[286] It is self-evident that Miltiades did not wait for the arrival of Darius on the Danube.
[287] According to Polyaenus, Chalcedon was taken by a mine, which was carried from a hill 15 stades from the city under the market-place. "Strateg." 7, 2, 5. It is obvious that we must read Καλχηδών here, and not Καρχηδών. The altar of Zeus Diabaterius which, according to Ctesias, Darius erects, and the Chalcedonians subsequently pull down, is certainly identical with the two monuments which, according to Herodotus, Darius set up at Byzantium (above, p. 269). Herodotus also speaks of the destruction of the monuments, but ascribes it to the Byzantines. This was done obviously in the time after the battle of Mycale; if previously destroyed they would have been restored by Megabyzus and Otanes when they subjugated the Hellespont. Of the later destruction Herodotus relates that the Byzantines conveyed the stones into the city, and used them in building the altar of Artemis Orthosia; one stone only, covered with Assyrian letters, was left at the temple of Dionysus: Herod. 4, 87.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CONQUESTS IN AFRICA AND EUROPE.
Like Bactria and Arachosia, Asia Minor and Egypt had remained loyal, when the natives in the centre of the kingdom, the Semites and Arians, and even the Persians, had revolted against Darius. In Egypt Aryandes, who had been appointed satrap by Cambyses, still held his office. Uzahorsun, the Egyptian whom Cambyses had placed in his retinue and taken into his service (p. 171), tells us, "that his holiness, the king of upper and lower Egypt, Darius (Ntariush), the ever-living, had commanded him to go to Egypt, when his holiness was in Elam, when he became lord of the whole world, the great king of Egypt." According to the commands of his holiness he (Uzahorsun) had restored order in Egypt and had received contributions from all. No one had spoken evil of him, for he had given to every one what was justly his; he had restored all men to their rights, and had placed them in the boundaries of their property as it had been marked out; the worship of the gods and their habitations had been restored according to the will of his holiness; the offerings had been brought, the festivals had been celebrated.[288] In addition to the toleration which the Achæmenids always extended to the religion of the nations subject to them, though it was not their own religion, and the care which they took of their places of worship, Darius seems to have been at especial pains to win the affections of the Egyptians. His intention was, no doubt, to make Egypt the starting-point for further enterprise in Africa, and the support of the conquests which he had in contemplation. Herodotus tells us that when Darius determined to erect his statue before the temple of Ptah at Memphis, he gave way before the opposition of the priest of the temple. Diodorus tells us that the Egyptians consider Darius as their sixth law-giver, after Menes, Sasychis, Sesosis, Bocchoris, and Amasis. Darius had mixed with the Egyptian priests, and had thus become acquainted with their theology, and the magnanimity and devotion of their ancient kings. He set them before him as a pattern, and for this reason he was so highly honoured among the Egyptians that even in his life-time he was considered a god, and after his death he received the honours which in ancient days had been given to the kings of Egypt, whose reigns had been most in accordance with law. The name of Darius meets us frequently on the buildings of Egypt. A long inscription in the stone quarries at Hamamat informs us that an Egyptian architect, Chnum-ab-rha, who had already been in the service of Amasis, was in the service of Darius from the 26th to the 30th year of his reign, and carried out his various buildings.[289] The Apis which had appeared in the fifth year of Cambyses (p. 171), died in the fourth year of Darius (518 B.C.), and was buried in the necropolis of Memphis, in the sanctuary of Osiris-Apis, in the front space of the gallery of the tombs of Apis, which Psammetichus had added to the gallery of Ramses II.[290] Another great work which Darius undertook in connection with the monuments of the ancient Pharaohs, besides the advantages which it conferred on the trade of the whole kingdom and the intercourse between the parts of it, must have been of the very greatest value to Egypt.[291]
