A Manual of Ancient History - 1845 Author:William Cooke Taylor Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the limits of their respective principalities, they engaged in mutual war, and drove one of their number, Psammef ichus, prince of Sais, into exile. Psammet'ichu... more »s levied an army of Greek and Carian mercenaries, most of whom appear to have been pirates ; and having overcome all his rivals, once more united all Egypt into a single monarchy, of which Mem'phia ranked as the capital, though Sais was usually the seat of government. The intercourse with the nations in the eastern Mediterranean was greatly extended during the reign of Psammet'ichus : many Greeks settled in the Egyptian seaports; and a new caste of interpreters and brokers was formed to facilitate commerce. But the patronage of foreigners, and the preference that Psammet'ichus showed for the mercenaries to whom he owed his crown, so disgusted the caste of warriors, that the whole body emigrated from their country, and setttled in Ethiopia (b. c. 650). Section IV.—History of Egypt from the Reign of Psammatichus to tia Subjugation by Cambyses. FROM B.c. 650 TO B.c. 525. The accession of Psammet'ichus was followed by a complete revolution in the ancient policy of Egypt; foreign- auxiliaries performed the duties of the warrior caste ; plans of permanent conquests in Syria succeeded to the predatory expeditions of the ancient Pharaohs ; and the political influence of the priesthood rapidly declined, as new opinions were imported from abroad, and new institutions rendered necessary by increasing commerce. For several reigns, the great object of Egyptian policy was to obtain possession of the commercial cities of Syria and Phoenicia. Psammet'ichus led the way by laying siege to Azotus, a frontier town of Syria—persevering in successive attacks for twenty-nine years, until he accomplished his object. Nechus, called in...« less