The Library

Al-Masʿūdī
Meadows of Gold
947 CE

translated by Jason Colavito
2026

​NOTE

The Arab historian and traveler Al-Masʿūdī (896-956 CE) sits among the most famous Islamic historians and is often called the “Herodotus of the Arabs.” He wrote a number of books, many lost, including volumes on geography, history, and religion and philosophy. Some were abridgments of his own longer works. His most famous volume, Kitāb Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma‘ādin al-Jawhar, or the Meadows of Gold, brought together a lifetime of learning into a historical encyclopedia explaining everything he knew about the world. This book included a long discussion of the legendary history of ancient Egypt as it was known to the Arabs, an account allegedly provided by Coptic Christian sources. His version of ancient Egyptian history shares many similarities with that of the slightly later Akhbār al-zamān, a book that shares a title with one of his own and was later confused with it; however, the two books have key differences that show they are independent adaptations of a lost Late Antique or early medieval tradition. Al-Masʿūdī preserves in detail the earlier tradition that it was the Temple of Akhmim, not the Great Pyramid, which was built before the Flood to preserve scientific knowledge, a story first alluded to by Abu Ma’shar a century earlier but replaced by the Great Pyramid story in the (second) Akhbār al-zamān and later texts, making this an important witness to earlier traditions.

Below I have translated Chapter 31 of the Meadows of Gold, which covers the ancient history of Egypt. I have supplemented this with a few excerpts from earlier chapters referencing ancient Egypt and translated by Aloys Sprenger in 1841 in his unfinished edition of the Meadows of Gold. My translation is made from the 1863 French edition of C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille. As I am not a speaker of Arabic, the reader must forgive me if my transliterations of the Arabic names, despite my best efforts to cross-reference with works by scholars of Arabic sources, are not fully up to current standards.

THE MEADOWS OF GOLD

CHAPTER V.

​... El-Bokhta Nassar made a campaign against Egypt, and killed Pharao the Lame., who was at that time the king of Egypt. Thence he proceeded towards the West, took the kings prisoners, and conquered many towns. ...  (trans. Aloys Spengler; Bokhta Nassar is Nebuchadnezzar)

CHAPTER IX.

... Now we return to the description of the Nile of Egypt. The philosophers say, that its course on the face of the earth, through cultivated and waste countries, is nine hundred or one thousand farsangs before it comes to Oswan in Upper Egypt. The boats from el-Fostat go as far up the river as Oswan; but some miles from Oswan are mountains and rocks, and as the Nile takes its course through the midst of them, the navigation is rendered impracticable. These rocks form the line of separation between the Nile navigation of the Abyssinians and Moslims. This part of the Nile has the name of huge stones and rocks (cataracts). Having passed through Upper Egypt the Nile comes to el-Fostat. It passes the mount et-Tilemún, and the dam of el-Lahun at el-Fayyum. In this place is the island which Joseph had chosen for himself and which was granted to him. The history of Egypt, of the landed property there, and the buildings raised by Joseph, will be related in the thirty-first chapter. As the Nile continues its course it is divided into many branches which go to Tinms, Dimyat, Rashid, and el-Iskandaríyah (Alexandria), but the canal which goes to Alexandria had no water previous to the inundation of this year 332. I have heard [I am in Antakiyah (Antioch) and the Syrian frontiers], that the Nile rose to eighteen cubits, but I do not know whether the water runs through the canal of Alexandria or not.
 
Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedonia, has built Alexandria on this branch of the Nile. The most part of the water of this river had then its course to it, and irrigated the country round Alexandria and Maryut, so that it was in the most flourishing state of cultivation, and an uninterrupted line of gardens extended from Maryut to Barkah in the Maghrib. Vessels went up the Nile, and came down as far as the markets of Alexandria. The bed of the Nile in the town was paved with stones and granite. In subsequent times the water deposited so much mud that the canal was filled, and the passage of the water obstructed. Others assign a different cause, which rendered it impossible to keep the bed of the canal clear. We cannot enter on their opinions; for the plan of our book excludes such details. The Alexandrians began to drink the water of wells; for the Nile runs about one day’s journey from Alexandria. We shall give a full historical account of this town in the chapter devoted to the description of Alexandria. ... (trans. Sprenger)

CHAPTER XVII.

... Some good observers have told me in Egypt and other countries, that they have seen white serpents in the air, which moved from one place to another with a celerity that was equal to lightning; that they fell sometimes upon an animal on the earth and killed it; that they are sometimes heard flying by night; and that their locomotion in the air is accompanied with a noise like that which is produced when a new cloth is unfolded. Persons who have no knowledge of this subject, or other women (superstitious and ignorant persons), are frequently heard saying, that this sound proceeds from witches, who fly on wings of quills through the air. Various opinions have been stated on these topics; and such proofs have been adduced of the existence of animals in the two (upper) elements, as leave no doubt that animals are generated and grown in the two light elements, which are air and fire, as there are generated and grown in the two denser elements, earth and water. […] In the same situation are the Egyptians, in upper Egypt, and elsewhere. They have a little animal, which they call el-’irás: it is larger than a locust and smaller than a weazel, of a red colour, with a white belly; and, if it was not for this reptile, the Egyptians would be overcome by basilisks, which are a sort of great serpents. ... (trans. Sprenger)

​CHAPTER XXXI.

INFORMATION ABOUT EGYPT, THE NILE, THE WONDERS OF THAT COUNTRY,
​THE HISTORY OF ITS KINGS, AND OTHER DETAILS RELATED TO THIS CHAPTER.

God has mentioned Egypt in certain passages of the Quran. These are the verses: “He who bought him said, etc.” (12:21). “He (Joseph) said to them: Enter Egypt if God wills.” (12:100). “We revealed these words to Moses and his brother: Provide for your people houses in Egypt, etc.” (10:87.) “Return to Egypt; you will find there what you seek.” (2:58.) “The women of the city said to one another: The wife of the master of Egypt tried to seduce her slave” (12:30).
 
A scholar described the essence of Egypt in this way: For three months it is a white pearl; for three months, black musk; three months later, an emerald; and for the last three months, a bar of pure gold. The white pearl is Egypt during the (Coptic) months of Abib, Misra, and Thout, that is, July, August, and September, when, submerged by the river, it forms a vast sheet of whitish water above which the farmsteads situated on the mounds and hillocks shine like stars; they are surrounded by water on all sides, and communication between them is possible only by boat. During the months called Baba, Hathor, and Koiak, which correspond to October, November, and December, Egypt is as black as musk; the Nile, as it recedes, leaves behind a blackish silt that receives the seeds and exhales a pleasant odor quite similar to that of musk. In the months of Tuba, Amshir, and Baramhat, or January, February, and March, it shines like a green emerald; in other words, its abundant pastures and meadows present the appearance of this precious stone. Finally, it transforms into a bar of gold during the period of Baramouda, Bashans, and Baounah, that is, April, May, and June; then the harvests ripen to a golden color, the land is covered with crops, and takes on the appearance and value of gold. In another passage of this book, we will give the names of each month of the year in Syriac, Arabic, and Persian, although we have not omitted any of these details in our Akhbār al-zamān.
 
