help of such Egyptians as were well affected to him, and with these allies, overcame the other kings. 153. Psammitichus, having made himself master of all Egypt, constructed the portico to Vulcan's temple at Memphis that faces the south wind; and he built a court for Apis, in which he is fed whenever he appears opposite the portico, surrounded by a colonnade, and full of sculptured figures; and instead of pillars, statues twelve cubits high are placed under the piazza. Apis, in the language of the Greeks, means Epaphus. 154. To the Ionians, and those who with them had assisted him, Psammitichus gave lands opposite each other, with the Nile flowing between; to these lands was given the name of Camps; and besides these lands he gave them all that he had promised; and he, moreover, put Egyptian children under their care, to be instructed in the Greek language; and from those who learned the language the present interpreters in Egypt are descended. The Ionians and the Carians continued for a long time to inhabit these lands, and they are situated near the sea, a little below the city of Bubastis, on that which is called the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile; these, in after time, king Amasis removed and settled at Memphis, making them his body-guard against the Egyptians. From the time of the settlement of these people in Egypt, we Greeks have had such constant communication with them, that we are accurately informed of all that has happened in Egypt, beginning from the reign of Psammitichus to the present time. These were the first people of a different language who settled in Egypt. The docks for their ships, and the ruins of their buildings, were to be seen in my time in the places from which they were removed. Thus, then, Psammitichus became master of Egypt. 155. Of the oracle that is in Egypt I have already made frequent mention ;3 and I shall now give an account of it, as well deserving notice. This oracle in Egypt is a temple sacred to Latona, situated in a large city, near that which is called the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile, as one sails upward from the sea. The name of this city, where the oracle is, is Buto, as I have already mentioned. There is also in this Buto a precinct sacred to Apollo and Diana; and the temple of Latona, in which the oracle is, is spacious, and has a portico ten 3 See II. 83, 133, 152. 5 orgyæ in height. But of all the things I saw there, I will describe that which occasioned most astonishment. There is in this inclosure a temple of Latona made from one stone, both in height and length, and each wall is equal to them ;4 each of these measures forty cubits: for the roof, another stone is laid over it, having a cornice four cubits deep. 156. This temple, then, is the most wonderful thing that I saw about this precinct. Next to it is the island called Chemmis, situated in a deep and broad lake near the precinct in Buto. This is said by the Egyptians to be a floating island, but I myself saw it neither floating nor moving, and I was astonished when I heard that there really was a floating island. In this, then, is a spacious temple of Apollo, and in it three altars are placed; and there grow in it great numbers of palms, and many other trees, both such as produce fruit and such as do not. The Egyptians, when they affirm that it floats, add the following story: they say that in this island, which before did not float, Latona, who was one of the eight primary deities, dwelling in Buto, where this oracle of hers now is, received Apollo as a deposit from the hands of Isis, and saved him by concealing him in this, which is now called the floating island, when Typhon arrived, searching every where, and hoping to find the son of Osiris; for they say that Apollo and Diana are the offspring of Bacchus and Isis, and that Latona was their nurse and preserver. In the language of Egypt, Apollo is called Orus; Ceres, Isis; and Diana, Bubastis. Now from this account, and no other, Eschylus, the son of Euphorion, alone among the earlier poets, derived the tradition that I will mention, for he made Diana to be the daughter of Ceres. account they say that the island was made to float. the account they give. On this Such is 157. Psammitichus reigned in Egypt fifty-four years, during twenty-nine of which he sat down before and besieged Azotus, a large city of Syria, until he took it. This Azotus, of all the cities we know of, held out against a siege the longest period. 158. Neco was son of Psammitichus, and became king of Egypt. He first set about the canal that leads * That is to say, its external surface forms a perfect cube. 5 This is usually translated "having a projecting roof to the extent of four cubits;" but see Letronne's remark in Baehr.-Cary's Lexicon, παρωροφές. to the Red Sea, which Darius the Persian afterward completed. Its length is a voyage of four days, and in width it was dug so that two triremes might sail rowed abreast. The water is drawn into it from the Nile, and it enters it a little above the city Bubastis, passes near the Arabian city Patumos, and reaches to the Red Sea. The parts of the Egyptian plain that lie toward Arabia were dug first; above this plain is situated the mountain that stretches toward Memphis, in which are the quarries. Along the base of this mountain, therefore, the canal is carried lengthways from the west to the east, and then it stretches to the defiles, passing from the mountain toward the meridian and the south inward, as far as the Arabian Gulf. But in the part where is the shortest and most direct passage from the northern sea to the southern, which is the same as that called the Red Sea, namely, from Mount Cesius, that separates Egypt from Syria, from this point the distance is a thousand stades to the Arabian Gulf: this, then, is the most direct way; but the canal is very much longer, in that it is more winding, in the digging of which one hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians perished in the reign of Neco. Now Neco stopped digging it in the middle of the work, the following oracle having caused an impediment, "that he was working for a barbarian;" for the Egyptians call all men barbarians who do not speak the same language as themselves. 