OP 36oofe8 on Eospt anfc Cbaloaea VOL. XV. OF THE SERIES A HISTORY OF EGYPT FROM THE END OF THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD TO THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA VII. B.C. 30 VOL. VII. EGYPT UNDER THE SAITES, PERSIANS, AND PTOLEMIES VOL. VII. PUBLISHERS' NOTE IN the year 1894 Dr. Wallis Budge prepared for Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. an elementary work on the Egyptian language, entitled " First Steps in Egyptian," and two years later the companion volume, " An Egyptian Reading Book," with transliterations of all the texts printed in it, and a full vocabulary. The success of these works proved that they had helped to satisfy a want long felt by students of the Egyptian language, and as a similar want existed among students of the languages written in the cuneiform character, Mr. L. W. King, of the British Museum, prepared, on the same lines as the two books mentioned above, an elementary work on the Assyrian and Babylonian languages ("First Steps in Assyrian "), which appeared in 1898. These works, however, dealt mainly with the philological branch of Egyptology and Assyriology, and it was impossible in the space allowed to explain much that needed explanation in the other branches of these subjects that is to say, matters relating to the archaeo- logy, history, religion, etc., of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In answer to the numerous requests which have been made, a series of short, popular handbooks on the most important branches of Egyptology and Assyriology have been prepared, and it is hoped that these will serve as introductions to the larger works on these subjects. The present is the fifteenth volume of the series, and the succeeding volumes will be published at short intervals, and at moderate prices. Books on jg\>pt ant) Cbalfcaea EGYPT UNDER THE SAi'TES, PERSIANS, AND PTOLEMIES BY E. A. WALLIS BUDGE, M.A., Lnr.D., D.Ln. KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM ILLUSTRATED LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1902 ~\All rights reserved ] LONDON : GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED, ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL, B.C. PREFACE THE period of Egyptian History treated in the present volume begins with the reign of UAH-AB-RA, the Apries of Greek writers, and the Hophra of the Bible, a king of the XXVIth Dynasty, and ends with that of Ptolemy IV. Philopator, and the narrative describes the principal events which took place in Egypt from about B.C. 591 to B.C. 205. During this period we find Egypt in a state of great national prosperity, but it was impossible for her kings to rival, or even successfully imitate those of the XVIIIth Dynasty in the matter of Asiatic conquests. She had never before to contend against so mighty a conqueror as Nebuchadnezzar II. in Asia, and never before had she to resist the attacks of nations, younger and more vigorous than herself, which had grown up about her in the West ; she was able to preserve her inde- pendence and much of her power, but it was only at VI PREFACE the price of submission to the rule of foreign dynasties. Under the XXYIth Dynasty an extraordinary archaistic revival took place, and we find that officials were called by titles which had been out of use for nearly two thousand years, and gods who had been forgotten for many centuries again became favourite objects of worship. The religion of the XXVIth and following Dynasties was profoundly modified by the fact that Thebes had been brought very low, and her god Arnen- Ka had returned to the comparatively unimportant position as a local god which he had held under the Xllth Dynasty. The kings and governors of the period under consideration caused the works of the Early Empire to be imitated as closely as possible, but at the same time the productions of the XXVIth Dynasty possess distinguishing characteristics which make them, artistically, of far greater interest than the formal and uninspired copies of the Ptolemaic Period. It is interesting to note that the conquest of Egypt by the Persians had very little influence in modifying the archaistic revival which began under the Saites, but this need not be wondered at when we remember the first excesses and barbarities of Cambyses. It is clear that although the Egyptians submitted quietly to the wise and just rule of Darius I. they never aban- doned the hope of seeing their country ruled by a native king, and whenever they found an opportunity they always revolted against the Persians. In spite of this, however, certain facts in the history of the period PREFACE Vll seem to suggest that although " Egypt for the Egyp- tians " was a popular cry, the great mass of the people cared in reality -very little who ruled over them pro- vided that they could enjoy their religious processions, and assist at the elaborate ceremonies which were performed in connexion with the worship of their gods. As a matter of fact the Egyptians had little to complain of under the rule of the Persians, and many of the revolts which took place before the coming of Alexander the Great were caused partly by the naturally restless disposition of the warlike Libyan tribes which had settled in the Delta, and partly by the machinations of the rebellious Greek subjects of Persia in neighbour- ing countries. The presence of Greek settlers in various parts of the Delta would not, of course, tend to contentment on the part of the Egyptians, who, when Alexander the Great marched into their country, were prepared to acclaim him as their deliverer from the Persians. With the advent of the Macedonians Egypt really lost her independence, for she was never again ruled by men of her own blood. The history of Egypt under the Ptolemies is a deeply interesting study, for we are able to watch the working of the Greek and Hebrew influences which brought about the decay of the cult of Osiris, i.e., the indigenous religion of the country, and which made the Egyptians tolerably contented subjects of kings of alien blood, and which, whilst making the country Vlll PREFACE prosperous materially, slowly undermined the exclusive- ness and conservativeness of the dwellers in the Nile Valley, and prepared the way for the triumph of the Koman arms and the advent of Christianity. E. A. WALLIS BUDGE. CONTENTS PAOE CHAPTER I. THE XXVIra DYNASTY CONTINUED. EEIGN OF APRIES OR PHARAOH HOPHRA. ASSISTS ADIKRAN AGAINST BATTUS. DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS. PROSPERITY OF EGYPT. THE BUILDINGS OF APRIES. NARRATIVES OF THE REIGN OF APRIES BY HERODOTUS AND DlODORUS. APRIES AND THE KING OF JuDAH. JEHOIAKIM VASSAL OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR II. EE- BELLION OF ZEDEKIAH. EXPEDITION OF APRIES TO SYRIA. JERUSALEM CAPTURED AND BURNT BY THE BABYLONIANS. FLIGHT OF JEREMIAH TO EGYPT. EEIGN OF AMASIS II. BATTLE AT MOMEMPHIS AND DEFEAT OF APRIES. DEATH OF APRIES. EXPEDITION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR II. AGAINST EGYPT IN THE 37TH YEAR OF HIS REIGN. BUILDINGS OF AMASIS II. GREEK SETTLEMENTS IN EGYPT. ACCOUNT OF AMASIS II. BY HERODOTUS. EEIGN OF PSAMMETICHUS III. CAMBYSES ASKS AMASIS II. FOR HIS DAUGHTER. NlTETIS, DAUGHTER OF APRIES, SENT TO PERSIA. CAMBYSES DISCOVERS THE FRAUD. THE PERSIANS INVADE EGYPT. CAPTURE OF MEMPHIS. NOBLES OF PSAMMETICHUS PUT TO DEATH. DEATH OF PSAMME- TICHUS AND OF HIS SON 1 X CONTENTS PAGS CHAPTER II. THE XXVIlTH DYNASTY, FROM PERSIA. THE REIGN OF CAMBYSES. UTCHA-HER-RESENET, PRINCE AND PRIEST OF SAIS. CAMBYSES RESTORES THE TEMPLE OF NEITH AT SAIS AND ESTABLISHES A COLLEGE AND SCHOOLS. MISSION OF CAMBYSES TO THE ICHTHYOPHAGI. HlS INVASION OF NUBIA. LOSS OF HIS ARMY. HlS RETURN TO MEMPHIS. HE STABS THE APIS BCLL. CRUELTY OF CAMBYSES. HE TRIES TO KILL CROESUS. THE REVOLT OF GOMATES. CAMBYSES is WOUNDED BY HIS OWN SWORD, AND DIES. GOMATES THE MAGIAN. EEIGN OF DARIUS I. DARIUS I. SLAYS GOMATES. DARIUS, BEING DISSATIS- FIED WITH THE GOVERNOR ARYANDES, INVADES EGYPT. HlS REVERENCE FOR APIS. HlS CANAL BETWEEN THE NILE AND THE EED SEA. His TRILINGUAL INSCRIP- TIONS. THE TOLERATION AND JUSTICE OF DARIUS. HlS OFFERINGS TO THE GODS. HlS TEMPLE AT AL- KHARGA. His HYMN TO AMEN-RA. THE BEHISTUN INSCRIPTION. PEACE AND PROSPERITY OF EGYPT UNDER DARIUS I. EEVOLT OF THE EGYPTIANS UNDER KHABBESHA. DEATH OF DARIUS. REIGN OF XERXES. REVOLT OF KHABBESHA SUPPRESSED. XERXES AP- POINTS HIS BROTHER AKHAEMENES GOVERNOR OF EGYPT. INAROS SLAYS AKHAEMENES. INSCRIBED VASES OF XERXES. MURDER OF XERXES. REIGN OF ARTAXERXES. THE EGYPTIANS CONSPIRE AGAINST HIM, AND MAKE INAROS THEIR LEADER. THE PER- SIANS INVADE EGYPT. DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS. INAROS IMPALED. REIGN OF XERXES II. SOGDIANUS MURDERS XERXES II. REIGN AND DEATH OF DARIUS II. REIGN OF ARTAXERXES II. DARIUS I. THE GREATEST OF THE PERSIAN KINGS OF EGYPT . . 42 CHAPTER III. THE XXVIIIra DYNASTY, FROM SAIS. REIGN OF AMYRTAEUS 87 CONTENTS XI PAGE CHAPTER IV. THE XXIXTH DYNASTY, FROM MENDES. THE REIGN OF NAIF-AAIU-RUT. REIGN OF HAKER. HE RESTORES EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS. HE BECOMES THE ALLY OF EvAGORAS, KING OF CYPRUS. REIGN OF PSAMMUTHIS. HlS CRUEL BEHAVIOUR TO TAMOS . 91 CHAPTER V. THE XXXTH DYNASTY, FROM SEBENNYTUS. REIGN OF NECTANEBUS I. His ARCHITECTURAL WORKS. His SARCOPHAGUS. CIPPUS OF HORUS. HlS WARS AGAINST THE PERSIANS. DEFEAT OF HIS TROOPS BY PHARNABAZUS. THE PERSIANS DRIVEN OUT OF EGYPT. REIGN OF TCHE-HRA. RESTORES A TEMPLE AT THEBES. HlS WORKS AT MEMPHIS. HE SETS OUT TO ATTACK THE PERSIANS. REVOLT AGAINST HIS RULE IN EGYPT. His FLIGHT TO PERSIA. REIGN OF NECTANEBUS II. His RESTORATION OF ANCIENT TEMPLES. ARTAXERXES III. OCHUS PREPARES TO INVADE EGYPT. OCHUS CAPTURES SIDON. THE PER- SIANS CAPTURE PELUSIUM. NECTANEBUS RETREATS TO MEMPHIS. THE EGYPTIANS SURRENDER TO OCHUS. NECTANEBUS COLLECTS HIS TREASURE AND FLIES TO ETHIOPIA. PHERENDATES MADE VICEROY OF EGYPT 98 CHAPTER VI. THE XXVlTH XXXTH DYNASTIES- SUMMARY. ARCHAISTIC REVIVAL IN ART AND SCULP- TURE. THE TOMB OF PETA-AMEN-APT. THE SETTLERS IN NAUCRATIS. VISIT OF HERODOTUS TO EGYPT. THE RELIGION OF THE PERIOD. NEITH OF SA1S. THE SAITE RECENSION OF The Book of the Dead. CHANGES IN THE FORMS AND ORNAMENTATION OF SARCOPHAGI, COFFINS, ETC. USHABTIU FIGURES. PTAH-SEKER-AsAR FIGURES. THE END OF NATIVE INDEPENDENCE IN EGYPT 115 CHAPTER VII. THE XXXIsT DYNASTY, FROM PERSIA. REIGN OF ARTAXERXES III. OCHUS. HE SLAYS THE APIS AND MNEVIS BULLS, AND THE RAM OF MENDES, Xll CONTENTS PAGE AND PLUNDERS THE TEMPLES. HlS EVIL REIGN AND DEATH. ARSES. DARIUS III. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. EISE OF THE MACEDONIAN POWER. ALEX- ANDER DEFEATS THE PERSIANS. HlS MARCH INTO ASIA. BATTLE OF Issus. DEFEAT OF DARIUS III. SABAKES, GOVERNOR OF EGYPT. ALEXANDER'S KINDNESS TO THE FAMILY OF DARIUS. ALEXANDER BESIEGES TYRE. FALL OF TYRE. BATTLE OF GAUGA- MELA .......... 126 CHAPTER VIII. ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE PTOLE- MIES. APOCRYPHAL HISTORY OF ALEXANDER. NEC- TANEBUS II. THE MAGICIAN. HlS FLIGHT TO PELLA. HlS DEALINGS WITH OLYMPIAS. DEATH OF NECTA- NEBUS. ALEXANDER IN EGYPT. MAZAKES THE SATRAP SURRENDERS AT MEMPHIS. TACT AND TOLERATION OF ALEXANDER. Is DECLARED TO BE THE SON OF AMEN-RA. HE VISITS THE OASIS OF JUPITER AMMON. AMEN OF SIWA. ALEXANDRIA FOUNDED. LEGENDS ABOUT THE BUILDING OF THE CITY. DOLOASPIS MADE GOVERNOR OF EGYPT. DEATH OF ALEXANDER. His FUNERAL AND PLACE OF BURIAL. REIGNS OF PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS AND ALEXANDER II. OF EGYPT. PTOLEMY I. RULES EGYPT ON BEHALF OF PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS. DEATH OF PHILIP. MURDER OF ALEXANDER II. MONU- MENTS SET UP FOR ALEXANDER II. BY PTOLEMY I. THE GREAT STELE OF ALEXANDER II. PTOLEMY'S GIFTS TO THE TEMPLES AT BUTO. LlST OF AUTHORITIES ON THE PTOLEMAIC PERIOD 137 CHAPTER IX. THE PTOLEMIES. REIGN OF PTOLEMY I. CONQUEST OF CYPRUS. CALLED " SATRAP " OF EGYPT. ASSUMES THE TITLE OF SOTER. WORSHIP OF SERAPIS ESTABLISHED. SERAPIS = ASAR-HAPI, OR OsiRis-Apis. PROSPERITY OF EGYPT. THE JEWS SETTLE IN ALEXANDRIA. REIGN OF PTOLEMY II. CONTENTS Xlll PAGE THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA FOUNDED. PHAROS ERECTED BY SOSTRATUS. PTOLE- MY'S FLEET AND ARMY. DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE. BUILDINGS OF PTOLEMY II. MANETHO'S HISTORY OF EGYPT. THE SEPTUAGINT. STELE OF PITHOM. FOUNDING OF PTOLEMAIS EPITHERAS. ELEPHANT HUNTS. ENDOWMENT OF APIS AND MNEVIS. ENDOW- MENT OF THE TEMPLE OF PlTHOM. THE STELE OF MENDES. CROCODILOPOLIS. TEMPLES AT PHILAE. EEIGN OF PTOLEMY III. His MARCH INTO SYRIA. HE VISITS SUSA AND BABYLON. FOUNDING OF ADULE ON THE EED SEA. PTOLEMY BRINGS BACK FROM BABYLON THE GODS OF EGYPT. DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE. THE DECREE OF CANOPUS. BUILDING OPERATIONS OF PTOLEMY III. THE TEMPLE AT EDFU. EEPAIRS AT KARNAK. TEMPLES AT ESNEH AND CANOPUS. GROWTH OF THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY. PTOLEMY ASSISTS THE RHODIANS. EEIGN OF PTOLEMY IV. His WARS IN SYRIA. DEFEAT OF ANTIOCHUS. PTOLEMY LEADS A LIFE OF DEBAUCHERY. HlS INTEREST IN LITERATURE. HE DEDICATES A TEMPLE TO HOMER. THE TEMPLE OF DER AL-MEDINEH. PTOLEMY'S WORKS AT EDFU AND PHILAE. ERGA- MENES KING OF NUBIA. ELEPHANT HUNTS. JEWISH TRADITIONS OF THE EVIL DEEDS OF PTOLEMY IV. 179 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 1. GREY BASALT FIGURE OF A KING OF THE XXVlTH DYNASTY 41 2. AMEN-KA AND PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS .... 162 3. COIN OF ALEXANDER AEGUS, SON OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 166 4. ALEXANDER II. OF EGYPT 167 5. COIN OF PTOLEMY I. SOTER 180 6. COIN OF PTOLEMY II. PHILADELPHUS . . . .190 7. COIN OF ARSINOE II., WIFE OF PTOLEMY II. PHILA- DELPHIA 191 8. COIN OF ARSINOE II., WIFE OF PTOLEMY II. PHILA- DELPHUS 193 9. COIN OF ARSINOE II., WIFE OF PTOLEMY II. PHILA- DELPHUS 195 10. PTOLEMY II. PHILADELPHUS MAKING AN OFFERING TO Isis .... ~~. ~ ~~7 . . 206 11. COIN OF BERENICE II., WIFE OF PTOLEMY III. EUER- GETES 213 12. THE HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT FROM THE STELE OF CANOPUS 219 13. THE ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF EDF& . . 223 XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 14. VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF EDF& TAKEN FROM THE PYLON 224 15. PYLON AND COLONNADE AT PHILAE .... 225 16. COIN OF PTOLEMY IV. PHILOPATOR .... 231 17. COIN OF PTOLEMY IV. PHILOPATOR .... 233 18. COIN OF PTOLEMY IV. PHILOPATOR .... 235 19. SCENE FROM THE WALL OF THE TEMPLE AT EDFU . 237 20. PTOLEMY MAKING AN OFFERING TO MAAT . . . 239 21. THE TEMPLES ON THE ISLAND OF PHILAE . . . 241 22. GREEK INSCRIPTION MENTIONING THE ELEPHANT HUNTS OF PTOLEMY IV. 245 23. A GALLERY OF THE TEMPLE AT PHILAE 250 EGYPT UNDER THE SAITES, PERSIANS, AND PTOLEMIES. CHAPTER I. 4. M (^Q I 1^ Q] t^ CT1] R son of the Sun, KA-UAH-AB. UAH-AB-EA, the Ovcuppis of Manetho, the ' of the Greek writers generally, and the Pharaoh Hophra of the Bible, 1 reigned, according to Eusebius, twenty- five years, and according to Julius Africanus, nineteen years ; the latter estimate is supported by the evidence of the monuments and is probably correct. The Horus name of Apries was UAH-AB, Y ^ > as l r d of the shrines of Nekhebet and Uatchet he styled himself " Neb khepesh," ^^ ^^ , " lord of valour," and as the Horus of gold " Seuatch taui," 1 1 ^ ^, "making- prosperous the two lands." Concerning the events of the reign of Apries or Hophra the Egyptian inscriptions 1 in3!l rflHD > Jeremiah xliv. 30. VOL. VII. B 2 THE BATTLE OF IRASA [B.C. 591 tell us very little, and our knowledge of them is derived chiefly from classical writers. According to Herodotus (ii. 161) he marched into Syria and fought with the Sidonians on land, with the Tyrians on the sea, and according to Diodorus (i. 69) he conquered the Phoenicians of Sidon and other cities which he attacked by sea, and also made himself master of Cyprus, which his fleet captured. At a comparatively early period in his reign war broke out between Adikran, the king of the Libyans, and the people of Gyrene under Battus, and Apries sent an army, consisting for the most part of Egyptian troops, to assist the Libyans, who had placed them- selves under his protection. A battle took place at Irasa, near the fountain called Thestis, and the Egyptians were routed with great loss, and the rumour was noised abroad that the slaughter of the Egyptians had been premeditated by Apries, and in consequence many of the survivors rebelled. To put down the rebellion he sent a general called Amasis, who was proclaimed king by the troops, and who then set out to do battle with his former lord. The rest of the narrative of Herodotus concerning Apries is given below (see pp. 4-9). Some authorities take the view that Apries and his former general Amasis ruled Egypt jointly for a period of about seven years, but the evidence which is brought forward in support of it is not convincing. It has also been stated definitely that the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar II. took B.C. 591] BUILDINGS OF APRIES 3 place during this alleged joint reign, but as there is good reason for believing that Apries died B.C. 571, and Nebuchadnezzar's great campaign did not take place until 568, we shall refer to this again in the section on Amasis II. During the reign of Apries Egypt enjoyed a period of great prosperity, and the peoples of the Delta readily perceived that this was in a great measure due to the trading undertakings which they found them- selves able to embark in without let or hindrance. The name of Apries is found inscribed on rocks and buildings in many parts of Egypt, without, in some cases, any apparent reason. Thus we find it on the islands in the First Cataract, where it was placed probably by some officer who was on duty at Elephan- tine or at the southern end of the Cataract, for there is nothing to show that Apries carried out there any building operations of an extensive character. At Thebes and Abydos he neither built nor repaired anything, but at Memphis he devoted much money to the maintenance of the great temple of Ptah ; he took this temple, so to speak, under his protection, and he endowed it with meat and drink offerings, and oxen, geese, etc., and set up a stele there inscribed with a decree in which he promised to perform all public works in connexion with the temple, and to punish severely any man who should injure it. 1 He appears to have repaired or rebuilt certain parts of the temple 1 Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 643. 4 OBELISKS OF APRIES [B.C. 591 at Heliopolis, for the two beautiful little obelisks which once stood before the temple of Isis in Eome must have come from this place ; one of these is now in Urbino 1 and the other in Rome. 2 Monuments inscribed with the name of the king are very numerous, as may be seen from the list published by Wiedemann, and some of them are distinguished by the beauty and excellence of their workmanship. The hieroglyphics of the in- scriptions are beautiful and most clearly cut, and though it is evident that they are imitated from the inscriptions of the Early Empire, they have a peculiar style and finish which is quite sui generis. The best examples of the bronze work of the reign are also very beautiful, and are in no way inferior to the metal figures of the XlXth and XXth Dynasties, and the workers in metal attained great skill in inlaying with designs and inscriptions in gold. The narratives of Herodotus (ii. 161) and Diodorus (i. 69) concerning the reign of A pries and the accession to the throne of Amasis are of considerable interest, even though some of their statements belong rather to legend than to history. Herodotus says : " After whome, succeeded his sonne Apryes the most "fortunatest of all the princes that had ruled before 1 Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 643. 2 See Marucchi, Gli obelischi egiziani di Roma, p. 119. The obelisk in Rome was found in the Campo Marzio in 1665, and in 1667 Pope Alexander VII. mounted it on the back of an elephant designed by Bernini, and set it up in the Piazza della Minerva, where it now is. B.C. 591] APRIES AND PATARBEMES 5 " him, except Psammitichus his great grandsire, gouern- " ing the country 25. yeares. During which time, he " warred upon Sydon, and fought with the people of "Tyrus by Sea. Howbeit, fortune owing him a "despight she payde him home at length, the cause " whereof, we will briefly touch at this present, de- " ferring a more ample discourse of the same, till* we " come to speake of the affayres of the Punickes. When " as therefore undertaking a iourney against the " Cyrenians he had suffered great losse of his men : " the Aegyptians continuing hatred against him, denied "their allegeaunce and rebelled, supposing y k he had " betrayed their Hues on purpose, to the end that with " more security he might gouerne those y l remained. " For which cause in great disdayne, as well such as " forsooke him and returned home, as also the friends " of these y l had died in the battell, stood at defiance " with the king, renounceing all duties of subiection : " who, when he came and in many words had rebuked " their disloyalty, one of the Aegyptians standing be- "hinde him clapt a Costlet on his head, saying hee "had done it to make him king. Amasis nothing " discontent herewith, was no soner proclaymed King "by the rebells, but forthwith he put himselfe in a " readiness to encounter with Apryes. " Apryes understanding this, sent one of the Aegyp- "tians named Patarbemes a man of approued uertue, " with especiall charge to bring to him Amasis alyue. "Who arryuing speedely at the place where hee was; 6 NOSE AND EARS OF PATARBEMES CUT OFF [B.C. 591 " tolde him the Kinges pleasure. Amasis sittinge on " horse backe and incouraginge those that were aboue " him, commanded Patarbemes to bring Apryes unto " him : Patarbemes once agayne willing him to make " speede to the King, who had sente for him ; hee an- " swered that hee woulde come with all speede possible, " sayinge, that the Kinge shoulde haue no cause to "complayne of his slacknesse, for hee purposed, god "willing, to be with him shortely, and bringe him " more company. Patarbemes perceiuinge by his maner "of speache and dealinges what hee was mynded to " doe, thought with as much speede as he coulde to " geue notice to the Kinge : and being returned, " Apryes in a great rage, for that hee had lefte Amasis " behinde him, without any woordes, by and by com- "maunded his Nose and Eares to be cut of. The rest " of the Aegyptians that followed the Kinges partes "seeing this, that so worthy and renowned a man " should without cause suffer so great shame and " reproche amongst them, without any delay fled over "to the rebelles and came to Amasis. Apryes increas- " ing his fury, put in armour all such as of foyrayne "countries were hyrelinges in his haste, (which hee " had of Ionia and Caria, aboute thirty thowsande men) "and marched agaynst the Aegyptians. Hee had in "the City Sa'is a uery great and gorgeous Pallace. "The armyes therefore of bothe parties, incamped " agaynst other at the City Memphis, there to abide " the lot and euent of the battayle B.C. 591] APRIES IS STRANGLED 7 " When as therefore Apryes on the one side with his " stipendaries, and on the other side Amasis with an huge "army of the Aegyptians were come into the cityMem- " phis, they closed battaile : where the hyred souldiers of " Apryes acquited them selues uery ualiauntly, till at "the length (being fewer in number) they were put to " flight. Apryes was perswaded that neither god nor "the diuell coulde haue ioynted his nose of the " Empyre, hee seemed so surely to have strengthened " it to him selfe. Neuerthelesse, in this fight hee was " foyled, taken aliue, and caried to his owne courte in " Sa'is : where Amasis kept him more like a Prynce "than a prysoner, for the time that hee lyued. At "length the Aegyptians murmuring against him, that "hee did not well to reserue aliue a mortall enemy "both to himselfe and the whole country, he delyuered " up Apryes into their handes. Whom they imme- " diatly toke and strangled, and buried him in the " sepulcher of his father in the temple of Minerua, " neere unto a certayne Oratory, at the lefte hand as " you enter in. Being the use with the people of Sa'is "to burie all such, as out of their tribe haue attayned " to the kingdome within the temple. For the toumbe, "of Amasis is placed nppon the other side of the "Oratory, contrary to the Sepulcher of Apryes and his " Progenitours. Likewise, in one place of this Temple "is a fayre Chamber builte of stone, beautyfied with " sundry Pyllers ingraued like unto Palme-trees, being "otherwyse very sumptuously and royally garnished. 8 NARRATIVE OF DIODORUS [B.C. 591 " In the middest of the Chamber are two mayne Posts, " betwene the which standeth a Cophine. There is " also a toumbe in the same, the name whereof I may "not descry without breache of Keligion." Diodorus says: "After Psammeticus and four generations past, " Apries reigned twenty-two years. He invaded, with "mighty force, Cyprus and Phoenicia, and took Sidon "by storm; and through fear and terror of him, " brought other cities of Phoenicia into subjection. " And having routed the Cyprians and Phoenicians in a " great sea fight, he returned into Egypt, loaden with "the spoils of his enemies. But afterwards sending " an army into Gyrene and Barca he lost most of them ; " at which those that escaped, were extraordinarily " enraged ; and suspecting that he employed them in " this expedition on purpose to have them all cut off, " that he might reign the more securely over the rest, " they "all revolted. For Amasis, a nobleman of "Egypt, being sent against them by the king, not " only slighted the king's commands in endeavouring "to make all whole again, but, on the contrary, "incited the rebels to a higher degree of rage and "indignation against him, and turned rebel himself, " and was created king. And not long after, when " the rest of the people all went over to him, the " king, not knowing what to do, was forced to fly "for aid to the stipendiary soldiers, who were about "thirty thousand; but. being routed in a field-fight, " near to a town called Marius, he was there taken B.C. 591] DESOLATION OF EGYPT FORETOLD Q " prisoner and strangled." (Booth's Translation, p. 71.) The Bible contains one allusion to Apries under the name Pharaoh-hophra, and the prophet Jeremiah (xliv. 30) speaking in the name of the Lord says, "Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt " into the hands of his enemies, and into the hand of " them that seek his life ; as I gave Zedekiah king of "Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of " Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life." In another place the prophet Ezekiel (xxix. 18 xxx. 1 ff.) declares that Egypt shall be given unto Nebuchadrezzar (II.) as a reward for the work which he had done for the Lord God of Israel in connexion with the "great service against Tyrus." He then goes on to declare farther that the country of the king of Egypt, who was presumably Hophra, i.e., Apries, should be laid waste from Migdol to Syene, 1 Pathros 3 was to be desolated, Zoan (Tanis) to be burnt down, No 3 (Thebes) to be the scene of judgments, and Noph (Memphis), 1 This is, of course, the meaning of H31D /^12Q*.3 . Migdol was a well-known frontier city or fortress on the north-east of Egypt. The equivalent idiom in Egyptian was " from the papyrus swamps [ [I a V \T vX athu] to Abu [ T 1 @),"i.e., V 1 A " * ne south land." 3 No = Eg. , Nut, i.e., " the City," par excellence. a I 10 JEHOIAKIM AND JEHOIACHIN [B.C. 591 and Aven (On or Heliopolis), and Pi-beseth (Bubastis), and Tehaphnehes were to suffer in one form or another. The reason of such adverse prophecies is not far to seek, and it may be formulated in the words that both Necho II. and Apries egged on the kings of Judah and the other members of their league to defy the power of Nebuchadnezzar II., by means of promises of help which they never redeemed. Necho II. fought for his own interests, but having been beaten near Carchemish by the Babylonians he "came not again " any more out of his land : for the king of Babylon "had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river " Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt." (2 Kings xxiv. 7). But although Jehoiakim, king of Judah, became Nebuchadnezzar's servant for three years, neither he nor his friends ever gave up the hope that Egypt would help them to fight their foe. What steps he took to provoke Nebuchadnezzar we know not, but the Babylonians marched against Jerusalem in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, and when they arrived they found that Jehoiakim was dead, and that he had been succeeded by Jehoiachin. Jerusalem was besieged and captured by the Babylonians, and the king and all his family, and the mighty men of valour, and ten thousand captives, among whom were all the artificers, and handicraftsmen, and mechanics of every kind (and all the treasures of the palace and of the Temple), were carried off to Babylon, and established in a settlement on the canal called B.C. 591] REBELLION OF ZEDEKIAH II Kebhar. 1 Over the wretched inhabitants left behind in Jerusalem the king of Babylon appointed to be king Mattaniah, whose name he changed to Zedekiah (2 Kings xxiv. 17). In the ninth year of his reign he also rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar II., and it appears that he had been persuaded to adopt this mad policy by envoys from the kings of Tyre, Sidon, Edoin, Moab, and Ammon, who in turn were urged to do this by the nobles of Egypt who dictated the policy of Psammetichus II. When Apries became king of Egypt, about B.C. 590, the rebellion of Zedekiah assumed such serious proportions that Nebuchadnezzar again marched against Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Babylonians became masters of the whole country with the exception of Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem. About this time Apries appears to have set out on his expedition to Syria, which resulted in the capture of Tyre and Sidon, and Zedekiah hoped that the Egyptian army would come to help him to defend Jerusalem. For some reason or other, probably the rumour of the advance of Apries into Syria, Nebuchadnezzar delayed somewhat in the pro- secution of the siege of Jerusalem, and the main portion of his army seems to have been withdrawn to Riblah. Apries, however, had no wish to encounter the 1 Probably the Naru Kabari, i.e., "Great Canal," T* Y^I fr-^lT*~T *~>^T ^"T|M f Babylon; see the list of canals in Hilprecht and Clay, Babylonian Expedition, vol. ix. p. 76, and see plate 50, tablet No. 84, line 2. 12 JERUSALEM CAPTURED AND THE [B.C. 591 Babylonian army, and he not only sent Zedekiah no help, but turned aside from the road to Jerusalem and devoted himself by sea and by land to the conquest of Phoenicia and Cyprus. It is pretty clear that Nebuchadnezzar had no desire to engage the army of Apries, formed as it was of well-armed mercenaries drawn from sea-coast dwellers of the Eastern Medi- terranean, but as soon as he found that the king of Egypt was engaged elsewhere he renewed the siege of Jerusalem with great vigour. He built forts round about it and reduced the city to a state of starvation, and one night Zedekiah and a party of warriors made their escape " by the way of the gate between two " walls, which is by the king's garden " (2 Kings xxv. 4); this the Babylonians perceived, and having pursued after him they captured him in the plains of Jericho, and then took him to Riblah ; here his sons were slain before his eyes, and then his eyes were put out, and he was carried in fetters to Babylon. Jerusalem was looted and the Temple plundered and burnt, and every- thing which could be removed was taken to Eiblah, and eventually a large part of the population was carried off to Babylon. 1 Over the few people left in Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah governor (2 Kings xxv. 22), but he and all his followers were treacherously slain at Mizpah by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, who was a member of the Hebrew royal family. ' The number of people taken to Babylon is given by Jeremiah (Hi. 30) at 4600. B.C. 572] JEWS CARRIED OFF TO BABYLON 13 After this Jeremiah and a number of fugitives fled to Egypt and came to Tahpanhes (Jeremiah xliii. 7), in the Eastern Delta, where there was a settlement of foreigners which had been established by Psammetichus I. But in all this distress the Hebrews received no help from the Egyptians, and it is not to be wondered at that Jeremiah denounced Hophra, or Apries. But the threatened destruction did not come upon Egypt during the reign of Apries, for Nebuchadnezzar found himself obliged to reduce Tyre before it was safe for him to advance towards Egypt. Authorities differ as to the year of his reign in which he began the siege, but it seems to have lasted about thirteen years, and the Tyrians must, if the siege was prosecuted with vigour, have been reduced to sore straits. Unless Nebuchadnezzar had a fleet to second by sea his efforts by land, the capture of Tyre must have formed an enterprise of great difficulty. We should, however, bear in mind that Nebuchadnezzar may have been, whilst besieging Tyre, in reality only waiting for an oppor- tunity to attack Egypt, but it would seem that he did not find one until Amasis became king. KHNEM-AB, son of the Sun, AAH-MES-SA-NIT. AAHMES II., or AMASIS II., the "Afjuixris of Manetho, was, as we have already seen from the extract from 14 REIGN OF AMASIS II. [B.C. 572 Herodotus, the general of Apries who had been sent to quell the revolt that had broken out among the Egyptians who had fought in the battle between Adikran and Battus. He did not behave as did the /VWW\ <^L I f\ old general of Apries called Nes-Heru, 1 *- < V\ MT > M i PP\^ c1. who put down a revolt at Elephantine which had broken out among the mercenaries of the Pet, and the Ha-nebu, HfP ;SEI, an( l the Asiatics, who were stationed in Upper Egypt, and who were trying to force their way into Nubia ; Nes-Heru drove the rebels back into their own places, and made them go to the place where his majesty was that they might be slain by him, but Amasis succeeded in making himself king as the result of his mission. Amasis II. reigned forty-four years, the evidence of the monuments entirely supporting that of Manetho's King List. He was a man of humble origin, and is said to have been born near Sai's ; and the Greek writers describe him as one who was affable towards his fellows, good-natured, and a lover of good eating and good drinking; there is, however, no doubt that he was a capable soldier, and a generous one, or he would not have shown such consideration, as we now know that he did, to his former lord, whose kingdom he had obtained. Maspero, Aeg. Zeit., 1884, p. 89. B.C. 572] HE MARRIES THENT-KHETA 15 When Amasis II. became king he chose for his Horus f\ 'If M'UM. /V name " Srnen Maat,". I ^ , i.e., " Stablisher of I /W^AAA ^ Law"; and as lord of the shrines of Nekhebet andllatchet, " Sa Net sept taui," "^ fi A ^, i.e., " Son of Neith, provider l of the two lands " ; and as the Horus of gold, " Setep neteru," i.e., " chosen of the gods." He married the lady Thent-kheta, ( | "^ J^ 1 , the daughter of Peta-Nit, and was by her the father of Psammetichus III. ; he was also officially regarded as the husband 2 of the "neter tuat," ] ^ . Ankh-nes-nefer- I ^ ab-Rfi, f -2- n O I O ] ) wn was the daughter of Psamme- tichus II. and the queen Takhauath, ( o "^ ? ^| sz=> J , and the adopted daughter of Nit-Aqert (Nitocris), the daughter of Psammetichus I. and of queen Meht-en- usekht, f ^^ A^VW f p| J, who was in turn the adopted daughter of Shep-en-apt, the sister of Tirhakah. Ankh-nes-nefer-ab-Ra was adopted by Nit-aqert, no doubt by the wish of her father, so that she might inherit the property of Shep-en-Apt as well as the exalted position of this priestess of Amen, and Amasis II. endeavoured to legalize his claim to the throne of 1 Or p ^ J ^ , seqeb taui. " See Maspero, Les Momies, pp. 758, 759 ; Daressy in Recueil, torn. xx. p. 83 ; Erman in Aeg. Zeitschrift, vol. xxxv. 1897, p. 29. l6 THE STELE OF AMASIS II. [B.C. 572 Egypt by an official marriage with the lady whom Nitocris had chosen as her heiress. 1 From Herodotus (ii. 163) we learn that when Apries discovered that Amasis had been proclaimed king, he took 30,000 Carian and Ionian auxiliaries and marched against the rebels under Amasis ; the two armies met at Momemphis, and the Carians and lonians were defeated, and Apries was taken prisoner to Sa'is. An inscription discovered by M. Daressy, in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, throws considerable light upon this portion of the narrative of Herodotus, and proves that his account is substantially correct. The inscription 2 is found on a granite stele which at one time was made to serve as a doorstep in the palace where General Kleber lived, near Ezbekiyyeh in Cairo, and is dated in the third year of the reign of Amasis II., who, in addition to his other titles, is here called " beloved of Khnemu, lord of Elephantine, and of Hathor dwelling within Tchamut," A AX (a part of Thebes). t^ Ira fe$ His majesty, it goes on to say, was in his council 1 The stone sarcophagus of Ankh-nes-nefer-ab-Ra is preserved in the British Museum (No. 32), and a line of text round the upper edges shows that some centuries after it was placed in the tomb it was usurped by a royal scribe called Amen-hetep, (j -. no , who was descended from a priest called [Men]-ka-Rii and Ta-shert-pi- Menthn. See my Sarcophagus of Anchnesraneferdb, London, 1885, p. xxi. ; and Inscription of the lioyal Scribe Amenhotep (in tudes dediees a M. Leemans, pp. 43, 44). 2 See Recueil, torn. xxii. p. 1. B.C. 572] AMASIS II. FIGHTS APRIES 17 chamber occupied with the affairs of the Two Lands, when a messenger came and reported that Haa-ab-Ka, f I " j'O' J na d se t ff i n a boat and had joined a number of boats which had already sailed. The Ha-nebu, < m ? ^\ ^ ' (Greeks), in numbers which cannot be told are going about throughout the North (i.e., the Delta) as if the country had no master ; he (i.e., Apries) hath called them and they are coming to him. He hath given them a place to live in in Peh-an, -^ WWSA ,1 they have filled all Egypt, and they occupy the country as far as Sekhet-Mafek. jjjjj] i\ _ , 2 and everything which belongs to his majesty hath departed. Amasis II. on receiving this news at once assembled his counsellors and officials and told them what had been reported to him, and having made a speech to them, to which they replied suitably, they all made ready to do battle with Apries. Amasis II. had his chariots, and horses, and soldiers, drawn up before him, and taking his bow and his spear, ( HRd 1 mob], in his hand, he went up into his chariot, and then the Egyptian army went forth to meet the foe, who had advanced as far as Andropolis, 0(1(1, the site of which appears to be marked by the modern 1 M. Daressy thinks that Peh-An is Nancratis. 2 Its site seems to be marked by the modern village of At- Tarraneh, u]^\ . VOL. VII. C l8 DEFEAT OF APRIES [B.C. 572 village of Kharbata. 1 The soldiers of Amasis II. were glad of heart, and as a result of the words which the king had addressed to their officers they were eager to meet the foe. The armies joined battle, and the Egyptians used their daggers with great effect, slaying the enemy in large numbers ; as for the king himself, he fought like a lion and slew men innumerable. The boats of the enemy were capsized and sank, and their sailors were thrown into the water into which they sank, and so went down, and "they saw the depths " of the water as do the fishes." 