Meantime Tafnekht had thrown himself into Memphis with 8000 men, both soldiers and marines; he had provisioned it carefully and strengthened the fortifications. King Piankhi, says the story, ‘found the lofty walls strengthened with new works, and the bulwarks fitted up with great strength. There was no way found to assault it.’ But Tafnekht himself slipped away as soon as the siege began; his troops (probably the mercenaries), deprived of the encouragement of their leader’s presence, were disheartened, and Memphis yielded to a combined assault by land and water. ‘The city was taken as by a storm of rain; multitudes were slain within it, or brought as captives to his majesty.’ Next day, Piankhi entered, as was his custom in every captured town, the temples; there he offered sacrifices to Ptah and to the other gods. Piankhi afterwards visited the ancient and far-famed City of the Sun, not far from Memphis. There he ‘offered oblations on the waters of the lake of Horns; he purified himself in the heart of the cool lake, bathing his face in the stream of the sacred waters, wherein Ra bathes his countenance daily.’ Then on the sandy heights of On he made ‘a great sacrifice before the face of Ra at his rising.’ The priest-king then demanded admission into the innermost sanctuary and to the sacred shrine of the god. The chief priest, possibly somewhat dismayed, offered intercession for the king, duly purified him with incense and sprinkling, and brought him garlands from the temple of the obelisks. He girded on the sacred vestments, and, passing through the outer halls, advanced within the most holy place. ‘The king stood himself, the great one alone; he drew the bolt, he threw back the doors, he saw the face of his father Ra in the temple, and on the sacred bark. Then he closed the doors, and set thereon seals of clay marked with the royal signet, and he commanded the priests, saying: “I have set my seal; let no other king whatever enter therein.”’[85] During his stay at Memphis the king received the submission and the tributary offerings of all the petty governors and kings, but of those who sought to enter the royal presence none were admitted but Nimrod, because ‘he was not an eater of fish,[86] a thing forbidden in the royal palace.’ Tafnekht did not appear in person from his distant retreat; he sent his submission by an embassy—‘Hail to thee! I could not look upon thy face nor stand before thy terror. I have reached the islands of the Mediterranean. Behold! thy servant is cleansed from his pride. I beseech thee to take my goods into thy treasury, the gold and all the precious stones. O send a messenger unto me as a reconciler.’ Piankhi, after having received the submission of the confederated opponents, returned to Thebes with great rejoicing and triumph.