An Account of Egypt

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Down to the time when Rhampsinitos was king, they told me there was in
Egypt nothing but orderly rule, and Egypt prospered greatly; but after
him Cheops became king over them and brought them to every kind of
evil: for he shut up all the temples, and having first kept them from
sacrifices there, he then bade all the Egyptians work for him. So some
were appointed to draw stones from the stone-quarries in the Arabian
mountains to the Nile, and others he ordered to receive the stones after
they had been carried over the river in boats, and to draw them to those
which are called the Libyan mountains; and they worked by a hundred
thousand men at a time, for each three months continually. Of this
oppression there passed ten years while the causeway was made by which
they drew the stones, which causeway they built, and it is a work not
much less, as it appears to me, than the pyramid; for the length of it
is five furlongs and the breadth ten fathoms and the height, where it
is highest, eight fathoms, and it is made of stone smoothed and with
figures carved upon it. For this they said, the ten years were spent,
and for the underground he caused to be made as sepulchral chambers for
himself in an island, having conducted thither a channel from the Nile.
For the making of the pyramid itself there passed a period of twenty
years; and the pyramid is square, each side measuring eight hundred
feet, and the height of it is the same. It is built of stone smoothed
and fitted together in the most perfect manner, not one of the stones
being less than thirty feet in length. This pyramid was made after the
manner of steps which some called "rows" and others "bases": and when
they had first made it thus, they raised the remaining stones with
machines made of short pieces of timber, raising them first from the
ground to the first stage of the steps, and when the stone got up to
this it was placed upon another machine standing on the first stage,
and so from this it was drawn to the second upon another machine; for as
many as were the courses of the steps, so many machines there were also,
or perhaps they transferred one and the same machine, made so as easily
to be carried, to each stage successively, in order that they might
take up the stones; for let it be told in both ways, according as it
is reported. However that may be the highest parts of it were finished
first, and afterwards they proceeded to finish that which came next to
them, and lastly they finished the parts of it near the ground and the
lowest ranges. On the pyramid it is declared in Egyptian writing how
much was spent on radishes and onions and leeks for the workmen, and if
I rightly remember that which the interpreter said in reading to me this
inscription, a sum of one thousand six hundred talents of silver was
spent; and if this is so, how much besides is likely to have been
expended upon the iron with which they worked, and upon bread and
clothing for the workmen, seeing that they were building the works for
the time which has been mentioned and were occupied for no small time
besides, as I suppose, in the cutting and bringing of the stones and in
working at the excavation under the ground? Cheops moreover came, they
said, to such a pitch of wickedness, that being in want of money he
caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and ordered her to obtain
from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did
not tell me): and she not only obtained the sum appointed by her father,
but also she formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her
a memorial, and she requested each man who came in to give her one stone
upon her building: and of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was
built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the
three, each side being one hundred and fifty feet in length.