2 The fury of Amasis II. was like a flame and swept over everything, and he enjoyed the fighting as he enjoyed a feast ; wheresoever he came he cleared a road for himself, and like the god who was the protector of the Delta he drove the rebels before him as he marched along. The result of the fight was that Amasis II. took much spoil, and that the enemy lost large numbers of men. About six months later, i.e., on the 8th day of the third month of the season Shat, the officers who had been conducting the war came to the king and told him that they must put an end to the trouble caused by Apries and his Greeks, for they filled every road and were robbing the country in every direction ; it is true, said they, that the Greek sailors are afraid, but the war is not ended yet. There- B.C. 572] DEATH OF APRIES II. IQ upon Amasis II. addressed his troops once more, and told them that the fight must go on, and that the Greek ships must be engaged daily, and his army then went forth and swept through the land like a whirlwind, and destroyed the enemy and their ships, which they ap- pear to have left temporarily in order to fight against Amasis II. on land. Apries apparently had taken refuge in his boat one day when the soldiers of Amasis fell upon him, and they slew him as he " was sitting in his boat," in the presence, it seems, of Amasis who was on the river bank, and was watching the attack which Apries had been foolish enough to make upon some Egyptian village. The text concludes with the state- ment that Amasis caused his former friend to be buried, no doubt with the pomp and ceremony due to a king. From the above summary of the inscription of Amasis II. it is quite clear that he allowed his former master to live and to enjoy much of his old position, and probably power also, and that after a period of two or three years Apries made an attempt to regain his crown. The Egyptians were content to let him live as long as he remained quiet, but as soon as he collected mercenaries who began to raid the country, they made up their minds that their limit of endurance had been reached. They fought one battle with the mercenaries of Apries, but it seems not to have been sufficiently decisive to break his power utterly, for bands of mercenaries still went about raiding the country after it was over. On one occasion Apries 2O NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S EXPEDITION AGAINST [B.C. 572 himself may have been directing a raid from his boat, when the soldiers of Amasis II., or perhaps the natives of the district, got into the boat and slew him as he sat. The whole inscription contains a wonderful proof of the accuracy of the statements of Herodotus concern- ing Apries and Amasis II. The rumour of the prolonged fight between Apries and Amasis II. soon reached the ears of Nebuchad- nezzar II., and he made up his mind that the time had come for him to attack and conquer Egypt. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking (xliii. 10) in the name of the Lord God, said, "Behold, I will send and take "Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, " and will set his throne upon these stones that I have " hid ; " (i.e., the stones which God told Jeremiah to hide in the brick wall at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes) "and he shall spread his royal " pavilion over them." That Nebuchadnezzar advanced as far as this frontier city on the east of the Delta, there is no reason whatsoever to doubt, but there is also no reason whatsoever for believing that he entered Egypt proper, or even that he conquered any part of it. It has been stated, on the authority of a small frag- ment of a Babylonian Chronicle preserved in the British Museum (No. 33,041), that Nebuchadnezzar conquered all Egypt, and plundered the country, but the text 1 1 It was incorrectly published in Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. vii. p. 218ff., with a faulty and misleading translation; and correctly pub- lished by the Rev. Dr. Strassmaier in Edbyl. Texte, vol. vi. No. 329. B.C. 572] EGYPT IN HIS THIRTY-SEVENTH YEAR 21 on the fragment does not in any way bear out this comprehensive conclusion. The only definite fact that can be established from the fragment is that in the " Thirty-seventh year ; Nebuchadnezzar, king " of [Babylon to] Egypt to make war we[nt]." In the next line the first complete sign is ^Jj, which was arbitrarily read su by Mr. Pinches, and then, wishing to prove that the invasion of Egypt took place in the reign of Amasis II., he supplied the letters Ama, and boldly translated the line " [his army Amajsis king "of Misir collected and " But the missing word before *^TT must be a common noun, and not the name of a king, and there is no room on the fragment for a noun and the name of a king. Thus there is no proof that Amasis II. was king when Nebuchadnezzar set out to attack Egypt, and his name occurs nowhere on the fragment. In the next line the city Pu-tu-ia-a- is mentioned, and it is said in the following line to be a " district remote which [is] in the midst of the sea ; " the name of its king ended in ku-n, JtjJ ^jyi^:, which signs Mr. Pinches regarded as part of the verbal form illiku, and he translated the line " [his soldiers we]ut, they spread abroad. As for me (?) " instead of " ku, of the city of Pu-tu- ia-a " The rest of the inscription is too mutilated to make any connected sense of, and only a few words here and there can be safely translated. The fragment can, in no case, be used as a proof either that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt, or that he invaded 22 THE BUILDINGS OF AMASIS II. [B.C. 572 it and marched up into the country as did Esarhaddon and Ashur-bani-pal ; all that it proves is that the compiler of the Chronicle believed that Nebuchadnezzar collected his forces and went to Egypt in the 37th year of his reign. In the course of his long reign Amasis II. carried out a number of building operations throughout the country, and his name is found at all the important sanctuaries of Egypt. We find that in all the great quarries at Elephantine, and Tura, and Hammainat works were reopened, which shows that the repairs to the temples were on a large scale. He restored certain parts of the great temple at Karnak, and built two small chambers there, and at Abydos he repaired the temples and cleaned out the canals, and planted a vineyard, and endeavoured to make the old sanctuary of the god Osiris a worthy abode for one of the oldest gods of Egypt. The tombs of Abydos, though not as well worth plundering as those of Thebes, must have contained much that was valuable, and as a result they were pillaged time after time and ransacked by robbers of the dead; when Amasis II. came to Abydos he found that the old cemeteries were in ruins. For some reason or other he took special care to restore the sanc- tuary of Osiris, 1 and to provide for its re-endowment, 1 The stele of Peftchauaa-Nit in the Louvre gives some very interesting particulars about the works of restoration at Abydos ; for the text see Pierret, Recueil ft Inscriptions, torn. ii. p. 39 ff. ; and for a translation see Piehl in Aeg. Zeitschrift, vol. xxxii. p. 118. B.C. 572] HIS WORSHIP OF APIS 23 and there is every reason to believe that the monu- ment which M. Amelineau found in the "Tomb of Osiris" (see Vol. L, p. 16 ff.), was either made or "restored" by the orders of Amasis II. He built largely at Memphis, and set up there the colossal granite statues which Herodotus mentions ; he showed also his devotion to Apis by the pomp and ceremony with which he buried the Bull in the Serapeum in the twenty-third year of his reign. His buildings in the Delta were on a large scale, for he rebuilt a temple at Bubastis ; he dedicated a shrine, now in the Louvre, to Osiris at Athribis, and at Thmuis 1 he dedicated another shrine about twenty-three feet high. At Sais, his capital, he added a court, statues, and sphinxes to the temple of Neith, and here he placed the mono- lithic granite shrine which struck wonder into Hero- dotus, for it measured 30 feet in height, 11 feet in width, and 24 feet in length, and is said to have taken 2000 men three years to bring from the quarry at Syene to Sais. Under the fostering care of Amasis II. many of the old sanctuaries of Egypt sprang into renewed importance, a fact which says much for the tolerance of the king and for the prosperity of the country. He was a good friend to the Greek settlers in the country, and a tradition which was current in the time of Herodotus says that it was he who gave 1 The site of this place seems to be marked by the modern Temai al-Amdid, 24 GREEKS SETTLE IN EGYPT [B.C. 512 them the city of Naucratis to dwell in ; it is certain, however, that there were Greeks settled in Naucratis many years before the reign of Aniasis II., and all this statement implies is that he bestowed upon the Greeks there new privileges, and a new grant of land. 1 Arnasis II. spared no pains to preserve friendly rela- tions with the various foreigners who lived in his country, for he not only married a Cyrenaean lady of royal or high rank, but he also made offerings to their gods. He gave to the people of Delphi a thousand talents of alum, the proceeds of the sale of which were to be devoted to rebuilding the temple of their god ; he dedicated a statue of Athene in her temple at Gyrene, and two statues and a fine linen corslet to Athene of Lindos in Ehodes. One of these statues was afterwards taken to Con- stantinople, where it was destroyed in the fire at the Lauseion, A.D. 47Q,~ and the linen corslet was still in existence in the days of Pliny, who tells us (xix. 2) that each thread was composed of 365 other threads. Mucianus, who was three times consul, saw what was left of it, but says that very little remained " in con- " sequence of the injury it had experienced at the 1 On the date of the founding of Naucratis see Wiedemann, Aeg. Geschichte, p. 653; Krall, Grundriss, p. 179; Maspero, fli*f. Anc., torn. iii. p. 497 ; for the excavations made at Xaucratis by Prof. Petrie see his Naucratis, parts i. and ii. ; and for an excellent grouping of the facts to be deduced from them see Mallet, Les premiers fiAablissements des Grecs en figypte, p. 180 ff. 2 See Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buck, p. 613. B.C. 572] AMASIS II. PROTECTS THE GREEKS 25 " hands of various persons who had tried to verify the "fact." Amasis II. also dedicated to the temple of Hera at Samos two wooden statues of himself, which Herodotus saw there behind the doors. Amasis II. died in the forty-fourth year of his reign, and was buried at Sais. The account of the reign of Amasis II. by Herodotus (ii. 172-182) in B. R.'s Translation is as follows : "Apryes being dead Amasis raygned in his steede "being of y e Tribe of Sais, and trayned up in a City " called Suph. In the first entraunce of his raygne the " Aegyptians set lyght by him, and had him in greate " contempte, being spronge of no Noble house, but " arysinge of the common troup of the popular sorte. " Whose goodwill Amasis soughte to reconcile rather "by pollicy then severity. Being therefore infinitely " riche, he had amongst other his treasure, a Bason of " cleane Golde wherein both him selfe and his Guestes " were wont to washe their feete. This Bason hee " caused to bee beaten into the forme and Image of a "'god, and set it up in a fit place of the city. The "Aegyptians repayringe to the place, bowed themselues "in great reuerence unto the Image: which Amasis "having learned by his friendes, assemblinge the " people, tolde them that of the same Bason wherein " him selfe, and many other of the Aegyptians had bene " \vonte to vomite, , washe their feete, and all such "base exercises, was framed the god that they so "greatly honoured: saying, that his owne present 26 ACCOUNT OF AMASIS II. [B.C. 572 " estate was not much unlyke unto that Bason : for " albeit, before time he had bene one of the basest " degree of the people, yet now being their Kinge hee " ought of ryghte to bee had in honour. Whereby the " Aegyptians weare so allured that they thoughte it "meete afterwards to obeye their Prynce, who after- " wards obserued this custome in dealinge with the " affayres of the realme : from the morninge, untill the " places of assembly and common meeting were filled, " hee sat uppon all matters, that were brought before " him : spending the rest of the day amongst his com- "panyons in swilling, drinking, and such broade and "unseemly iesting, as if hee had bene some common "rybauld or Uyce of a playe. Whereat his friends " aggrieuinge, rebuked him in these or such like termes. "Most worthy Prince, it is a great blemish to your " name to Hue so wickedly, more meete it were for you " to sit in a Throne of maiesty and decide the causes of " your subiects, whereby the Aegyptians might knowe " themselues to bee gouerned by a worthy Prince, and " your fame bee increased throughout all the lande. " To whom hee answered. They that owe the Bowe " knowe best when to bend it, which being alway bent " becommeth so weake, that it is altogether unfit for "those that shoulde use it; euen so it fareth with " those that tyreing themselues with continuall paynes, " geuing no intermission to their cares, they are sodenly " bereaued either of their right minde, or their perfit " members. B.C. 572] BY HERODOTUS 2J " This king, whiles hee lyued without honour, was " geuen to bibbing and scoffing without measure, neuer " greatly minding his affayres ; and as ofte as hee " wanted to seme his turne, and to yeelde supply to " his pleasures, he sought mayntenance by filching and " stealing, whereof if happily hee were at any time "attached, his maner was to stand stoutly in deniall of " the thing and defiance of y e person : for which cause, " being many times brought to the Oracles and places " of southsaying : hee was sometime conuicted by them, "and at other times acquited. Wherefore, having " attayned to the kingdome, which of the gods soever " had acquited him of theft, he had no regard to their "temples, did no honour to them, gaue no gyftes, " offered no sacrifice, esteeming them unworthy of any "reuerence, hauing geuen out a false verdite. And "such as had pronounced him guilty, to these as to the "most true gods, whose Oracles were agreeable to "iustice, hee perfourmed the greatest honour hee " could deuise. Besides, in the City of Sais hee made " a porche to the temple of Minerua, a worke of greate " admiration, and farre passing the rest both in heights " and bignesse, so great is the quantity of the stones "that were employed in the building. Hee erected " besides in the same place, diuerse Images of a "wonderfull size, and the pictures of many noysorne " and pestilent Serpents. Hee layde there also many " huge stones, to the repayring of the temple, parte of " the which were digged out of the stone quarryes by 28 THE TEMPLE OF PTAH [B.C. 572 "Memphis: other of great quantity brought from "the city of Elephantina, which is distant from Sais " 20. dayes sayling. Moreover, that which is not the "least wonder, but in my minde to bee reckoned " amongst the chiefest : hee brought from Elephantina "an house framed of one stone : in the cariage whereof " 2000. choyse men of the Mariners of Aegypt consumed "three yeares. The roufe hereof on the outside is 21. "cubyts longe, 14. cubits broad, and eight cubites " highe ; being on the inside 22. cubytes in length, " and in height 5. This house is set at the entering " into the temple ; geving this reason why it was not " brought into the church, for that the chiefe Mariner, " when he had gotten it to that place, as wearie wyth "hys dayes worke, tooke respite and breathed him " selfe, whereat the king being uery much mooued, bad " him leaue of work, not permitting him to labour any " longer. Some say that one of those, which were " busied in heaving of the stone with leavers, to have " bene bruised to death by it, and that this was the " cause why it stoode without the Pallace. " By the same King were erected sundry temples, built " by arte very exquisitely and cunningly, whereof one hee " made sacred to Vulcane : before which lyeth a great " Image with the face upwarde, in length seuenty fiue " feete, being spread along uppon a pauement of stone : in " the selfe same place on eache side this Image, stand two " carued monuments of stone, twenty foote in quantity. " Like unto this is another stone in Sals, lying in the B.C. 572] THE GREEKS SETTLE AT NAUCRATIS 2Q " selfe same maner. In like sorte the great temple in " Memphis, so gorgeous and beautifull to the sight of " all that behold it, was the handiwork also of y e same "king Amasis. In the time of this Kinges gouern- "mente Aegypt floryshed in all wealth, being greatly "increased, as well by the ryches which the ryuer "yieldeth, as in other reuenewes which the people "receyue by the countrey, which at the same time " was so populous that there were then inhabited " 20,000 cityes. Likewise, by this Kinge it was "enacted, that euerye one should yearely render " accounte to the chiefe president of the countrey, "howe, and by what maner of trade he gayned his "lyuinge: being alwayes prouyding that such as " refused to doe it at all, or beeinge called to a reckon- " inge, coulde shewe no lawfull meanes, how they spent " their tymes : should for the same cause bee adjudged "to dye. Whyche lawe Solon borrowing of the " Aegyptians, did publish it in Athens, and is by them, "for the profite thereof, most religiously obserued. "Amasis uppon good affection hee bare to the " Grecians, besides other benefittes franckly bestowed " on them, made it lawefull, for all such as trauayled " into Aegypte, to inhabyte the City Naucrates. And " such as would not abyde in that place, hauinge more " mynde to seafaring for the use of Marchaundize, to "those hee gaue lybertye to plant aulters and builde "churches. So that the greatest and most famous " Temple in all the land is called the Grecian temple. 3O MONUMENTS OF THE GREEKS IN EGYPT [B.C. 572 " The Cityes of the Greekes by whose charge and " expence this temple was builte in Aegypte, were " these : of the country of Ionia, Chius, Tens, Phocoea, " Clazomene ; amongst the Dorians four Cities : Ehodus, " Cnydus, Halicarnassus, Phaselus ; one city of the " people of Aeolia, namely, Mitylene. To these Cityes " of Greece is the Temple belonginge, by whom also are " founde and mayntayned certayne Priests to serve in " the same. There are other townes besides in Greece " that haue some righte to the Temple, as hauing con- "tributed somethinge to the use of the same. Howbeit " the Temple of Jupiter, the people of Aegina built of "their owne proper cost. No City toke part with " Samos in setting up the Pallace of Juno : the Mile- " sians alone tooke uppon them to erect the Temple "of Apollo. Besides these there are no other monu- " ments built by the Grecians which remayne extant in "Aegypte. And if by fortune any of the Greeks passe " into Nylus by any other way then that which serueth " to lande by Greece, hee is fayne to sweare that hee " was constrayned agaynst his will, byndinge him selfe " by oath that in the same shippe hee will speede him " selfe into Canobicus, another Channell of the Ryuer so " called : and if by contrarye wyndes hee bee hindered " from arryuinge there; hee must hyre caryage by water, " and so ferry the nexte way to Naucrates. In such sorte " were the Grecians tyed to that city, beinge by reason of " their trafique thyther, had in principall honoure. Nowe "whereas the Pallace of Amphiction whiche is nowe at B.C. 572] AMASIS AND LADYCE 3! "Delphos, beeing straungely pearyshed by fyre, was " gone in hande with afreshe uppon price of three " hundred tallentes : the people of Delphos which were " leauyed at the fourth parte of the charges, straying " aboute all countryes, gathered very much, being "chiefly assysted by the Aegyptians. Amasis the " Kinge bestowinge on them a thowsande tallentes of " Alume, and the Grecians that were abyding in Aegypt " twenty pounds. " Moreover, with the Cyrenaeans Prynce Amasis "entred friendship, and strooke a league of fellow- " ship with the same, insomuch, that he thought " meete to enter allyaunce with them, taking a wife "of that countrey, eyther for affection he bare to "the women of Greece, or in respecte of hys love to " the Cyrenaeans. His wife, as some say, was the " daughter of Battus sonne of Arcesilaus, as others "reporte, of Critobulus a man of chiefe credite and "regarde amongst those with whome he dwelt. His "Ladies name was Ladyce, a woman of surpassing " beautie. . . . Ladyce remembring her uowe she had "made to Uenus, thought good to performe it, " and framing a most beautifull and curious image, " she sente it to the city Cyrenae, which stood "imperished unto our dayes, being placed by the " citizens without the towne. The same Ladyce, " Cambyses King of Persia uanquishing Egypt under- " standing what she was, sent her without any manner " [of] shame or uiolence into her owne countrey. 32 REIGN OF PSAMMETICHUS III. [B.C. 528 " By this King Amasis were many giftes distributed " of singulare price and ualue. To Cyrenae he sent the " image of Minerua, garnished all over with gilt, and " his owne personage most curiously shadowed by a " Paynter. Likewise to the city Lindus he gaue two " images of the goddesse Minerua wrought in stone, " with a linnen stomacher most excellently imbrodered " by arte. Moreover, to the goddesse Juno in Samus, "two pictures expressing her diuine beautie, of most " exquisite workmanship. Which bountie he exercised " towards the Samians for the great friendship he bare "to their king Polycrates the sonne of Aeaces. But to "the city Lyndus, why he should shewe hymselfe so "franke and liberall, no other reason serued, sauing " that the fame wente that the great temple of Minerua "in Lindus was builded by y e daughters of Danaus " after they were knowne, and had escaped the daungers "intended against them by the sonnes of Aegyptus. " These and many other excellente giftes were dispersed " and giuen abroade by King Amasis. By whome also " the city of Cyprus which was deemed of all men inuin- " cible, and had neuer before beene uanquished by any, " was conquered, taken, and brought under tribute." 6. ^ CoSL LJ] "I (D fl V ^l ANKH-XA- i 2 V_ I AAA^AA^I JOT V I JyA. *^=* A EN-Kl, son of the Sun, PSEMTHEK. PSEMTHEK III., or PSAMMETICHUS III., was the son of Amasis II., and reigned for a period of six months B.C. 528] REIGN OF PSAMMETICHUS III. 33 only ; for this reason some chronographers do not include his name among those of the kings of the XXVIth Dynasty. Monuments inscribed with his name are very few, and the two reliefs at Karnak, in which he is seen standing in the presence of Amen and of " Horus son of Isis and son of Osiris," are the only sculptures known of his reign. 1 These reliefs are found in a small temple which appears to have been built near the small temple of Amasis II. and Nit-aqert (Nitocris) by Psammetichus III. and by Ankh-nes-nefer- ab-Ra, for close by the reliefs of Psammetichus III. are some in which this princess is seen adoring certain gods. Of the events of the reign of Psammetichus III. the Egyptian inscriptions tell us nothing, and recourse must be had to the history of the invasion and conquest of Egypt by the Persians as told by Herodotus (iii. 1 ff.). It seems that long before his death Amasis II. had incurred the enmity of the king of Persia, and that one of the reasons why he allied himself so closely to the 'Greeks and other foreign nations was that he might have friends who would help him in the war which he probably foresaw must come sooner or later. The cause of the enmity between the two kings is not known from the inscriptions, but Herodotus supplies us with both the Persian and the Egyptian reason for the dispute. According to the Persians, Cambyses sent an ambassador to Egypt and asked Amasis II. for 1 See Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. pi. 275, /, g \ and Wiedemann, Aeg. Geschichte, p. 661. VOL. VII. D 34 AMASIS II. SENDS NITETIS, DAUGHTER his daughter to be sent to him. Cambyses had been urged to make this demand by an Egyptian physician, whom Amasis II. had sent as a gift to the Persians when Cyrus asked him to send him the best oculist in Egypt. It was no doubt a great honour for the physician, but as he was torn from his wife and children in Egypt to go to a remote country, he was furious against Amasis II., and made the suggestion that Cambyses should ask for the daughter of Amasis II. out of spite, well knowing that if the princess were sent to Persia it would cause Amasis II. to grieve sorely, and that, if she were not, it would stir up the wrath of Cambyses to such a degree that it might lead to an outbreak of war between the two countries. When the Persian ambassador arrived and Amasis II. heard his request, he was greatly perplexed and knew not what to do ; he was afraid of Cambyses and of his mighty army, and therefore did not wish to refuse, but on the other hand he felt that Cambyses did not want to marry the Egyptian princess, but only to include her among the ladies of his harim. In this difficulty he remembered that his former master Apries had left behind him an only child, a daughter, who was both tall and beautiful, and whose name was Nitetis ; her Amasis took, and having arrayed her in cloth-of-gold sent her to Persia as if she had been his own daughter. When she arrived in Persia and Cambyses saluted her in her supposed father's name Apries' daughter told him that he had been imposed upon by OF APRIES, TO PERSIA 35 Amasis, who had sent her to him as his own daughter, whereas, in solemn truth, she was the daughter of Apries, who, though he had been the master of Amasis, was put to death by him after the revolt of the Egyptians, which the murderer had stirred up. As a result Cambyses was greatly enraged, and the invasion of Egypt by the Persians was thus brought about by the fraud which Amasis II. had practised on their king. On the other hand, the Egyptians say that Cambyses was their kinsman, and that he was the son of the daughter of Apries, for it was Cyrus, and not Cam- byses, who was stirred up by the physician to send to Amasis II. for his daughter. But Herodotus doubted this explanation and he points out, first, that it is not customary with the Persians for a natural son to reign when there is a legitimate son living, and secondly, that Cambyses was the son of Cassandane, daughter of Pharnaspes, one of the Achaemenidae, and not of the Egyptian woman. Another story told about the matter is to the effect that a certain Persian lady visited the women of Cyrus, and, when she saw the children of Cassandane, beautiful and tall, standing by her, praised them highly, being exceedingly struck with them ; but Cassandane, the wife of Cyrus, said, " Though I am the " mother of such children, Cyrus holds me in disdain, " and honours her whom he has obtained from Egypt." This she said through envy of Nitetis, and her eldest son Cambyses said, " Therefore, mother, when I am a "man, I will turn all Egypt upside down." He said 36 PHANES AND CAMBYSES this when he was about ten years of age, and he bore it in mind till he grew up and was possessed of the kingdom, and then he invaded Egypt. One of the most active helpers of Cambyses was Phanes, the Halicarnassian, who was a wise man and a skilled warrior ; for some reason or other he quarrelled with Aniasis II., and escaped in a ship from Egypt, and made his way to the court of Cambyses. Amasis had sent eunuchs in pursuit of him, and he was caught in Lycia, but they failed to bring him back to Egypt, for having made his guards drunk he managed to make good his escape to the army of the Persians. Phanes reported to Cambyses the state of affairs in Egypt, and advised him to ask the king of the Arabs to grant him a safe passage through his waterless territory into Egypt. This Cambyses did, and when he and the king of the Arabs had made a treaty, the Persians marched on to Egypt, being supplied with water by the king of the Arabs. As to the manner in which the supply of water was provided there are two traditions. According to one, the king of the Arabs filled skins of camels with water and loaded them on to the backs of camels, and then drove them into certain places in the desert to await the arrival of the Persians ; according to the other, water was conveyed to reservoirs in three different places in the desert in pipes made of ox-skins which were fed from the Corys, a river that discharged itself into the Eed Sea. The former method was, no doubt, employed, only the water must have THE PERSIANS INVADE EGYPT 37 been placed in sheep-skins, four of which hung on a camel, two on each side, form a good load. A camel- skin filled with water would be too heavy for one camel to carry, and could only be lifted on to a camel's back with difficulty ; small bags made of camel-skin might, of course, have been used, but from time immemorial the skins of sheep and goats have been used for water transport on a large scale by the Arabs. The Egyptians awaited the attack of the Persians near or at Pelusium, and whilst they were waiting a most extraordinary thing happened, according to Hero- dotus (iii. 10), i.e., rain fell in drops at Thebes in Upper Egypt, which the Thebans told the historian had never happened before or since. 1 At length 1 A great many misleading statements have been made, even in recent years, about the total absence of rain at Thebes and in Upper Egypt. The fact is that rain has been known to fall every year or two at Thebes, in showers of short duration, for very many years past, but as the great storms usually spend themselves on and about the mountains in the desert and along the Nile, the land near the river only receives the rain which falls from the broken clouds that form the edge of the storm area. At the present time rain storms are well known in Upper Egypt. During the winter of 1900-01 a heavy storm passed over the Nile Valley between Luxor and Aswan, and those who were living at the time in the former place say that heavy rain fell there for thirty hours. The downpour was so heavy that the 3 ft. 6 in. railway between Luxor and Aswan was washed away in several places, and it is said that many passengers, whose journey was perforce arrested, and who were without food, were rescued from a somewhat trying position by British officials, who received them on a Government steamer and took them to Luxor. In January, 1887, the rain fell with tropical violence at Aswan for fourteen hours at one time, 38 DEFEAT OF THE EGYPTIANS [B.C. 527 Cambyses appeared at Pelusium, whereupon the Greek mercenaries who were with the Egyptians seized the sons of their comrade Phanes, who had led this foreign army against Egypt, and slew them over a bowl in the sight of their father and of the Persians, one after the other. Into the bowl which had caught their blood they poured wine and water, and the mixture was passed round for the mercenaries to drink of it ; when they had done so the battle began. Both sides fought with great bravery, but at length the Egyptians were beaten, and they fled in serious disorder to Memphis, which they fortified as well as they could, and then waited to see what would happen. A few days later a Persian ambassador sailed up the river in a Mitylenean boat, and proposed terms of surrender to the rebels in Memphis ; but when they saw the boat coming along a and on the following day the only building in the town which had a whole roof was that of the office of the P.M.O. ; such large quantities of rain fell that in the modern Muhammadan cemetery many bodies were washed bare. The writer remembers other occasions when rain fell at Kalabshi and Wadi Haifa, in Nubia, and saw it rain heavily for some hours while journeying from the south towards Beni Sawwef in Upper Egypt. That heavy rains and storms were known to the ancient Egyptians is proved by the existence of the hieroglyphic determinative iiiiii > which indicates water pouring from the sky ; compare its use in the words /A\ ^))^J v)))5) \\t\\\ $ P* a " rain flood," /wwv\ >$$>$> shend, " storm of -* f survives in 2CJUOV the Coptic word for rain. rain," "*\\f ^ lj (J $$ hatui, "rain." The last word B.C. 527] THE PERSIANS CAPTURE MEMPHIS 39 canal into the city the Egyptians attacked it, and broke it in pieces, and having torn the crew limb from limb they carried the pieces into the city. This foolish act brought the Persian army up to Memphis, and the city of course was obliged to surrender. The Libyans promptly sent gifts to Cambyses, and promised to pay tribute to him, as did also the peoples of Gyrene and Barca; the men of Gyrene only sent 500 minae of silver, which Cambyses at once distributed among his soldiers. Ten days after the fall of Memphis, Cambyses seated Psammetichus III. at the entrance to the city, and made his daughter and a number of Egyptian virgins of high rank to dress as slaves, and to take pitchers and to go down to the river to fetch water, and to pass by the king and his nobles as they went ; when the Egyptian nobles saw their daughters thus humiliated they wept bitterly, and uttered loud cries of lamentation, but Psammetichus made neither sound nor motion which showed that he was grieved, and having seen and known what was going on he sat still with his eyes bent to the ground. But Cambyses put his fortitude to a still greater test. The royal judges had decided that, in atonement for the murder of the crew of the boat on which the Persian ambassador sailed to Memphis, ten Egyptians should be put to death for each Persian who had been slain. Two thousand Egyp- tians, presumably the sons of noble or wealthy parents, were chosen, and halters having been put round their 4 o MASSACRE OF EGYPTIAN NOBLES [B.C. 527 necks and bridles in their mouths they were taken out to suffer death at the hands of the executioners, and with them the son of Psammetichus also marched out to die. The wretched company was made to pass before the king and the other parents, and though they wept and made loud lamen- tation Psammetichus, who saw them passing, and knew that his son was going forth to die with them, remained on his seat motionless and silent. After the men had passed by there came along a man of very mature age who had once been an intimate friend of Psammetichus, but he had fallen upon evil times and had lost everything of which he was possessed, and was reduced to poverty, and obliged to beg alms of the soldiers; as soon as the king saw him he wept bitterly, and smote his head, and cried out to his old companion by name. When Gray basalt figure of a king. XXVIth Dynasty. British Museum, No. 18,193. B.C. 527] DEATH OF PSAMMETICHUS III. 41 this was reported by his spies to Cambyses he marvelled, and sent a messenger to ask Psammetichus how it was that he was so unconcerned about the servitude of his daughter and the death of his son, but was moved to tears at the sight of a beggar who was no relation to him? To this question Psammetichus replied, " Son of Cyrus, the calamities of my family are "too great to be expressed by lamentation; but the " griefs of my friend were so worthy of tears, who, " having fallen from abundance and prosperity, has " come to beggary on the threshold of old age." When this answer was brought to Cambyses he was touched with pity, and straightway gave orders that the son of Psammetichus should not be slain, and should be brought into his presence, but when the prince was sought for it was found that he had already suffered death. Psammetichus was taken to the palace of Cambyses, and lived with him for some time in comfort, and had he refrained from meddling with the govern- ment of the country it is probable that Cambyses would have made him a satrap of his kingdom and governor of Egypt. But like Apries he became discontented with his position, and it having been discovered that he was conspiring against the authority of the Persians, Cam- byses compelled him "to drink the blood of a bull, and he died immediately afterwards ; " the blood of the bull, we may assume, was poisoned. Thus perished the last king of the XXVIth Dynasty, and Egypt became, like Baby- lonia and Assyria, a province of the Persian Empire. ( 42 ) [B.C. 527 CHAPTEK II. THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DYNASTY. FEOM PEESIA. 1. - RA-MESUTH, son of the Sun, KEMBATHET. ?V CAMBYSES was the son of Cyrus by Amytis, according to Ctesias (Pers. 9), and by Cassandane, according to Hero- dotus, as has already been said; we know from the Egyptian monuments that he reigned six years. He adopted as his Horus name the title of " Horus, the the Horus name of . . . , . , . "unmer of the two lands, and in his throne name, i.e., as king of the South and North, he styled himself " Born of Ka." The Egyptian form" of his name " Kembathet " l is derived from the old Persian 1 He also styled himself "lord of the two lands," and "lord of every country " ; a variant form, of his nomen occurs at / ' Hammamat i.e., I 11 v II I Ken-bu-tcha. See Lepsius, V A/sA Denkmaler, iii. pi. 283 m. B.C. 527] THE REIGN of CAMBYSES 43 ^F~ YY" T^*~> Babylonian forms of which are ] &*< <<>- ^ , or ^ ^- ^ *=Eft KAM-BU-ZI-IA. Of the early years of Cambyses nothing is known, and authorities are not agreed as to the reason of his attack upon Egypt, but as the Persians under Cyrus had captured Babylon (B.C. 538), and had made themselves masters of all the outlying countries, including Assyria, it is only natural that Cambyses should wish to prove his sovereignty over Egypt, because he regarded Egypt as a province of the Babylonian Empire which his father had conquered. Besides this, Croesus king of Lydia had made an alliance (Herodotus i. 77) with Amasis II. king of Egypt, and as Croesus was the foe of the Persians Amasis II. must be also. As soon as Cambyses had taken Memphis and had slain 2000 Egyptians that he might be avenged on the country for the murder of the crew of the boat, 200 in number, with whom his ambassador had sailed up to Memphis to offer terms of peace to the besieged, he moved on to the capital of the Sa'ite kings, i.e., Sai's in the Western Delta. Herodotus tells us (iii. 16) that he entered the palace of Amasis II., whom he expected to find alive when he reached Pelusium, and soon afterwards ordered the people to bring his dead body from the tomb, and that when this had been done he gave orders to scourge it, to pull off the hair, to prick it and abuse it in every possible manner. The Persians, 44 CAMBYSES AND UTCHA-HER-RESENET [B.C. 527 however, soon wearied of this employment, because having been well embalmed the mummy did not fall to pieces as they expected, and at length Cambyses wickedly ordered them to burn it. A tradition recorded by Herodotus says that it was not the body of Amasis II. that was thus treated, but that of another Egyptian which by the dead king's order had been placed quite near the door of the royal sepulchre, so that those who came to carry off the mummy of Amasis II. would carry off that ol the Egyptian by mistake. This story must have been told to Herodotus, and there is little doubt that he repeated it just as he heard it, but it cannot be regarded as true, for we have a contem- poraneous account of the way in which Cambyses acted at Sals which must be mentioned here. There is preserved in the Egyptian Museum of the Vatican a portion of a green basalt statue of an Egyptian *\ I \ fl /WWW priest called Utcha-Her-resenet, \\ A v\ 4> Q . 