April 2yd,, 1918.] 'Proceedings. xiii 



Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, M.Inst.M.E., M.Inst.C.E., made a short 

 communication on " Long-Range Guns." 



Mr. C. E. Stromeyer afterwards read a paper on " Ancient 

 History: "The Identification of Zophyrus." 



The paper deals with the betrayal of Egypt and of Babylon 

 between the years of B.C. 525 to 517. Herodotus mentions both 

 events, but no direct reference is made to them in the Bible, although 

 Isaiah gives a most accurate description of the traitor. By com- 

 bining his hints and the accounts by Herodotus and by the prophet 

 Zachariah, the catastrophes of these few years are clearly revealed. 

 It appears that a man whom the Egyptians called Phanesf and who 

 was a highly placed official in the auxiliary forces of Amasis, King 

 of Egypt, deserted to Cyrus, King of the Persians, and instructed 

 them how to subdue Egypt. After the death of Cyrus, Cambyses 

 his son, acting on his advice, with one blow at the Battle of Pelusium, 

 crushed Egypt out of existence. Apparently the same man, known 

 to Herodotus as Zophyrus, betrayed Babylon. He achieved this 

 object by cutting off his nose and ears, and otherwise making himself 

 the despised and rejected of men, deserting from the Persians to the 

 Babylonians, and making them believe that he was a Persian noble- 

 man, and that his indignities had been inflicted on him by Darius. 

 He thus obtained control of the Army and of the Gates, and ad- 

 mitted the Persians. He was rewarded by the temporary owner- 

 ship of Babylon, and the prophet Zachariah tells us that one year 

 after the fall of Babylon, Zephaniah sent gold and silver to Jerusalem. 

 But Zephaniah is a name which links together the other two, a 

 probability calculation based on the Greek alphabet, showing that 

 the chances are about 1000 to one that the three names are those 

 of the same man. 



This Zephaniah, alias Phanes, alias Zophyrus, seems to have 

 perished in the Babylonian revolt, which occurred very soon after 

 the above events. Isaiah refers to the despised of men as being 

 dead. 



Annual General Meeting, April 23rd, 1918. 



The President, Mr. William Thomson, F.R.S.E., F.C.S., F.I.C., 



in the Chair. 



The Annual Report of the Council and the Statement of 

 Accounts were presented, and it was resolved : — 



'' That the Aunual Report, together with the Statement of 

 Accounts, be adopted, and that they be printed in the Society's 

 Proceedings." 



Mr. D. Ward Cutler and Mr. J. Wilfrid Jackson were 

 appointed Scrutineers of the balloting papers. 



