Book 3
Cyrus' son Cambyses was leading an army of his subjects, Ionian and Aeolian Greeks among them,The received date is 525 B.C. against this Amasis for the following reason. Cambyses had sent a herald to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt asking Amasis for his daughter; he asked on the advice of an Egyptian, who advised it out of resentment against Amasis, that out of all the Egyptian physicians Amasis had dragged him away from his wife and children and sent him up to Iran [53,32] (nation), Asia Persia when Cyrus sent to Amasis asking for the best eye-doctor in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
Out of resentment, the Egyptian by his advice induced Cambyses to ask Amasis for his daughter, so that Amasis would either be wretched if he gave her, or hated by Cambyses if he did not. Amasis, intimidated by the power of Iran [53,32] (nation), Asia Persia and frightened, could neither give his daughter nor refuse her; for he knew well that Cambyses was not going to take her as his wife but as his concubine.
After considering the matter, he did as follows. There was a daughter of the former king Apries, all that was left of that family, quite tall and pretty, and her name was Nitetis; this girl Amasis adorned with clothes and gold and sent to Cambyses as his own daughter.
But after a time, as he embraced her addressing her as the daughter of Amasis, the girl said to him, “O King, you do not understand how you have been made a fool of by Amasis, who dressed me in finery and sent me to you as his own daughter, when I am in fact the daughter of Apries, the ruler Amasis revolted from with the Egyptians and killed.”
This speech and this crime that occurred turned Cyrus' son Cambyses, furiously angry, against Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . So the Persians say.
But the Egyptians, who say that Cambyses was the son of this daughter of Apries, claim him as one of theirs; they say that it was Cyrus who asked Amasis for his daughter, and not Cambyses.
But what they say is false. They are certainly not unaware (for if any understand the customs of the Persians the Egyptians do) firstly, that it is not their custom for illegitimate offspring to rule when there are legitimate offspring; and secondly, that Cambyses was the son of Cassandane, the daughter of Pharnaspes, who was an Achaemenid, and not of the Egyptian woman. But they falsify the story, pretending to be related to the house of Cyrus. That is the truth of the matter.
The following story, incredible to me, is also told: that one of the Persian women who came to visit Cyrus' wives, and saw the tall and attractive children who stood by Cassandane, expressed her admiration in extravagant terms. Then Cassandane, Cyrus' wife, said,
“Although I am the mother of such children, Cyrus dishonors me and honors his new woman from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .” So she spoke in her bitterness against Nitetis; and Cambyses, the eldest of her sons, said,
“Then, mother, when I am grown up, I will turn all Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt upside down.” When he said this, he was about ten years old, and the women were amazed; but he kept it in mind, and it was thus that when he grew up and became king, he made the campaign against Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
It so happened, too, that something else occurred contributing to this campaign. There was among Amasis' mercenaries a man who was a Halicarnassian by birth, a clever man and a good soldier, whose name was Phanes.
This Phanes had some grudge against Amasis, and fled from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt aboard ship, hoping to talk to Cambyses. Since he was a man much admired among the mercenaries and had an exact knowledge of all Egyptian matters, Amasis was anxious to catch him, and sent a trireme with his most trusted eunuch to pursue him. This eunuch caught him in +Lycia (region (general)), Turkey, Asia Lycia but never brought him back to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , for Phanes was too clever for him.
He made his guards drunk and so escaped to Iran [53,32] (nation), Asia Persia . There he found Cambyses prepared to set out against Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , but in doubt as to his march, how he should cross the waterless desert; so Phanes showed him what was Amasis' condition and how he should march; as to this, he advised Cambyses to send and ask the king of the Arabians for a safe passage.
Now the only apparent way of entry into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is this. The road runs from +Phoenicia (region (general)), Asia Phoenicia as far as the borders of the city of Cadytis,Probably +Gaza Strip [34.333,31.416] (occupied territory), Israel, Asia Gaza . which belongs to the so-called Syrians of +Palestine [35.333,31.916] (region (general)), Asia Palestine .
From Cadytis (which, as I judge, is a city not much smaller than Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis ) to the city of Ienysus the seaports belong to the Arabians; then they are Syrian again from Ienysus as far as the Serbonian marsh, beside which the Casian promontory stretches seawards;
from this Serbonian marsh, where Typho is supposed to have been hidden,Hot winds and volcanic agency were attributed by Greek mythology to Typhon, cast down from heaven by Zeus and “buried” in hot or volcanic regions. Typhon came to be identified with the Egyptian god Set; and the legend grew that he was buried in the Serbonian marsh. the country is Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . Now between Ienysus and the Casian mountain and the Serbonian marsh there lies a wide territory for as much as three days' journey, terribly arid.
I am going to mention something now which few of those who sail to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt know. Earthen jars full of wine are brought into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt twice a year from all Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Greece and +Phoenicia (region (general)), Asia Phoenicia besides: yet one might safely say there is not a single empty wine jar anywhere in the country.
What then (one may ask) becomes of them? I shall explain this too. Each governor of a district must gather in all the earthen pots from his own township and take them to Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis , and the people of Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis must fill them with water and carry them to those arid lands of +Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria ; so the earthen pottery that is brought to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt and unloaded or emptied there is carried to +Syria [38,35] (nation), Asia Syria to join the stock that has already been taken there.
