XVII. — Five Later Dynasties. — The Twenty-seventh. — Revolt of Khabas. — Inaros and Amyrtaios. — Twenty-eighth. — Twenty-ninth. — Egyptian Kings for Fifty Years. — Thirtieth. — Nektanebos I., Agesilaos of Sparta. — Invasion by Okhos. — Flight of Nektanebos II. — Thirty-first Dynasty of Persian Kings.
Kambyses and his seven successors are usually classed as constituting the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. Theirs, however, was not an undisputed dominion. The Egyptians never ceased to chafe under the Persian yoke. Sometimes native princes came to the front as kings, and several of the satraps as "lords of the province", who represented the "Great King" cherished the ambition to establish an independent throne for themselves.
Dareios Hystaspis, the second of the Persian Overlords, was familiar with the laws, customs and religions of the country. He had been one of the royal body-guard during the reign of Kambyses, and had profited by the opportunity to learn a theory of governing. Upon his return to Persia, he found a Magian on the throne, and all the nobility abjectly subservient. Even the Mazdean religion which he and his tribe professed, had been interdicted, and the old Skythic Magism was restored to its former ascendency. He formed a conspiracy of seven princes to assassinate the usurper, and afterward suppressed the numerous uprisings which threatened to bar him from the throne. He then established again the simple Zoroastrian worship, and promulgated the Avesta and sacred laws as the authoritative standard. Afterward he organized the government anew into departments or satrapies, instead of subject-kingdoms, somewhat after the manner of the nomes or districts of Egypt. He also established highways over the Empire, and provided relays of horses and camels to enable couriers and travelers to go forward with promptness and uninterrupted. With this arrangement was established a postal system, (1) which seems to have been the origin of the post office of modern times.
He also reformed the coinage, requiring the gold and silver to be of the purest quality. Hence the Persian coins, known by the name of "Darics", were proverbial for their freedom from debasement, which characterised those of Greece and Asia. One of these is in the British Museum, having the Greek name of "Pythagoras".
Two of the Satraps had attempted to set up the rule as independent kings. Orcetes at Sardis, whom Cyrus had appointed, had withheld any recognition of the accession of Dareios, and was put to death.
The other uprising took place in Egypt. Upon the conquest by Kambyses, the nobleman Uza-hor-en-pi-ris, the son of the high-priest of the "Great Mother" at Sais, had made his submission and been appointed President of the physicians and friend or "grandson" of the king. Under his direction Kambyses had confirmed the authority of the priests and established religious worship. He had accompanied the Persian army home, and was afterward sent from Anzan by Dareios to assure the continuance of the former privileges.
The conduct of the viceroy, Aryandes, however, gave rise to general disaffection. He had assumed the powers of independent royalty, and was harsh and severe in administration. He engaged in war in the Kyrenaika, but suffered the Persian soldiers to be massacred without any attempt to avenge them. He also issued a silver coinage, the Aryandics, bearing the legend — "Melekh Ari-en-tebt", King Aryandes. Finally, the Egyptians revolted, and Dareios led an army into Lower Egypt to bring them into submission. Having effected this, he punished the faithless satrap with death. He afterward appointed Aahmes, who commanded the Egyptian army and belonged to the royal family of Sais, to succeed him. This prince and his successors bore the title of melekh or king of Upper and Lower Egypt, and also had the official name of Si-Neith.
Dareios made diligent endeavors to promote the prosperity of Egypt, and to eradicate the hateful remembrances of the Persian conquest. He taxed the country lightly, not exceeding the amount of half a million dollars a year, and his viceroys were members of the Egyptian royal family. Although himself a strict adherent and promulgator of the Mazdean religion with all its rigid simplicity, he contributed liberally to the worships of the several realms and districts. He built a temple to Amun in the Oasis, and was initiated by the priests with the name of Sutta-Ra. At Memphis he asked that his statue might be placed before the colossal image of Rameses the Great. The high priest refused, on the ground that he had not equalled the achievements of that monarch; he had not conquered the Skyths. He bowed to the decision, only remarking that he had not had sufficient time. On his arrival in Northern Egypt he found the people in mourning over the death of the sacred Bill Apis. He offered a hundred talents of gold for the finding of another animal that met the necessary description.
