son of Theocles, that is, a Greek with an Egyptian name.  A considerable lapse of time must have taken place since Psammetichus’ first dealings with the Greeks, for otherwise the person named after the king would not have been of sufficiently mature age to be put at the head of a body of troops.

They organised a small army for him composed of Egyptians, Greeks, and Asiatic mercenaries, which, while the king was taking up his residence at Elephantine, was borne up the Nile in a fleet of large vessels.* It probably went as far south as the northern point of the second cataract, and not having encountered any Ethiopian force,** it retraced its course and came to anchor at Abu-Simbel.

* The chief graffito at Abu-Simbel says, in fact, that the king came to Elephantine, and that only the troops accompanying the General Psammetichus, the son of Theocles, went beyond Kerkis.  It was probably during his stay at Elephantine, while awaiting the return of the expedition, that Psammetichus II. had the inscriptions containing his cartouches engraved upon the rocks of Bigga, Abaton, Philo, and Konosso, or among the ruins of Elephantine and of Phila?.

** The Greek inscription says above Kerlcis.  Wiedemann has corrected Kerkis into Kortis, the Korte of the first cataract, but the reading Kerkis is too well established for there to be any reason for change.  The simplest explanation is to acknowledge that the inscription refers to a place situated a few miles above Abu-Simbel, towards Wady-Halfa.

The officers in command, after having admired the rock-cut chapel of Ramses II., left in it a memento of their visit in a fine inscription cut on the right leg of one of the colossi.  This inscription informs us that “King Psammatikhos having come to Elephantine, the people who were with Psammatikhos, son of Theocles, wrote this.  They ascended above Kerkis, to where the river ceases; Potasimto commanded the foreigners, Amasis the Egyptians.  At the same time also wrote Arkhon, son of Amoibikhos, and Peleqos, son of Ulamos.”  Following the example of their officers, the soldiers also wrote their names here and there, each in his own language—­Ionians, Rhodians, Carians, Phoenicians, and perhaps even Jews; e.g.  Elesibios of Teos, Pabis of Colophon, Telephos of Ialysos, Abdsakon son of Petiehve, Gerhekal son of Hallum.  The whole of this part of the country, brought to ruin in the gradual dismemberment of Greater Egypt, could not have differed much from the Nubia of to-day; there were the same narrow strips of cultivation along the river banks, gigantic temples half buried by their own ruins, scattered towns and villages, and everywhere the yellow sand creeping insensibly down towards the Nile.  The northern part of this province remained in the hands of the Saite Pharaohs, and the districts situated further south just beyond Abu-Simbel formed at that period a sort of neutral