 Book 2 part 7 of Herodotus' Histories This is a Librivox Recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For further information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org Histories volume 1 by Herodotus of Halicarnassus, translated by A.D. Godly Book 2 part 7, paragraphs 134 to 150 This king too left a pyramid, but far smaller than his fathers, each side 20 feet short of 300 feet long, square at the base, and as much as half its height of Ethiopian stone. Some Greeks say that it was built by Rodopus, the courtesan, but they are wrong. Indeed, it is clear to me that they say this without even knowing who Rodopus was. Otherwise, they would never have credited her with the building of a pyramid, on which what I may call an uncountable sum of money was spent. Or that Rodopus flourished in the reign of Amarsus, not of Miss arenas. For very many years later than these kings who left the pyramids came Rodopus, who was Thracian by birth, and a slave of Iadmon, son of Hephaistopolis the Samion, and a fellow slave of Esop, the story writer. For he was owned by Iadmon too, as the following made crystal clear. When the Delphians, obeying an oracle, issued many proclamations, summoning anyone who wanted it to accept compensation for the killing of Esop, no one accepted it except the son of Iadmon's son, another Iadmon. Hence, Esop too was Iadmon's. Rodopus came to Egypt to work, brought by Xanthes of Samos, but upon her arrival was freed for a lot of money by Caraxus of Mitellini, the son of Scamandronimus and brother of Sappho the Poetess. Thus Rodopus lived as a free woman in Egypt, where, as she was very alluring, she acquired a lot of money, sufficient for such a Rodopus, so to speak, but not for such a pyramid. Seeing that to this day anyone who likes can calculate what one tenth of her worth was, she cannot be credited with great wealth. For Rodopus desired to leave a memorial of herself in Greece, by having something made which no one else had thought of or dedicated in a temple and presenting this at Delphi to preserve her memory. So she spent one tenth of her substance on the manufacture of a great number of iron beef spits, as many as the tenth would pay for and sent them to Delphi. These lie in a heap to this day behind the altar set up by the Chians and in front of the shrine itself. The courtesans of Naucratis seemed to be peculiarly alluring, for the woman of whom this story is told became so famous that every Greek knew the name of Rodopus, and later on a certain Architiki was the theme of song throughout Greece, although less celebrated than the other. Caraxis, after giving Rodopus her freedom, returned to Mitalini. He is bitterly attacked by Sappho in one of her poems. This is enough about Rodopus. After Miss Arenas the priests said, Asukis became king of Egypt. He built the eastern outer court of Hephaestus' temple. This is by far the finest and grandest of all the courts, for while all have carved figures and innumerable felicities of architecture, this court has far more than any. As not much money was in circulation during this king's reign, they told me a law was made for the Egyptians, allowing a man to borrow on the security of his father's corpse, and the law also provided that the lender became master of the entire burial vault of the borrower, and that the penalty for one giving this security should he fail to repay the loan was that he was not to be buried at his death, either in that tomb of his father's or in any other, nor was he to bury any relative of his there. Furthermore, in his desire to excel all who ruled Egypt before him, this king left a pyramid of brick to commemorate his name, on which is this writing, cut on a stone. Do not think me less than pyramids of stone, for I excel them as much as Zeus does other gods, for they stuck a pole down into a marsh, and collected what mud clung to the pole, made bricks of it, and thus built me. These were the acts of Asukis. After him reigned a blind man called Anesis of the town of that name. In his reign Egypt was invaded by Sabacus, king of Ethiopia, and a great army of Ethiopians. The blind man fled to the marshes, and the Ethiopian ruled Egypt for fifty years, during which he distinguished himself for the following. He would never put to death any Egyptian wrongdoer, but sentenced all, according to the severity of their offenses, to raise embankments in their native towns. Thus the towns came to stand yet higher than before, for after first being built on embankments, made by the excavators of the canals in the reign of Cisostris, they were yet further raised in the reign of the Ethiopian. Of the towns in Egypt that were raised, in my opinion Bubastis is especially prominent, where there is a temple of Bubastis, a building most worthy of note. Other temples are greater and more costly, but none more pleasing to the eye than this. Bubastis is, in the Greek language, Artemis. Her temple is of this description, except for the entrance, it stands on an island, for two channels approach it from the Nile, without mixing with one another, running as far as the entryway of the temple, the one and the other flowing around it, each a hundred feet wide and shaded by trees. The artichoke is sixty feet high, adorned with notable figures ten feet high. The whole circumference of the city commands a view down into the temple in its midst. For the city's level has been raised, but that of the temple has been left as it was from the first, so that it can be seen into from above. A stone wall cut with figures runs around it, within this is a grove of very tall trees, growing around a great shrine, where the image of the goddess is. The temple is a square, each side measuring an eighth of a mile. A road paved with stone, about three eighths of a mile long, leads to the entrance, running eastward through the marketplace towards the temple of Hermes. This road is about four hundred feet wide and bordered by trees reaching to heaven. Such is this temple. Now the departure of the Ethiopian, they said, came about in this way. After seeing in a dream, one who stood over him and urged him to gather together all the priests in Egypt and cut them in half, he fled from the country. Seeing this vision, he said, he supposed it to be a manifestation sent to him by the gods, so that he might commit sacrilege and so be punished by gods or men. He would not, he said, do so, but otherwise, for the time foretold for his rule over Egypt was now fulfilled, after which he was to depart. For when he was still in Ethiopia, the oracles that are consulted by the people of that country told him that he was fated to reign fifty years over Egypt. Seeing that this time was now completed and that he was troubled by what he saw in his dream, Sabakus departed from Egypt of his own volition. When the Ethiopian left Egypt, the blind man, it is said, once more, returning from the marshes where he had lived for fifty years on an island that he built of ashes and earth. For the Egyptians who were to bring him food without the Ethiopian's knowledge were instructed by the king to bring ashes whenever they came to add to their gift. This island was never discovered before the time of Amirtius. All the kings before him sought it in vain for more than seven hundred years. The name of it is Elbow and it is over a mile long and of an equal breadth. The next king was the priest of Hephaistus whose name was Sethos. He despised and had no regard for the warrior Egyptians thinking he would never need them. Besides otherwise dishonouring them, he took away the chosen lands which had been given to them twelve fields to each man in the reign of former kings. So when presently King Sennacherib came against Egypt with a great force of Arabians and Assyrians, the warrior Egyptians would not march against him. The priest in this quandary went into the temple shrine and there before the god's image bitterly lamented over what he expected to suffer. Sleep came on him while he was lamenting and it seemed to him the god stood over him and told him to take heart that he would come to no harm countering the power of Arabia. I shall send you champions said the god. So he trusted the vision and together with those Egyptians who would follow him camped at Pelusium where the road comes into Egypt and none of the warriors would go with him but only merchants and craftsmen and traders. Their enemies came there too and during the night were overrun by a horde of field mice that gnawed quivers and bows of shields with the result that many were killed fleeing unarmed the next day and to this day a stone statue of the Egyptian king stands in Hephaistus's temple with a mouse in his hand and an inscription to this effect Look at me and believe. Thus far went the record given by the Egyptians and their priests and they showed me that the time from the first king to that priest of Hephaistus last covered 341 generations and that in this time this also had been the number of their kings and of their high priests. Now 300 generations are 10,000 years 3 generations being equal to a hundred and over and above the 300 the remaining 41 cover 1340 years thus the whole period is 11,340 years in all of which time they said they had had no king who was a god in human form nor had there been any such either before or after those years among the rest of the kings of Egypt. Four times in this period so they told me the sun rose contrary to experience twice he came up where he now goes down and twice went down where he now comes up where Egypt at these times underwent no change either in the produce of the river and the land or in the matter of sickness and death. Hecateus the historian was once at Thebes where he made a genealogy for himself that had him descended from a god in the 16th generation but the priests of Zeus did with him as they also did with me who had not traced my own lineage they brought me into the great inner court of the temple and showed me wooden figures there which they counted to the total they had already given for every high priest sets up a statue of himself there during his lifetime pointing to these and counting the priests showed me that each succeeded his father they went through the whole line of figures back to the earliest from that of the man who had most recently died thus when Hecateus had traced his descent and claimed that his 16th forefather was a god the priests too traced a line of descent according to the method of their counting for they would not be persuaded by him that a man could be descended from a god they traced descent through the whole line of 345 figures not connecting it with any ancestral god or hero but declaring each figure to be a piromis the son of a piromis who is in all respects a good man thus they showed that all those who statues stood there had been good men but quite unlike gods before these men they said the rulers of Egypt were gods but none had been contemporary with the human priests of these gods one or another had in succession been supreme the last of them to rule the country was Osiris's son Horus whom the Greeks call Apollo he deposed Typhon and was the last divine king of Egypt Osiris is in the Greek language Dionysus among the Greeks Heracles, Dionysus and Pan are held to be the youngest of the gods but in Egypt Pan is the most ancient of these and is one of the 8 gods who are said to be the earliest of all Heracles belongs to the second dynasty that of the so called 12 gods and Dionysus to the third which came after the 12 how many years there were between Heracles and the reign of Amarsus I have already shown Pan is said to be earlier still the years between Dionysus and Amarsus are the fewest and they are reckoned by the Egyptians at 15,000 the Egyptians claimed to be sure of all this since they have reckoned for years and chronicled them in writing now the Dionysus who was called the son of Semele daughter of Cadmus was about 1600 years before my time and Heracles son of Alcmini about 900 years and Pan the son of Penelope for according to the Greeks Penelope and Hermes were the parents of Pan was about 800 years before me and