Book 2
Believing, therefore, that he had been abused by them, he meant to be avenged on those who had expelled him. He sent to inquire in the town of +Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto , where the most infallible oracle in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is; the oracle answered that he would have vengeance when he saw men of bronze coming from the sea.
Psammetichus did not in the least believe that men of bronze would come to aid him. But after a short time, Ionians and Carians, voyaging for plunder, were forced to put in on the coast of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , where they disembarked in their armor of bronze; and an Egyptian came into the marsh country and brought news to Psammetichus (for he had never before seen armored men) that men of bronze had come from the sea and were foraging in the plain.
Psammetichus saw in this the fulfillment of the oracle; he made friends with the Ionians and Carians, and promised them great rewards if they would join him and, having won them over, deposed the eleven kings with these allies and those Egyptians who volunteered.
Having made himself master of all Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , he made the southern outer court of Hephaestus' temple at Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis , and built facing this a court for Apis, where Apis is kept and fed whenever he appears; this court has an inner colonnade all around it and many cut figures; the roof is held up by great statues twenty feet high for pillars. Apis in Greek is Epaphus.
To the Ionians and Carians who had helped him, Psammetichus gave places to live in called The Camps, opposite each other on either side of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile ; and besides this, he paid them all that he had promised.
Moreover, he put Egyptian boys in their hands to be taught Greek, and from these, who learned the language, are descended the present-day Egyptian interpreters.
The Ionians and Carians lived for a long time in these places, which are near the sea, on the arm of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile called the Pelusian, a little way below the town of +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis . Long afterwards, king Amasis removed them and settled them at Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis to be his guard against the Egyptians.
It is a result of our communication with these settlers in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt (the first of foreign speech to settle in that country) that we Greeks have exact knowledge of the history of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt from the reign of Psammetichus onwards.
There still remained in my day, in the places out of which the Ionians and Carians were turned, the winchesProbably capstans for hauling the ships ashore. for their ships and the ruins of their houses. This is how Psammetichus got Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
I have often mentioned the Egyptian oracle, and shall give an account of this, as it deserves. This oracle is sacred to Leto, and is situated in a great city by the Sebennytic arm of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , on the way up from the sea.
+Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto is the name of the city where this oracle is; I have already mentioned it. In +Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto there is a temple of Apollo and Artemis. The shrine of Leto where the oracle is, is itself very great, and its outer court is sixty feet high.
But what caused me the most wonder among the things apparent there I shall mention. In this precinct is the shrine of Leto, the height and length of whose walls is all made of a single stone slab; each wall has an equal length and height; namely, seventy feet. Another slab makes the surface of the roof, the cornice of which is seven feet broad.
Thus, then, the shrine is the most marvellous of all the things that I saw in this temple; but of things of second rank, the most wondrous is the island called +Akhmim [31.733,26.566] (inhabited place), Sawhaj, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Khemmis .
This lies in a deep and wide lake near the temple at +Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto , and the Egyptians say that it floats. I never saw it float, or move at all, and I thought it a marvellous tale, that an island should truly float.
However that may be, there is a great shrine of Apollo on it, and three altars stand there; many palm trees grow on the island, and other trees too, some yielding fruit and some not.
This is the story that the Egyptians tell to explain why the island moves: that on this island that did not move before, Leto, one of the eight gods who first came to be, who was living at +Kawm al-Farain [30.733,31.2] (deserted settlement), Kafr ash-Shaykh, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Buto where this oracle of hers is, taking charge of Apollo from Isis, hid him for safety in this island which is now said to float, when Typhon came hunting through the world, keen to find the son of Osiris.
Apollo and Artemis were (they say) children of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollo is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis Bubastis.
It was from this legend and no other that Aeschylus son of Euphorion took a notion which is in no poet before him: that Artemis was the daughter of Demeter. For this reason the island was made to float. So they say.
Psammetichus ruled Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt for fifty-three years, twenty-nine of which he spent before +Ashdod (deserted settlement), Mehoz HaDarom, Israel, Asia Azotus , a great city in +Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria , besieging it until he took it. +Ashdod (deserted settlement), Mehoz HaDarom, Israel, Asia Azotus held out against a siege longer than any city of which we know.
Psammetichus had a son, Necos, who became king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . It was he who began building the canal into the +Red Sea [42,15] (sea) Red Sea ,This canal ran from near Tel Basta ( +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis ) apparently to +Suez [32.55,29.966] (inhabited place), Suez, Urban, Egypt, Africa Suez . Inscriptions recording Darius' construction of it have been found in the neighborhood. which was finished by Darius the Persian. This is four days' voyage in length, and it was dug wide enough for two triremes to move in it rowed abreast.
It is fed by the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile , and is carried from a little above +Tall Bastah [31.516,30.566] (deserted settlement), Ash Sharqiyah, Lower Egypt, Egypt, Africa Bubastis by the Arabian town of Patumus; it issues into the Red Sea . Digging began in the part of the Egyptian plain nearest to Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia ; the mountains that extend to Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis (the mountains where the stone quarries are) come close to this plain;
the canal is led along the foothills of these mountains in a long reach from west to east; passing then into a ravine, it bears southward out of the hill country towards the Persian Gulf [53.83,25.583] (gulf), Asia Arabian Gulf .