1 n & _m> S I I who was a ha prince, a royal chancellor, a smer udt, and a " real royal relative," 2 and who is represented as holding before him a shrine containing a figure of the god Osiris ; in the XVIIIth century the Vatican authorities thinking, it would seem, that the statue was that of a female added the head of a woman to it. The statue is now generally known as the "Pasto- B.C. 527] A PRINCE AND PRIEST OF SAIS 45 phorus of the Vatican." l The priest Utcha-Her-resenet was the son of Pef-tchaua-Net, by his wife Tem-ari-tas, . , and he held - ' some high office in connexion with the Egyptian fleet under Amasis II. and his son Psammetichus III. It is possible that his father Pef-tchaua-Net is to be identified with the official of the same name who flourished under Apries, i.e., Hophra, and whose statue, with a shrine in front of it, is preserved in the British Museum (No. 83, Egyptian Gallery). According to the text on this interesting figure Cambyses came to Egypt with a multitude of people from every land, and he ruled the whole country as king, taking as his official name "Mesthu-Ra" (i.e., born of Ka), and the people who were with him settled in Egypt. In due course he came to SaTs, and the former servant of the Sa'ite kings came to sal ate his new lord, and to conduct him about the city. Utcha-Her-resenet ex- plained to him the great antiquity of the city, and told him that the goddess of the city, Neith, was the mother of Ea, the Sun-god, the first-born of the gods, and that Sals had been her dwelling-place from time immemorial, and that the city was the counterpart 1 For the literature see Wiedemann, Aeg. Geschichte, p. 667 ; an English translation of the Egyptian text on the Pastophorus will be found in Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. ii. p. 293 ff . An excellent photograph of the figure is published by Sig. Romu- aldo Moscioni of Rome. 46 CAMBYSES RESTORES THE TEMPLE [B.C. 527 of heaven above. In it also were the abodes of the gods Ra and Tenm and of the other members of their cycle. The Persian king must have listened sympathetically, for the priest then went on to com- plain that the foreigners who had come into the city had taken possession of the temple, and that they had built themselves small abodes in its halls and courts, and he asked the king to have them driven out. This the king did, and the temple was purified, its priests were reinstated, its revenues were restored, and his majesty decreed that the appointed festivals and ceremonies should be duly celebrated and performed as in the days of old. When the cleansing of the temple was finished Cambyses went into it in person, and he performed an act of worship after the manner of the old kings of Egypt, and poured out a libation to the goddess Neith, and made gifts to her temple. With the management of the revenues of the temple Utcha- Her-resenet now busied himself, and these he de- voted to the maintenance of the services which had to be performed in honour of the goddess, and in keeping her statues, etc., in a proper state of repair. He was also good to the poor and needy, and he "protected the people under the very heavy misfortune " which had befallen the whole land, such as this " country had never experienced before." He protected the weak against the strong, he was a friend to those who honoured him, he revered his father and did the B.C. 527] AT SAIS AND ESTABLISHES SCHOOLS 47 will of his mother, and was gracious to his brethren ; for the man who was too poor to buy a coffin he pro- vided one, and he took care of the children. When Cambyses was dead the fame of Utcha-Her-resenet reached his successor in the kingdom, and Darius sent for the priest of Sa'is and commanded him to establish a college in which boys should be educated to the profession of the scribe ; this he did, and as he tells us that the teachers in it applauded his actions and presented him with gifts of gold we may assume that his rule of the college was popular. Thus the story told by the above facts is directly contrary to that repeated by Herodotus. As soon as Cambyses had made himself master of Egypt he planned three expeditions, one against the Carthaginians, one against the dwellers in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, and one against the Ethiopians. The Carthaginians he intended to attack by sea, and the dwellers in the Oasis and the Ethiopians by land. He sent to Elephantine for a number of the Ichthyophagi who understood the Ethiopian (i.e., Nubian) language, and whilst they were on their way he commanded the naval forces to sail against Carthage ; but the Phoenician sailors naturally would not fight against their own kinsmen in Carthage, and as the rest of the forces were helpless without them the Carthaginians were left in peace. When the Ichthyophagi came to Cambyses he gave them a number of gifts, which consisted of a purple cloak, a gold necklace, bracelets, an alabaster 48 CAMBYSES AND THE ICHTHYOPHAGI [B.C. 527 box of ointment, and a barrel of palm wine, and despatched them to Ethiopia. When the Ichthyophagi arrived in Ethiopia, the king of the country made light of their gifts, and giving them a bow he sent back to Cambyses a message to the effect that the Persians had better not attempt to make war on the long-lived Ethiopians until they could draw a bow like the one he was sending, and had more numerous forces ; meanwhile let him thank the gods that the Ethiopians were not inspired with the desire of adding another land to their own. When the envoys returned to Cambyses they reported that most of the Ethiopians attained to the age of 120 years, and some of them to even more ; that they fed on boiled flesh and drank milk ; that they washed in water from which they came forth as if they had been bathed in oil scented with violets ; that the common prisoners in the gaol were fettered with chains of gold, brass being very rare and precious ; that the bodies of the dead were kept in crystal cylinders ; and that Cambyses already knew that they had the reputation for being the tallest and handsomest of men, and that they chose as king the man who had the greatest strength coupled with the largest stature. When Cambyses received this report he was furious, and straightway ordered his army to set out on the march against the Ethiopians, but made no provision for giving them meat and drink. When the army reached Thebes he ordered a detachment of 50,000 to B.C. 527] CAMBYSES INVADES NUBIA 49 march to the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, 1 and to burn down the temple and to reduce the people to slavery. This detachment set out with guides, and in seven days reached the city of Oasis which was situated in a country called by the Greeks the "Island of the Blessed"; but after they started again upon their journey they were never more heard of. It was said that the whole detachment was overwhelmed by sand, which was driven over them by a hurricane from the south as they were eating their dinner. This may or may not have been the case, but calamities of the kind do occur in the desert, for a caravan of nearly 700 camels was lost in this way in the desert between Korosko and Abu Hamad only a few years ago, and only two men escaped to tell the tale. Meanwhile the Persian army advanced to Nubia, and when they had gone a fifth of the way they had eaten up all their provisions and killed their transport animals. The army struggled on, notwithstanding, and the soldiers lived upon the herbs which could be found on their journey ; when, however, they reached the sands, i.e., the desert, they were reduced to cannibalism. Then, and not till then, did Cambyses realize the hopelessness of his task, and he turned back and marched down the 1 This Oasis is usually reached by travelling westwards from Alexandria for ten days, and then going to the south a journey of six days ; the Egyptians called it Sekhet Amt, jjjjjj $(!$> and the Arabs know it by the name of " Siwah." VOL. VII. E 5O THE ARMY OF CAMBYSES IN NUBIA [B.C. 527 Nile to Memphis. From the narrative of Herodotus it is difficult to make out exactly the route of Cambyses. If he wished to reach Gebel Barkal, or Napata, which was the capital of the Nubian kingdom at that time, he could only do so by marching up the Nile. The distances are as follows : Memphis to Syene about 600 miles; Syene to Behen (Wadi Haifa) 210 miles; Behen to the head of the Third Cataract, i.e., Kerma, 201 miles ; Kerma to Old Dongola, 155 miles ; Old Dongola to Gebel Barkal (Napata), 70 miles, i.e., the distance by river from Memphis to Napata is about 1236 miles. The distance from Memphis to Meroe by river is about 1630 miles, but if the desert route be followed between Wadi Haifa and Abu Hamad, the distance between Memphis and Meroe is only about 1300 miles. Now Cambyses must have followed the Nile to Syene if he got as far and he could there either have taken an old caravan road, which would have led him to Abu Hamad in from seventy to ninety days, or have gone by the Nile to Korosko, and then struck the old road to the same place. But whether Cambyses set out for Napata or Meroe, one-fifth of the distance from Memphis to either place would not take him out of Egypt. It is difficult to make the narrative of Herodotus agree with well-ascertained facts, and all we can safely deduce from it is that Cambyses set out to cross the desert without adequate transport and supplies, and that the greater part of his army perished through hunger and thirst. Moreover, some- B.C. 527] CAMBYSES IN MERGE 51 one has confused the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon with the Oasis of Kharga, which is about seven days' journey from Thebes ; the nearest way to the former Oasis from Memphis is to travel in a westerly direction, and not to go to Thebes, as any camel man could have told Cambyses. According to some ancient writers, Cambyses suc- ceeded in making his way as far south as the city of Meroe, and Strabo says (xvii. 1, 5) that he gave this name both to the island and the city, because his sister, or, according to some writers, his wife Meroe died there ; Diodorus, however, says (i. 33) that Cambyses built the city and called it after his mother. When Cambyses returned to Memphis, he found the Egyptians celebrating a great festival because a new Apis Bull had appeared, and he, imagining that they were rejoicing because his expeditions had failed, became very angry ; he sent for some of the chief men of Memphis, and having asked for an explanation of the festival, and receiving from them a reply which was in his opinion unsatisfactory, he called them liars, and had them put to death. He next sent for the priests, and when they told him the same story, he had the Apis Bull l led before him. Being seized with a fit of temporary insanity, he burst out into a peal of 1 The Apis Bull was distinguished by being black with a white spot on the forehead ; on the back was the figure of an eagle, on the tongue the figure of a beetle, and he had double hairs in his tail. 52 CAMBYSES STABS APIS [B.C. 527 laughter at the Egyptians for worshipping a creature of flesh and blood, and aimed a hlow at the Bull, but missing the spot he aimed at he smote him on the thigh instead of in the belly. Apis languished in the temple for some time and then died, and was buried without the king's knowledge. Whilst he was staying at Memphis Cambyses committed many sacrilegious acts, which seem to prove that he must have been half mad at times. Thus he had a number of tombs opened and the mummies drawn out for him to look at; he made a mock of the figure of the god Ptah in his temple, and having forced his way into some specially sacred portion of the temple into which it was lawful for the priests only to enter, he looked upon certain wooden statues of the gods, and then had them burnt. In Strabo's time the city of Memphis was entirely deserted, and he says (xvii. 1, 27) that the temple there exhibited many proofs of the madness and sacrilegious acts of Cambyses, who did very great injury to the temples, partly by fire and partly by violence. When he took the city many parts of it seem to have been set on fire, but he was struck with such admiration for one obelisk there that, Pliny says (xxxvi. 14), he ordered the flames to be extinguished even when they had reached to the very base of the monument. At Thebes also Cambyses is said to have done great damage to the temples, for Strabo relates (xvii. 1, 46) that many of them were mutilated by him. Diodorus says (i. 46) that he carried off to Persia from the B.C. 527] FITS AND INSANITY OF CAMBYSES 53 tomb of Osymandyas a large disk of gold, 350 cubits in circumference, on which were tabulated the days of the year, together with data concerning the rising and setting of stars. It is difficult to understand why Cambyses behaved with such rever- ence to the goddess Neith at Sai's, and with such hostility to the other gods of Egypt in other places. Herodotus tells us (iii. 30) that he sent his brother Bardiya (in Persian cuneiform :| ^| ^~TI Yf T^"~X i.e., Bardes, the Smerdis of Herodotus, off to Persia from Egypt through envy because he alone was able to draw the bow which the Ichthyophagi had brought back from the Nubians ; and because he dreamed that this Bardiya was sitting on the throne of Persia, he sent his trusted friend Prexaspes after him to Persia to kill him. This Prexaspes did, but whether he slew him at Susa or drowned him in the Ked Sea, is not known. Cambyses married two of his sisters, which was against the laws of Persia, and the youngest, who went with him to Egypt, is said to have died there as the result of a kick which he gave her because she made some remark which displeased him. Cambyses had suffered from his youth up from epilepsy (Hero- dotus iii. 33), and he was seized from time to time with fits of insanity during which he perpetrated many cruel acts ; thus he shot to the heart with an arrow his cup-bearer, the son of Prexaspes, his closest friend, and rejoiced at the trueness of his aim ; he had twelve Persian nobles buried in the ground up to the neck 54 CRUELTY OF CAMBYSES [B.C. 527 for no cause that could be discovered by his friends ; and once he tried to slay Croesus because he had offended him. Croesus escaped by the help of some of the servants, who knew that Cambyses would be sorry afterwards if he had killed him, and though he was pleased that Croesus was forthcoming when he asked for him he took care to put to death the servants who had saved him from their master's anger. The punish- ments inflicted by Cambyses were of an extraordinary character, e.g., he caused a judge called Sisamnes to be slain and flayed because he had taken a bribe and passed an unjust sentence, and he caused the skin of the judge to be fastened over the seat on which the judge used to sit when . pronouncing judgment. Cambyses appointed Otanes, the son of Sisamnes, in his father's place, and admonished him to remember on what seat he sat and to judge justly (Herodotus v. 25). When Cambyses left Persia for Egypt he appointed a Magian called Patizeithes to be the governor of his palace, but this man, knowing that Cambyses had murdered his brother Bardiya (Bardes, i.e., Smerdis), determined to turn his knowledge of the fact, of which the Persians generally were ignorant, to his own account. He persuaded his brother, who bore the name of Bardiya, 1 to join him in the revolt, and he 1 The Behistun Inscription (col. i. line 36) says he was called Ganmata, a name which in the hands of classical writers has become Gomates, or Gometes. B.C. 527] DEATH OF CAMBYSES 55 made him to be proclaimed throughout Persia as Bardiya, the brother of Cambyses, and son of Cyrus, and king of the country in the room of Cambyses. The rebels next sent heralds into the provinces of Persia to proclaim the news, and one of them, he who had been despatched to Egypt, actually announced his message to Cambyses himself, whom he found with his army at Ecbatana, in Syria. Hearing this Cambyses leaped upon his horse, wishing to set out at once for Susa, but as he was doing so a portion of the scabbard of the sword fell off, and the blade being bare wounded him in the thigh, it is said in the part where he had smitten the god Apis (Herodotus iii. 64). Twenty days later he collected his chiefs, and confessed that he had caused Bardiya to be slain, and having urged them never to allow the Medes to have power over the country, he soon after died from the effects of the sword wound, which had made the limb to mortify and had affected the bone. Herodotus says that he reigned seven years and five months. It is difficult to distin- guish in the above statements what is history and what is romance, and we must therefore have recourse to the great inscription of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who narrates the matter in these words : : "A man of our 1 For the text see Rawlinson, Jnl. Royal Asiatic Society, vol. x., plate, line 27 ff. ; a later edition of the Persian text will be found in Weissbach and Bang, Die Altpersischen Keilinschriften, Leipzig, 1893, page 14 ff . For an English translation see Kawlinson in Records ofihe Past, vol. i. p. Ill ff. 56 GAUMATA THE MAGIAN "race, called Cambyses (jz :J ^*yy~ >-4**- *YY~ T^"~ " Ka-ab-u-j-i-ya), the son of Cyrus (^J ^^ *^J ^*yy~ *^T " Ku-ra-u-sJi] became king. He had a brother called " Bardiya, of the same mother and father as Cambyses ; " Cambyses murdered him, but the people knew not "that he had done so. Cambyses went to Egypt, and " after he had gone there, the people became hostile, "and falsehood prevailed in the land, not only in "Persia but in Media and in the other countries. " There was a man, a Magian (^JyJ 4jf~~ ^jj~ f- *-J{^ T^> have preserved Bardiya as the name of the brother of Cambyses, which the Greeks turned into Bardes or Smerdis. 1 See Strassmaier, in Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, vol. iv. p. 148 ff. B.C. 521] REIGN OF DARIUS I. 57 2. SETTU, son of the Sun, ANTHERIUASHA. Of the rise of DARIUS I. to power we have two principal versions, namely that of Herodotus, and that of the king himself. According to Herodotus (iii. 67 ff.), Smerdis the impostor, who reigned but a few months, made himself popular by proclaiming a general exemption from tribute and military service for the space of three years. In the eighth month of his reign Otanes, the son of Pharnaspes, suspected that Smerdis was not the son of Cyrus, and took steps to find out whether his suspicion was justified or not. Smerdis had married Phaedyma, a daughter of Otanes, and Otanes told his daughter to find out when she was sleeping with her husband whether he had ears or not ; Phaedyma ,did so, and reported that Smerdis had no ears, and Otanes knew that the man was the impostor he suspected him to be, for Cyrus had had the ears of this Smerdis cut off during his reign because he had committed some grave offence. Otanes took into his confidence two great Persian nobles called Aspathines and Gobryas, and found that they too had their suspicions of Smerdis, and the three men each asso- ciated with himself a friend ; Otanes chose Intaphernes, Var. f j^ < > ^ Wl J ANTARUSHA, f ^ (j [j <2 Mill TEBIU- SHA, etc. 58 DARIUS SLAYS SMERDIS [B.C. 521 Gobryas chose Megabyzus, and Aspathines chose Hydarnes. The six men added to their number a seventh, one Darius, who had arrived at Susa from Persia. When the seven had met and exchanged opinions Darius declared boldly that he knew that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was dead and that a Magi an of the same name was reigning, and that he had come there on purpose to bring about the death of the Magian, and he advised that the impostor should be killed that very day. After some delay they forced their way into the palace, and the seven, having slain all who resisted them, succeeded in reaching the room where Smerdis was; Darius and Gobryas rushed in, and whilst Gobryas was grappling with Smerdis, Darius stabbed the impostor with his dagger. This done they cut off the heads of the Magians whom they had slain and took them out and showed them to the people, and thereupon began a massacre of the Magians by the mob. Soon after this the conspirators, who had been reduced to six by the withdrawal of Otanes from their number, agreed that he whose horse should neigh first at sunrise when they were mounted should have the kingdom, and Oebares, the groom of Darius, having managed to make his master's horse neigh first on a certain day at sunrise when the six were mounted, Darius was hailed by his companions as king. The account given by Darius is as follows : } " The 1 Rawlinson, Text, col. i., line 48 ff. B.C. 521] THE NARRATIVE OF DARIUS I. 59 "sovereignty which Gaumata had wrested from Cambyses " had belonged to our family from times of old. "Gaumata, the Magian, having taken away from " Cambyses both Persia and Media, and the other "provinces, did as he 'pleased and became king. There " was no man, neither Persian, nor Median, nor any " one of our race who was a match for that Gaumata, " the Magian, who had usurped the sovereignty. The " people feared him exceedingly, and he made an end "of many people who had known Bardiya in times " past, and he slew them [he said] ' that they may not "recognize me and know that I am not Bardiya, "the son of Cyrus.' No man dared to gainsay " Gaumata until I came. I prayed unto Auramazda, " YTY <*TT~ JET -Ill THf 77 YTY CK and he "brought me help. It was on the 10th day of the "month Bagayadish, that I and a few men slew " Gaumata the Magian, and those who were his intimate " friends. I slew him in the fort called Sikayauvatish, "in the province of Nisaya in Media, and I wrested " the sovereignty from him. By the will of Auramazda I " became king, and Auramazda gave me the sovereignty. " The sovereignty which had been wrested from our " family I brought back, and set it in its right place, " and I made it to be as it was of old. The temples " which Gaumata, the Magian, had destroyed, I rebuilt, " and I gave back to the people the flocks and herds . . . "of which Gaumata, the Median, had robbed them. " I restored the people to their places, Persia, Media, 60 ARYANDES GOVERNOR OF EGYPT [B.C. 521 " and the other countries. What had been carried off "I restored and made even as it was before. I did " this according to the will of Auramazda. I toiled " until our house had been restored to its place." "When Cambyses left Egypt for Persia he appointed as satrap, or viceroy, of Egypt a certain man called Aryandes, who appears to have been a capable governor. During his rule a dispute broke out between Arcesilaus, the son of the lame Battus and Pheretime (Herodotus iv. 162 ff.), and Demonax, the man who had been appointed arbitrator of Gyrene by the command of the Pythia at Delphi, and in the end Arcesilaus had to flee to Samos and his mother Pheretime to Salamis in Cyprus. In accordance with the answer of the Pythia Arcesilaus returned to Gyrene, but forgetting to carry out the instructions which he had received from the oracle, he and his father-in-law Alazir were slain at Barce ; when his mother Pheretime heard this she fled to Egypt, for Arcesilaus had performed some services for Cambyses. Cambyses had given Gyrene to Arcesilaus, and had made him a tributary to the king of Egypt. Ar- yandes hearkened to her complaints and demands for revenge, and gave Pheretime the use of the army and navy of Egypt; over the army he set Amasis, a Maraphian, and over the fleet Badres of Pasargadae. These forces set out from Egypt and in due course arrived at Barce, which was captured after a long and obstinate resistance ; Pheretime impaled the men whom the Persians brought to her, and set them out B C. 521] DARIUS SLAYS ARYANDES 6l round the walls, and she had the breasts of their wives cut off and hung upon the walls. The Barceans were made slaves and large numbers of them were transported first to Egypt, and then to Bactria, where Darius set apart a place for them to live in. Soon after Pheretime returned to Egypt she died of a terrible and loathsome disease. The immediate cause of the invasion of Egypt by Darius is not quite clear, but it seems as if it was caused by some action of Aryandes, who was put to death "for attempting to "make himself equal with Darius." Darius coined money made of the finest gold, and Aryandes imitating him coined money in silver; when Darius heard of this he regarded it as an attempt on the part of his viceroy to make himself king, and treated the act as one of rebellion, and put him to death. When Darius arrived in Egypt, about B.C. 517, he adopted the rank and style of the Egyptian kings of old, and chose for himself as king of the South and North the name RA-SETTU, and placed his name Darius, tran- scribed into hieroglyphic characters, within a cartouche as " son of the Sun." In the great Behistun Inscription, which was first deciphered and translated by the late Sir Henry Eawlinson, Darius calls l himself " the great "king, the king of kings, the king of Persia, the "king of the lands." He was the son of Hystaspes (^ ^ ^-JlT ^TY T>~" *%rB- s h-ta-a-s-p), the grandson 1 Col. l, 1. 1 ff. 62 DARIUS I. AND THE APIS BULL [B.C. 521 * of Arsames, the great-grandson of Te'ispes, and the great-great-grandson of Akhaemenes (^Z^ ^TT TfT *~JyT ^^ Y^~ ^ Ha-kha-a-ma-n-i-sh) ; the family were called Akhaemenians after their ancestor Akhae- menes. Darius says that eight of his race were kings, that he was the ninth, and that his race had from olden time been a royal one. The Egyptian form of his name "Antheriuasha," coming through the Greek from the Persian form D-a-r-ya-w-u-sh, *^7 ^" ^J |^ ^-J^E ^*YY^ ^~, is curious, but from the variants quoted in a note above it will be seen that other transliterations of the name into Egyptian were more correct. Shortly before the arrival of Darius in Egypt an Apis Bull, which had been consecrated in the reign of Cambyses, was laid in the Serapeum, and the ceremonies appear to have been conducted by a general called Aah-mes, (Amasis), 1 who may well have been employed in the expedition sent to Barce by Aryandes. Among those who would welcome Darius would be the old noble Utcha-Her-resenet who had induced Cambyses to do so much for the temple of Neith at Sais, and we know from the inscription on the priest's statue in the Vatican already referred to that Darius instructed him to found a college for the education of the priests. From the fact that Darius promised to contribute a slim of money towards the expenses which would be incurred in discovering the new Apis Bull we may assume that 1 See Pierret, Recueil, p. 67 ; Records of the Past, rol. iv. p. 61 ff. B.C. 521]] THE CANAL OF DARIUS I. 63 he was tolerant in religious matters, and that he wished to eradicate the bad impression which the Egyptians had obtained of the Persians through the sacrilegious behaviour of Cambyses. His greatest work of practical utility in the country was the completion of the digging of the canal to join the Nile and the Ked Sea, which had been begun by Necho II. According to Herodotus (ii. 158), it took four days to make the passage along this canal, and it was sufficiently wide for two triremes to be rowed abreast. The water entered it from the Nile near Bubastis, and the canal ran through the modern Wadi Tumilat, and passing Pa-Tern, i.e., the city Pithom, reached the Red Sea. From the mouth of the Wadi Tumilat the course of the canal of Darius may still be traced by the remains of the large stelae which he set up at various places to commemorate the completion of his work; these stelae were inscribed in hieroglyphics on one side, and in three kinds of cuneiform writing on the other, the languages repre- sented by these last being Persian, Elamitic (or, Susian), and Babylonian. 1 Remains of some of these stelae have been found near Tell al-Maskhuta, near the Serapeum, near Shaluf, and a little to the north of Suez. On each stele was a figure of Darius with the titles "great king, king of kings, king of the lands of all peoples, king of this great earth, the son of Hystaspes the Akhaemenian." Below this, as we learn 1 For the literature see Wiedemann, Aeg. Qeschichte, p. 680. 64 TRILINGUAL INSCRIPTIONS OF DARIUS I. [B.C. 521 from the stele near Suez, was the inscription, "A great " god is Auramazda who hath created this earth, who " hath created yonder heaven, who hath created man, "who hath given unto man the blessing of happiness, " who hath made Darius king, and who hath confided " unto king Darius sovereignty, the great man, who is "rich both in horses and in men." After a repetition of his titles the text continued, "Thus spake king "Darius, I am a Persian, and by the help of the " Persians I captured Egypt. I ordered this canal to " be dug from the river Nile (Pirava) which floweth in "Egypt to the sea which goeth forth from Persia. " This canal was dug even as I ordered it." The rest of the inscription is mutilated, but according to Dr. Oppert, who restored it by the help of the Egyp- tian version, it contained a statement to the effect that Darius ordered one half of the canal, i.e., from Bira to the sea, to be destroyed, and Dr. Oppert thinks that he gave this order because the Persian engineers told him that on account of the difference between the level of the Mediterranean and of the Bed Sea, Egypt would be flooded ' if the canal were completed. It will be remembered that exactly the same argument was used when the present Suez Canal was contemplated. But whether the canal was ever opened or not, the working 1 See Records of the Past, vol. ix. pp. 80, 81 ; Weissbach and Bang, op. cit., p. 39 ; Maspero in Recueil, torn. vii. pp. 1-8 ; Menant in Recueil, torn. ix. p. 331 f. ; Daressy in Recueil, torn. xiii. p. 160 f. ; and Golenischeff in Recueil, torn. xiii. p. 99 f. B.C. 521] DARIUS HONOURED AS A GOD 65 on it would show the Egyptians that Darius was anxious for the welfare of the country, and we know from Diodorus (i. 95) that he was regarded as the sixth of the law-givers of Egypt. According to this writer, he hated and abhorred the impiety of Cambyses and the profanation of the temples of Egypt, and made it his business to honour the gods reverently and to be kind to men. He held converse often with the priests of Egypt, and learned their theology, and made himself acquainted with the things which were written in their books, and he emulated the ancient kings of Egypt in showing kindness to the people. At length he was so highly honoured among them that whilst he was alive he gained the title of god, which none of the other Persian kings ever did, and when he was dead the people paid him the honours which were wont to be paid to the ancient kings of Egypt. Egypt, with Libya and Gyrene and Barce, formed the sixth of the twenty divisions into which Darius divided his kingdom, and he received from it 700 talents ; and the revenue arising from the sale of the fish in Lake Moeris, i.e., a talent per day when the water was flowing out, and 20 minae when it was flowing in (Herodotus ii. 149); and 120,000 measures of corn for the Persians who occupied the garrison at White Fort, i.e., f | O r Memphis (Herodotus iii. 91) ; and there were other privileges enjoyed by the royal family of Persia in Egypt, for the city of Anthylla was expected to VOL. VII. F 66 TEMPLE OF DARIUS I. AT AL-KHARGA [B.C. 521 provide shoes, or some other article of wearing apparel, for the wife of the reigning king of Egypt (Herodotus ii. 98). Darius showed his reverence for the gods by making offerings in their temples, and by giving gifts to the priests. He carried out some repairs connected with the temple of Ptah at Memphis, but his greatest architectural work was the building of the temple in the Oasis at Kharga in honour of the god Amen. The Oasis Al-Kharga (the Kenemet, AWW^ , of the ancient r^ \ [v'"vi -i(\ | Egyptians, or "Oasis of the South," ^> I ~~ *L ' ), commonly known as the " Great Oasis," lies at a distance of about five days' journey 1 from the Nile to the west of the modern town of Esneh ; the latitude of the village of Kharga is 25 26' 26", and the longitude east of Greenwich 30 40' 15". The temple built by Darius in this Oasis is known to-day as the Temple of Hibis, this name being derived from Hebt, [~[] 1 , -=4 $ the old Egyptian name of the city ; it lies about three miles to the north of Kharga village, and is a most striking object in the desert, both as regards its preservation and position. According to the recent measurements of Mr. J. Ball, the main building is about 44 metres long and 18 metres broad, and it is 1 Mr. J. Ball estimates the distance of the Oasis from Esneh at 229 kilometres, which his survey party took 69 hours to travel over. B.C. 521] DARIUS' HYMN TO AMEN-RA 67 oriented almost exactly due east ; in front of it are a court about 9 metres wide and of uncertain length, and three pylons, which are situated at distances of 34 metres, 96 metres, and 117 metres respectively from the front of the main block. The whole building is of sandstone. The third pylon is intact, and is covered with hieroglyphic decorations; the other two are in a state of ruin. The walls of the sanctuary and the two rooms to the east are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and it may be noted that the finest reliefs are found in the sanctuary, and that the quality of the workmanship is inferior in the figures of the reliefs and in the hieroglyphics of other parts of the building. 1 On the south-west wall of the second chamber in the temple is a most remarkable hymn of fifty lines ; it is addressed to the god Amen-Ra, who is regarded as the One God, of whom all the other gods are considered to be forms or phases. It follows the figures of eight frog-headed gods, who are called Nu, Nut, Hehu, Hehut, Kekiu, Kekiut, Kerh, Kerhet. 2 The god is said to be self-produced, O *^| , his bones are of 1 See J. Ball, Kharga Oasis : its Topography and Geology, Cairo, 1900. /wwv\ /WW\A s *"Jr>Trtfj ^^".y^'ofl' <^ s 68 DARIUS' HYMN TO AMEN-RA [B.C. 521 silver, his skin is of gold, his forehead is of lapis-lazuli, and his limbs are of emerald. The earth was fashioned at the beginning according to his plans. He becometh old, but he reneweth himself, and becometh young again ; heaven resteth upon his head. When he entereth the Tuat (i.e., underworld) the eight primeval gods sing praises to him. He dwelleth in the Sun's disk, and he hideth in the pupil of his eye, he shineth through his Utchats, ^^ ^p^ \ (i- e '> the Sun and Moon). His being is hidden and mysterious, and cannot be comprehended. He giveth life both to the living and the dead. He was not produced in a womb, but he sprang from primeval matter. His form is hidden, no god begot him, what god is like unto him ? He is the chief of the gods, etc. The hymn is placed in the mouths of the eight great primeval gods who formed the company of Khemennu, r\ r> /wwv\ I I I | ll] n > i-e., Hermopolis, the city of the god Thoth, and who were regarded as the principal forms of the Sun-god, Amen-Ua. Many of the attributes ascribed to the god, as well as many of the ideas expressed, are found in hymns preserved in manu- scripts of the Book of the Dead which date from the XVI Ilth Dynasty, but it is a very remarkable thing to find such a hymn inscribed on the wall of a chamber in the temple built by Darius in honour of the Egyptian Sun-god, Amen-Rfi. The explanation of the fact is, probably, that Darius found that so B.C. 521] AMEN-RA AND AURAMAZDA 69 many of the attributes of Amen-Ka were identical with those which he associated with the god Auramazda that he felt when he caused the hymn to be inscribed that he was honouring both gods at the same time. If this view be incorrect the existence of such a hymn in a temple built at his expense is an interesting proof of the extent to which he carried his toleration of the gods and of the religious views of the Egyptians. 1 The monuments of the reign of Darius are very few, and there is no evidence that he carried out building operations in any of the old sanctuaries of Egypt, except in Memphis, and perhaps in Edfu. Darius appears to have made no attempt to visit Nubia or the southern provinces of Egypt, although according to Herodotus (iv. 44) he was interested in the exploration of countries. Wishing to know into 1 The hieroglyphic text of the hymn was first published in 1876 by Dr. Birch (Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. v. p. 293 (2 plates)-302) from a copy made by Mr. R. Hay of Linplom between the years 1828 and 1832, and he gave an English rendering of it ; it was again published, but far more correctly, by Dr. H. Brugsch, in his Reise nach der Grossen Oase el Khargeh, Leipzig, 1878, plates xxv.- xxvii., who added an excellent German translation of it on p. 27 ff. The principal works to be consulted for information on the Oasis of Al-Kharga are: Cailliaud, Voyage a I'Oasis de Thebes, 1821; Edmonstone, A Journey to two of the Oases of Upper Egypt, 1822 ; Hoskins, Visit to the Great Oasis, 1837 ; Schweinf urth, Notizen zur Kenntniss der Oase El Khargeh (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1875, Heft x.); Rohlfs, Drei Monate in der libyschen Wiiste, 1875; Brugsch, Reise, 1878 ; Zittel, Geologic der libyschen Wiiste, 1883 ; Major Lyons, R.E., On the Stratigraphy of the Libyan Desert (Jnl. Geol. Soc., Nov. 1894) ; and Ball, Kharga Oasis, 1900. 70 THE BEHISTUN INSCRIPTION [B.C. 521 what ocean the Indus discharged itself he sent Scylax of Caryanda and others to try and find out. They set out from Caspatyrus, in the country of Pactyice, and having sailed down the river towards the east to the sea, they sailed westward on the sea until they arrived in the thirtieth month at the place whence Necho II. despatched the Phoenicians to sail round Libya. In the Behistun Inscription l Darius calls himself master of twenty-three countries, i.e., Persia, Uvaja, Babel, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, the Isles of the Sea, Lydia, Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia, Drangiana, Aria, Khorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, Gan- dara, Scythia, Sattagydia, Arachosia, and Mekran. He says that he fought nineteen battles against the kings who revolted against him, and that he took nine kings captive, i.e., Gaumata (Gomates), Atrina (Atrines), Nidintu-Bel, Martiya (Martes), Fravartish (Phraontes), Citratakhama (Sitratachmes), Frada (Phraates), Vahyazdata (Ve'isdates), and Arakha (Aracus). Gaumata claimed to be Bardiya, son of Cyrus; Atrina claimed to be king of Susa ; Nidintu- Bel claimed to be Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabo- nidus; Martiya claimed to be Ummannish (Imanes), king of Susa; Fravartish claimed to be Khshathrita (Xathrites) of the family of Uvakhshtra (Cyaxares) ; Citratakhama said he belonged to the same family, 1 Rawlinson, col. 1, line 14 ff. (Jnl. Eoyal Asiatic Soc., vol. x. 1847)- B.C. 521] DARIUS IS WOUNDED AND DIES 71 and claimed to be king of Sagartia ; Frada claimed to be king of Margiana; Vahyazdata claimed to be Bardiya, son of Cyrus ; and Arakha claimed to be Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabonidus. 1 Darius married a daughter of Gobryas, and had by her Artabazanes and two others ; and Atossa, by whom he had Xerxes, Hystaspes, Akhaemenes, and Masistes ; and Artystone, by whom he had Arsames and Gobryas ; and Parmys, by whom he had Ariomardas ; and Phratagima, by whom he had Abrocome and Hyperanthe. Four years after the battle of Marathon the Egyptians under the leadership of Khabbesha revolted against the Persians; as soon as Darius heard of the rebellion he made preparations to return to Egypt to suppress it, but died before they were completed, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, 2 and was succeeded by Xerxes, his son by Atossa, about B.C. 485. Under the strong rule of Darius Egypt enjoyed both peace and prosperity, but it is quite clear that there were not wanting descendants of the old royal houses of Bubastis and Sals, who were only waiting for a favourable oppor- tunity to claim the throne. As soon as the Egyptians found that Persia was in difficulties with the Greeks they at once began to stir and to make preparations to regain their independence. The Thebaiid was quite content to be ruled by a foreigner, but the restless and 1 For the text see col. iv., ]. 4 ff. 2 An inscription in the Wadi Hammamat is dated in the 36th year of his reign; see Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii. pi. 283 m. 72 THE REIGN OF XERXES [B.C. 486 turbulent people of the Delta were not so satisfied as the dwellers in the south, and they gave effect to their discontent as soon as possible. 3 - -* KHSHAI- ARSHA PA AA, XERXES the Great succeeded his father Darius I. about B.C. 486 or 485, and his first work of importance was the suppression of the revolt of the Egyptians, which had broken out under the leadership of KHABBESHA, who appears to have maintained his precarious authority for a little more or a little less than a year. Of this man nothing whatsoever is known, but he appears to have taken advantage of the war which had broken out between the Persians and Greeks, and which probably necessitated the temporary withdrawal of nearly all the Persian soldiers in Egypt, and to have proclaimed himself king. It is probable that he was the descendant of some Saite or Bubastite prince, and he may have held some official post as governor or administrator under Darius ; on the other hand, he has been declared by various scholars to have been a foreigner, but no two seem to agree about his supposed nationality. His prenomen or throne name reads SENEN-PTAH-SETEP-TANEN ( '"i 4. x AJ) ^ - j, V^ *A/W\A ^ X 2_L A and his name as " son of the Sun " is thus given : B.C. 486] THE REVOLT OF KHABBESHA 73 KHABBESHA, or BASHA, or f| "^iBM x=ac 1JJ, KHABASHA, beloved of Ra. In the third month of the season Shat of his second year, he prepared l a sarcophagus for the Apis Bull which had been consecrated in the 31st year of the reign of Darius, and the sarcophagus, with the inscription giving the date upon it, is now in the Serapeum. The chief public work which Khabbesha carried out during his short reign was a survey of the Eastern Delta, with a view of constructing in the swamps and marshes at the mouths of the Nile barriers which would serve to block the passage of the ships of an invading foe. There is no doubt that he was regarded as a genuine king in the time of Alexander, the son of Alexander the Great, because on the stele ~ of this king (lines 7 and 14) he is called " King of the South and North, Lord of the two lands," and he has a throne name and a name as " son of the Sun," like any of the great kings of Egypt. Moreover, he is mentioned as a benefactor of the shrine and city of the goddess Uatchet, i.e., Pe and c , Tep. and he must, D therefore, have been possessed of a certain amount of wealth. His conduct is contrasted with that of king 1 See A eg. Zeit., 1871, p. 13. 