Another writer describes Egypt in these terms: “Its Nile is a marvel, and its territory is made of gold. It belongs to the victor and yields to the strongest. Its riches are an object of envy, and its produce a source of profit. But the people who inhabit it are insubordinate and obey only when they tremble; they submit only because they are disunited, and if they revolt, it is a deadly struggle.” The Nile occupies a distinguished place among the most famous rivers and seas, as attested by a religious tradition. This tradition lists among the rivers whose source is in Paradise, the Nile, then the Seyhan or river of Adana on the borders of Syria. The latter, whose mouth is in the Mediterranean, emerges from the earth three days’ march from Malatya, flows through Greek territory, and only washes one Muslim city, Adana, between Tarsus and Mopsuestia. In third place is the Ceyhan River, whose sources, called Uyun Ceyhan, are three miles from Maraş; it flows into the Mediterranean after passing between the Euphrates, Mersin, and Kafar Beyya, the only places held by Muslims in that country. We have already mentioned this river and the Nile in this work, their source, their course, and their mouth. A similar tradition is recounted in honor of the Tigris and other equally important rivers.
 
The Arabs believe that during the Nile’s flood, the water level in other rivers, as well as in springs and wells, decreases, and they explain the increase in the Nile’s volume by the loss sustained by the others, and vice versa. The Indians attribute the phenomenon presented by the Nile to the sources that feed it, and they boast of knowing the timing of the flood by observing the succession of the anwas, the persistence of the rains, and the accumulation of clouds. According to the Greeks, the waters of this river can neither rise nor fall; rather, they swell under the persistent breath of the north winds. As for the Copts, they have no doubt that this phenomenon is due to springs located on both banks, which have been observed by those who have visited its upper course.  Moreover, all the ancient and modern discussions relating to the flooding of the Nile, the principal rivers, seas, and lakes, can be found in the second section of our Historical Annals, which relieves us of the need to return to the subject here.
 
The prominent place that Misr (Old Cairo) held among the cities of the world is guaranteed by these words that God puts into the mouth of Joseph: “Entrust to me the treasures of the land” (Quran 12:55), that is, of Misr. Of all the rivers in the world, the Nile is the only one that, because of its size and importance, has received the name of sea (bahr or yamm). We have described in our previous works the al-Qamar mountain where it originates, and the influence that the various phases of the moon, during the full and new moon, exert on the volume of its waters.
 
According to Zayd, son of Aslam, this passage from the divine book, “If it is deprived of rain, it has the dew” (Quran 2:267), applies to Egypt, which is all the more fertile the less it rains and to which rain is so unfavorable. A poet said: “Misr (Old Cairo) and Egypt, a wonderful country, where the Nile flows under the breath of the south wind.”
 
This is indeed Misr, whose name and meaning (capital city) are identical and have been given to all other great cities. This is the etymology adopted by the Basra school. The poet Amr, son of Màdi-Karib, also said: “The waves of the Nile spread out during the flood; the east wind lifts them, and they obey its breath.”
 
The Nile begins to swell and overflow its banks at the end of the month of Baounah, or June, and during Abib and Misra, that is, July and August. In abundant floods, it continues to spread until the end of Thout, or September. When the flood reaches sixteen cubits, the tax due to the sultan and the sustenance of the people are assured; but the higher areas suffer from drought, and the sterility of the meadows and pastures is very detrimental to the herds. The maximum of a good flood is seventeen cubits; all the land is then sufficiently watered. Above seventeen and at eighteen cubits, a quarter of Egypt is transformed into a sea, and this excessive flooding, combined with other causes, does the greatest harm to the farms. Furthermore, when the river has risen to eighteen cubits, the moment it returns to its bed is always marked by an epidemic. The figure of eighteen cubits is considered the maximum that the Nile can reach. However, it rose to nineteen cubits during the reign of Omar, son of Abd al-ʿAzīz, in the year 99 (717). The cubit, from one to twelve, is twenty-eight fingers; from twelve onwards, it is only twenty-four fingers. The original level of the river is never less than three cubits, even in years of low flood like this one. The two cubits of the nilometer that correspond to a period of drought in Egypt, namely the thirteenth and fourteenth, are named Munkar and Nakīr (the names of the two angels who question the dead). If the river does not exceed this level, that is, thirteen, fourteen cubits, or fourteen and a half cubits, water is scarce everywhere, and the entire country suffers until the return of the flood. If it reaches and exceeds fifteen cubits, part of the country benefits, and people cease to implore divine intervention; however, the sultan does not collect the full amount of the tax.
​
There are four main locks in Egypt, namely: the lock called Dumb et-Timsah, the Balkineh lock, and those of the Serdous canal and the Dat es-Sahil canal. These locks are opened during the flood, on the day of the Feast of the Cross, which takes place on the fourteenth of Thout (September); we have already explained why this feast is so named. During the month of Tubah or January, and after the Feast of the Bath, which falls on the tenth of the same month, date wine called chirari is prepared with water from the Nile, because the river is never clearer at any other time, and the inhabitants then praise its purity. At the same time, the locks are closed at Tinnis, Damietta, Tūnah, and in the other towns of al-Baḥīra district. The night of the Bath is one of the great solemnities of Egypt, and all the inhabitants are then afoot: it is, as I have said, January 10th. I attended this nocturnal festival in the year 330 (941 AD), while al-Ikhshid Muhammad, son of Tagadj, was residing in the palace called al-Mukhtārīya, on the island that separates the two branches of the Nile. By his order, an entire side of the island and the bank of Fustat (Old Cairo) were illuminated by two thousand torches, not counting the private illuminations. Muslims and Christians, numbering several hundred thousand, crowded the Nile, some in boats, others in kiosks near the river, others on the shore. All this crowd, eager for pleasure, vied with each other in luxury at table and in their clothing, in their gold and silver tableware and their jewels; everywhere resounded the sound of instruments, the singing of feasts, and noisy dances. Nothing in Egypt equals this spectacle. the beauty and liveliness of this night; the gates of the different districts remain open, and most of the inhabitants plunge into the Nile, convinced that it is a remedy or a preventative against all kinds of diseases.
 
