by Herodotus
267. The use of crude brick was general in Egypt, for dwelling-houses, tombs, and ordinary buildings, the walls of towns, fortresses, and of the sacred enclosures of temples, and for all purposes where stone was not required, which last was nearly confined to temples, quays and reservoirs. Even some small ancient temples were of crude bricks, which were merely baked in the sun, and never burnt in early Pharaonic times. A great number of people were employed in this extensive manufacture; it was an occupation to which many prisoners of war were condemned, who, like the Jews, worked for the king, bricks being a government monopoly.
268. Herodotus mentions only one Sabaco, but the monuments and Manetho notice two, the Sabakon and Sebichos (Sevechos) of Manetho, called Shebek in the hieroglyphics. One of these is the same as So (Sava), the contemporary of Hosea, King of Israel, who is said (in 2 Kings xvii, 4) to have made a treaty with the King of Egypt, and to have refused the annual tribute to Shalmanezer, King of Assyria.
269. This account of the position of the temple of Bubastis is very accurate. The height of the mound, the site of the temple in a low space beneath the houses, from which you look down upon it, are the very peculiarities any one would remark on visiting the remains at Tel Basta.
270. See iii, 17.
271. This island appears to have stood at the south-east corner of the lake of Buto.
272. Niebuhr proposes to read 300 for 700, remarking that these signs in Greek are often confounded. It certainly does seem almost incredible that Herodotus should have committed the gross chronological error involved in the text as it stands, especially as his date for Psammetichus is so nearly correct.
273. It is curious to find Sennacherib called the ‘king of the Arabians and Assyrians’ – an order of words which seems even to regard him as rather an Arabian than an Assyrian king. In the same spirit his army is termed afterwards ‘the Arabian host’. It is impossible altogether to defend the view which Herodotus here discloses, but we may understand how such a mistake was possible, if we remember how Arabians were mixed up with other races in Lower Mesopotamia and what an extensive influence a great Assyrian king would exercise over the tribes of the desert, especially those bordering on Mesopotamia. The ethnic connection of the two great Semitic races would render union between them comparatively easy; and so we find Arabian kings at one time paramount over Assyria, while now apparently the case was reversed, and an Assyrian prince bore sway over some considerable number of the Arab tribes.
274. If any particular reverence was paid to mice at Memphis, it probably arose from some other mysterious reason. They were emblems of the generating and perhaps of the producing principle; and some thought them to be endued with prophetic power (a merit attributed now in some degree to rats on certain occasions). The people of Troas are said to have revered mice ‘because they gnawed the bowstrings of their enemies’, and Apollo, who was called Smintheus (from sminthos, ‘mouse’), was represented on coins of Alexandria Troas with a mouse in his hand.
275. This is the first distinct mention of Hecataeus, who has been glanced at more than once. (See chs. 21 and 23.) He had flourished from about BC 520 to BC 475, and had done far more than any other writer to pave the way for Herodotus. His works were of two kinds, geographical and historical. Under the former head he wrote a description of the known world, chiefly the result of his own travels, which must have been of considerable service to our author. Under the latter he wrote his genealogies, which were for the most part mythical, but contained occasionally important history (see vi, 137). The political influence of Hecataeus is noticed by Herodotus in two passages (v, 35 and 125). He is the only prose-writer whom Herodotus mentions by name.
276. Typhon, or rather Seth, the brother of Osiris, was the abstract idea of ‘evil’; as Osiris was of ‘good’.
277. See ch. 43.
278. Afterwards called Arsinoë, from the wife and sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus, like the port on the Red Sea (now Suez).
279. The admiration expressed by Herodotus for the Labyrinth is singular, when there were so many far more magnificent buildings at Thebes, of which he takes no notice. It was probably the beauty of the stone, the richness of its decoration, and the peculiarity of its plan that struck him so much.
280. The original temple of Artemis at Ephesus seems to have been destroyed by the Cimmerians. The temple which Herodotus saw was then begun to be built by Chersiphron of Cnossus and his son Metagenes. These architects did not live to complete their work, which was finished by Demetrius and Peonius of Ephesus, the rebuilder of the temple of Apollo at Branchidae The architecture of the temple of Chersiphron was Ionic. After its destruction by Eratostratus in the year of Alexander’s birth, the temple of Artemis was rebuilt with greater magnificence, and probably on a larger scale, than before.
