An Account of Egypt

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Apries having thus been overthrown, Amasis became king, being of the
district of Sais, and the name of the city whence he was is Siuph. Now
at the first the Egyptians despised Amasis and held him in no
great regard, because he had been a man of the people and was of no
distinguished family; but afterwards Amasis won them over to himself by
wisdom and not wilfulness. Among innumerable other things of price which
he had, there was a foot-basin of gold in which both Amasis himself and
all his guests were wont always to wash their feet. This he broke up,
and of it he caused to be made the image of a god, and set it up in the
city, where it was most convenient; and the Egyptians went continually
to visit the image and did great reverence to it. Then Amasis, having
learnt that which was done by the men of the city, called together the
Egyptians and made known to them the matter, saying that the image had
been produced from the foot-basin, into which formerly the Egyptians
used to vomit and make water, and in which they washed their feet,
whereas now they did to it great reverence; and just so, he continued,
had he himself now fared, as the foot-basin; for though formerly he
was a man of the people, yet now he was their king, and he bade them
accordingly honour him and have regard for him. In such manner he won
the Egyptians to himself, so that they consented to be his subjects; and
his ordering of affairs was this:--In the early morning, and until the
time of the filling of the market he did with a good will the business
which was brought before him; but after this he passed the time in
drinking and in jesting at his boon-companions, and was frivolous and
playful. And his friends being troubled at it admonished him in some
such words as these: "O king, thou dost not rightly govern thyself in
thus letting thyself descend to behaviour so trifling; for thou oughtest
rather to have been sitting throughout the day stately upon a stately
throne and administering thy business; and so the Egyptians would have
been assured that they were ruled by a great man, and thou wouldest
have had a better report: but as it is, thou art acting by no means in a
kingly fashion." And he answered them thus: "They who have bows stretch
them at such time as they wish to use them, and when they have finished
using them they loose them again; for if they were stretched tight
always they would break, so that the men would not be able to use them
when they needed them. So also is the state of man: if he should always
be in earnest and not relax himself for sport at the due time, he would
either go mad or be struck with stupor before he was aware; and knowing
this well, I distribute a portion of the time to each of the two ways of
living." Thus he replied to his friends. It is said however that Amasis,
even when he was in a private station, was a lover of drinking and of
jesting, and not at all seriously disposed; and whenever his means of
livelihood failed him through his drinking and luxurious living, he
would go about and steal; and they from whom he stole would charge him
with having their property, and when he denied it would bring him before
the judgment of an Oracle, whenever there was one in their place;
and many times he was convicted by the Oracles and many times he was
absolved: and then when finally he became king he did as follows:--as
many of the gods as had absolved him and pronounced him not to be a
thief, to their temples he paid no regard, nor gave anything for the
further adornment of them, nor even visited them to offer sacrifice,
considering them to be worth nothing and to possess lying Oracles; but
as many as had convicted him of being a thief, to these he paid very
great regard, considering them to be truly gods, and to present Oracles
which did not lie. First in Sais he built and completed for Athene a
temple-gateway which is a great marvel, and he far surpassed herein all
who had done the like before, both in regard to height and greatness,
so large are the stones and of such quality. Then secondly he dedicated
great colossal statues and man-headed sphinxes very large, and for
restoration he caused to be brought from the stone-quarries which
are opposite Memphis, others of very great size from the city of
Elephantine, distant a voyage of not less than twenty days from Sais:
and of them all I marvel most at this, namely a monolith chamber which
he brought from the city of Elephantine; and they were three years
engaged in bringing this, and two thousand men were appointed to convey
it, who all were of the class of boatmen. Of this house the length
outside is one-and-twenty cubits, the breadth is fourteen cubits, and
the height eight. These are the measures of the monolith house outside;
but the length inside is eighteen cubits and five-sixths of a cubit, the
breadth twelve cubits, and the height five cubits. This lies by the side
of the entrance to the temple; for within the temple they did not draw
it, because, as it is said, while the house was being drawn along, the
chief artificer of it groaned aloud, seeing that much time had been
spent and he was wearied by the work; and Amasis took it to heart as a
warning and did not allow them to draw it further onwards. Some say on
the other hand that a man was killed by it, of those who were heaving it
with levers, and that it was not drawn in for that reason. Amasis also
dedicated in all the other temples which were of repute, works which are
worth seeing for their size, and among them also at Memphis the colossal
statue which lies on its back in front of the temple of Hephaistos,
whose length is five-and-seventy feet; and on the same base made of the
same stone are set two colossal statues, each of twenty feet in length,
one on this side and the other on that side of the large statue. There
is also another of stone of the same size in Sais, lying in the same
manner as that at Memphis. Moreover Amasis was he who built and finished
for Isis her temple at Memphis, which is of great size and very worthy
to be seen.