From the valley of the Nile, to which Darius devoted such attention, in the autumn of the same year in which he marched to the Danube, a second Persian expedition set forth, comprising both an army and a fleet—a great armament, as Herodotus says, which was intended to establish and extend the dominion of the Persian kingdom on the north coast of Africa.[292] The Libyan tribes which inhabited these deserts on the borders of Egypt, like the great cities Cyrene and Barca, had paid homage to Cambyses, had sent presents, and agreed to pay tribute.[293] Barca had been founded by Cyrene about 30 years before the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, and was governed by a branch of the Battiadae, the royal house of Cyrene. The daughter of the prince of Barca, whom Herodotus, following no doubt the Libyan name for the royal title, calls Alazeir, was the wife of Archelaus III. of Cyrene, who for reasons known to us had submitted to Cambyses. More than ten years afterwards, Archelaus repaired to his father-in-law at Barca; during his absence his mother Pheretima was to govern Cyrene. While at Barca, he was murdered together with his father-in-law Alazeir by certain Cyrenaeans who had fled to that city to escape the cruelty with which he had re-established his sway in Cyrene (p. 153), and by the people of Barca.[294] His mother, who was no longer in any position to maintain her power in Cyrene, fled to Egypt and besought assistance from Aryandes; "in return for her fidelity to Persia, her son had been slain." Aryandes sympathised with her distress, so Herodotus tells us, and put at her disposal the whole force in Egypt, both the army and the fleet; sympathy with Pheretima was the reason of the campaign of the Persians against Barca. He adds that in his own opinion this was merely a pretext; the real object was the subjugation of the Libyans, of whom a few only were the subjects of Darius.[295]
By the assassination of the two princes who had submitted to Persia the word for revolt was given, and the more plainly because the Barcæans, according to Herodotus, refused to give up the murderers. The land round Cyrene was extraordinarily fertile, and the district of Barca reached on the west to the great Syrtis. The army which set out to reduce a city, 600 miles distant from Memphis, was led by a Persian, Amasis of the tribe of the Maraphians. (V. 323). This march along the north coast through regions partly desert and partly inhabited by nomads, was to be supported by a fleet formed no doubt of Phenician and Egyptian ships, under the command of Badres of the tribe of the Pasargadae. The Persians reached the extensive and well-watered mountain plain which formed the territory of Barca. The city was invested, but the Barcæans made a vigorous resistance. Furious attacks of the Persians were repulsed, and even their attempt to carry mines under the city miscarried. A smith in Barca, according to Herodotus, discovered the direction of the mines by placing a brazen shield upon the ground, inside the wall, and striking it,—the soil being hollow, wherever the shield resounded. Then the Barcæans dug shafts and killed the workmen of the enemy in their passages. After nine months of fruitless efforts Amasis was convinced that he could not take the place by storm. He offered to abandon the siege if the Barcæans would pay a suitable tribute to the king; so long as they fulfilled this condition the Persians would not take up arms against them. The conditions were sworn to on both sides, as Herodotus tells us, in the form that they "should be kept so long as the earth remained." But on the previous night Amasis had excavated the place on which the oath was sworn, had covered the excavation with wood, and placed earth upon the wood. When the Barcaeans, in reliance on the truce, opened the gates, came out of their city and permitted the Persians to enter it, Amasis caused the earth to fall in by removing the wood-work, in order to make the treaty invalid. Being masters of the city the Persians gave up to Pheretima those who were chiefly implicated in the murder of Archelaus. She caused them to be crucified round the walls of Barca, and at the same time cut off the breasts of their wives and affixed them to the walls. The Persians also carried away a large number of prisoners, in order to weaken the city, and so to retain it in subjection with less effort. Only the Battiadæ and a remnant of the population were left. After thus reducing the city, the Persians marched through the fruitful plain, which stretches to the west of Barca between the table-land and the sea, towards the west. At Euhesperides on the great Syrtis they reached the extreme point in the west of Africa to which the Persians ever penetrated.[296]
