believe, namely that one of the Persian women came in to the wives of
Cyrus, and when she saw standing by the side of Cassandane children
comely of form and tall, she was loud in her praises of them, expressing
great admiration; and Cassandane, who was the wife of Cyrus, spoke
as follows: "Nevertheless, though I am the mother of such children of
these, Cyrus treats me with dishonour and holds in honour her whom he
has brought in from Egypt." Thus she spoke, they say, being vexed by
Nitetis, and upon that Cambyses the elder of her sons said: "For this
cause, mother, when I am grown to be a man, I will make that which is
above in Egypt to be below, and that which is below above." This he is
reported to have said when he was perhaps about ten years old, and the
women were astonished by it: and he, they say, kept it ever in mind, and
so at last when he had become a man and had obtained the royal power, he
made the expedition against Egypt.
4. Another thing also contributed to this expedition, which was as
follows:—There was among the foreign mercenaries 3 of Amasis a man who
was by race of Halicarnassos, and his name was Phanes, one who was both
capable in judgment and valiant in that which pertained to war. This
Phanes, having (as we may suppose) some quarrel with Amasis, fled away
from Egypt in a ship, desiring to come to speech with Cambyses: and as
he was of no small repute among the mercenaries and was very closely
acquainted with all the affairs of Egypt, Amasis pursued him and
considered it a matter of some moment to capture him: and he pursued by
sending after him the most trusted of his eunuchs with a trireme, who
captured him in Lykia; but having captured him he did not bring him back
to Egypt, since Phanes got the better of him by cunning; for he made
his guards drunk and escaped to Persia. So when Cambyses had made his
resolve to march upon Egypt, and was in difficulty about the march, as
to how he should get safely through the waterless region, this man
came to him and besides informing of the other matters of Amasis, he
instructed him also as to the march, advising him to send to the king
of the Arabians and ask that he would give him safety of passage through
this region.
5. Now by this way only is there a known entrance to Egypt: for from
Phenicia to the borders of the city of Cadytis belongs to the Syrians 4
who are called of Palestine, and from Cadytis, which is a city I suppose
not much less than Sardis, from this city the trading stations on the
sea-coast as far as the city of Ienysos belong to the king of Arabia,
and then from Ienysos again the country belongs to the Syrians as far as
the Serbonian lake, along the side of which Mount Casion extends towards
the Sea. After that, from the Serbonian lake, in which the story goes
that Typhon is concealed, from this point onwards the land is Egypt. Now
the region which lies between the city of Ienysos on the one hand and
Mount Casion and the Serbonian lake on the other, which is of no small
extent but as much as a three days' journey, is grievously destitute of
water.
6. And one thing I shall tell of, which few of those who go in ships to
Egypt have observed, and it is this:—into Egypt from all parts of Hellas
and also from Phenicia are brought twice every year earthenware jars
full of wine, and yet it may almost be said that you cannot see there
one single empty 5 wine-jar.
7. In what manner, then, it will be asked, are they used up? This also I
will tell. The head-man 6 of each place must collect all the earthenware
jars from his own town and convey them to Memphis, and those at Memphis
must fill them with water and convey them to these same waterless
regions of Syria: this the jars which come regularly to Egypt and are
emptied 7 there, are carried to Syria to be added to that which has come
before. It was the Persians who thus prepared this approach to Egypt,
furnishing it with water in the manner which has been said, from the
time when they first took possession of Egypt: but at the time of which
I speak, seeing that water was not yet provided, Cambyses, in accordance
with what he was told by his Halicarnassian guest, sent envoys to the
Arabian king and from him asked and obtained the safe passage, having
given him pledges of friendship and received them from him in return.