Now as soon as the Persians took possession of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , they became the caretakers of the entryway into it, having it provisioned with water in the way I have described.
But at this time there was as yet no ready supply of water; and so Cambyses, hearing what was said by the stranger from Bodrum [27.466,37.5] (inhabited place), Mugla Ili, Ege kiyilari, Turkey, Asia Halicarnassus , sent messengers to the Arabian and asked and obtained safe conduct, giving to him and receiving from him pledges.
There are no men who respect pledges more than the Arabians. This is how they give them: a man stands between the two pledging parties, and with a sharp stone cuts the palms of their hands, near the thumb; then he takes a piece of wool from the cloak of each and smears with their blood seven stones that lie between them, meanwhile calling on Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite;
after this is done, the one who has given his pledge commends the stranger (or his countryman if the other be one) to his friends, and his friends hold themselves bound to honor the pledge.
They believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the Heavenly Aphrodite; and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his, cutting it round the head and shaving the temples. They call Dionysus, Orotalt; and Aphrodite, Alilat.According to Movers, Orotalt is “the fire of God,” ôrath êl, and Alilat the feminine of hêlêl, “morning star”; but a simpler interpretation is Alilat = the goddess.
When, then, the Arabian had made the pledge to the messengers who had come from Cambyses, he devised the following expedient: he filled camel-skins with water and loaded all his camels with these; then he drove them into the waterless land and there awaited Cambyses' army.
This is the most credible of the stories told; but I must relate the less credible tale also, since they tell it. There is a great river in Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia called Corys, emptying into the sea called Red.
From this river (it is said) the king of the Arabians brought water by an aqueduct made of sewn oxhides and other hides and extensive enough to reach to the dry country; and he had great tanks dug in that country to try to receive and keep the water.
It is a twelve days' journey from the river to that desert. By three aqueducts (they say) he brought the water to three different places.
Psammenitus, son of Amasis, was encamped by the mouth of the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), Africa Nile called Pelusian, awaiting Cambyses.
For when Cambyses marched against Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , he found Amasis no longer alive; he had died after reigning forty-four years, during which he had suffered no great misfortune; and being dead he was embalmed and laid in the burial-place built for him in the temple.
While his son Psammenitus was king of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , the people saw an extraordinary thing, namely, rain at Thebes [32.666,25.683] (deserted settlement), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Thebes of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , where, as the Thebans themselves say, there had never been rain before, nor since to my lifetime; for indeed there is no rain at all in the upper parts of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt ; but at that time a drizzle of rain fell at Thebes [32.666,25.683] (deserted settlement), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Thebes .In modern times there is sometimes a little rain at Thebes [32.666,25.683] (deserted settlement), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Thebes ( +Luxor [32.65,25.683] (inhabited place), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Luxor ); very little and very seldom.
When the Persians had crossed the waterless country and encamped near the Egyptians intending to engage them, the Egyptian mercenaries, Greeks and Carians, devised a plan to punish Phanes, angered at him for leading a foreign army into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
Phanes had left sons in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt ; these they brought to the camp, into their father's sight, and set a great bowl between the two armies; then they brought the sons one by one and cut their throats over the bowl.
When all the sons had been slaughtered, they poured wine and water into the bowl, and the mercenaries drank this and then gave battle. The fighting was fierce, and many of both armies fell; but at last the Egyptians were routed.
I saw a strange thing on the site of the battle, of which the people of the country had told me. The bones of those killed on either side in this fight lying scattered separately (for the Persian bones lay in one place and the Egyptian in another, where the armies had first separately stood), the skulls of the Persians are so brittle that if you throw no more than a pebble it will pierce them, but the Egyptian skulls are so strong that a blow of a stone will hardly crack them.
And this, the people said (which for my own part I readily believed), is the explanation of it: the Egyptians shave their heads from childhood, and the bone thickens by exposure to the sun.
This also is the reason why they do not grow bald; for nowhere can one see so few bald heads as in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt .
Their skulls then are strong for this reason; while the Persian skulls are weak because they cover their heads throughout their lives with the felt hats (called tiaras) which they wear. Such is the truth of the matter. I saw too the skulls of those Persians at Papremis who were killed with Darius' son Achaemenes by Inaros the Libyan, and they were like the others.
After their rout in the battle the Egyptians fled in disorder; and when they had been overtaken in Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis , Cambyses sent a Persian herald up the river aboard a Mytilenean boat to invite the Egyptians to an accord.
But when they saw the boat coming to Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, Africa Memphis , they sallied out all together from their walls, destroyed the boat, dismembered the crew (like butchers) and carried them within the walls.
So the Egyptians were besieged, and after a long while surrendered; but the neighboring Libyans, frightened by what had happened in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , surrendered without a fight, laying tribute on themselves and sending gifts; and so too did the people of Shahhat [21.866,32.833] (inhabited place), Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya, Africa Cyrene and +Al Marj [20.833,32.5] (inhabited place), Al Jabal al Akhdar, Libya, Africa Barca , frightened like the Libyans.