came to be Egypt, and of these Egyptian settlements Alexandria became the most important. The earliest mention which we have of Jews settling in Egypt is in one of the Aramaic _papyri_ found a few years ago in Elephantiné[59]; these _papyri_ consist of official documents—decrees of the Persian government and public ordinances of the Jewish colony settled there—as well as private papers, such as business letters, account books, records of debt, lists of names and personal correspondence; some literary pieces were also found in the collection. In one of these _papyri_—a petition addressed by the Jewish soldiery stationed at Elephantiné to the governor of the Jewish colony—it is stated that the forefathers of the petitioners had been settled there and had built a temple to their God Jahu (Jehovah) “since the days of the kings of Egypt.” The reference is, in all probability, to the Jewish mercenaries in the army of Psametik I (B.C. 663-609) of which mention is made in the _Letter of Aristeas_, 12, 13. It was the successor of Psametik I, Pharoah Necho II, who in B.C. 609 overran Syria and, having subdued Judah, exiled Jehoahaz to Egypt (2 Kings xxiii. 29, 34). Not long after, in B.C. 586, Johanan, the son of Kareah, led a number of Jews, among whom was the prophet Jeremiah, into Egypt (Jer. xlii., xliii.); and, according to Jeremiah xliv. 1, there were Jewish settlements in Migdol, Tahpanes, Noph (i.e. Memphis), as well as in the district of Pathros in Upper Egypt (Isa. xi. 11). These _data_ show that in comparatively early times there were Jewish settlements in Egypt. But of great interest and importance is the evidence of the Elephantiné _papyri_, mentioned just now; they witness to the presence of Jews in Egypt during the fifth century B.C.[60] The Jewish colony settled in Syene was a military one; the _papyri_ tell us that the organization was much the same as in other parts of the Persian Empire; there was a governor,[61] with whom were associated the priests, who represented the colony in all dealings with the suzerain power; he sends regular remittances to the central government, and receives instructions in all things concerning the colony from the satrap of the province. Side by side with the civil organization is the military _régime_; the force is divided into companies called after the names of their officers; the soldiers of the garrison each have a small possession of land; their office is hereditary; when not engaged in war they seem to have led a comfortable and pleasant life concerning which the _papyri_ give a number of details. Though the colony was not a large one, in all probability not amounting to more than a hundred souls, the fact of its existence is not without importance for the study of the Dispersion.[62]