Book 2
After what happened to his daughter, the following happened next to this king: an oracle came to him from the city of +Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto , announcing that he had just six years to live and was to die in the seventh.
The king took this badly, and sent back to the oracle a message of reproach, blaming the god that his father and his uncle, though they had shut up the temples, and disregarded the gods, and destroyed men, had lived for a long time, but that he who was pious was going to die so soon.
But a second oracle came announcing that for this very reason his life was hastening to a close: he had done what was contrary to fate; Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt should have been afflicted for a hundred and fifty years, and the two kings before him knew this, but not he.
Hearing this, Mycerinus knew that his doom was fixed. Therefore, he had many lamps made, and would light these at nightfall and drink and enjoy himself, not letting up day or night, roaming to the marsh country and the groves and wherever he heard of the likeliest places of pleasure.
This was his recourse, so that by turning night into day he might make his six years into twelve and so prove the oracle false.
This king, too, left a pyramid, but far smaller than his father's, each side twenty feet short of three hundred feet long, square at the base, and as much as half its height of Ethiopian stone. Some Greeks say that it was built by Rhodopis, the courtesan, but they are wrong;
indeed, it is clear to me that they say this without even knowing who Rhodopis was (otherwise, they would never have credited her with the building of a pyramid on which what I may call an uncountable sum of money was spent), or that Rhodopis flourished in the reign of Amasis, not of Mycerinus;
for very many years later than these kings who left the pyramids came Rhodopis, who was Thracian by birth, and a slave of Iadmon son of Hephaestopolis the Samian, and a fellow-slave of Aesop the story-writer. For he was owned by Iadmon, too, as the following made crystal clear:
when the Delphians, obeying an oracle, issued many proclamations summoning anyone who wanted it to accept compensation for the killing of Aesop, no one accepted it except the son of Iadmon's son, another Iadmon; hence Aesop, too, was Iadmon's.
Rhodopis came to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt to work, brought by Xanthes of Nisos Samos [26.8,37.75] (island), Samos, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Samos , but upon her arrival was freed for a lot of money by Kharaxus of Mytilene [26.55,39.1] (Perseus) Mytilene , son of Scamandronymus and brother of Sappho the poetess.
Thus Rhodopis lived as a free woman in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , where, as she was very alluring, she acquired a lot of money—sufficient for such a Rhodopis, so to speak, but not for such a pyramid.
Seeing that to this day anyone who likes can calculate what one tenth of her worth was, she cannot be credited with great wealth. For Rhodopis desired to leave a memorial of herself in Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Greece , by having something made which no one else had thought of or dedicated in a temple and presenting this at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi to preserve her memory;
so she spent one tenth of her substance on the manufacture of a great number of iron beef spits, as many as the tenth would pay for, and sent them to Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi ; these lie in a heap to this day, behind the altar set up by the Chians and in front of the shrine itself.
The courtesans of Kawm Juayf [30.583,30.9] (inhabited place), Al Buhayrah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Naucratis seem to be peculiarly alluring, for the woman of whom this story is told became so famous that every Greek knew the name of Rhodopis, and later on a certain Archidice was the theme of song throughout Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Greece , although less celebrated than the other.
Kharaxus, after giving Rhodopis her freedom, returned to Mytilene [26.55,39.1] (Perseus) Mytilene . He is bitterly attacked by Sappho in one of her poems. This is enough about Rhodopis.
After Mycerinus, the priests said, Asukhis became king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . He built the eastern outer court of Hephaestus' temple; this is by far the finest and grandest of all the courts, for while all have carved figures and innumerable felicities of architecture, this court has far more than any.
As not much money was in circulation during this king's reign, they told me, a law was made for the Egyptians allowing a man to borrow on the security of his father's corpse; and the law also provided that the lender become master of the entire burial-vault of the borrower, and that the penalty for one giving this security, should he fail to repay the loan, was that he was not to be buried at his death either in that tomb of his fathers or in any other, nor was he to bury any relative of his there.
Furthermore, in his desire to excel all who ruled Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt before him, this king left a pyramid of brick to commemorate his name, on which is this writing, cut on a stone:
“Do not think me less than pyramids of stone; for I excel them as much as Zeus does other gods; for they stuck a pole down into a marsh and collected what mud clung to the pole, made bricks of it, and thus built me.” These were the acts of Asukhis.
After him reigned a blind man called Anysis, of the town of that name. In his reign Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt was invaded by Sabacos king of Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia and a great army of Ethiopians.In Manetho's list three Ethiopian kings form the twenty-fifth dynasty, Sabacon, Sebichos, and Taracos (the Tirhaka of the Old Testament).