Now the shortest and most direct passage from the northern to the southern or +Red Sea [42,15] (sea) Red Sea is from the Casian promontory, the boundary between Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt and +Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria , to the Persian Gulf [53.83,25.583] (gulf), Asia Arabian Gulf , and this is a distance of one hundred and twenty five miles, neither more nor less;
this is the most direct route, but the canal is far longer, inasmuch as it is more crooked. In Necos' reign, a hundred and twenty thousand Egyptians died digging it. Necos stopped work, stayed by a prophetic utterance that he was toiling beforehand for the barbarian. The Egyptians call all men of other languages barbarians.
Necos, then, stopped work on the canal and engaged in preparations for war; some of his ships of war were built on the northern sea, and some in the Persian Gulf [53.83,25.583] (gulf), Asia Arabian Gulf , by the +Red Sea [42,15] (sea) Red Sea coast: the winches for landing these can still be seen.
He used these ships when needed, and with his land army met and defeated the Syrians at Magdolus, Magdolus appears to be the Mogdol of O.T. taking the great Syrian city of Cadytis +Gaza City [34.466,31.5] (inhabited place), Gaza Strip, Israel, Asia Gaza . after the battle.
He sent to +Didyma [27.233,37.35] (historic site), Aydin Ili, Ege kiyilari, Turkey, Asia Branchidae of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus and dedicated there to Apollo the garments in which he won these victories. Then he died after a reign of sixteen years, and his son Psammis reigned in his place.
While this Psammis was king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , he was visited by ambassadors from +Elis [21.4,37.8833] (Perseus) Elis , the Eleans boasting that they had arranged the Olympic games with all the justice and fairness in the world, and claiming that even the Egyptians, although the wisest of all men, could not do better.
When the Eleans came to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt and announced why they had come, Psammis assembled the Egyptians reputed to be wisest. These assembled and learned all that the Eleans were to do regarding the games; after explaining this, the Eleans said that they had come to learn whether the Egyptians could discover any juster way.
The Egyptians deliberated, and then asked the Eleans if their own citizens took part in the contests. The Eleans answered that they did: all Greeks from +Elis [21.4,37.8833] (Perseus) Elis or elsewhere might contend.
Then the Egyptians said that in establishing this rule they fell short of complete fairness: “For there is no way that you will not favor your own townsfolk in the contest and wrong the stranger; if you wish in fact to make just rules and have come to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt for that reason, you should admit only strangers to the contest, and not Eleans.” Such was the counsel of the Egyptians to the Eleans.
Psammis reigned over Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt for only six years; he invaded Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia , and immediately thereafter died, and Apries Apries is the Hophra of O.T.; he reigned from 589 to 570 B.C., apparently. But the statement that he attacked +Tyre [35.183,33.266] (inhabited place), Al-Janub, Lebanon, Asia Tyre and +Sidon [35.366,33.55] (inhabited place), Al-Janub, Lebanon, Asia Sidon is inconsistent with Jewish history ( Jerem.xxvii, Ezek.xvii.). the son of Psammis reigned in his place.
He was more fortunate than any former king (except his great-grandfather Psammetichus) during his rule of twenty-five years, during which he sent an army against +Sidon [35.366,33.55] (inhabited place), Al-Janub, Lebanon, Asia Sidon and fought at sea with the king of +Tyre [35.183,33.266] (inhabited place), Al-Janub, Lebanon, Asia Tyre .
But when it was fated that evil should overtake him, the cause of it was something that I will now deal with briefly, and at greater length in the Libyan part of this history.
Apries sent a great force against Shahhat [21.866,32.833] (inhabited place), Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya, Africa Cyrene and suffered a great defeat. The Egyptians blamed him for this and rebelled against him; for they thought that Apries had knowingly sent his men to their doom, so that after their perishing in this way he might be the more secure in his rule over the rest of the Egyptians. Bitterly angered by this, those who returned home and the friends of the slain openly revolted.
Hearing of this, Apries sent Amasis to dissuade them. When Amasis came up with the Egyptians, he exhorted them to desist; but as he spoke an Egyptian came behind him and put a helmet on his head, saying it was the token of royalty.
And Amasis showed that this was not displeasing to him, for after being made king by the rebel Egyptians he prepared to march against Apries.
When Apries heard of it, he sent against Amasis an esteemed Egyptian named Patarbemis, one of his own court, instructing him to take the rebel alive and bring him into his presence. When Patarbemis came and summoned Amasis, Amasis (who was on horseback) rose up and farted, telling the messenger to take that back to Apries.
But when in spite of this Patarbemis insisted that Amasis obey the king's summons and go to him, Amasis answered that he had long been preparing to do just that, and Apries would find him above reproach, for he would present himself, and bring others.
Hearing this, Patarbemis could not mistake Amasis; he saw his preparations and hastened to depart, the more quickly to make known to the king what was going on. When Apries saw him return without Amasis, he did not stop to reflect, but in his rage and fury had Patarbemis' ears and nose cut off.