2 For the text see Mariette, Monuments Divers, pi. 14; Brugsch, Aeg. Zeit., 1871, p. 3 ff. ; and Birch, Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., yol. i. p. 24. 74 AKHAEMENES, GOVERNOR OF EGYPT, [B.C. 486 Xerxes ( ' <=>Ud]iMRff J Khsherisha), who is i ^ i li - \6fy said to have behaved in a shameful manner towards the city and to have plundered its possessions, A/VW^ /?^ /"^ i i I s=^p . Of the fate of Khabbesha we are ignorant, but it is probable that he was caught by the Persians, and put to death after a short reign. During the first year of his reign Xerxes took no steps to put down the revolt of the Egyptians, and it was not until the second year after the death of Darius that he moved against them ; he appears to have met with but small resistance, and Herodotus tells us that (vii. 7) he subdued and reduced all Egypt to a worse state of servitude than it was in under Darius. Xerxes appointed his brother Akhaemenes over the country, and he appears to have revived, but in a much more severe form, the strict rule of his father Darius; Akhaemenes was subsequently slain by Inaros, the son of Psammetichus, a Libyan (Herodotus iii. 12 ; vii. 7). Xerxes did nothing for the temples of Egypt, and if we may judge by the statement on the Stele of Alexander II. concerning the sanctuary of Uatchet, he robbed them of their possessions ; of the manner in which the country was, administered we know nothing, but it is probable that native Egyptian nobles were appointed as governors under the strict supervision of the brother of Xerxes, the satrap of the country. From Herodotus (vii. 89) we learn that the Egyptians contributed 200 ships to the navy of Xerxes, and that the men who B.C. 486] IS SLAIN BY INAROS THE LIBYAN 75 manned them wore plaited helmets, and carried hollow shields, with large rims, and pikes fit for a sea-fight, and large hatchets. The greater part of them had breastplates, and carried large swords. Among the forces of Xerxes the Egyptians signalized themselves, for among other great deeds they captured five Greek ships with their crews (Herodotus viii. 17). Monuments, or even small objects, inscribed with the name of Xerxes are rarely found in Egypt, and the latest year of his reign mentioned in the inscriptions is the 13th ; this occurs in a text l cut on a rock by a Persian official called Athiuhi, "^\ "1 fl fl % fD fl fl V^ ' son of rr^ 1) I I /T 1 | >*i Arthames, (1 <=z> \ v\ 1 n> and Qentcha, A J) , U _FV^ I >*1 W>AAA !& ili in the Wadi Hammamat, but it does not indicate that Xerxes carried on works in the quarries of that famous valley, it merely shows that the road through it from the Nile to the Red Sea, and vice versa, was greatly used by merchants and others during the Persian occupation of Egypt. Of the small monuments of the reign of Xerxes may be mentioned : the stele - dated in 1 See Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii. pi. 283 i-o, where a number of short texts dated in the years of Persian kings will be found ; and Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 686. 2 This stele is preserved in the Berlin Museum (No. 7707). On the upper part is a scene in which the deceased, followed by his son, is standing with both hands raised in adoration before the god Osiris, who is seated on a throne and arrayed in the usual manner. Behind the god stand Isis and Nephthys. Beneath are scenes in which are seen the god Anubis standing by the side of 76 INSCRIBED VASES OF XERXES [B.C. 486 his fourth year, with a bilingual inscription in Egyptian and Aramaean, and the alabaster vases inscribed with his name and titles in the Egyptian, Persian, Median, and Babylonian languages. 1 The hiero- glyphic form of the name Xerxes KHSHAIAESHA, the bier of a god, and the bier of a man, and a man lamenting. The only name given in hieroglyphics is that of II er, Y | > which in the four lines of Aramaean text at the bottom of the stele becomes "TW"7- See Lepsius, Aegyptische Zeitschrift, vol. xv. 1877, p. 127 ff. ; a cast of the stele is exhibited in the British Museum. 1 The vase which was found by the late Sir C. T. Newton (Halicarnassus, vol. ii. p. 667) at the foot of the western staircase in the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is now exhibited in the Gem Room in the British Museum. The cuneiform inscriptions read : PERSIAN. <^| 7< T<^ TYT H 7< YYY \ X K \ Kh - sha - ya - a - r - sha - a khsh -TE M Hf Tt va - za - ra - ka MEDIAN. y ^yy^ ^ ^ y y yyy^ ^ (Prefix) Ik - shi ir - aha (PreBx) zunkuk ir V -m sha - ir BABYLONIAN, y ^ > an d ^_^> < _'__ t . JL duplicate of this vase is preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, and fragments of five others were found by Mr. W. K. Loftus (Chaldea and Susiana, London, 1857, p. 411 ff.) in the course of his excavations at Susa. They are now exhibited in the Babylonian Room in the British Museum, Nos. 91,453-91,456, and 91,459. 1 The Babylonian form is J y Ai>->- Khi-shi-'-ar-sha-'. 78 ARTABANUS MURDERS XERXES [B.C. 486 this she planned the death, not of Artaynte, but of her mother, the wife of Masistes. On the king's birthday she begged that the woman might be given to her, and whilst Xerxes and her brother were discussing the putting away of the wife of Masistes, Amestris sent men who cut off her nose, ears, lips, breasts, and tongue. Xerxes was murdered by Artabanus and the eunuch Spamitres, or Mithridates, about B.C. 465, after a reign of twenty years. He left three sons, Darius, Artaxerxes, and Hystaspes. Artabanus told Artaxerxes that his brother Darius had murdered his father, and persuaded him to kill Darius. This Artaxerxes did, and with the help of Artabanus ascended the throne. A short time afterwards Artabanus tried to kill him, but he was overpowered and slain, and Artaxerxes finally established himself as king of all Persia. 1 M ill ;// "- " I "iJv jz_^> ^f- v. 1, but the form of the name of this princess suggests that the coffin was made at a period earlier than the reign of the Amyrtaeus who was a fellow rebel with Inarus. According to Brugsch and Bouriant, 3 the forms of the king's name given on the coffin fragment are : j t \>S ^ Neter nefer BA-USER-MA[A]T-SETEP-EN-AMEN, neb taui, lord of the two lands, AMEN-RUT- AMEN-MERI. 1 Wiedemann, Aeg. Geschichte, p. 694. 3 Livre des Rois, p. 114. go AMEN-RUT But here again the forms of the prenomeu and nomen of this king appear to belong to a period considerably anterior to the end of the Persian rule in Egypt, and indicate that he who bore them was a devotee of Amen rather than of Neith of Saiis and Ptah of Memphis, as we should expect a king of the late Persian period to be. A comparison of the prenomen of this king Amen-rut with the prenomen s of the kings of the XXIInd Dynasty will show that it certainly belongs to this class and to their period. Amyrtaeus may very well be a form of the name Amen-rut, but if it be, the Amyrtaeus who rebelled in the reign of Artaxerxes I., and who succeeded in making himself king of Egypt about the time of the reign of Darius II., must be a monarch of whom we have no record in the hieroglyphic texts. The presence of the name of Amen in both cartouches would, we should expect, indicate that he who adopted them was a descendant of the royal house of Thebes. In any case many Egyptians must have borne the name of Amen-rut. 1 1 Amen-rnt was formerly identified with the Nubian king whom Ashur-bani-pal's annalist called by a name which was once read Ur-da-ma-ni-e, but the correct reading of which is now known to be Tan-da-ma-ni-e ; see above, vol. Vi. p. 164 ff. B.C. 399] ( gi ) CHAPTER IV. THE TWENTY-NINTH DYNASTY. FEOM MENDES. RA-BA-EN-MERI-NETERU, son of the Sun, NAIF-AAIU- RUT. NAIF-AAIU-RUT, the NefapiTV)*; of Manetho, was the first king of the XXIXth Dynasty, and, according to all the versions of the King List of Manetho, reigned six years; he adopted the Horus name " USER- ...... ," and as the Horus of gold he styled himself " ...... -setep- neteru." The circumstances under which Nepherites ascended the throne are unknown, and it is difficult to understand why Pausiris, the son of Amyrtaeus, who had done so much to make the Egyptians once more independent, was not allowed to succeed his father as the second king of the dynasty which he had founded. The principal monuments which refer to Naif-aaiu-rut have been summarized by Wiedemann, 1 and consist of 1 Aeg. Geschichte, p. 695 f. Q2 REIGN OF NAIF-AAIU-RUT [B.C. 399 an Apis stele mentioning his second year, a mummy swathing of his fourth year, an ushabti figure, a man- headed sphinx from Memphis, and some stone blocks and a stele from Karnak inscribed with his name. From Diodorus (xiv. 79, 4) we learn that Naif-aaiu- rut, who is called Nephreus by this writer, was mixed up in the war between Agesilaus, king of Sparta, and the Persians. Agesilaus collected 6000 men and marched to Ephesus, where he raised 4000 more and 400 horse soldiers ; at the head of these he marched through the plain of the Caystrians and laid waste the country as far as Cuma, and having spent a summer in ravaging Phrygia he returned laden with spoil to Ephesus. The Lacedaemonians sent for help to Nephreus, who despatched 100 ships and 500,000 bushels of wheat. These ships sailed for Rhodes, but before they arrived there the Ehodians revolted against the Lacedaemonians, and allowed the Persian admiral Conon to bring his navy into their harbour. In due course the Egyptian ships sailed into Ehodes, their captains knowing nothing of what had happened, and they were straightway seized by Conon, who brought them into port and used the corn for victualling the city. Thus Nephreus, or Nepherites, unwittingly helped the Persians. He is said to have associated with himself in the rule of the kingdom his son Nekht-neb-f, who afterwards became the founder of the XXXth Dynasty. B.C. 393] REIGN OF HAKER 93 RA-MAAT- ^ ~ J\ KHNEM, son of the Sun, HAKER. Naif-aaiu-rut, or Nepherites, was, according to the versions of the King List of Manetho, succeeded by a king called Akhoris, "Axcopis, who reigned thirteen years. This king is clearly to be identified with the Haker 1 of the Egyptian texts, who, as lord of the ^ shrines of Nekhebet and Uatchet, styled -M* himself " Qen," ^ , i.e., "Mighty one," and as the Horus of gold, " Setep neteru," p^ |, i.e., " Chosen of the gods," and " Sehetep neteru," \\ |, i.e., " He who pacifieth the gods." the Horus name of In February, 1884, M. Maspero discovered at Karnak the remains of a small temple built by Psammuthis, and in the mutilated inscription addressed to Amen-Ra which follows the cartouches of this king are found the remains of a cartouche, ^1 which can be that of no king except TIT Haker. 3 In a recent edition of his Histoire Anciennc 3 1 Variants, , NT! S ^ 1> ( ra ^=* <== 'j(' and Wiedemann makes Akh6ris the fourth king of the dynasty, and places him after Muthes and Psammuthis. - Recueil, torn. vi. p. 20. 3 Tom. iii. p. 755, note 3. 94 HAKER'S BUILDING OPERATIONS [B.C. 393 M. Maspero says that in the inscription Psammuthis speaks of Haker as his predecessor, and thus the order of these two kings is certain. Haker appears to have carried out repairs on many of the temples at Thebes, and his name is found at Karnak, and at Medinet Habu, and in the temple of Mut ; an inscription at Medinet Habu mentions that " he restored the monu- ments of his father Amen/' and a relief at the same place represents him in the act of making an offering to this god. 1 A stele described by M. Maspero 3 records the gift of a field, o D .MA, to the goddess Nekhebet, the "lady of heaven and mistress of the two lands," and so proves that Haker specially honoured the goddess of Eileithyiapolis ; and he dedicated certain monuments to Seker and Tenen, or Tanen, gods of Memphis. In one variant of his prenomen he styles himself the " chosen one " of the latter god. His name is found several times in the quarries of Tura and Ma'sara, which seems to show that his building operations were carried out on a tolerably extensive scale. We learn something of his foreign policy from Diodorus 3 (xv. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 29, 41, 42). During his reign Artaxerxes II., surnamed Mnemon, undertook a great expedition against Evagoras, king of Cyprus, and set out to attack him with an army of 300,000 horse 1 See Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii. pi. 284 Ji and i ; and see Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 697. " Recueil, torn. iv. p. 150. 3 The events briefly referred to in the following lines happened probably in the roign of Nectanebus I. B.C. 380] MAKER THE ALLY OF EVAGORAS 95 and foot soldiers, and some three hundred triremes. As soon as Evagoras heard of this he entered into a league with Haker, king of Egypt, who supplied him with corn by the shipload, and everything that was required for fitting out his triremes. When the war between Evagoras and the Persians was ended, the Persians determined to punish Haker for^ having rendered such important assistance to Evagoras, and they made ready a large army to invade Egypt. Haker employed a number of Greek and other mercenaries, and placed the chief command of them in the hands of Chabrias, who succeeded Iphicrates in the command of the Athenian forces at Corinth. The Persian general Pharnabazus objected strongly to this appointment, and succeeded in making the Athenians withdraw him from Egypt. In due course the Persians once more marched into Egypt, but when they arrived they found that Haker was dead. PTAH-SETEP-EN, son of the Sun, P-SA-MUT. PsA-MuT, or PSAMMUTHIS, the Wiifji/jiovQi? of the King List of Manetho, is said to have reigned one year ; * monuments of this king, whether large or small, 1 His Horus name is given as c ^ c ^ jjf N , and CQ Cft JJ g @ [' The latter form means something like "Mighty one of two-fold strength and three-fold graciousness." 96 THE REIGN OF PSAMMUTHIS [B.C. 380 are very rare. On a slab at Berlin, 1 which came from Karnak, we see the king making an offering of a loaf of bread, A , to the gods Amen and Khensu-Nefer-hetep, a fact which indicates that he carried out some repairs at Karnak, probably on the little temple of Haker, to which reference has already been made. With Psammuthis must be identified the king of Egypt called Psammetichus by Diodorus (xiv. 19-35), who curiously enough states that he was descended from the ancient Psammetichus. During the great struggle between Artaxerxes II., Mnemon, and his brother Cyrus for the kingdom of Persia, some countries and states sided with the elder and some with the younger brother. After the defeat of Cyrus Artaxerxes sent Tissaphernes to take over all the governments on the sea-coast, whereupon all the kings and governors who had sided with Cyrus were terrified lest they should be punished for treason against the king. Everyone sought to curry favour with Tissaphernes except Tamos, who was one of the chief generals and allies of Cyrus, and governor of Ionia. Taking with him his money and his children he embarked in a ship and fled to Egypt for protection, for he had performed several good offices for Psammuthis, and he expected to find safety and shelter with him. Psammuthis, however, forgot all his friend's kindness to him, and coveting both his money and his ships, he laid hands upon Tamos and his children, and cut the throats of them all. He seems to have wanted 1 See Lepsius, Derikmdler, iii. pi. 249 a and 6. B.C. 379] MUTHES AND NEPHERITES II. 97 the money and the ships to help him to fight the Persians, but they profited him nothing, for he died shortly after. He was followed in rapid succession by MUTHES, the MovQis of the version of Manetho's King List by Eusebius, who reigned one year, and by NEPHERITES II., who reigned four months. No monuments of either of these kings are known. VOL. VII. H [B.C. 378 CHAPTER V. THE THIRTIETH DYNASTY. FROM SEBENNYTUS. RA-SENETCHEM-AB-SETEP-EN-AMEN, son of the Sun, AMEN-MERI-NEKHT-HERU-IIEBT. ?\ NEKHT-HERU-HEBT, commonly known VX J - ms? . as NECTANEBUS I., the Ne/craj-e/ify? of the King List of Manetho, was the first king of the XXXth Dynasty, and reigned, ac- cording to the testimony both of Julius Africanus and the monuments, eighteen years. With the accession of Nectane- bus I. to the throne a brief period of independence once again returned to Egypt, and this Sebennytite king proved himself a capable soldier and administrator. He was probably either the son of a native prince of Sebennytus or a prince himself when he came to the throne, and he revived somewhat the pomp and ceremony which the old Pharaohs m MER-TA.UI, B.C. 378] REIGN OF NECTANEBUS I. 99 had adopted. As lord of the cities of Nekhebet and Uatchet he styled himself " Seher-ab-neteru " |, i.e., "making to be at rest the heart of the gods," and as the Horus of gold he called f\ .uiuuii. n r-j-i ^\ . n himself "Smen hepu," I C JflV-T^N, " Stab- I /WW\A U LJ _ZI I U lisher of laws." From the monumental remains of Nectanebus I. it is clear that he was on good terms with the priests, and that he was anxious to restore wherever possible the old sanctuaries of Egypt, and the worship of the principal gods to whom they were dedicated. The excavations of Messrs. Naville l and Petrie 2 have shown that he carried on works at Bubastis and Tell al-Maskhuta in the Delta, and that he dedicated monuments to the gods in these places, and near the modern village of Behbit al- Hajara, a few miles from Mansura in the Delta, he built a temple in honour of Horus of Hebt, I JM , whose name he incorporated in his own. At vJLy <& Abydos M. Mariette found the shrine which Nectane- bus dedicated in the small temple, and he also dedicated to Horus the fine granite shrine which stands to this day in the sanctuary of the temple of Edfu. At Karnak he carried out a number of repairs in the temple of Amen ; in the temple of Khensu he repaired a gateway and added a number of bas-reliefs ' Bubastis, plate 44 E. 2 Tom's, pt. i. p. 28. 100 SARCOPHAGUS OF NECTANEBUS I. [B.C. 378 to the building ; he built a small chapel near the temple of Karnak, and repaired in several places a building near the temple of Mut. In the Oasis of Kharga his cartouches appear a few times on the walls of the temple built in honour of Amen-Ea by Darius L, and he seems to have carried out repairs here on a large scale. At Memphis he built a small temple near the Serapeum, and from the fact that his name is found in the quarries of Tura on the eastern bank of the river we may assume that he rebuilt certain edifices which were connected with the temple of Ptah. Nectanebus I. also revived the custom of setting up obelisks. Two of these are preserved in the British Museum (Nos. 523, 524), but they are relatively small. According to Pliny (xxxvi. 14, 9) he had one made which was eighty cubits high, but it was never inscribed, and apparently was not taken out of the quarry until the reign of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, who set it up at Alexandria. A canal was dug from the Nile to the quarry, and a raft was floated under the obelisk, and when the weight had been transferred to the raft, it was brought down the Nile under the direction of the architect Satyrus, or Phoenix. One of the most interesting monuments of the king is the massive stone sarcophagus which he caused to be made for himself. It is covered inside and out with scenes and texts from the " Book of what is in the Underworld," and, considering the period at which it was made, the workmanship is extremely good ; this B.C. 378] THE METTERNICHSTELE IOI interesting object is in the British Museum (No. 10). The greater number of the contemporaneous monu- ments of Nectanebus I. have been summarized by Wiedemann, 1 and among them must be specially mentioned the famous Cippus of Horus which is generally known by the name of the " Metternich- stele." It was found during the building of a fountain in a Franciscan monastery in Alexandria, and was given to Prince Metternich by Muhammad 'Ali in 1828. It is inscribed with a number of magical texts 2 and scenes, which were intended to keep away evil spirits and their baleful influences, and noxious reptiles, from the house or place in which it was set up. From the Egyptian inscriptions we learn nothing about the history of Egypt during the reign of Nectauebus I., and it is to classical authorities, especially Diodorus, to whom we must look for informa- tion concerning the progress of the war between the Greeks and Persians, and the part which Egypt played in it. The evidence of these shows that Nectanebus I. fought against the Persians, and defeated them, but he undertook no campaign outside of Egypt, and so the list of countries which he is supposed to have conquered must not be regarded as an authentic document. 3 When the Persians had conquered Evagoras and his 1 Op. tit., p. 706 f. 2 Facsimiles of these, with translations and notes, will be found in Golenischeff, Die Metternichstele, Leipzig, 1877. 3 Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 701. 102 THE PERSIANS DRIVEN OUT OF EGYPT [B.C. 378 generals they marched against Egypt, and when they arrived there they found that Haker (Acoris, or Akhoris) was dead, and that Nectanebus I., a king belonging to another dynasty, was on the throne. The Persian forces consisted of 200,000 barbarians under Pharna- bazus, and 20,000 Greeks under Iphicrates ; their navy consisted of 300 triremes, 200 thirty-oar galleys, and a a large number of transport ships. Nectanebus I. blocked the passages in all the seven mouths of the Nile, and at each mouth he built forts on each side of the stream ; he fortified Pelusium very strongly, and dug a trench round the city, and he destroyed all the fords, and walled up any opening through which a ship might force a way. Pharnabazus, thinking it hopeless to take Pelusium when he saw the fortifications, put to sea again, and sailed for the Mendesian mouth of the Nile, which he entered, and having landed 3000 men attacked the fort; the Egyptians defended it with great bravery, and a fierce fight took place, but in the end the Persians captured it, and destroyed it, and took many prisoners. Iphicrates then wished to march on Memphis, but Pharnabazus objected, and whilst the generals were quarrelling the Egyptians fortified Memphis strongly ; at the same time they attacked the Persians daily, and in each fight slew many of them, and at length, growing bolder with their successes, they managed to drive their enemies out of Egypt. The remainder of the Persian army withdrew to Asia, and thus for the time the expedition against Egypt B.C. 360] THE REIGN OF TCHE-HRA 103 failed. To this result the inundation of the Nile, which took place whilst the Persians were blockading Egypt, contributed largely, but it is more than probable that, if Pharnabazus and Iphicrates had not been so ealous of each other, and if each had allowed his troops to attack Egypt, the difficulties caused by the Nile flood would have been overcome. 2. M ( ^ ^t - N 1L Q / ^2>- Z N ^^ ^=g^ AAAAAA ^J\ Q^^ 1 c^) # "T1 " 1 RA-ARI-EN-MAAT, son of i_J ^? I \ AAAAAA^^/I the Sun, lord of risings, TCHE-HRA- SETEP-EN-AN-HEE. TCHE-HRA, the Tew? l of the King List of Manetho, succeeded Nectanebus I. on the throne of Egypt, and reigned two years according to this authority. The only known inscription of this king consists of a single line of text which runs along the outer face of the east wall of the temple of Khensu at Karnak, and which was discovered by M. Bouriant, who published it in 1889. 2 It records that Tche-hra, or Teos, built or restored the temple of Khensu Nefer-hetep in Thebes, and that he 1 The Toxws of Diodorus. 2 llecueil, torn. xi. p. 153. The king's titles are thus given : f qqq _ cr^i /^ A _ Q TG) ^\T L=_ fc~i *Wfo , etc. I I I CT~D rs*l ^ \\ J^ ^ @ _zf t^^i io! 104 EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION INTO SYRIA [B.C. 360 repaired portions of the building in the finest sandstone. His name has been found in the quarries at Tura, and this probably indicates that he carried on building operations at Memphis. From Diodorus (xv. 90 ff.) we learn that towards the end of the reign of Artaxerxes II. a number of governors of provinces and cities revolted against him, and among these was Tche-hra, whom Diodorus calls Tachos. He declared war against the Persians, and built ships, and collected soldiers, and hired the Spartans and other mercenaries to help him, and there were arrayed against Artaxerxes, Ario- barzanes of Phrygia, Mausolus of Caria, Orontes of Mysia, Autophradates of Lydia, and a multitude of nations including the Lycians, Pisidians, Pamphylians, Cilicians, Syrians, and Phoenicians. Orontes was made general of the army of the rebels, but he betrayed his confederates in a base manner ; Rheomithres, having ob- tained 500 talents from Tachos and 50 ships, returned to Leuce in Asia, and then betrayed to Artaxerxes many of those who had revolted. Tachos prepared a fleet of 200 ships, and an army of 20,000 Greek mercenaries, and 80,000 Egyptian soldiers. The Lacedaemonians sent Agesilaus to Egypt with 1000 men to help the Egyptians, and Chabrias would have been the admiral of the fleet if Tachos had not kept the supreme command in his own hands. The Egyptian army moved on to Syria, and whilst it was there the deputy - governor of Egypt revolted and sent to Nectanebus, the king's son according to Diodorus, to take upon B.C. 360] FLIGHT OF TCHE-HRA TO PERSIA 105 himself the rule of Egypt ; Nectanebus connived at the conspiracy, and gained over the generals of the army by giving them large gifts, and the soldiers also by bribes and presents. When Tachos discovered that Egypt was in the hands of rebels, he lost his head, and fled by* way of Arabia to Persia, where he sued for pardon and was forgiven by Artaxerxes II., who made him general of the army which he had raised to fight the Egyptians. According to some authorities Tachos died in Persia, but Diodorus says that he returned to Agesilaus from Persia, and that Nectanebus led an army of 100,000 men against him, and dared him to try his title to the kingdom by the sword. Agesilaus encouraged Tachos with comforting words, but he was timid, and at length took refuge in a city where he was besieged by the Egyptians; the enemy built a wall and dug a trench round the city, and when provisions failed Tachos and Agesilaus broke through the guard one night with a number of men and escaped, though the Egyptians cut up many of their rearguard. Soon after this Agesilaus drew up his forces in a convenient spot and ambushed the Egyptians, and routed them with great slaughter; as a result Tachos was restored to his kingdom. Subsequently he loaded Agesilaus with gifts and started him upon his homeward way with great honour; this faithful friend, however, fell sick at Gyrene and died there, and his body having been embalmed in honey was taken back 106 THE REIGN OF NECTANEBUS II. [B.C. 358 to Sparta, where it was interred with royal pomp and ceremony. 1 Diodorus, however, seems to be incorrect in stating that Tachos was reinstated by the help of Agesilaus, and he has confounded Nectanebus II. with Tachos, just as he confounded Nectanebus I. with Haker (Acoris, or Akhoris). ~h iV? r ABA "M "9 /"'Wwvx , - "\| _ 3. ffiR(Q$LJj ^ ( g^ ^ * - j BA-KHEPER-KA, son of the Sun, NEKHT-NEB-F. NEKHT-NEB-F, or NECTANEBUS II., the NeKTaveftos of the King List of Manetho, is said by Julius Africanus and Eusebius to have reigned eighteen years, and as there is monumental evidence to show that he reigned seventeen years, we may assume that the versions of Mauetho are generally correct in this particular. He was a relative of Tche-hra or Tachos, and there is a tradition that he was a son of Nec- tanebus I., who had in some way incurred the dis- pleasure of the gods, by which we may assume that the displeasure of the priests is referred to. His accession to the throne was opposed, naturally, by Tachos, but with the help of Agesilaus he succeeded in defeating the Egyptians in the following of Tachos, 1 See among other authorities, Diodorus xv. 92, 93; Xenophon, Ages., ii. 28-31 ; Plutarch, Ages., 36-40; Cornelius Nepos, Chabrias, 2, 3 ; Ages., chap. 8 ; Aelian, V. H. 5, 1 ; Theopompos, Fragment 120 ; Polyaenus, iii. 5-14. B.C. 358] NECTANEBUS II., BUILDING OPERATIONS 107 and the Greeks routed them with such terrible slaughter that those who were fortunate enough to escape gave him no further trouble. When he ascended the throne he adopted as his Horus name TEMAA, *^^ , a word which means something like " destroyer ; " as lord of the shrines of Nekhebet and Uatchet he called himself " Semenkh taui," r"-^ A , i.e., "Bestorer ol the two /WWVA ' ... ' lands," and as the Horus of gold, "Ari-neteru-meri," ^'=| q f|[| i hi "HI- Nectanebus II. was a great warrior, like his name- sake Nectanebus I., but he was a greater builder than he, and numerous remains ol his architectural works are found in nearly all the principal sanctuaries of Egypt. Beginning from the south we see that he built a beautiful little vestibule at the south end of the Island of Philae, which was probably part of a temple, but the temple is supposed to have been swept away soon after it was built. The vestibule contained fourteen columns with floral capitals, with heads of Hathor above them, and the whole building was dedi- cated to Isis, goddess of Philae. This vestibule now forms the oldest remains on the Island, but it is certain that temples existed there long before the IVth century B.C. M. Maspero calls attention l to the fact that during an inspection of the Island made by him in 1882, he found the remains of fortifications and of a temple 1 Hist. Anc., torn. iii. p. 641. 108 TEMPLE OF NECTANEBUS II. AT PHILAE [B.C. 358 of the time of Amasis II. (XXVIth Dynasty). The narrative of the exhaustive researches made on a portion of Philae l by Colonel H. G-. Lyons contains no mention of any building older than the reign of Nectanebus II., but this is no proof that older remains do not exist there, because for various reasons the whole of the island was not explored. To the temple at Edfii Nectanebus made many gifts quite early in his reign, and these he dedicated in perpetuity. At Thebes, i.e., at Karnak and Medinet Habu, he carried out repairs, and made additions to the temples, and remains of his works are seen at Coptos, in the Wadi Hammamat, at Abydos and Crocodilopolis, and at Heliopolis and Memphis many restorations were made by him. The old sanctuaries of the Delta were not by any means forgotten by Nectanebus II., as recent excavations have proved, and in the native city of his dynasty (Sebennytus), as the result of a dream which he had at Memphis in the sixteenth year of his reign, he caused an official called Pe-ta-Ast to restore and ornament the temple. 3 To provide stone for all these works he caused a new quarry to be opened at Tura, a fact which proves that his building operations must have been on a large scale. Several statues of the king are known, and they show that the stone-cutters 1 Report on the Island and Temples of Philae, by Captain H. G. Lyons, R.E., with an Introductory Note by W. E. Garstin, C.M.G. Cairo, 1896. 2 See Wiedemann, op. cit. , p. 717 f . B.C. 358] EXPEDITION OF OCHUS AGAINST EGYPT IOQ and sculptors of that period were as skilled in their art as their predecessors of the earlier dynasties, for their work is beautiful and delicate. It is wonderful to think how much was accomplished by Nectanebus II. in his reign of eighteen years, especially when we consider that the Persian foe was continually attacking the frontiers of Egypt, and it seems as if the great bulk of the population were more interested in their religion and temples and tombs than in the dynasty which ruled the country. The Egyptians, especially in the Delta, were ever ready to revolt, but this was only to be expected at a time when so many petty rulers claimed descent from the great Pharaohs, and in consequence also the right to reign over the whole country. As soon as Artaxerxes II. was dead, his son Artaxerxes III., Ochus, who had attempted to lead an army into Egypt during his father's lifetime, began to prepare a new expedition against Egypt, and Nectanebus II. found himself called upon to oppose the Persian hosts. The Phoenicians and the kings ot Cyprus had also rebelled against the Persians, and the forces which Ochus collected to subdue them consisted of 300,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 300 triremes, and 600 transport ships. The headquarters of the Phoe- nician revolt was Sidon, from which Tennes, the king, with the help of 4000 mercenaries whom he had obtained from the Egyptians, and of their general called Mentor the Rhodian, had succeeded in expelling IIO OCHUS CAPTURES SIDON [B.C. 340 the Persians. When, however, the Sidonians learned that the king of Persia had left Babylon, and was on his way to Phoenicia, Tennes (or Mentor) sent a messenger called Thessalion to him, and promised to betray Sidon to him, and also to help him to conquer Egypt, of the entrances to which he had special knowledge. Artaxerxes II. was rejoiced, and promised to reward Tennes abundantly ; after narrowly escaping death by beheading, because he suggested that the Persian king should ratify his words by extending his right hand to him, Thessalion returned to Tennes and reported what had taken place. Meanwhile the Persian army advanced on Phoenicia, and the Thebans sent to help the inhabitants 1000 men under the command of Lacrates, and the Argives sent 3000 men under Nico- stratus, who had been appointed to their command by the king; this man was of great physical strength, and imitated Hercules by carrying a club and a lion's skin into every battle. Besides these, the Greek dwellers on the sea-coast sent 6000 men, and thus the Greek contingent numbered 10,000. But before they could all arrive Ochus had be- sieged Sidon, and owing to the treachery of Tennes he was able to put to death some six hundred of the nobles of the city, and to take it without strik- ing a blow. When the Sidonians saw what had happened, they first burnt all their shipping, and then, having shut themselves up with their wives and children in their houses, they set their property on B.C. 340] AND MARCHES ON PELUSIUM III fire, and so perished all together, to the number of about forty thousand. Artaxerxes slew Tennes when he had no further use for him, and thus the revolt collapsed ; about the time of the rebellion the Persians ob- tained possession of Cyprus with the help of 8000 soldiers and forty triremes sent by Idrieus, king of Caria, and thus Artaxerxes was free to attack Egypt. He set out from Sidon with his mercenaries, and all went well until they arrived at the Great Lake, i.e., Lake Sirbonis, where at the places called Barathra l he lost a considerable portion of his army. The Barathra, or "Gulfs," formed the Sirbonian Bog, which was very narrow, very deep, and about twenty miles long (200 stadia) ; it was a most dangerous place for the unwary traveller, because the marshes became covered with a thin layer of sand, and as soon as he put his foot upon it he sank into the swamp, wherein he could neither walk, nor swim, nor move, and at length he was engulfed. 3 Having passed the Barathra Artaxerxes marched on to Pelusium, where there were strong fortifications and a garrison of 5000 Egyptians under Philophron ; the Greeks encamped near the city, but the Persians remained forty furlongs away. The Thebans attempted to carry the fort by assault, but they failed, and a sharp fight which lasted the 1 KoTacTT)(ray 8' e'irJ T^ AtfyaAijj' \((nvnv, tcaB' fy eoTi TO. Ka\ov/j.fva Pdpadpa : Diodorus, xvi. 46, 5. 2 A vivid description of its dangers is given by Diodorus, i. 30, 4ff. 112 OCHUS CAPTURES PELUSIUM [B.C. 340 whole day took place, but it was indecisive. The next day the Greeks were divided into three brigades, each of which was placed under one Greek and one Persian general; the first brigade was under L aerates and Bhosakes ; the second was under Nicostratus and Aris- tazanes, and the third was under Mentor, who betrayed Sidon, and Bagoas. Meanwhile the army of Nectanebus II. consisted of 20,000 Greeks, 20,000 Libyans, 60,000 Egyptians, and he possessed vast numbers of river boats, but he lacked the able commanders Diophantus the Athenian, and Lanius the Spartan, whose skill and courage had enabled him to defeat the Persians in a former war. At the sight of his vast forces he became conceited, and would allow no one to be in command except himself, and it was this conceit and arrogance which eventually brought about his defeat. Nicostratus, led by certain Egyptians, whose wives and children he had seized, made his way through some of the canals of Pelusium, and landed a number of men at no great distance from the city. When the Egyptians knew of it, a general called Kleinios of Cos marched against their enemies with 7000 men, and in the fierce fight which followed Kleinios and 5000 of his men were killed. Nectanebus II. was terror-stricken at the result, and, thinking that all the Persians could easily cross the river, he took his army and marched away to Memphis, which he believed the Persians would attack in full strength. For a few B.C. 340] FLIGHT OF NECTANEBUS TO ETHIOPIA 113 days after he had gone the troops that were left defended Pelusium bravely, but when they knew that he had gone to Memphis they surrendered to the Persians ; their example was promptly followed by the people of Bubastis, who surrendered to Mentor, the betrayer of Sidon, and soon after the other cities of the Delta opened their gates to the Persians. Mean- while Nectanebus, watching from Memphis the move- ments of the Persian army, lost all courage, and felt afraid to venture on another battle with his foes ; he therefore quietly abdicated his kingdom and, having packed up a great deal of treasure, fled into Ethiopia. Artaxerxes thereupon seized Egypt, and threw down the walls and defences of the great cities thereof, and carried off vast quantities of gold and silver from the temples, together with the records and writings which he found in them ; the latter objects were, a short time afterwards, redeemed at great cost by the priests with the consent of Bagoas. Artaxerxes rewarded the Greeks munificently, and sent them back to their own country ; he then appointed Pherendates viceroy of Egypt, and returned with his army to Babylon laden with spoil. 1 Thus came to an end the reign of the last native king of Egypt, and the country was ordained to be the possession of the foreigner from that time even until now. Of the fate of Nectanebus II. nothing whatever is known, but it has been thought 2 that, 1 See the narrative of Diodorus, xvi. 43-51. 2 Wiedemann, op. cit., p. 716. VOL. VII. 114 FAMILY OF NECTANEBUS II. because an iishabti figure bearing his cartouches and the text of the Vlth Chapter of the Book of the Dead i was found at Memphis, he must have been buried there. His sister Mert-hap, X %!5 $} , married a ^ A D U. ha prince called Nes-Ba-Tet, ~^ 3^H)f NT' an ^ her daughter Thekhabes, IT \ I Jj , married Pe-ta- Amen, (1 ^, and by him. became the mother & .11 I AAAAAA C-i of a son called Nekht-neb-f, after his great relative. 