cting
zone against the ambition of a new Esarhaddon. To this work Necho
applied himself as soon as Nebuchadrezzar had left him in order to
hasten back to Babylon. The Egyptian monarch belonged to a persevering
race, who were never kept, down by reverses, and had not once allowed
themselves to be discouraged during the whole of the century in which
they had laboured to secure the crown for themselves; his defeat had
not lessened his tenacity, nor, it would seem, his certainty of final
success. Besides organising his Egyptian and Libyan troops, he enrolled
a still larger number of Hellenic mercenaries, correctly anticipating
that the restless spirits of the Phoenicians and Jews would soon furnish
him with an opportunity of distinguishing himself upon the scene of
action.

It was perhaps at this juncture that he decided to strengthen his
position by the co-operation of a fleet. The superiority of the Chaldoan
battalions had been so clearly manifested, that he could scarcely hope
for a decisive victory if he persisted in seeking it on land; but if
he could succeed in securing the command of the sea, his galleys, by
continually cruising along the Syrian coast, and conveying troops,
provisions, arms, and money to the Phoenician towns, would so
successfully foster and maintain a spirit of rebellion, that the
Chaldaeans would not dare to venture into Egypt until they had dealt
with this source of danger in their rear. He therefore set to work
to increase the number of his war-vessels on the Bed Sea, but more
especially on the Mediterranean, and as he had drawn upon Greece for his
troops, he now applied to her for shipbuilders.*

* Herodotus tells us that in his time the ruins of the docks
which Necho had made for the building of his triremes could
still be seen on the shore of the Red Sea as well as on that
of the Mediterranean. He seems also to say that the building
of the fleet was anterior to the first Syrian expedition.

[Illustration: 404.jpg AN EGYPTIAN VESSEL OF THE SAITE PERIOD]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph sent by G. Benedite.

The trireme, which had been invented by either the Samian or Corinthian
naval constructors, had as yet been little used, and possibly Herodotus
is attributing an event of his own time to this earlier period when
he affirms that Necho filled a dockyard with a whole fleet of these
vessels; he possessed, at any rate, a considerable number of them, an