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Egypt. Hoping, however, to obtain advantageous terms without another contest, Cambyses sent a Persian up by the river in a Mitylenian vessel, to treat with the Egyptians: but as soon as they saw the vessel enter Memphis, they rushed in a crowd from the citadel, destroyed it, and tore the crew to pieces. At the news of this outrage, the indignation of Cambyses knew no bounds; he immediately laid siege to Memphis, and having succeeded in reducing that city, he indulged his resentment by putting many of the inhabitants to the sword: the king was taken prisoner, and 2,000 Egyptians of the same age as the son of Psammenitus were compelled first to march in cession before the conqueror, and were then put to death, as a retaliation for the murder of the Persian and Mitylenian herald. There were 200 Mitylenians destroyed in the vessel, so that ten of the first rank among the Egyptians suffered for every one who was destroyed on that occasion. Psammenitus himself was pardoned; and such was the respect entertained by the Persians for the persons of kings, that he would probably have been restored to a tributary throne; but being detected in fomenting a rebellion, he was put to death by Cambyses, after a brief reign of

six months.

pro

From this date, B.C. 525, to B.C. 413, Egypt was governed by the Persian kings.

Great havoc followed the reduction of Egypt by Cambyses. Temples and public buildings were destroyed; tombs were violated, and the bodies burned;* religion was insulted, private property pillaged or destroyed, and every thing which could tempt the avarice or reward the labour of the spoiler was seized and appropriated either by the chief or his troops. Gold and silver statues, and other objects of value, were sent to Persia; and it would appear that numerous Egyptian captives were also sent thither by the conqueror. The name of Cambyses, says Mr. Wilkinson, as may be easily imagined, is never met with on Egyptian monuments; but a visitor to the slate and breccia quarries, on the road from Coptos to the Red Sea, has, at a later period, recorded the name of this monarch in hieroglyphics, adding to it the date of his sixth year. On the same rock two other ovals also occur: one of Darius, with the number 36; the other of Xerxes, with the year twelve; showing the inscription to have been written in the twelfth of Xerxes; and the date 36, intended as the full extent of the reign of Darius. On another rock, at the same place, are the sixteenth year of Xerxes, and the fifth of Artaxerxes Longimanus; and in the principal temple of El Khargeh, in the great Oasis, that of Darius again occurs, a considerable portion of the building having been erected by him: and it is remarkable, that he is the only Persian king whose Phonetic name is accompanied by a prenomen like those of the ancient Pharaohs; a circumstance which confirms the remark of Diodorus, namely, that he,

The officers of the French frigate, Luxor, it is said, who removed the obelisk, found the sarcophagus of the queen of Amasis in a pit at El Qoorneh, the body entirely burned, though placed in its original repository. The tomb had been violated, probably, by the Persians, and the body thus treated, and was afterwards reclosed by the Egyptians in the sarcophagus. The body had been gilded.

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who, by means of a stratagem, established himself upon the throne.

The rule of Darius was mild and equitable: he was not only careful to avoid every thing that might offend the religious prejudices or hurt the feelings of his foreign subjects, but having made diligent inquiry respecting the jurisprudence and constitution of the Egyptians, he corrected some continued to form part of their code, until, in abuses, and introduced many salutary laws, which Pharaohs, they were altered or abrogated by the common with many of those enacted by the Ptolemies, after the Macedonian conquest.

rule, and anxious to free their country from the The Egyptians, however, impatient of foreign presence of a people whose cruelties, at the time pardon or forget, and thinking the reverses of of the invasion of Cambyses, they could never Persia, during the Greek war, offered a favourvolted towards the end of this monarch's reign, able opportunity for throwing off the yoke, rethe valley of the Nile. Darius made great preand succeeded in expelling the Persians from parations, during three successive years, in order time, B.C. 484, he resolved to make war in person to restore it to the empire. At the end of that frustrated his designs. He was succeeded in against Egypt as well as Greece; but death his empire by

XERXES,

who, in the second year of his reign, B.C. 482, invaded Egypt in person at the head of a powerful army. He quickly defeated the Egyptians, and having subdued the whole country, he made the yoke of their subjection more heavy than before. He then gave the government of that province to Achæmenes, his brother, after which he returned to Susa, the seat of the Persian government.