The blind man fled to the marshes, and the Ethiopian ruled Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt for fifty years, during which he distinguished himself for the following:
he would never put to death any Egyptian wrongdoer but sentenced all, according to the severity of their offenses, to raise embankments in their native towns. Thus the towns came to stand yet higher than before;
for after first being built on embankments made by the excavators of the canals in the reign of Sesostris, they were yet further raised in the reign of the Ethiopian.
Of the towns in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt that were raised, in my opinion, +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis is especially prominent, where there is also a temple of +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis , a building most worthy of note. Other temples are greater and more costly, but none more pleasing to the eye than this. +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis is, in the Greek language, Artemis.
Her temple is of this description: except for the entrance, it stands on an island; for two channels approach it from the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile without mixing with one another, running as far as the entryway of the temple, the one and the other flowing around it, each a hundred feet wide and shaded by trees.
The outer court is sixty feet high, adorned with notable figures ten feet high. The whole circumference of the city commands a view down into the temple in its midst; for the city's level has been raised, but that of the temple has been left as it was from the first, so that it can be seen into from above.
A stone wall, cut with figures, runs around it; within is a grove of very tall trees growing around a great shrine where the image of the goddess is; the temple is a square, each side measuring an eighth of a mile.
A road, paved with stone, about three eighths of a mile long leads to the entrance, running eastward through the marketplace, towards the temple of Hermes; this road is about four hundred feet wide, and bordered by trees reaching to heaven. Such is this temple.
Now the departure of the Ethiopian (they said) came about in this way. After seeing in a dream one who stood over him and urged him to gather together all the Priests in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt and cut them in half, he fled from the country.
Seeing this vision, he said, he supposed it to be a manifestation sent to him by the gods, so that he might commit sacrilege and so be punished by gods or men; he would not (he said) do so, but otherwise, for the time foretold for his rule over Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt was now fulfilled, after which he was to depart:
for when he was still in Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia , the oracles that are consulted by the people of that country told him that he was fated to reign fifty years over Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . Seeing that this time was now completed and that he was troubled by what he saw in his dream, Sabacos departed from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt of his own volition.
When the Ethiopian left Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , the blind man (it is said) was king once more, returning from the marshes where he had lived for fifty years on an island that he built of ashes and earth; for the Egyptians who were to bring him food without the Ethiopian's knowledge were instructed by the king to bring ashes whenever they came, to add to their gift.
This island was never discovered before the time of Amyrtaeus; all the kings before him sought it in vain for more than seven hundred years. The name of it is Elbo, and it is over a mile long and of an equal breadth.
The next king was the priest of Hephaestus whose name was Sethos. He despised and had no regard for the warrior Egyptians, thinking he would never need them; besides otherwise dishonoring them, he took away the chosen lands which had been given to them, twelve fields to each man, in the reign of former kings.
So when presently king Sanacharib Sennacherib's attack on Hezekiah of +Judaea (region (general)), Israel, Asia Judaea was made on his march to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .—II Kings, xviii. came against Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , with a great force of Arabians and Assyrians, the warrior Egyptians would not march against him.
The priest, in this quandary, went into the temple shrine and there before the god's image bitterly lamented over what he expected to suffer. Sleep came on him while he was lamenting, and it seemed to him the god stood over him and told him to take heart, that he would come to no harm encountering the power of Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia : “I shall send you champions,” said the god.
So he trusted the vision, and together with those Egyptians who would follow him camped at +Pelusium (deserted settlement), Shamal Sina', Desert, Egypt, Africa Pelusium , where the road comes into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt ; and none of the warriors would go with him, but only merchants and craftsmen and traders.
Their enemies came there, too, and during the night were overrun by a horde of field miceThis is Hdt.'s version of the Jewish story of the pestilence which destroyed the Assyrian army before +Jerusalem [35.233,31.766] (inhabited place), Jerusalem, Israel, Asia Jerusalem . Mice are a Greek symbol of pestilence; it is Apollo Smintheus (the mouse god) who sends and then ends the plague in Hom. Il. 1. It has long been known that rats are carriers of the plague. that gnawed quivers and bows and the handles of shields, with the result that many were killed fleeing unarmed the next day.
And to this day a stone statue of the Egyptian king stands in Hephaestus' temple, with a mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect: “Look at me, and believe.”
Thus far went the record given by the Egyptians and their priests; and they showed me that the time from the first king to that priest of Hephaestus, who was the last, covered three hundred and forty-one generations, and that in this time this also had been the number of their kings, and of their high priests.