EGYPT. 
that brazen men would fuddenly arife from the fea and 
avenge the fevcrity of his treatment. This declaration 
■was regarded as an abfurdity ; but, not long after, fome 
Grecians, Carians, and Ionians, landed in brafs-armour, 
which Pfammetichus conceiving to be the accomplilh- 
ment of the myfterious prediction, immediately engaged 
the Grangers by large promifes to ftay wdth him, and 
uniting them with fuch Egyptians as efpoufed his caufe, 
lie obtained a decifive victory over the eleven kings, and 
feized- on the whole kingdom for himfelf. Thus was the 
duodecemvirate ditfolved, after it had continued fifteen 
years. 
Pfammetichus, thus poftefled of the throne without 
a rival, in the year before Chrift 670, is laid to have 
reigned with as much policy, wifdom, and magnificence, 
as any of his predecelfors. He rewarded his allies to the 
full extent of his promife. He alfo gave them certain 
lands on each fide of the Nile, and honoured them with 
the tuition of feveral young Egyptians who were defirous 
of learning the Greek language. Herodotus informs us, 
that he built the fouthern portico to the temple of Vul¬ 
can, and raifed a magnificent edifice for the reception of 
the god Apis. The partiality expreffed by this monarch 
towards the foreigners who placed him on the throne, 
was fo obnoxious to the Egyptians, that two hundred 
thoufand of them quitted his fervice at once, and re¬ 
moved, in fpite of every remonltrance, to the territories 
of Ethiopia. Pfammetichus, however, contrived to re¬ 
pair this lofs by opening his ports to all ftrangers, in op- 
polition to the referred maxims of his predecelfors, and 
by entering into an advantageous alliance with the Athe¬ 
nians and other Greek nations. After a reign of fifty-four 
years he died, and was buried in the temple of Minerva, 
at Sais. He is celebrated for the liege he laid to Azotus 
in Syria, which held out againft the whole power of 
Egypt for twenty-nine years; and he is laid to have been 
the firft king who fent perfons to difcover the fprings of 
the Nile. It-was this prince alfo, who, being anxious to 
prove whether the Egyptians were in reality the moff an¬ 
cient nation upon earth, caufed two children born of poor 
parents to be brought up in a hovel, under the care of a 
fhepherd, who was to nourifh them with goats milk, and 
to feclude them carefully from every other human being, 
that they might never have an opportunity of hearing an 
articulate found. At the end of two years, as the (hep- 
herd was one day entering the hut to feed thefe children, 
they both extended their little hands towards him, crying 
out at the fame time beckos, beckos. They were immedi¬ 
ately taken to court, that the king might hear them 
(peak ; and after much enquiry it was found that the 
Phrygians called bread by the name of beckos. The 
Egyptians were therefore obliged to refign the honour of 
antiquity, or rather of priority, to the Phrygians. 
On th.e deceafe of Pfammetichus, before Chrift 616, 
the fceptie devolved to his fon Nechus,. the Pharaoh- 
Necho of the fcriptures, a prince of an enterprizing ge¬ 
nius. In the commencement of his reign, he attempted 
to cut a canal that might unite the Red Sea with the 
Nile ; but, after much expence and labour, he was warn¬ 
ed by an oracle to defilt. He accordingly gave up his 
defign ; built a fleet of galleys in the northern fea, and 
another in the (traits of the Arabian gulf; and fent out 
fome of the moll expert Phoenician mariners, upon a dif- 
covery of the African coalts. He was not only great at 
fea, but formidable alfo by land. The fcripture exprefsly 
fays, that he went out againft the king of Alfyria. In 
this expedition he was oppofed by Joliah, who was mor¬ 
tally wounded in the valley of Megiddo. The conque¬ 
ror then proceeded to the banks of the Euphrates, fnb- 
dued the city of Carchemilh, and, at the expiration of 
three months, returned towards Egypt. Hearing that 
Jehoahaz had railed himfelf to the throne in Jerufalem, 
he ordered him to appear before him at Riblah in Syria, 
where he loaded him with chains, and fent him priioner 
into Egypt. He then vifited Jerufalem; made Eliakim 
2g5 
king over Judah, changing his name to Jehoiakim, and 
impofing on him a tribute of one talent of gold and a hun¬ 
dred talents of lilver. Thus he became mailer of Judea 
and Syr ia ; and, in commemoration of his good fortune, 
he confecrated to Apollo the garments which he had 
worn in his mod fplendid engagements. His enjoyment 
of thefe new acquifitions was, however, but of fhort du¬ 
ration ; for, in a few years, he was defeated and (tripped 
of ail his polfeffions in Syria and Judea by Nebuchadnez¬ 
zar king of Babylon, who undertook to drive the Egyp¬ 
tians from Carchemilh, and recover the Syrian and Phoe¬ 
nician provinces. After this period, the adfions of Ne- 
cluis gradually dwindled into obfcurity, nor did he again 
attempt to quit the boundaries of his own kingdom. He 
died in the fixteenth year of his reign, and left the king¬ 
dom to his fon. 
