a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, on purpose to
open a navigable communication between the Mediterranean and the Indian
ocean; but as neither of them completed the work, Ptolomy made a trench
100 feet broad and 30 feet deep, which being nearly finished, he
discontinued lest the sea-water from the Arabian Gulf might render the
water of the Nile salt and unfit for use. Others say that, on taking the
level, the architects and masters of the work found that the Sea of
Arabia was three cubits higher than the land of Egypt, whence it was
feared that all the country would be inundated and destroyed. The
ancient authors on this subject are Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, Pomponius
Mela, Strabo, and many other cosmographers[322].
[Footnote 322: This communication was actually opened about A.D. 685,
by Amru, who conquered Egypt for Moawiah, the first Ommiyan
Khalifah of Damascus. It was called al Khalij al Amir al Momenein, or
the canal of the commander of the faithful, the title of the Caliphs. It
was shut up about 140 years afterwards by Abu Jafar al Mansur. - Astl.]
Although the town of Suez had a great name of old, it is small enough at
this time, and I believe had been utterly ruined and abandoned if the
Turkish navy had not been stationed here. In the front of the land which
faces the south where this sea ends there is the mouth of a small creek
or arm of the sea entering a short way into the land, which extends
towards the west till stopped by a hillock, the only one that rises in
these parts: Between which creek and the bay or ending of the sea is a
very long and narrow tongue or spit of sand, on which the gallies and
ships of the Turks lie aground; and on which the ancient and warlike
City of the Heroes is seated[323]. There still remains a small castle,
without which are two high ancient towers, the remains of the City of
Heroes which stood here in old times. But on the point of land where the
creek enters there is a great and mighty bulwark of modern structure,
which defends the entry of the creek, and scours the coast behind the
sterns of the gallies if any one should attempt to land in that place.
Besides this, there runs between the gallies and the strand, an
entrenchment like a ridge or long hill, making the place very strong and
defensible. Having considered this place attentively, it seemed to me
impossible to land in any part except behind the little mountain on the
west at the head of the creek, as we should be there free from the
Turkish artillery, and likewise the possession of this hillock might
contribute to our success against the enemy. But it is necessary to
consider that all along this strand the water is shoaly for the breadth
of a bow-shot, and the ground a soft sticking clay or sinking sand, as I
perceived by examining the ground from the foist or cature, which would
be very prejudicial to the men in landing.
[Footnote 323: This description does not agree with the map or relation
of Dr Pocock; which makes the sea terminate in two bays, divided by the
tongue of land on which Suez stands. That to the N.W. is very wide at
the mouth, and is properly the termination of the western gulf of the
Red Sea. The other on the N.E. is narrow at the entrance; and is divided
by another tongue of land into two parts. - Astl.]
In regard to the particulars which I learnt concerning Suez, as told me
by some of the men I met with, especially the Moor formerly mentioned
whom I conversed with at Toro, I was informed that at the fountain of
Moses, formerly mentioned as three leagues from Suez towards Toro,
there had been a great city in old times, of which they say dome
buildings or ruins are still to be seen; but they could not say what had
been its name. They told me also that the remains of the canal attempted
to be made in old times from the Nile at the city of Cairo to Suez were
still to be seen, though much defaced and filled by length of time, and
that those who travel from Suez to Cairo have necessarily to pass these
remains. Some alleged that this trench was not intended for navigation
between the Nile and the Red sea, but merely to bring water from the
Nile for the supply of Suez. They told me that the whole country from
Suez to Cairo was a sandy plain, quite barren and without water, being
three days journey going at leisure, or about 15 leagues.
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