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.