To return to the nilometers used to indicate the phases of the flood, I have heard from learned individuals that Joseph, when he built the pyramids, constructed a nilometer in Memphis, as Fustat did not yet exist. Later, the old Queen Dalūka established a second one on the borders of Upper Egypt, and another in the land of Akhmim (ancient Panopolis). These two nilometers were used before the advent of Islam. After the arrival of the faith and the conquest of Egypt, they continued to be used to determine the flood level until the governor Abd al-ʿAzīz, son of Marwan, had a new one built a short distance away in Hulwan, above Fustat. Finally, Osamah ibn Zeid al-Tanukhi established the nilometer on the island of al-Sanaah (now Roda), located between Fustat and Giza. A bridge leads from Fustat to this island, and another bridge connects it to Giza, which is on the west bank, opposite Fustat, which is on the east bank. This nilometer, the largest of all in terms of its scale, was built during the reign of Suleiman, son of Abd al-Malik, son of Marwan, and it is still in use today, in the year 332 of the Hijra, in Fustat. Thus, the Memphis nilometer, after being used in antiquity, was abandoned in favor of the one on the island, which dates back to Suleiman, son of Abd al-Malik. Finally, there is another nilometer on this island, built by Ahmad, son of Tulun; but it is only consulted during severe floods, when the violence of the winds and storms raises enormous waves.  In the past, thanks to its well-maintained embankments, bridges, and canals, all of Egypt, with its cultivated and uncultivated lands, was irrigated with water when the Nile rose to sixteen cubits.  It had seven canals: the Alexandria Canal, the Sakha Canal, the Damietta Canal, the Memphis Canal, and those of Fayyūm, Serdous, and Meuhi. According to learned men, it was then, more than any other country, covered with gardens; they stretched without interruption along both banks of the Nile, from Hulwan to Rosetta. As soon as the flood reached nine cubits, it filled the canals of Meuhi, Fayyūm, Serdous, and Sakha. Pharaoh, the enemy of God, had commissioned Haman to dig the Serdous Canal. As soon as he began the work, the peasants of the surrounding area came to beg him to route the canal under their villages, promising to pay whatever sum he demanded. Haman agreed, and thus amassed great wealth, which he offered to his master. Pharaoh questioned him about its origin, and when he was informed, he added: “A master should be benevolent towards his servants and bestow his favors upon them, far from coveting what they possess. No one is more obligated than we are to act in this way. I therefore order you to return to each of these peasants what you have taken from them.”
 
There is no canal in Egypt that presents more twists and turns than that of Serdous. As for the canals of Fayyūm and Menhi, they were dug by Joseph, son of Jacob, under the following circumstances: Rayān, son of Wālīd, king of Egypt, satisfied with the explanation Joseph gave him regarding the cows and ears of corn he had seen in his dream, appointed him to a position in his government. This is what God tells us when He puts these words into the mouth of His prophet Joseph: “Entrust to me the storehouses of the land, for I am a trustworthy guardian.” (Quran, 12:55).
 
Let us mention in this regard that there is a difference of opinion among legal scholars on the question of Muslims serving idolaters. Some believe that this king was a true believer because, otherwise, Joseph could not have lent his cooperation to an infidel, nor become an instrument of his will. Others, on the contrary, say that this cooperation is permissible when it is required by the circumstances and the usefulness of the objective. The arguments of both sides can be found in our work entitled Discourses on the Foundations of Beliefs.
 
The history of Fayyūm, a district of Upper Egypt, its canals in the elevated part and in what the inhabitants call al-maṭāṭī and maṭāṭī al-maṭāṭī, that is, flat land, the works undertaken by Joseph to fertilize this country, a kind of funnel where the waters of the river filtered through, surrounding it on almost all sides, like an island—all these details, in short, have been given in our previous historical account, and we will not return to them here. We will also pass over in silence the origin of the word Fayyūm, meaning a thousand days, the story of Joseph with the king’s ministers, the jealousy he inspired in them, etc.
 
According to those well-versed in the history of this world, the Nile once covered the land of Upper Egypt as far as Lower Egypt, near the present-day location of Fustat. The flooding began at the place called Djenadil (cataracts), between Aswan and Abyssinia, which we have mentioned in another passage of this book. Gradually, the Nile’s encroachments were halted by the irregularity of its course, or by the sediment the current carried from one place to another, and the river receded from some parts of the Egyptian land. This is what we have already noted previously, based on the authority of Aristotle, in his book on the prosperity and ruin of the world. Egypt then began to be inhabited; as the Nile receded, the lands abandoned by the water were covered with cities and cultivated fields, the course of the river was directed by digging canals, and numerous dikes contained its overflows. But the remote date of these works has caused their memory to be lost to the present generation, just as it has erased the traces of the primitive population.
 
We will not discuss here the reasons why rain is so rare in Egypt; nor will we undertake a detailed history of Alexandria, its founding, the peoples who have occupied it, or the Arab or other kings who resided there, because we have already covered this subject in our Akhbār al-zamān; however, in the following chapter we will provide an overview of the history of Alexandria, its origins, and the monuments it owes to Alexander.
 
Ahmad ibn Tulun, being in Egypt after the year 260, was informed that there was in Upper Egypt, on the borders of the country, a Coptic man aged one hundred and thirty years, whose learning was highly praised. Since his youth, he had, it was said, studied in depth the opinions and systems of all philosophers and all religious schools. He was thoroughly familiar with the provinces and the river of Egypt, its history and that of its kings. His travels and his sojourn in several countries had made him acquainted with different peoples of both the white and black races; finally, he was well-versed in astronomy and the study of celestial laws. Ahmad, son of Tulun, sent one of his officers and an escort, with orders to bring him to him by the Nile, treating him with the greatest respect. This old man lived far from the company of men, on the roof of a house where he had witnessed the birth of the fourteenth of his great-grandchildren. He was therefore brought into the presence of the sultan. Despite the deep traces that time had left on his person, he enjoyed all his faculties and all his vigor; his lucid mind grasped the questions and answered them spontaneously and clearly. The sultan gave him an apartment adorned with rich carpets, and sent him the most exquisite food and drinks. But the Copt refused to walk on these carpets or touch these dishes, and contented himself with biscuits and ate the simple provisions he had brought with him. “It is to these foods and this simple attire,” he said, “that the structure of my body owes its preservation. If you force me to give them up for these refined dishes and garments, this structure will crumble and turn to dust.”  From then on, he was allowed to follow his usual routine. Ahmad, son of Tulun, introduced him to the most learned people at court and showed him marked respect. He spent entire days and nights alone with the old man, listening to his stories, his memories, and his answers to various questions.
 
Here is what he said about Lake Tinnis and Damietta: “It was once a vast territory, the best in Egypt, the most unified and fertile; it was covered with gardens, palm trees, vineyards, crops, and forests. Numerous villages stretched across its plains and hillsides. Nothing equaled the beauty of this land, its orchards and vineyards.” The only province that bore any resemblance to it was the Fayyūm, and even then, it surpassed the Fayyūm in its wealth, the abundance of its fruits, and the variety of its plants. Water arrived there without interruption, summer and winter, irrigating the orchards and fields at the inhabitants’ pleasure, and the surplus flowed through different canals into the sea, on the side of al-Uqlūm. A day’s journey separated this province from the sea. There was also, between al-Arish and the island of Cyprus, an easy route that caravans followed without leaving the mainland. One could travel from one to the other by crossing this ford, whereas today, one must sail for a long time to go from El-Arish to Cyprus. The same was true from this island to the land of Rūm (Byzantium).  Spain, for its part, was connected to al-Khadra, a locality in the Maghreb, near Fez and Tangier, by a bridge of stone and fired bricks, which allowed caravans to travel from one country to the other. The sea was divided into several branches, which passed under the arches of the bridge. The piers, built at intervals, rested on solid rocks. It was there that the Mediterranean Sea began, which is formed by the Ocean or the great surrounding sea. Over time, the sea level rose and gradually encroached upon the land, as each generation has been able to observe, and the communication route between al-Arish and the island of Cyprus, as well as the bridge between Spain and Khadra, eventually became submerged. The existence of this bridge is common knowledge in Spain, as well as in Fez in the Maghreb. The place where it stood sometimes appears under the water to sailors, and they point it out to each other. This bridge was about twelve miles long; its width and height were considerable.
 