8. Now the Arabians have respect for pledges of friendship as much as
those men in all the world who regard them most; and they give them in
the following manner:—A man different from those who desire to give the
pledges to one another, standing in the midst between the two, cuts
with a sharp stone the inner parts of the hands, along by the thumbs,
of those who are giving the pledges to one another, and then he takes a
thread from the cloak of each one and smears with the blood seven
stones laid in the midst between them; and as he does this he calls upon
Dionysos and Urania. When the man has completed these ceremonies, he who
has given the pledges commends to the care of his friends the stranger
(or the fellow-tribesman, if he is giving the pledges to one who is
a member of his tribe), and the friends think it right that they also
should have regard for the pledges given. Of gods they believe in
Dionysos and Urania alone: moreover they say that the cutting of their
hair is done after the same fashion as that of Dionysos himself; and
they cut their hair in a circle round, shaving away the hair of the
temples. Now they call Dionysos Orotalt 8 and Urania they call Alilat.
9. So then when the Arabian king had given the pledge of friendship to
the men who had come to him from Cambyses, he contrived as follows:—he
took skins of camels and filled them with water and loaded them upon the
backs of all the living camels that he had; and having so done he drove
them to the waterless region and there awaited the army of Cambyses.
This which has been related is the more credible of the accounts given,
but the less credible must also be related, since it is a current
account. There is a great river in Arabia called Corys, and this runs
out into the Sea which is called Erythraian. From this river then it is
said that the king of the Arabians, having got a conduit pipe made by
sewing together raw ox-hides and other skins, of such a length as
to reach to the waterless region, conducted the water through these
forsooth, 9 and had great cisterns dug in the waterless region, that
they might receive the water and preserve it. Now it is a journey of
twelve days from the river to this waterless region; and moreover the
story says that he conducted the water by three 10 conduit-pipes to
three different parts of it.
10. Meanwhile Psammenitos the son of Amasis was encamped at the Pelusian
mouth of the Nile waiting for the coming of Cambyses: for Cambyses did
not find Amasis yet living when he marched upon Egypt, but Amasis had
died after having reigned forty and four years during which no great
misfortune had befallen him: and when he had died and had been embalmed
he was buried in the burial-place in the temple, which he had built for
himself. 11 Now when Psammenitos son of Amasis was reigning as king,
there happened to the Egyptians a prodigy, the greatest that had ever
happened: for rain fell at Thebes in Egypt, where never before had rain
fallen nor afterwards down to my time, as the Thebans themselves say;
for in the upper parts of Egypt no rain falls at all: but at the time of
which I speak rain fell at Thebes in a drizzling shower. 12
11. Now when the Persians had marched quite through the waterless region
and were encamped near the Egyptians with design to engage battle, then
the foreign mercenaries of the Egyptian king, who were Hellenes and
Carians, having a quarrel with Phanes because he had brought
against Egypt an army of foreign speech, contrived against him as
follows:—Phanes had children whom he had left behind in Egypt: these
they brought to their camp and into the sight of their father, and they
set up a mixing-bowl between the two camps, and after that they brought
up the children one by one and cut their throats so that the blood ran
into the bowl. Then when they had gone through the whole number of the
children, they brought and poured into the bowl both wine and water, and
not until the mercenaries had all drunk of the blood, did they engage
battle. Then after a battle had been fought with great stubbornness, and
very many had fallen of both the armies, the Egyptians at length turned
to flight.
12. I was witness moreover of a great marvel, being informed of it by
the natives of the place; for of the bones scattered about of those
who fell in this fight, each side separately, since the bones of the
Persians were lying apart on one side according as they were divided
at first, and those of the Egyptians on the other, the skulls of the
Persians are so weak that if you shall hit them only with a pebble
you will make a hole in them, while those of the Egyptians are so
exceedingly strong that you would hardly break them if you struck them
with a large stone. The cause of it, they say, was this, and I for my
part readily believe them, namely that the Egyptians beginning from
their early childhood shave their heads, and the bone is thickened by
exposure to the sun: and this is also the cause of their not becoming
bald-headed; for among the Egyptians you see fewer bald-headed men
than among any other race. This then is the reason why these have their
skulls strong; and the reason why the Persians have theirs weak is that
they keep them delicately in the shade from the first by wearing tiaras,
that is felt caps. So far of this: and I saw also a similar thing to
this at Papremis, in the case of those who were slain together with
Achaimenes the son of Dareios, by Inaros the Libyan.
