* Diodorus Siculus states that it was during the Syrian war that the king thus honoured his mercenary troops.  Wiedemann thinks this is an erroneous inference drawn from the passage of Herodotus, in which he explains the meaning of the word Asmakh.

They reaped thus the double advantage of the glory, which they greatly prized, and of the higher pay attached to the title of body-guard, but the troops who had hitherto enjoyed these advantages were naturally indignant at losing them, and began to murmur.  One particularly galling circumstance at last caused their discontent to break out.  The eastern and southern frontiers of Egypt were conterminous with those of two conquering empires, Assyria and Ethiopia, and on the west the Libyan tribes along the shores of the Mediterranean were powerful enough to demand constant vigilance on the part of the border garrisons.  Psammetichus, among other reforms, had reorganised the ancient system of defence.  While placing outposts at the entrance to the passes leading from the desert into the Nile valley, he had concentrated considerable masses of troops at the three most vulnerable points—­the outlets of the road to Syria, the country surrounding Lake Mareotis, and the first cataract; he had fortified Daphnse, near the old town of Zalu, as a defence against the Assyrians, Marea against the Libyan Bedawin, and Elephantine against the Ethiopians.  These advanced posts had been garrisoned with native troops who were quartered there for a year at a time.  To be condemned to such an exile for so long a period raised in them a sense of profound indignation, but when the king apparently forgot them and left them there three years without sending other troops to relieve them, their anger knew no bounds.  They resolved to put an end to such treatment, and as the hope of a successful rebellion seemed but small, they decided to leave the country.  Two hundred and forty thousand of them assembled on a given day with their arms and baggage, and marched in good order towards Ethiopia.  Psammetichus, warned of their intentions when ifc was too late, hastened after them with a handful of followers, and coming up with them, besought them not to desert their national gods, their wives, and their children.  He had nearly prevailed on them to return, when one soldier, with a significant gesture, intimated that while manhood lasted they had power to create new families wherever they might chance to dwell.  The details of this story betray the popular legend, but nevertheless have a basis of truth.  The inscriptions from the time of Psammetichus onwards never mention the Mashauasha, while their name and their exploits constantly recur in the history of the preceding dynasties:  henceforth they and their chiefs vanish from sight, and discord and brigandage simultaneously cease in the Egyptian nomes.  It was very probably the most turbulent among these auxiliaries who left the country in the circumstances above narrated:  since they