Pfammis, who began to reign in the year before Chrift 
600, held the regal dignity only fix years ; and hiftory 
contains nothing refpebting him worthy of mention, ex¬ 
cept that he made an expedition into Ethiopia. During 
this reign a fplendid embafiy was fent by the Eleans to 
know whether the mod fage Egyptians could difcover 
any defedb in the Olympic games. The king accordingly 
called an aftembly of the moft judicious men in his do¬ 
minions, who, having heard all that could be faid in fa¬ 
vour of the inftitution and its regulations, afked the Ele¬ 
ans whether ftrangers and citizens were both admitted to 
contend at their games ; and, on the Eleans replying that 
they were open to any one, the Egyptians pronounced 
their condudt erroneous, fince it was natural they Ihould 
favour their fellow-citizens more than foreigners. 
Apries the fon of Pfammis, and the Pharaoh Hophra 
of holy writ, entered into a league with Zedekiah king 
of Judah, againft the king of Babylon. About two years 
after this tranfaclion, which marked his acceflion, he led 
an army to the relief of Jerufalem, then clofely befieged 
by Nebuchadnezzar; but, finding that the Babylonian 
refolved to give him battle, he retreated haftily to his 
own country, and abandoned the Jews to the fury of their 
enemy. To punifti this breach of faith, Ezekiel predicted 
that the Egyptians Ihould be confounded and defolate for 
forty years, and that they Ihould gradually degenerate 
till they Ihould have no power to elect a monarch of 
their own. The fcripture fpeaks of Apries in very de¬ 
grading terms, and finally threatens him with a violent 
death, which was his fate. The fulfilment of thefe pro¬ 
phecies are fatisfaCtorily recorded, even by profane hif- 
torians, who inform us that Apries, in conlequence of 
expoling the Egyptians to a dreadful defeat, by fending 
them to the relief of Andican king of Lybia, caufed an 
univerfal defection among his fubjects ; that, in the hope 
of appeafing the difturbance by the mediation of his fup- 
pofed friend Amafis, he furnifhed the rebels with a va¬ 
liant leader, whom they accordingly faluted king of 
Egypt; and that Apries, being vanquillied in a pitched 
battle near Memphis, was taken captive by the ufurper, 
who for fome time treated him with great refpeCt; but 
at length delivered him into the hands of the people, 
who ftrangled him, and laid his body among his deceafed 
anceftors, in the temple of Minerva. 
During thefe inteftine commotions, Egypt was invaded 
by Nebuchadnezzar, who miferably haralfed the country, 
and led great numbers of its inhabitants into captivity. 
At length, however, he came to an accommodation with 
Amafis, and quitted the kingdom with an immenfe boo¬ 
ty, which had been promifed him by the God of Ifrael 
in thefe words: “ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, 
caufed his army to f’erve a great fervice againft Tyrus, 
yet had he no wages, nor his army for Tyrus. There¬ 
fore, thus faith the Lord God, I will give the land of 
Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king .of Babylon, and it 
lhall be the wages for his army.” 
Amafis began to reign in the year 569 before Chrift; 
and is generally believed to have been of plebeian ex¬ 
traction, upon which account he met with no refpeft 
from 