1 The text on the figure is given by Mariette, Monuments Divers, pi. 32. CHAPTER VI. THE TWENTY-SIXTH TO THE THIRTIETH DYNASTY. SUMMARY. FKOM the observations made at the end of the summary of the previous period it will be clear that the acces- sion of the XXVIth Dynasty marks the beginning of an entirely new era of Egyptian history. The New Empire, which began with the expulsion of the Hyksos and the accession of the XVIIIth Dynasty, has come to an end, and with it also has come to an end the whole mass of traditions and characteristics which had descended from the mighty and conquering Egypt of the XVIth century before Christ. The epoch which begins with the XXVIth Dynasty lasted until the final extinction of Egypt as an independent power by the Romans ; it is perhaps well described by the appellation of the " Lower Empire." The Lower Empire, like the New Empire before it, was inaugurated by a national triumph, i.e., the expulsion of foreign conquerors, and, as in the former case, so now there followed a period Il6 ARCHAISTIC REVIVAL OF THE XXVlTH DYNASTY of great national prosperity which was characterized by an attempt, unsuccessful indeed, to rival the XVIIIth Dynasty in the matter of Asiatic conquests. The older Pharaohs, however, never had so redoubtable an enemy as Nebuchadnezzar to deal with, and it was impossible even for an energetic monarch like Nekau (Necho) to emulate the exploits of Thothnies III. ; moreover, other great civilized nations had come into being since the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and Egypt could never hope again to be the mistress of the world. Indeed it was apparent that she would soon be compelled to devote all her energies to the task of maintaining her independence against the attacks of the younger and more vigorous nations which had grown up around her, and though she did succeed in preserving her independence, and even much of her power until the end of the Lower Empire, it was only at the price of submission to the rule of foreign kings. A career of conquest was, besides, unpalatable to the Egyptian of the XXVIth Dynasty, for he modelled his life upon the example of his remote ancestors of the Ancient and Middle Empires, when Egypt consisted merely of the kingdoms of the South and North and concerned herself in no way with the acquisition of possessions in remote foreign countries. This archaistic mood is the distinguishing feature of the XXVIth Dynasty, and it found expression in divers ways. The names and titles held by officers of state under the IVth and Xllth. Dynasties were revived, and DOWNFALL OF AMEN-RA WORSHIP 117 the appellations which had been in use during the period between the Xllth and XXVIth Dynasties went out of fashion. Deities who had been greatly honoured under the ancient dynasties, but who had sunk into obscurity during the period of the pre- eminence of Amen of Thebes, came once more into popular favour, while the mighty " king of the gods and lord of the thrones of the world " was hardly any longer venerated, except by a remnant amid the ruins of his once proud sanctuaries at Thebes. It seems probable that an impulse to the develop- ment of this curious archaistic feeling was given by some discovery or investigation made in the ancient tomb fields of Grizeh and Sakkara, which no doubt excited great interest and curiosity at the time, and the influence of which is immediately observable upon the tomb architecture of the XXVIth Dynasty. The bas- reliefs so characteristic of the tombs of the IVth Dynasty, which illustrate the daily life of the deceased, and depict his home, his fields, his slaves, his flocks and herds, and everything that is his, were directly imitated by the sculptors of the XXVIth Dynasty, and the tomb of a magnate of this period was made as like that of his ancestor of three thousand years earlier as was possible. An extraordinary example of a tomb of this period is that of Peta- Amen -Apt, l~1 fv tumult r rt ^y (j (j (2 VJT a Theban of high rank, at & I AAAAAA I t= ^ 2-1 Assasif, on the western bank of the Nile opposite Il8 TOMB OF PETA-AMEN-APT Karnak. This tomb is larger than any of the tombs of the kings at Biban al-Muluk, and contains many more chambers; it is nearly nine hundred feet in length. It is provided with every characteristic feature of the tombs of the Early Empire, and Peta-Amen-Apt seems to have determined to have his tomb decorated after the manner of ancient kings. The walls are covered with texts which form practically a new edition of the Pyramid Texts of the kings of the Vth and Vlth Dynasties, and the arrangement of the chambers, side- chapels, etc., was such that the ceremonies which formed the suitable accompaniment to these texts could be performed, even to their minutest detail, in accord- ance with the prescriptions of the most ancient times. 1 Archaism carried to this extent would have been quite incomprehensible under the XVIIIth and XTXth Dynasties, when the works of the ancient masters found small favour and were never imitated. But though the main feeling of art under the XXVIth Dynasty was archaistic it was by no means always slavishly imitative of the works of the Early Period, and enough of the traditions of the XVIIIth Dynasty remained to infuse into the archaistic imitations a certain spirit of lightness and grace which makes Sa'ite works of art of far greater interest than are mere formal and uninspired copies, such as the Ptolemaic imitations of the sculptures of the New Empire. It 1 For the texts, etc., see Diimichen, Der Oralpalast des Patua- menap, 3 vols. , Leipzig, 1884 ff . GREEK INFLUENCE ON SAITE ART ng must be remembered that, in the seventh century before Christ, there is as yet no question of any Greek influence upon Egyptian art ; the archaic Greek art l of the time of Psammetichus seems to have been too strange and foreign to the ideas of the Egyptians to have found favour in their eyes. A century later, i.e., in the time of the philhellenic king Amasis, we find the Greek settlers at Naucratis 2 often adapting and imitating Egyptian models; and it was not until Greek art of the classical period attained its full development in the fifth century before Christ that we can trace any marked Greek influence on the art of Egypt. So far from the Egyptian artists of the Saite period having borrowed from their Greek contem- poraries, it seems, judging from the unanimous voice of tradition, that Greek artists often journeyed to Egypt in order to learn from the Egyptians. The discussion of the question of Greek influence upon Saite art naturally leads to the consideration of one of the most important events in the history of Egypt under the XXVIth Dynasty, i.e., the actual settlement of Greek colonists upon Egyptian soil. The earliest Greek settlement in Egypt, that of the Milesians at Milesion-Teichos, was probably founded during the period of civil war and weakness in Egypt 1 A full discussion of early Greek art will be found in Mr. A. S. Murray's History of Greek Sculpture, and Handbook of Greek Archaeology. " The results of the excavations made on this site are described by Messrs. Petrie and Gardner in Naukratis, 2 vols., London, 1888. I2O NAUCRATIS AND DAPHNAE about B.C. 700, when no effective opposition could be made by the Egyptians. 1 The Milesians seem to have possessed a monopoly of Egyptian trade for some time, probably until the Ehodians, Samians, and Aeginetans began to compete with them for the Egyptian market ; it was then that, under the fostering care of the Egyptian kings, who by no means shared the prejudices of their subjects against the Greeks, whom they found to be good soldiers as well as good merchants, the Greek factories were united into one settlement at Naucratis, i.e., about the end of the reign of Psammetichus I. The founding of Naucratis opened a door into Egypt to the Greeks, through which not only artists but also philosophers and historiographers flocked to examine the wonders of the Nile Valley. Greek soldiers were systematically employed by the kings of the XXVIth Dynasty, and were settled in one great camp at a place on the eastern border at no great distance from the famous gare on the Suez Canal called Al-Kantara (i.e., the " Bridge "). The old Egyptian name of this place is unknown, but the Hebrews called it Tahapanes (Jeremiah ii. 16) or Tehaphnehes (Ezekiel xxx. 18), both of which names seem to be derived from the Greek "Daphnae," which is also the base of the Arabic name Tell Defenneh. After the destruction of Daphnae, which probably took place at the hands of 1 The whole question of the date when this settlement was made is discussed by H. E. Hall, Oldest Civilization of Greece, p. 271. HERODOTUS VISITS EGYPT 121 Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 567, the Greek mercenaries were settled by Amasis at Memphis (Herodotus ii. 154), where they remained until the conquest of Egypt by the Persians. The Greeks, having once obtained a foothold in Egypt, could no longer be denied further access to the country, and the partial abandonment of Naucratis at a later date v owing to the anti-foreign feeling of the Egyptians after the death of Amasis and the ravages of Cambyses, resulted not in the withdrawal of the Greeks but in their spreading themselves over the whole country. Under the rule of the Persians, who were always tolerant towards foreigners, and who indeed regarded the Asiatic Hellenes as more or less their own subjects, Egypt was made free to every Greek visitor ; it was during this period that Herodotus visited Egypt. He travelled up the Nile, probably as far as Elephantine, noting for himself the charac- teristic features of the country ; unfortunately, no description of Thebes by him has come down to us, but this fact is no proof that he did not write one, far less that he never went to Thebes at all. The Second Book of his History, entitled "Euterpe," which treats of Egypt, is of the highest value to Egyptologists as containing a thoroughly reliable account of the country 1 as it presented itself to the mind of an intelligent Greek observer in the fifth century before Christ. 1 How generally trustworthy he is will be readily seen by a perusal of Wiedemann's Herodots Zweites Buch, Leipzig, 1890. 122 THE GREEKS IN EGYPT When he tries, however, to sketch its history his work ceases to be authoritative, for the stories which he tells us about the kings are pure romances, and the order in which he gives the few royal names which he mentions is entirely erroneous. To the Egyptians the rule oi Persia, which after the first excesses and barbarities of Cambyses, was distinguished by mildness and justice, was distinctly unpalatable, and their discontent made itself manifest in several revolts, in which they were sometimes helped by the Athenians as rebellious subjects of their enemy, Persia. The restoration of the native kingdom in the fourth century before Christ led to a still further influx of Greeks ; these were chiefly mercenaries, and among them the most distinguished was Agesilaus, the king of Sparta, who came to help the Pharaoh Tachos against the Persians, who were always trying to reassert their authority in the country, usually by means of other Greek mercenaries who were in their service. Thus by the middle of the fourth century before Christ the Greek had become a familiar figure upon Egyptian soil, and no resistance was offered to Alexander the Great by the population of Egypt, who, in fact, regarded him as their deliverer from the Persians, who had, a short time previously, once more made themselves masters of the land. 'On the death of Alexander the Great the country made no attempt to free itself from the rule of Ptolemy Soter, and from that time forward, Egypt, though retaining all its ancient characteristics, was a Hellenistic state. NEITH GODDESS OF SAIS 123 The religion of this period, like its art, is marked by archaistic characteristics. The goddess Neith, who was worshipped at a period as remote as the 1st Dynasty, but who is rarely mentioned under the New Empire, was once again regarded as one of the chief deities of Egypt because she was the tutelary goddess of the city of Sau, Sat, or Sait, H- or ( s^ s v\ (1(1 , i.e., Sai's, the modern Sa al- Sr nr& 1 i Hagar, "Sa the Stony," which is situated in the Western Delta about half-way between Cairo and Alexandria. This city was the ancestral home of the Psametek family, and when they came to the throne Sals became the capital of Egypt, just as Bubastis had become the capital under the rule of the Bubastite kings of the XXIInd Dynasty ; it was of great extent, and was regarded by Herodotus, who no doubt lived in it for some time, as possessing considerable magnificence. The ruins of the city derive their Arabic name from the fact that they are only heaps of stones which lie in inextricable confusion, from which no coherent plan can be evolved, and which offer little attraction to the explorer. It has already been noticed that the re- ligious texts of the Early Empire were largely recopied and used at this period, but it does not seem that this archaistic revival greatly affected the collection of religious texts which are commonly described as the Book of the Dead. With the rise of the kings of the XXVIth Dynasty to power the Book of the Dead enters 124 BOOK OF THE DEAD OF THE SAITE PERIOD upon a new lease of life. The priests saw that the work needed re-editing and re-arranging, and as the result of their labours we find that in papyri containing the Saite Eecension the chapters always follow a certain order, and that although the papyri vary in length, the selection of chapters being not so full in some of them as in others, that order is usually followed. The Saite Eecension includes four chapters which have no counterparts in the papyri of the older period, and which are remarkable for containing a large number of foreign names and words, thought to be of Nubian origin ; these, no doubt, rept into the work through the influence of the priests of Amen at Napata. About the period of the XXVIth Dynasty a great change becomes manifest in the forms and decorations of sarcophagi, coffins, ushabtiu figures, and other articles of funeral furniture, but it must be noted that this change is not of an archaistic character. The sarcophagi become very much larger, and are decorated with scenes and texts from comparatively modern religious works ; the decoration of the coffins is more elaborate, and certain of the colours, which were rarely used before, now become common ; the ushabtiu figures are more delicately and carefully made than in former times, and more importance seems to have been attached to their use. The ushabti figure of the type most characteristic of this period is made of Egyptian porcelain and was cast in a mould; the glaze is of a light bluish-green colour which, in the Persian period, END OF NATIVE EGYPTIAN INDEPENDENCE 125 becomes a rough dark green. The inscriptions, instead of being painted on the figure before it was glazed as in former days, are now incuse, and their contents are stereotyped, being always the late version of the Vlth Chapter of the Book of the Dead. Ushabtiu of this type can at once be identified by the existence of the pedestal beneath the feet, and the plinth which supports the back; under the XXXth Dynasty the inscriptions are no longer incuse but are glazed in dark blue upon the light blue ground of the figure. Another article of funeral furniture characteristic of this period is the painted wooden figure of the triune god, Ptah-Seker-Asar, 1 which was placed upon a hollow pedestal, containing either a roll of papyrus inscribed with extracts from the Book of the Dead, or a portion of the body mummified. The government of the country at this time was reconstituted by Psammetichus I. on the lines handed down from the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty, the only alteration being the revival of a great many antique honorific names and titles of the period of the Early Empire. With the end of the XXXth Dynasty the complete independence of Egypt may be said to have come to an end, for, though she occupied politically an independent position under the Ptolemies, and once more in later days under the Fatimite Khalifas, it was her fate never to be ruled again by men of her own blood. See my Mummy, p. 215. ( 126 ) CHAPTEE VII. THE THIKTY-FIKST DYNASTY. FKOM PEKSIA. ACCOEDING to the King List of Manetho the XXXIst Dynasty of Egypt contained three kings, who were called Ochus, "/2%o5, Arses, "Aparjs, and Darius, Japeto?, who reigned six, three, and four years respectively. AETAXEEXES III., commonly known as Ochus, began his reign with a massacre, and, having ascended the throne by treason and murder, he slew most of the male members of his family to prevent the possibility of any successful claim to the throne being made by them, and also several of the men whom he had employed as tools to raise himself. He was a man of no military ability, and the successes of the Persians were due entirely to the bravery and skill of the able Greek generals whom he was clever enough to employ. Having through the cowardice ol Nectanebus II. become master of Egypt, he emulated the deeds of Cambyses, and, according to Diodorus (xvi. 51), de- stroyed the walls of the cities, plundered the temples, B.C. 340] REIGN OF ARTAXERXES III. 127 and slew both the Apis Bull of Memphis and the sacred Earn of Mendes ; the former animal he and his friends ate, and he established an ass at Memphis in his place. 1 He was " hated by all for his ill-nature " and cruelty towards his subjects. Bagoas therefore, " a colonel in the army, and an eunuch, but a wicked "and beastly fellow, poisoned the king by the help of "his physician, and placed the king's youngest son "Arses upon the throne. He likewise murdered the " new king's brothers (who were yet very young), that " being thus bereft of his relations, he might be more " observant to himself." ' 2 A legend preserved by Aelian 3 says that Bagoas was an Egyptian who, in common with many of his countrymen, was enraged at the shameful act of sacrilege which Ochus, like Cambyses, had committed, and that when he had killed his king he cast his dead body to the cats to eat.* ARSES was placed upon the throne of Persia by Bagoas, who, as soon as he saw that the new king ap- peared to be meditating the taking of vengeance upon his father's murderer, took steps to remove his master in the third year of his reign, and succeeded in killing him and all his children, with the exception of Bis- thanes, who by some means seems to have escaped. 1 Aelian, Variae Historiae, iv. 8 (ed. Didot, p. 340). Diodorus, Booth's Translation, vol. ii. p. 163. 3 Op. cit., vi. 8 (ed. Didot, p. 352). 4 avaiptOwra Kal KaraKoirfVTa rots a.i\ovpois 128 ARSES AND DARIUS III. [B.C. 336 Bagoas now found himself in a difficulty, for having killed all the princes who had a right to succeed to the throne except one, he was compelled to choose a king from among his friends. His choice fell upon Darius, surnamed Codomannus, who was the son of Arsames, the son of Ostanes, a Brother of Artaxerxes II., and of Sisygambis, the daughter of Artaxerxes. DARIUS CODOMANNOS succeeded to the throne as DARIUS III., and he is said (Diodorus xvii. 5, 6) to have brought about the death of Bagoas by poison. Bagoas, it seems, resolved to poison Darius III., but the king discovering this fact sent for him, and, when he had come into his presence, spoke to him in a most friendly manner, and then handing a cup of poison to him forced him to drink it. The reigns of the three kings of the XXXIst Dynasty amounted in all to only thirteen years, and of this period no traces remain in Egypt, either in the form of monuments or inscriptions. Darius III. no doubt intended to march into Egypt, and to draw a revenue therefrom as his predecessors had done, but a new power had risen among the Greeks in the person of Alexander the Great, who determined to carry on the work which his father Philip II. of Macedon was doing when he was stabbed by Pausanias during the celebration at Aegae of the marriage festival of his daughter and Alexander of Epirus, about B.C. 336. Philip II. had prepared to make a great expedi- tion into Asia, and had already sent forces there under B.C. 336] ALEXANDER CONQUERS THEBES I2Q Parmenio, Amyntas, and Attalus, to make clear the way for his own coming, for he soon perceived that it was impossible for him to maintain his authority over the outlying Greek states as long as the Persians possessed such power as they displayed. After his father's death Alexander continued the preparations which his father had begun, and in a marvellous manner succeeded in putting down, one after another, the various states and individuals who sought to con- test his right to the throne. Attalus thought he had a right to the throne because his daughter Cleopatra had married Philip II., but Alexander had him seized and put to death. Thebes, which had once submitted to him without a struggle, on a report of his death re- volted, but as soon as he heard of it he marched against the city so swiftly that he appeared before its gates as if by magic. He took the city by assault, and the Thebans who were not killed in the massacre which followed were sold into slavery, and their houses were razed to the ground ; the rest of the cities of Greece took warning by the fate of Thebes, and accepted the rule of Alexander without a murmur. Alexander's forces consisted, according to Diodorus (xvii. 17), of 25,000 Macedonians and others under Par- menio, 5000 Odrysae, or Thracians, and Triballiaus, and Illyrians, and 1000 Agrianes, 1800 Macedonian cavalry under Philotas, and 1800 Thracian cavalry under Callas, 600 cavalry under Erigyius, and a vanguard of 900 cavalry under Cassander. The Persian army was led by VOL. VII. K 130 ALEXANDER DEFEATS DARIUS [B.C. 336 Memnon, who recommended the policy of retiring before the advance of Alexander, and of laying waste the country as they went so that he might not find supplies for his troops when he arrived, but the Persians would not agree to this, and therefore a pitched battle was decided upon. Memnon drew up the Persian forces, about 40,000 in number in Phrygia, on one side of the Granicus, intending to prevent Alexander from passing over by falling upon the Greeks whilst they were crossing, but Alexander made the passage at daybreak without opposition, and set his men in battle array. In the fight which ensued Alexander performed mighty deeds of valour and slew Spithrobates, the son-in-law of Darius, after a prolonged struggle, and the great Persian generals Artyaxes, and Pharnaces, and Mithrobarzanes were killed ; the Persians' loss was 10,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry killed, and 20,000 infantry were taken prisoners. Memnon and the rest of the Persian army fled to Miletus, but the city fell soon after Alexander attacked it ; Memnon then withdrew to Halicarnassus, where he and his host were promptly besieged by Alexander. The Persians and their auxi- liaries defended the city with great bravery for some time, but it was taken eventually by Alexander, after Memnon and a large following had escaped to Cos, and was razed to the ground ; Alexander then devoted himself to reducing all the cities on the sea- coast as far as Cilicia, and all the country as far as Greater Phrygia fell into his hands. On the other hand, B.C. 336] FLIGHT OF DARIUS TO BABYLON 131 Memnon gave all his energies to collecting a large fleet of three hundred ships, and lost no opportunity of attacking the Greeks. He sailed to Lesbos, and captured Antissa, Methymna, Pyrrha, and Erissa ; he also took Mitylene, and, it is said, intended to invade Euboea. But in the midst of these very successful operations he fell sick, and soon after died ; by the death of Memnon Darius lost his greatest general, and Alexander the Great his greatest foe. Darius had extreme difficulty in finding a qualified leader of his army against Alexander, and at length having sum- moned all his forces to Babylon he gave appointments to such of his relatives and friends as appeared most fitted for the work, and then with 400,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry he marched towards Cilicia, taking with him his mother, and wife, and a son and two daughters. Meanwhile Alexander had been greatly relieved by the news of the death of Memnon, and had continued his march into Asia. At length he heard that Darius had left Babylon and was only a few days' march distant, whereupon he sent forward Parmenio with the army to occupy the passes and the Gates, as they were called. 1 Darius on hearing this imagined that Alexander was afraid to fight in the plains, and hurried on with all speed, and that he might move as fast as possible he left all his heavy baggage at Damascus in Syria ; the inhabitants of the country through which he passed 1 T&S irapotiovs Kal ras ovofia^u/j.ei>as FIuAos (Diodorus, xviii. 32, 2) ; the " Gates" were the famous " Gates of Syria." 132 BATTLE OF ISSUS were terrified at the Persians, and supplied the army with all they needed. Meanwhile Alexander had gained possession of Issus, a city of Cilicia, which was situated on the Gulf of Issus, or Gulf of Myriandros, i.e., the modern Gulf of Scanderun, and learning from his scouts that Darius was only a few miles off, he drew up his army in battle array. He placed his cavalry in front of the infantry, and took up his position in the right wing; the Thessalian cavalry were posted in the left wing. The Persians opened the battle with a flight of arrows which, however, did little harm, and soon after- wards the battle became general. Diodorus says that Alexander singled out Darius, and attacked him with great fury, and that as the Persians defended their master's chariot with great bravery, the heaps of dead rose up about it. Alexander was wounded in the thigh, and several Persian generals, including Antixyes, and Rheomithres, and Tasiakes T the governor of Egypt, were killed. Arrian says (ii. 11) that as soon as Darius saw that his left wing was broken, and that a portion of his army was in full flight, he drove out of the battle, and escaped with a few of his nobles in a chariot. As long as the roads were good escape was easy, but when they reached the mountains Darius had to continue his flight on horseback and to leave the chariot behind with his bow, and shield, and cloak in 1 Arrian gives, "Arsames, Ilheomithres, and Atizyes, who had been captains of horse in the fight at the river Granicus." DEATH OF SABAKES 133 it. Alexander followed hard after him, but was only able to bring back the chariot, with the bow, and shield, and cloak in it, and thanks to the darkness of the night Darius escaped. The slaughter of the Persians was great, and large numbers of them rode each other down or were crushed to death in their terrified flight. Authorities differ as to the numbers of the slain : Diodorus says that 120,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry fell ; Arrian puts the Persian loss at 90,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry; Justin, 61,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry and 40,000 prisoners ; Orosius, 80,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and 40,000 prisoners; and Plutarch gives 110,000 as the total loss. It is interesting to note that among the nobles who were slain was the governor of Egypt, whom Arrian calls " Sabakes," l and from this we may perhaps assume that a contingent of Egyptians was present at the battle of Issus. Among other spoils which fell into the hands of Alexander was the tent of Darius and all its rich furniture, and the family of the Persian king ; Alexander ordered Sisygambis, the mother of Darius, to be dressed in her royal robes, and decreed that the honours which accorded with her rank and dignity should be paid to her. He further promised to take great care of the wife of Darius, and to give the princesses to good husbands, and he showed great kindness to the 1 This name, of course, represents the Egyptian name Sha-ba-ka, or " Sabaco." 134 DARIUS FLEES TO BABYLON little son of Darius, aged six, whom he called to him and kissed. Meanwhile Darius, who had escaped by night, marched by long journeys as fast as he could to the Euphrates, in order to hs.\e that river between himself and Alexander, and in due course he arrived at Babylon, where he gathered together the remains of the vast army which had fought with him at Issus. From Babylon Darius wrote letters of good advice and counsel to Alexander, and offered to ransom at a great price his mother, wife, and family, and promised to surrender a large part of Asia to him. From the answers which Darius received he appears to have believed that Alexander was indisposed to make terms with him, and he began to prepare for war once more. He re-armed the old soldiers who had been at Issus, and recruited large numbers of new ones, to whom he taught the tactics of war ; he also sent messengers to bring those whom he had left behind in his flight, and, according to Diodorus (xvii. 39), he was able to put in the field in a very short time 800,000 infantry, 200,000 cavalry, and a vast multitude of chariots. As soon as Alexander had made arrangements for the disposal of the Persian queens and princesses, he set out to march upon Egypt; every city to which he came in Phoenicia received him gladly, and he acknowledged their submission graciously. The only city which stood out and refused to admit him within her gates was Tyre, and the Tyrians, apparently having no knowledge of the real state of the case, and trusting THE SIEGE OF TYRE 135 in the strength of their island, and in the stores of provisions which they had accumulated, and in the help which they expected to obtain from the Car- thaginians, to whom they were related, refused to let the conqueror of Darius enter their city to worship the god Herakles of Tyre. Alexander straightway determined to reduce the city, and having pulled down Old Tyre, he caused the stones of which it was built to be carried out by thousands of men and laid in the sea, so that they might form a passage, 200 feet broad, to the rock of Tyre, which was entirely separated from the mainland by the sea. At first the inhabitants smiled, but when they saw the mole growing towards them, they tried to escape with their families to Carthage ; being foiled in their attempt by the workers on the mole they returned to the city, and awaited what might happen. As the mole approached the rock the Tyrians vexed the workmen by shooting arrows and darts at them, but the work went on and was nearly completed when a storm washed away a large portion of it, and Alexander was in despair. The breach was, however, repaired, and at length, after much stubborn fighting on both sides, Alexander himself succeeded in getting on to the walls of the city, from which he called to his Macedonians to follow him, and a breach being made in the walls he and his men trooped in and so captured the city. The Tyrians resisted to the last, and 7000 of them were cut to pieces by the Greeks in forcing their way through the 136 BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA [B.C. 331 city ; the women and children were sold as slaves, and 2000 young men are said to have been hanged. The siege of Tyre lasted seven months, and the siege of Gaza, which followed soon after, two months ; Alexander undermined the walls of the latter city, and when they fell down the Macedonians entered and slaughtered 10,000 Persians and Arabs. The way was now clear to Egypt, and Alexander determined to march on that country without delay, and to defer further fighting with Darius until a more convenient season. We may, however, note that Darius was finally beaten B.C. 331, in a great battle which was fought on the plains of Gaugamela, 1 on the eastern side of the Tigris, about forty miles from the city of Arbela, and that ninety thousand of his infantry and cavalry were estimated to have been killed (Diodorus xvii. 61, 3). 1 Gaugamela is probably the J^?. Gaivmal of Yakut (ed. Wiisten- feld). The town of Arbela is seventy miles east of Mosul (Nineveh), and is a very old settlement, for its name occurs in the cuneiform inscriptions. ( 137 ) CHAPTER VIII. ALEXANDER THE GREAT 1 AND THE PTOLEMAIC PERIOD. ALEXANDER III. of Macedon, and I. of Egypt, who is universally known as ALEXANDER THE GREAT, was the son of Philip II. of Macedon, and of Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus I., king of Epirus, through whom she traced her descent back to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles. He was born B.C. 356 ; his father made him viceroy of Macedonia in 340, and he ascended the throne immediately after the murder of his father in 336 ; he defeated Darius III., king of Persia, at the Battle of the Granicus in 334, and at the Battle of Issus in 333, and captured Tyre and Gaza in 332, after an obstinate siege of each city. He marched into Egypt in the same year, and founded Alexandria B.C. 331 ; in the same year he utterly defeated Darius III. at the Battle of Arbela. He conquered Persia and Media and buried Darius III., who had been murdered by Bessus, in 330; conquered Bactria in 329; and Sogdiana in 328 ; he invaded India in 327 and vanquished Porus the 1 See Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897. 138 THE APOCRYPHAL HISTORY king; lie returned to Persepolis and Susa in 326 ; and to Ecbatana in 325 ; and in 324 to Babylon, where he died after a few days' illness at the age of 32 years, having reigned 12 years and eight months. The battle of the Granicus, the battle of Issus, and the final defeat of Darius at the battle of Gaugamela have already been referred to, and the only events in the life of Alexander the Great which concern us here are his march to Egypt, his reception by the Egyptians, his journey through the country, his visit to the Oasis of Siwa, where he worshipped in the temple of Amen, the arrangements which he made for the administration of the country of Egypt, and his founding of the city of Alexandria. For his conquests subsequent to the battle of Gaugamela and for his physical characteristics and personal qualities and character, the reader will refer to the standard ancient authorities ; l but before Alexander's visit to Egypt is considered reference must be made to a very old legend which seems to have some connexion with the warm and friendly reception which he met with at the hands of the Egyptians. We have already seen that when the Persians were besieging Pelusium Nectanebus II. took fright and fled to 1 Arrian's Anabasis and Indica (ed. Diibner) ; Quintus Curtius, Life of Alexander ; Plutarch, Life of Alexander ; Diodorus Siculus, Bk. xvii. ; and the Fabulous History of Alexander by Pseudo- Callisthenes (ed. C. Miiller, Paris, 1877). With Miiller's edition of the last-named author the important ancient Greek text edited by Meusel should be consulted (Pseudo-Callisthenes, nacli der Leidener Handschrifl herausgegeben, Leipzig, 1871. Reprinted from JuJir- biicher fur Clas. Phil., t. v. suppl. iv.). OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT 139 Memphis, and that when the Persians began to march on Memphis he fled to Ethiopia. Now from the various versions of the work of the Pseudo-Callisthenes we ohtain an account of the circumstances under which Nectanebus II. is supposed to have fled, and of the principal events of his life subsequently. According to this writer Nectanebus was a great magician, and by means of his magic he had succeeded in gaining the victory over his foes ; he worked his magic with the help of a bowl of water, an ebony rod, and a quantity of wax, which he fashioned into divers shapes of men, and animals, and objects, according to his needs, and to these he was enabled to give motion by uttering certain magical names and formulae with which he was well acquainted. One day a scout came and reported that vast numbers of foes had allied them- selves for a common object, and that that object was the conquest of his country ; among these foes were Indians, Euonymites, Oxydrakians, Iberians, Kaukones, Aellopodes, Bosphorians, Bastarnians, Azanians, and Chalybians. Having dismissed the scout with a few encouraging words, he went into his palace, and having modelled figures in wax of his various enemies he placed them in ships of wax and set them on the water in the bowl. He then took his rod in his hand, and having uttered the words of power which he knew, he looked into the bowl and saw that the gods of Egypt were steering and piloting the little wax ships which represented the fleet of the enemy, and he understood 140 FLIGHT OF NECTANEBUS TO PELLA at once that they had forsaken him, and that the end of his sovereignty was at hand. He then went and shaved his head and beard, and arrayed himself in poor apparel, and taking with him all the money he could carry, he fled to Pelusium and thence to Pella in Macedonia, where he established himself as a physician, and a soothsayer, and a reader of the stars. Nectanebus soon gained such fame in Pella that Olympias, the wife of Philip II. of Macedon, came by night to consult him about her future, and to know if Philip was going to put her away when he returned from the war, and take another wife. Nectanebus cast the nativities of herself and her husband, and declared that Philip did intend to put her away, but that he was able to make him to do otherwise ; he went on to say that it was decreed in her fate that a god who lived on the earth should pass a night with her, and that she should bear a son by him who would avenge her cause on Philip. In answer to her questions he told her further that the god was Amen of Libya, and that he had a golden beard and hair, that he had horns of gold on his forehead, and that he was of "middle age," and he promised her that she should see the god in a dream. In due course by means of his magic Nectanebus sent a dream to Olympias, in which she thought that the god was embracing her, and that he promised to give her a son who would avenge her ; when the queen awoke she was pleased with the dream, and she went and begged the magician Nectanebus to bring it to pass. NECTANEBUS II. AND OLYMPIAS 141 Soon after this Nectanebus dressed himself in the skin of a white ram with the horns attached, and in white raiment, and wrapping about him a cloak which had the appearance of being a serpent, with an ebony staff in his hand, he went to the chamber of Olympias, who thought that the god Amen of Libya had come to her. Nectanebus passed the night in the queen's chamber, and Olympias became with child by him. When Philip returned and found his wife with child he rebuked her severely, but Nectanebus caused him to see some wonders by means of his magic, and Philip became reconciled to the idea that Amen of Libya was the god of the child who was about to be born. In due course the days of the queen were fulfilled, and Nectanebus stood by her couch and consulted the heavens so that she might give birth to her child in a lucky hour; at length the propitious moment arrived, and with a very loud cry Olympias brought forth a fine male child, whilst the earth quaked, and lightnings flashed, and thunders roared. Philip was convinced by these signs that the child was of divine origin, and ordered him to be reared carefully and to be called Alexander ; the hair of the child was like a lion's mane, his right eye was black and his left was blue, his teeth were pointed like the fangs of a serpent, and he was as bold as a lion. When Alexander was twelve years old he went one evening for a walk with Nectanebus, and whilst his father was pointing out to him the various stars, he pushed him into a pit, whereby Nectanebus 142 DEATH OF NECTANEBUS II. received a severe wound in the chest, and having declared to Alexander their relationship, he died, and was subsequently buried by the orders of Olympias with great honour. A few years after Alexander had succeeded his father Philip he fought several battles with Darius and defeated him, and thus Egypt, which had been for nearly 150 years a satrapy of the Persian Empire, fell into the hands of the Greeks. When Nectanebus fled before the Persians the Egyptians did not know where he had gone, and they went into their temple and asked the gods what had become of their king ; in answer the gods spake through their prophet, saying "the king of " Egypt who hath fled shall return to Egypt, not as an "old man, but in the strength of youth, and he shall " bring into subjection our enemies the Persians " (Pseudo-Call, i. 3). When Alexander appeared at the head of a large arniy about twenty-five years later, and was about to enter Egypt, the people appealed for help to their god, who told them to "remember the old prophecy " (Pseudo-Call, ii. 26) ; this they did, and when they had considered the matter a little they came to the conclusion that Alexander was the son of Nectanebus, and therefore a true Egyptian king by descent, and they welcomed him to their country gladly. The legend or romance described above is very old, and many parts of it show that the original writer was well acquainted with the manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians, and it is difficult not to think ALEXANDER AS KING OF EGYPT 143 that it was the work of a priest, or priests, whose object was to prove to the Egyptians that Alexander was not a foreigner, but one of their own countrymen. When Alexander arrived at Pelusium the Egyptians turned out to welcome him in great numbers, 1 for they were weary of the Persian revenue officers, and of the cruelty of the satraps, and they hated the Persians because of the insults which Cambyses, and Xerxes, and Ochus had heaped upon their gods, and because they had slain the Apis Bull and the Earn of Mendes, which animals typified Ptah and Osiris. Alexander did not, however, land at Pelusium, but sending an army there marched on to Memphis, where the satrap Mazakes hastened to tender his submission, and to lay at his feet rich gifts having a total value of 800 talents. He stayed some time at Memphis, where he probably assumed the rank and titles which were adopted by Egyptian kings in days of old ; thus we find that he styled himself _ * -.i d d ' ... ' V^ 1 L \ 11 AAAAAA J\ _O" 12 I I I r wwj^ \| 3^ ^zS fl ^=1? ] King of the South and North, lord of the two lands, SETEP-EN-AMEN-MERI-RA, son of the Sun, lord of risings, ARKSANTRES. It is pretty certain, even as the Pseudo-Callisthenes says (i. 34), that some sort of coronation ceremonies were 1 Arrian, iii. 1, 3; Q. Curtius, iv. 7,1,2; Diodorus, xvii. 49. 