He ordered the Suez Canal to be constructed which had been begun by Nekho. Afterward however he commanded it to be closed, lest it should expose the country to destructive inundations. Nevertheless, there were two benefits derived; the adjacent region became productive, and the water of the Bitter Lakes was sweetened (2) from the contributions of the Nile.
The viceroy Aahmes was succeeded by his son Nefer-Ra. This prince died in the twenty-ninth year of Dareios, and was followed by Manduph. He had ruled three years when the great defeat of the Persians took place at Marathon, and put an end to their conquests. (3) Dareios had added Afghanistan and the Punjab to his dominion in the East and had likewise obtained the submission of the princes of Thrace and Macedonia, but had failed in an expedition beyond the river Danube. After that misadventure, the latter years of his reign were disturbed incessantly by revolt. The Babylonians began, and then followed the Ionians of Asia Minor. The Athenians had aided their kindred in Asia with a powerful fleet, and Dareios sent an army into Greece to chastise and subjugate them. The defeat at Marathon was so humiliating that he began at once to prepare for a new invasion. It was the opportunity for Egypt, and the plans for an uprising were immediately laid. Three years later the standard of revolt was displayed. The monuments give the name of the insurgent prince as Khabas, with official designations of Senen-Tanen and Setep-en-Ptah, but Burton's Excerpta state that the viceroy Manduph was the head of the revolt and that he succeeded in establishing his authority as king over the two realms.
Dareios died before he could lead an army again into Egypt, and the Egyptian prince was able to continue in power two or more years. An inscription of Ptolemy I. describes his activity. ''The Seaboard", it declares, "had been assigned by the king Khabas to the gods of the city of Buto; but the hereditary foe Xerxes or Sharsha alienated it. But the great king our lord drove out the enemy Xerxes from his palace altogether, together with his oldest son, and so he made himself famous in Sais, the city of the goddess Neith, the Mother of the Gods."
There occurred at this time the death of the sacred bull Apis, and the king made provision for the entombing. The coffin of the divine animal was placed in the Serapeion, and the lid inscribed with the date as follows: "The second year, the month Athyr, under the majesty of king Khabas, the friend of Apis-Osiris, of Horos of Kakem." But this lid was never placed upon the sarcophagus. The reason is plain.
Immediately after the accession of Xerxes I. to the Persian throne, no time was lost in sending an army to Egypt. The country was subjugated, and the king's brother, Cyrus Akhaemenides appointed satrap. There was no more lenity of administration. The exactions were increased, and the troops of Egypt were drafted into the army and fleet that invaded Greece to be routed and destroyed. Two hundred triremes were manned with Egyptians and their courage was highly praised.
Xerxes had been assassinated and his son Artaxerxes Longimanus had been five years king before there occurred another revolt in Egypt. The prince Inaros, of Marea, near the present site of Alexandreia, the son of Psametikh of the race of Tafnekht, was the leader. He formed an alliance with Amyrtaios or Amun-art-rut of Sais, and other princes of the Delta, and was supported by the Egyptians generally. The conflict lasted six years. The Athenians aided the insurgents with a fleet of two hundred vessels. A battle was fought near Papremis and the Persians defeated with a loss of a hundred thousand men out of a force of a hundred and twenty thousand. The satrap was killed, it is said, by Inaros himself. His body was carried to Persia for interment, and the tomb at Murghab bears the inscription which has been translated: "I am Cyrus the Akhaemenian, King." (4)
The victory was pursued further, till only the fortresses at Memphis and Pelusium remained in possession of the Persians. The entire Delta, with these exceptions, was in possession of Inaros and his allies, and Amyrtaios appears to have been recognized as king. The inhabitants of Upper Egypt took little part in the contest. They were of another race, other sympathies, another religion. During this long period, Greeks were again free to visit the country. Among those who took advantage of the opportunity were Anaxagoras, the philosopher and preceptor of Perikles, and also Hellanikos and Herodotus the historian. The latter visited the battle-fields, and conversed with the priests from whom he learned what he wrote of Egyptian history.