thus of a later date than the Trojan war with regard to these two Pan and Dionysus one may follow whatever story one thinks most credible but I give my own opinion concerning them here had Dionysus son of Semele and Pan son of Penelope appeared in Hellas and lived there to old age like Heracles the son of Amphitrion it might have been said that they too like Heracles were but men named after the older Pan and Dionysus of antiquity but as it is the Greek story has it that no sooner was Dionysus born than Zeus sewed him up in his thigh and carried him away to Nissa in Ethiopia beyond Egypt and as for Pan the Greeks do not know what became of him after his birth it is therefore plain to me that the Greeks learnt the names of these two gods later than the names of all the others and traced the birth of both time when they gained the knowledge so far I have recorded what the Egyptians themselves say I shall now relate what is recorded alike by Egyptians and foreigners and shall add something of what I myself have seen after the reign of the priest of Hephaistus the Egyptians were made free but they could never live without a king so they divided Egypt into 12 districts and set up 12 kings these kings intermarried and agreed to be close friends no one deposing another or seeking to possess more than another the reason for this agreement which they scrupulously kept was this no sooner were they established in their districts than an oracle was given them that whichever of them poured a libation from a bronze vessel in the temple of Hephaistus where as in all the temples they used to assemble would be king of all Egypt moreover they decided to preserve the memory of their names by a common memorial and so they made a labyrinth a little way beyond Lake Moiris and near the place called the city of crocodiles I have seen it myself and indeed words cannot describe it if one were to collect the walls and evidence of other efforts of the Greeks the sum would not amount to the labor and cost of this labyrinth and yet the temple at Hephaistus and the one on Samos are noteworthy though the pyramids beg a description and each one of them is a match for many great monuments built by Greeks this maze surpasses even the pyramids it has 12 roofed courts with doors facing each other six face north and six south in two continuous lines all within one outer wall there are also double sets of chambers 3,000 altogether 1500 above and the same number underground we ourselves viewed those that are above ground and speak of what we have seen but we learnt through conversation about the underground chambers the Egyptian caretakers would by no means show them as they were they said the burial vaults of the kings who first built this labyrinth and of the sacred crocodiles thus we can only speak from hearsay of the lower chambers the upper we saw for ourselves and they are creations greater than human the exits of the chambers and the mazy passages hither and thither through the courts were an unending marvel to us as we passed from court to apartment and from apartment to colonade from colonades again to more chambers and then into yet more courts over all this is a roof made of stone like the walls and the walls are covered with cut figures and every court is set around with pillars of white stone very precisely fitted together near the corner where the labyrinth ends stands a pyramid 240 feet high on which great figures are cut a passage to this has been made underground such is this labyrinth and still more marvellous is Lake Moiris on which it stands this lake has a circumference of 450 miles or 60 skinny as much as the whole seaboard of Egypt its length is from north to south the deepest part has a depth of 50 fathoms that it has been dug out and made by men's hands the lake shows for itself for almost in the middle of it stand two pyramids so built that 50 fathoms of each are below and 50 above the water is a colossal stone figure seated on a throne thus these pyramids are 100 fathoms high and 100 fathoms equal a furlong of 600 feet the fathom measuring 6 feet or 4 cubits the foot 4 spans and the cubit 6 spans the water of the lake is not natural for the country here is exceedingly arid but brought by a channel from the Nile 6 months it flows into the lake and 6 back into the river for the 6 months that it flows out of the lake the daily take of fish brings a silver talent into the royal treasury and 20 menai for each day of the flow into the lake furthermore the natives said that this lake drains underground into the Libyan certis and extends under the mountains that are above Memphis having the inland country on its west when I could not see anywhere the earth taken from the digging of this lake since this was curious to me I asked those who lived nearest the lake where the stuff was that had been dug out they told me where it had been carried and I readily believed them for I had heard of a similar thing happening in the Assyrian city of Nenus Sardinopolis king of Nenus had great wealth which he kept in an underground treasury and some thieves plotted to carry it off they surveyed their course and dug an underground passage from their own house to the palace carrying the earth taken out of the passage dug by night to the Tigris which runs past Nenus until at last they accomplished their end this I was told had happened when the Egyptian lake was dug except that the work went on not by night but by day the Egyptians bore the earth dug out by them to the Nile to be caught and scattered as was to be expected by the river thus is this lake said to have been dug end of book two part seven book two part eight of Herodotus' histories this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org histories volume one by Herodotus of Halecarnassus translated by A.D. Godly book two part eight paragraphs 151 to 182 now the twelve kings were just and in time came to sacrifice in Hephaestus' temple on the last day of the feast as they were about to pour libations the high priest brought out the golden vessels which they commonly used for this but he counted wrongly and had only eleven for the twelve so the last in line Sameticus as he had no vessel took off his bronze helmet and held it out and poured the libation with it all the kings were accustomed to wear helmets and were then helmeted it was not in guile then that Sameticus held out his headgear but the rest perceived what Sameticus had done and remembered the oracle that promised the sovereignty of all Egypt to whoever poured a libation from a vessel of bronze therefore though they considered Sameticus not deserving of death for they examined him and found that he had acted without intent they decided to strip him of most of his power and to chase him away into the marshes and that he was not to concern himself with the rest of Egypt this Sameticus had formally been an exile in Syria where he had fled from Sabacos the Ethiopian who killed his father Nekos then when the Ethiopian departed because of what he saw in a dream the Egyptians of the district of Sais brought him back from Syria Sameticus was king for the second time when he found himself driven away into the marshes by the eleven kings because of the helmet believing therefore that he had been abused by them he meant to be avenged on those who had expelled him he sent to inquire in the town of Buto where the most infallible oracle in Egypt is the oracle answered that he would have vengeance when he saw men of bronze coming from the sea Sameticus did not in the least believe that men of bronze would come to aid him but after a short time Ionians and Carians voyaging for Plunder were forced to put in on the coast of Egypt where they disembarked in their armor of bronze and an Egyptian came into the marsh country and brought news to Sameticus for he had never before seen armored men that men of bronze had come from the sea and were foraging in the plain Sameticus saw in this the fulfillment of the oracle with the Ionians and Carians and promised them great rewards if they would join him and, having won them over deposed the 11 kings with these allies and those Egyptians who volunteered having made himself master of all Egypt he made the southern outer court of Hephaestus' temple at Memphis and built facing this a court for Apis where Apis is kept and fed whenever he appears has an inner colonnade all around it and many cut figures the roof is held up by great statues 20 feet high for pillars Apis in Greek is Epaphos to the Ionians and Carians who helped him Sameticus gave places to live in called the camps opposite each other on either side of the Nile and besides this he paid them all that he had promised moreover he put Egyptian boys in their hands to be taught Greek and from these who learnt the language I descended the present day Egyptian interpreters the Ionians and Carians lived for a long time in these places which are near the sea on the arm of the Nile called the Pelusian a little way below the town of Bubastis long afterwards King Amasis removed them and settled them at Memphis to be his guard against the Egyptians it is a result of our communication with these settlers in Egypt the first of foreign speech to settle in that country that we Greeks have exact knowledge of the history of Egypt from the reign of Sameticus onwards there still remained in my day in the places out of which the Ionians and Carians were turned the winches for their ships and the ruins of their houses this is how Sameticus got Egypt I have often mentioned the Egyptian Oracle and shall give an account of this as it deserves this Oracle is sacred to Leto and is situated in a great city by the sebanitic arm of the Nile on the way up from the sea Buto is the name of the city where this Oracle is I have already mentioned it in Buto there is a temple of Apollo and Artemis the shrine of Leto where the Oracle is itself very great and it's outer court is 60 feet high but what caused me the most wonder among the things apparent there I shall mention in this precinct is the shrine of Leto the height and length of whose walls is all made of a single stone slab each wall has an equal length and height namely 70 feet another slab makes the surface of the roof the cornice of which is 7 feet broad thus then the shrine is the most marvellous of all the things that I saw in this temple but of things of second rank the most wondrous is the island called Chemis this lies in a deep and wide lake near the temple at Buto and the Egyptians say that it floats I never saw it float or move at all and I thought it a marvellous tale that an island should truly float however that may be there is a great shrine of Apollo on it and three altars stand there many palm trees grow on the island and other trees too some yielding fruit and some not this is the story that the Egyptians tell to explain why the island moves then on this island that did not move before Leto one of the eight gods who first came to be who was living at Buto where this Oracle of hers is taking charge of Apollo from Isis he'd him for safety in this island which is now said to float when Typhon came hunting through the world keen to find the son of Osiris Apollo and Artemis were they say children of Dionysus and Isis and Leto was made their nurse and preserver in Egyptian Apollo is Horus Demeter, Isis, Artemis Bubastis it was from this legend and no other that Iscalus son of Euphorion took a notion which is in no poet before him that Artemis was the daughter of Demeter for this reason the island was made to float so they say Sameticus ruled Egypt for 53 years 29 of which he spent before Azotus a great city in Syria besieging it until he took it Azotus held out against a siege longer than any city of which we know Sameticus had a son Nekos who became king of Egypt it was he who began building the canal into the Red Sea which was finished by Darius the Persian this is four days voyage in length and it was dug wide enough for two triremes to move in it road abreast it is fed by the Nile and is carried from a little above Bubastis by the Arabian town of Patumus it issues into the Red Sea digging began