Egypt: Is the Greek and not the native name of the country which on the monuments is called Kem (Ham), "the black," probably from the dark alluvial soil. The meaning of the Greek name Aegyptos has been much disputed. It has been explained as the "land" (aia) of the "vulture" (guptos), or rather of the sacred kite of Horns, which is the most conspicuous animal in the country. Another etymology derives it from the Coptic or from the town of Koptos, the seat of the earliest dynasties, where the caravan route from th

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