144 ALEXANDER'S TACT AND TOLERATION performed, for we read that as soon as he came to Memphis, the Egyptians set him upon the throne of Hephaistos, i.e. Ptah, as king of Egypt. In the temple there he saw a black stone statue with an inscription on the base, and when he learned that it was the statue of Nectanebus II., his father according to the romance, he sprang up upon it and embraced it. In any case, Arrian tells us (iii. 1) that he offered up sacrifices to Apis and the other gods, and that he provided entertainments for the people with athletic sports and music, and that the finest musicians and actors who had come from Greece helped to amuse the people. Tactful toleration of the Egyptian gods was worth more than an army to Alexander, and when he gave them theatrical and musical displays he showed that he had quickly recognized the love of fun, and music, and mimicry which has ever been one of the most interesting characteristics of the Egyptians, both ancient and modern. According to some authorities Alexander went from Memphis up the river, and according to others down the Canopic arm of the Nile to Canopus in order that he might be able to look at the Island of Pharos, which is mentioned in Homer (Odyssey iv. 355), and the Lake Mareotis. From Canopus he determined to go to visit the temple of Amen-Ea in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, that is, the Oasis now called SIWA, but known to the Egyptians by the name SEKHET-AMT, Q]]0 (lAA^, i.e., "Field of Trees "; this visit was craftily suggested to Alexander HE VISITS THE OASIS OF SlWA 145 by the priests, whom it is clear he had treated with tact and sympathy. They perceived that Alexander was beginning to think that he was of divine origin, and they flattered him to the top of his bent by assuring him that he was in very truth the son of their great god Amen-Ra. It was no unusual thing in Egypt for kings to imagine that this god was their true father, and in the XVIIIth Dynasty it was the fashion for them to cause reliefs to be sculptured in which they represented that Amen-Ra had taken upon himself flesh in the form of their earthly fathers, and had been the actual husband of their mothers when they conceived their children. The hieroglyphic texts which accompany such reliefs leave no doubt that such was the case, and they prove that sovereigns like Queen Hatshepset and Amen-hetep III. believed either naturally, or through persuasion on the part of the priests, that they were in very truth the issue of Amen-Ra who had become incarnate in their fathers. 1 The belief that kings were the actual sons of divine 1 According to M. Maspero, when once Alexander had entered Egypt he could not escape the necessity of having a divine father and of being proclaimed son of Amen. Egypt had had so many masters, that she was obliged to adapt her theory of solar royalty to the reality of her history. He entered Egypt as a simple mortal, the son of Philip, but when he left it he had become the son of Amen, whether he wished it or not. See Comment Alexandre derint Dieu en IZyypte ^Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Annuaire 1897), p. 30. VOL. VII. L 146 ALEXANDER'S JOURNEY TO THE OASIS fathers is so old in Egypt that we find traces of it in the dynasties of the Early Empire. It is difficult to understand why the priests did not take Alexander to the oldest and greatest shrine of Amen-Ra at Thebes, but it is probable that the temples of that city were, in Alexander's time, since the Ptolemaic restorations had not yet been begun, nearly all in ruins. There was besides, no doubt, some political reason for Alexander's journey to the Oasis of Siwa, but whether it was undertaken partly from religious motives, or as the result of a settled policy, or of mere vanity, as Grote thought, 1 it was a remarkable achievement. On his way through the desert he was met by envoys from the Cyrenaeans, who brought him gifts and with whom he made a treaty. On the fourth day of their march 2 the water failed, and the expedition was in great distress, but a storm arose in a most remarkable manner, and rain fell in such torrents that the water- skins could be refilled with another four days' supply. The way was indicated to the king by crows which flew along on the right side of the army, and having passed the Bitter Lakes and the cities of Ammon, another day's journey brought him to the grove of the god. The first temple which Alexander found was 1 History of Greece, vol. 10, p. 95. 2 The shortest way to the Oasis is to go to 'Akabat al-Kebir (Catabathmus Major), which is about five days west of Alexandria, and then to travel southwards, when the Oasis will be reached after five days more ; the route followed by Alexander was five days longer. OASIS OF SfWA DESCRIBED 147 situated among trees, many of which were fruit-bearing, and pools of water ; close by was a castle with a triple wall, wherein lived the chief of the Oasis, and at no great distance was another temple of Amen, which was likewise situated in a grove. Here was the famous Fountain of the Sun, the waters of which were warm at sunrise, very cold at noon, and boiling hot at midnight. 1 Our information about the ancient build- ings at Siwa and the inscriptions which are known to exist there is very limited, notwithstanding the fact that the Oasis has been visited by many Europeans during the last hundred years, 3 but it seems that the 1 As a matter of fact the water of this spring has a uniform temperature of 73J Fahrenheit. 2 See Cailliaud, Voyage a Meroe, Paris, 1823 ff. ; Minutoli, Eeise zum Tempel des Jupiter Amman, Berlin, 1824 ; Hamilton, Wander- ings in North Africa, London, 1856 ; Parthey, Das Orakel und die Oasc des Amman, Berlin, 1862 ; Rohlfs, Von Tripoli nach Alexandrien Bremen, 1871 ; and Rohlfs, Drei Monate in der libysclien Wilste, Cassel, 1875. Mr. Silva White is the most recent European traveller who has visited Siwa, and he has published an account of his journey in From Sphinx to Oracle, London, 1899. According to him the Oasis is not more than six miles long, and its width varies from a few hundred yards to four or five miles (p. 139). The hills Jebel Amelal and Jebel Jari are over 300 feet in height, and are of limestone ; on these hills rest the town and cemetery of Siwa. The oldest inhabited place is Aghormi (Akermi). The Oasis contains hot springs and a sulphur mine, and lies considerably lower than the Mediterranean ; some say 80 feet, others 108 feet, and Rohlfs says 170 feet. It contains 150 springs. The population is about 3000, and the people are of Berber stock, and their language is a Berber dialect, or Tamasirt ; they have curly hair, full lips, flat noses, yellow skin, high cheek bones, and are exclusive and suspi- cious towards strangers, intractable, proud, fierce, fanatical, and 148 THE GOD AMEN OF SIWA sanctuary which Alexander visited is represented by the ruins of Egyptian gateways and inscribed walls, which were discovered by the traveller James Hamilton in 1853. In 1869 Rohlfs found that the courts of the temple and the sanctuary itself were filled with modern houses, and the castle with triple walls men- tioned by Diodorus is probably represented by the modern Akermi. The form of the god Amen worshipped at Siwa was a ram which was inlaid with emeralds and other precious stones, and which was carried about in a boat ; it directed the priests and made known its wishes by superstitious. When they fight drums are beaten, and the com- batants form up facing each other ; when compliments have been passed each man fires one shot from his gun which he holds at arm's length and then retires, and the women take up positions at the rear of their men with baskets of stones, and devote their energies to throwing stones at the cowards and encouraging their men. The Oasis contains 300,000 olive and palm trees, which yield a tax of 1700 ; 1500 tons of dates are exported annually. The Fountain of the Sun is 18 feet deep, and its uniform temperature is 85 Fahr. (sic). Mr. White made an examination of Gebel Muta, or the Hill of the Dead, and found it full of tombs. An old man showed him the way to a tomb which contained an empty sar- cophagus chamber, on the south wall of which were hieroglyphic inscriptions in red paint, and scenes and vignettes. The copies which Mr. White made proved that these were of the usual funereal character, but they were not sufficiently exact to enable M. Daressy to read the name of the deceased, who was a priest and royal scribe. The inscription which Mr. White showed me appeared to belong to the XXVIth Dynasty. It is much to be hoped that the Egyptian Government will soon cause a survey of Siwa to be made, and that Major Lyons will give us a work on the Oasis similar to that which Mr. Ball has produced on Al-Kharga. AMEN AND ALEXANDER CONVERSE 149 movements of its head. When Alexander approached the shrine the high priast saluted him and told him that the god Amen called him his son, and Alexander replied to the effect that if the god would make him lord of the whole world he would accept the title " son," and keep it for ever. At this moment the priests raised the figure of the god in its shrine and, apparently in accordance with a motion which the ram made with its head, the high priest declared that the god would certainly grant the king his desire. Alexander then said, " I entreat thee, God, that thou wouldst let me " know what I have yet to inquire, and that is, whether " I have executed justice upon all my father's murderers, " or whether any have escaped ? " Whereupon the oracle cried out, " Express thyself better, for no mortal " can kill thy father, but all the murderers of Philip " have suffered just punishment " ; and then went on to say that the divine birth of the king was proved by his great achievements and successes, and that as he had never yet been overcome by any, so in times to come he should always be victorious. Alexander was greatly pleased with these words, and having made rich gifts to the sanctuary he returned to Egypt, and according to Diodorus, prepared to found his great city of Alexandria. The Pseudo-Callisthenes tells us (i. 30) that when Alexander was at the temple of Amen he asked the god to give him a proof that he really was his son, and Amen assured him that he had sprung from his seed. 150 THE FOUNDING OF ALEXANDRIA The site chosen by Alexander for his new city was close to the old Egyptian town called Kaqetit, M c=^ (1(1 , l and was opposite the Island of i i I Pharos and was situated between Lake Mareotis and the Mediterranean Sea. Alexander's object in building a city on this site is clear : he intended it to be easy of access for the Mediterranean merchant-ships, and to make it the central sea-port of his empire, and there was no other site anywhere in the Delta which was so suitable for this purpose. According to Diodorus, Alexander measured out the ground on which the city was to stand, and marked out the streets, and called it Alexandria after his own name. He built a wall all round it, and it was easily defended by a small guard, for it had the sea on one side and a lake on the other. It was in the form of a soldier's coat, and had one large and well-built street running almost through the middle of the town ; it was about forty furlongs in length (five miles), and one hundred feet wide. The ancient authorities differ as to whether Alexander founded the city before he went to the Oasis or after ; Diodorus, Q. Curtius, and Justin take the latter view, whilst Arrian and Plutarch take the former, the Pseudo- Callisthenes (i. 30) makes the founding of the city to follow his visit to the Oasis, and repeats the words which the Oracle spoke to the king ; he therefore sides with Diodorus, Q. Curtius, and Justin. Arrian and 1 Hence the Coptic name |)AKO'I*, Eukoti. THE FOUNDING OF ALEXANDRIA 151 the Pseudo-Callisthenes both say that when Alexander wished to mark out the site of the foundations he used a quantity of meal or grain for the purpose because he had no other material at hand ; the latter writer (1. 32) adds that the birds came and ate up the grain and flew away, from which it was augured that the city would feed the whole world. The architect of the city was Deinocrates, and his plans were carried out by Cleo- menes of Naucratis, who was assisted by Heron (a Libyan), Krateros, Hyponomos, and others. As Alexander only spent five months in Egypt, he cannot have seen more than the mere foundations of Alex- andria's walls and houses, and it is extremely doubtful if he could have realized the importance to which his city was to attain. The Pseudo-Callisthenes says (i. 31) that he made the people who lived within a distance of thirty miles to come and live in the new city, and that he called them Alexandrians. 1 - The Arabic writer Mas'udi (Chap, xxxii.) records the following very curious legends about the founding of Alexandria. When the king came to where he wished to build his city he found the remains of a large building with marble columns, among which was one with an inscription in the ancient character of Himyar that stated the building there had been erected by Shaddad, the son of 'Ad, and that described the views of that king, and contained remarks about the nothingness of all worldly things. Alexander meditated on the words to his advantage. Then he collected workmen from all countries, and traced out the foundations, which were measured by miles ( Jkl) in length and breadth ! He collected marble and brought all kinds of stone from Sicily, Africa, Crete, and Rhodes. Wishing to lay the foundations of the city in an auspicious hour, and all of them at the same time, he set up a marble column, with 152 ALEXANDER APPOINTS When Alexander returned from the Oasis to Memphis he found that Antipater had sent him from Greece 400 mercenaries under Menetas, and 500 Thracian cavalry under Asclepiodorus ; he provided entertainments and athletic sports for the soldiers, and offered up sacrifices to the gods, and thus pleased both priests and people. He next devoted himself to making arrangements for the government of Egypt, and made the following appointments : Doloaspis and Petisis (i.e., Peta-Ast, a loud-sounding bell on the top, before his tent. At intervals along the site for the walls he drove into the ground pegs, to each of which he attached a bell, and every bell could be rung by a cord which ran from it to the marble column. Whilst he was waiting for the auspicious hour he fell asleep, and a raven came, and alighting on the bell on the top of the column made it ring, and at the same time, by means of mechanism which Alexander had con- structed, set all the other bells ringing. The workmen hearing the bells ring immediately began to lay the foundations, and to pray, and the king waking up was surprised to find what had happened. As soon as the foundations had been laid, and the walls had begun to rise above the ground, each evening beasts came up out of the sea and destroyed the work which had been done in the day. To counteract their efforts he made a large box, ten cubits long by five cubits wide, and inserted in it glass windows, and covered all the wood with pitch ; into this box he and two of his men entered and shut themselves in, then two ships towed the box out to sea, and, having been weighted with iron, lead, and stones, it was lowered to the bed of the sea. Looking through the glass Alexander was able to watch the monsters of the deep, and to note their forms, and he found that they resembled men and held hatchets, saws, and hammers in their hands ; he made careful and exact drawings of these monsters, and then caused his box to be pulled up to the surface of the sea. As soon as he had returned to Alexandria he made figures of the demons of the sea in iron, copper, and stone, according to his drawings, and having placed GOVERNORS OF PROVINCES 153 &) were to be over the whole country, but as Petisis declined his charge Doloaspis became vice- roy ; he appointed Pantaleon, of Pydna, to be over the garrison of Memphis; and Polemon, the son of Megacles, of Pella, over the garrison of Pelusium ; Lycidas, of Aetolia, became commander of the mercenaries ; Eug- nostas became the secretary of the mercenaries ; and Aeschylus and Ephippus were to be their generals ; Apollonius, the son of Carinus, became governor of them on the blocks of stone which lay along the sea coast, he con- tinued the building of his city. The sea monsters came again by night, but as soon as they saw figures of themselves on the stone blocks they fled to the sea and never more appeared. When the city was built Alexander set up an inscription in which he gave thanks to Almighty God for His help and favour. The city was built in terraces (or steps), beneath which were chambers with vaulted roofs high enough for a horseman to march under ; these were lit and ventilated by openings in the walls. The city was lit at night not by torches, but by the effulgence of the marble of which it was built. The streets and alleys and markets were roofed over and sheltered the passengers from rain ; the city was pro- tected by seven walls, and between each was a ditch. As soon as the city was inhabited another class of sea monsters appeared by night and carried off people, but Alexander succeeded in vanquish- ing them by means of talismans which he fixed upon columns ; each column was in the form of an arrow, and was eighty cubits high, and rested on a pedestal of brass. According to Mas'udi the Pharos was built by Alexander at the same time as Alexandria, and was said to rest upon a glass pedestal, which in its turn rested upon a crab that lived at the bottom of the sea. On the top of the Pharos were three bronze statues : one indicated by movements of the hand the course of the sun, the second emitted a sound which could be heard for two or three miles whenever an enemy was approaching by sea, and the third marked each hour of the day and night by uttering sweet sounds which varied every hour. 154 DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT Hither Libya; Cleomenes, of Naucratis, became governor of that part of Arabia which was near Heroopolis; and Doloaspis commanded that the chief men of his province should live according to their ancient laws, and enjoy their liberties, and he should only take care to collect the tribute which Alexander commanded them to pay into his hands. Peucestas and Balacrus were in command of all the army which Alexander left in Egypt, and the fleet was under Polemon, the son of Theramenes. Arrian, who gives us the above details, adds that Alexander placed the country under so many rulers because he felt it unsafe to commit the whole government into the hands of any one man. It is interesting to note that the viceroy, Doloaspis, was a Persian, and we may probably see in his appoint- ment a proof of Alexander's administrative skill. This man, no doubt, held office under the last Persian kings, and as he was thoroughly familiar with extraordinary as well as ordinary methods of raising revenue, his appointment was, under the circumstances, expedient and politic. When Alexander had made these arrangements for the protection and government of the country, he set out on the march to Phoenicia, and never returned to Egypt again until he was carried there from Babylon a dead man. Alexander died in June, 323, and as soon as he was dead a dispute broke out among the Persians and Macedonians (Pseudo- Callisthenes iii. 34) as to the possession of his body ; ALEXANDER'S BODY EMBALMED 155 the former wished to have it, and to worship Alexander as Mithras, and the Macedonians wished to take it to Macedonia. In this difficulty Ptolemy suggested that they should consult the oracle of the Babylonian Zeus, and when they had done so the god replied that the dead king should be taken to Memphis in Egypt, and set upon a throne there. Thereupon Perdiccas embalmed the body and placed it in a lead sarcophagus, which Ptolemy set upon a waggon and took to Memphis. As soon as the inhabitants of Memphis heard of its arrival they went out and brought the dead king into the city, but the high-priest of Ptah said, " Set him not down "here, but in the town which he hath founded at " Rhakotis. For wheresoever his body is there will " there be disturbances, and the city wherein it lieth " will be set in a commotion because of wars and " strifes." So Ptolemy took the body to Alexandria, and in that part of the city which was called "Body of Alexander," he made a tomb and buried him. Accord- ing to the Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, 1 Alexander ordered that his body was to be laid in a fine gold coffin,- 250 talents (in weight), and that this coffin was to be filled with " white honey which hath not been melted." The coffin was to be laid on a 1 See my History of Alexander the Great, Cambridge, 1889, p. 141. 2 It is said that Ptolemy Alexander stole this gold coffin and put a glass (?) one in its place; see Strabo, xvii. 1, 8. When Caesar Augustus was at Alexandria he viewed the remains of Alexander, and scattered flowers on the body and offered a golden crown. Suetonius, Caesar, 18. 156 ALEXANDER'S FUNERAL chariot, and drawn to Egypt by sixteen docile mules, and to be escorted by Ptolemy and the army of Macedonians ; l 1000 talents of gold were to be supplied 1 The following account of Alexander's funeral chariot by Diodorns (xviii. 26-28, trans. Booth) is of interest : "When Philocles was chief magistrate at Athens, and Caius " Sulpitius and Quintus Aulins were created Roman consuls, "Aridaeus, to whom was committed the care of conveying "Alexander's body to his sepulchre, having now the chariot ready "upon which it was to be carried, prepared himself for the "journey. But, forasmuch as the whole business and concern "was managed as became the majesty of Alexander, and upon " that account did not only exceed all others in point of expense, "state, and pomp (for the charges amounted to many talents), " but also in respect of curiosity and workmanship, we think it fit "to recommend something to posterity in writing concerning it. "And first, a coffin of beaten gold was provided, so wrought by " the hammer, as to answer to the proportion of the body ; it was " half filled with aromatic spices, which served as well to delight " the sense, as to prevent the body from putrefaction. Over the "coffin was a cover of gold, so exactly fitted, as to answer the " higher part every way. Over this was thrown a curious purple " coat embroidered with gold, near to which were placed the arms "of the deceased, that the whole might represent the acts of his "life. Then was provided the chariot, in which the body was to "be conveyed; upon the top of which was raised a triumphant " arch of gold, set thick and studded over with precious stones, "eight cubits in breadth, and twelve in length. Under this roof "was placed a throne of gold, joined to the whole work, four "square, on which were carved the heads of Goatharts; and to "these were fastened golden rings of two handsbreadth in " diameter; at which hung, for show and pomp, little coronets of " various colours, which, like so many flowers, afforded a pleasant " prospect to the eye. Upon the top of the arch, was a fringe of ' ' network, to which were hung large bells, to the intent that the " sound of them might be heard at a great distance. On both "sides [of] the arch, at the corners, stood an image of Victory in ALEXANDER'S FUNERAL 157 from the revenues of the kingdom for the expenses of the journey, and 1600 talents for the expenses of the mules. The Arabic writer Mas'udi says that Alexander's ' ' gold, bearing a trophy. A peristylium of gold supported the " arch work, the chapiters of whose pillars were of Ionian work- " manship. Within the peristylium, by a network of gold of a "finger's thickness in the workmanship, hung four tables, one by "another, equal to the dimensions of the wall, whereupon were " pourtrayed all sorts of living creatures. The first table repre- " sented a chariot curiously wrought, wherein Alexander sat with "a royal sceptre in his hand. About the king stood his life- " guards complete in their arms ; the Macedonians on the one side, " and the Persians, who bore battle-axes, on the other ; and before "them stood the armour-bearers. In the second, elephants "adorned in their warlike habiliments followed them of the "guard, on which sat Indians before, and Macedonians behind, "armed according to the manner of their respective countries. "In the third might be seen squadrons of horse drawn up in 1 ' regular battalia. In the fourth appeared a fleet ordered in a "line of battle. At the entrance of the arch stood lions of gold, " with their faces towards the entrance. From the middle of "every pillar an acanthus of gold sprouted up, in branches spiring "in slender threads to the very chapiters. Over the arch, about " the middle of the roof on the outside, was spread a purple carpet "in the open air, on which was placed a vast golden crown, in the "form of an olive coronet, which, by the reflection of the sun- " beams, darted such an amazing splendor and brightness, that at "a distance it appeared as a flash of lightning. Under the seats "or bottom of the whole work, ran two axletrees, about which " moved four Persian wheels, whose spokes and naves were over- " laid with gold, but the fellows were shod with iron. The ends "and out-parts of the axles were of gold, representing the heads "of lions, each holding a dart in liis mouth. In every centre of " the arch, about the midway in the length, was artificially fixed a " pole, upon which the whole might turn, as on a hinge ; by the " help whereof the arch might, in rough places, where it was apt " to be shaken, be preserved from being overturned. There were 158 TOMB OF ALEXANDER AT ALEXANDRIA remains were first coated with bitumen and then laid in a marble sarcophagus, ^^\ uyylxH, because his mother feared that a gold sarcophagus would be an inducement to kings far distant to come and carry it off. The marble sarcophagus was raised upon a plat- form made of stones and of blocks of white and coloured marbles laid one above the other. The writer goes on to say that this platform was to be seen at Alexandria in the year of the Flight 332, and that it was known by the name of " Tomb of Alexander." l When the news of the death of Alexander the Great became generally known throughout Babylon strife and dissensions at once broke out among the various generals of his army, each of whom wished and tried to gain as large a portion of the Macedonian Empire as was possible for himself. Alexander left no offspring except a child called Herakles, of whom he was the " four draft-trees, to every one of which were fixed four courses of "yokes, and to every course were bound four mules, so that the " mules were sixty-four in number, the most choice for strength " and bigness that could be got. Every mule was adorned with a "crown of gold, and bells of gold on either side of their heads ; "and on their necks were fitted rich collars, set and beautified "with precious stones. And in this manner was the chariot set "forth, the sight of which was more stately and pompous than " the report : so that the fame of it brought together multitudes of "spectators: for the people out of every city wherever it was " coming, met it, and ran back again before it, never satisfied with " the delight they took in vewing and gazing. And, suitable to "so stately a show, a vast quantity of workmen and pioneers, who "levelled and smoothed the ways for its passage, attended." 1 B. de Maynard, Les Prairies d'Or, torn. ii. 1863, p. 259. ALEXANDER'S CHILDREN 159 father by Barsine. His wife Roxana was pregnant, and as she was anxious to avoid all possibility of the succession of the child whom she was about to bear being disputed by Statira, the last wife whom Alex- ander had married, she sent her a forged letter, which purported to come from Alexander, asking her to come to him. Statira came, accompanied by her sister, and Eoxana had them both killed and their bodies thrown down a well, after which the well was filled up with earth. 1 Her accomplice in this crime was Perdiccas, who, after Alexander's death, became a very powerful official, and to all intents and purposes the king of Macedonia. It was, of course, necessary that a successor to Alexander should be appointed as soon as possible, and whilst some were in favour of waiting until Roxana's child should be born, the majority wished to raise Arrhidaeus to the throne. This man was the sou of Philip II. of Macedon, " by a low and "disreputable woman called Philinna, and was half- " witted in consequence of some bodily disorder with " which he was afflicted. This disease was not "congenital nor produced by natural causes, for he "had been a fine boy, and showed considerable " ability, but Olympias endeavoured to poison him, and " destroyed his intellect by her drugs." 2 Besides these, however, one party was in favour of Olympias, the mother of Alexander, another in favour of his sister Cleopatra, and a third in favour of another sister, l Plutarch, Alexander, 77. 2 Ibid. 160 ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE DIVIDED Kynane, the widow of his cousin Amyntas, whom he had put to death. Finally, after scenes of great violence and disorder, Arrhidaeus was appointed to succeed Alexander, and he became king of Macedonia under the title of Philip III. ; his chief minister of state was Perdiccas, one of Alexander's intimate friends, to whom he had given his ring shortly before his death. The various provinces of the empire were divided among Alexander's generals as follows : Egypt and Libya were assigned to Ptolemy, Syria to Laomedon, Cilicia to Philotas, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Greater Phrygia to Antigonus, Caria to Asander, Lydia to Menander, Hellespontine Phrygia to Leon- natus, Cappadocia and Paphlagonia to Eumenes, Media to Peithon, and the provinces of the East to those who were their rulers at the time of Alexander's death. 1 2. Lord of the two lands, SETEP-EN-BA-MERI-AMEN, son of the Sun, PHIULIUPUAS. WE have already said that when Arrhidaeus, the son of Philip II. of Macedon and of Philinna, was elected as the successor of Alexander the Great, he succeeded 1 Grote, History of Greece, vol. x. p. 255. T - (MM REIGN OF PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS l6l as Philip III. of Macedon, and that Ptolemy, Alex- ander's general and friend, received Egypt and Libya as his share of the kingdom. But the hieroglyphic inscriptions show that Ptolemy did not assume the sovereignty of Egypt, and that he only, at first, ruled the country on behalf of Philip III. of Macedon, who became PHILIP I. of Egypt. Philip Arrhidaeus married Eurydice, who was the daughter of Kynane and Amyntas, the first cousin of Alexander the Great, and who had been brought to Asia by her mother. Olympias, Alexander's mother, and Perdiccas tried to prevent the marriage, and actually caused Kynane to be put to death, 1 but the soldiers showed such indignation at the deed that they were compelled to allow the marriage to take place. Philip Arrhi- daeus was co-regent of Macedonia with Alexander IV. of Macedon, the son of Alexander the Great and his wife Roxana, who was born soon after the death of his father, and matters went smoothly enough until the death of Perdiccas, B.C. 321. Philip and his wife Eurydice went to Macedonia in the follow- ing year, and soon afterwards they succeeded in forming such a powerful faction that Roxana took her son Alexander IV. and departed to Epirus, where the boy's grandmother Olympias lived. In 317, Aeakides, the king of Epirus, made representations to Polyper- chon, who had received the charge of affairs in Macedon 1 Diodorus, xviii. 23. VOL. VTI. M 162 PHILIP II. AND ALEXANDER II. from Antipater, and together they succeeded in restor- ing Alexander IV. in Macedon in the same year. Instigated by Olympias Alexander IV. gave orders that Philip Arrhidaeus was to die, and he was stabbed to Amen-Ra laying his hand on the shoulder of Philip Arrhidaeus, and addressing him thus: "I stabhsh thy rising 1 as king of the. South and North upon the throne of thy father before Ra." The goddess Ament, who is seen suckling the young king in the form of Horus says, " I suckle thee with my milk." death by some Thracians a p ter a reign of six years and four months. Not satisfied with the death of Philip, Olympias next sent to his wretched wife Eurydice a MONUMENTS OF PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS 163 sword, a bow-string, and some hemlock, and told her to choose her death ; Eurydice, having called upon the gods to punish Olympias in a similar manner, and having wiped her husband's wounds, hanged herself with her girdle and never shed a tear or showed in any way that she was dismayed by the calamity which had befallen her (Diodorus xix. 11). It is extremely doubtful if Philip Arrhiclaeus visited Egypt, but if he did he can have taken no active part in Ptolemy's administration of the country, although remains bearing his name have been found in a few places. 1 Near Eshruunen, a town which marks the site of the ancient city of Hermopolis in Upper Egypt, the French Expedition found a portico of the Ptolemaic Period with two rows of six pillars, each pillar being fifty feet high, and on one of these pillars were the cartouches of Philip Arrhidaeus. We know that Ptolemy carried out a great many works in Egypt on behalf of the co-regents, and it is possible that he began the portico and caused the name of Philip to be inscribed on one of its columns. At Karnak there was built in the name of Philip a red granite sanctuary with two chambers and a roof which was ornamented with yellow stars painted on a blue ground. The walls, both inside and outside, were covered with reliefs, in which the king is seen making offerings to Amen, and to the goddess Ament, who gives him milk ; both the scenes and the descriptive 1 See Lepsius, Denkmaler, iv. pi. 2. 164 MONUMENTS OF PHILIP ARRHIDAEUS texts which accompany them were ornamented with bright colours, traces of which still remain. It is interesting to note that the sanctuary of Philip was built in the oldest part of the temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak, and that it is surrounded by the buildings of the great kings of the XVIIIth Dynasty. We may be sure that this site was carefully selected, and it appears as if in the days of Philip an attempt was made to prove that the Macedonian was the rightful successor of the Pharaohs of old, and that as such he built a sanctuary in the heart of the oldest sanctuary of the god who addressed Alexander the Great as his son. In any case, the presence of the shrine at Karnak proves that he who was responsible for its erection adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the class of men who had always held the greatest power in Egypt the priests. 3. c King of the South and North, lord of the two lands, RA-HAA-AB-AMEN-SETEP-EN, son of the Sun, lord of risings, ARKSANTRES. ALEXANDER IV. of Macedon, or ALEXANDER II. of Egypt, was the son of Alexander the Great and Koxana, and was born shortly after his father's death ; he was co-regent with Philip Arrhidaeus, and went with REIGN OF ALEXANDER II. 165 him and Koxana his mother to Macedonia B.C. 320. He . was taken to Epirus by Eoxana when she j^ saw that Philip and his wife were gaining too much power, but was restored to his rightful position in Macedonia B.C. 317, when his co-regent was murdered, pro- bably at the instigation of Olympias. A short time afterwards Cassander, whose brother Nicanor was put to death by HEQ-QEN, th ltexanderiv o Olyinpias, succeeded in bringing an accusation against her at one of the general assemblies of the Macedonians, and she was condemned to death. Cassander gave her the opportunity to escape death by flight, but Olympias declared that she was ready to take her trial before Macedonian judges, and fearing the effect upon her hearers of any statement she might make he sent two hundred soldiers to kill her at once. These men re- turned without having fulfilled their mission, being awestruck by her dignity of bearing, but she was at length strangled by the parents of those whose children she had put to death. Olympias being removed, the only obstacles to Cassander's becoming king of Macedonia were Alexander IV. and his mother Koxana, and he therefore determined to kill mother and son ; he was, however, afraid to carry his plan into effect just then, and he therefore sent them to the fortress at Amphipolis, where they were treated as prisoners until B.C. 311, when Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus l66 ALEXANDER II. STRANGLED [B.C. 133 made peace with Antigonus. One of the conditions of the peace was that Cassander should be commander-in- chief of the Macedonian army until Alexander IV. was of age, but hearing soon afterwards that people were beginning to say that it was time Alexander should succeed his father, Cassander ordered Glaukias, the governor of the fortress at Amphipolis, to strangle both mother and son, and the command was promptly carried out in 311 (Diodorus xix. 105). Whether the murder of the lawful heir to the throne Alexander Aegus, son of Alexander the Great. afforded Ptolemy, governor of Egypt, any relief cannot be said, but it certainly enabled him to make himself king of the country whensoever he should feel disposed to do so. As Ptolemy had caused buildings to be under- taken in Egypt in the name of Philip Arrhidaeus, who was probably never in the country, so also he carried out works on which he placed the name of Alexander IV., who was taken to Macedonia when he was a child six years old, and was only twelve or thirteen years old when he was murdered. At Karnak the rebuilding of Alexander II. of Egypt, " the lord who riseth on the seat of Horus," making offerings to his father Amen-Ra; above him is the Vulture goddess >ekhebet. l68 MONUMENTS OF ALEXANDER II. a part of the great temple of Amen-Ra was begun in his name, 1 and the reliefs prove that Ptolemy wished the boy-king to appear as a faithful worshipper of the god, and a generous benefactor of his sanctuary. From Karnak came the red granite statue of Alexander IV., which is about nine feet high and is now preserved in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo, 2 and it is probable that it occupied a place of honour in the buildings of the young king, perhaps even in the sanctuary itself. The pose of the statue is Egyptian, but the features and the arrangement of the headdress are Greek ; the general effect is, as M. Maspero says, "mou et sans vigueur," 3 and will not bear comparison with the beautiful works of the Theban dynasties. In a rock- hewn chamber at Beni-Hasan are a number of reliefs in which Alexander IV. is making offerings to the gods, and outside it are the cartouches of the king. On the Island of Elephantine are the remains of a granite doorway, on which are sculptured several reliefs which depict the king in the act of making offerings of incense, ^, cake, ^, and Maat, dj, to the gods of the First Cataract, i.e., to Khnemu, Satet, Anqet, and Amen-Ra. The style and solidity of this doorway 1 See Lepsius, Denkmaler, pll. 1, 3 ff. z See Maspero, Guide, p. 380 ; Virey, Notice des principaux monuments exposes au Musee de Gizeh, Paris, 1897, p. 97, No. 308. 