Artaxerxes had learned that in dealing with the Greeks, his gold was more successful than his soldiers. He was pressed hard by Kimon of Athens and his possessions in Egypt and Asia Minor were in peril. He sent an embassy to Sparta, to hire the Lacedaemonians to attack the Athenians and to draw their attention away from Egypt. For once, however, the expedient failed and the war lasted for years. He then sent his son-in-law, Megabyzus or Bagabusa, with an army to conquer the country. The conflict lasted a year and a half with uncertain results. The Persians were finally successful. They destroyed the Athenian fleet and routed the army. Inaros then surrendered under the pledge of amnesty. The promise, however, was disregarded, and the perfidious captors carried him to Persia. Here he was put to death by impalement, three stakes being employed in order to increase the torture.
Amyrtaios escaped into the marshes and successfully eluded his enemies. The sons of the two revolting princes were then appointed to succeed them, Thannyras being placed over the Libyan district and Pa-Osiris over Egypt, subordinate to the Persian satrap. Meanwhile Amyrtaios continued to work for the independence of his country. He applied to Athens and Kimon came to Egypt with a fleet, but he was unable to render any important aid.
Artaxerxes had now found opportunity to bring the war to an end. Peri-kles became the supreme power at Athens, the sole leader of a democratic commonalty. A treaty was made in which independence was conceded to the cities of Ionia, and the Athenians left the king in undisturbed possession of Egypt.
Now, however, followed a revolt in Syria, led by Negabyzus himself. Palestine was ravaged and Jerusalem burned. Artaxerxes was able to placate his son-in-law, and afterward gave authority to his cup-bearer Nehemiah, to rebuild the wall of the Judean capital.
Finally, Artaxerxes was succeeded by Xerxes II., and he by his brother Sekydianos. Both were assassinated and Okhos or Dareios II. became king. Degeneracy had come upon the Akhaemenians. The women and officials of the royal palace became the chief powers in the government, and many of the satraps were now virtually independent sovereigns.
fragment of a statue of nekta-nebos found at memphis.
Forty years passed thus over Egypt. The Persian yoke was hated, but so long as there was no interference with the worship of the gods, it was endured in silence. But the Persian worship itself became altered in form, from the purer Mazdeism of Dareios Hystaspis, and Magism became interblended. The attempt was made to produce conformity in Egypt. Ostanes, a Median magus, attempted the innovation. He had for an assistant Demo-kritos of Abdera, who was both physician and philosopher, and a convert to the oriental religion. He went as far as Upper Egypt and employed himself with the priests of Amun-Ra whom he delighted by his proficiency in astronomical knowledge. There was also Mariam, a Judean woman of great expertness in chemistry, and likewise Pi-men or Pamnenes, an Egyptian. Ostanes began an innovation with the worship of Ptah, insisting that the rites and instruction at the temple of Memphis should take the form of the fire-worship of the East. As might have been anticipated, there was a revolt. The priests might be willing to discourse learnedly upon ethics and philosophic dogma, but the people were certain to resent meddling with a worship that had existed from early ages.
TWENTY-EIGHTH DYNASTY.
Amyrtaios raised once more at Sais the standard of an independent Egypt. He was able to rally a force sufficient to uphold his authority. It was the tenth year of the reign of Dareios II. The Persian monarch was not able to suppress the revolution. Amyrtaios made a treaty with the Arabian chiefs, which secured the frontier against invasion and incursions and after a reign of seven years, he died leaving the kingdom to an Egyptian successor. He is classed by Manetho as the only king of the Twenty-eighth Dynasty.