13. The Egyptians when they turned to flight from the battle fled in
disorder: and they being shut up in Memphis, Cambyses sent a ship of
Mytilene up the river bearing a Persian herald, to summon the Egyptians
to make terms of surrender; but they, when they saw the ship had
entered into Memphis, pouring forth in a body from the fortress 13 both
destroyed the ship and also tore the men in it limb from limb, and so
bore them into the fortress. After this the Egyptians being besieged, in
course of time surrendered themselves; and the Libyans who dwell on the
borders of Egypt, being struck with terror by that which had happened to
Egypt, delivered themselves up without resistance, and they both laid
on themselves a tribute and sent presents: likewise also those of Kyrene
and Barca, being struck with terror equally with 14 the Libyans, acted
in a similar manner: and Cambyses accepted graciously the gifts which
came from the Libyans, but as for those which came from the men of
Kyrene, finding fault with them, as I suppose, because they were too
small in amount (for the Kyrenians sent in fact five hundred pounds'
weight 15 of silver), he took the silver by handfuls and scattered it
with his own hand among his soldiers.
14. On the tenth day after that on which he received the surrender
of the fortress of Memphis, Cambyses set the king of the Egyptians
Psammenitos, who had been king for six months, to sit in the suburb of
the city, to do him dishonour,—him I say with other Egyptians he set
there, and he proceeded to make trial of his spirit as follows:—having
arrayed his daughter in the clothing of a slave, he sent her forth with
a pitcher to fetch water, and with her he sent also other maidens chosen
from the daughters of the chief men, arrayed as was the daughter of the
king: and as the maidens were passing by their fathers with cries and
lamentation, the other men all began to cry out and lament aloud, 16
seeing that their children had been evilly entreated, but Psammenitos
when he saw it before his eyes and perceived it bent himself down to the
earth. Then when the water-bearers had passed by, next Cambyses sent his
son with two thousand Egyptians besides who were of the same age, with
ropes bound round their necks and bits placed in their mouths; and these
were being led away to execution to avenge the death of the Mytilenians
who had been destroyed at Memphis with their ship: for the Royal Judges
17 had decided that for each man ten of the noblest Egyptians should
lose their lives in retaliation. He then, when he saw them passing out
by him and perceived that his son was leading the way 18 to die, did
the same as he had done with respect to his daughter, while the other
Egyptians who sat round him were lamenting and showing signs of grief.
When these also had passed by, it chanced that a man of his table
companions, advanced in years, who had been deprived of all his
possessions and had nothing except such things as a beggar possesses,
and was asking alms from the soldiers, passed by Psammenitos the son of
Amasis and the Egyptians who were sitting in the suburb of the city: and
when Psammenitos saw him he uttered a great cry of lamentation, and he
called his companion by name and beat himself upon the head. Now there
was, it seems, men set to watch him, who made known to Cambyses all that
he did on the occasion of each going forth: and Cambyses marvelled
at that which he did, and he sent a messenger and asked him thus:
"Psammenitos, thy master Cambyses asks thee for what reason, when thou
sawest thy daughter evilly entreated and thy son going to death, thou
didst not cry aloud nor lament for them, whereas thou didst honour with
these signs of grief the beggar who, as he hears from others, is not
in any way related to thee?" Thus he asked, and the other answered
as follows: "O son of Cyrus, my own troubles were too great for me to
lament them aloud, but the trouble of my companion was such as called
for tears, seeing that he has been deprived of great wealth, and has
come to beggary upon the threshold of old age." When this saying was
reported by the messenger, it seemed to them 19 that it was well spoken;
and, as is reported by the Egyptians, Croesus shed tears (for he also,
as fortune would have it, had accompanied Cambyses to Egypt) and the
Persians who were present shed tears also; and there entered some pity
into Cambyses himself, and forthwith he bade them save the life of the
son of Psammenitos from among those who were being put to death, and
also he bade them raise Psammenitos himself from his place in the suburb
of the city and bring him into his own presence.