“It was in the 25th year of the Diocletian era that the sea began to invade and submerge the land now called Lake Tinnis. It rose every year until it covered the entire area and swallowed up the towns located on the plain; but those built on the heights were preserved, such as Liūnah and Semennūd (ancient Sebennytus), which still exist and rise in the midst of the waters. The inhabitants of the now submerged towns used to transport their dead to Tinnis and bury them there, piling them one on top of the other: this is the origin of the three mounds now called Abū'l-Qūm. The general inundation of the country by the sea is placed in the 25th year of the Diocletian era, that is, one hundred years before the conquest of Egypt by the Muslims. The old Copt added: “A king who resided in Farama (in Coptic Pharomi, Pelusium), waging war against one of the chiefs of Balianah and the surrounding regions, had ditches and canals dug on both sides between the Nile and the sea, to defend himself against the enemy, and it was in this way that the Nile overflowed its banks and eventually covered the country.”
 
He was then questioned about the extent of the Abyssinian kingdoms along the Nile: “I have seen,” he said, “sixty kings ruling over distinct territories, all in a state of hostility with their neighbors. Abyssinia is a hot and dry country, its soil blackened by drought, heat, and the influence of the fiery principle that prevails there. Silver is transformed into gold; in other words, this metal is refined by the dry and intense heat of the sun and becomes gold. If one subjects sheets of pure gold extracted from the mine to fire, with a mixture of salt, iron sulfate, and bricks, one obtains pure white silver. Such a fact can only be denied by someone unfamiliar with these studies and who has not witnessed experiments of this kind.”
 
On the question of the origin of the Nile, he replied: “It flows from a lake of unknown length and width, located near the country where day and night are of equal duration throughout the year, that is, under the point on the celestial sphere called by astronomers the fixed sphere. What I assert here is proven and beyond doubt.”
 
On the question of the construction of the pyramids: “They were,” he continued, “the tombs of the kings. When one of their kings died, his body was placed in a stone basin similar to what is called a djarun in Egypt and Syria; this they sealed with a lid, and they started to construct the pyramid from the base up to a certain height. The sarcophagus was deposited at the center of the building, and they continued to raise the vault up to the height you see. A door was placed under the pyramids, and it was entered through an underground corridor surmounted by a vault, which could have a length of a hundred cubits or more. Each pyramid had a door and a similar entryway.” But, he was asked, how were the pyramids built? How could the workers climb up and work on them? Using what equipment could they lift these huge stones, one of which can now be raised only with incredible effort, if it is even possible? The Copt replied: “They built the pyramids by stacking layers in degrees, like a staircase; then they polished them, scraping them from top to bottom. This was the process of a people who combined strength and admirable patience with a religious respect for their kings.” When asked why the inscriptions that cover the pyramids and temples are indecipherable, he replied, “The scholars and those who used this writing are all gone, and when Egypt was occupied in turn by foreign peoples, the alphabet and writing of the Greeks prevailed. The Copts, as they became more familiar with this writing, employed it and combined the letters with those of their own alphabet; from their contact with the Greeks emerged writing which had elements of both Greek and old Coptic, and thus they lost knowledge of the writing of their ancestors.”
 
Referring to the primitive inhabitants of Egypt, the old man added: “The first to settle in Egypt was Misr, son of Baïsar, son of Ham, son of Noah.” Then he went on to the genealogy of Noah’s three sons, their descendants, and their dispersion throughout the earth. He was asked if he knew of any marble quarries in Egypt. “Yes,” he said, “there is in the eastern part of the Saïd a large mountain of marble from which the ancients extracted their columns and other monuments; after carving them, they polished them with sand. The columns, pedestals, and capitals, which are called oswaniah in Egypt, and from which millstones are made, date from two hundred years after the birth of Christianity. Such are also the columns of Alexandria, and especially the enormous and tall column that is considered to have no equal in the world. However, I have seen a similar one in the mountain of Aswan (Syene). Everything visible is skillfully designed and carved, but it is not detached from the mountain, nor polished; for they waited to polish a column until it was separated from the mountain; then they transported it to its destination.” To questions about the City of the Eagle (Medinet al-Ūkab), he replied as follows: “It is five days’ journey west of the Pyramids of Busir and Giza, for a horseman riding at great speed; but the road has disappeared and the route leading to it is unknown.” Then he described the monuments, precious stones, and treasures it contained, and he explained the origin of its name. He also mentioned, to the west of Akhmim, in the Saïd, another city whose marvelous buildings, which time had destroyed, were the work of kings of remote antiquity; He recounted the details of his story and claimed that it was six days’ journey from Akhmim.
 
He provided the following details about the Nubians and their country: “They possess fine horses, camels, oxen, and herds. Their king uses thoroughbred horses, but the people ride small mares. They fight with bows of a peculiar shape, and it is from them that the tribes of the Hejaz, Yemen, and other tribes have adopted the use of the bow. The Arabs call them skilled archers. Their country produces date palms, grapevines, sorghum, bananas, and wheat, and it bears a strong resemblance to Yemen.  Lemons are harvested there that are as large as the largest in the Muslim lands. Their kings boast of being Himyarite; their dominion extends over the Marad (?) and the Nubians. Behind the land of the Alawah (Lowata), lives a numerous population of Black people called Bekneh (Bedjneh); they go naked like the Zanj; their land contains gold mines. It is in this kingdom that the Nile divides, giving rise to a large canal which, upon separating from the Nile, takes on a greenish color. The main waterway, the true Nile, continues its course without further alteration towards the land of the Nubians. However, at certain times, the large arm of the Nile flows into this canal and takes on a whitish tint, while the smaller arm becomes green. This canal divides into several streams and channels, flowing through inhabited valleys; then it reaches the southern deserts, towards the coast of the Zanj, and empties into the Sea of ​​Zanj.”
 