This Cheops, the Egyptians said, reigned fifty years; and after he was
dead his brother Chephren succeeded to the kingdom. This king followed
the same manner of dealing as the other, both in all the rest and also
in that he made a pyramid, not indeed attaining to the measurements
of that which was built by the former (this I know, having myself also
measured it), and moreover there are no underground chambers beneath nor
does a channel come from the Nile flowing to this one as to the other,
in which the water coming through a conduit built for it flows round
an island within, where they say that Cheops himself is laid: but for a
basement he built the first course of Ethiopian stone of divers colours;
and this pyramid he made forty feet lower than the other as regards
size, building it close to the great pyramid. These stand both upon the
same hill, which is about a hundred feet high. And Chephren they said
reigned fifty and six years. Here then they reckon one hundred and six
years, during which they say that there was nothing but evil for the
Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed and not opened during all
that time. These kings the Egyptians by reason of their hatred of them
are not very willing to name; nay, they even call the pyramids after the
name of Philitis the shepherd, who at that time pastured flocks in those
regions. After him, they said, Mykerinos became king over Egypt, who was
the son of Cheops; and to him his father's deeds were displeasing, and
he both opened the temples and gave liberty to the people, who were
ground down to the last extremity of evil, to return to their own
business and to their sacrifices: also he gave decisions of their causes
juster than those of all the other kings besides. In regard to this then
they commend this king more than all the other kings who had arisen in
Egypt before him; for he not only gave good decisions, but also when
a man complained of the decision, he gave him recompense from his own
goods and thus satisfied his desire. But while Mykerinos was acting
mercifully to his subjects and practising this conduct which has been
said, calamities befell him, of which the first was this, namely that
his daughter died, the only child whom he had in his house: and being
above measure grieved by that which had befallen him, and desiring to
bury his daughter in a manner more remarkable than others, he made a cow
of wood, which he covered over with gold, and then within it he buried
this daughter who as I said, had died. This cow was not covered up in
the ground, but it might be seen even down to my own time in the city
of Sais, placed within the royal palace in a chamber which was greatly
adorned; and they offer incense of all kinds before it every day, and
each night a lamp burns beside it all through the night. Near this cow
in another chamber stand images of the concubines of Mykerinos, as the
priests at Sais told me; for there are in fact colossal wooden statues,
in number about twenty, made with naked bodies; but who they are I am
not able to say, except only that which is reported. Some however tell
about this cow and the colossal statues the following tale, namely that
Mykerinos was enamoured of his own daughter and afterwards ravished her;
and upon this they say that the girl strangled herself for grief, and
he buried her in this cow; and her mother cut off the hands of the maids
who had betrayed the daughter to her father; wherefore now the images of
them have suffered that which the maids suffered in their life. In thus
saying they speak idly, as it seems to me, especially in what they say
about the hands of the statues; for as to this, even we ourselves saw
that their hands had dropped off from lapse of time, and they were to be
seen still lying at their feet even down to my time. The cow is covered
up with a crimson robe, except only the head and the neck, which are
seen, overlaid with gold very thickly; and between the horns there is
the disc of the sun figured in gold. The cow is not standing up but
kneeling, and in size is equal to a large living cow. Every year it is
carried forth from the chamber, at those times, I say, the Egyptians
beat themselves for that god whom I will not name upon occasion of such
a matter; at these times, I say, they also carry forth the cow to the
light of day, for they say that she asked of her father Mykerinos, when
she was dying, that she might look upon the sun once in the year.

After the misfortune of his daughter it happened, they said, secondly
to this king as follows:--An oracle came to him from the city of Buto,
saying that he was destined to live but six years more, in the seventh
year to end his life: and he being indignant at it sent to the Oracle
a reproach against the god, making complaint in reply that whereas
his father and uncle, who had shut up the temples and had not only not
remembered the gods, but also had been destroyers of men, had lived for
a long time, he himself, who practised piety, was destined to end his
life so soon: and from the Oracle came a second message, which said
that it was for this very cause that he was bringing his life to a swift
close; for he had not done that which it was appointed for him to do,
since it was destined that Egypt should suffer evils for a hundred and
fifty years, and the two kings who had arisen before him had perceived
this, but he had not. Mykerinos having heard this, and considering that
this sentence had passed upon him beyond recall, procured many lamps,
and whenever night came on he lighted these and began to drink and take
his pleasure, ceasing neither by day nor by night; and he went about to
the fen-country and to the woods and wherever he heard there were the
most suitable places of enjoyment. This he devised (having a mind to
prove that the Oracle spoke falsely) in order that he might have twelve
years of life instead of six, the nights being turned into days.