In the reign of Amasis it is said that Egypt became more prosperous than
at any other time before, both in regard to that which comes to the land
from the river and in regard to that which comes from the land to its
inhabitants, and that at this time the inhabited towns in it numbered
in all twenty thousand. It was Amasis too who established the law that
every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his
district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did
not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living,
he should be punished with death. Now Solon the Athenian received from
Egypt this law and had it enacted for the Athenians, and they have
continued to observe it, since it is a law with which none can find
fault.

Moreover Amasis became a lover of the Hellenes; and besides other proofs
of friendship which he gave to several among them, he also granted the
city of Naucratis for those of them who came to Egypt to dwell in; and
to those who did not desire to stay, but who made voyages thither, he
granted portions of land to set up altars and make sacred enclosures for
their gods. Their greatest enclosure and that one which has most name
and is most frequented is called the Hellenion, and this was established
by the following cities in common:--of the Ionians Chios, Teos,
Phocaia, Clazomenai, of the Dorians Rhodes, Cnidos, Halicarnassos,
Phaselis, and of the Aiolians Mytilene alone. To these belongs this
enclosure and these are the cities which appoint superintendents of the
port; and all other cities which claim a share in it, are making a claim
without any right. Besides this the Eginetans established on their own
account a sacred enclosure dedicated to Zeus, the Samians one to Hera,
and the Milesians one to Apollo. Now in old times Naucratis alone was an
open trading-place, and no other place in Egypt: and if any one came to
any other of the Nile mouths, he was compelled to swear that he came not
thither of his own free will, and when he had thus sworn his innocence
he had to sail with his ship to the Canobic mouth, or if it were not
possible to sail by reason of contrary winds, then he had to carry his
cargo round the head of the Delta in boats to Naucratis: thus highly
was Naucratis privileged. Moreover when the Amphictyons had let out the
contract for building the temple which now exists at Delphi, agreeing to
pay a sum of three hundred talents (for the temple which formerly stood
there had been burnt down of itself), it fell to the share of the people
of Delphi to provide the fourth part of the payment; and accordingly the
Delphians went about to various cities and collected contributions. And
when they did this they got from Egypt as much as from any place, for
Amasis gave them a thousand talents' weight of alum, while the Hellenes
who dwelt in Egypt gave them twenty pounds of silver.

Also with the people of Kyrene Amasis made an agreement for friendship
and alliance; and he resolved too to marry a wife from thence, whether
because he desired to have a wife of Hellenic race, or, apart from that,
on account of friendship for the people of Kyrene: however that may be,
he married, some say the daughter of Battos, others of Arkesilaos, and
others of Critobulos, a man of repute among the citizens; and her name
was Ladike. Now whenever Amasis lay with her he found himself unable to
have intercourse, but with his other wives he associated as he was wont;
and as this happened repeatedly, Amasis said to his wife, whose name was
Ladike: "Woman, thou hast given me drugs, and thou shall surely perish
more miserably than any other." Then Ladike, when by her denials Amasis
was not at all appeased in his anger against her, made a vow in her
soul to Aphrodite, that if Amasis on that night had intercourse with
her (seeing that this was the remedy for her danger), she would send an
image to be dedicated to her at Kyrene; and after the vow immediately
Amasis had intercourse, and from thenceforth whenever Amasis came in to
her he had intercourse with her; and after this he became very greatly
attached to her. And Ladike paid the vow that she had made to the
goddess; for she had an image made and sent it to Kyrene, and it is
still preserved even to my own time, standing with its face turned away
from the city of the Kyrenians. This Ladike Cambyses, having conquered
Egypt and heard from her who she was, sent back unharmed to Kyrene.

Amasis also dedicated offerings in Hellas, first at Kyrene an image
of Athene covered over with gold and a figure of himself made like by
painting; then in the temple of Athene at Lindos two images of stone
and a corslet of linen worthy to be seen; and also at Samos two wooden
figures of himself dedicated to Hera, which were standing even to my own
time in the great temple, behind the doors. Now at Samos he dedicated
offerings because of the guest-friendship between himself and Polycrates
the son of Aiakes; at Lindos for no guest-friendship but because the
temple of Athene at Lindos is said to have been founded by the daughters
of Danaos, who had touched land there at the time when they were fleeing
from the sons of Aigyptos. These offerings were dedicated by Amasis; and
he was the first of men who conquered Cyprus and subdued it so that it
paid him tribute.