281. See iii, 60.
282. No traces remain of these pyramids.
283. This is the nature of the basin on which the alluvial soil has been deposited; but it resembles the whole valley of the Nile in being destitute of springs, which are only met with in two or three places. The wells are all formed by the filtration of water from the river.
284. A great quantity of fish is caught even at the present day at the mouths of the canals, when they are closed and the water is prevented from returning to the Nile.
285. Bronze armour was of very early date in Egypt, and was therefore no novelty in the reign of Psammetichus.
286. The improbability of a few Ionian and Carian pirates having enabled Psammetichus to obtain possession of the throne is sufficiently obvious. The Egyptians may not have been willing to inform Herodotus how long their kings had employed Greek mercenary troops before the Persian invasion.
287. The site chosen for the Greek camps shows that they were thought necessary as a defence against foreign invasion from the eastward.
288. See chs 33, 133 and 152. There were several other oracles, but that of Buto, or Leto, was held in the highest repute. (See ch. 83)
289. Herodotus says that this goddess was one of the great deities (ch. 156).
290. This is the height of the pyramidal towers of the propylaeum, or court of entrance.
291. Apollo was Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris (Demeter and Dionysus), but he had no sister in Egyptian mythology, and Artemis was Bubastis or Pasht, who appears to be one of the great deities.
292. Azotus is Ashdod of sacred scripture. This shows how much the Egyptian power had declined when Psammetichus was obliged to besiege a city near the confines of Egypt for so long a time as twenty-nine years.
293. The commencement of the Red Sea canal was in different places at various periods. In the time of Herodotus it left the Pelusiac branch a little above Bubastis.
294. Patumus was not near the Red Sea, but at the commencement of the canal, and was the Pithom mentioned in Exod. i, 11.
295. This was owing to the increasing power of the Asiatic nations.
296. The place here intended seems to be Megiddo, where Josiah lost his life, between Gilgal and Mount Carmel, on the road through Syria northwards, and not Migdol (Magdolos), which was in Egypt. The similarity of the two names easily led to the mistake (2 Chron. xxv, 22).
297. After the defeat and death of Josiah, Neco proceeded to Carchemish, and on his return, finding that the Jews had put Jehoahaz, his son, on the throne, ‘he made him a prisoner at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, and, after having imposed a tribute of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold upon Jerusalem, he made his brother Eliakim (whose name he changed to Jehoiakim) king in his stead, carrying Jehoahaz captive to Egypt, where he died’ (2 Kings xxiii, 29).
298. For an account of the temple of Apollo at Branchidas, see i, 157.
299. The reverses which soon afterwards befell the Egyptians were not mentioned to Herodotus. Neco was defeated at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (Jer. xlvi, 2)
and lost all the territory which it had been so long the object of the Pharaohs to possess. For ‘the king of Babylon took, from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt’ (2 Kings xxiv, 7). This river of Egypt was the small torrent-bed that formed the boundary of the country on the north-eastern side by the modern El Areesh. Jerusalem was afterwards taken by Nebuchadnezzar.
300. This shows the great repute of the Egyptians for learning, even at this time, when they had greatly declined as a nation.
301. Apries is the Pharaoh-Hophra of Jeremiah (xliv, 30).
302. Compare the answer of Cyrus to Astyages (i, 127), which shows that this was a commonplace – the answer supposed to be proper for a powerful rebel.
303. The Greek troops continued in the pay of the king. The state of Egypt, and the dethronement of Apries, are predicted in Isa. xix, 2 and in Jer. xliv, 30.
304. Momemphis was on the edge of the desert, near the mouth of the Lycus canal.
305. These classes, rather than castes, were, according to Herodotus – 1. the sacerdotal. 2. the military. 3. the herdmen. 4. swineherds 5. shopkeepers. 6. interpreters. 7. boatmen.
306. The number of the nomes or cantons varied at different times. Each nome was governed by a nomarch, to whom was entrusted the levying of taxes, and various duties connected with the administration of the province.