TWENTY-NINTH DYNASTY.
The Twenty-ninth Dynasty is generally described as beginning at a date of four hundred years before the present era, with the founder Nefaarut or Neph-erites, of Mendes, a descendant from the ancient kingly line of Egypt. The name of Psametikh also appears as king, and there is an uncertainty whether it was another designation of Nepherites or belonged to a different prince. Diodoros relates the account of an infamous act of treachery by this monarch. Cyrus, the satrap of Lydia and Phrygia contended with his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon for possession of the throne of Persia. Tamos, the governor of Ionia had taken part with him and commanded his fleet. Upon the death of Cyrus, he placed his family and wealth upon a ship and sailed to Egypt. He was originally from Memphis and had aforetime rendered valuable service to Psametikh. He counted, accordingly, upon his protection. But the perfidious Egyptian murdered them all and seized the treasure.
Nepherites was able to maintain himself against Persia, and to establish a dynasty. He supplied aid and sent grain to the Lacedaemonians in their war against Artaxerxes. He also began the restoring of temples and public buildings in Egypt, and the monuments which had been silent during the Persian rule began again to have inscriptions commemorating what had been accomplished.
Hakara or Akhoris, the successor of Nepherites, maintained the conflict against Persia with great sagacity and energy. Evagoras also expelled the Persians from Cyprus and with the aid of Athens was holding his ground with every prospect of success. But the Grecian states were incessantly contending against one another, and accepting the "Great King" as umpire, until the overwhelming defeat of the Athenians in Sicily. After that there followed the peace of Antalkidas, which was little else than a command from Artaxerxes to leave him in possession of Ionia and Cyprus. Thirty thousand "Persian archers" helped to this conclusion. Evagoras, however, continued the struggle for independence and Akhoris aided him with provisions for his troops and also with fifty ships of war. Gaios, the son of the murdered Tamas, commanded the Persian fleet and reconquered a large part of Cyprus. A year later, however, he abandoned the service of Artaxerxes and united his fortunes with the king of Egypt. Akhoris was thus able to maintain his throne, and found opportunity to do work on the temples and other public buildings. He died after a reign of thirteen years, and was followed by Psi-Mut or Psammenitos, Har-nek-kha, and Nefaerut II., none of whom reigned longer than a year. Finally, the Mendean dynasty, having continued twenty-two years, was succeeded by a new line of kings from Sebennytos.
THE THIRTIETH DYNASTY.
The Thirtieth Dynasty was founded by Nekht-hor-hebi or Nektanebos I. He was speedily required to defend his kingdom against Artaxerxes. Egypt was invaded by an army of two hundred thousand men and five hundred ships of war, commanded by the satrap Pharnabazos and the Athenian general Iphikrates. Nektanebos was diligent in preparations obstructing the entrances of the Nile, and making deep trenches across the country at the East, crossing with them all the roads from Asia. He was outwitted, however, and while he was awaiting the enemy at Pelusium, Egypt was entered at Mendes. Distrust existed between the commanders, however, and Pharnabazos would not permit Iphikrates to march to Memphis for fear he would establish himself as an independent ruler. Meanwhile Nektanebos harassed the invading forces by frequent skirmishes and finally defeated them in a pitched battle. Their annual inundation also came, obliging the Persians to retreat out of the country.
Nektanebos was now able to devote attention to arts of peace. He carried on work on several public buildings, and his name was duly carved on several at Thebes. In one instance the name of Tirhakah was effaced to make room for his. He also built a temple to the goddess Hathor at Philse in Ethiopia.