This king also left behind him a pyramid, much smaller than that of his
father, of a square shape and measuring on each side three hundred feet
lacking twenty, built moreover of Ethiopian stone up to half the
height. This pyramid some of the Hellenes say was built by the courtesan
Rhodopis, not therein speaking rightly: and besides this it is evident
to me that they who speak thus do not even know who Rhodopis was,
for otherwise they would not have attributed to her the building of a
pyramid like this, on which have been spent (so to speak) innumerable
thousands of talents: moreover they do not know that Rhodopis flourished
in the reign of Amasis, and not in this king's reign; for Rhodopis
lived very many years later than the kings who left behind them these
pyramids. By descent she was of Thrace, and she was a slave of Iadmon
the son of Hephaistopolis a Samian, and a fellow-slave of Esop the
maker of fables; for he too was once the slave of Iadmon, as was
proved especially by this fact, namely that when the people of Delphi
repeatedly made proclamation in accordance with an oracle, to find some
one who would take up the blood-money for the death of Esop, no one else
appeared, but at length the grandson of Iadmon, called Iadmon also, took
it up; and thus it is showed that Esop too was the slave of Iadmon.
As for Rhodopis, she came to Egypt brought by Xanthes the Samian,
and having come thither to exercise her calling she was redeemed
from slavery for a great sum by a man of Mytilene, Charaxos son of
Scamandronymos and brother of Sappho the lyric poet. Thus was Rhodopis
set free, and she remained in Egypt and by her beauty won so much liking
that she made great gain of money for one like Rhodopis, though not
enough to suffice for the cost of such a pyramid as this. In truth there
is no need to ascribe to her very great riches, considering that the
tithe of her wealth may still be seen even to this time by any one
who desires it: for Rhodopis wished to leave behind her a memorial of
herself in Hellas, namely to cause a thing to be made such as happens
not to have been thought of or dedicated in a temple by any besides, and
to dedicate this at Delphi as a memorial of herself. Accordingly with
the tithe of her wealth she caused to be made spits of iron of size
large enough to pierce a whole ox, and many in number, going as far
therein as her tithe allowed her, and she sent them to Delphi: these
are even at the present time lying there, heaped all together behind the
altar which the Chians dedicated, and just opposite to the cell of the
temple. Now at Naucratis, as it happens, the courtesans are rather apt
to win credit; for this woman first, about whom the story to which I
refer is told, became so famous that all the Hellenes without exception
came to know the name of Rhodopis, and then after her one whose name was
Archidiche became a subject of song all over Hellas, though she was less
talked of than the other. As for Charaxos, when after redeeming Rhodopis
he returned back to Mytilene, Sappho in an ode violently abused him. Of
Rhodopis then I shall say no more.

After Mykerinos the priests said Asychis became king of Egypt, and he
made for Hephaistos the temple gateway which is towards the sunrising,
by far the most beautiful and the largest of the gateways; for while
they all have figures carved upon them and innumerable ornaments of
building besides, this has them very much more than the rest. In this
king's reign they told me that, as the circulation of money was very
slow, a law was made for the Egyptians that a man might have that money
lent to him which he needed, by offering as security the dead body of
his father; and there was added moreover to this law another, namely
that he who lent the money should have a claim also to the whole of the
sepulchral chamber belonging to him who received it, and that the man
who offered that security should be subject to this penalty, if he
refused to pay back the debt, namely that neither the man himself
should be allowed to have burial, when he died, either in that family
burial-place or in any other, nor should he be allowed to bury any of
his kinsmen whom he lost by death. This king desiring to surpass the
kings of Egypt who had arisen before him left as a memorial of himself a
pyramid which he made of bricks and on it there is an inscription
carved in stone and saying thus: "Despise not me in comparison with the
pyramids of stone, seeing that I excel them as much as Zeus excels the
other gods; for with a pole they struck into the lake, and whatever
of the mud attached itself to the pole, this they gathered up and made
bricks, and in such manner they finished me."

