On the death of Cyrus, Cambyses his son by Cassandane daughter

of Pharnaspes took the kingdom. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of

Cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had

commanded all the subjects of his empire to observe the like.

Cambyses, the son of this lady and of Cyrus, regarding the Ionian

and Aeolian Greeks as vassals of his father, took them with him in his

expedition against Egypt among the other nations which owned his sway.

Now the Egyptians, before the reign of their king Psammetichus,

believed themselves to be the most ancient of mankind. Since

Psammetichus, however, made an attempt to discover who were actually

the primitive race, they have been of opinion that while they

surpass all other nations, the Phrygians surpass them in antiquity.

This king, finding it impossible to make out by dint of inquiry what

men were the most ancient, contrived the following method of

discovery:- He took two children of the common sort, and gave them

over to a herdsman to bring up at his folds, strictly charging him

to let no one utter a word in their presence, but to keep them in a

sequestered cottage, and from time to time introduce goats to their

apartment, see that they got their fill of milk, and in all other

respects look after them. His object herein was to know, after the

indistinct babblings of infancy were over, what word they would

first articulate. It happened as he had anticipated. The herdsman

obeyed his orders for two years, and at the end of that time, on his

one day opening the door of their room and going in, the children both

ran up to him with outstretched arms, and distinctly said “Becos.”

When this first happened the herdsman took no notice; but afterwards

when he observed, on coming often to see after them, that the word was

constantly in their mouths, he informed his lord, and by his command

brought the children into his presence. Psammetichus then himself

heard them say the word, upon which he proceeded to make inquiry

what people there was who called anything “becos,” and hereupon he

learnt that “becos” was the Phrygian name for bread. In

consideration of this circumstance the Egyptians yielded their claims,

and admitted the greater antiquity of the Phrygians.

That these were the real facts I learnt at Memphis from the

priests of Vulcan. The Greeks, among other foolish tales, relate

that Psammetichus had the children brought up by women whose tongues

he had previously cut out; but the priests said their bringing up

was such as I have stated above. I got much other information also

from conversation with these priests while I was at Memphis, and I

even went to Heliopolis and to Thebes, expressly to try whether the

priests of those places would agree in their accounts with the priests

at Memphis. The Heliopolitans have the reputation of being the best

skilled in history of all the Egyptians. What they told me

concerning their religion it is not my intention to repeat, except the

names of their deities, which I believe all men know equally. If I

relate anything else concerning these matters, it will only be when

compelled to do so by the course of my narrative.

Now with regard to mere human matters, the accounts which they

gave, and in which all agreed, were the following. The Egyptians, they

said, were the first to discover the solar year, and to portion out

its course into twelve parts. They obtained this knowledge from the

stars. (To my mind they contrive their year much more cleverly than

the Greeks, for these last every other year intercalate a whole month,

but the Egyptians, dividing the year into twelve months of thirty days

each, add every year a space of five days besides, whereby the circuit

of the seasons is made to return with uniformity.) The Egyptians, they

went on to affirm, first brought into use the names of the twelve

gods, which the Greeks adopted from them; and first erected altars,

images, and temples to the gods; and also first engraved upon stone

the figures of animals. In most of these cases they proved to me

that what they said was true. And they told me that the first man

who ruled over Egypt was Min, and that in his time all Egypt, except

the Thebaic canton, was a marsh, none of the land below Lake Moeris

then showing itself above the surface of the water. This is a distance

of seven days’ sail from the sea up the river.

What they said of their country seemed to me very reasonable.

For any one who sees Egypt, without having heard a word about it

before, must perceive, if he has only common powers of observation,

that the Egypt to which the Greeks go in their ships is an acquired

country, the gift of the river. The same is true of the land above the

lake, to the distance of three days’ voyage, concerning which the

Egyptians say nothing, but which exactly the same kind of country.

The following is the general character of the region. In the first

place, on approaching it by sea, when you are still a day’s sail

from the land, if you let down a sounding-line you will bring up

mud, and find yourself in eleven fathoms’ water, which shows that

the soil washed down by the stream extends to that distance.

The length of the country along shore, according to the bounds

that we assign to Egypt, namely from the Plinthinetic gulf to Lake

Serbonis, which extends along the base of Mount Casius, is sixty

schoenes. The nations whose territories are scanty measure them by the

fathom; those whose bounds are less confined, by the furlong; those

who have an ample territory, by the parasang; but if men have a

country which is very vast, they measure it by the schoene. Now the

length of the parasang is thirty furlongs, but the schoene, which is

an Egyptian measure, is sixty furlongs. Thus the coastline of Egypt

would extend a length of three thousand six hundred furlongs.

From the coast inland as far as Heliopolis the breadth of Egypt is

considerable, the country is flat, without springs, and full of

swamps. The length of the route from the sea up to Heliopolis is

almost exactly the same as that of the road which runs from the

altar of the twelve gods at Athens to the temple of Olympian Jove at

Pisa. If a person made a calculation he would find but a very little

difference between the two routes, not more than about fifteen

furlongs; for the road from Athens to Pisa falls short of fifteen

hundred furlongs by exactly fifteen, whereas the distance of

Heliopolis from the sea is just the round number.

As one proceeds beyond Heliopolis up the country, Egypt becomes

narrow, the Arabian range of hills, which has a direction from north

to south, shutting it in upon the one side, and the Libyan range

upon the other. The former ridge runs on without a break, and

stretches away to the sea called the Erythraean; it contains the

quarries whence the stone was cut for the pyramids of Memphis: and

this is the point where it ceases its first direction, and bends

away in the manner above indicated. In its greatest length from east

to west it is, as I have been informed, a distance of two months’

journey towards the extreme east its skirts produce frankincense. Such

are the chief features of this range. On the Libyan side, the other

ridge whereon the pyramids stand is rocky and covered with sand; its

direction is the same as that of the Arabian ridge in the first part

of its course. Above Heliopolis, then, there is no great breadth of

territory for such a country as Egypt, but during four days’ sail

Egypt is narrow; the valley between the two ranges is a level plain,

and seemed to me to be, at the narrowest point, not more than two

hundred furlongs across from the Arabian to the Libyan hills. Above

this point Egypt again widens.

From Heliopolis to Thebes is nine days’ sail up the river; the

distance is eighty-one schoenes, or 4860 furlongs. If we now put

together the several measurements of the country we shall find that

the distance along shore is, as I stated above, 3600 furlongs, and the

distance from the sea inland to Thebes 6120 furlongs. Further, it is a

distance of eighteen hundred furlongs from Thebes to the place

called Elephantine.

The greater portion of the country above described seemed to me to

be, as the priests declared, a tract gained by the inhabitants. For

the whole region above Memphis, lying between the two ranges of

hills that have been spoken of, appeared evidently to have formed at

one time a gulf of the...