ad of six, the nights being turned into days.

This king also left behind him a pyramid, much smaller than that of his
father, of a square shape and measuring on each side three hundred feet
lacking twenty, built moreover of Ethiopian stone up to half the
height. This pyramid some of the Hellenes say was built by the courtesan
Rhodopis, not therein speaking rightly: and besides this it is evident
to me that they who speak thus do not even know who Rhodopis was,
for otherwise they would not have attributed to her the building of a
pyramid like this, on which have been spent (so to speak) innumerable
thousands of talents: moreover they do not know that Rhodopis flourished
in the reign of Amasis, and not in this king's reign; for Rhodopis
lived very many years later than the kings who left behind them these
pyramids. By descent she was of Thrace, and she was a slave of Iadmon
the son of Hephaistopolis a Samian, and a fellow-slave of Esop the
maker of fables; for he too was once the slave of Iadmon, as was
proved especially by this fact, namely that when the people of Delphi
repeatedly made proclamation in accordance with an oracle, to find some
one who would take up the blood-money for the death of Esop, no one else
appeared, but at length the grandson of Iadmon, called Iadmon also, took
it up; and thus it is showed that Esop too was the slave of Iadmon.
As for Rhodopis, she came to Egypt brought by Xanthes the Samian,
and having come thither to exercise her calling she was redeemed
from slavery for a great sum by a man of Mytilene, Charaxos son of
Scamandronymos and brother of Sappho the lyric poet. Thus was Rhodopis
set free, and she remained in Egypt and by her beauty won so much liking
that she made great gain of money for one like Rhodopis, though not
enough to suffice for the cost of such a pyramid as this. In truth there
is no need to ascribe to her very great riches, considering that the
tithe of her wealth may still be seen even to this time by any one
who desires it: for Rhodopis wished to leave behind her a memorial of
herself in Hellas, namely to cause a thing to be made such as happens
not to have been thought of or dedicated in a temple by any besides, and
to dedicate this at Delphi as a memorial of herself. Accordingly with
the tithe of her wealth she caused to be made spits of iron of size
large enough to pierce a whole ox, and many in number, going as far
therein as her tithe allowed her, and she sent them