The conversation having turned to Fayyūm, Menhi, and the al-Lahūn dam, he went into great detail about Fayyūm. This is what he recounted: “A young woman from the land of Rūm having settled there with her mother, this province then began to be cultivated. The al-Lahoun dam did not yet exist, and it was through the district of Menhi, towards the place called Damūnah, that the water entered Fayyūm during the Nile flood. Later, the al-Lahūn dam was built as we see it today. It is believed that it was erected during the reign of al-ʿAzīz, by Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. The irrigation works that are still visible in the upper and lower parts of Fayyūm, the system of superimposed canals, the bridge called Nusūfiah, and the column located in the center of the country are also attributed to Joseph. This column, one of the wonders of the world, is very tall, and its foundations penetrate the earth to an unknown depth. Several times since the time of Joseph, attempts have been made to reach its base by digging, but without success, and the influx of water has rendered all attempts futile. The top of this column is level with the ground of Menhi. As for the dam, from its base, between al-Qūbbatain (the two domes), to the district of al-Lahūn and the town more specifically called al-Lahūn, there are sixty steps; several of them are visible when the water level drops in Menhi. The dam wall was pierced with openings, some of which still allow water to pass through, while others are no longer visible. Between the base, located in the center of al-Qūbbatain, and the town in question, there is a water tower, consequently situated below the steps.” The water entering the Fayyūm is regulated by the size of the lock, and arches called isqalah have been built to facilitate the flow of water and prevent it from overflowing the lock when it is closed. The dimensions of the dam were calculated so that the Fayyūm receives only the amount of water it needs. The al-Lahūn dam is a most remarkable monument, one of those structures that remain impervious to the ravages of time. The laws of geometry and physics governed its construction, and a benevolent fate watches over its destiny; thus, many people in the country believe that Joseph undertook this work under divine inspiration; God knows the truth. All the kings who successively conquered and occupied our country, drawn by the fame of this dam and the reputation its strength has earned it, have never failed to come and visit it.
 
The old man who recounted this story belonged, like all the Copts of Egypt, to the sect of Jacobite Christians. Ahmad, son of Tulun, one day ordered a philosopher admitted to these gatherings to question the Copt about the proofs of the Christian religion. To the questions put to him, the old man gave the following answer: “I find the proof of the truth of Christianity in its errors and contradictions, which are repugnant to reason and revolt the mind, so inadmissible and confusing are they. Analysis cannot strengthen them, nor can discussion demonstrate them; if reason and common sense subject them to rigorous examination, no proof establishes their truth. Now, since so many peoples, so many powerful kings, distinguished by their science and wisdom, have accepted and embraced the Christian faith, I must conclude that, if they adopted it despite all the contradictions I speak of, it is because evident proofs for them, striking signs and miracles, led their conviction towards this belief.” His interlocutor asked him to point out the contradictions of Christianity. “Can they be understood,” added the old man, “or can their limits be known? Such are: the dogma of one God in three persons and of three persons in God; the definition that Christians give of substances and of the spirit, that is, of the Trinity; the thesis: can substance in itself act and know or not? The incarnation of an eternal God in flesh, his birth, his torment, and his death. Is there a more odious and infamous spectacle than that of a God nailed to the cross? He is spat upon; his head is crowned with thorns and scourged, his hands are pierced with nails; spears and stakes penetrate his sides, he asks for a drink and they offer him vinegar in a gourd rind!” “This admission of the contradictions, errors, and weaknesses of his religion cut short the discussion and silenced his opponents.”
 
In this assembly was a Jew, a physician of Ibn Tulun; he asked the prince for permission to speak and, having obtained it, he began to question the Copt. The latter first asked him who he was and to what religion he belonged. Having learned that he was a Jew, he added: “So he is a sorcerer.” “How so,” he was asked, “since he is a Jew?” “The Jews,” he replied, “marry their own daughters under certain circumstances. Indeed, their religion allows them to marry their brother’s daughter, and it is a duty for them, when their brother dies, to marry his widow. Now, if this widow is none other than their own daughter, this is not an obstacle to the marriage, only they perform it in the greatest secrecy and take care not to divulge it. Is there a more odious practice among the sorcerers?” The Jewish physician rejected this accusation, denying that such a custom existed in Judaism or was known to his co-religionists. But Ibn Tulun made inquiries and learned that the physician had married his sister-in-law, who was also his own daughter. The Copt, then addressing Ibn Tulun, added, pointing to the Jew: “Prince, these people claim that God created man in his own image. One of their prophets (and he named him) said, in his book, that God appeared to him one day, and that He had a white beard and white hair. He attributes to the Most High this language: ‘I am the consuming fire, the devouring fever; I punish the children for the sins of their fathers.’ (Exodus 34:7) According to the Torah, Lot’s daughters intoxicated their father and became mothers through an incestuous union.” Moses twice rejected the prophetic mission entrusted to him by God, to the point of incurring God’s wrath. Aaron himself fashioned the calf that the Israelites worshipped. The miracles performed by Moses in the presence of Pharaoh were immediately imitated by the sorcerers. Shall I describe how the Jews slaughter animals, offering their blood and flesh as sacrifices? It is they, moreover, who condemn, without proof, the free use of reason. They maintain that their law cannot be abrogated and reject the words of the prophets who came after Moses when these words deviate from Moses’ precepts, even though, in the eyes of reason, there is no difference between this prophet and those of his successors whose mission is attested by authentic proofs. But the most impious of their doctrines is revealed on the day of the festival of Kippur, that is, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Leviticus 23:28), which falls on the 10th of Tishri. On that day, the second master, the one they call Metatron (μετὰ θρόνου, “beside the throne”), rises and cries out, tearing his hair: “Woe is me, I have ruined my house and made my daughter an orphan! My body is bent, and I will not straighten up until I have rebuilt my house!”
 
The old Copt continued in this way to expose the tales, the countless lies, and the profound errors of Judaism. He held several conferences in the presence of Ahmad ibn Tulun, with philosophers, dualists, Daisanites (Bardesanites), Sabians, Magi, and some Muslim theologians. In our Historical Annals, we have cited the most interesting aspects of these discussions, and we have reproduced them in their entirety in our Discourses on the Foundations of Beliefs. This Copt, according to what we know of his history and opinions, undermined both critical inquiry and tradition, by placing all religions on the same level. After remaining for nearly a year with Ahmad ibn Tulun, who could not persuade him to accept either honors or gifts, he was escorted back to his country with great respect, stayed there for some time, and died, leaving behind works that confirm what we have just recounted. God knows the truth best. Although the Jews reject what this man reported concerning their marriage to their nieces, the majority of them admit the legitimacy of such a union.
 
The Nile and the soil of Egypt contain several species of animals and fish. Among the latter is the raadah (electric catfish), which is a cubit long. When it falls into a net, the fisherman feels a tremor in his hands and arms that reveals the presence of this fish, and he hastens to take it and throw it out of his nets. It is enough for him to touch it with the tip of a stick or a spear to feel this shock. Galen speaks of the catfish and says that, to instantly relieve the pain of a severe migraine or a wound, it should be applied alive to the patient’s head.
 
The hippopotamus lives in the waters of the Nile. When it leaves the river and heads towards a particular point in the country, the inhabitants conclude that the flood will extend to that place, but no further. This observation is the result of long experience, and no one among them doubts it. The appearance of the hippopotamus is very detrimental to landowners and farmers because it devours their crops. It leaves the Nile at night and immediately heads towards its destination across the fields, then it returns to the river, and only then does it graze on the crops it had spared on its way there, as if it were calculating in advance what would be sufficient for its consumption. Sometimes, after grazing, it returns to the Nile and drinks; then it deposits its dung in various places, and a second growth of vegetation springs up from it. When its appearance and the resulting damage occur frequently, several measures of lupin kneaded into large cakes are placed near the area where it appears. The animal devours it and returns to the river; but the lupin expands in its stomach, which swells and eventually bursts. The carcass floats on the water for some time, then it is washed ashore. Crocodiles are never found in the areas inhabited by the hippopotamus. It resembles a horse somewhat, except for its hooves and tail, and its forehead is also wider.
 