Such were the deeds which this king performed: and after him reigned a
blind man of the city of Anysis, whose name was Anysis. In his reign
the Ethiopians and Sabacos the king of the Ethiopians marched upon Egypt
with a great host of men; so this blind man departed, flying to the
fen-country, and the Ethiopian was king over Egypt for fifty years,
during which he performed deeds as follows:--whenever any man of the
Egyptians committed any transgression, he would never put him to death,
but he gave sentence upon each man according to the greatness of the
wrong-doing, appointing them to work at throwing up an embankment before
that city from whence each man came of those who committed wrong. Thus
the cities were made higher still than before; for they were embanked
first by those who dug the channels in the reign of Sesostris, and then
secondly in the reign of the Ethiopian, and thus they were made very
high: and while other cities in Egypt also stood high, I think in the
town at Bubastis especially the earth was piled up. In this city there
is a temple very well worthy of mention, for though there are other
temples which are larger and build with more cost, none more than
this is a pleasure to the eyes. Now Bubastis in the Hellenic tongue
is Artemis, and her temple is ordered thus:--Except the entrance it is
completely surrounded by water; for channels come in from the Nile, not
joining one another, but each extending as far as the entrance of the
temple, one flowing round on the one side and the other on the other
side, each a hundred feet broad and shaded over with trees; and the
gateway has a height of ten fathoms, and it is adorned with figures six
cubits high, very noteworthy. This temple is in the middle of the city
and is looked down upon from all sides as one goes round, for since the
city has been banked up to a height, while the temple has not been moved
from the place where it was at the first built, it is possible to look
down into it: and round it runs a stone wall with figures carved upon
it, while within it there is a grove of very large trees planted round
a large temple-house, within which is the image of the goddess: and the
breadth and length of the temple is a furlong every way. Opposite the
entrance there is a road paved with stone for about three furlongs,
which leads through the market-place towards the East, with a breadth
of about four hundred feet; and on this side and on that grow trees of
height reaching to heaven: and the road leads to the temple of Hermes.
This temple then is thus ordered.

The final deliverance from the Ethiopian came about (they said) as
follows:--he fled away because he had seen in his sleep a vision, in
which it seemed to him that a man came and stood by him and counselled
him to gather together all the priests in Egypt and cut them asunder in
the midst. Having seen this dream, he said that it seemed to him that
the gods were foreshowing him this to furnish an occasion against him,
in order that he might do an impious deed with respect to religion,
and so receive some evil either from the gods or from men: he would not
however do so, but in truth (he said) the time had expired, during
which it had been prophesied to him that he should rule Egypt before
he departed thence. For when he was in Ethiopia the Oracles which the
Ethiopians consult had told him that it was fated for him to rule Egypt
fifty years: since then this time was now expiring, and the vision of
the dream also disturbed him, Sabacos departed out of Egypt of his own
free will.

Then when the Ethiopian had gone away out of Egypt, the blind man came
back from the fen-country and began to rule again, having lived there
during fifty years upon an island which he had made by heaping up ashes
and earth: for whenever any of the Egyptians visited him bringing food,
according as it had been appointed to them severally to do without the
knowledge of the Ethiopian, he bade them bring also some ashes for their
gift. This island none was able to find before Amyrtaios; that is, for
more than seven hundred years the kings who arose before Amyrtaios were
not able to find it. Now the name of this island is Elbo, and its size
is ten furlongs each way.

After him there came to the throne the priest of Hephaistos, whose name
was Sethos. This man, they said, neglected and held in no regard the
warrior class of the Egyptians, considering that he would have no need
of them; and besides other slights which he put upon them, he also
took from them the yokes of corn-land which had been given to them as
a special gift in the reigns of the former kings, twelve yokes to each
man. After this, Sanacharib king of the Arabians and of the Assyrians
marched a great host against Egypt. Then the warriors of the Egyptians
refused to come to the rescue, and the priest, being driven into a
strait, entered into the sanctuary of the temple and bewailed to the
image of the god the danger which was impending over him; and as he was
thus lamenting, sleep came upon him, and it seemed to him in his vision
that the god came and stood by him and encouraged him, saying that he
should suffer no evil if he went forth to meet the army of the Arabians;
for he would himself send him helpers. Trusting in these things seen
in sleep, he took with him, they said, those of the Egyptians who were
willing to follow him, and encamped in Pelusion, for by this way the
invasion came: and not one of the warrior class followed him, but
shop-keepers and artisans and men of the market. Then after they came,
there swarmed by night upon their enemies mice of the fields, and ate up
their quivers and their bows, and moreover the handles of their shields,
so that on the next day they fled, and being without defence of arms
great numbers fell. And at the present time this king stands in the
temple of Hephaistos in stone, holding upon his hand a mouse, and by
letters inscribed he says these words: "Let him who looks upon me learn
to fear the gods."

