he patriarch who had been
for thirteen years a wanderer, and whose return was ardently desired.
This wish found public expression as soon as the downfall of the
imperial power in Egypt permitted its free manifestation. Amr listened
to the supplications that were addressed to him, and, turning out the
usurper in his turn, recalled Benjamin from his long exile and replaced
him on the patriarchal throne.

But even here Amr's protection of the Koptic religion did not end.
He opened the door of his Mussulman town, and allowed them to live
in Fostat and to build churches there in the midst of the Mussulman
soldiers, even when Islamism was still without a temple in the city, or
a consecrated place worthy of the religion of the conquerors.

Amr at length resolved to build in his new capital a magnificent mosque
in imitation of the one at Mecca. Designs were speedily drawn up, the
location of the new temple being, according to Arab authors, that of an
ancient pyre consecrated by the Persians, and which had been in ruins
since the time of the Ptolemies.

[Illustration: 333.jpg A MODERN KOPT]

The monuments of Memphis had often been pillaged by Greek and Roman
emperors, and now they were once again despoiled to furnish the mosque
of Amr with the beautiful colonnades of marble and porphyry which adorn
the walls, and on which, the Arab historians assure us, the whole Koran
was written in letters of gold.

Omar died in 644, and under his successor, Othman, the Arabian conquests
were extended in Northern Africa. Othman dying in 656, the claims of Ali
were warmly supported, but not universally recognised, many looking to
Muawia as an acceptable candidate for the caliphate. This was especially
the view of the Syrian Muham-medans, and in 661 Muawia I. was elected
caliph. He promptly transferred the capital from Medina to Damascus, and
became in fact the founder of a dynasty known as the Ommayads, the new
caliph being a descendant of the famous Arabian chieftain Ommayad. Egypt
acknowledged the new authority and remained quiet and submissive. It
furnished Abd el-Malik, who became caliph in 685, not only with rich
subsidies and abundant provisions, but also with part of his troops.

The attachment of the Egyptians to their new masters was chiefly owing
to the gentleness and wisdom of Abd el-Aziz ibn Merwan, who administered
the country after Amr was put to death in 689. He visited all the
provinces of Egypt, and, arriving at Alexandri