Affairs remained in this state until the death of Xerxes, B.C. 460, when

ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS

succeeded to the empire. At this period, considerable confusion occurred in Persia, which being augmented by the intrigues of Artabanus and the rebellion of Bactria, afforded the Egyptians another opportunity for asserting their independence. They prevailed on the Athenians to

assist them with a fleet of forty sail; and they attacked and overwhelmed the Persian garrisons. Upon intelligence of this, an army of 400,000 foot, and a fleet of 200, or, according to Diodorus, eighty sail, were equipped by Artaxerxes, and placed under the command of Achæmenes. Inarus, the son of Psammiticus, a native of Libya, and Amyrtæus, of Sais, who had been invested with Sovereign power, and were charged with the defence of the country, made every effort to resist him; and the two armies having met, the Persians were defeated with great slaughter, and Achæmenes received a wound from the hand of Inarus, of which he died.

Artaxerxes, enraged at this defeat, resolved on sending an overwhelming force under the combined command of Megabyzus and Artabazus, consisting, according to ancient authors, of 500,000 men. Both armies fought valiantly, and many were slain on both sides; at length, Megabyzus having wounded Inarus in the thigh, obliged him to retire from the field, and the rout became general. Inarus, with a body of Greek auxiliaries, took refuge in Byblus, which was strongly fortified. He there obtained for himself and companions a promise of pardon from Megabyzus, upon condition of their surrendering themselves to the Persian monarch: but the remembrance of the death of Achæmenes overcame the regard he owed to the promise of this general, and Inarus, by the command of Artaxerxes, was crucified. Amyrtæus escaped to the Isle of Elbo, and remaining concealed there, awaited better times. The Persian troops again took possession of the fortified towns, and Sarsamus was appointed satrap, or governor of Egypt. No attempts were made to throw off the Persian yoke during the remainder of the reign of Artaxerxes; and though the Athenians sent them a fleet of sixty sail, in the fifteenth year of that reign, and some hopes were entertained of restoring Amyrtæus to the throne, these projects were abandoned, and the Persians continued in undisturbed possession of the country till the reign of

DARIUS NOTHUS.

This monarch, perceiving that the Egyptians bore with great reluctance the presence of a foreign governor, and anxious to allay the turbulent spirit and prejudices of that people, permitted Thannyrus, the son of Inarus, and Pansiris, the son of Amyrtæus,* to hold the office and nominal power of governors, or tributary kings. But nothing could conciliate the Egyptians. They beheld the fortified towns garrisoned by Persian troops; the tribute they had to pay to a people they detested was insupportable; and hence nothing would satisfy them, but the restoration of an independent monarch. obtain this end, they made secret preparations for expelling the Persians, and Amyrtæus being invited to put himself at their head, advanced from his place of concealment, routed the Persians, and succeeded eventually in obtaining possession of the whole country.

To

This must have occurred previous to the year B.C. 445, since the history from whence it is derived, that of Herodotus, was then completed.

CHAPTER VII.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

EGYPTIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERN

MENT.

AMYRTEUS.

AMYRTÆUS, or Aomahorte, was a Saite. Having established himself on the throne, he prepared to pursue the Persians as far as Phenicia, and had already concerted measures with the Arabians to attack them in that country. Darius was informed of this, and he recalled a fleet, which he had promised the Lacedemonians, to employ in the defence of his own dominions, by which means the designs of Amyrtæus were frustrated. been the only monarch of the twenty-eighth Amyrtæus is stated in Manetho's list to have dynasty. His reign continued six years, during which period he laboured to repair the many losses sustained by his country from the sway of Persia. Numerous restorations were made to of which had suffered from the rage of Cambyses; the temples of Thebes and other cities, many some gateways, and other monuments bearing his name, are still in existence.