So far in the story the Egyptians and the priests were they who made
the report, declaring that from the first king down to this priest of
Hephaistos who reigned last, there had been three hundred and forty-one
generations of men, and that in them there had been the same number of
chief-priests and of kings: but three hundred generations of men are
equal to ten thousand years, for a hundred years is three generations
of men; and in the one-and-forty generations which remain, those I mean
which were added to the three hundred, there are one thousand three
hundred and forty years. Thus in the period of eleven thousand three
hundred and forty years they said that there had arisen no god in human
form; nor even before that time or afterwards among the remaining kings
who arise in Egypt, did they report that anything of that kind had come
to pass. In this time they said that the sun had moved four times from
his accustomed place of rising, and where he now sets he had thence
twice had his rising, and in the place from whence he now rises he had
twice had his setting; and in the meantime nothing in Egypt had been
changed from its usual state, neither that which comes from the earth
nor that which comes to them from the river nor that which concerns
diseases or deaths. And formerly when Hecataios the historian was in
Thebes, and had traced his descent and connected his family with a god
in the sixteenth generation before, the priests of Zeus did for him much
the same as they did for me (though I had not traced my descent). They
led me into the sanctuary of the temple, which is of great size, and
they counted up the number, showing colossal wooden statues in number
the same as they said; for each chief-priest there sets up in his
lifetime an image of himself: accordingly the priests, counting and
showing me these, declared to me that each one of them was a son
succeeding his own father, and they went up through the series of images
from the image of the one who had died last, until they had declared
this of the whole number. And when Hecataios had traced his descent and
connected his family with a god in the sixteenth generation, they traced
a descent in opposition to his, besides their numbering, not accepting
it from him that a man had been born from a god; and they traced their
counter-descent thus, saying that each one of the statues had been
_piromis_ son of _piromis_, until they had declared this of the whole
three hundred and forty-five statues, each one being surnamed _piromis_;
and neither with a god nor a hero did they connect their descent. Now
_piromis_ means in the tongue of Hellas "honourable and good man." From
their declaration then it followed, that they of whom the images were
had been of form like this, and far removed from being gods: but in the
time before these men they said that gods were the rulers in Egypt, not
mingling with men, and that of these always one had power at a time;
and the last of them who was king over Egypt was Oros the son of Osiris,
whom the Hellenes call Apollo: he was king over Egypt last, having
deposed Typhon. Now Osiris in the tongue of Hellas is Dionysos.

Among the Hellenes Heracles and Dionysos and Pan are accounted the
lastest-born of the gods; but with the Egyptians Pan is a very ancient
god, and he is one of those which are called eight gods, while Heracles
is of the second rank, who are called the twelve gods, and Dionysos is
of the third rank, namely of those who were born of the twelve gods. Now
as to Heracles I have shown already how many years old he is according
to the Egyptians themselves, reckoning down to the reign of Amasis, and
Pan is said to have existed for yet more years than these, and Dionysos
for the smallest number of years as compared with the others; and even
for this last they reckon down to the reign of Amasis fifteen thousand
years. This the Egyptians say that they know for a certainty, since they
always kept a reckoning and wrote down the years as they came. Now the
Dionysos who is said to have been born of Semele the daughter of Cadmos,
was born about sixteen hundred years before my time, and Heracles who
was the son of Alcmene, about nine hundred years, and that Pan who was
born of Penelope, for of her and of Hermes Pan is said by the Hellenes
to have been born, came into being later than the wars of Troy, about
eight hundred years before my time. Of these two accounts every man may
adopt that one which he shall find the more credible when he hears it.
I however, for my part, have already declared my opinion about them. For
if these also, like Heracles the son of Amphitryon, had appeared before
all men's eyes and had lived their lives to old age in Hellas, I mean
Dionysos the son of Semele and Pan the son of Penelope, then one would
have said that these also had been born mere men, having the names
of those gods who had come into being long before: but as it is, with
regard to Dionysos the Hellenes say that as soon as he was born Zeus
sewed him up in his thigh and carried him to Nysa, which is above Egypt
in the land of Ethiopia; and as to Pan, they cannot say whither he went
after he was born. Hence it has become clear to me that the Hellenes
learnt the names of these gods later than those of the other gods, and
trace their descent as if their birth occurred at the time when they
first learnt their names.