in the part of the Egyptian plain nearest to Arabia the mountains that extend to Memphis the mountains where the stone quarries are come close to this plain the canal is led along the foothills of these mountains in a long reach from west to east passing then into a ravine it bears southward out of the hill country towards the Arabian Gulf now the shortest and most direct passage from the northern to the southern or red sea is from the Cassian Promontory the boundary between Egypt and Syria to the Arabian Gulf and this is a distance of 125 miles neither more nor less this is the most direct route but the canal is far longer in as much as it is more crooked in Nekos's reign 120,000 Egyptians died digging it Nekos stopped work stayed by prophetic utterance that he was toiling beforehand for the barbarian the Egyptians call all men of other languages, barbarians Nekos then stopped work on the canal and engaged in preparations for war some of his ships of war were built on the northern sea and some in the Arabian Gulf by the Red Sea coast the winches for landing these can still be seen and with his land army met and defeated the Syrians at Magdolus taking the great Syrian city of Caditis after the battle he sent to Brankidae of Miletus and dedicated there to Apollo the garments in which he won these victories then he died after a reign of 16 years and his son Psamis reigned in his place while this Psamis was king of Egypt and was visited by ambassadors from Elis the Elians boasting that they had arranged the Olympic games with all the justice and fairness in the world and claiming that even the Egyptians although the wisest of all men could not do better when the Elians came to Egypt and announced why they had come Psamis assembled the Egyptians reputed to be wisest these assembled and learnt all that the Elians were to do after explaining this the Elians said that they had come to learn whether the Egyptians could discover any just a way the Egyptians deliberated and then asked the Elians if their own citizens took part in the contests the Elians answered that they did all Greeks from Elis or elsewhere might contend then the Egyptians said that in establishing this rule they fell short of complete fairness for there is no way that you will not favour your own townsfolk in the contest and wrong the stranger if you wish in fact to make just rules and have come to Egypt for that reason you should admit only strangers to the contest and not Elians such was the council of the Egyptians to the Elians Psamis reigned over Egypt for only six years he invaded Ethiopia and immediately thereafter died and Apries the son of Psamis reigned in his place he was more fortunate than any former king except his great grandfather Psameticus during his rule of 25 years during which he sent an army against Sidon and fought at sea with the king of Tyre but when it was fated that evil should overtake him the cause of it was something to deal with briefly and at greater length in the Libyan part of this history Apries sent a great force against Cyrene and suffered a great defeat the Egyptians blamed him for this and rebelled against him for they thought that Apries had knowingly sent his men to their doom so that after their perishing in this way he might be the more secure in his rule over the rest of the Egyptians bitterly angered by this and returned home and the friends of the slain openly revolted hearing of this Apries sent Amasis to dissuade them when Amasis came up with the Egyptians he exhorted them to desist but as he spoke an Egyptian came behind him and put a helmet on his head saying it was the token of royalty and Amasis showed that this was not displeasing to him for after being made king of the Middle Egyptians he prepared to march against Apries when Apries heard of it he sent against Amasis an esteemed Egyptian named Patar Bemis one of his own court instructing him to take the rebel alive and bring him into his presence when Patar Bemis came and summoned Amasis Amasis who was on horseback rose up and farted telling the messenger to take that Amasis but when in spite of this Patar Bemis insisted that Amasis obey the king summons and go to him Amasis answered that he had long been preparing to do just that and Apries would find him above reproach for he would present himself and bring others hearing this Patar Bemis could not mistake Amasis he saw his preparations and hastened to depart as soon as it had started going on when Apries saw him return without Amasis he did not stop to reflect but in his rage and fury had Patar Bemis' ears and nose cut off the rest of the Egyptians who were until now Apries' friends seeing this outrage done to the man who was most prominent among them changed sides without delay and offered themselves to Amasis learning of this too and armed his guard and marched against the Egyptians he had a bodyguard of Carians and Ionians, 30,000 of them and his royal palace was in the city of Sais a great and marvellous place Apries' men marched against the Egyptians and so did Amasis' men against the foreigners so they both came to Momenfis and were going to make trial of one another the Egyptians are divided into seven classes priests, warriors cowherds swineherds merchants, interpreters and pilots there are this many classes each named after its occupation the warriors are divided into Calasirias and Hermotubias and they belong to the following districts for all divisions in Egypt are made according to districts the Hermotubias districts of Buciris, Sais Chemis and Papremis the island called Prosopitis and half of Natho from all of these their number, at its greatest attained to 160,000 none of these has learnt any common trade they are free to follow the profession of arms only the Calasirias are from the districts of Thebes Bubastis, Athis Tannis, Mendis Sebedis, Athribis Tharbaitis, Thmuis Onufis and Nytis Maikforis this last is an island opposite the city of Bubastis from all these their number, at its greatest attained to 250,000 men these two may practice no trade but war which is their hereditary calling now whether this too the Greeks have learnt from the Egyptians I cannot confidently judge I know that in Thrace and Scythia and Persia and Lydia and nearly all foreign countries those who learn trades are held in less esteem than the rest of the people and those who have least to do with artisans work especially men who are free to practice the art of war are highly honoured this much is certain that this opinion which is held by all Greeks and particularly by the last demonians is of foreign origin it is in Corinth that artisans are held in least contempt the warriors were the only Egyptians except the priests who had special privileges for each of them an untaxed plot of 12 acres was set apart this acre is a square of 100 Egyptian cubits each way being equal to the Samyan these lands were set apart for all it was never the same men who cultivated them but each in turn a thousand cala siriés and as many hermotubiés were the king's annual bodyguard these men besides their lands each received a daily provision of five minis weight of roast grain two mini of beef and four cups of wine these were the gifts received by each bodyguard when apriés with his guards and amassis with the whole force of Egyptians came to the town of Momemphis they engaged and though the foreigners fought well they were vastly outnumbered and therefore were beaten apriés they say supposed that not even a god could depose him from his throne so firmly did he think he was established and now defeated in battle as a pagan captive he was brought to Sais to the royal dwelling which belonged to him once but now belonged to amassis there he was kept alive for a while in the palace and well treated by amassis but presently the Egyptians complained that there was no justice in keeping alive one who was their own and their king's bitterest enemy whereupon amassis gave apriés up to them in the tombs of his fathers this is in the temple of Athena very near to the sanctuary on the left of the entrance the people of Sais buried within the temple precinct all kings who were natives of their district the tomb of amassis is farther from the sanctuary than the tomb of apriés and his ancestors yet it too is within the temple court it is a great colonnade of stone richly adorned in the form of palm trees in this colonnade are two portals and the place where the coffin lies is within their doors there is also at Sais the burial place of one whose name I think it impious to mention in speaking of such a matter it is the temple of Athena behind and close to the length of the wall of the shrine moreover great stone obelisks stand in the precinct and there is a lake nearby in the stone margin and made in a complete circle it is, as it seemed to me the size of the lake at Delos which they call the round pond on this lake they enact by night the story of the gods sufferings a right which the Egyptians call the mysteries I could say more about this for I know the truth but let me preserve a discreet silence let me preserve a discreet silence too concerning the right of Demeter which the Greeks call Thesmaphoria except as much of it as I am not forbidden to mention the daughters of Danos were those who brought this right out of Egypt and taught it to the Pelasgian women afterwards when the people of the Peloponnes were driven out by the Dorians it was lost except in so far as it was preserved by the Arcadians the Peloponnesian people which was not driven out but left after Apries was deposed Amarsus became king he was from a town called Silph in the district of Sais now at first he was scorned and held in low regard by the Egyptians on the ground that he was a common man and of no high family but presently he won them over by being shrewd and not arrogant he had among his countless treasures a golden wash bowl in which he and all those who ate with him were accustomed to clean their feet this he broke in pieces and out of it made a gods image which he set in a most conspicuous spot in the city and the Egyptians came frequently to this image and held it in great reverence when Amarsus learnt what the town folk were doing he called the Egyptians together and told them that the image had been made out of the wash bowl in which the Egyptians had once vomited urinated and cleaned their feet but which now they greatly revered now then he said I have fared like the wash bowl since if before I was a common man still I am your king now and he told them to honour and show respect for him the following was how he scheduled his affairs in the morning until the hour when the marketplace filled he readily conducted whatever business was brought to him the rest of the day he drank and joked at the expense of his companions it was idle and playful but this displeased his friends who admonished him thus oh king you do not conduct yourself well by indulging too much in vulgarity you a celebrated man ought to conduct your business throughout the day sitting on a celebrated throne and thus the Egyptians would know that they are governed by a great man and you would be better spoken of as it is what you do is by no means kingly but he answered them like this men that have bows string them when they must use them and unstring them when they have used them were bows kept strung forever they would break and so could not be used when needed such too is the nature of man were one to be always at serious work and not permit oneself a bit of relaxation he would go mad or idiotic before he knew it I am well aware of that and give each of the two its turn such was his answer to his friends it is said that even when Amasis was a private man he was fond of drinking and joking and was not at all a sober man and that when his drinking and pleasure seeking cost him the bare necessities he would go around stealing when he contradicted those who said that he had their possessions they would bring him to whatever place of divination was nearby and sometimes the oracles declared him guilty and sometimes they acquitted him when he became king he did not take care of the shrines