History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of 12)Maspero, G. (Gaston)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 8 (of 12)
Maspero, G. (Gaston)
Civilization, Ancient; Egypt -- History -- To 640 A.D.; History, Ancient; Middle East -- History
* _Calasiris_, the exact transcription of _Khala-shiri,
Khala-shere_, signifying _young man_. The meaning and
original of the word transcribed Hermotybies by Herodotus,
and Hermotymbies according to a variant given by Stephen of
Byzantium, is as yet unknown, but it seems to me to conceal
a title analogous to that of _Hir-mazaiu_, and to designate
what remained of Libyan soldiers in Egypt. This organisation
of the army is described by Herodotus as existing in his own
days, and there were Calasiries and Hermotybies in the
Egyptian contingent which accompanied the army of Mardonius
to Greece; it is nowhere stated that it was the work of
Psammetichus, but everything points to the conclusion that
it was so, at all events in the form in which it was known
to the Greeks.
The King of Napata gladly welcomed the timely reinforcements which
arrived to fill up the vacancies in his army and among his people,
weakened by a century of rapid changes, and generously gave them
permission to conquer for themselves some territory in the possession
of his enemies! Having driven out the barbarians, they established
themselves in the peninsula formed by the White and Blue Niles, and
their numbers increased so greatly that in course of time they became a
considerable nation. They called themselves Asmakh, the men who stand on
the king's left hand, in memory of the affront put upon them, and which
they had avenged by their self-exile: Greek travellers and geographers
called them sometimes Automoli, sometimes Sembrites, names which clung
to them till almost the beginning of our present era.
This departure of the Mashauasha was as the last blast of wind after a
storm: the swell subsided by degrees, and peace reigned in the interior.
Thebes accommodated itself as best it could to the new order of
things under the nominal administration of the Divine Spouses, the two
Shapenuapits. Building works were recommenced at all points where it
appeared necessary, and the need of restoration was indeed pressing
after the disorders occasioned by the Assyrian invasion and the
Ethiopian suzerainty. At Karnak, and in the great temples on both banks
of the Nile, Psammetichus, respecting the fiction which assigned the
chief authority to the Pallacides, effaced himself in favour of them,
allowing them to claim all the merit of the work; in the cities they
erected small chapels, in which they are portrayed as queens fulfilling
their sacerdotal functions, humbly escorted by the viceroy who in other
respects exercised the real power. The king's zeal for restoration is
manifest all along the Nile, at Coptos, Abydos,* and in the plains of
the Delta, which are crowded with memorials of him. His two favourite
capitals were Memphis and Sais, on both of which he impartially lavished
his favours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account