Note 617 — Chapter XX · EGYPTIANS.

Strabo, xvii, p. 801. καὶ τὸ Μιλησίων τεῖχος· πλεύσαντες γὰρ ἐπὶ Ψαμμητίχου τριάκοντα ναυσὶν Μιλήσιοι κατὰ Κυαξάρη (οὗτος δὲ τῶν Μήδων) κάτεσχον εἰς τὸ στόμα τὸ Βολβίτινον· εἶτ᾽ ἐκβάντες ἐτείχισαν τὸ λεχθὲν κτίσμα· χρόνῳ δ᾽ ἀναπλεύσαντες εἰς τὸν Σαϊτικὸν νομὸν, καταναυμαχήσαντες Ἴναρον, πόλιν ἔκτισαν Ναύκρατιν οὐ πολὺ τῆς Σχεδίας ὕπερθεν.

What is meant by the allusion to Kyaxarês, or to Inarus, in this passage, I do not understand. We know nothing of any relations either between Kyaxarês and Psammetichus, or between Kyaxarês and the Milesians. moreover, if by κατὰ Κυαξάρη be meant in the time of Kyaxarês, as the translators render it, we have in immediate succession ἐπὶ Ψαμμητίχου—κατὰ Κυαξάρη, with the same meaning, which is, to say the least of it, a very awkward sentence. The words οὗτος δὲ τῶν Μήδων look not unlike a comment added by some early reader of Strabo, who could not understand why Kyaxarês should be here mentioned, and who noted his difficulty in words which have subsequently found their way into the text. Then again, Inarus belongs to the period between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars: at least we know no other person of that name than the chief of the Egyptian revolt against Persia (Thucyd. i, 114) who is spoken of as a “Libyan, the son of Psammetichus.” The mention of Kyaxarês, therefore, here appears unmeaning, while that of Inarus is an anachronism: possibly, the story that the Milesians founded Naukratis “after having worsted Inarus in a sea-flight,” may have grown out of the etymology of the name Naukratis, in the mind of one who found Inarus the son of Psammetichus mentioned two centuries afterwards, and identified the two Psammetichuses with each other.

The statement of Strabo has been copied by Steph. Byz. v. Ναύκρατις. Eusebius also announces (Chron. i, p. 168) the Milesians as the founders of Naukratis, but puts the event at 753 B. C., during what he calls the Milesian thalassokraty: see Mr. Fynes Clinton ad ann. 732 B. C. in the Fasti Hellenici.