The eighteen years of peace left Egypt open once more to travelers from Greece. The Grecian states had then changed their politics; Athens had been the friend before, but the visitors now brought their letters of introduction from Agesilaos, king of Sparta to Nektanebos and the Egyptian priests. Eudoxos the astronomer, Khrysippos the physician and Plato were of the number. Eudoxos remained sixteen months with the priests and shaved his chin and eyebrows. He consulted the bull Apis to learn his fortune. The animal licked his cloak, which was regarded as the portent of speedy death. Nevertheless, he went home, and taught for many years. Khrysippos was an innovator in medicine. He was skilled in the knowledge of his time, and employed procedures like the Reformed practitioners of modern times. Plato came with a cargo of olive oil to defray his expenses. He was at Heliopolis and greatly admired the industry of the Egyptians. How far the wisdom of the priests permeated his philosophy may be conjectured, but the fact that with the building of Alexandreia half a century later, a school was established in which his dialectics were a principal feature, will help solve the question.
The reign of Nektanebos was so beneficial that like former sovereigns he was worshipped after his death as a divinity, and a priesthood constituted in his honor, which continued its ministrations till a later period.
Taher or Takhos came to the throne when the satraps of Asia Minor, Syria and Phoenicia had revolted against Persia. He at once went into alliance with them, and attracted the attention of Artaxerxes in his direction. An army was ordered accordingly to invade Egypt, and Takhos procured the services of Agesilaos of Sparta to command his land forces and Khabrias of Athens for his fleet. But he ruined his cause by dissension and bad judgment. The preparations for war emptied his treasury and he resorted to a forced loan of gold and silver and to a tax on the sale of corn. This immediately produced a wide disaffection all over the country. The reception of Agesilaos was also marked by flagrant discourtesy.
The Egyptians had expected the man who might have conquered Persia but for bribery at home, to present an imposing and dignified appearance, and did not withhold ridicule at the diminutive figure, mean dress, and every familiarity of the man with his own soldiers. The old Spartan smothered his displeasure. He had expected to command the whole army, but was only placed over the hired troops. He counseled the king not to go out of Egypt but to leave military operations with his generals and give his attention solely to his government at home. But Takhos left the administration of affairs in the hands of his brother, and himself took command of the expedition which was made into Palestine. Several towns were captured from the Persians, when word came of a revolt in Egypt. The prince of Mendes, a representative of the previous dynasty, had taken advantage of the prevailing discontent to lay claim to the throne. The regent immediately proclaimed the prince Nekht-neb-ef or Nektanebos II., king of Egypt. The army joined in the revolt and Takhos who had already quarreled with Agesilaos, hurried to Persia to invoke the favor of Artaxerxes.
He was graciously received and help promised to restore him to the throne. But Artaxerxes had already passed the age of four score and ten years, and his life was embittered by the plots in regard to his successor. He had married his daughter Atossa, and she was aiding her brother Okhos, a younger son, in his ambitions. Bagoas, a native of Memphis, who held a place in the royal household, also took part actively with them, Artaxerxes was able to do little for the Egyptian supplicant and Takhos died in a short time from disease brought on by luxurious living. The royal princes of Persia were all destroyed by artifices of Okhos, and he finally succeeded to the throne, by the title of Artaxerxes III. Bagoas was rewarded by the office of prime minister. King Log had been succeeded by King Stork in right earnest.
Meanwhile Nektanebos II., by the aid of Agesilaos, had defeated the prince of Mendes and now was fairly seated upon the throne of Egypt. The brave old Spartan now bade him farewell, obstinately refusing all reward for his services. Nektanebos sent after him two hundred and twenty talents, but he distributed the whole amount among his soldiers. He died on his way home and his body, encased in wax, was sent to Sparta.
Okhos had begun his reign by the massacre of all his relatives who might dispute his claim to the Persian throne. His dominion, however, was none the less in imminent danger of falling to pieces. Phrygia had revolted and was aided by Athens and Thebes. An expedition which he sent to conquer Egypt was utterly defeated by Nektanebos, aided by troops from Athens and Sparta. Immediately, Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Palestine revolted, and declared their independence.