of the gods who had acquitted him of theft or give them anything for maintenance or make it his practice to sacrifice there for he knew them to be worthless and their oracles false scrupulous care of the gods who had declared his guilt considering them to be gods in very deed and their oracles infallible Amasis made a marvellous out-of-court for the temple of Athena at Sais far surpassing all in its heightened size and in the size and quality of the stone blocks moreover he set up huge images and vast man-headed Sphinxes and brought enormous blocks of stone besides for the building some of these he brought from the stone quarries of Memphis the largest came from the city of Elephantine, 20 days journey distant by river from Sais but what I admire most of his works is this he brought from Elephantine a shrine made of one single block of stone its transport took 3 years and 2,000 men had the carriage of it all of them and it took 3 minutes this chamber is 35 feet long 23 feet wide 13 feet high these are the external dimensions of the chamber which is made of one block its internal dimensions are 31 feet long 20 feet wide 8 feet high it stands at the entrance of the temple it was not dragged within because while it was being drawn the chief builder complained loud of the great expense of time and his loathing of the work and Amasis taking this to heart would not let it be drawn further some also say that a man one of those who heaved up the shrine was crushed by it and therefore it was not dragged within furthermore Amasis dedicated beside monuments of marvellous size in all the other temples of note the huge image that lies supine before Amasis temple at Memphis this image is 75 feet in length they stand on the same base on either side of the great image two huge statues hewn from the same block each of them 20 feet high there is at size another stone figure of the like size supine as is the figure at Memphis it was Amasis too who built the great and most marvellous temple of Isis at Memphis it is said that in the reign of Amasis Egypt attained to its greatest prosperity in respect of what the river did for the land and the land for its people and that the number of inhabited cities in the country was 20,000 it was Amasis also who made the law that every Egyptian declare his means of livelihood to the ruler of his district annually and that omitting to do so that one had a legitimate livelihood be punishable with death Solon the Athenian got this law from Egypt and established it among his people may they always have it for it is a perfect law Amasis became a Phil Helene and besides other services which he did for some of the Greeks he gave those who came to Egypt the city of Nauchrates to live in and to those who travelled to the country to live there he gave lands where they might set up altars and make holy places for their gods of these the greatest and most famous and most visited precinct is that which is called the Heleneon founded jointly by the Ionian cities of Chios, Thios Fokia and Gladzomenai the Dorian cities of Rhodes Knidus, Halicarnassus and Fazeles and one Ionian city Helene it is to these that the precinct belongs and these are the cities that furnish overseers of the trading port if any other cities advance claims they claim what does not belong to them the Iginetans made a precinct of their own sacred to Zeus and so did the Samians for Hera and the Milesians for Apollo Nauchrates was in the past the only trading port in Egypt whoever came to any other mouth of the Nile had to swear that he had not come intentionally and had then to take his ship and sail to the Canobic mouth or if he could not sail against contrary winds he had to carry his cargo in barges around the delta until he came to Nauchrates in such esteem was Nauchrates held when the Amphictians paid 300 talents to have the temple that now stands at Delphi finished as that which was formerly there burnt down by accident it was the Delphians lot to pay a fourth of the cost they went about from city to city collecting gifts and got most from Egypt for Amarsis gave them a thousand talents weight of astringent earth and the Greek settlers in Egypt twenty mean eye Amarsis made friends and allies of the people of Cyrene and he decided to marry from there either because he had his heart set on a Greek wife or for the sake of the Corsairians friendship in any case he married a certain Ladike said by some to be the daughter of Batus of Arkesi Laos by others and by others again of Cretobulus an esteemed citizen of the place but whenever Amarsis lay with her he became unable to have intercourse though he managed with every other woman and when this happened repeatedly Amarsis said to the woman called Ladike woman you have cast a spell on me there is no way that you shall avoid perishing the most wretchedly of all women so Ladike when the king did not relent at all although she denied it vowed in her heart to Aphrodite that if Amarsis could have intercourse with her that night since that would remedy the problem she would send a statue to Cyrene to her and after the prayer immediately Amarsis did have intercourse with her and whenever Amarsis came to her thereafter he had intercourse and he was very fond of her after this Ladike paid her vow to the goddess she had an image made and sent it to Cyrene where it stood safe until my time facing outside the city Canbises when he had conquered Egypt and learnt who Ladike was sent her away to Cyrene unharmed moreover Amarsis dedicated offerings in Hellas he gave to Cyrene a gilt image of Athena and a painted picture of himself to Athena of Lindus two stone images and a marvellous linen breastplate and to Hera in Samos two wooden statues of himself that were still standing in my time behind the doors in the great shrine the offerings in Samos were dedicated because of the friendship between Amarsis and Polycrates son of Iarches what he gave to Lindus was not out of friendship for anyone but because the temple of Athena in Lindus is said to have been founded by the daughters of Dannaus when they landed there in their flight from the sons of Egyptis such were Amarsis's offerings moreover he was the first conqueror of Cyprus which he made tributary to himself and of book two book three part one of Herodotus histories this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org histories volume one by Herodotus of Heliconisis translated by A.D. Godly book three part one parts one to nineteen Cyrus's son Cambyses was leading an army of his subjects Ionian and Aeolian Greeks among them against this Amarsis for the following reason Cambyses had sent a herald to Egypt asking Amarsis for his daughter he asked on the advice of an Egyptian who advised it out of resentment against Amarsis that out of all Egyptian physicians Amarsis had dragged him away from his wife and children and sent him up to Persia when Cyrus sent to Amarsis asking for the best eye doctor in Egypt out of resentment the Egyptian by his advice induced Cambyses to ask Amarsis for his daughter so that Amarsis would either be wretched if he gave her or hated by Cambyses if he did not Amarsis, intimidated by the power of Persia and frightened to give his daughter nor refuse her for he knew well that Cambyses was not going to take her as his wife but as his concubine after considering the matter he did as follows there was a daughter of the former king Aparis all that was left of that family quite tall and pretty and her name was Nitetus this girl Amarsis adorned with clothes and gold and sent to Cambyses as his own daughter but after a time I embraced her addressing her as the daughter of Amarsis the girl said to him oh king you do not understand how you have been made a fool of by Amarsis who dressed me in finery and sent me to you as his own daughter when I am in fact the daughter of Aparis the ruler Amarsis revolted from with the Egyptians and killed this speech and this crime that occurred turned Cyrus's son Cambyses furiously angry against Egypt so the Persians say but the Egyptians say that Cambyses was the son of this daughter of a priest claim him as one of theirs they say that it was Cyrus who asked Amarsis for his daughter and not Cambyses but what they say is false they are certainly not unaware for if any understand the customs of the Persians the Egyptians do firstly that it is not their custom for a legitimate offspring to rule when they are a legitimate offspring and secondly that Cambyses was the son of Cassandane who came in it and not of the Egyptian woman but they falsify this story pretending to be related to the house of Cyrus that is the truth of the matter the following story incredible to me is also told that one of the Persian women who came to visit Cyrus's wife and saw the tall and attractive children who stood by Cassandane expressed her admiration in extravagant terms then Cassandane's Cyrus wife said although I am the mother of such children Cyrus dishonours me and honours his new woman from Egypt so she spoke in her bitterness against Nethethis and Cambyses, the eldest of her sons, said then mother when I am grown up I will turn all Egypt upside down when he said this he was about ten years old and the women were amazed but he kept it in mind and it was thus that when he grew up and became king he made the campaign against Egypt it so happened too that something else occurred contributing to this campaign there was among a masses mercenaries a man who was a Halicarnassian by birth a clever man and a good soldier whose name was Faines this Faines had some grudge against Amesis and fled from Egypt aboard ship hoping to talk to Cambyses since he was a man much admired among the mercenaries and had an exact knowledge of all Egyptian matters Amesis was anxious to catch him and sent a trireme with his most trusted eunuch to pursue him this eunuch caught him in Lycea but never brought him back to Egypt for Faines was too clever for him he made his guards drunk and so escaped to Persia there he found Cambyses prepared to set out against Egypt but in doubt as to his march how he should cross the waterless desert so Faines showed him what was Amesis' condition and how he should march as to this he advised Cambyses to send and ask the king of the Arabians for a safe passage now the only apparent way of entry into Egypt is this the road runs from Fainesha as far as the borders of the city of Cadetis which belongs to the so called Syrians of Palestine from Cadetis which as I judge is a city not much smaller than Sardis to the city of Aenus as the seaports belong to the Arabians then the Assyrian again from Aenus as far as the Sybonian Marsh beside which the Cassian Promontory stretches seawards from the Sybonian Marsh where Typho is supposed to have been hidden the country is Egypt now between Aenus and the Cassian Mountain and the Sybonian Marsh there lies a wide territory for as much as three days journey terribly arid in something now which few of those who sailed to Egypt know earthen jars full of wine are brought into Egypt twice a year from all Greece and Fainesha besides yet one might safely say there is not a single empty wine jar anywhere in the country what then one may ask becomes of them I shall explain this too each governor of a district must gather in all the earthen pots from his own township and take them to Memphis and the people of Memphis must fill them with water and carry them to those arid lands of Syria so the earthen pottery that is brought to Egypt and unloaded or emptied there is carried to Syria to join the stock that has already been taken there now as soon as the Persians took possession of Egypt they became the caretakers of the entryway into it having it provisioned with water in the way have described but at this time there was no ready supply of water and so Cambyses hearing what was said by the stranger from Heliconisus sent messengers to the Arabian and asked to obtain safe conduct giving to him and receiving from him pledges there are no men who respect pledges more than the Arabians this is how they give them a man stands between the two pledging parties and with a sharp stone