[339] Cf. _Thucydides_, ii. 76 (description of the siege of Plataeae). [340] _Diodorus_ (xvii. 48) says that the siege of Gaza lasted two months. _Polybius_ (xvi. 40) speaks of the resolution and valour of the Gazaeans. We learn from _Curtius_ (iv. 28) and from _Dionysius_ of Halicarnassus (_De Compositione Verborum_, pp. 123-125) that Alexander treated the brave Batis with horrible cruelty. He ordered his feet to be bored and brazen rings to be put through them, after which the naked body was tied to the back of a chariot which was driven by Alexander himself round the city, in imitation of the treatment of Hector by Achilles at Troy. Cf. _Arrian_, vii. 14. Dionysius quotes from Hegesias of Magnesia, who wrote a history of Alexander, not now extant. Curtius says that nearly 10,000 of the Persians and Arabs were slain at Gaza. _Strabo_ (xvi. 2) says that in his time (_i.e._ in the reign of Augustus) the city still remained desolate, as it was left by Alexander. [341] Pelusium is identical with the Hebrew _Sin_ (a marsh) the most easterly city of Egypt, which is called in Ezekiel xxx. 15, the _strength of Egypt_, because it was the key to that country from its frontier position. Cf. _Herodotus_, iii. 5. _Strabo_ (xvii. 1) says it was situated near marshes. It stood east of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about 2-1/2 miles from the sea. This mouth of the river was choked up with sand as early as the first century of the Christian era (_Lucan_, viii. 465). Sennacherib advanced as far as this city, and here Cambyses defeated the Egyptians, B.C. 525. Iphicrates the Athenian advanced to Pelusium with the satrap Pharnabazus, B.C. 373. Cf. Vergil (_Georgic_, i. 228); _Martial_, xiii. 9; _Silius_, iii. 375. [342] _Curtius_ (iv. 22) says that this fleet was under the command of Hephaestion. [343] His predecessor, Sabaces, was slain at Issus. See _Arrian_, ii. 11 supra. [344] _Curtius_ (iv. 29) says that Mazaces surrendered to Alexander treasure to the amount of 800 talents, nearly £200,000. [345] Memphis, the capital of Egypt, is called in the Hebrew Bible, _Noph_. In Hosea ix. 6 it is called _Moph_. The Egyptian name was _Mĕnoph_, of which both Moph and Noph are contractions. The name signifies _place of Ftah_, the Egyptian name for Vulcan. Memphis stood on the west bank of the Nile, and is said by _Herodotus_ (ii. 99) to have been founded by Menes. It had a circumference of fifteen miles. Its numerous temples were famous and are mentioned in the poems of Martial, Ovid, and Tibullus. It never recovered the devastation committed by Cambyses, who was exasperated by its resistance. The rise of Alexandria as the capital under the Ptolemies, hastened the decline of Memphis. At Gizeh, near Memphis, are the three great pyramids, being of the height respectively of 460, 446, and 203 feet. Not far off are six smaller ones. Near the second pyramid is the Sphinx, cut out of the solid rock, which was probably an object of worship. Cf. _Apollodorus_, ii. 4.