herodotus

appointed ruler of the province of Egypt by Cambyses; and after thetime of these events he lost his life because he would measure himselfwith Dareios. For having heard and seen that Dareios desired to leavebehind him as a memorial of himself a thing which had not been made byany other king, he imitated him, until at last he received his reward:for whereas Dareios refined gold and made it as pure as possible, andof this caused coins to be struck, Aryandes, being ruler of Egypt, didthe same thing with silver; and even now the purest silver is thatwhich is called Aryandic. Dareios then having learnt that he was doingthis put him to death, bringing against him another charge ofattempting rebellion.167. Now at the time of which I speak this Aryandes had compassion onPheretime and gave her all the troops that were in Egypt, both theland and the sea forces, appointing Amasis a Maraphian to command theland-army and Badres, of the race of the Pasargadai, to command thefleet: but before he sent away the army, Aryandes despatched a heraldto Barca and asked who it was who had killed Arkesilaos; and the menof Barca all took it upon themselves, for they said they sufferedformerly many great evils at his hands. Having heard this, Aryandes atlast sent away the army together with Pheretime. This charge then wasthe pretext alleged; but in fact the army was being sent out (as Ibelieve) for the purpose of subduing Libya: for of the Libyans thereare many nations of nations of various kinds, and but few of them aresubject to the king, while the greater number paid no regard toDareios.*****168. Now the Libyans have their dwelling as follows:--Beginning fromEgypt, first of the Libyans are settled the Adyrmachidai, who practisefor the most part the same customs as the Egyptians, but wear clothingsimilar to that of the other Libyans. Their women wear a bronzering[150] upon each leg, and they have long hair on their heads, andwhen they catch their lice, each one bites her own in retaliation andthen throws them away. These are the only people of the Lybians who dothis; and they alone display to the king their maidens when they areabout to be married, and whosoever of them proves to be pleasing tothe king is deflowered by him. These Adyrmachidai extend along thecoast from Egypt as far as the port which is called Plynos. 169. Nextafter these come the Giligamai,[151] occupying the country towards theWest as far as the island of Aphrodisias. In the space within thislimit lies off the coast the island of Platea, where the Kyreniansmade their settlement; and on the coast of the mainland there is PortMenelaos, and Aziris, where the Kyrenians used to dwell. From thispoint begins the /silphion/[152] and it extends along the coast from