Egypt under the Sates, Persians, and Ptolemies

B.C. 340] AND MARCHES ON PELUSIUM III
fire, and so perished all together, to the number of about
forty thousand. Artaxerxes slew Tennes when he had
no further use for him, and thus the revolt collapsed
about the time of the rebellion the Persians ob-
tained possession of Cyprus with the help of 8000
soldiers and forty triremes sent by Idrieus, king of
Caria, and thus Artaxerxes was free to attack Egypt.
He set out from Sidon with his mercenaries, and all
went well until they arrived at the Great Lake, i.e.,
Lake Sirbonis, where at the places called Barathra i
he lost a considerable portion of his army. The
Barathra, or "Gulfs," formed the Sirbonian Bog,
which was very narrow, very deep, and about twenty
miles long (200 stadia) ; it was a most dangerous place
for the unwary traveller, because the marshes became
covered with a thin layer of sand, and as soon as he
put his foot upon it he sank into the swamp, wherein
he could neither walk, nor swim, nor move, and at
length he was engulfed.^ Having passed the Barathra
Artaxerxes marched on to Pelusium, where there were
strong fortifications and a garrison of 5000 Egyptians
under Philophron ; the Greeks encamped near the
city, but the Persians remained forty furlongs away.
The Thebans attempted to carry the fort by assault,
but they failed, and a sharp fight which lasted the
1 Karaj'TTjcoy S' iir] tV lJi'fyci\7}i> Klfxy-qv, KaO' fjt' eari to KaXovjxtva
fidpadpa : Diodorus, xvi. 46, § 5.
- A vivid description of its dangers is given by Diodorus, i. 30,
§4ff.
;