According to the account of the religious scholars, Baiṣar, son of Ham, son of Noah, after leaving the land of Babel with his children and a large part of his family, headed west and entered Egypt with his four sons, Misr, Fāriq, Mah, and Yah. He settled in a locality named Menf, a name that has been preserved to this day. ​​Since its first inhabitants numbered thirty, it was initially called Tlatín (thirty), just as Temanín (eighty), a city in Al-Jazira and the province of Mosul, in the territory of the Beni Hamdan, bore this name in memory of the number of its founders, Noah’s companions in the ark. When Baiṣar grew old, he designated Misr, his eldest son, as his successor. Numerous tribes gathered around this family, and these regions flourished under Misr’s reign. The kingdom of Misr began at Rafah (ancient Raplira), a city in Palestine in the territory of Syria, or at al-Arish, and according to some, at Shajreh, a well-known locality on the Egyptian border; it separates this province from Syria and is located between al-Arish and Rafah; it extended as far as Aswan in Upper Egypt. In width, it stretched from Eilat, a border city of the Hejaz, to Barka. Misr divided his kingdom into four provinces, which he gave to his four sons, Qobt, Ashmūn, Atrīb, and Ṣā, and he passed the kingship to the eldest, Qobt: it is to him that the Copts of Egypt trace their origin. Each of his sons gave his name to the land he inhabited, and it is to this circumstance that the localities still named Ashmūn, Qibt, Sa, and Atrib owe their names. The families then began to intermingle; The sons of Qobt, that is, the Copts, being the most numerous, seized the entire country, absorbed the other tribes due to their sheer numbers, and adopted the collective name of Misr. Since then, all the inhabitants of Egypt have considered themselves descendants of Misr, son of Baiṣar, son of Ham, son of Noah. After the death of Qobt, the kings who successively ruled Egypt were: Ashmūn, son of Misr; Ṣā, son of Misr; Atrīb, son of Misr; Mālīk, son of Dāris; Haraya, son of Mālīk; Kalaki, son of Haraya. He reigned for about a hundred years and left the crown to his brother Māliā, son of Haraya. Lūtas, son of Māliā, reigned for nearly seventy years and was succeeded by his daughter Hūriā, whose reign lasted approximately thirty years. She passed the throne to another woman named Mamūn. The sons of Baiṣar ibn Ham had multiplied and spread throughout Egypt; they were ruled by women; various kings then attempted to subjugate them. An Amalekite king, al-Wālīd, son of Dūma‘, who came from Syria, invaded Egypt, conquered it, seized the throne, and occupied it without opposition until his death. He was succeeded by his son ar-Rayān, the Amalekite; this is the Pharaoh who was a contemporary of Joseph, the one whom God mentions when recounting the story of Joseph in the Quran. (See our Akhbār al-zamān for details.)
 
The kings of Egypt who followed were: Dārim, son of Rayān the Amalekite; Kames, son of Ma‘dān the Amalekite; and al-Wālīd, son of Mus‘ab; this is the Pharaoh of Moses, but there is disagreement about his origin; some consider him an Amalekite, others say he came from Lakhm, a city in Syria; and still others classify him among the Copts descended from Misr, son of Baiṣar. His nickname was Zulmi (the tyrant), as we mentioned in our Akhbār al-zamān. This Pharaoh was drowned while pursuing the Israelites who, leaving Egypt under the leadership of Moses, crossed the Red Sea on dry land thanks to a miracle. The destruction of Pharaoh and his army caused the children, women, and slaves who remained in Egypt to fear being attacked by the kings of Syria or the West. They then placed on the throne a woman named Dalūka, famous for her wisdom and prudence. She surrounded all of Egypt with a wall guarded by troops, and she established posts close enough to communicate with each other by voice. Today, in 332 AH, the ruins of this wall, which is called hā’it al-‘ajūz (the wall of the old woman), can still be seen. It is said that Dalūka built this wall to protect her son, who was passionate about hunting, both from ferocious animals and monsters of the Nile and from the ambushes of the kings and nomadic tribes of the surrounding area. In addition, she placed crocodiles and other formidable animals around the enclosure. Other stories are also told in this regard. During a reign of thirty years, or a shorter period, she endowed Egypt with its berba (temples) and its statues. Initiated into the practices of magic, she placed within the temples the images of the peoples surrounding Egypt, and those of their mounts, horses or camels; she also had represented there the peoples of Syria and the West, who could reach Egypt by sea. In these temples, remarkable for their size and solidity, she gathered all the secrets of nature, the attractive or repulsive properties contained in minerals, plants, and animals. She performed these spells at the moment of the revolution of those celestial bodies that were to place them under a superior influence. Thus, when an army left the Hejaz or Yemen to invade Egypt, the camels or other figures represented in the temples disappeared underground; the foreign army immediately suffered the same fate, and soldiers and animals were annihilated. If the invasion came from Syria, the same thing happened to the figures facing the direction from which the army was advancing, and the destruction of these images entailed the destruction of the real army. The same was true for armies coming from the West, or for maritime expeditions led by the kings of Rome, Syria, etc.  Consequently, foreign sovereigns and peoples feared the Egyptians and took care not to make them their enemies. Thanks to the skillful rule of this queen, Egypt became a well-unified kingdom and enjoyed good administration.
 
The ancients, like the moderns, have spoken of the secret properties and enchantments of Egypt. The tradition related to the old queen is widespread in the country, and no one disputes it. The barabi of the Said, and the other provinces, still exist, there are various figures which, when represented on certain objects, exercise the influences fixed and determined by the Egyptians, according to their knowledge of the general laws of nature. God knows the truth better.

When I was in Akhmim, in Upper Egypt, several people gave me the following information from Abu’l-Faïd Dū ‘l-Nūn al-Misri al-Ikhmimi, surnamed the Ascetic. He was a scholar who had laid down rules of conduct, and professed a particular religion. Very curious to know the history of the temples, he often visited them, and studied a great number of their images and inscriptions. Here is what he said: “I found in a temple an inscription which I have deciphered; it says: ‘Beware of freed slaves, of the ardor of young men, of an army composed of the indentured, and of the Nabataeans who have become Arabs.’ In another temple, I read: ‘Those whose destiny is fixed think themselves masters of their decisions, but fate laughs (at our hopes).’” He asserted that he had seen an inscription written elsewhere in the same ancient characters, and he affirmed that after studying it, he had read:
​
“Man questions the stars and knows nothing; but he who commands the stars does as he pleases.”