Philip of Macedonia was engaged in ambitious projects in relation to the Grecian states. The Athenian orator Isokrates wrote him a letter pointing out the disordered condition of Persian affairs, and urged him to take advantage of it to conquer Asia. Okhos, however, had anticipated him and made a treaty with Philip, which obviated all danger of such an invasion, and left the Grecian states occupied with their own dangers at home.
Nektanebos, with more zeal than discretion, formed alliances with the Sidonians and sent them four thousand Grecian troops under the command of Mentor the Rhodian. The others were successful in driving the Persians out of Phoenicia. Satraps and generals were not able to maintain the authority of their overlord.
Okhos then determined to conduct the war in person. He had turned aside all danger from Greece, and could give his whole attention to the work of subjugation. He accordingly prepared an armament which should be adequate to the exigency, including three hundred thousand foot-soldiers, thirty thousand cavalry, and a fleet sufficient for the purpose. He also procured ten thousand soldiers from Thebes and Ionia.
He was able to win the victory over Sidon both by his gold and by the terror of his arms. Tennes, the Sidonian prince, and Mentor, the Rhodian general, were willing to betray the cause for which they had fought, and Okhos made terms with them accordingly. Tennes, on his part, delivered a hundred of the principal citizens of Sidon to the Persian monarch, and admitted a detachment of his soldiers into the city. The Sidonians were thus placed at the mercy of a conqueror who never knew mercy. He immediately put the hundred prisoners to death together with four hundred others who had surrendered in hope of gentler treatment. The Sidonians in their despair set fire to their houses and to the number of four hundred thousand died in the flames. The ashes of their dwellings yielded a rich booty to the searchers. Traitors are seldom useful more than once, and Okhos, in disregard of his pledges, delivered Tennes to the executioner.
Mentor seems to have been in many respects like the Grecian leaders, a soldier of fortune like Dugald Dalgetty, or else he had already learned to despise his Egyptian employer. He entered the service of Okhos with perfect cheerfulness, bringing with him his entire command, and to him was due the success afterward won in Egypt. He was richly rewarded by his new master and continued in the Persian service till his death.
Phoenicia made no further resistance. The Persians now overran Judea and a large part of the population was transported from the country to Hyrkania. Olophernes a brother of the satrap of Kappadocia, was the commander of the expedition, and Bagoas, the minister, accompanied him. (5) He had an agreement with Joshua, the brother of Johanan, the high priest, in relation to the surrender of Jerusalem. This coming to the knowledge of Johanan he called the delinquent to account and put him to death in the precinct of the temple. The Persians, upon entering the city, massacred a large number of the inhabitants, and Bagoas, with a guard of soldiers, entered the sanctuary of the temple. He was purer, he declared, than a man who was a murderer. He carried away the treasures that were kept there, and imposed a heavy tribute. Fifty shekels were required for every lamb that was sacrificed. These burdens were exacted for seven years till a change of rulers brought relief. (6)
The fatal blow now fell upon the devoted realms of Egypt. Okhos now hastened thither for a final conquest of the country. As his army came to the Lake Serbonis, the Sea of Suph or Papyrus-reeds, part of the forces traversed the narrow strip of dry sand between the lake and the Mediterranean. Suddenly a strong wind blew and brought upon them a deluge of water from the sea, and a large number perished. The main body of the army, however, went on the other side of the lake, and safely reached the frontier of Egypt.