159. But Neco, having put a stop to his excavation, turned his attention to military affairs; and triremes were constructed, some on the northern sea, and others in the Arabian Gulf or the Red Sea, of which the docks are still to be seen. These he used as he had occasion; and Neco, having come to an engagement with the Syrians on land at Magdolus, conquered them, and after the battle took Cadytis, which is a large city in Syria. The garments he wore during these actions he consecrated to Apollo, having sent them to Branchide of the Milesians. Afterward, having reigned sixteen years in all, he died, and left the kingdom to his son Psammis. 160. While this Psammis was reigning over Egypt, embassadors arrived from the Eleans, boasting that they had established the Olympian games under the most just and excellent regulations in the world, and believing that not even the Egyptians, the wisest of mankind, could invent any thing . surpassing them. When the Eleans, having arrived in Egypt, mentioned for what purpose they had come, this king thereupon summoned those who were reputed to be the wisest among the Egyptians; and the Egyptians, having met together, heard the Eleans relate what was settled for them to do with regard to the games; and they, having mentioned every thing, said they had come to inquire "whether the Egyptians could invent any thing more equitable ;" and they, having consulted together, asked the Eleans whether their own citizens were permitted to enter the lists; they said that they and all other Grecians who wished were allowed to contend; but the Egyptians replied, "that in making such enactments they had totally deviated from the rules of justice, for that they could not contrive so as not to favor a citizen of their own to the prejudice of a stranger; but if they really wished to make just enactments, and had come into Egypt for this purpose, they advised them to establish games for foreign candidates, and to allow no Elean to enter the lists." Such was the suggestion that the Egyptians made to the Eleans. 161. When Psammis had reigned only six years over Egypt, and made an expedition into Ethiopia, and shortly afterward died, Apries his son succeeded to the kingdom. He, next to his grandfather Psammitichus, enjoyed greater prosperity than any of the former kings, during a reign of five-and-twenty years, in which period he marched an army against Sidon, and engaged the Tyrian by sea. But when it was destined for him to meet with adversity, it happened on an occasion which I shall narrate more fully in my Libyan history, and briefly in this place; for Apries, having sent an army against the Cyrenæans, met with a signal defeat; but the Egyptians, complaining of this, revolted from him, suspecting that Apries had designedly sent them to certain ruin, in order that they might be destroyed, and he might govern the rest of the Egyptians with greater security; both those that returned and the friends of those who perished, being very indignant at this, openly revolted against him. 162. Apries, having heard of this, sent Amasis to appease them by persuasion; but when he, having come to them, was endeavoring to restrain them, as he was urging them to desist from their enterprise, one of the Egyptians standing behind him placed a helmet on his head, See B. IV. chap. 159. ånd as he put it on, said "that he put it on him to make him king." And this action was not at all disagreeable to Amasis, as he presently showed; for when the revolters had appointed him king of the Egyptians, he prepared to lead an army against Apries; but Apries, being informed of this, sent to Amasis a considerable person among the Egyptians that adhered to him, whose name was Patarbemis, with orders to bring Amasis alive into his presence. When Patarbemis ar rived and summoned Amasis, Amasis, raising his leg (for he happened to be on horseback), broke wind, and bade him carry that to Apries. Nevertheless, Patarbemis begged of him, since the king had sent for him, to go to him; but he answered "that he had been some time preparing to do so, and that Apries should have no cause of complaint, for that he would not only appear himself, but would bring others with him." Patarbemis, perceiving his design from what was said, and seeing preparations being made, returned in haste, as he wished to inform the king as soon as possible of what was going on. When, however, he came to Apries without bringing Amasis, Apries, taking no time for deliberation, in a transport of passion commanded his ears and nose to be cut off. The rest of the Egyptians, who still adhered to him, seeing one of the most distinguished among them treated in so unworthy a manner, did not delay a moment, but went immediately over to the others and gave themselves to Amasis. 163. When Apries heard of this, he armed his auxiliaries and marched against the Egyptians; but he had with him Carian and Ionian auxiliaries to the number of thirty thousand; and he had a palace in the city of Sais that was spacious and magnificent. Now Apries's party advanced against the Egyptians, and the party of Amasis against the foreigners. They met near the city Momemphis, and prepared to engage with each other. 164. There are seven classes of Egyptians, and of these some are called priests, others warriors, others herdsmen, others swineherds, others tradesmen, others interpreters, and, lastly, pilots: such are the classes of Egyptians: they take their names from the employments they exercise. Their warriors are called Calasiries or Hermotybies, and they are of the following districts, for all Egypt is divided into districts. 165. The following are the districts of the Hermotybies, |