he built and completed for Athene a
temple-gateway which is a great marvel, and he far surpassed herein all
who had done the like before, both in regard to height and greatness,
so large are the stones and of such quality. Then secondly he dedicated
great colossal statues and man-headed sphinxes very large, and for
restoration he caused to be brought from the stone-quarries which
are opposite Memphis, others of very great size from the city of
Elephantine, distant a voyage of not less than twenty days from Sais:
and of them all I marvel most at this, namely a monolith chamber which
he brought from the city of Elephantine; and they were three years
engaged in bringing this, and two thousand men were appointed to convey
it, who all were of the class of boatmen. Of this house the length
outside is one-and-twenty cubits, the breadth is fourteen cubits, and
the height eight. These are the measures of the monolith house outside;
but the length inside is eighteen cubits and five-sixths of a cubit, the
breadth twelve cubits, and the height five cubits. This lies by the side
of the entrance to the temple; for within the temple they did not draw
it, because, as it is said, while the house was being drawn along, the
chief artificer of it groaned aloud, seeing that much time had been
spent and he was wearied by the work; and Amasis took it to heart as a
warning and did not allow them to draw it further onwards. Some say on
the other hand that a man was killed by it, of those who were heaving it
with levers, and that it was not drawn in for that reason. Amasis also
dedicated in all the other temples which were of repute, works which are
worth seeing for their size, and among them also at Memphis the colossal
statue which lies on its back in front of the temple of Hephaistos,
whose length is five-and-seventy feet; and on the same base made of the
same stone are set two colossal statues, each of twenty feet in length,
one on this side and the other on that side of the large statue. There
is also another of stone of the same size in Sais, lying in the same
manner as that at Memphis. Moreover Amasis was he who built and finished
for Isis her temple at Memphis, which is of great size and very worthy
to be seen.

In the reign of Amasis it is said that Egypt became more prosperous than
at any other time before, both in regard to that which comes to the land
from the river and in regard to that which comes from the land to its
inhabitants,