The Egypt of the Hebrews and HerodotosSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
History
The Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Egypt -- History, Ancient
To the south of the town were the fortress and camp of the Greek
mercenaries, who were probably settled there by Psammetikhos. The camp was
surrounded by a wall, and within it stood the Hellênion, the common altar
of the Ionians from Khios, Teos, Phokæa and Klazomenæ, of the Dorians from
Rhodes, Knidos, Halikarnassos and Phasêlis, and of the Æolians of
Mytilênê. The great enclosure still remains, as well as the lower chambers
of the fort, and Mr. Petrie found that in the time of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, when it was no longer needed for purposes of defence, it was
provided with a stately entrance, to which an avenue of ruins led from the
west.
The traders and settlers built their houses north of the camp. Here too
the Greek sailors and merchants, who had taken no part in the erection of
the great altar, and who perhaps had no relations among the soldiers of
the fort, built special temples for themselves. If we walk across the
level ground which separates the fort from the old city, the first heap of
rubbish we come to marks the site of the temple and sacred enclosure of
Castor and Pollux. A little to the north was the still larger temple and
_temenos_ or sacred enclosure of Apollo, and adjoining it, still on the
north side, was the temple of Hêrê, whose _temenos_ was the largest of
all. The temple of Apollo had been erected by the Milesians, and that it
was the oldest in the city may be gathered from the archaic character of
the inscriptions on the potsherds discovered in the trench into which the
broken vases of the temple were thrown. The Samians were the builders of
the temple of Hêrê, and Herodotos tells us that there was another
dedicated to Zeus by the Æginetans. The ruins of this, however, have not
yet been found, but far away towards the northern end of the ruin a small
temple and _temenos_ of Aphroditê have been brought to light. Here
Rhodôpis worshipped, who had been freed from slavery by the brother of
Sappho, and whose charms were still celebrated at Naukratis in the days of
Herodotos.
Among the potsherds disinterred from the rubbish-trench of the temple of
Apollo were portions of a large and beautiful bowl dedicated to “Phanês,
the son of Glaukos.” Mr. Gardner is probably right in believing that this
is the very Phanês who deserted to Kambyses, and, according to the Greek
story, instructed him how to march across the desert into Egypt. It may be
that Herodotos saw the bowl when it was still intact, and that the story
of the deserter was told him over it; in any case, it was doubtless at
Naukratis, and possibly from the priests of Apollo, that he heard it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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