cuts the palms of their hands near the thumb then he takes a piece of wood from the cloak of each and smears with their blood seven stones that lie between them meanwhile calling on Dionysus and the heavenly Aphrodite after this is done the one who has given his pledge commands the stranger or his countryman of the other be one to his friends and his friends hold themselves bound to honor the pledge they believe in no other gods except Dionysus and the heavenly Aphrodite and they say that they wear their hair as Dionysus does his cutting it round the head and shaving the temples they call Dionysus Oritol and Aphrodite Alalat when then the Arabian had made the pledge to the messengers who had come from Cambyses he devised the following expedient he filled camel skins with water and loaded all his camels with these then he drove them into the waterless land and there awaited Cambyses army this is the most credible of the stories told but I must relate the less credible tale also since they tell it there is a great river in Arabia called Chorus emptying into the sea called Red from this river it is said the king of the Arabians brought water by an aqueduct made of sonoxides and other hides and extensive enough to reach to the dry country and he had great tanks dug in that country to try to receive and keep the water it is a 12 days journey from the river to that desert by three aqueducts they say he brought the water to three different places Semenitus son of Amesis was encamped by the mouth of the Nile called Pelusian awaiting Cambyses for when Cambyses marched against Egypt he found Amesis no longer alive he had died after reigning 44 years during which he had suffered no great misfortune and being dead he was embalmed and laid in the burial place built for him in the temple while his son Semenitus was king of Egypt the people saw an extraordinary thing namely reign at thebes of Egypt whereas the thebans themselves say there had never been reigned before nor since to my lifetime there is no reign at all in the upper parts of Egypt but at that time a drizzle of rain fell at thebes when the Persians had crossed the waterless country and encamped near the Egyptians intending to engage them the Egyptian mercenaries Greeks and Carians devised a plan to punish Phenes angered at him for leading a foreign army into Egypt Phenes had left sons in Egypt these they brought to the camp into their father's sight and set a great bowl between the two armies then they brought the sons one by one and cut their throats over the bowl when all the sons had been slaughtered they poured wine and water into the bowl and the mercenaries drank this and then gave battle the fighting was fierce and many of both armies fell but at last the Egyptians were routed I saw a strange thing on the site of the battle of which the people of the country had told me the bones of those killed on either side in this fight lying scattered separately for the Persian bones lay in one place in the Egyptian in another where the armies had first separately stood the skulls of the Persians are so brittle that if you throw no more than a pebble it will pierce them but the Egyptian skulls are so strong that a blow of a stone will hardly crack them and this the people said which for my own part I readily believed is the explanation of it the Egyptians shaved their heads from childhood and the bone thickens by exposure to the sun this also is the reason why they do not grow bald for nowhere can one see so few bald heads as in Egypt their skulls then are strong for this reason while the Persian skulls are weak because they cover their heads throughout their lives with the felt hats called tiaras which they were such is the truth of the matter I saw too the skulls of those Persians at Papremis who were killed with Darius and Achaemenus by Inoros the Libyan and they were like the others after their route in the battle the Egyptians fled in disorder and when they had been overtaken in Memphis Cambysys sent a Persian Herald up the river aboard a Mytilenean boat to invite the Egyptians to an accord and when they saw the boat coming to Memphis they sallied out all together from their walls destroyed the boat dismembered the crew like butchers and carried them within the walls so the Egyptians were besieged and after a long while surrendered but the neighbouring Libyans frightened by what had happened in Egypt surrendered without a fight laying tribute on themselves and sending gifts and so too did the people of Cyrene frightened like the Libyans Cambysys received in all kindness the gifts of the Libyans but he seized what came from Cyrene and displeased I think because it was so little for the Cyreneans had sent 500 silver minne Cassid was his own hands among his army on the tenth day after the surrender of the walled city of Memphis Cambysys took Semenitus King of Egypt who had reigned for six months and confined him in the outer part of the city with other Egyptians to insult him having confined him there he tried Semenitus spirit as I shall show he dressed the daughter of the king as a slave and sent her out with a pitcher to fetch water together with other girls from the families of the leading men dressed like the daughter of the king so when the girls went out before their father's eyes crying and lamenting all the rest answered with cries and weeping seeing their children abused but Semenitus having seen with his own eyes and learned all bowed himself to the ground after the water carriers had passed by Cambysys next made Semenitus son go out before him with 2,000 Egyptians of the same age all with ropes bound around their necks and bridal bits in their mouths they were led out to be punished for those Mytileneans who had perished a boat at Memphis for such was the judgment of the royal judges that every man's death be paid for by the deaths of 10 noble Egyptians when Semenitus saw them passing and perceived that his son was being let out to die and all the Egyptians who sat with him wept and showed their affliction he did as he had done at the side of his daughter after these two had gone out it happened that there was one of his companions a man passed his prime he had lost all his possessions and had only what a poor man might have and begged of the army this man now went out before Semenitus son of a masses and the Egyptians confined in the outer part of the city when Semenitus saw him he broke into loud weeping striking his head and calling on his companion by name now there were men set to watch Semenitus who told Cambysys all that he did as each went forth wondering at what the king did Cambysys made this inquiry of him by a messenger Semenitus Lord Cambysys wants to know why seeing your daughter abused and your son going to his death you did not cry out or weep yet you showed such feeling for the beggar who as Cambysys learns from others is not one of your kindred so the messenger inquired Semenitus answered son of Cyrus my private grief was too great for weeping but the unhappiness of my companion deserves tears a man fallen from abundance and prosperity to beggary come to the threshold of old age when the messenger reported this Cambysys and his court it is said sought the answer good and the Egyptians say Semenitus wept for it happened that he too had come with Cambysys to Egypt and the Persians that were there wept Cambysys himself felt some pity that Semenitus son be spared from those that would be executed and that Semenitus himself be brought in from the outer part of the city and brought before him those that went for him found that the son was no longer alive but had been the first to be slaughtered but they brought Semenitus up and led him to Cambysys and there he lived and no violence was done him for the rest of his life and if he had known how to mind his own business he would have regained Egypt to govern for the Persians are inclined to honor King's sons even though King's revolt from them they give back to their sons the sovereign power there are many instances showing that it is their custom to do so and notably the giving back of his father's sovereign power to Sannerus son of Inerus and also to Porcerus son of Ameteus yet none ever did the Persians more harm than Inerus and Ameteus but as it was Semenitus plotted evil and got his reward for he was caught raising a revolt among the Egyptians and when Cambysys heard of it Semenitus drank bull's blood and died such was his hand from Memphis Cambysys went to the city Sace anxious to do exactly what he did do entering the house of Amesys he had the body of Amesys carried outside from its place of burial and when this had been done he gave orders to scourge it and pull out the hair and pierce it with goads and to desegrate it in every way when they were weary of doing this for the body being embalmed remained whole and did not fall to pieces Cambysys gave orders to burn it a sacrilegious command for the Persians hold fire to be a god therefore neither nation thinks it right to burn the dead the Persians for the reason given as they say it is wrong to give the dead body of a man to a god while the Egyptians believe fire to be a living beast that devours all that it catches and when sated with its meal dies together with that on which it feeds now it is by no means their custom to give the dead to beasts and this is why they embalm the corpse that it may not lie and feed worms thus what Cambysys commanded was contrary to the custom of both peoples the Egyptians say however that it was not Amasys to whom this was done but another Egyptian of the same age as Amasys whom the Persians abused thinking that they were abusing Amasys for their story is that Amasys learned from an oracle what was to be done to him after his death and so to escape this fate buried this dead man the one that was scourged near the door inside his own vault and ordered his son that he himself should be laid in the farthest corner of the vault I think that these commands of Amasys regarding the burial place and the man were never given at all and that the Egyptians believed them in vain after this Cambysys planned three expeditions against the Carchedonians against the Amonians and against the long-lived Ethiopians who inhabit that part of Libya that is on the southern sea he decided after consideration to send his fleet against the Carchedonians and a part of his land army against the Amonians to Ethiopia he would first send spies to see what truth there was in the story of a table of the sun in that country and to spy out all else besides under the pretext of bringing gifts for the Ethiopian king now the table of the sun is said to be something of this kind there is a meadow outside the city filled with the boiled flesh of all four-footed things here during the night the men of authority among the townsmen are careful to set out the meat and all day whoever wishes comes and feasts on it these meats, say the people of the country are ever produced by the earth itself such is the story of the sun's table when Cambysys determined to send the spies he sent for those fish-eaters from the city of Elephantine who understood the Ethiopian language while they were fetching them he ordered his fleet to sail against Carthage but the Phoenicians said they would not do it for they were bound they said by strong oaths and if they sailed against their own progeny they would be doing an impious thing and the Phoenicians being unwilling the rest were inadequate fighters thus the Carthaginians escaped being enslaved by the Persians for Cambysys would not use force with the Phoenicians seeing that they had willingly surrendered to the Persians and the whole fleet drew its strength from them the Cyprians too had come of their own accord to aid the Persians against Egypt end of book 3 part 1 book 3 part 2 of Herodotus Histories this is LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org for more information please visit LibriVox.org Histories volume 1 by Herodotus of Alacarnusus translated by A. D. Godly book 3 part 2 parts 20 to 38 when the fish eaters arrived from Elephantine at Cambysys summons he sent them to Ethiopia