PSAMMITICUS II.

According to Manetho, Amyrtæus was succeeded in his kingdom by Nepherites, the first king of the twenty-ninth dynasty; but Diodorus mentions Psammiticus, who was descended from the first of that name, whom he supposed to have preceded Nepherites. It is uncertain, however, whether he really ruled at this time, or whether the historian confounded him with the father of Inarus.

Psammiticus is chiefly remarkable for an act of perfidy and ingratitude, crimes which are alike hateful to God and man. Tamus, an Egyptian, who was one of the admirals of the fleet of Cyrus the younger when he invaded the Persian empire, had rendered essential services to Psammiticus. On the death of Cyrus, and suppression of his rebellion, Tamus fled from Tissaphernes, who was appointed his successor in the province of Asia Minor, and he implored the friendship and protection of the Egyptian king. Psammiticus was not only deaf to the calls of humanity, gratitude, and hospitality, but hearing that Tamus had brought considerable treasures with him, he perfidiously seized them, and deprived him of life.

NEPHERITES.

The Phonetic name of Nepherites occurs once amidst the ruins of Thebes. During his brief reign, Egypt appears to have enjoyed tranquillity, for he was enabled to join in active hostilities against the enemies of his country. He entered into a confederacy with the Lacedemonians, and sent a fleet of 100 ships to their aid, with a supply of corn for their army. This last, however, fell into the hands of the enemy, in consequence of the transports putting in to Rhodes, which had

lately submitted to the Persians. reigned six years.

ACORIS.

Nepherites Egyptian tomb. Nectanebis, after a reign of eighteen years, was succeeded by

Acoris seems to have adopted the policy of his predecessor. He made treaty with Evagoras, king of Cyprus, against the Persians, and endeavoured, by every means in his power, to weaken the strength, and thwart the schemes of his adversary. This, combined with the defection of Gaus, the son of Tamus, who had been for some time commander of the Persian fleet, who now, abandoning their service, had entered into a league with Acoris, and the Lacedemonians, added to the intrigues of Orontes, so embarrassed the affairs of Artaxerxes, that Egypt was able to defy his threatened projects of invasion. Acoris reigned thirteen years; he died B.C. 389.

PSAMMOUTIS.

During the reign of Psammoutis, which lasted only one year, nothing of consequence transpired; hence his name rarely occurs on any edifice, either of Upper or Lower Egypt; it is found, however, at the temple of Kartrak, at Thebes, which proves his reign.

Of the short period occupied by his two suc

cessors,

NEPHERITES II. AND MOUTHIS,

whose names are not met with on the monuments, little can be learned, either from that source, or from the accounts of ancient writers; except that the Persians, intent upon the recovery of Egypt, prepared to make a descent upon that country, which they attempted in the reign of the succeeding monarch without success.

NECTANEBIS.

In the first year of the reign of this prince, Artaxerxes Mnemon, after three years' preparation, invaded Egypt with a powerful army of Persians, under the command of Pharnabazus, which was augmented by Grecian mercenaries, under Iphicrates. But this army was unsuccessful. The slowness of their operations, and the rising of the Nile, defeated their designs, and they retreated with great loss. On this occasion, Iphicrates, having observed to Pharnabazus, that he was quick in his resolutions, but slow in the performance, the latter rejoined, that his words were his own, but his actions depended wholly on his master, which shows the extent of authority which the Persian monarchs held over their subjects.

The Egyptian monarch now directed his attention to the internal administration of affairs, and the encouragement of art. Many temples were repaired or enlarged in various parts of the country; a fine obelisk was cut, and transported from the quarries of Syene; and the name of Nectabeno (his name on the monuments) still occurs in Upper or Lower Egypt. That he restored the temple of Mars, at Sebbenytus, with great splendour, is recorded in a Greek papyrus, which modern researches have discovered in an

TACHUS, OR TEOS.