Nektanebos had made the necessary preparations for defense, fortifying the approaches by the Nile and from the East. He had also an army of a hundred thousand men, Greeks, Libyans and Egyptians. He was largely outnumbered by the enemy, yet in the ancient modes of fighting he had good reason for confidence. Psametikh I., or Rameses, or Osirtasen, would have dared the conflict and with good hope of success. But this was an Augustulus ready to yield all. Immediately upon the arrival of the Persian army at Pelusium a skirmish took place between the Theban troops under Lakrates and the Greek forces of the Egyptian army. The defense was undertaken with resolute determination, when it was learned that Nektanebos had left all to his generals and escaped to Memphis. At once the besieged soldiers left off fighting and obtained a promise from Lakrates that upon their surrender they would be permitted to return home to Greece with their property. Bagoas attempted to break this promise, but Okhos confirmed it, and Pelusium came into his possession with no more fighting.
Mentor next invested Bubastis, and began operations by notifying the inhabitants that mercy would be shown them if they surrendered, but that the most cruel deaths would be inflicted if they were contumacious. A dissension arose in consequence. The Egyptians, distrusting the Greek soldiers, privately offered to surrender to Bagoas. This was discovered and a great dispute and quarrel took place among the besiegers. It resulted finally in the surrender of the town to Mentor. But the particulars of the affair showed that with able commanders the Egyptians might have taken advantage of the jealousies and conflicts in the Persian army to defend their country with reasonable hope of success.
Okhos permitted no prisoners to be taken, but treated all alike, the inhabitants of the towns and the garrisons, with gentleness. The effect was that the Egyptians quarreled with the Greek troops, and opened the gates of the cities to the Persians without a struggle.
Nektanebos had not the courage to defend his capital. Upon learning that Pelusium and Bubastis had surrendered, and that the way was open to Memphis, he abandoned all attempt at defense. Taking such valuable property as he could remove, he fled away to Ethiopia. (7) He had reigned nineteen years, and Egypt had been independent of Persia for half a century. The period had been a twilight in Egyptian history, and it now passed into an unbroken night.
Okhos proceeded to disable Egypt for future rebellion. He garrisoned the principal cities and leveled the fortifications of the others. He is accused of no specific acts of cruelty as was to have been expected. Nevertheless he took occasion to express contempt and aversion for the Egyptian worship. He destroyed temples, seizing the treasures deposited in them, and gave back the Sacred Rolls to the priests only on payment of enormous ransoms. When his first expedition against Egypt proved a wretched failure the Egyptians had derided him. Punning on his name "Okhos" as equivalent to the Egyptian term ad, "an ass" they compared him to the ass on which the malignant daemon, Seth or Typhon was fabled to have ridden for seven days when escaping from Horos.
Okhos repaid the taunt by exhibiting an ass as now representing the tutelary divinity of Egypt, and slaying the bull Apis as a sacrifice. Afterward be placed a satrap over the country and returned to Persia with an immense booty.
Egypt never revolted again. The spirit of the people was broken. But the doomsman was on the path of the conqueror. He perished by the avenger of the sacrilege, and under his successor, twelve years later Egypt passed without demur into the hands of Alexander.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Esther iii., 13, and viii., 10; also Jeremiah ii., 24. (return to text)
2. See Exodus, xv. 22, 23. (return to text)
3. The story was told for centuries afterward that phantom soldiers, cavalry and infantry, were seen on the battlefield at Marathon, each recurring year, engaged in mortal conflict. See Maccabees II., v., 2, 4. (return to text)
4. It seems that the Akhaemenians did not observe the custom of disposing of the dead without burning or burial in the earth. The tomb of Dareios was copied from the Assyrian models, and the figure of the divinity sculptured on them, the man in the circle. (return to text)
5. The romantic story of the Book of Judith appears to have been founded upon the events of this invasion. It presents several anachronisms, and names Joakim as high priest, instead of his descendant Johanan. (return to text)
6. Josephus. — Antiquities of the Jews, xi., vi. (return to text)
7. Athenseos tells a different story. Nektanebos he says, was captured by Okhos and treated with kindness; and when sitting at dinner with his conqueror, remarked that the proverbial magnificence of the Persian kings fell far short of his own; that he had been ruined by his own wealth, and conquered by the other's moderation. (return to text)