The History of Antiquity, Vol. 3 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 3 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
Inarus, _i.e._ no doubt one of the princes who opposed the rising of
Psammetichus, in a naval engagement on the Nile.[568]
Beyond this we have no further information about the course of the
struggle, and its duration. Beside Inarus we have the name of one other
opponent of Psammetichus, Tementhes.[569] We do not know whether all the
vassals of Assyria ranged themselves against Psammetichus, or whether
some of these princes followed his leadership against Assyria and the
dependants of Assyria. We do not know whether he had merely to contend
against his own fellow-princes or against Assyrian garrisons also, and
Assyrian forces. According to Polyænus the decisive battle took place in
the neighbourhood of Memphis, five stadia from the city, near the temple
of Isis; Diodorus puts the battle-field at Momemphis in the western
Delta, between the Canopic arm of the Nile and the Mareotic Lake. It is
remarkable that the decisive battle should have been fought so far to
the west, near the border of Libya, but it is not impossible. But we
must not overlook the fact, that according to Herodotus, a later
decisive battle took place at Momemphis--and from the circumstances it
is clear that this battle must have been fought there--so that a
confusion between the two is not impossible.
We do not know what claim Psammetichus could make to the sovereignty of
Egypt besides the summons to the liberation from Assyria, and the
accomplishment of this liberation. His family belonged to the canton of
Sais, from which, in previous times, Tnephachtus and Bocchoris had
sprung. It would be possible that the house of Necho was in some
connection with these princes, that Necho and Psammetichus were
successors or descendants of Tnephactus. From this we may explain the
story that the blind king, who fled before Sabakon into the marshes,
recovered the throne after the retirement of the Ethiopians, and also
the persecution which Necho and Psammetichus had to undergo from the
Ethiopians. From such a connection we could also explain the fact that
Necho took the part of Assyria against Tirhaka in the campaign of
Esarhaddon, and received in reward from Esarhaddon the government of
Memphis and Sais. The subsequent conspiracy of Necho with Tirhaka, when
the latter had been driven back to Napata, would then show that Necho
had attempted first to drive out the Ethiopians by the Assyrians, and
then the Assyrians by the Ethiopians, and liberate Egypt by using one
against the other. However this may be, Psammetichus, when liberating
Egypt from Assyria, succeeded also in removing and destroying the
dynastic families, which had risen up since the times of the Pharaohs of
Bubastis and Tanis, and had maintained themselves under the Ethiopians
and Assyrians, though in diminished importance and with a change in the
position of their families. Thus Psammetichus accomplished the work
which Tnephachtus began and Bocchoris was unable to carry on and
maintain.
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