which Selim led an army of 140,000 warriors; and after three campaigns, in one of which a great pitched battle was fought at Tchaldiran (August 24, 1514), he extended the domains of the Ottoman far to the east, bringing to submission Georgia and Kurdistan, and overrunning Mesopotamia and the parts of Syria that were controlled by the Moslem lord of Egypt. By the expansion of his empire in this direction he soon came into conflict with the Sultan of the Mamelouks. Aleppo was taken, and, when Selim entered the city, he was hailed in the great mosque as the guardian of the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a title which gave the Ottoman Sultan almost the rank of the Khalif of the faithful. Damascus also fell into his hands, and so rapid were the successes of the Ottomans, that early in the year 1517 Selim found himself within sight of Cairo. The Mamelouks made an heroic resistance; protected by their coats of mail they charged into the center of the Turkish position, killing the vizier and ten generals. But here, as so often, the superiority of the Turks in artillery decided the day, and Cairo was taken after a prolonged and desperate struggle. Selim proclaimed an amnesty in favor of the Mamelouks; 500 of them, trusting in the conqueror’s promises, surrendered and were decapitated, and 50,000 of the citizens of Cairo were massacred. Touman, who led the Egyptian forces, was finally taken and hanged. Egypt was allowed to retain its ancient organization, with its irregular force, the Mamelouks, and its twenty-four Begs as military commanderies; but the direction of the government was placed in the hands of the Ottoman Pasha. With the possession of Egypt Selim became lord of Yemen, its dependency, and so exercised actual control over the holy places of the Moslem faith. At Cairo he had found a sheik, an obscure and neglected personage, called Elmo-stansir-bi-illah, who was reputed to be in the direct line of descent from the second branch of the Abbasides Khalifs. Selim kept him in confinement until, on the promise of securing his liberty, and for a small money payment and a pension, he agreed to transfer to the Turkish ruler all his claims to the Khalifate. Selim’s victories made a great impression. Venice, whose commercial interests were affected, sent ambassadors to Cairo to arrange for paying the tribute that was due to the Sultan of Egypt for the island of Cyprus. Hungary asked to have the truce prolonged between the two powers, and the Shah of Persia sent gifts and congratulations. Selim died on September 22, 1520, while he was preparing for an expedition against the island of Rhodes. He was succeeded by his only son, Souliman, a ruler whose long reign, from 1520 to 1566, makes him a contemporary of the great European leaders of the sixteenth century, a fact which Paul Veronese recognized when he placed him in his celebrated painting, “The Marriage at Cana,” along with the chief sovereigns of the day.