Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/895

 SAIS. niibuiTit brick which suiTouiuleJ the principal buildings of the city was 70 feet thick, and pro- bably therefore at least 100 feet hi^h. It enclosed an area 2325 feet in length by 1960 in breadth. Be3'nnd tiiis enclosure were also two large cemeteries, one fur the citizens generally, and the other reserved for the nobles and priests of the hiuher orders. In one respect the Suites differed from the other Ae- pyptians in their practice of interment. They buried their kings within tlie precincts of their temples. The tomb of Arnasis attracted the attention of He- rodotus (ii. 169). and Psammitichus, the conqueror and successor of that monarch, was also buritd within the walls of the temple of Neith. Sais was one of the sacred cities of Aegypt : its principal deities were Neith, who gave oracles there, and Isis. The mysteries of the latter were cele- brated annually with unusual pomp on tlie evening of the Feast of Lamps. Herodotus terms this fes- tival (ii. 59) the third of the great feasts in the Aegyptian calendar. It was held by night; and every one intending to be present at the sacrifices was required to light a number of lamps in the open air around his house. The lamps were small sau- cers filled with .salt and oil, on which a wick floated, and which continued to burn all night. At what season of the year the feast of burning lamps was celebrated Herodotus knew, but deemed it wrong to tell (ii. 62); it was, however, probably at either the vernal or autumnal equinox, since it apparently had reference to one of the capital revolutions in the solar course. An inscription in the temple of Neith declared her to i)e theMother of the Sun. (Plutarch, Is.et Osir. p. 354, ed. Wyttenbach ; Proclus, mZYwaeJwi, p. 30.) It ran thus: " I am the things that have been, and that are, and that will be; no one has uncovered my skirts ; the frait which I brought forth became the Sun." It is probable, accordingly, that the kindling of the lamps referred to Neith as the author of light. On the same night apparently were performed what the Aegyptians designated the " Mysteries of Isis." Sais was one of the supposed places of the interment of Osiris, for that is evidently the deity whom He- rodotus will not name (ii. 171) when he says that there is a budal-place of him at Sais in the temple of Athene. The mysteries were symbolical repre- sentations of the sufferings of Osiris, especially his dismemberment by Typhon. They were exhibited on the lake behind the temple of Neith. Portions of the lake may be still discerned near the hamlet of Sa-el-IIadjar. Sais was alternately a provincial city of the first order and the capital of Lower Aegypt, These changes in its rank were probably the result of political revolutions in the Delta. The nome and city are said by JIanetho to have derived their appellation from Saites, a king of the xvii;k dynasty. The xxivth dynasty was that of Bocchoris of Sais. The xxvith dynasty contained nine Suite kings; and of thexxviiith Amyrtaeus the Saite is the only monarch: with him expired the Saite dynasty, B. c. 408. Bocchoris the Wise, the son of Tnephactus (Diodor. i. 45. § 2, 79. § 1), the Technatis of Plutarch (7s. et Osir. p. 354; comp. Atlicn. x. p. 418; Aelian, //. A. xi. 11), and the Aegyptian Pehor, was re- markable as a judge and legislator, and introduced, according to Diodorus, some important amendments into the commercial laws of Sais. He was put to death by burning after revolting from Sabaco the Aethiopian. During the Aethiopian dynasty Sais SAI5 875 seems to have retained its independence. The period of its greatest prosperity was between b. c. 697 — 524, under its nine native kings. The strength of Aegypt generally had been transferred from its southern to its northern provinces. Of the Saite monarchs of Aegypt P.sammitichus and Amasis were the most powerful. Psammitichus maintained him- self on the throne by his Greek mercenaries. He established at Sais the class of interpreters, caused his own sons to be educated in Greek learning, and encouraged the resort of Greeks to his capital. The intercourse between Sais and Athens especially was promoted by their worshipping the same deity — Neith-Athene; and hence there sprung up, although in a much later age, the opinion that Cecrops the Saite led a colony to Athens. The establishment of the Greeks at Gyrene was indirectly fatal to the Saitic dynasty. Uaphris, Apries, or Hojihra, was defeated by the Cyrenians, B. c. 569; and his dis- contented troops raised their commander Amasis of Siouph to the throne. He adorned Sais with many stately buildings, and enlarged or decorated the temple of Neith: for he erected in front of it pro- pylaea, which for their height and magnitude, and the quality of the stones employed, surpassed all similar structures in Aegypt. The stones were transported from the quarries of JE I- Mokattam near JIem}ihis, and thence were brought also the colossal figures and androsphinxes that adorned the Dromos. To Sais Amasis transported from Elephantine a monolithal shrine of granite, which Herodotus espe- cially admired (ii. 175). Though the ordinary passage from Elepharitine to Sais was performed in twenty days, three years were employed in conveying this colossal mass. It was, however, never erected, and when Herodotus visited Aegypt was still lying on the ground in front of the temple. It measured, according to the historian, 30 feet in height, 12 feet in depth from front to back, and in breadth 21 feet. After the death of Amasis, Sais sank into comparative obscurity, and does not seem to have enjoyed the favour of the Persian, Macedonian, or Roman masters of Aegypt. Sais indeed was more conspicuous as a seat of commerce and learning, and of Greek culture gene- rally, than as the seat of government. Nechepsus, one of its kings, has left a name for his learning (Anson. Ji!pigram. 409), and his writings on a>tro- nomy are cited by Pliny (ii. 23. s. 21). Pythagoras of Samos visited Sais in the reign of Amasis (comp. Plin. xxxvi. 9. s. 14); and Solon the Athenian con- versed with Sonchis, a Saite priest, about the same time {Flat. Solon, 26; Herod, ii. 177; Clinton, /n.5(. Ilellen. vol. ii. p. 9). At Sais, if we may credit Plato {Timaeus, iii. p. 25), Solon heard the legend of Atlantis, and of the ancient glories of Athens some thousand years prior to Phoioneus and Niobe and Deucalion's flood. The priests of Sais appear indeed to have been anxious to ingratiate them- selves with the Athenians by discovering resem- blances between Attic and Aegyptian institutions. Thus Diodorus (i. 28), copying from earlier nar- ratives, says that the citizens of Sais, like tho.se of Athens were divided into eupatrids, or jiriest-nobles; geoniori, land-owners liable to military service ; and craftsmen or retail traders. He adds that in each city the upjicr town was called Astu. The Greek population of Sais was governed, according ti) JIanetho, by their own laws and magistrates, and had a separate quarter of the city assigned to them. So strong indeed was the Hellenic element in Sais that.