307. Of Busiris, see ch. 61.
308. The city of Tanis is the Zoan of Scripture.
309. The situation of Corinth led so naturally to extensive trade and thence to that splendour and magnificence of living by which the useful and ornamental arts are most encouraged, that, in spite of Dorian pride and exclusiveness, the mechanic’s occupation came soon to be regarded with a good deal of favour. As early as the time of Cypselus elaborate works of art proceeded from the Corinthian workshops, as the golden statue of Zeus at Olympia. Later, Corinth became noted for the peculiar composition of its bronze, which was regarded as better suited for works of art than any other, and which under the name of Aes Corinthiacum was celebrated throughout the world.
310. The arura was a little more than three-fourths of an English acre and was only a land measure.
311. They are common in Egyptian temples, particularly in the Delta, where they are often of granite.
312. This was Osiris.
313. This lake still remains at Saïs, the modern Sa-el-Hagar. The stone casing, which always lined the sides of these sacred lakes (and which may be seen at Thebes, Hermonthes, and other places), is entirely gone; but the extent of the main enclosure, which included within it the lake and temple, is very evident; and the massive crude brick walls are standing to a great height. They are about seventy feet thick, and have layers of reeds and rushes at intervals, to serve as binders. The lake is still supplied by a canal from the river.
314. The Delian lake was a famous feature of the great temple or sacred enclosure of Apollo, which was the chief glory of that island.
315. The Egyptians and the Syrians had each the myth of a dying god, but they selected a different phenomenon for its basis; the former the Nile, the Syrians, the aspect of nature, or, as Macrobius shows, the sun; which, during one part of the year manifesting its vivifying effects on the earth’s surface, seemed to die on the approach of winter; and hence the notion of a god who was both mortal and immortal. In the religion of Greece we trace this more obscurely; but the Cretans believed that Zeus had died, and even showed his tomb. This belief was perhaps borrowed from Egypt or from Syria; for the Greeks derided the notion of a god dying.
316. The sufferings and death of Osiris were the great mystery of the Egyptian religion; and some traces of it are perceptible among other people of antiquity. His being the divine goodness, and the abstract idea of ‘good’, his manifestation upon earth (like an Indian god), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the dead in a future state, look like the early revelation of a future manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable. Osiris may be said rather to have presided over the judgment of the dead, than to have judged them; he gave admission, to those who were found worthy, to the abode of happiness. He was not the avenging deity; he did not punish, nor could he show mercy, or subvert the judgment pronounced. It was a simple question of fact. If wicked they were destined to suffer punishment. A man’s actions were balanced in the scales against justice or truth, and if found wanting he was excluded from future happiness. Thus, though the Egyptians are said to believe the gods were capable of influencing destiny, it is evident that Osiris (like the Greek Zeus) was bound by it; and the wicked were punished, not because he rejected them, but because they were wicked. Each man’s conscience, released from the sinful body, was his own judge; and self-condemnation hereafter followed up the gnothi and aiskhuneo seauton enjoined on earth.
317. These mysteries of Osiris, Herodotus says, were introduced into Greece by the daughters of Danaus. The fables of antiquity had generally several meanings: they were either historical, physical, or religious. The less instructed were led to believe Osiris represented some natural phenomenon; as the inundation of the Nile, which disappearing again, and losing its effects in the sea, was construed into the manifestation and death of the deity destroyed by Typhon, and the story of his body having been carried to Byblus, and that of the head which went annually from Egypt to that place, swimming on the sea (Lucian, de Dea Syria) for seven days, were the allegory of the water of the Nile carried by the currents to the Syrian coast; though Pausanias (x, 12) says they lamented Osiris, ‘when the Nile began to rise.’ His fabulous history was also thought by the Greeks to be connected with the sun; but it was not so viewed in early times by the Egyptians; and this was rather an Asiatic notion, and an instance of the usual adaptation of deities to each other in different mythologies. Least of all was he thought to be a man deified. The portion of the mysteries imparted to strangers, as to Herodotus, Plutarch, and others, and even to Pythagoras, was limited; and the more important secrets were not even revealed to all ‘the priests, but to those only who were the most approved’.
318. Compare viii, 73.
319. In early times the Greeks divided the day into three parts. The division, according to Dio Chrysostomus, was sunrise, or early morning; market time or forenoon, the third hour; midday; afternoon, or the ninth hour; and evening or sunset. These are very like the Arabic divisions at the present time, for each of which they have a stated number of prayers.
