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Qusayr, Al

(Encyclopedia)Qusayr, Al äl ko͞osārˈ [key], town (1986 pop. 19,997), E Egypt, on the Red Sea. The ancient Leucus Limen, it was once a major Egyptian port and the focus of several trade routes. It was formerly k...

Raamses

(Encyclopedia)Raamses rāămˈsēz [key], in the Bible, city of the eastern delta of Egypt, built by Hebrew slave labor. It was rebuilt by Ramses II. The Ramses in the books of Genesis and Numbers is the region of ...

Damanhur

(Encyclopedia)Damanhur dämänho͝orˈ [key], city (1986 pop. 188,939), capital of Beheira governorate, N Egypt, in the Nile River delta. It is a communications center and a market for cotton and rice. Industries i...

Hermopolis Magna

(Encyclopedia)Hermopolis Magna hərmŏpˈəlĭs măgˈnə [key], ancient city, central Egypt, on the Nile and near the modern Ashmunein. It was the chief seat for the worship of Thoth. At the modern Tunneh el Gebel...

Ombos

(Encyclopedia)Ombos ŏmˈbōs [key], ancient city, S Egypt, on the Nile, S of Idfu. It was strategically located on top of a hill. The city attained great importance under the Ptolemies, who built there a mighty te...

Sea Peoples

(Encyclopedia)Sea Peoples, modern term for any of the groups of people who attacked Egypt and the E Mediterranean by sea and sometimes by land c.1200 b.c. They are recorded as having fought in battles with Egypt du...

Camp David accords

(Encyclopedia)Camp David accords, popular name for the peace treaty forged in 1978 between Israel and Egypt at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The official agreement was signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in...

Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Lusignan lüzēnyäNˈ [key], French noble family. The name is derived from a castle in Poitou, built, according to legend, by Mélusine. The family was powerful in the Middle Ages and ruled (13th–1...

protectorate, in international law

(Encyclopedia)protectorate, in international law, a relationship in which one state surrenders part of its sovereignty to another. The subordinate state is called a protectorate. The term covers a great variety of ...

Arabs

(Encyclopedia)Arabs, name originally applied to the Semitic peoples of the Arabian Peninsula. It now refers to those persons whose primary language is Arabic. They constitute most of the population of Algeria, Bahr...