with orders what to say and bearing his gifts a red cloak and a twisted gold necklace and bracelets and an alabaster box of incense and an earthenware jar of palm wine these Ethiopians to whom Cambysys sent them are said to be the tallest and most handsome of all men their way of choosing kings is different from that of all others as it is said are all their loss they consider that men worthy to be their king whom they judge to be tallest and to have strength proportional to his stature when the fish eaters arrived among these men gifts to their king and said Cambysys the king of the Persians wishing to become your friend in Ali sent us with orders to address ourselves to you and he offers you as gifts these things which he enjoys using himself but the Ethiopian perceiving that they had come as spies spoke thus to them it is not because he values my friendship that the Persian king sends you with gifts nor do you speak the truth for you have come to spy on my realm nor is that man just for were he just he would not have coveted a land other than his own nor would he try to lead into slavery men by whom he has not been injured now give him this bow and this message the king of the Ethiopians advises the king of the Persians to bring overwhelming odds to attack the long-lived Ethiopians when the Persians can draw a bow of this length as easily as I do but until then to thank the gods who do not incite the sons of the Ethiopians to add other land to their own so speaking he unstrung the bow and gave it to the men who had come then taking the red cloak he asked what it was and how it was made and when the fish eaters told him the truth about the color and the process of dying he said that both the men and their garments were full of deceit next he inquired about the twisted gold necklace and the bracelets and when the fish eaters told him the king smiled and thinking them to be fetters said we have stronger chains than these thirdly he inquired about the incense and when they described making and applying it he made the same reply as about the cloak but when he came to the wine and asked about its making he was vastly pleased with the drink and asked further what food their king ate and what was the greatest age to which a Persian lived they told him their king ate bread showing him how wheat grew and said that the full age to which a man might hope to live was 80 years then said the Ethiopian it was no wonder that they lived so few years if they ate done they would not even have been able to live that many unless they were refreshed by the drink signifying to the fish eaters the wine for in this he said the Persians excelled the Ethiopians the fish eaters then in turn asking of the Ethiopian length of life and diet he said that most of them attained to 120 years and some even to more the food was boiled meat and their drink milk the spies showed wonder at the tale of years where upon he led them it is said to a spring by washing in which they grew sleeker as though it were of oil and it smelled of violets so light the spies said was this water that nothing would float on it neither would nor anything lighter than would but all sank to the bottom if this water is truly such as they say it is likely that their constant use of it makes the people long lived when they left the spring the king led them to a prison where all the men were bound with fetters of gold among these Ethiopians there is nothing so scarce and so precious as bronze then having seen the prison they saw what is called the table of the sun last after this they viewed the Ethiopian coffins these are said to be made of alabaster as I shall describe they caused the dead body to shrink either as the Egyptians do or in some other way then cover it with gypsum and paint it all as far as possible in the likeness of the living man then they set it within a hollow pillar of alabaster they dig an abundance from the ground and it is easily worked the body can be seen in the pillar through the alabaster no evil stench nor anything unpleasant proceeding from it and showing clearly all its parts as if it were the man himself the nearest of kin keep the pillar in their houses for a year giving it of the first fruits and offering it sacrifices after which they bring the pillars out and set them round about the city having seen everything the spies departed again when they reported all this campuses was angry and marched at once against the Ethiopians neither giving directions for any provision of food nor considering that he was about to lead his army to the ends of the earth being not right in his mind but mad however he marched at once on hearing from the fish-eaters ordering the Greeks who were with him to await him where they were and taking with him all his land army when he came in his march to Thebes he detached about 50,000 men from his army and directed them to enslave the Ammonians and burn the Oracle of Zeus and he himself went on towards Ethiopia with the rest of his host but before his army had accomplished the fifth part of their journey they had come to an end of all there was in the way of provision and after the food was gone they ate the beasts of burden until there was none of these left either now had canvases when he perceived this changed his mind and led his army back again he would have been a wise man at last after his first fault but as it was he went ever forward taking account of nothing while his soldiers could get anything from the earth they kept themselves alive by eating grass but when they came to the sandy desert some did a terrible thing taking by lot one man out of ten and eating him hearing this canvases feared their becoming cannibals and so gave up his expedition against the Ethiopians and marched back to Thebes with the loss of many of his army from Thebes he came down to Memphis and sent the Greeks to sail away so feared the expedition against Ethiopia as for those who were sent to march against the Ammonians they set out and journeyed from Thebes with guides and it is known that they came to the city of Oasis inhabited by Sammians said to be of the Escrionian tribe seven days march from Thebes across sandy desert this place is called in the Greek language Islands of the Blessed thus far it is said the army came after that except for the Ammonians themselves and those who heard from them no man can say anything of them for they neither reached the Ammonians nor returned back but this is what the Ammonians themselves say when the Persians were crossing the sand from Oasis to attack them and were about midway between their country and Oasis while they were breakfasting a great and violent south winder rose which buried them in the masses of sand which it bore and so they disappeared from sight such is the Ammonian tale about this army when Cambyses was back at Memphis there appeared in Egypt that apis whom the Greeks call Epaphys at whose epiphany the Egyptians put on their best clothing and held a festival seeing the Egyptians so doing Cambyses was fully persuaded that these signs of joy were for his misfortunes and summoned the rulers of Memphis when they came before him he asked them why the Egyptians behaved so at the moment he returned with so many of his army lost though they had done nothing like it was before at Memphis the rulers told him that a god want to appear after long intervals of time had now appeared to them and that all Egypt rejoiced and made holiday whenever he so appeared at this Cambyses said that they lied and he punished them with death for their lie having put them to death he next summoned the priests before him when they gave him the same account he said that if a tame god had come to the Egyptians he would know it and with no more words he bad the priests bring apis so they went to fetch and bring him this apis or epaphys is a calf born of a cow that can never conceive again by what the Egyptians say the cow is made pregnant by a light from heaven and thereafter gives birth to apis the marks of this calf called apis are these he is black and has on his forehead a bright spot and the likeness of an eagle on his back the hairs of the tail are double and there is a knot under the tongue when the priests let apis in Cambyses for he was all but mad drew his dagger and meaning to stab the calf in the belly struck the thigh then laughing he said to the priests simpletons are these your gods creatures of flesh and blood that can fill weapons of iron that is a god worthy of the Egyptians but for you you shall suffer for making me your laughing stock so saying he bad those whose business it was to scourge the priests well and to kill any other Egyptian whom they found holiday making so the Egyptian festival ended and the priests were punished and apis lay in the temple and died of the wound in the thigh when he was dead of the wound the priests buried him without Cambyses knowledge but Cambyses the Egyptians say owing to this wrongful act immediately went mad although even before he had not been sensible his first evil act was to destroy his full brother Smurdus whom he had sent away from Egypt to Persia out of jealousy because Smurdus alone could draw the bow brought from the Ethiopian by the fish eaters as far as two finger-breads but no other Persian could draw it Smurdus having gone to Persia Cambyses saw in a dream a vision in which it seemed to him that a messenger came from Persia and told him that Smurdus sitting on the royal throne touched heaven with his head fearing their forfeit himself lest his brother might slay him and so be king he sent Presasper the most trusted of his Persians to Persia to kill him Presasper went up to Susa and killed Smurdus some say that he took Smurdus out hunting others that he brought him to the Red Sea and there drowned him this they say was the first of Cambyses evil acts next he destroyed his full sister who had come with him to Egypt and whom he had taken to wife he married her in this way for before this it had by no means been customary for Persians to marry their sisters Cambyses was infatuated with one of his sisters and when he wanted to marry her because his intention was contrary to usage he summoned the royal judges and inquired whether there were any law in joining one that so desired to marry his sister these royal judges are then chosen out from the Persians to function until they die or are detected in some injustice it is they who decide suits in Persia and interpret the laws of the land all matters are referred to them these then replied to Cambyses with an answer which was both just and prudent namely that they could find no law in joining a brother to marry his sister but that they had found a law permitting the king of Persia to do whatever he liked thus although they feared Cambyses they did not break the law and to save themselves from death for keeping it they found another law a betting one who wished to marry sisters so Cambyses married the object of his desire but long afterwards he took another sister as well it was the younger of these who had come with him to Egypt and whom he now killed there are two tales of her death as there are of the death of Smedus the Greeks say that Cambyses had set a lion cub to fight a puppy and that this woman was watching too and that as the puppy was losing its brother broke its leash and came to help and the two dogs together got the better of the cub Cambyses they say was pleased with the sight but the woman wept as she sat by Cambyses perceiving it asked why she wept and she said that when she saw the puppy help its brother she had wept recalling Smedus and knowing that there would be no avenger for him for saying this according to the Greek story she was killed by Cambyses but the Egyptian tale is that as the two sat at table Smedus and plucked off its leaves then asked her husband whether he preferred the look of it with or without leaves with the leaves he said whereupon she answered yet you have stripped Sarah's house as bare as his lettuce angered this they say he sprang upon her who was great with child and she miscarried and died of the hurt he gave her such were Cambyses mad