The people who built these temples had a taste for astrology, and they persistently probed the secrets of nature. They had learned from the study of the stars that a catastrophe threatened the land; but they were uncertain whether the world was to perish by fire, by a deluge, or if the sword were to exterminate its inhabitants. In fear lest the sciences should be annihilated with the people, they constructed these berabi (singular, berba) and disgorged their knowledge into the figures, the images, and the inscriptions which adorned them. They built them either of stone or of earth, separating these two kinds of constructions. If the foretold catastrophe, they said, is of fire, the edifices built of earth and clay will harden like stone, and our sciences will be preserved. If, on the contrary, it is a deluge, the water will carry away that which is built out of earth, but the stone will subsist. In the case of destruction by the saber, these two kinds of buildings will remain standing. According to the above, these temples were built before the Deluge. Others give them a more recent date. As to the catastrophe which the Egyptians predicted, the one they didn’t know whether it was fire, water, or sword, it is believed to have been a foreign invasion, and a king occupied Egypt and put to death all the inhabitants by the sword. According to other reports, it was an epidemic that depopulated the country. In support of this opinion we are shown mounds in the district of Tanis, which is called Abu’l Kūm, where corpses of every age and sex are crammed together, and form a high mountain. There are also in the province of Misr and in the Said, bodies piled up one upon another, in the depths of caves, ponds, tombs, and in other places, without knowing to which race they belong, for neither Christians nor Jews recognize them as their ancestors; The Muslims do not know who they are, and history tells us nothing about them. These bodies are clothed, and the ornaments which adorn them are often taken from the neighboring hills and from the mountains.
 
The temples of Egypt are still standing and are very curious edifices; the Berba found in the province of Ansina (Antinoe), are among the most celebrated in Egypt, the Berba of Akhmim, that of Semennūd, &c. The pyramids are very high, and of remarkable construction: their surface displays all sorts of inscriptions, written in the characters of the ancient nations, and of kingdoms which no longer exist. No one knows what this writing is or what it means. Those who have studied the dimensions of the pyramids estimate their height at four hundred cubits, or more, as those who have ascended it have observed; their width (at the base) roughly equals this number. Their inscriptions are related to the sciences, to the properties of bodies, to magic, and to the secrets of nature. It is said that one of the inscriptions means this: “We are the ones who built the pyramids. Let him who wishes to equal our authority, to obtain our power, and to overthrow our throne, knock down these edifices, and efface all traces of them, though it is easier to break down than to build, and to disperse materials than to unite them.” It is said that a Muslim king began the demolition of one of these pyramids, but that he spent the income of Egypt and of other countries without being able to tear away the blocks of stone and marble that served to build them.
 
The plan of this book, which contains only summary and general studies, prevents us from going into detail and providing further explanations. However, in another work entitled the Book of Problems and Experiences, we have presented the observations we gathered during our travels, and what we were able to learn about the properties and mysteries of the three kingdoms of nature, in their relation to marvelous buildings, monuments, and landscapes. No educated person would deny that there are certain cities and towns in the world where scorpions and snakes cannot enter; such are Homs (Emesa), Ma‘arra, Misr, and Antioch. In the last city, when someone extended their hand outside the city walls, a bedbug would land on it; as soon as they withdrew their hand, the insect would disappear. But one day, a marble column standing in one of the city’s districts was broken, and at the top of the column, a copper box was found, containing a bedbug made of the same metal, and as large as a hand. Shortly afterwards, or at the same time, the bedbugs reappeared, and today they swarm in the houses. It is like the lodestone that attracts iron. In Egypt, I saw a small iron or copper figurine representing a snake; when it was placed somewhere and brought near a lodestone, this image recoiled. The smell of garlic neutralizes the effects of the lodestone, and to restore its property of attracting iron, it must be washed in vinegar or honey. The magnet and iron also have other properties, such as that of the stone that attracts blood, etc. God alone knows all things. He has revealed to man the knowledge of those things that may be useful to him, according to his time and needs; but He has kept the secret of others, without disclosing them to His creatures or manifesting them to intelligences. Thus, mixing two things gives rise to a product that differs from both. For example, the juice of gallnuts, mixed with iron sulfate (vitriol), produces a very black substance. Glass is the result of a combination of sand, manganese, and alkali (soda), subjected to fire and melted in a crucible.
 
Liquid alkali and litharge, when combined, form a precipitate that resembles whitish foam (lead carbonate). From the mixture of alkali and iron sulfate, safflower (iron peroxide) is obtained. The same is true in animals: the mating of a mare and a donkey gives birth to a mule; that of a horse and a female donkey produces the hinny, which is called al-Kawden; it is as ugly as it is vicious. We have spoken of the matings that take place in Upper Egypt, on the borders of Abyssinia; of the crossbreeding of the bull with the female donkey, of the donkey with the cow, of the bizarre products and different species that result, such as the mule, which is neither horse nor donkey; we have mentioned the various modes of generation in animals and plants, the grafting of trees, the varied sap it produces, the different systems of cultivation, etc., in the Book of Problems and Experiences. A chapter of this book is devoted to natural properties and their study, to talismans and their marvelous virtues. It is a long chapter where what is described compensates for what is missing; the details provide a glimpse of the whole, and the little it contains leads to a knowledge of the entirety. Perhaps these properties, these talismans, these effects produced in the world by the forces that repel, distance, and push away, and by those that, on the contrary, attract and manifest themselves in the creature, like the attractive and repulsive virtue of the magnet—all this, I say, was perhaps only a means of guidance provided by God to a prophet, among the ancient peoples, to lead these peoples, by a miraculous path, towards the truth, to make them distinguish this prophet from others, to bring them to obedience to divine laws and to the practice of what was appropriate for those remote ages. Then, when God called this prophet back to Him, the sciences and everything that God had revealed to him remained in the hands of men. According to this, all these phenomena, which, as we have already explained, are neither necessary nor impossible, should be attributed to God.
 
But let us return to the history of the kings of Egypt, which we were discussing earlier. The kings who succeeded each other after the old Queen Dalūka were: Darqūs, son of Bilūtis; Būris, son of Darqūs; Figamis, son of Būris, son of Darqūs, who reigned for about fifty years; Dūnia, son of Būris, who reigned for about twenty years; Nemeris, son of Merina, twenty years; Bilūtis, son of Minaqil, forty years; Malūs, son of Bilūtis, twenty years; Bilūtis, son of Minaqil, son of Bilūtis; Bilūnah, son of Minaqil. This king undertook wars and distant expeditions; it was he who, under the name of Pharaoh the Lame, fought the Israelites and destroyed Jerusalem. Marīnos, his successor, waged war in the West. After him, his son Nikas reigned for eighty years, and Kūmis, son of Nikas, for ten years. The crown passed to Kabil, who had to fight the kings of the West. Bokht-Nassar (Nebuchadnezzar), satrap of the King of Persia in the West, came to attack him, devastated his territories, destroyed his army, and then returned to the Maghreb. We have recounted these events in the work entitled The Charm of Souls, a book specifically dedicated to the expeditions and wars of the kings, independently of the details given in our Historical Annals. After the departure of Bokht-Nassar and the Persian army he commanded, the Greeks invaded Egypt, subjugated it, and made it an ally. This state of affairs lasted until the reign of Khosrow I Anushirvan. This king, after conquering Syria, entered Egypt, seized it, and possessed it for about twenty years. At that time, Egypt paid a double tax, one to the Persians and the other to the Romans. An event that occurred in their capital forced the Persians to evacuate Egypt and Syria. The Romans then subjugated these two countries and spread Christianity there, which remained the dominant religion until the advent of Islam. The story of the gifts sent to the Prophet by the Makaukas (or Byzantine governor), the leader of the Copts, is well known. Shortly afterward, the Arabs, commanded by Amr ibn al-As, conquered Egypt under the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab. Amr built Fustat, which became the capital of Egypt. When the Makaukas, the leader of the Copts, ruled in Egypt, he resided for part of the year alternately in Alexandria, Memphis, and Qasr al-Shama (the Castle of the Torch); this castle still exists under that name in the center of Fustat. We have recounted, in the Historical Annals and in the Akhbār al-zamān, the conquest of Egypt by Amr ibn al-As; his relations with the Makaukas, the capture of Qasr al-Shama, and other details concerning Egypt, Alexandria, and the battles fought by the Muslims. We have also recounted the journey that Amr made to Egypt and Alexandria during the pre-Islamic period, his encounter with the monk, and the anecdote of the golden ball that was displayed on feast days and which fell into Amr’s lap. All this took place before the coming of our holy Prophet.
 