Tachus had scarcely ascended the throne, when he was alarmed by the warlike preparations of the Persian monarch, who threatened again to invade his country. To withstand this mighty power, he hired a body of Spartan mercenaries, who were commanded by Agesilaus, their king, whom Tachus promised to make generalissimo of his army. But this commission did Agesilaus no honour. As soon as he landed in Egypt, the king's principal generals, and his chief officers of state, came to receive him and pay their court to him. The fame of his renown also drew multitudes of the Egyptians to the shore, for the purpose of catching a glance at the hero. But the Egyptians were too fond of pomp and show to be attracted by the appearance of Agesilaus. When they saw only an old man, of mean aspect and dwarfish stature, dressed in a simple robe of coarse stuff, they were disposed to ridicule him, and they applied to him the fable of the mountain in labour, when only a mouse came forth.

This disaffection towards him was felt also at court. When Agesilaus met Tachus, and had joined his troops with those of Egypt, he was surprised that he was not appointed general of the whole army, but only of the foreign troops, that Chabrias was made general of the forces at sea, and that Tachus retained the command of the army himself.

This was not the only mortification Agesilaus had to experience. Tachus had formed a resolution to march into Phenicia, thinking it more advisable to make that country the seat of war, than to contend with the Persians in Egypt. Agesilaus thought to the contrary; and he represented to Tachus that his affairs were not sufficiently established to admit his removing out of his dominions; that he would act more wisely by remaining in Egypt himself, and acting by his generals in the enemy's country. Tachus despised this counsel, and expressed disregard for Agesilaus on all occasions. The consequence was, that Agesilaus, incensed at such conduct, joined the Egyptians who had taken up arms against Tachus during his absence, and had placed his cousin Nectanebus on the throne.

Tachus was now obliged to quit Egypt, and he retired to Sidon, from whence he went to the court of Persia, where he was received with favour by Artaxerxes, who gave him the command of his troops against the rebels.

But Nectanebus was not yet established on the throne of Egypt. At this period, about B. C. 362, another prince of the city of Mendes disputed the crown with him, and he collected a numerous force to support his pretensions. Agesilaus gave advice to the effect that this force should be attacked before they were disciplined; but Nectanebus, imagining that Agesilaus desired to betray him, took no notice of his advice, and thereby gave his enemy time to prepare his troops for operations. He did this so effectually that he reduced Nectanebus to the necessity of retiring into a city. Thither Agesilaus was obliged to follow him, and they were besieged there by the Mendesian prince.

Nectanebus would have attacked the enemy before his works (which were begun in order to surround the city) were advanced; but Agesilaus would not listen to his proposals. But at length, when he saw these works in a sufficient state of forwardness, and that there remained only as much ground between the two ends of the line as the troops within the city might occupy, he told Nectanebus that it was time to attack the enemy. The attack was conducted by Agesilaus, and success attended all his operations, so that the Mendesian prince was always overcome, and at length taken prisoner.

NECTANEBUS

was now, B. c. 361, left in possession of the throne of Egypt. But he did not long enjoy it in peace. Darius Ochus, who had succeeded to the kingdom of Persia, dissatisfied with the failures of his lieutenants, invaded Egypt with a numerous force, resolving to reduce it entirely to his allegiance. Upon his arrival there, he encamped before Pelusium, from whence he detached three bodies of troops, each of them commanded by a Greek and a Persian, to whom he assigned equal authority. Darius himself remained with the main body of the army in the camp, to wait the event, and to be ready to support these detachments in an emergency, or to improve the advantages they might gain.

Nectanebus had long expected this invasion,for the preparations had been going forward some years, and he therefore was prepared to meet the Persian forces. He had, it is said, an army of 100,000 men, 20,000 of whom were Greek, and 20,000 Libyan mercenaries. Part of this army he disposed on the frontiers of Egypt, and the rest he headed at the passes, to dispute the enemy's entrance.