acts to his own household whether they were done or some of the many troubles that are want to beset man for indeed he has said to have been afflicted from his birth with that grievous disease which some call sacred it is not unlikely then that when his body was grievously afflicted his mind too should be diseased I will now relate his mad dealings with the rest of Persia he said as they report to Britsaspis whom he held in particular honour who brought him all his messages whose son held the very honourable office of Cambyses cup-bearer thus I say he spoke to Britsaspis what manner of man Britsaspis do the Persians think me to be and how do they speak of me Sarah said Britsaspis for all else they greatly praise you but they say that you love wine too well so he reported to the Persians the king angrily replied if the Persians now say that it is my funness for wine that drives me to frenzy and madness then it would seem that their former saying also was a lie for it is said that before this while some Persians and Cresces were sitting with him Cambyses asked what manner of man they thought him to be in comparison with Cyrus' father and they answered Cambyses was the better man for he had all of Cyrus' possessions and had won Egypt and the sea besides so said the Persians but Cresces who was present and was dissatisfied with their judgment spoke thus to Cambyses to me son of Cyrus you do not seem to be the equal of your father for you have as yet no son such as he left after him in you this pleased Cambyses and he praised Cresces' judgment remembering this then he said to Britsaspis in his anger judge then if the Persians speak the truth or rather are themselves out of their minds when they speak of me so you understand your son in the porch now if I shoot and pierce his heart that will prove the Persians to be wrong if I miss then say that they are right and that I am out of my senses so saying he strung his bow and hit the boy and gave orders to open the fallen body and examine the wound and the arrow being found in the heart Cambyses laughed in great glee and said to the boy's father it is plain Britsaspis that I am in my right mind and the Persians mad now tell me what man in the world do you ever see that shot so true to the mark Britsaspis it is said replied for he saw that Cambyses was mad and he feared for his own life master I think that not even the god himself could shoot so true thus did Cambyses then at another time he took twelve Persians equal to the numberblest in the land convicted them of some minor offence and buried them alive up to the neck for these acts Creases the Lydian thought fit to take him to task and addressed him thus sigh I do not sacrifice everything to youth and temper but restrain and control yourself prudence is a good thing forethought is wise but you kill men of your own country whom you have convicted of some minor offence and you kill boys so often beware lest the Persians revolt from you as for me your father saras earnestly begged me to cancel you and to give you such advice as I think to be good Creases gave him this cancel out of good will but Cambyses answered it is very well that you should even dare to cancel me you who governed your own country so well and gave fine advice to my father telling him when the Miss Sagittare were willing to cross over into our lands to pass the Araxes and attack them thus you worked your own ruin by misgoverning your country and Cyrus who trusted you but you shall regret it I have long waited for an occasion to deal with you with that Cambyses took his bow to shoot him dead but Creases leapt up and ran out and Cambyses being unable to shoot him ordered his attendants to catch and kill him they knowing Cambyses' mood hid Creases intending to reveal him and receive gifts for saving his life if Cambyses should repent and ask for Creases but if he should not repent nor wish Creases back then to kill the Lydian not long after this Cambyses did wish Creases back and the attendants understanding this told him that Creases was alive still Cambyses said that he was glad of it but that they who had saved Creases should not escape with impunity but be killed and this was done Cambyses committed many such mad acts against the Persians and his allies he stayed at Memphis and there opened ancient coffins and examined the dead bodies thus too he entered the temple of Hephaestus and jeered at the image there this image of Hephaestus is most like the Phoenician Ptichy whom the Phoenicians carry on the prose of their triremes I will describe it for anyone who has not seen these figures it is the likeness of a dwarf also he entered the temple of the Cabiri into which no one may enter save the priest the images here he even burnt with bitter mockery these also are like the images of Hephaestus and are said to be his sons I hold it then in every way proved that Cambyses was quite insane or he would never have set himself to deride religion and custom for if it were proposed to all nations to choose which seemed best of all customs each after examination would place its own first so well as each convinced that its own are by father best it is not therefore to be supposed that anyone except a madman would turn such things to ridicule I will give this one proof among many from which it may be inferred that all men hold this belief about their customs when Darius was king he summoned the Greeks who were with him and asked them for what price they would eat their father's dead bodies and said that there was no price for which they would do it then Darius summoned those Indians who were called Kalatiii who eat their parents and asked them the Greeks being present and understanding through interpreters what was said what would make them willing to burn their fathers at death the Indians cried aloud that he should not speak of so horrid an act so firmly rooted of these beliefs and it is I think rightly said in this poem that custom is lord of all end of book 3 part 2 book 3 part 3 of Herodotus histories this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by David Leeson histories volume 1 by Herodotus of Halicarnassus translated by A.D. Godly book 3 part 3 paragraphs 39 through 60 while Cambyses was attacking Egypt the Lassidimonians too were making war upon Samos and upon Iasi's son Pelicrates who had revolted and won Samos and first dividing the city into three parts he gave a share in the government to his brothers Pentechnotus and Silocian but presently he put one of them to death banished the younger Silocian and so made himself Lord of all Samos then he made a treaty with Amasis king of Egypt sending to him and receiving from him gifts very soon after this Pelicrates grew to such power that he was famous in Ionia and all other Greek lands for all his military affairs succeeded he had 150 oared ships and a thousand archers and he pillaged every place indiscriminately for he said that he would get more thanks if he gave a friend back what he had taken than if he never took it at all he had taken many of the islands and many of the mainland cities among others he conquered the lesbians they had brought all their force to aid the Malesians and Pelicrates defeated them in a sea fight it was they who being his captives dug all the trench around the Acropolis of Samos now Amasis was somehow aware of Pelicrates great good fortune and as this continued to increase greatly he wrote this letter and sent it to Samos Amasis addresses Pelicrates as follows it is pleasant to learn that a friend and ally is doing well but I do not like these great successes of yours for I know the gods how jealous they are and I desire somehow that both I and those for whom I care succeed in some affairs fail in others and thus pass life faring differently by turns rather than succeed at everything for from all I have heard I know of no man whom continual good fortune did not bring in the end to evil and utter destruction therefore if you will be ruled by me do this regarding your successes consider what you hold most precious and what you will be sorry is to lose and cast it away so that it shall never again be seen among men then if after this the successes that come to you are not mixed with mischances strive to mend the matter as I have counseled you reading this and perceiving that Amasis advice was good Pelicrates considered which of his treasures it would most grieve his soul to lose and came to this conclusion he wore a seal set in gold an emerald crafted by theodorus son of teleklies of Samos being resolved to cast this away he embarked in a fifty-ord ship with its crew and told them to put out to sea and when he was far from the island he took off the seal ring inside of all that were on the ship and cast it into the sea this done he sailed back and went to his house where he grieved for the loss but on the fifth or sixth day from this it happened that a fisherman who had taken a fine and great fish and desired to make a gift of it to Pelicrates brought it to the door and said that he wished to see Pelicrates this being granted he gave the fish saying oh king when I caught this fish I thought best not to take it to market although I am a man who lives by his hands but it seemed to me worthy of you and your greatness and so I bring it and offer it to you Pelicrates was pleased with what the fisherman said you have done very well he answered and I give you double thanks for your words and for the gift and I invite you to dine with me with this honor the fisherman went home but the servants cutting up the fish found in its belly Pelicrates seal ring as soon as they saw and seized it they brought it with joy to Pelicrates and giving the ring to him told him how it had been found Pelicrates saw the hand of heaven in this matter he wrote a letter and sent it to Egypt telling all that he had done and what had happened to him when Amosus had read Pelicrates letter he perceived that no man could save another from his destiny and that Pelicrates being so continually fortunate that he even found what he cast away must come to an evil end so he sent a herald to Samos to renounce his friendship determined that when some great and terrible mischance overtook Pelicrates he himself might not have to sadden his heart for a friend it was against this ever victorious Macedemonians now made war invited by the Samians who afterwards founded Sidonia in Crete Pelicrates had without the knowledge of his subjects sent a herald to Cambyses son of Cyrus then raising an army against Egypt inviting Cambyses to send to Samos to and request men from him at this message Cambyses very readily sent to Samos asking Pelicrates to send a fleet to aid him against Egypt some men whom he most suspected of planning a rebellion against him and sent them in 40 triremes directing Cambyses not to send the men back some say that these Samians who were sent never came to Egypt but that when they had sailed as far as Carpathus discussed the matter among themselves and decided to sail no further others say that they did come to Egypt and there escaped from the guard that was set over them Pelicrates ships met and engaged them and the returning Samians were victorious and landed on the island but were there beaten in a land battle and so sailed to Lassa demon there are those who say that the Samians from Egypt defeated Pelicrates but to my thinking this is untrue for they need not have invited the Lassa demonians if in fact they had been able to master Pelicrates by themselves besides it is not even that he who had a great army of hired soldiers and bowmen of his own was beaten by a few men like the returning Samians Pelicrates took the children and wives of the townsmen who were subject to him and shut them up in the boat houses with intent to burn them and the boat houses too if their men should desert to the returned Samians when the Samians who were expelled by Pelicrates came to Sparta they came before the ruling men and made a long speech to show the greatness of their need but the Spartans at their first sitting answered that they had forgotten the beginning of the speech and could not understand its