haka and reinstated the governors. At the head of these was
Necho (Niku), king of Sais and Memphis, father of Psammetichus, the
founder of the XXVIth Dynasty. We next hear that correspondence with
Tirhaka was intercepted, and that Necho, together with Pekrur of Psapt
(at the entrance to the Wadi Tumilat) and the Assyrian governor of
Pelusium, was taken to Nineveh in chains to answer the charge of
treason. Whatever may have occurred, it was deemed politic to send Necho
back loaded with honours and surrounded by a retinue of Assyrian
officials. Upper Egypt, however, was loyal to Tirhaka, and even at
Memphis the burial of an Apis bull was dated by the priests as in his
reign. Immediately afterwards he died. His nephew Tandamane, received by
the Upper country with acclamations, besieged and captured Memphis,
Necho being probably slain in the encounter. But in 661 (?)
Assur-bani-pal drove the Ethiopian out of Lower Egypt, pursued him up
the Nile and sacked Thebes. This was the last and most tremendous
visitation of the Assyrian scourge.

XXVIth Dynasty.

Psammetichus (Psammetk), 664-610 B.C., the son of Necho, succeeded his
father as a vassal of Assyria in his possessions of Memphis and Sais,
allied himself with Gyges, king of Lydia, and aided by Ionian and Carian
mercenaries, extended and consolidated his power.[21] By the ninth year
of his reign he was in full possession of Thebes. Assur-bani-pal's
energies throughout this crisis were entirely occupied with revolts
nearer home, in Babylon, Elam and Arabia. The Assyrian arms again
triumphed everywhere, but at the cost of complete exhaustion. Under the
firm and wise rule of Psammetichus, Egypt recovered its prosperity after
the terrible losses inflicted by internal wars and the decade of
Assyrian invasions. The revenue went up by leaps and bounds.
Psammetichus guarded the frontiers of Egypt with three strong garrisons,
placing the Ionian and Carian mercenaries especially at the Pelusiac
Daphnae in the N.E., from which quarter the most formidable enemy was
likely to appear. The Assyrians did not move against him, but a great
Scythian horde, destroying all before it in its southward advance, is
said by Herodotus to have been turned back by presents and entreaties.
Diplomacy backed up by vigorous preparations may have deterred the
Scythians from the dangerous enterprise of crossing the desert to Egypt.
Before his death Psammetichus had advanced into southern Palestine and