The first detachment of Ochus was sent against Pelusium, where there was a garrison of 5,000 Greeks. Lachares the Theban, who headed this detachment, besieged the city, while that under Nicostratus the Argive, going on board a squadron of fourscore ships of the Persian fleet, entered one of the mouths of the Nile at the same time, and sailed into the heart of Egypt, where they landed, and fortified themselves in a camp advantageously situated. The Egyptian troops in these parts were immediately drawn together under Clinias, a Greek, and prepared to repel the enemy.

An action ensued, in which Clinias and 5,000 of his troops were killed, and the rest dispersed.

This action decided the fate of Egypt. Nectanebus, apprehending that the Persian army would embark again upon the Nile, and take Memphis, the capital of his kingdom, abandoned the passes, and hastened thither to defend it, thus leaving the country open to the enemy. Mentor, indeed, who commanded the third detachment, finding the passes clear and unguarded, entered the country, and made himself master of it without opposition. He caused a report to be spread, that Darius had given orders that all those who would submit should be treated with favour, and that such as made resistance should be destroyed; and the whole country, upon this

report, Greeks as well as Egyptians, strove which should be foremost in their submission.

But

The overthrow of Nectanebus occurred B. C. 350. He was the last native king of Egypt, and since his time, Egypt has been, and still continues to be "the basest of the kingdoms," according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. xxix. 15. It has, indeed, says an acute writer, been an independent kingdom under the Ptolemies and the Saracens, and may be possible that the present ruler should establish its independence. this matters not; for these independent sovereigns in Egypt were foreigners, surrounded by people of their own nation, who engrossed all wealth, power, and distinction; leaving Egypt as a country, and the proper Egyptians as a people, oppressed and miserable. This is, surely, a marked fulfilment of prophecy, delivered at a time when Egypt, under its own kings, great and magnificent, took no second place among the nations. In this event, therefore, we may trace the finger of God, and say that he ruleth among the nations, and hath done whatsoever he pleased, Psa. xxii. 28; cxv. 3.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

PERSIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERN

MENT.

DARIUS OCHUS.

It has been recorded, that during the previous occupation of Egypt by the Persian troops, the inhabitants had been exposed to much persecution. They were now doomed to severer sufferings. Darius, the king of Persia, as soon as he had conquered Egypt, commenced a fearful work of slaughter and destruction throughout the country. If Cambyses had committed unheardof enormities-if he had derided the religion and insulted the various deities of Egypt-if, as Herodotus affirms, he had ordered their bull-god Apis to be brought before him, and had stabbed it with his dagger-if he had been guilty of every species of oppression; he was still surpassed in acts of barbarity by Ochus. Wanton injustice, murders, profanation of religious rites, and continual persecutions were his delight. One of the most flagrant insults which Darius put upon their established religion, towards which their minds were strongly affected, though it is not possible to conceive one more absurd and grossly idolatrous, was, not only that he caused the sacred Apis to be slaughtered, but also he caused it to be served up at a banquet, of which he and his friends partook.

After these insults, Darius returned in triumph to Babylon, laden with the spoils of Egypt. He left the government of Egypt to Pherendates, a Persian of the first rank, who carried on the work of demolition his master had commenced. All Egypt groaned under the tyranny of Ochus. His reign, however, was not of long duration : in two years the Egyptians were relieved from his yoke by his death; and to show their hatred of him, they substituted for his reign the represent

ation of a sword, the emblem of destruction, in their catalogue of kings.

by

a force, and that Darius was not able to succour him, set open the gates to the conqueror, and

Ochus was succeeded in his empire, B. c. 348, gave him all the treasures which Darius pos

ARSES,

in whose reign nothing transpired concerning Egypt worthy of notice. To Arses succeeded, B. C. 335,

DARIUS CODOMANUS,

who seems to have followed the line of policy upon which Ochus acted towards Egypt.