end after this the Samians came a second time with a sack and said nothing but this the sack wants flour to this the Spartans replied that they were overwordy with the sack but they did resolve to help them the Lassa demonians then equipped returning a favor as the Samians say because they first sent a fleet to help the Lassa demonians against Messenia but the Lassa demonians say that they sent this army less to aid the Samians in their need than to avenge the robbery of the bowl which they had been carrying to Cresus and the breastplate which a masses king of Egypt had sent them as a gift this breastplate had been stolen by the Samians in the year before they took the bowl it was of linen decked with gold and cotton jewelry and embroidered with many figures but what makes it worthy of wonder is that each thread of the breastplate fine as each is is made up of 360 strands each plainly seen it is the exact counterpart of the one which a masses dedicated to Athena in Lindus the Corinthians also enthusiastically helped to further the expedition against Samos for an outrage had been done them by the Samians a generation in the expedition about the time of the robbery of the bowl Periander son of Sipsilis sent to Al-Yatis at Sardis 300 boys sons of notable men in Corsara to be made eunuchs the Corinthians who brought the boys put in at Samos and when the Samians heard why the boys were brought first they instructed them to take sanctuary in the temple of Artemis then they would not allow the suppliants to be dragged from the temple to starve the boys out the Samians held a festival which they still celebrate in the same fashion throughout the time that the boys were seeking asylum they held nightly dances of young men and women to which it was made accustomed to bring cakes of sesame and honey so that the Corsarian boys might snatch these and have food this continued to be done until the Corinthian guards left their charge and departed then the Samians took the boys back to Corsara at the Periander the Corinthians had been friendly toward the Corsarians they would not have taken part in the expedition against Samos for this reason but as it was ever since the island was colonized they have been at odds with each other despite their kinship for these reasons then the Corinthians bore a grudge against the Samians Periander chose the sons of the notable Corsarians and sent them to Sardis to be made eunuchs as an act of vengeance for the Corsarians had first begun the quarrel by committing a terrible crime against him for after killing his own wife Melissa Periander suffered yet another calamity on top of what he had already suffered he had two sons by Melissa one seventeen and one eighteen years old their mother's father Procles the sovereign of Epidorus sent for the boys and treated them affectionately as was natural seeing that they were his own father's sons when they left him he said as he sent them forth do you know boys who killed your mother the elder of them paid no attention to these words but the younger whose name was Lycophron was struck with such horror when he heard them that when he came to Corinth he would not speak to his father his mother's murderer nor would he answer him when addressed nor reply to his questions at last Periander was so angry he drove the boy from his house having driven this one away he asked the elder son what their grandfather had said to them the boy told him that Procles had treated them kindly but did not mention what he had said at parting for he had paid no attention Periander said that by no means could Procles not have dropped some hint and interrogated him persistently until the boy remembered and told him and Periander, comprehending and wishing to show no weakness sent a message to those with whom his banished son was living and forbade them to keep him so when the boy driven out would go to another house he would be driven from this also since Periander threatened all who received him and ordered them to shut him out so when driven forth he would go to some other house of his friends and they, although he was the son of Periander and although they were afraid nonetheless took him in then Periander made a proclamation that whoever sheltered the boy in his house or spoke to him would owe a fine to Apollo and he set the amount in view of this proclamation no one wished to address or receive the boy into his house and besides the boy himself did not think it right to attempt what was forbidden but accepting it slept in the open on the fourth day when Periander saw him starved and unwashed he took pity on him and his anger being softened he came near and said my son, which is preferable to follow your present way of life or by being well disposed toward your father to inherit my power and the goods which I now possess though my son and a prince of prosperous Corinth you prefer the life of a vagrant by opposing and being angry with me with whom you least ought to be for if something has happened as a result of which you have a suspicion about me it has happened to my disadvantage and I bear the brunt of it in as much as I am the cause but bearing in mind how much better it is to be envied than to be pitied and at the same time what sort of thing it is to be angry with your parents and with those that are stronger than you come back to the house with these words Periander tried to move his son but he said nothing else to his father only told him that because he had conversed with him he was blind to Apollo when Periander saw that his son's stubbornness could not be got around or overcome he sent him away out of his sight in a ship to Coursera for Coursera too was subject to him and when he had sent him away he sent an army against Procles his father-in-law since he was most to blame for his present troubles and he took Epidaurus captured Procles and imprisoned him as time went on Periander had grown past his prime and aware that he could no longer oversee and direct all his affairs sent to Coursera inviting Lycophron to be sovereign for he saw no hope in his eldest son who seemed to him to be slow-witted Lycophron did not dignify the invitation with a reply then Periander pressing the young man sent to him as the next best way his daughter, the boy's sister thinking that he would listen to her came and said child would you want the power to fall to others and our father's house destroyed rather than to return and have it yourself come home and stop punishing yourself pride is an unhappy possession do not cure evil by evil many place the more becoming thing before the just and many pursuing their mother's business have lost their fathers power is a slippery thing many want it and our father who had grown old and past his prime do not lose what is yours to others so she spoke communicating their father's inducements but he answered that he would never come to Corinth as long as he knew his father was alive when she brought this answer back Periander sent a third messenger through whom he proposed that he should go to Coursera and that the boy should return to Corinth and be the heir of his power the son consented to this he was ready to go to Coursera and Likafront to go to Corinth but when the Coursereans learned of all these matters they put the young man to death so that Periander would not come to their country it was for this that Periander desired vengeance on the Coursereans the Lassidemonians then came with a great army and besieged Samos they advanced to the wall and entered the tower that stands by the seaside but then Polycrates himself attacked them with a great force and drove them out the mercenaries and many of the Samos themselves sallied out near the upper tower on the ridge of the hill and withstood the Lassidemonian advance for a little while then they fled back with the Lassidemonians pursuing and destroying them had all the Lassidemonians there that day been like Arceus and Lycopus Samos would have been taken these two alone entered the fortress along with the fleeing crowd of Samos and were cut off and killed in the city of Samos I myself have met in his native town of Petana another Arceus son of Samos and grandson of the Arceus mentioned above who honored the Samos more than any other of his guest friends and told me that his father had borne the name Samos because he was the son of that Arceus who was killed fighting bravely at Samos the reason that he honored the Samos he said was that he had given his grandfather a public funeral so when the Lassidemonians had besieged Samos for 40 days with no success they went away to the Peloponnesus there is a foolish tale abroad that Pelicrates bribed them to depart by making and giving them a great number of gilded lead coins as a native currency this was the first expedition to Asia made by Dorians of Lassidemon when the Lassidemonians were about to abandon them the Samians who had brought an army against Pelicrates sailed away too and went to Sifnus for they were in need of money and the Sifnians were at this time very prosperous and the richest of the islanders because of the gold and silver mines on the island they were so wealthy that the treasure dedicated by them at Delphi which is as rich as any there was made from a tenth of their income and they divided among themselves each year's income to the treasure they inquired of the oracle if their present prosperity was likely to last long whereupon the priestess gave them this answer when the Pritonium on Sifnus becomes white and white-browed the market then indeed a shrewd man is wanted beware a wooden force and a red herald at this time the marketplace and town hall of Sifnus were adorned with parry and marble they could not understand this oracle either when it was spoken or at the time of the Samians coming as soon as the Samians put in at Sifnus they sent ambassadors to the town in one of their ships now in ancient times all ships were painted with vermilion and this was what was meant by the warning given by the priestess to the Sifnians to beware a wooden force and a red herald the messengers then demanded from the Sifnians a loan of ten talents when the Sifnians refused them to be ravaging their lands hearing this the Sifnians came out at once to drive them off but they were defeated in battle and many of them were cut off from their town by the Samians who presently exacted from them a hundred talents then the Samians took from the men of Hermione instead of money the island Hidria which is near to the Peloponnesus and gave it to the men of Trezen for safekeeping they themselves settled at Sidonia in Crete and the voyage had been made with no such intent but rather to drive the Synthians out of the island here they stayed and prospered for five years indeed the temples now at Sidonia and the shrine of Dictina are the Samians work but in the sixth year Agenitans and Cretans came and defeated them in a sea fight and made slaves of them moreover they cut off the ships prowls that were shaped like boars heads and dedicated them in the temple of Athena this out of a grudge against the Samians for previously the Samians in the day when Amphicrates was king of Samos sailing in force against Agena had hurt the Agenitans and been hurt by them this was the cause I have written at such length of the Samians because the three greatest works of all the Greeks were engineered by them the first of these is the tunnel with a mouth at either end driven through the base of a hill 900 feet high is 4200 feet long 8 feet high and 8 feet wide and throughout the whole of its length there runs a channel 30 feet deep and 3 feet wide through which the water coming from an abundant spring is carried by pipes to the city of Samos the designer of this work was Eupalinus son of Nostrophus a Magarian this is one of the three works the second is a breakwater in the sea enclosing the harbor sunk 120 feet 200 feet in length the third Samian work is the temple which is the greatest of all the temples of which we know its first builder was Rikus son of Philes a Samian it is for this cause that I have expounded at more than ordinary length of Samos end of book 3 part 3