16 THE GREAT EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION. 
rebels agree well with the preceding general statements of Polybius. The texts of Edfu, on 
the other hand, leave only the years 16 and 17 and a part of the year 18 for the duration of the 
revolution, so far as it fell under Philopator. We should have expected a somewhat longer 
time, and the expression of Polybius “soon”’ (after the battle of Raphia) appears to us_ 
as a careless designation for a space of ten years after that battle. In defense of Polybius’ 
“soon,’’ we might assume that the revolution started in Lower Egypt some time before the 
sixteenth year. This is quite possible, because the majority of the machimoi ought to have 
been settled in Lower Egypt; also the hard fights in the Delta, as described in the Rosetta 
inscription, seem to confirm their frequency there. It does not seem, however, that by seeing 
in the date of the sixteenth year merely the extension of the revolution to Upper Egypt and by 
assuming even isolated previous revolutionary movements in this part of the country, we can 
save much of the authority of Polybius. A year more or less will not alter the discrepancy 
materially. On the other hand, it must be repeated that the approximate statement of the 
Turin papyrus does not warrant that the Greek soldiers at Thebes stayed there for over two 
years after the revolution had seized the country farther south, around Edfu.! 
Polybius (XIV, 12) complains of the difficulty in following the war in detail, giving the 
general characterization that it was remarkable only for the cruelty and faithlessness shown 
by both sides, but presented no larger regular battle on land or sea or siege. Comparing this 
statement with the epigraphic reports on the siege of Lykopolis, etc., we must suspect that the 
above characterization may be somewhat exaggerated and caused by regard for readers in 
Greece proper. A man not very well acquainted with the geography of Egypt would find it 
quite difficult to follow (through the confusing nomenclature of the Greeks) the endless 
settlements of Egypt.? Polybius may be right, however, that the war was of a peculiar 
type. Judging from the unwarlike, malicious, and perfidious character of the Egyptians and 
the character of their country, I believe that the rebellion did not cause a general rising of the 
whole Egyptian population against the hated foreigners through the whole country at once. 
Where the native warriors could assemble in considerable numbers, the rebellion, indeed, may 
well have assumed the character of a general rising of all natives. In other places, however, 
those open belligerents, the hereditary warriors, according to their small number, may have 
formed only roving bands, massacring and plundering the Greeks here and there’ and retiring 
to the small islands in the Delta or, in the South, to the desert mountains when larger bodies 
of royal troops appeared. The populace probably joined them in plundering and murdering 
the foreigners where it could be done safely. When regular troops approached, only the 
guiltiest, I believe, withdrew to the strongholds of the machimoi; the majority subjected them- 
selves again to the Greek authorities whenever these had any considerable number of soldiers, 
proclaimed their unshaken loyalty to the royal house, and denounced eagerly their personal 


1 Tf we can use the Apis inscriptions collected by Brugsch, Aeg. Zeitschr., 1884, 127 (a rather doubtful material, I fear), we should 
know that an Apis from a place in “the territory of Thebes,”’ 7. e., the Thebais, called P—ha or Ha (Brugsch, 1.1. 129, identifies it with 
Denderah, which is very improbable; it may be a mere village) was brought to Memphis about 5 years before the enthronement of 
Epiphanes. This presupposes that Middle and Upper Egypt were under control of the Greek government about the year 12 to 13 
of Philopator, a good confirmation of the Edfu text against Polybius’ remark about the time of the outbreak. 
2 Polybius, nevertheless, must have given some account of the war. For the above reasons, however, this report was, it seems, - 
omitted by the copyists of the manuscripts of his history. European readers found too little interest in it. 
3 In Pap. London, II, ed. Forshall, a Greek, who died during the revolution, is mentioned. ‘The way in which he died is not 
defined, because it did not appear loyal to speak too much of that sad time, as we have seen repeatedly. 