3 On the other hand, Mr. Mahaffy (Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 38) thinks that " the gentle and melancholy expression would well suit "the tragic fortunes of the ill-starred boy, a martyr to his " greatness." STELE OF ALEXANDER II. 169 suggest that it formed part of a comparatively large temple, and as an altar, with an inscription upon it. showing that it was dedicated to Amen-Ka, was found close by, it is pretty certain that the whole edifice was dedicated to Amen-Ka. Thus we see that Ptolemy caused works to be carried out at Elephantine and Karnak, two of the most important sites in Upper Egypt, and from a very valuable inscription set up by him we learn that he carried out a great work of temple restora- tion in the ancient cities of Pe and Tep in the Delta. This inscription is cut upon a black granite stele measuring about 6 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, which was found in 1870 by Muhammad Eflfendi Kurshid in one of the mosques of Cairo, 1 and which is dated in the first month of the season Shat in the seventh year (i.e. about B.C. 312) of " the majesty "of the young Horus, who is mighty in two-fold " strength, the lord of the shrines of Nekhebet and "Uatchet, the beloved of the gods, to whom have " been given the dignity and rank of his father, "the golden Horus, the strong one in all the land, the "King of the South and North, the lord of the two "lands, fHaa-ab-Ba-setep-en-Amen jL son of the Sun, f Arksantres J, living for ever, beloved of the gods of 1 See Maspero, Guide, p. 55 ; for the hieroglyphic text see Mariette, Monuments Dicers, pi. 14. 170 STELE OF ALEXANDER II. "Pe and Tep, c= ^." The text proceeds: ' r ' ' D " (Line 2) He was king of the two lands (i.e. Egypt), "and of foreign lands, and his Majesty was at the " head of the Asiatics, and the Great Chief in Egypt, " ^ ~ , was called Ptolemy, ^ /= (j (] [1 vg . He " was a man who was young, and vigorous in his arms, "and possessed understanding, and he was chief of the " bowmen ; his heart was bold, his step (literally, " sandals) was firm, he opposed bravely the foe, and "never turned his back in flight, and smote in the " face (line 3) his enemies on the Held of battle. When " once he had taken the bow in his hand his foe was " unable to shoot at him, and after one sweep of his " sword in battle there was none who could stand " against him ; his hands could not be turned aside, " what came forth from his mouth could not be gainsaid, "and he was without like in the two lands and in " foreign lands. " He brought (or, restored) the symbol (or, images) "of the gods which were found with the Asiatics, " and all the possessions and books of the temples " of the South and North (line 4) he put back in " their places. He established his court at the place " which was called the Fortress of the King of the "South and North, f Setep-en-Ra-meri-Amen J, son of "the Sun, ( Arksantres jL 1 which is on the shore of the v. 'J\ 1 I.e , Alexandria. HIS GIFTS TO PE AND TEP 17! " Great Green Sea of the Hau-nebu, ^ %> ^^ Q ^ , ci H . ' v. j i i i " and which was formerly called Kaqetet. He collected " many Hau-nebu and (line 5) horses, and ships with "their fighting crews, and he made an expedition with " his bowmen to the land of Syria, the people of which " were at war with him. He entered into their country, " his heart was mighty, and he was like a large bird of "prey among the little birds. He conquered them "forthwith, he led away their chiefs, and their (line 6) " horses, and their boats, and all marvellous possessions " to Egypt. "After these things he made an expedition to the "border of "* "" <\\ ] - 1 and he conquered them T r JS^ I i i i " forthwith ; he led back their soldiers, and men, and "women, and their gods (?), in return for what they "had done to Egypt. Having returned to Egypt his " heart was glad by reason of these things which he " had done, and he celebrated a festival, for this Great " Chief (i.e., Ptolemy) sought to do gracious acts " towards the gods of the South and North. Then he " who was with him (i.e., with Ptolemy) and the aged "men of the North Land told him that the marshes " of the land of Uatchet had been given by Khabbesha, 2 " the everliving, to the gods of Pe and Tep after his 1 See an article on these people by Maspero, Recueil, torn. viii. p. 84. 2 I omit the full names and titles of this king, as they have been given above (pp. 72, 73). 172 MENTION OF KHABBESHA AND XERXES "majesty had departed to Pe and Tep to go round about "through the marsh lands which were in its (line 8) " territory, and had passed through the swamps, to inspect the arms of the Nile which "flowed into the Great Green Sea, in order to keep " away from Egypt the fleet of the Asiatics. Then his " majesty said to him that was with him, ' Instruct " me in the matter of this marsh land,' and they told " him that it was called the marsh land of the land of " Uatchet (i.e., Buto) and that it had belonged to the " gods of Pe and Tep from the earliest times, but that "the (line 9) enemy Xerxes had seized upon it and " had never given anything in return for it to the gods "of Pe and Tep. Then his majesty commanded them " to bring the priests and governors of Pe and Tep into "his presence, and when they had brought them in "haste he said unto them, 'I would know what the " spirits (or, souls) of the gods of Pe and Tep did unto "the enemy (line 10) because of the foul deed which " he had done unto them.' And they said, ' The " enemy Xerxes did an evil thing to Pe and Tep when "he carried off their possessions.' And they spake " before his majesty, [saying], ' Prince, our Lord, " Horus, the son of Isis and the son of Osiris, the prince " of princes, and the king of kings, the lord of lords, the " avenger of his father, the lord of Pe and Tep, the "chief of the gods, made it to happen that (line 11) "there was no king to succeed him, and he dis- PE AND TEP RE-ENDOWED 173 " missed the enemy Xerxes from his palace and his "eldest son, and [this] was known on this day in the " city of Sai's of Neith by the divine mother.' " The exact meaning of the words in which the king replies is not clear, but they seem to indicate that the king swears he will act according to the wishes of this great and mighty god among the gods. Thereupon the priests and nobles of Pe and Tep ask Ptolemy to restore to them the territory of the gods already mentioned, together with the meat and drink offerings of every kind, and to renew the grant of property to the gods in his name in return for the good fortune which they have bestowed upon him. Ptolemy assented, and ordered a decree to be drawn up in writing in the chancery of the royal scribe who was over the revenue, V<=> X I 0^ 1, wherein he as Satrap, AI '-'J tzsz: s a khshetrep, of the country restored to the god Horus of Pe and Tep the properties which had been his afore- time. The boundaries of the land were specified with great care, and the original grant made by Khabbesha was renewed ; Ptolemy prays that strength and victory and gladness of heart may be given him, and the text concludes with a curse upon any one who shall attempt to alienate the property of the gods of Pe and Tep from its lawful uses. He also invokes the goddess Ap-taui, \jf D n , to blast him with her fire on the day of her 174 PE AND T EP RE-ENDOWED wrath, and prays that the man who shall do such a thing may have neither son. nor daughter, nor posterity. 1 The fact that Alexander IV. reigned twelve years is proved by the Papyrus of Nes-Amsu in the British Museum, 2 which is dated in " the fourth month of the "season Shat of the Xllth year of Pharaoh, life, "health, strength, Alexander, the son of Alexander," r < 4 I O 1 1 I I I I [i f] f(j "^ " 1. This fact proves beyond all question the general correctness of the dating of the three Demotic papyri 3 which that eminent pioneer of Demotic studies, M. E. Eevillout, published some twenty-two years ago. It is interesting to note that in the cartouche containing the name of Alexander IV. the king's name is followed by the determinative of " foreigner." [In the following pages, which treat of the history of Egypt under the Ptolemies, the authorities for most of the important statements are given in the notes, but it 1 The text of this decree was published with a German transla- tion in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1871, p. Iff. ; the best English rendering hitherto published is that by S. M. Drach in Records of the Past, vol. x. p. 69, but the numbering of the lines does not follow that of the Stele. 2 See my paper on this papyrus in Arcliaeologia. vol. Hi. 3 See Revue gyptologique, 1880, pp. 8 and 15. AUTHORITIES FOR PTOLEMAIC HISTORY 175 has been suggested that it would be useful to have them all together in some place in the volume, and they are given here accordingly. Among classical writers come Diodorus Siculus (xvii. 48, etc.), Q. Curtius (iv. 7 ff.), Arrian (ii.), Plutarch's Lives of Alexander, Demetrius, Cleomenes, Caesar, and Antony; the His- tories of Polybius (Shuckburgh's translation) ; Appian, Sell. Civ., Caesar, De Bell. Civ., Dion Cassius (xlvii.), and Justin (xi.). Many side lights on the histories of the Ptolemies are afforded by Josephus in his Wars and Antiquities of the Jews, but his evidence must be received with caution, especially when it deals with events of history in which the Jewish nation was mixed up ; much of interest for the period will be found in III. Maccabees. The legendary life of Alexander the Great by the Pseudo-Callisthenes is an important composition, because it is manifestly based on the works of writers who flourished before Christ, and on native Egyptian traditions which were widely accepted; the best edition of the text is that of C. Miiller in Didot's series, but the text of the Leyden MS., edited by Meusel, represents a much older Ke- cension of the Alexander-Story, and merits the careful study of those who deal with the legendary history of Alexander as contained in Greek. On the Oriental versions of the Alexander- Story Zacher's Pseudo- Kallisthenes, Halle, 1867, should be consulted, and the authorities for them are enumerated in my History of Alexander, Cambridge, 1889, and The Life and Exploits 176 AUTHORITIES FOR PTOLEMAIC HISTORY of Alexander the Great, Cambridge, 1890. For the general history of the Ptolemaic Period, see Grote, History of Greece, chap, xciii. ; Droysen, J. G., Ges- chichte der Hellenismus, Hamburg, 1836-43 ; and Droysen, H., Untersuchuv gen uber Alexander des Grossen Heerwesen und Kriegsfuhrung, Freiburg, 1885; Droysen, J. G., Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen, Hamburg, 1833. Strack's Die Dynastie tier Ptolemaer, Berlin, 1897, is a very useful book, and discusses many problems connected with the Ptolemies in the light of much recently acquired evidence ; his collection of Greek inscriptions of the Ptolemaic Period is both handy and useful. Mr. D. G. Hogarth's Philip and Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897, is a careful and suggestive monograph on the subjects of which it treats, and Prof. Mahaffy has discussed the history of the Ptolemies in his Empire of the Ptolemies, London, 1895, and in A History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, London, 1899. For the military administra- tion of the Ptolemies, see Meyer, Das Heerwesen der Ptolemaer und Homer in Aegypten, Leipzig, 1900; and Schubart, Quaestioncs de rebus militarihus quales fuerunt in regno Lagidarum, 1900. A large amount of information concerning the internal affairs of the country of Egypt has been supplied by the Greek papyri which have been found in Egypt in recent years, and for this the reader is referred to Mr. F. G. Kenyon's Greek Papyri in the British Museum, 2 vols., London, 1893, 1898 ; Grenfell and Mahaffy, Laws of Ptolemy AUTHORITIES FOR PTOLEMAIC HISTORY 177 Philadelphia, Oxford, 1896 ; Mahaffy, Flinders Petrie Papyri, Dublin, 1891, 1893, and Appendix in 1894 j Grenfell and Hunt, Greek Papyri, I. and II., Oxford, 1896, 1897. For older works on Greek Papyri, see Peyron, Papyri Graeci Regii Taurinensis Musei Aegyptii, Turin, 1826 ; Brunet de Presle, Notices et Textes des Papyrus Grecs du Musee du Louvre et de la Bibliotheque Impertale, torn, xviii. (in Notices et Extraits], Paris, 1865; and Leemans, Papyri Graeci Musei Avtiquar'd Publici Lugduni-Batavi, Leyden, 1843, 1885. For references to the minor literature of the subject, see Mr. F. G. Kenyon's annual account of progress in the Archaeological Report, published by the Egypt Exploration Fund, On the bilingual inscriptions of Rosetta and Canopus, see Brugsch, Jn- scriptio Rosettana hieroglyphics, 1851 ; Lepsius, Das Bilingue-DeJcret von Canopus, Berlin, 1866 ; Reinisch und Rosier, Die zweisprachige Inschrift von Tanis, Wien, 1866 ; Pierret, Le Decret Trilingue de Canope, Paris, 1881; Brugsch, Thesaurus, vi. 1891, p. xiv. ; Groff, Le Decret de Canope, in Revue ArcJieologique, torn, vi., pp. 13-21 ; Chabas, L' Inscription hiero- gli/phiquc de Rosette, Paris, 1867 ; Sharpe, The Rosetta Stone, London, 1871 ; Revillout, Chrestomathie De- motique, pp. 177-209 ; Birch, in Records of the Past, Old Series, vol. iv. p. 71 ff. ; and Bouriant, in Recueil de Travaux, torn. vi. 1885, pp. 1-20. A great deal of light has been thrown upon the internal condition of Egypt under the Ptolemies by the labours of M. E. VOL. VII. N 178 AUTHORITIES FOR PTOLEMAIC HISTORY Eevillout, who has devoted himself to the publication of Demotic and Coptic documents. Among his works may be mentioned: Adas et Contrats des Musees Egyptiens ]' Arsenat, the daughter of Lysi- * ^ machus, king of Thrace, who had married the sister of Ptolemy II., also called Arsinoe ; this lady was banished to Upper Egypt on a charge of conspiracy, and then Ptolemy II., her husband Lysimachus having in the meantime died, married his own sister Arsinoe. When he became king he adopted a Ilorus name like the Pharaohs of old ; and as lord of the cities of Nekhebet and Uatchet he styled himself "Mighty one of two- fold valour," ^2t=* ^-liJj and as the Horus of gold MAGAS THREATENS TO ATTACK EGYPT " Sekha-nes-tef," I ^ - 1 One of his brothers, called Argaeus, was put to death by him because he was thought to be conspiring against him, and according to some authorities another shared the same fate. Ptolemy, remembering that his father's old friend Demetrius the Phalerian had counselled him not to alter the succession in favour of his youngest son, ban- ished him to the south, where he died. His first serious quarrel seems to have been with Magas, a son of Eurydice, the second wife of Ptolemy I., who had been appointed governor of Gyrene ; on the death of Ptolemy I. Ptolemy II. and his wife Arsinoe II., and Ms father Ptolemy I. and his wife Berenice I. Magas asserted his independence, and a short time afterwards, with the help of Seleucus, king of Babylon, to whom Ptolemy Keraunos had fled from Thrace for protection, he threatened to attack Egypt. The attack was never made, for other more pressing matters occupied the attention of Magas. A few years later, he made a second attempt to invade Egypt, and was, it seems, partially successful, but Ptolemy II. found I See Lepsius, Denkmuler, iv. pi. 7 g. PACIFIC POLICY OF PTOLEMY II. IQI some means of bringing AnticchuS IT., the ally of Magas, round to his side, and again Magas failed to carry out his plans. Subsequently an understanding was arrived at by Ptolemy and Magas, and Berenice, the daughter of the latter, was betrothed to Ptolemy III., the son of the former. It is generally admitted that there is not sufficient information available for constructing a connected account of the events of the reign of Ptolemy II., and as the Greek historians fail here, recourse must be had to the few facts and details which may be derived Arsinoe II. Philadelphus, wife of Ptolemy II. from the works of classical writers who only refer to Ptolemy II. and his times incidentally. It is clear that no great wars or expeditions were undertaken during his reign, and, though he seems to have meddled frequently in the affairs of the Greek cities and other states, he took good care never to let his interference bring down upon him the necessity of fighting. He was shrewd enough to appreciate the importance of the growth of the Roman power, and to maintain peaceful relations with the Romans. He possessed neither the IQ2 THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY strength of character, nor the ability of his father, and he appears to have loved a life of ease and luxury ; his luxury was, however, tempered by a deep interest in literature and in the arts and sciences as then under- stood, and he carried on diligently the great work which Ptolemy Soter began in connexion with the Museum and Library of Alexandria. These buildings were connected by marble colonnades, and one appears to have been a complement of the other ; a staff of scholars, among whom were grammarians, philosophers, mathematicians, etc., was attached to the Museum, and its members were paid by the State. The number of the works preserved in the Library in the time of Ptolemy II. is said by one authority to have been 400,000, and by another 700,000, whilst in Julius Caesar's time it had risen to 900,000. The first " Principal Librarian " of the Library of Alexandria was Zenodotus of Ephesus, who had been the tutor of Ptolemy II., and he was succeeded by Callimachus the poet, who is said to have classified and arranged and labelled the vast collection of papyri which was under his charge. During the reign of Ptolemy II. the famous lighthouse (" Pharos ") was erected on the eastern end of the Island of Pharos- by Sostratus the Cnidian. It was a marvellous building, and although it can hardly have been 400 cubits high, i.e., nearly 200 feet higher than the cross on the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, it must have been of considerable height, and very substantially built, for remains of the THE ARMY AND FLEET OF PTOLEMY II. IQ3 tower are said to have been visible" as late as A.D. 1350. Ptolemy finished the tomb of Alexander the Great and the building which contained it, and he added to it tombs for his father and mother, Ptolemy I. and Berenice. To carry on these great works at Alexandria, and the building of temples to Greek and Egyptian gods in the various cities which he founded, must have required large sums of money, and it is clear that the total amount of the taxes and tribute paid to Egypt by Libya, Phoenicia, Coele Syria, Cyprus, Lycia, Caria, parts of Arabia and Cyprus, must have been Arsinoe II. Philadelphia, wife of Ptolemy II. very large, and that the united revenue of Egypt and her dependencies brought the country into a most flourishing condition. Ptolemy's soldiers, who are said to have numbered nearly a quarter of a million, and his fleet, to say nothing of his garrisons out of Egypt, and his chariots, and horses, and elephants, must have absorbed a large share of his income, but sufficient was left to enable him to gratify his archi- tectural taste, which appears to have been of no mean VOL. VII. O 194 RE-OPENING OF OLD TRADE ROUTES order, and to found Several cities, in various parts of his dominions. The works which he undertook in connexion with clearing out the canal between the Nile and the city which he founded near the modern Suez, as well as those in connexion with Lake Moeris were, no doubt, carried out by corvee, and the gain that accrued to the country from them commercially was very considerable. The development of trade in Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy II. was of a remarkable character, and it was probably due to the privileges which seem to have been enjoyed not only by the Jews in Alexandria, but by the owners of merchant caravans throughout the Empire. A great trade grew up between Egypt and the ports on the Red Sea coast and the country as far south as the most southerly limits of the land of Punt, and ships from Suez sailed to Aden in Arabia, and to various places on the main- land of Africa, and brought back commodities which found a ready market. The old trade route from Upper Egypt by way of the Wadi Hammamat to the Eed Sea was opened out, and made more safe for trading- caravans, and the products of Nubia and the Eastern Sudan made their way down the Nile as in olden times. Commerce between Egypt and Greek and other settle- ments on the Mediterranean sea-coast was both brisk and profitable, for the material condition of the country being nourishing the merchants and bankers of the period had no hesitation in investing their THE EGYPTIAN HISTORY OF MANETHO IQ5 capital in concerns which were safe and lucrative, especially when there was no war to shake the public confidence, and when the interests of the country were protected by a powerful army and a fleet of warships. The advisers of the king, and perhaps even the king himself, were shrewd enough to see that the conquests of foreign countries eifected by merchants and their caravans were far cheaper than those obtained by military expeditions, and it was probably for this Arsinoc II. Fhilsulelphus, wife of Ptolemy II. reason that Egyptian ships journeyed to foreign countries, even, it is said, to India. Before passing to the consideration of the remains of temples, etc., built by Ptolemy II. in Egypt, mention must be made of two literary enterprises with which his name is associated, i.e., the compilation of the Egyptian History of Manetho, and the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. Manetho was a priest of Sebennytus in the Delta, and in obedience to the desire expressed by Ptolemy II. he compiled a 196 THE EGYPTIAN HISTORY OF MANETHO history of Egypt from the native documents to which, we may assume, he had free access, and of the contents of which he must have had much knowledge. The work was written in Greek, and is, alas, lost, with the exception of the List of Kings, which he compiled for it, of which we have corrupt and incomplete copies preserved in the works of Julius Africanus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and George the Syncellus. We have already described the King List (see Vol. i. p. 130 if.), and all that need be said here is that, allowing for blunders by scribes and copyists, the work correctly describes the views which were held in the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties as to the order and succession of the kings of Egypt. We know now that the scribes of that period only gave selections of kings in their lists, and that of the correct reading of the names of some of the earliest kings in their selections they were ignorant. The mistakes made by them were naturally copied by Manetho, who was unable to check his readings by the monuments of early kings whose remains and tombs lay at that time far below the surface of the ground in Upper Egypt. From the work of Josephus (Antiquities, xii. 1) we know that Ptolemy Soter brought many Jews to Egypt, and that many more settled there during his reign of their own free will ; under the rule of Ptolemy II. the number of Jewish settlers increased largely, and we may be sure that in their dealings with Greek merchants and others they would learn to speak, and afterwards, THE SEPTUAGINT IQ7 probably, to read and to write Greek. That there were Jewish colonies in Egypt before the time of Ptolemy I., or even of Alexander the Great, is tolerably certain, but in any case the settlers ceased to use their native language except for the purposes of religion, and adopted the vernacular of Alexandria, i.e., Greek. In the natural course of events the Alexandrian Jews lost their Hebrew more and more, and many of them wished that their sacred writings could be turned into Greek. When we consider their wealth and influence it is easy to see that they could cause a wish of this kind to be brought before the king under the most favourable circumstances, but on the other hand it is difficult to understand why they should have need to consult the king in the matter of a Greek translation of their Scriptures. Certain Christian Fathers tell us that the Greek translation of the Books of the Law and Prophets, etc., of the Jews was made at the request of Ptolemy II., and that seventy elders were sent from Jerusalem to Egypt to carry out the king's wish, and that when they arrived the king shut each man up in a cell by himself, and that after a stated time the whole seventy brought their translations before Ptolemy, when every word and sentence in each man's translation from the beginning to the end were found to agree exactly. Another view is that there were thirty-six couples of translators, one of each couple knowing Greek and the other Hebrew, and that each ig8 THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY couple was shut up in a cell, and that thirty-six translations were made, each of which agreed with all the others as already said. These statements were intended to prove that the SEPTUAGINT, as the Greek version is called, was inspired. According to Josephus (Antiq. xii. 2, 1), Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, caused "the Law to be interpreted, and set free those that " were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in " slavery there, who were 120,000." The occasion on which this was done was this : Demetrius the Phalerian, the Keeper of the king's Library, was trying to collect books in every language on the earth, and was buying books everywhere in order to carry out the king's most earnest wish. One day Ptolemy asked him how many books he had collected, and he replied, " Twenty times ten thousand," and added that in a short time he should have "fifty times ten thousand." He then went on to say that the Jews possessed many books which ought to be translated into Greek, and suggested that translations, when made, should be placed in the great Library. The king thought that Demetrius had made a most proper suggestion, and thereupon he wrote to Eleazar, the high priest at Jerusalem, on the subject. Demetrius suggested that six men should be sent from each of the Twelve Tribes, to translate the Law, and that each man should be skilled in the knowledge and exposition of the Hebrew laws. In the letter which the king sent to the high priest he adopted the suggestion, and informed Eleazar that 199 he had set free over 100,000 Jews, and was sending to him with Andreas and Aristeus, the captains of his guard, 100 talents to be expended in sacrifices, etc., in the Temple. Eleazar received Ptolemy's ambassadors with great honour, and offered up sacrifices for the welfare of the king, and of Arsinoe, and of his family, and all the congregation prayed for the peace of the king of Egypt and his kingdom. Eleazar then chose out from each Tribe six learned elders, and giving them a copy of the Law, sent them on their way, and in his letter to the king he says, " It will be thy part, "out of thy piety and justice, to send back the Law " when it hath been translated ; and to return those " to us who bring it in safety." At the end of the high priest's epistle were the names of the seventy-two elders, but alas, Josephus thought it unnecessary to set them down in his work. Whether the above state- ments represent the exact facts of the case or not matters little, for it is quite certain that the Septuagint was made in Alexandria and that part of it was made not later than the middle of the third century B.C. The five books attributed to Moses, i.e., the Law, were first translated, but the order in which the other books were turned into Greek is not known. It is very probable that Ptolemy II. with his love of literature was truly anxious to know the contents of the sacred books of the Hebrews, and also to have copies of them in his great Library, and it is most unlikely that his wish could be gratified by the Alexandrian Jews, who 200 THE STELE OF PITHOM possessed neither ancient manuscripts nor learned men knowing both Hebrew and Greek. The king's powerful aid was called in to make Eleazar supply the ancient manuscript, as well as the elders who could read it and interpret it, and the value of the codex is indicated by Eleazar's appeal to the " piety and justice " of Ptolemy to have it returned to him. Of the Egyptian monuments built or made by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, one of the most important is the famous " Stone of Pithom," which was discovered by M. Naville at Tell al-Maskhuta in 1884.1 On the upper part of the Stele, which measures 4 ft. 3 in. by 3ft. 2 in., we see depicted: 1. Ptolemy offering $ g - ! (3 to Temu, the great god of Thuku, ^, and to \ ___ -o \$ Osiris, lord of Re-abt, ^ ^ , the dweller in I I Cb/)' Pa-qeheret [H A ft * > T) n , and to Horus and X <^ (jj\ Hathor. Behind these deities stands " the royal "daughter, royal sister, the great wife of the lord "of the two lands, f Ab-Khnem-en-Shu-meri-neteru J wh is styled " Isis-Hathor," and she wears upon her 1 See Naville, The Store-city of Pitliom and the Route of the Exodus, London, 1885 ; another transcript of the text, by Dr. H. Brugsch, will be found in Aeg. Zeitschrift, vol. xxxii. 1894, p. 74. THE TEMPLE OF PI-HAHIROTH 2OI head the crowns characteristic of these goddesses. 2. Ptolemy making an offering of vases of milk to Temu, behind whom stand Isis and Arsinoe. 3. Ptolemy offering an utchat to a god, who wears a triple crown, and must be Ptolemy I. Soter. The inscriptions are speeches put into the mouths of the gods, who promise that they will give Ptolemy II. dominion, and power, and a long reign, and we may note that both Arsinoe and Ptolemy Soter also promise to give him gifts ; this shows that they were worshipped as gods when the Stele was made. The first portion of the inscription of twenty-eight lines which conies below these scenes enumerates the names and titles of Ptolemy II. after the manner of documents of the class made in ancient Egyptian times, but with line 7 begins a paragraph which says that the king dedicated a temple to the god Temu of Thukut in the sixth year of his reign, and that this temple was situated at Pa-qeheret, which has been identified with the Pihahiroth of the Bible. The same paragraph mentions that the inhabitants of Ta-neter brought him horses : and the clearing out of the sand, Y 1\ fl \P Wvs o o o from the canal which is on the east of the Khalmet, or Kharmet, j ".on the eastern side of the Lake ' ski r Q n' of the Scorpion, ^fe , i.e., the canal which joined the Nile and the Red Sea. It is also stated that he went to Teshit, 00 , "to the end of ' 2O2 THE STELE OF PITHOM the South," as far as the land of Parsetet, d> \ <=> -* , and "found the gods of Egypt," , /~\ | fw\y] * 3 * * ==_ ' ^ if w g> 9 whom he brought back and I I =) i Q$ re-established at Thukut. It has been said that Parsetet is Persia, but it can only be that portion of it which is near the Shatt al-'Arab. In the second paragraph of the inscription we are told (1. 15) that Ptolemy again visited Pithom in the twelfth year of his reign, and that on this occasion Arsinoe was with him. In the sixteenth year of his reign, in order to gratify his god Temu, he dug a canal, c /WW\A, which began at the north of Heliopolis and ended in the Lake of the Scorpions. During this visit he settled what endow- ment the temple of Pithom was to have, and we have in lines 17 ff. a detailed statement of the oil, wine, fruit, etc., which were set apart for it, and the amounts thereof, and a certain quantity of silver is ordered to be paid to the temple. When this had been arranged " his Majesty went to Qem-urt," l s i ^^* %%%. , an d ^ /wwv\ he laid the foundations of a large city there in honour of his sister, and he called it after the great name of the daughter of Ptolemy ; the text unfortunately does not say which daughter, and so the city may have been called Arsinoe or Philotera. 2 A sanctuary to Temu 1 The " Great Black Sea." 2 In Egyptian f Q R ft z& "V ^ <= V _LJ -"^ PTOLEMAIS EPITHERAS FOUNDED 2O3 was built in the new city, and statues of the " brother gods " were set up in it, and the priests and libationers performed the services proper to the dedication of a temple. Next, the king collected a large number of great ships, which he manned with troops, and filled with all manner of good things, and having been placed under the command of the " first general of his majesty," l they sailed over the sea of Qem-urt and as far south as Khemthithet, ^ 1\ li ~ j /^ , and the confines of the Negro-land, V^\ ^ A\ 1 1 *** ooo _^Ni I I and in due course brought back the things which were beloved of the king and the royal wife Arsinoe. The founding of the city of Ptolemais Epitheras next occupied the king's attention, and having fixed upon the site, which was not far from the modern Sawakin (J^VOj 2 ne settled there a number of soldiers and artisans of all classes, and he made them plough the fields which under his direction had been called into being. In the neighbourhood of the district in which this city Ptolemais was situated Ptolemy's soldiers and others captured large numbers of elephants, k-^, 3 which were taken to Egypt in ships, A/VWW < ^ ^ > and, as the inscription says, "the like of this was 1 Probably Eumedes. 2 This is the form given by Yakut (iii. p. 182) ; the place is now commonly called by Europeans " Suakim." 3 On the elephant hunts undertaken for the Ptolemies see H. R. Hall in the Classical Review, vol. xii. 1898, pp. 274-282. 204 THE ELEPHANT HUNTS "never before done for any king in all the earth." The ships bearing freights of " things from the East " sailed over the " Great Green," I ^* i.e., the [Red] Sea, and made their way to the Nile by the canal which, beginning near the Lake of Scorpions, entered the Nile to the north of Heliopolis. In addition to all the gifts which Ptolemy made to the temples of Temu, he provided an endowment for the Apis Bull, ^ ^ and the Mnevis Bull, ^LH^^U an d f r another sacred Bull, the like of which had never before been done by any king in the land. The last few lines of the inscription state that the donations which Ptolemy II. made yearly to the temples of Upper and Lower Egypt amounted to ten million and fifty thousand ""v^T^ \N\\N pieces of silver, fSyT) -^ ; besides this income they could draw as a tax on the houses 90,000 pounds (uten) of silver, and from the inhabitants 660,000 pieces of silver. The endowment of the temple of Pa-qerehet consisted of 950 pieces of silver, which had to be raised from a tax on the houses and on the people. All these things were arranged in the fourth month of the season Pert in the twenty-first year of the king's reign. The Stele of Pithom was set up to commemorate the great benefits which Ptolemy II. had conferred upon the temples of Egypt, and the text concludes with a prayer that he may keep Egypt in his grasp, and that all foreign lands may bow down to him in homage, and THE RED SEA CANAL 2O5 that all the " Nine Bows " may be beneath his sandals. The facts recorded above show clearly how thoroughly Ptolemy II. supported the ancient religion of Egypt, and show also that the priests must have obtained a considerable hold over him, and when we consider that they had succeeded in making him marry his own sister, an act hateful to the Greeks, but one which had been often committed by native kings of the country, we need not be surprised at his gifts to the temples. That he should support the temple of Pithorn was natural enough, for it was the first city of any importance which the foreign trader would see on entering Egypt by the Eed Sea Canal, and the king would derive a large revenue from the merchandise which passed through it. From the inscription on another stele we learn that Ptolemy II. did great things for the shrine of the Ram of Mendes, and that he took part in ancient ceremonies which were performed in that city at the installation of a new Ram. The great " Mendes Stele " was discovered l by Emil Brugsch Bey, at the 1 For the text see Mariette, Monuments Divers, plate 42; the Stele was first discussed by H. Brugsch in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1871, pp. 81-85, and was also translated into German by him in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1875, p. 33. An English rendering of it, made by Mr. Solomon Drach from the German, appeared in Records of the Past, vol. viii. p. 95. 206 MENDES AND THMUIS end of 1870, at a place in the Delta called " Tamai al- Amdid" A>.^\ ^ ; now this Arabic name is com- posed of the names of two ancient cities, the older Ptolemy II. Philadelphia making an offering to Isis, lady of Philae, who says " I give to thee all strength, I give to thee sovereignty [like unto that of] Ra in heaven." city being represented by Amdid, and the younger by Tamai. The Arabic form " Amdid " is a corruption of THE STELE OF MENDES 2O7 the Greek name Mendes, which represents the old Egyptian name of the city Ba-neb-Tet, <^^. ^37 T7 ^ , where a sacred ram was worshipped ; the Arabic form " Tamai " is a corruption of the name of the Greek city Snovw, which was close by, and which grew in importance as Mendes declined. At Mendes a temple in honour of the sacred Earn existed from very early times, and as a centre of an important phase of Osiris worship the city occupied a prominent place among the sanctuaries of the Delta. On the upper part of the Stele is a scene in which Ptolemy II., and his wife Arsinoe, and another Ptolemy are making offerings to the Ram, and to a ram-headed god, and to the goddess Hamehit, *^^ X 00 2. Suashtet, I jQ I-K-I ^ ^ and 3. Arematet. I ( alCs/v)' < ^ > ^^ Mesopotamia. St. Jerome in his com- I _lr\i Q!Q mentary on the Xlth Chapter of the Book of Daniel says that Ptolemy III. carried away as spoil 40,000 talents of silver, and 2500 images of the gods, among which were those which Cambyses had taken to Persia from Egypt. When the king returned to Egypt with the images the priests gave to him the name " Euergetes." The Asiatic expedition of Ptolemy III. occupied the greater part of the first three years of his reign, and it would probably have lasted longer but for the fact that the internal affairs of Egypt made it necessary for him to return. The expedition was extremely popular with the Egyptians, because of the spoil which the army had taken, and because of its successful recapture of the images of the old gods of the country ; but it can hardly be regarded as more than a huge raid, because Ptolemy III. could not 1 See Champollion, Monuments de Vfigypte, torn. i. p. 185. IMAGES OF THE GODS TAKEN BY CAMBYSES 217 occupy the countries which he marched through, still less could he administer them and make his rule effective, and as soon as he had returned to Egypt Babylonia and the other countries again came under the rule of Seleucus. All that Egypt really gained by it, besides the spoil and the images of the gods, was a little firmer hold upon Syria, and "bold advertisement." When the war was over, B.C. 245, Ptolemy III. appears to have devoted his energies entirely to the develop- ment of the country, and with the exception of a sea fight a year or so later, in which he defeated Antigonus Gonatas, he took no further part in any war. Much of the work with which he now occupied himself was in connexion with the rebuilding and repairs of temples and sanctuaries, and this he must have carried on with great zeal, for in the ninth year of his reign, B.C. 238, the priesthood convened a solemn assembly of their order at Canopus, when it was decreed that special honours should be awarded to the king and his wife Berenice II. Very fortunately, copies of the decrees which were passed on that occasion have come down to us written in Egyptian, both in the demotic and hieroglyphic characters, and in Greek, and we know exactly what took place at the assembly. The principal authority for the decrees is the famous stele of Canopus, 1 which was discovered at Tanis in 1866, and which is preserved in the Egyptian Museum at Cairo ; 1 This city was called in Egyptian -^ jj ^ PEKUATHET. 2l8 THE STELE OF CANOPUS it measures about 7 ft. 2 in. by 2 ft. 6 in. by 1 ft. 3 in., and is made of limestone. The hieroglyphic (37 lines) and Greek (76 lines) texts occupy the front of the stele, and the demotic text (74 lines) is on the lefthand side ; above the former, on the rounded part of the stele, is a winged disk with two pendent uraei, symbolic of Egypt South and North. 