How closely the two were associated may be realized from the consistent attitude of the Saite Pharaohs towards another element of the population. The Ionian and Carian bronze men were not the first mercenaries to form the basis of a Pharaoh’s power. The XXIInd and XXIIIrd dynasties (_c._ 943–735 B.C.) had rested their power on their mercenaries from Libya. These Libyan mercenaries had developed into a caste of professional soldiers and were still in the land[637]. It is noteworthy that no Saite, with one possible exception nearly 100 years after Psamtek’s accession, ever attempted to use them either for securing or for maintaining his power. Mallet notes that for the time before Psammetichus the monuments often show commanders of Libyan mercenaries bearing high titles, but that from his reign onwards there is no similar instance[638]. Meyer[639] is probably right in suspecting that this warrior class (μάχιμοι) formed Psamtek’s bitterest opponents. Eventually a large body of them deserted and took service with the king of Ethiopia, and Psamtek seems to have made no determined effort to prevent them[640]. The one exceptional case in which the Libyan warrior class may possibly have placed a Saite on the throne is that of Amasis (570–526 B.C.)[641], who overthrew his predecessor Apries (589–570) by leading the native population against the Greek mercenaries[642]. But, as Herodotus tells us, he was soon driven to “become a philhellene[643].” Petrie thinks that Amasis was converted under pressure of the Persian peril, and in support of this view quotes the alliance of Amasis with Croesus[644], Polycrates[645], and the Greek Battus of Cyrene[646], as also his friendship with Delphi[647].