320. Not a ‘portico’, but the lofty towers of the Area or Court of Entrance.
321. The usual sphinxes of the dromos, or avenue, leading to the entrance of the large temples.
322. These were granite blocks.
323. It was an unusual position for an Egyptian statue; and this, as well as the other at Memphis, and the monolith, may have been left on the ground, in consequence of the troubles which came upon Egypt at the time; and which the Egyptians concealed from Herodotus.
324. This can only relate to the internal state of the country, and what Herodotus afterwards says shows this was his meaning.
325. Each nome, or canton, was governed by a nomarch.
326. Amasis had reason to be hostile to the Greeks, who had assisted Apries, but, perceiving the value of their aid, he became friendly to them, and granted them many privileges, which had the effect of inducing many to settle in Egypt, and afterwards led them to assist the Egyptians in freeing their country from the Persians.
327. This was ‘formerly’ the only commercial entrepot for Greek merchandise, and was established for the first time by Amasis.
328. Phaselis lay on the east coast of Lycia, directly at the base of Mount Solyma (Takhtalu).
329. That is, to the gods specially worshipped in their respective countries.
330. The temple at Delphi was burnt in the year BC 548, consequently in the 21st year of Amasis.
331. See vii, 200.
332. That of Egypt was celebrated.
333. Twenty minae would be somewhat more than £80 of our money. The entire sum which the Delphians had to collect exceeded £18,000. [1996 note: the sums in pounds should be multiplied by something between 30 and 100 times, to take account of inflation since the original note was written.]
334. Statues of this kind were not uncommon (see vi, 118). The most famous was that of Athene at Delphi, which the Athenians dedicated from the spoils of their victory at the Eurymedon.
335. The Egyptians had actual portraits of their kings at a very remote period, and those in the sculptures were real likenesses. There are some portraits painted on wood and affixed to mummy cases, but these are of Greek and Roman time, and an innovation not Egyptian.
336. It has been conjectured that the ‘tree-wool’ of Herodotus was silk, but cotton is commonly used for embroidery even at the present day.
337. Pausanias (ii, 19) says ‘all ancient statues were of wood, especially those of the Egyptians’.
338. See iii, 39–43.
339. The flight of Danaus from Egypt to Greece is not only mentioned by Herodotus, but by Manetho and others, and was credited both by Greeks and Egyptians.
340. According to Greek tradition, the conquest was effected by a certain Cinyras, a Syrian king, whom Homer makes contemporary with Agamemnon (Iliad xi, 20). His capital was Paphos.
341. Neco had made Egypt a naval power (see ch. 159), which she thenceforth continued to be.
Book Three
1. The above-mentioned Amasis was the Egyptian king against whom Cambyses, son of Cyrus, made his expedition; and with him went an army composed of the many nations under his rule, among them being included both Ionic and Aeolic Greeks. The reason of the invasion was the following. [1] Cambyses, by the advice of a certain Egyptian, who was angry with Amasis for having torn him from his wife and children, and given him over to the Persians, had sent a herald to Amasis to ask his daughter in marriage. His adviser was a physician, whom Amasis, when Cyrus had requested that he would send him the most skilful of all the Egyptian eye-doctors [2] , singled out as the best from the whole number. Therefore the Egyptian bore Amasis a grudge, and his reason for urging Cambyses to ask the hand of the king’s daughter was, that if he complied, it might cause him annoyance; if he refused, it might make Cambyses his enemy. When the message came, Amasis, who much dreaded the power of the Persians, was greatly perplexed whether to give his daughter or no; for that Cambyses did not intend to make her his wife, but would only receive her as his concubine, he knew for certain. He therefore cast the matter in his mind, and finally resolved what he would do. There was a daughter of the late king Apries, named Nitetis, [3] a tall and beautiful woman, the last survivor of that royal house. Amasis took this woman, and, decking her out with gold and costly garments, sent her to Persia as it she had been his own child. Some time afterwards, Cambyses, as he gave her an embrace, happened to call her by her father’s name, whereupon she said to him, ‘I see, O king, thou knowest not how thou hast been cheated by Amasis; who took me, and, tricking me out with gauds, sent me to thee as his own daughter. But I am in truth the child of Apries, who was his lord and master, until he rebelled against him, together with the rest of the Egyptians, and put him to death.’ It was this speech, and the cause of quarrel it disclosed, which roused the anger of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, and brought his arms upon Egypt. Such is the Persian story.