"When the army reached Cyrene on its return," so Herodotus tells us, "the Cyrenaeans in obedience to an oracle allowed it to pass through the city. While passing through, Badres, the commander of the fleet, bade them take the city, but Amasis prevented this, saying that he was sent out against Barca, and no other city. When they had marched through, and the army was encamped on the hill of Zeus Lycaeus, they repented that they had not seized Carthage, and attempted to enter the city a second time. But this the Cyrenaeans would not allow. Then the Persians, though no one was fighting against them, were seized with a panic; they ran away about sixty stades and there encamped till a messenger of Aryandes called them back. At their request they received provisions for the journey from the Cyrenaeans and returned to Egypt. But those who remained behind and delayed their march were cut down by the Libyans for the sake of their clothes and armour, till they reached Egypt. The captive Barcæans were sent to the king, and Darius gave them a village in Bactria for a habitation to which they gave the name Barca. This village was inhabited in Bactria down to my time."[297]
According to this narrative the expedition to Barca, which set out in the autumn of 513 B.C. and returned home at the earliest towards the end of 512 B.C. (the siege of Barca occupied nine months), did not turn out prosperously for the Persians. The contrary was the case. Herodotus repeats a legend of the Cyrenaeans, which was intended to put their courage in a clear light, and according to which an entrance into the city when demanded for the third time was refused to the Persian army which had marched through Cyrene on its advance and return. Further, an attempted attack of the Persians failed though there was no resistance, and Cyrene magnanimously furnished the Persians with provisions for their journey. The army and fleet of the Persians, when quartered in the fertile district of Cyrene, were in a position to supply themselves abundantly at the cost of the city. Moreover, we subsequently find a fourth Battus at the head of Cyrene and Barca, and after him a fourth Arcesilaus.[298] After the murder of Arcesilaus III. a Battiad would have been the less likely to ascend the throne of Cyrene without the aid of the Persians, owing to the cruel punishment which Pheretima had inflicted on her opponents. Moreover, Herodotus tells us himself that Darius included the Libyans adjacent to Egypt as well as Cyrene and Barca in the sixth satrapy, i. e. the satrapy of Egypt, and imposed upon the two a yearly tribute of 700 talents.[299] From other accounts it is clear that the Libyans of this district, and with them the inhabitants of the oasis of Ammon, had to contribute salt to the Persians, and Herodotus tells us that these Libyans of the north coast, clad in the skins of animals and armed with poles hardened in the fire, served in the army of the Persian kings along with the curly-haired negroes living beyond Egypt.[300] Monuments and inscriptions also prove that not Cyrene and Barca only, but even the Libyan tribes of the north coast as far as the great Syrtis, i. e. the Adyrmachidae, Giligammae, and Asbystae were subdued at that time, and that the dominion of Darius extended as far as the oases on the northern edge of the desert. Herodotus has already told us of the oasis Polis, which was situated seven days' journey from Thebes in the sand (p. 165),—the modern Oasis el Charigeh. The inscriptions of the great temple, the walls of which still exist at this place in tolerable preservation, tell us that Darius "S-tut-Ra,"[301] i. e. rival of the sun, dedicated this temple to Ammon Ra of Thebes, the lord of Hib (which is the name of this oasis among the Egyptians). In the colossal picture on the exterior wall at the back, Darius offers sacrifice to this god and the goddess Mut, who stands behind him; behind the king we also see the goddess Hathor.[302] At a later time Darius Ochus added to this temple. The inscription of Naksh-i-Rustem, which distinguishes the tomb of Darius, quotes among the nations who were his subjects the Putiya, Machiya, and Kushiya. By the Putiya (Puta in the Babylonian translation of the inscription) we must understand beyond doubt the Put of the Hebrews, i. e. the Libyans; the Machiya may be the Maxyes of Herodotus, to the west of Cyrene, the Mashawasha of the Egyptians; the Kushiya are the Cushites of the Egyptians, Hebrews, and Assyrians, the Ethiopians of the Greeks, i. e. the Nubians and negroes beyond Egypt.[303]