The histories of Herodotus;

42 HERODOTUS—BOOK I, CLIO [102-105
reduced them under the dominion of the Medes. And afterward
being master of these two nations, both of them powerful,
he subdued Asia, attacking one nation after another,
until at last he invaded the Assyrians, who inhabited the
city of Nineveh, and who had before been supreme though
at that time they were abandoned by their confederates (who
had revolted), but who were otherwise in good condition
Phraortes then, having made war on them, perished with the
greater part of his army, after he had reigned twenty-two
years.
When Phraortes was dead, Cyaxares, his son, grandson
of Deioces, succeeded him. He is said to have been more
warlike than his ancestors. He first divided the people of
Asia into cohorts, and first divided them into spearmen, archers,
and cavalry ; whereas before they had been confusedly
mixed together. It was he that fought with the Lydians, when
the day was turned into night as they were fighting; and
who subjected the whole of Asia above the river Halys. He
assembled the forces of all his subjects, and marched against
Nineveh to avenge his father and destroy that city. However,
when he had obtained a victory over the Assyrians,
and while he was besieging Nineveh, a great army of Scythians
came upon him, under the conduct of their king Madyes,
son of Protothyas. These Scythians had driven the Cimmerians
out of Europe, and pursuing them into Asia, by that
means entered the territories of the Medes. The distance
from the lake Maeotis to the river Phasis and to Colchis is a
journey of thirty days to a well-girt man, but the route from
Colchis to Media is not long, for only one nation, the Sas-
pires, lies between them : when one has passed over this,
one finds one's self in Media. The Scythians, however, did
not pass by this way, but turned to the higher road by a much
longer route, having Mount Caucasus on the right, and there
the Medes coming to an engagement with the Scythians, and
being worsted in the battle, lost their dominion, and the
Scythians became masters of all Asia. Thence they proceeded
to Egypt, and when they reached Palestine in Syria,
Psammitichus, King of Egypt, having met them with presents
and prayers, diverted them from advancing farther. In
their return, however, they came to Ascalon, a city of Syria,
and when most of them had marched through without doing
any injury, some few, who were left behind, pillaged the Temple
of Celestial Venus. This temple, as I find by inquiry, is
the most ancient of all the temples dedicated to this goddess
for that in Cyprus was built after this, as the Cyprians them-
; :