15. As for the son, those who went for him found that he was no longer
alive, but had been cut down first of all, but Psammenitos himself they
raised from his place and brought him into the presence of Cambyses,
with whom he continued to live for the rest of his time without
suffering any violence; and if he had known how to keep himself from
meddling with mischief, he would have received Egypt so as to be ruler
of it, since the Persians are wont to honour the sons of kings, and even
if the kings have revolted from them, they give back the power into the
hands of their sons. Of this, namely that it is their established rule
to act so, one may judge by many instances besides and especially 20
by the case of Thannyras the son of Inaros, who received back the power
which his father had, and by that of Pausiris the son of Amyrtaios, for
he too received back the power of his father: yet it is certain that no
men ever up to this time did more evil to the Persians than Inaros and
Amyrtaios. As it was, however, Psammenitos devised evil and received the
due reward: for he was found to be inciting the Egyptians to revolt; and
when this became known to Cambyses, Psammenitos drank bull's blood and
died forthwith. Thus he came to his end.
16. From Memphis Cambyses came to the city of Saïs with the purpose of
doing that which in fact he did: for when he had entered into the palace
of Amasis, he forthwith gave command to bring the corpse of Amasis forth
out of his burial-place; and when this had been accomplished, he gave
command to scourge it and pluck out the hair and stab it, and to do to
it dishonour in every possible way besides: and when they had done this
too until they were wearied out, for the corpse being embalmed held out
against the violence and did not fall to pieces in any part, Cambyses
gave command to consume it with fire, enjoining thereby a thing which
was not permitted by religion: for the Persians hold fire to be a god.
To consume corpses with fire then is by no means according to the
custom of either people, of the Persians for the reason which has been
mentioned, since they say that it is not right to give the dead body
of a man to a god; while the Egyptians have the belief established that
fire is a living wild beast, and that it devours everything which it
catches, and when it is satiated with the food it dies itself together
with that which it devours: but it is by no means their custom to give
the corpse of a man to wild beasts, for which reason they embalm it,
that it may not be eaten by worms as it lies in the tomb. Thus then
Cambyses was enjoining them to do that which is not permitted by the
customs of either people. However, the Egyptians say that it was not
Amasis who suffered this outrage, but another of the Egyptians who was
of the same stature of body as Amasis; and that to him the Persians did
outrage, thinking that they were doing it to Amasis: for they say that
Amasis learnt from an Oracle that which was about to happen with regard
to himself after his death; and accordingly, to avert the evil which
threatened to come upon him, he buried the dead body of this man who was
scourged within his own sepulchral chamber near the doors, and enjoined
his son to lay his own body as much as possible in the inner recess of
the chamber. These injunctions, said to have been given by Amasis with
regard to his burial and with regard to the man mentioned, were not
in my opinion really given at all, but I think that the Egyptians make
pretence of it from pride and with no good ground.
17. After this Cambyses planned three several expeditions, one against
the Carthaginians, another against the Ammonians, and a third against
the "Long-lived" Ethiopians, who dwell in that part of Libya which is by
the Southern Sea: and in forming these designs he resolved to send
his naval force against the Carthaginians, and a body chosen from his
land-army against the Ammonians; and to the Ethiopians to send spies
first, both to see whether the table of the Sun existed really, which is
said to exist among these Ethiopians, and in addition to this to spy out
all else, but pretending to be bearers of gifts for their king.
18. Now the table of the Sun is said to be as follows:—there is a meadow
in the suburb of their city full of flesh-meat boiled of all four-footed
creatures; and in this, it is said, those of the citizens who are in
authority at the time place the flesh by night, managing the matter
carefully, and by day any man who wishes comes there and feasts himself;
and the natives (it is reported) say that the earth of herself produces
these things continually.
19. Of such nature is the so-called table of the Sun said to be. So when
Cambyses had resolved to send the spies, forthwith he sent for those men
of the Ichthyophagoi who understood the Ethiopian tongue, to come from
the city of Elephantine: and while they were going to fetch these
men, he gave command to the fleet to sail against Carthage: but the
Phenicians said that they would not do so, for they were bound not to
do so by solemn vows, and they would not be acting piously if they
made expedition against their own sons: and as the Phenicians were not
willing, the rest were rendered unequal to the attempt. Thus then the
Carthaginians escaped being enslaved by the Persians; for Cambyses did
not think it right to apply force to compel the Phenicians, both because
they had delivered themselves over to the Persians of their own accord
and because the whole naval force was dependent upon the Phenicians. Now
the men of Cyprus also had delivered themselves over to the Persians,
and were joining in the expedition against Egypt.
