The revolt was at first successful, but on the arrival of Persian reinforcements the Athenians were driven from Memphis, and forced to retire to an island on the Nile. Here they were blockaded for eighteen months; the foe then, diverting the river from its course, took the Athenian camp by storm, and a fleet of fifty Athenian ships, which entered the Nile in ignorance of the disastrous turn of events, fell into the hands of the Persians. Amyrtæus, who had been proclaimed king, took flight, and sought refuge in the inaccessible marshes of the Delta. Thus Egypt passed once more under the Persian yoke, but the Persian power itself was declining, and Amyrtæus of Sais (the grandson of the Amyrtæus who fled to the marshes) made himself King of Egypt. His reign of six years constitutes the twenty-eighth dynasty. This was succeeded by the twenty-ninth (of Mendes), and the thirtieth (of Sebennytus). Under these, her last native dynasties, Egypt maintained her recovered independence for sixty years, during which period she sent aid both to the Lacedæmonians and to the king of Cyprus, in the long-protracted conflict with Persia. Art also revived once more, and was distinguished by a grace and finish that seem to speak of Grecian influences. Under one of the kings of the thirtieth dynasty, Agesilaus of Sparta was invited to command the Egyptian army. It is said that on his arrival the Egyptians were taken by surprise to find so renowned a king and warrior ‘a little deformed old man, clad in mean attire, and regardless of show and luxury,’ who ‘would sit carelessly upon the grass amongst his soldiers.’[104] At any rate they only intrusted him with the command of the mercenaries. Angry at the affront, the Spartan king supported a rival prince, who displaced Takos, the reigning sovereign, and assumed his place. This king, Nectanebus (361 B.C.), was the last of the long line of kings that opens with king Mena. Ochus, a cruel but energetic sovereign, succeeded Artaxerxes II. on the Persian throne; the energies of Greece were concentrated in the struggle against Philip of Macedon. Ochus invaded Egypt with an immense army (ten thousand of whom were Greek mercenaries!). Nectanebus was an incompetent general, but, confident of his own ability, he commanded in person the army of Egyptians and Greek mercenaries, who encountered the Persians at Pelusium. He was defeated, and instantly fled to Memphis; on hearing of the further progress of the enemy, he quitted Memphis and fled southward, until he reached the safe shelter of the Ethiopian land. With this hurried and ignominious retreat, the ancient monarchy of Egypt ceased to be. Deprived of their king and leader, the people at once submitted (about 340 B.C.).