Submitted Name Revision History

Latinized form of the Greek Aigyptos (Αἴγυπτος), derived from Amarna Hikuptah, which corresponds to Egyptian Ha(t)-ka-ptah "temple of the soul of PTAH". Historically one of the names of MEMPHIS, it was taken by the Greeks to be the name of the whole country.

In Greek myth Aegyptus, a descendent of IO and NEILUS, was the twin and enemy of DANAUS, king of Argos. Aegyptus had 50 sons who all but one were slain by forty-nine of the fifty daughters of Danaus (the exceptions being LYNCEUS and HYPERMNESTRA who married instead). He is said to have fled to Egypt, where he ruled as the eponym king.