24 THE GREAT EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION. 
rebels. Furthermore, both Egyptian versions give us the unedifying detail that the execution, 
which embellished the celebration of the coronation at Memphis, was done “on the wood,”’ 7. e., 
by empaling or crucifixion. The Greek text hints very delicately at the cruelty of the punish- 
ment, while the Egyptian scribes, wishing to show their loyalty, become brutal in their faithful 
description. Modern commentators have always connected this latter section, about the execu- 
tion of the insurgent leaders, with the capture of Lycopolis by assuming that the majority of 
the rebels fell at the storming, and that some, especially the leaders, were spared for a more 
cruel and solemn death. A careful examination of the text will show that two different groups 
of rebels are meant; the wording of the Egyptian versions shows it much more clearly. Even 
the Greek text would force us to accuse the writer of a very careless style, especially of repeti- 
tion in describing the crimes of the rebels and contradicting thoughtlessly the previous state- 
ment that all defenders of Lycopolis had been killed. We see that the Greek text is very 
carefully worded. The way in which those rebels came alive into the hands of the king is quietly 
passed over, and a hidden excuse for their execution is given in the description of their specially 
great guilt; so far it was possible to go in representing the facts pleasantly without criticizing 
His Majesty. ‘Thus not a breach of the capitulation is meant by Polybius’ criticism that the 
king broke his faith to the rebellious natives, but a breach of the general amnesty described 
above, p. 14. ‘The priestly historian finds it quite proper, of course, that the special crimes of 
those leaders excluded them from royal clemency. 
The fall of Lycopolis and the coronation at Memphis can not have been widely apart, 
according to our passage. We have shown this above (p. 20). I leave it to others to determine 
from the mention of the high Nile something about the relation in which the shifting civil year 
of the Egyptians stood to the astronomical year and to our present system of arranging the 
antique chronology. ‘The capture of the city could be assumed to be later than the time of the 
high Nile and_to fall into the autumn, but this can not be proved with certainty. 
The vague final words of the extract from Polybius seem to hint that the cruel execution 
of those rebel leaders proved to be a great mistake, 7. e., that, notwithstanding the concession to 
Egyptian national feeling by a crowning ceremony in Memphis, parts of the Egyptians rose 
anew, fearing the faithless cruelty of the king, so that he ‘entered into many dangers,”’ 7. e., so 
that he suffered defeats. This must refer to Lower Egypt, the part of the country most difficult 
for military operations, where also most of the machimoi were settled (p.16). Inany case, at the 
time of the coronation, early in the year 9, Upper Egypt must still have remained independent. 
The Rosettana (1. 20, see p. 19), it is true, speaks of “the times during the revolution”’ 
(literally: “disturbance,” cp. p. 19), as though these times belonged, in the year 9, entirely to 
the past. However, we must not be deceived by this loyal pretension. It does not furnish any 
clue for tracing the reconquest of Upper Egypt. All the inscriptions we have of Ptolemy V. > 
above Memphis (Max L. Strack, Die Dynastie der Ptolemaer, p. 245) mention Epiphanes 
together with the queen Cleopatra, 7. e., these inscriptions are at least later than the marriage 


1TLetronne, Recueil d' Inscriptions, I, 298, wondered that the enumeration of benefits done to all temples of the whole country con- 
trasts with the mention only of the Apis and Mnevis, gods worshipped near Memphis; he missed especially a mention of the gods of 
Thebes. This argument may be of some value, but it is not forceful. Thebes, at that time, had lost most of its ancient 
importance, and the Apis and Mnevis were best known to the Greeks as the most famous sacred animals, so that they might simply 
stand as types of the native Egyptian pantheon, even when the whole country was accessible. 