But Egypt did not continue long under the Persian sway. Alexander the Great, having conquered the whole of Asia Minor and Syria, resolved to invade Egypt also, and to wrest it out of the hands of Darius. Accordingly, he marched thither with an army flushed with successive victories, and hence almost irresistible.

The Egyptians were at this time ripe for rebellion, and cared little who ruled over them, so that they were freed from the Persians. They were incensed by their continual oppressions to the utmost; and the knowledge of this, combined with a circumstance here narrated, might have had the effect upon the mind of Alexander of bringing him to the resolve of invading Egypt.

One Amyntas, a general in the service of Alexander, had deserted from him, and had joined the interest of Darius. But there was no bond in those days of paganism to bind men together in love and fealty. Amyntas had proved faithless to Alexander, and he rebelled against Darius also. He had commanded the Grecian forces in the service of the Persians at the battle of Issus, and having escaped into Syria by the way of Tripoli, with 4,000 men, had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and set sail for Cyprus. He afterwards marched toward Pelusium, and upon feigning that he had a commission from Darius, appointing him governor in the room of Sabaces, who was killed in the battle of Issus, he took that city. This accomplished, he threw off the mask, claiming the crown of Egypt, and declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this declaration, great numbers of the Egyptians went over to him, and Amyntas having his forces thus augmented, marched directly for Memphis, the capital of the kingdom. Here he fought a battle with and defeated the Persians, shutting them up in Memphis; but after he had gained this victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers in a body, the Persians sallied forth, and destroyed them, with Amyntas their leader.

If this circumstance did not give rise to Alexander's invasion of Egypt, it increased the aversion which the Egyptians entertained for the Persians, so that, when Alexander reached that country, he was hailed by the natives as their deliverer from bondage. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with sure protection, which Amyntas could not offer them; and from this consideration, they unanimously declared in his favour; and Mazæus, who commanded in Memphis, finding that he could not resist so powerful

sessed in that city. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt without a single conflict. The period at which this event occurred is dated B.C. 332.

CHAPTER IX.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

MACEDO-GRECIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE

GOVERNMENT.

ALEXANDER.

As soon as Alexander had conquered Egypt, he paid a visit to the temple of Amun, or Jupiter Ammon, which was situated in the midst of the sandy deserts of Libya. Plutarch attributes this to political motives; and he affirms that he neither believed nor was elated with the notion of his divinity, as the son of Amun, but only made use of it to bring others into subjection, among the barbarians. To the Greeks, he was extremely cautious of avowing such pretensions; and when wounded once with an arrow, he exclaimed, "My friends, this is blood, and not the ichor shed by the immortal gods." His pretensions to divinity, therefore, must be looked upon as an imposition upon the vulgar, and as one of those means whereby he climbed to the height of his ambition, that of conquering the known world.

As Alexander was going thither, he gave orders to build the city of Alexandria, between the sea and the Mareotic Lake, which city afterwards became the capital of the kingdom. The erection of this city was proceeded with immediately, so that when he returned from Libya, on visiting the spot, he found that considerable progress had been made. To hasten the building of this city, he appointed Cleomenes inspector over it, with orders for him to levy the tribute which Arabia was to pay, an order which was executed with the utmost rigour. When it was completed, he adopted a wise plan to people it. He invited thither persons from all parts of the world, to whom he offered advantageous conditions. Among others, he drew thither a great number of Jews, to whom he gave great privileges, leaving them the free exercise of their religion and laws, and assigning them equal civil rights with the Macedonians, whom he had settled there.

On his return from Libya, Alexander wintered at Memphis, where he settled the affairs of Egypt. He directed that none but Macedonians should command the troops. He appointed separate and independent governors of the several garrisoned towns, in order to prevent the mischief so often experienced by the Persians, by entrusting too much power to a single governor. He separated the financial, judicial, and military functions, to prevent the oppression of the people by their union. Finally, he directed that Alexandria should be the common emporium of

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