The chronicles, despite their differences, agree on the number of kings of Egypt, namely: thirty-two Pharaohs; five kings of Babylon; four kings from among the kings of Marib or the Amalekites, who came from Syria; seven from the land of Rūm; and finally, ten Greek kings. This accounts for the period before the Messiah, without mentioning the Persian kings who occupied Egypt before the Sasanian dynasty. The total duration of the reign of all these kings—Pharaohs, Persians, Romans, Amalekites, and Greeks—is two thousand three hundred years.
 
I questioned the most learned Copts of Upper Egypt and other provinces in vain about the meaning of the word “pharaoh”; no one could enlighten me about this name, as it does not exist in their language. Perhaps it was originally a common designation for all their kings; then the language changed, just as Pahlavi, the language of ancient Persia, became Persian, just as ancient Greek transformed into modern Greek, and as Himyaritic and so many other languages ​​have evolved. In our previous works, you will find fascinating accounts of the treasures and monuments of Egypt, of the riches that the kings and peoples who occupied it entrusted to the earth, and which are still being sought today.
 
Here is an interesting anecdote related by Yahia, son of Bakir. While Abd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān, was governing Egypt in the name of his brother Abd al-Malik, a man renowned for his sagacity was visiting him. Abd al-ʿAzīz asked him for information about treasures; this man told him that there was a rich treasure buried under a certain mound. The prince invited him to prove his claim, and the man added: “At a shallow depth, we will find slabs of different marbles; continuing to dig, we will reach a bronze door, beneath which is a column of gold. At the top of the column is a rooster of the same metal; its eyes are formed of two rubies worth the revenue of the entire world; its wings are inlaid with rubies and emeralds, and its talons are wrapped around a gold plate that forms the capital of the column.” Abd al-ʿAzīz immediately provided him with several thousand dinars to carry out the necessary excavations and work. A high hill in the vicinity was attacked, and a vast trench dug there uncovered marble slabs, just as he had described. This circumstance increased Abd al-ʿAzīz’s greed; he granted new sums of money and increased the number of workers. Finally, after much digging, the head of the rooster was discovered; its appearance was marked by a terrifying and rapid flash of light, like lightning; it emanated from its ruby ​​eyes, so luminous and brilliant were they. The wings, then the talons of the rooster were uncovered; then, around the column, a colonnade of stone and marble was found, along with arches, and, above arched doorways, niches adorned with various images and figures, and enhanced with gold. Then came stone jars (sarcophagi), whose lids were hermetically sealed and held in place by gold bars. Abd al-ʿAzīz arrived with his entourage at the excavation site and gazed upon these discoveries. One of his attendants, more impatient than the others, stepped onto the steps of a bronze staircase that descended to the bottom; he had barely reached the fourth step when two large, sharp swords sprang out from either side of the staircase, crossed over the imprudent man, and cut him to pieces. His body rolled to the bottom. A fragment of the corpse remained on the steps, the column trembled, the rooster flapped its wings and let out a strange cry that echoed far and wide, and terrifying sounds, from the clash of several instruments, were heard. As soon as an object fell onto the steps, or even merely touched them, all those present tumbled into the abyss. The laborers engaged in digging and removing the earth, those supervising or directing the work and giving orders—approximately two thousand men—all perished to the last man. Abd al-ʿAzīz was seized with terror and exclaimed, “These ruins are of a wondrous nature and forbidden to our investigations. May God protect us from their dangers!” Then he ordered the earth from the excavations to be thrown over the bodies of the victims, and that place became their tomb.
 
Al-Masʿūdī adds: Some people, curious about excavations and discoveries, and very eager to dig into the mounds to search for the treasures and precious objects that the kings and ancient peoples of Egypt had entrusted to the earth, found, in a book written in ancient characters, the description of a place located a few cubits from the pyramids mentioned above, which promised them a rich treasure. They informed Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshīd, who allowed them to carry out excavations and to use all means to achieve the goal of their search. A deep trench was dug, and they eventually discovered vaults, chambers, and hollowed-out blocks of stone in the rock excavations. Inside, they found statues standing upright; they were made of a certain type of wood, coated with a varnish designed to prevent them from wearing out quickly and rotting. These figures were of different types; they represented old men, young men, women, and children; their eyes were made of precious stones, such as ruby, emerald, turquoise, and topaz; some had faces of gold or silver. After breaking several of these statues, it was seen that they contained fragments of bones and bodies reduced to dust. Beside each one was a kind of vase similar to an amphora, as well as utensils made of emerald or marble, containing the same varnish with which the corpse, lying in the wooden coffin, had been coated. The vases contained the remainder of this substance, which consisted of crushed and mixed ingredients, without any odor; but when it was subjected to fire, a pleasant odor was emitted, different from all other perfumes. Each of the wooden coffins was exactly the shape of the body it contained, and varied according to the caste, age, and build of the deceased. In front of each of these chests, a statue of white or green marble was found, which appeared to be one of the idols worshipped by the Egyptians. These statues bore various inscriptions that no one, regardless of their religion, could decipher. Several learned men claim that this writing has been absent from Egypt for four thousand years. All of the above proves, at the very least, that its ancient inhabitants were neither Jews nor Christians. The excavations we are discussing took place in the year 328 (939), and yielded no other discovery than that of these figures. From the time of the ancient rulers of Egypt to Ahmad ibn Tulun, and up to the present year 332 of the Hijra, curious circumstances have marked the successive discovery of buried objects, coins, precious stones, treasures, and valuable deposits hidden in the tombs. We have discussed these in our previous works and in the writings already cited.

Sources: Aloys Sprenger (trans.), El-Mas’udi’s Historical Encyclopædia, Entitled “Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems,” vol. 1 (London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1841); Maçoudi, Les Prairies d’Or, vol. 2, ed. and trans. C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille (Paris: L’Imprimerie Impériale, 1863).