1 The texts set forth that on the 17th day of the first month of the season Pert, of the ninth year of the reign of Ptolemy III., when Apollonides, the son of Moschion, was the priest of Alexander, and of Ptolemy II. and Arsinoe, and of Ptolemy III. and Berenice, and when Menecrateia, daughter of Philammon, was Canephoros of Arsinoe Philadelphus, priests of all kinds and grades were assembled at Canopus from all parts of the country to celebrate the festivals of the birth and accession of the king to the throne. The priests are aware that Ptolemy III. and Berenice are always conferring benefits on the temples; that they strive to increase the honour paid to the gods ; that they provide for the 1 The hieroglyphic and Greek texts were first published by Lepsius in Das bilingite Dekret von Kanopus, Berlin, 1866; see also P. Pierret, Le Decret Trilingue de Canape, Paris, 1881, 4to ; Reinisch and Rosier, Die ziveisprachige Inschrift von Tunis, Vienna, 1866 ; an interlinear edition of the demotic and hieroglyphic text is given by Brugsch in his Thesaurus, p. 1554 ff. ; and for the demotic version see Revillout, Chrestomathie demotique, p. Ixxxvi. pp. 125-176 and pp. 435-472 ; and W. Groff, Le Decret de Canape in Revue ISgyptologique, torn. vi. p. 13 ff. A second stele inscribed with the decrees as before was discovered in 1881 ; for the Greek text and a translation see Miller in Journal des Savants, April, 1883, pp. 214-229. THE STELE OF CANOPUS 2ig zreyy irtf:< vinf EBJS9i:f>-f tsgw^igy* a :tT? i ^ '^ The hieroglyphic text from the Stele of Canopus. 220 DEATH OF PRINCESS BERENICE Bulls Apis and Mnevis ; that the king has made an expedition to Persia and brought back the statues of the gods which had been carried away; that he has maintained peace in the land, and that he governs rightly and justly; that during a period of scarcity owing to the failure of the Nile inundation he cared both for the people and their temples; and that he remitted taxes and purchased corn at high rates from Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus, in order to save life. Therefore additional divine honours shall be paid to Ptolemy III. and his wife Berenice, and these are duly enumerated. The priests next decreed, in order to prevent the feasts which should be celebrated in the winter being celebrated in the summer, and vice versa, that in addition to the five epagomenal 1 days which at that time were added each year to the 360 days of which the year consisted, one day more should be added every fourth year, i.e., that every fourth year should in future consist of 366 days, but that the day so added every fourth year must be kept as a festival in honour of the king and queen. But whilst the priests were assembled at Canopus the princess Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy III. and Berenice, died, and the priesthood mourned for her, and when the mourning was over, they decreed that she should 1 I.e., the " five days over the year," , or, tiray6- /j.fi>ai i)fj.fpai irffTt, which are called by the Copts " the little month" ; see Brugsch, Aegyptologie, p. 361. THE COMMEMORATION OF BERENICE 221 be specially honoured in all the temples throughout the land. A special procession of boats lasting four days was to be established ; a gold statue of the princess, inlaid with precious stones, was to be placed in the shrine of every temple of the first and second class in the land, and was to be carried forth in the arms of a priest and worshipped as "Berenice, the queen of the virgins." When the time of harvest came ears of corn were to be oifered to her, and men and women were to sing hymns of praise written by the priests, and an allowance of corn was to be made for the daughters of her priests out of the temple revenues, and the loaves of bread which were distri- buted among the wives of the priests were to be of a special shape, and to be called the " Bread of Berenice." Finally the priests ordered that a copy of their decrees, both in Egyptian and Greek, should be inscribed on a stona stele or bronze tablet and set up in the most public place in all the temples of the first, second, and third classes, so that all the priests everywhere in Egypt might show how they honour Ptolemy III. and his wife Berenice and their offspring. 1 The language in which the decrees were first drawn up has formed a subject of discussion among scholars, some holding the view that it was Greek, and others Egyptian. The late Dr. Birch 2 and M. Eevillout both maintained 1 A transcript of the Greek text is given by Strack, Dynastie der Ptolemder, No. 38, p. 227. 2 Records of the Past, vol. viii. p. 82. 222 THE STELE OF CANOPUS that the original decrees were written in Greek, and that the " hieroglyphic and demotic versions were para- phrastic translations," made from it, but this view has not found favour with all scholars. The authority of M. Revillout on all demotic matters is, of course, very great, whilst Dr. Birch's great knowledge of Egyptian texts makes his opinion of peculiar value ; still it is difficult not to think that the priests had at least their own version drawn up in their own language, and in their own fashion, by some of their number who would naturally write it in demotic. A perusal of the hieroglyphic text will convince an impartial inquirer possessing a knowledge of Egyptian that it was not wholly a spontaneous composition, and that some parts of it are so laboured as to suggest modifica- tions of a draft, and that the writers were composing in a language with which they were imperfectly acquainted ; in other words, it lacks the flow and ready expression of scribes who were accustomed to write in hieroglyphics. That the hieroglyphic text was based on the demotic seems tolerably certain, and the subject matter proves that its authors were Egyptians who were thoroughly acquainted with the minutiae of temple ritual ; but at that period, when no one could write an inscription in hieroglyphics without great difficulty, the authors of the hieroglyphic version would find it just as difficult to translate the demotic as the Greek. The clumsiness of expression in the hieroglyphic version suggests also that its writers some- ITS LANGUAGES AND DATE 223 times found themselves unable to express adequately the ideas or words which they had before them, whether they were demotic or Greek. Finally, there is no reason why each version should not represent an independent composition which was altered or modified in order to make its contents agree substantially with The entrance to the Temple at Edfu. From a photograph by A. Beato. those of the other two. According to Lepsius l the day on which the Stele is dated is equivalent to March 7, B.C. 238, but Prof. Mahler 3 makes it to be December 3. 1 Das bilingue Dekret, p. 18. " See Transactions of IXth International Congress of Orientalist?, London, 1893, vol. ii. pp. 319-330. 224 BUILDINGS OF PTOLEMY III. We may now briefly consider the building operations which Ptolemy III. carried out in Egypt. We have already mentioned the small sanctuary at Esneh, on which Champollion found the names of several con- quered nations ; this was probably built by the king soon after he returned from his expedition into Asia. View of the Temple of Edfu taken from the Pylon. From a photograph by A. Beato. But in addition to this he began to build at Edfu, 1 the city which was so famous in Egyptian mythology as the place where Horus, its patron god, defeated his brother Set, a temple which is one of the most striking 1 Called in Egyptian " Behutet,'' derived from the Coptic ATBCO. ; the modern name is THE TEMPLE OF EDFU 225 examples of Ptolemaic architecture. The building is to this day in an almost perfect state of preservation, which is chiefly due to the fact that until it was cleared out between 1860 and 1870 by M. Mariette, the whole of the inside, and the outside nearly to the tops of the pillars, were covered up with the ruins of the mud houses which the Arabs had built in and about it Pylon and colonnade at Philae. From a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor. for centuries. This marvellous building should be examined frequently by competent engineers, so that any further settlement of the walls, or any cracks in them, may not be allowed to endanger the structure. The temple at Edfu was built on the site of an ancient Egyptian temple and, as it stands, is the work of a VOL. VII. Q 226 PTOLEMY'S REPAIRS AT KARNAK number of Ptolemies, i.e., it was begun by Ptolemy III., B.C. 237, and was finished by Ptolemy XI., B.C. 57, thus practically taking 180 years to build. An idea of the size of the building will be gained from the following measurements : The walls enclose a site 450 feet long by 120 feet wide ; the front of the propylon is from side to side 252 feet, and the towers are 112 feet high. In the sanctuary is a handsome granite shrine, intended to hold a figure of the god Horus of Behutet, which was made by Nectanebus I., the first king of the XXXth Dynasty. At Karnak Ptolemy III. made some additions and repairs, especially in connexion with the temples of Mut and Khensu, and on the eastern bank of the Nile opposite to the northern end of the Island of Elephantine he built a temple in honour of the goddess Isis. At Philae he added largely to the great temple of Isis begun by Ptolemy II., and he and the queen Berenice dedicated to the goddess the pedestal in the sanctuary on which stood the sacred boat that held the figure of Isis ; it is most probable that he repaired old temples or built new ones at many other places, e.g., Esneh and Canopus, but time and the fanaticism of the early Christians have caused them to disappear. The building of Egyptian temples did not cause him to neglect the interests of the great Alexandrian Library, for we know that he added very largely to the great number of manuscripts already preserved in it. He appointed as "Principal Librarian" Eratosthenes, the famous mathematician of Gyrene ADDITIONS TO THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY 227 (born B.C. 276; died 196), and it is said succeeded in obtaining for the Library the original MSS. of the works of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. It is evident from what has been said above that Ptolemy III. was a great supporter of native Egyptian institutions, and that throughout his reign he was an attentive listener to the counsels of the Egyptian priesthood, in fact he seems to have had much sympathy with the old religion of the country. He was a patron of the arts and of literature and, like his father, lived on intimate terms with the Greek philo- sophers and literary men who were in his capital at Alexandria. The resources of the country were not spent on wars during his reign, and the only campaign which he undertook brought in large profits, which, since the greater part of them went into the treasury of the royal family, must have relieved the demands of the king upon the purses of his subjects. He spent large sums of money in gifts to the states which were hostile to the growth of the power of Macedonia, and he sup- ported Aratus l of Sicyon in his endeavour to make the Greek states unite against that country, and also the Achaean league. Subsequently Aratus changed his policy and allied himself with the Macedonians, where- upon Ptolemy III. transferred his help and money to Cleomenes, king of Sparta. Cleomenes, however, failed to carry out his plans eventually, and was defeated at the 1 He was the son of Cleinias, and was born B.C. 271. 228 PTOLEMY ASSISTS THE RHODIANS battle of Sellasia, from the stricken field of which he fled to Egypt, where he was graciously received by the king. Of all the good deeds of Ptolemy III. the greatest was, perhaps, the bestowal of sympathy and pecuniary help upon the Rhodians, when they were well nigh ruined by the earthquake which took place in 224, and which threw down the Colossus and destroyed the greater part of their walls and dockyards. To relieve their distress Ptolemy gave them " 300 talents of silver ; " 1,000,000 medimni of corn (1 medimnus = 300 Ibs.) ; "ship timber for 10 quinqueremes and ten triremes, "consisting of 40,000 cubits of squared pine planking; " 1000 talents of bronze coinage ; 3000 talents of tow ; " 3000 pieces of sail cloth ; 3000 talents for the repair " of the Colossus ; 100 master builders with 350 work- "men, and 14 talents yearly to pay their wages. " Besides this he gave 12,000 medimni of corn for their " public games and sacrifices ; and 20,000 medimni for "victualling 10 triremes. The greater part of these " goods were delivered at once, as well as a third of the "whole of the money named." 1 According to Polybius, Ptolemy III. died a natural death, but Justin reports a rumour that he was poisoned by his son ; he left three children Ptolemy, his successor ; Magas, who was put to death by his brother ; and Arsinoe, who married her brother Ptolemy. 1 Polybius (Shuckburgh's translation, London, 1889, vol. i. p. 438), Bk. v. 88. THE REIGN OF PTOLEMY IV. 229 of the South and North, lord of the two lands, NETERUI- MENKHUI - AA - PTAH - SETEP - EN - USR - KA - B,A - AMEN- SEKHEM-lNKH, 1 son of the Sun, lord of diadems, PTUALMIS-ANKH-TCHETTA-AsT-MER. 2 w Q PTOLEMY IV., surnamed PHILOPATOR, j^ succeeded his father on the throne of Egypt B.C. 222, and he died in 205. He married his sister Arsinoe about 212, and their son Ptolemy V., surnamed Epiphanes, was bora about two years later; the name of the queen, o has been found on slabs of stone at Thebes, side by side with that of her husband, and on these the two royal personages are described as "the two HUNNU QKPT, the'Horusnameof " father-loving gods, beloved of Amen-Kfi, Ptolemy IV. "king of the gods." 3 From the inscrip- tions which are found on the monuments of his reign we see that he adopted a Horus name like the 1 I.e., " Heir of the gods, who did good deeds, chosen of Ptah, "strength of the double of Ra, living form (or, power) of Amen." 2 I.e., " Ptolemaios, living for ever, beloved of Isis." t I I ; Lepsius, Denkmiiler, iv. pi. 15e. 236 PTOLEMY NEGLECTS HIS EMPIRE ancient kings of Egypt, and also a number of ancient titles, 1 but they do not, alas, supply us with any historical facts, and we have to fall back chiefly upon the histories of Polybius for the little general informa- tion which we possess about his reign. According to this author 2 Ptolemy IV., immediately after his father's death, put his brother Magas and his partisans to death, and, as Antigonus Doson of Macedon and Seleucus were dead, he thought that he had nothing to fear from their sons Philip and Antiochus III. "He therefore felt secure of his position and began "conducting his reign as though it were a perpetual " festival. He would attend to no business, and would " hardly grant an interview to the officials about the "court, or at the head of the administrative depart- " ments in Egypt." His predecessors had taken more interest in foreign affairs than in those of Egypt, but he was equally indifferent and careless about both. And when " Philopator, absorbed in unworthy intrigues, "and senseless and continuous drunkenness, treated these "several branches of government with equal indifference, "it was naturally not long before more than one was "found to lay plots against his life as well as his " power ; of whom the first was Cleomenes, the ^ i i i . Ibid., P l. 16. J Shuckburgh's translation, vol. i. p. 388. EVIL COUNSELS OF SOSIBIUS 231 " Spartan." Ptolemy IV. was aided and abetted in his evil ways and deeds by Sosibius, who by some means acquired the greatest influence over the king, and who is said to have been the instrument which brought about the murder not only of Magas, the king's own brother, but also of the king's uncle, Lysimachus, and of his mother Berenice, and finally of his sister and wife Arsinoe. To this list of victims must be added Cleomenes the Spartan, for although, as Polybius says (v. 39), he and his fellow Spartans killed themselves when their attempt to escape failed, it was the Ptolemy IV. Philopator. diabolical intrigue of Sosibius which caused him to be arrested, and brought him to despair. The power of Sosibius grew in proportion as the king gave himself up to a life of sloth and self-indulgence and sensuality of the grossest kind, and it must be confessed that on several occasions he displayed considerable readiness and ability in helping his master out of his difficulties. The first to use seriously the opportunity which the king's indolence afforded was Antiochus III., surnamed the Great, whose advisers showed him that Egypt was 232 ANTIOCHUS III. INVADES SYRIA ruled by a king whose only care was to gratify his passions, and that the country was without an army. In 220 he set out to attack Egypt, but hearing that the Egyptian forces had massed at Pelusium and were fortifying the city, he relinquished the idea of marching on Egypt, and began to seize various towns and cities in Northern Syria. According to Polybius (v. 40), the war was caused by the action of Theodotus, the governor of Coele Syria, who conspired to put all his province into the hands of Antiochus. He was led to take this step partly because of his contempt for Ptolemy's shameful debauchery and general conduct, and partly because he had received neither reward nor thanks for the great services which he had rendered to him. Antiochus received the governor's advances joy- fully, and the campaign into Syria was the result. In 219 Antiochus III. was encamped at Apamea, and, acting on the advice of Apollophanes of Seleucia, who suggested that it was folly to talk of conquering Coele Syria whilst the city of Seleucia on the Orontes was held by an Egyptian garrison, and had been so held since the time that Ptolemy III. had invaded Coele Syria to avenge the murder of his sister Berenice, set out to capture Seleucia. Diognetus commanded the fleet, and the king marched with his army to within five miles of the town. The city was taken partly by assault and partly by treachery, and then Antiochus was free to move forward and take possession of Ptolemai's and Tyre, which were offered him by Theodotus. PTOLEMY FORTIFIES PELUSIUM 233 At this juncture it seems that Ptolemy IV. began to realize the fact that Seleucia on the Orontes was lost to Egypt, and that an invasion of his country was imminent, and he was at length induced to fortify Pelusium, and to cut the dykes, and to stop up the wells. Sosibius, and Agathocles, the brother of Agathocleia, the infamous mistress of Ptolemy IV., seeing the danger in which the country was in, sent ambassadors to deceive Antiochus by assuring him that Ptolemy would not fight, and that they would try to induce him to evacuate Coele Syria as the result of Ptolemy IV. Philopator. negotiations, and they also sent messengers to Rhodes, Byzantium, Cyzicus, and the Aetoliaus, inviting them to send commissioners to discuss the terms of a treaty. By this means Sosibius obtained both delay and time to prepare for war. He and Agathocles lived at Memphis, and whilst pretending to do all they could to arrange matters by diplomatic means, they were diligently manufacturing arms, and training soldiers, and preparing the munitions of war. They were for- tunate enough to secure the services of officers who had served with Demetrius II. and Antigonus Doson, and 234 PTOLEMY ARRIVES AT RAPHIA among these were Andromachus of Spendus, and Polycrates of Argos. The forces consisted of 3000 men of the Guard ; 2000 light-armed troops under Socrates of Boeotia ; 33,000 mercenaries and others ; 3000 cavalry; 3000 Cretans, 3000 Libyans, 20,000 Egyp- tians, and 6000 Thracians and Gauls, etc. In 218 they sent out an army under Nicolaus against Antiochus, and a fleet of 30 ships and 40,000 transports under Perigenes (Polybius v. 68). Nicolaus was beaten at the pass of Porphyrion, and lost 2000 men killed and 2000 taken prisoners, and when Perigenes saw what had happened he withdrew his fleet to Sidon, whither the fugitives from the army also fled. After this battle Antiochus again advanced, and he cap- tured Philoteria, Scythopolis, Atabyrium, Pella, Abila, Gadara, and Kabba Tamana, and wintered in Ptolemai's. In 217 Ptolemy set out from Egypt with 70,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, and 73 elephants (Polybius v. 79), and the army which he had to fight consisted of 62,000 infantry, 6000 cavalry, and 102 elephants. On the fifth day after leaving Egypt Ptolemy reached his destina- tion and pitched his camp at a distance of 50 stades from Eaphia (in Egyptian Ee-peh, Antiochus advanced, and creeping on little by little, at length encamped within five stadia of the Egyptians. Whilst the camps were in this position Theodotus, Ptolemy's former governor of Coele Syria, walked into the tent of the king and would certainly have killed DEFEAT OF ANTIOCHUS III. 235 him had he been there, but as Ptolemy was sleeping elsewhere he only succeeded in killing Andreas, his physician, and wounding two men. Polybius (v. 84 f.) vividly describes the battle, which opened with a charge of elephants ; in the end Ptolemy defeated Antiochus, who, however, comforted himself " with the belief that "as far as he was personally concerned, he had won a " victory, but had been defeated in the whole battle by " the want of spirit and courage shown by the rest." The loss of Antiochus amounted to 10,000 infantry and 300 cavalry killed, and 4000 taken prisoners, three Ptolemy IV. Philopator. elephants killed, and two which died of their wounds afterwards. Ptolemy's loss was 1500 infantry, 700 cavalry, and 16 elephants killed, and nearly all his other elephants were captured by Antiochus. Ptolemy never thought of following up his victory and of making a further advance, and was " by no means in- " disposed to peace," being " influenced in that direction "by the habitual effeminacy and corruption of his " manner of life." He therefore agreed to make a treaty with Antiochus and sent Sosibius to ratify it, whilst 236 PTOLEMY'S PERSONAL BRAVERY he, having appointed Andromachus as governor of the district, returned with his sister and friends to Alexan- dria. The Alexandrians were greatly surprised at the result of the war and at the way in which he had behaved on the day of the battle when they considered the manner in which he spent the rest of his life. After the conclusion of the war Ptolemy " abandoned " all noble pursuits and gave himself up to the life of "debauchery," and Polybius says (xiv. 12) that " late in " life he was compelled by circumstances to engage in " the war I have mentioned, which, over and above the "mutual cruelty and lawlessness with which it was " conducted, witnessed neither pitched battle, sea-fight, " siege, or anything else worth recording." The war here referred to is probably that described by the same writer, who tells us (v. 107) that after the battle of Kaphia Ptolemy's Egyptian servants were so elated that they refused to receive orders from the king, and looked out for a leader to represent them, on the ground that they were quite able to maintain their indepen- dence ; the year in which this revolt took place has not been satisfactorily ascertained. In spite, however, of the life of sloth and indulgence which Ptolemy IV. led whenever possible, he never ceased to take an interest in the Alexandrian Library and in the building of the Egyptian temples which his father had begun ; indeed he took care to honour both the gods of Egypt and those of Greece with temples. Like his father and grandfather he lived on terms of friendship HIS INTEREST IN LITERATURE 237 with the leading literary men of the day, and he showed his devotion to Homer by dedicating a temple to him. 1 Of the Egyptian temples which he built or added to the most interesting is the beautiful little Scene from the wall of the Temple at Edfu. The goddesses of the South and North crowning Ptolemy king. From a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor. temple at Thebes called to-day "Der al-Medineh." This temple stands close under the mountain and is 1 Aelian, Variae Historiae, xiii. 22 (Didot's edition), p. 408. 238 THE TEMPLE OF DER AL-MEDlNEH built of fine sandstone, and is surrounded by a brick wall ; it was dedicated to Hathor, the great goddess of the underworld, and appropriately enough, some of the reliefs on the walls are of a funereal character. Some of the columns were ornamented with Hathor-headed capitals, and over the entrance to the central chamber are seven heads of Hathor. On a wall in one of the chambers is sculptured the famous Judgment Scene with which we are familiar from the vignettes in the Book of the Dead, and the gods Horus and Anubis are seen weighing the heart of the deceased in the presence of the god Osiris, whilst Thoth is writing down the result to report to Osiris. In the upper register the deceased is seen praying to the forty-two judges of the dead. 1 Altogether it is remarkable to find such a scene in a temple built by Ptolemy IV. Elsewhere on the walls are reliefs in which the king is seen making- offerings to Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Arnsu, or Min, and other deities. At Edfu he finished the building proper which his father had begun (B.C. 212), and then for four years 2 his workmen were occupied in sculpturing reliefs and inscriptions on the walls, after which the work ceased for a number of years. The king appears in various reliefs, one of the most interesting being that in which the gods of the Four Senses, i.e., Sight, Hear- ing, Taste, and Reason, are represented ; elsewhere he 1 The scene is reproduced by Lepsius, Deiikmaler, iv. pi. 16. 2 These facts are obtained from Diimichen's paper in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1870, pp. 1-13. 239 bO d 5tt o bO d rH H a -a CD ""o -t-i Pn d *- O s a CC ^ r EH 173 Si? CD cc . KH. I-M* 'rd 02 d t-, d rH o rQ t|H rd T3 CD id P^ rd -!-> * u '&S 5 rd o -I-S +H Jlc rH _O2 r^ ^ O -+J O nS rd rd d rS EH oS of \ ^ CD --J T ~3 d c3 -x rH O g>n O2 o fr rH O CD rd c3 w 5 c8 --i O rH Pi 0^5 O^N. O bO ci EH O bC 240 TEMPLE OF AR-HES-NEFER AT PHILAE is seen performing a religious ceremony, and opening the shrine of Horus, and offering incense to his deified father and mother, Ptolemy III. and Berenice. At Aswan he continued the building of the temple of Isis which his father had begun, and he built a small temple on the Island of Sahal in the First Cataract. During the course of the survey made at Philae by Major Lyons, E.E., excavations were made at the south end of the Island near a wall which bears the cartouches of the Emperor Tiberius, and M. A. Barsanti recognized the traces of a temple which had been built upon the site before that of which the remains were then being cleared away. 1 The granite slabs found here were seen to be inscribed with the cartouches of Ptolemy IV. and of his sister and wife Arsinoe, and it was clear from the mention of the god Ar-hes-nefer, (1 I I r^f , that the temple was dedicated to him ; close by the feet of a diorite statue of Arsinoe were found. The discovery of other inscribed blocks showed that the temple of Ptolemy IV. had been repaired by Ptolemy V., by Ergamenes, king of Nubia or Ethiopia, and by the emperor Tiberius. This discovery was of considerable importance, especially when viewed in the light of the fact, which has been well known for many years past, that Ptolemy IV. added a hall to the temple which Ergamenes built at Dakkeh, about seventy miles 1 Lyons and Garstin, A Report on the Island and Temples of Philae, Cairo, 1896, p. 23. ERGAMENES, KING OF NUBIA 241 to the south of the Island of Philae. According to Diodorus (iii. 6, 3) Ergamenes was a contemporary of Ptolemy II., but the evidence of the Egyptian monuments hardly supports this statement; on the contrary, it indicates the possibility that the king of Egypt who was contemporaneous with Ergamenes was Ptolemy IV. We may, of course, assume the The Temples on the Island of Philae. From a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor. existence of an immediate predecessor of the builder of the temple of Dakkeh, who was also called Ergamenes, but of whom no remains have been found, but, on the other hand, Ergamenes may quite well have lived through the last few years of the life of Ptolemy II., and the whole of the reigns of Ptolemy III. VOL. VII. 11 242 ERGAMENES AND PTOLEMY IV. and Ptolemy IV., and still have been at the time of the death of Ptolemy IV. under seventy years of age. Mr. Mahaffy has pointed out 1 that the "cartouches " assumed by Ergarnenes .... have the peculiar hiero- " glyphic signs added to the fourth Ptolemy's name to " distinguish him from his father and grandfather," and in a later work 2 he asserts definitively that "Ergamen " was a contemporary, not of Philadelphus, but of " Philopator." The peculiar hieroglyphic signs to which he refers constitute the title "beloved of Isis," |j *^SL, but as the great temple of Isis at Philae, which was, strictly speaking, in the country of Ergamenes, was founded by Ptolemy II., there seems to be nothing remarkable in the fact that Ergamenes should, when he decided upon his royal titles, have styled himself "beloved of Isis." It is unlikely that he copied the title from the second cartouche of Ptolemy IV., because Ergamenes must have been king of Nubia before that king ascended the throne of Egypt, and his titles were fixed at his accession. The remains of the temple of Ptolemy IV. at Philae, and the temple at Dakkeh do, however, prove that the king of Egypt was obliged to treat Ergamenes as a friend and equal. The prenomen and nomen of Ergamenes as found at Dakkeh are as follows : 1 Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 273. 2 The Ptolemaic Dynasty, p. 140. TEMPLE OF ARQ-AMEN AT DAKKEH 243 AMEN-TET-ANKH-TAA-RA, son of the Sun, ARQ-AMEN- ANKH-TCHETTA-MER-AST, and we must note that he styles himself "King of the South and North," and " Son of the Sun," i.e., that he claimed the titles which the old kings of Nubia (who formed the XXVth Dynasty of Egypt) had assumed after their conquest of Egypt, and which the Ptolemies who were his contemporaries were using at the same time as himself. He also calls himself "Hand of Amen," and "Emanation of Ra," and we can only conclude from the titles that he claimed to be descended from the old royal stock of Egypt, and that he had established himself firmly upon the throne of Nubia in consequence. In other words, under Arq-Amen (Ergamenes) Nubia had sufficient power to assert her independence of Egypt, and her kings began to re- member that the Thebaid had once formed part of their kingdom. The temple which Arq-Amen built at Dakkeh 1 consisted of a comparatively small chamber ; in front of this Ptolemy IV. built a hall and a fine doorway; in front of the hall Ptolemy IX. built a 1 Dakkeh marks the site of the old Egyptian city called P-Selket f] **.> i- e -> the "House of Selqet," or Serqet, called by the I' s\ Greeks Pselchis ; on the opposite side of the river was Contra Pselchis, the modern Kubban, from which a route led to the gold mines in the Wadi 'Ulaki. Egyptian temples existed at both places in the XVIIIth Dynasty. 244 PROSPERITY OF EGYPT vestibule, and behind the chamber built by Arq-Amen a chamber was added in the Koman. Period. We thus see that the name of Ptolemy IV. is found further south than that of any of his ancestors, but it must not be assumed that this came to pass as a result of any conquest made by him in Nubia. Of the last years of the reign of Ptolemy IV. nothing- is known, but they seem to have been inglorious, and after the murder of his sister and wife Arsinoe he appears to have abandoned himself wholly to a life of debauchery. The affairs of state were managed entirely by his mistress Agathocleia, by Agathocles, and by Sosibius, and under their evil rule the power of Egypt declined, and the country began to enjoy less influence among the nations. Ptolemy IV., like his father, maintained friendly relations with the Greeks and Eomans, and as Antiochus III. was occupied in the countries east of Babylonia Ptolemy had no reason to fear another invasion of Coele Syria ; externally Egypt appeared to be in a flourishing condition, and to be as powerful as in the days of Ptolemy III. 1 But we know that the Egyptian soldiers in the Delta had revolted, and that the Jews in Alexandria hated Ptolemy IV. because of the policy of persecution which he carried on against them, and that the people 1 From the inscription of Charimortos and Lichas we know that during the last few years of his reign these generals were still hunting elephants in Nubia and Ethiopia for the king's army ; see Hall, Greek Inscriptions from Egypt (Classical Eeview, vol. xii. 1898, p. 274). ELEPHANT HUNTS 245 si II beg .s a II THE CHARACTER OF PTOLEMY IV. 247 generally were furious at the murder of Arsinoe (B.C. 210), which either Sosibius or Agathocles, or both, had been allowed to carry out by the king. Ancient writers generally agree in denouncing the life and conduct of Ptolemy IV., and they describe him as a sot, a sensualist, and a debauchee, and Strabo goes so far as to class him with Ptolemy VII. Eupator, and Ptolemy XIII. Auletes (xvii. 1, 11), whose evil lives are notorious. On the other hand, the man who could dedicate to Homer a temple wherein the poet was worshipped as a god, and lead his phalanx into battle as he did on the day of Eaphia, and appreciate the Egyptian religion to such an extent as to cause the "Judgment Scene" of the Boolt of the Dead to be sculptured on the wall of his temple at Der al-Medineh, does not deserve wholly the evil reputation with which he has been accredited. A thoroughly vicious king would not have spent money on the building of Greek and Egyptian temples, still less would he have main- tained the Alexandrian Library. A great many of the reports of the king's wickedness seem to have been due to the Jews of Alexandria. According to the Third Book of Maccabees, as soon as the Jews of Jerusalem heard of his victory at Eaphia they sent messengers to offer him their congratulations ; after this he visited Jerusalem and was greatly impressed with the dignity and beauty of the temple, and offered up sacrifices therein. He next expressed a wish to go Into the Holy of Holies, and when the high priest 248 JEWISH LIBELS ON PTOLEMY IV. refused to gratify his curiosity he attempted to force his way in ; the high priest, however, prayed to God, and just as the king was about to enter the most holy place, he was seized with paralysis and thus prevented from defiling the sanctuary of the God of the Hebrews. Ptolemy Philopator returned to Egypt filled with fury against the Jews because of the rebuff which he had suffered at Jerusalem, and began a series of persecu- tions of the most cruel character. He taxed them heavily, and interfered with their religious freedom, and at length gave the order to have large numbers of them taken to a place outside the city, where they were to be trodden to death by elephants inflamed with wine and anger. These sagacious beasts, however, refused to do such a wicked thing, and instead of killing the Jews charged into the king's servants and did some injury to them. 1 1 " Then after he had sent for Hernion master of hys Elephantes "beyng full of great and unpleasable anger so commaunded yt " the next daye there shoulde be gyven to hys elephantes great " quantytye of fragrant scence with much wine to drinck that "when the(y) hadde myghtely drounken they myghte be broughte "in starcke madde to kyll the Jewes. And when he had com- " maunded thees thynges, callynge to gethe hys friends and ye " cheife of hys armye which were cruelly minded agaynste the " Jewes, he gat hym to hys feast. But Hermon the master of his "elephantes did his commaundementes handsomly, and his ser- "Yauntes came about euening and bound the sely foules handes, "and dyd all thynges that was to be done amongst them, " thynckynge aboute twilyghte to kyll all the whole nacyon. Nowe "the Jewes seemed to the Gentiles to be destytude of souccoure " bycause they were so hard bound wyth banndes, but all they THE THIRD BOOK OF MACCABEES 249 The general unhistorical character of all the seven chapters of this " Book of Maccabees " has been pointed out by many writers, and it is clear that the few histori- cal facts which underlie its crudities, absurdities, and " wyth one voyce wyth teares called upon the omnipotent Lord, "and there mercifull God and father which was aboue al powre. " Desyryng hym to tourne awaye thys wycked deuyse taken "against them, and that by hys royall commyng, he would take " there fete out of thys desteuye. And thus they prayed toward " heauen continewaliye. But Hermon whyche hadde filled thoos " cruel elephantes with drincke ynough and frankenscense, came " early in the mornynge to the court to tell ye king of it. But "that goodly worckmanshyp of day and nyght, made from the " begynyng of the worlde, and whych is sent of him, that gyveth " lardgly unto al that he wyll, was partly sent unto the kyng, for "he was fast in slepe and was much deceaued of hys cruell " purpose, and frustrat of his angry judgment. So the Jewes when "they had passed the tyme, that was appoynted, they prayesed " there holy God, and prayed unto him agayne that he woulde " shewe unto the prowde Gentyles, the strengt of hys myghtye "hand. Now when it was halfe an howre almost past tenne of " the clocke, hys servaunt seing that many ware come that he had "sent for, he came and waked the kynge, and thold him, the " slepe yet scant out of hys eyes, that dynner tyme passed awaye, " and thold him of the men yt were come." Ptolemy then gathered together all his friends, and told his keeper of the elephants to make ready his beasts to kill the Jews on the morrow, and he did so. When the Jews saw what was being done they prayed to God, and one old man called Eleazar made a long prayer to God. In answer to this God sent down two of his angels, and they " bounde them with such fetters that they " might not stirre. Then trembled the kinges body, and began to " forgette his prefull boldeness, the beastes also tourned against ' ' the men that were in harnes and trode them undere the fete and " kylled them. So the kyng turned his anger unto pitie, and to " bewaile those thinges that he had done before." See The Thyrde Boke of Hachabees, London, 1550. 250 JEWISH LIBELS ON NEBUCHADNEZZAR II. exaggerations, are distorted after the manner common with the writers of such compositions. The author wished to prove that his nation was under the special care of Divine Providence, and his statements are as un- historical as-those of the writer of the Book of Daniel, who declared that Nebuchadnezzar II. dwelt among wild asses, and was fed with grass like oxen, and that A gallery of the Temple at Philae. From a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor. his hairs grew like eagles' [feathers], and his nails like birds' [claws]. Now we know from Babylonian mytho- logy that Eabani, an early mythical hero, lived with the beasts of the fields, and the representations of him which are found on seal-cylinders suit exactly the de- scription of Nebuchadnezzar II. in the Book of Daniel ; REVOLT OF THE NUBIANS 251 the writer of this work heard of Eabani in Babylon, and applied the description of the fabulous creature of early Sumerian times to the Babylonian king whom he wished to decry. Similarly, Ptolemy IV. had incurred the enmity of the Jewish colony at Alexandria, and no wickedness or folly was too great to attribute to him in consequence. During the last three or four years of his life Ptolemy IV. associated with himself in the rule of the kingdom his son Ptolemy V., surnamed Epiphanes, but the child was only two years old when he was made co-regent, and therefore could have no real power, whilst his father appears then to have lost all that he once possessed. About the period of the co-regency a revolt broke out in Upper Egypt, and the Nubians endeavoured to include the Thebaid in their kingdom as in the days of Piankhi I. and his successors ; this rising was not quelled when Ptolemy IV. died, and the Nubians carried on their revolt into the reign of his son. They realized, like the other nations of the world, that the power of Egypt was declining, and that in a few years' time the Empire would fall to pieces. END OF VOL. VII. GILBERT AND BIVIHGTON, LTD., ST. JOHN'S HOUtfE, CLKKKENWKLL, B.C. 2 A 000 670 117 1