20. Then as soon as the Ichthyophagoi came to Cambyses from Elephantine,
he sent them to the Ethiopians, enjoining them what they should say and
giving them gifts to bear with them, that is to say a purple garment,
and a collar of twisted gold with bracelets, and an alabaster box of
perfumed ointment, and a jar of palm-wine. Now these Ethiopians to whom
Cambyses was sending are said to be the tallest and the most beautiful
of all men; and besides other customs which they are reported to have
different from other men, there is especially this, it is said, with
regard to their regal power,—whomsoever of the men of their nation
they judge to be the tallest and to have strength in proportion to his
stature, this man they appoint to reign over them.
21. So when the Ichthyophagoi had come to this people they presented
their gifts to the king who ruled over them, and at the same time they
said as follows: "The king of the Persians Cambyses, desiring to become
a friend and guest to thee, sent us with command to come to speech with
thee, and he gives thee for gifts these things which he himself most
delights to use." The Ethiopian however, perceiving that they had
come as spies, spoke to them as follows: "Neither did the king of the
Persians send you bearing gifts because he thought it a matter of great
moment to become my guest-friend, nor do ye speak true things (for ye
have come as spies of my kingdom), nor again is he a righteous man; for
if he had been righteous he would not have coveted a land other than his
own, nor would he be leading away into slavery men at whose hands he has
received no wrong. Now however give him this bow and speak to him these
words: The king of the Ethiopians gives this counsel to the king of the
Persians, that when the Persians draw their bows (of equal size to mine)
as easily as I do this, then he should march against the Long-lived
Ethiopians, provided that he be superior in numbers; but until that time
he should feel gratitude to the gods that they do not put it into the
mind of the sons of the Ethiopians to acquire another land in addition
to their own."
22. Having thus said and having unbent the bow, he delivered it to those
who had come. Then he took the garment of purple and asked what it was
and how it had been made: and when the Ichthyophagoi had told him the
truth about the purple-fish and the dyeing of the tissue, he said that
the men were deceitful and deceitful also were their garments. Then
secondly he asked concerning the twisted gold of the collar and the
bracelets; and when the Ichthyophagoi were setting forth to him the
manner in which it was fashioned, the king broke into a laugh and said,
supposing them to be fetters, that they had stronger fetters than those
in their country. Thirdly he asked about the perfumed ointment, and when
they had told him of the manner of its making and of the anointing with
it, he said the same as he had said before about the garment. Then when
he came to the wine, and had learned about the manner of its making,
being exceedingly delighted with the taste of the drink he asked besides
what food the king ate, and what was the longest time that a Persian
man lived. They told him that he ate bread, explaining to him first the
manner of growing the wheat, and they said that eighty years was the
longest term of life appointed for a Persian man. In answer to this the
Ethiopian said that he did not wonder that they lived but a few years,
when they fed upon dung; for indeed they would not be able to live
even so many years as this, if they did not renew their vigour with the
drink, indicating to the Ichthyophagoi the wine; for in regard to this,
he said, his people were much behind the Persians.
23. Then when the Ichthyophagoi asked the king in return about the
length of days and the manner of life of his people, he answered that
the greater number of them reached the age of a hundred and twenty
years, and some surpassed even this; and their food was boiled flesh
and their drink was milk. And when the spies marvelled at the number of
years, he conducted them to a certain spring, in the water of which they
washed and became more sleek of skin, as if it were a spring of oil; and
from it there came a scent as it were of violets: and the water of this
spring, said the spies, was so exceedingly weak that it was not possible
for anything to float upon it, either wood or any of those things which
are lighter than wood, but they all went to the bottom. If this water
which they have be really such as it is said to be, it would doubtless
be the cause why the people are long-lived, as making use of it for all
the purposes of life. Then when they departed from this spring, he led
them to a prison-house for men, and there all were bound in fetters of
gold. Now among these Ethiopians bronze is the rarest and most precious
of all things. Then when they had seen the prison-house they saw also
the so-called table of the Sun: