ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 706: Mission to Egypt ([-])

"Sir, look there!" the captain shouted in surprise.

It turned out that an Egyptian herdsman was driving a group of cattle to graze on the beach, but he didn't expect a crocodile to be lurking there and almost bit the calf.The herdsman stepped forward in panic to drive away the crocodile, but found that the crocodile was not big, so he wanted to hunt it. He ordered his hounds to harass the crocodile to prevent it from escaping back into the river, while he held a wooden stick. Great, start attacking cautiously...

This thrilling scene soon attracted the passing papyrus boats and nearby farmers. They gathered around with pickaxes to watch the excitement. Some people shouted: "Hey, do you need my help?! But kill Score me a point after the crocodile!”

In the busy and boring work, farmers rarely have this moment of leisure...

At noon, Ansitanos and the others passed through a city - Naukratis.

This is an Egyptian town very closely related to the Greeks.

More than 200 years ago, with the full support of Greek mercenaries from Ionia and Caria, the Egyptians overthrew Assyrian rule and gained independence.Pharaoh Psammetikus accepted these meritorious Greeks and built the castle of Daphne in the east of the Nile Delta for Greek soldiers to live in. He also issued an order to open Egypt's trade to the outside world and allow Greece to The people lived permanently in Egypt.

As a result, the Milesians built a goods processing workshop by the Calobic River.With the continuous arrival of Greeks, a Greek town gradually grew up around this workshop area, named Naukratis (which means Queen of the Sea).

This colonial city has long been a port common to all Greek merchants, even now under Persian rule, and it was here that Alcibiades also conducted his trade.

Seeing the people in the city's port area wearing familiar Greek costumes made Ansitanos feel very warm, but his ship would not stop here, but would continue to move forward.

Finally, at dusk, the ship passed through the Nile Delta and entered the wider Nile River. By this time, it was already dark. The captain was not familiar with the river channel and did not dare to go further. He could only park on the shore and hire trackers on the shore.

Ansitanos and his subordinates all spent the night on the boat, listening to the "gurgling" sound of the Nile water and the strange sounds of animals on the shore or in the river. This was a strange experience for the young people, and For Ansitanos, who is already in his 50s, it is quite a torture.Especially the mosquito bites made him suffer a lot, and he fell asleep late at night due to exhaustion.

The next day, he managed to pull himself together and move on.

A few hours later, the ship passed the ancient town of Giza.

When Ansitanos looked towards the west bank and could vaguely see the outlines of several tall pyramids on the Giza Plateau, his spirits finally lifted.

At noon, the passenger ship finally entered Memphis, the capital of Egypt.

There are more boats on the Nile River near Memphis, but there are fewer delicate papyrus boats. Instead, there are more long and narrow boats with pointed ends, a canopy in the middle, and many oarsmen. The length ranges from a few meters to There are wooden boats tens of meters long, and of course, tall and spacious large passenger ships can also be seen occasionally.

When Ansitanos was on the boat, he marveled at the tall outer city wall of Memphis, which was nearly 15 meters high. Almost no buildings in the city could be seen outside the city, except for the towering obelisk and the palace in the center of the city.

Because the Pharaoh had received a summons from the checkpoint at the entrance of the Karabik River in advance, the Dionia passenger ship was actually allowed to enter the dock in the inner city.

This is a good sign!Ancitanos thought.

Ancitanos landed at the pier, where a carriage was already waiting.

After getting on the carriage, under the control of the driver, the carriage galloped towards the palace.

The inner city is where prominent Egyptian officials, high-ranking priests of various temples, wealthy nobles and members of the royal family gather. Therefore, along the way you can see magnificent temples, luxurious official residences and mansions one after another, all the way. Showing the grandeur and luxury of the ancient capital.

The carriage drove on a wide and straight avenue. According to Ansitanos's visual inspection, the width of the avenue was enough for more than a dozen carriages to drive side by side. At the end of the avenue, a taller city wall lay in front of them, which was the location of the Egyptian Royal Palace.

When passing through the majestic city gate, Ansitanos made a rough estimate and found that the city wall was more than ten meters thick, which showed that the pharaoh was concerned about his own safety.

Further forward on the carriage, you can see dozens of towering golden statues standing on both sides of the avenue, each about 20 meters high. Although they are human bodies, they have the heads of animals.Ansitanos knew that these statues should be gods revered by the Egyptians.

At the end of these huge statues, a majestic and splendid palace stood towering, making Ansita Nostron feel her own insignificance after getting off the carriage and standing in front of the steps.

There are a hundred steps above and on both sides of the palace's main entrance, there are huge statues of white sheep. They are lying on their stomachs, looking down at the visitors outside the palace with their eyes wide open, making the center of Egypt less solemn and mysterious. At the same time, it is also a bit more elegant and peaceful.

An official led a team of mighty guards and walked down the steps at a steady pace: "The envoy from the Kingdom of Dionia, the great Pharaoh is waiting in the main hall, please come with me to see him!"

Ancitanos bowed in salute and opened his hands so that the guards could check whether he was carrying any weapons.

Ansitanos went up the steps, passed through the huge pillars that required three or four people to hug each other, and entered the main hall.

The extremely flat walls are painted with smooth plaster and painted with colorful flower and plant patterns; and on the smooth marble floor, vivid lotus, aquatic plants, birds, and animals are painted, making it feel like you are in a magical place. The fresh nature; coupled with the various unique and exquisite gold and silver utensils in the hall, the entire hall looks magnificent.

Pharaoh Nektaneb sits on the throne.

The pharaoh who was born as a general is tall, strong, and has dark skin. He usually likes to wear a red-striped Nemeth headband that symbolizes the pharaoh's identity, which is both simple and elegant.But he obviously valued this interview very much, so he wore the most orthodox red and white crown, symbolizing the unity of two powers, and a gold Eulaas (an Egyptian cobra) decorated his forehead.He also wears a fake beard and holds a token in his right hand.

To his left sat the queen, with a golden goose-style crown lightly clasped on her head. The open wings pressed down on her straight black hair, letting her long hair hang down on her chest.She wore expensive corsets and gorgeous skirts, looking graceful and luxurious.

Although Ansitanos learned from the information that women in Egypt had a higher social status, especially the queen, who even participated in state affairs.But today I saw a woman appearing on a major state occasion for the first time, and I still felt a little surprised.Little did he know that it was precisely because the queen was not of royal blood that Pharaoh Nektaneb made her appear frequently at state events in order to improve her status and consolidate his and his family's rule.

There were many ministers and generals standing on both sides of the hall, and they all looked at Ansitanos who walked into the hall with curious eyes.

Ancitanos stood calmly in front of the throne and bowed respectfully.As a Greek scholar, he wanted to study historical materials from various places. When he was young, Ansitanos specially purchased Egyptian slaves and studied Egyptian writing and language carefully. At this moment, he said loudly in standard Egyptian: "The noble Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, I brought friendly greetings from King Davos of the Kingdom of Dionysia, as well as generous gifts to express his sincere congratulations! Congratulations on being favored by the god Amun and becoming the master of Egypt!"

As soon as Ansitanos finished speaking, the minister closest to the Pharaoh came closer and whispered a few words to the Pharaoh.

When Pharaoh Nektaneb heard that the gifts from Dionia were a large number of spears, swords, shields, armor, and even several triremes docked at the mouth of the river... he felt very happy. Satisfied: Egypt now has no shortage of food, gold, silver and jewelry. What it lacks is more elite weapons and soldiers.

Therefore, he also had a smile on his face: "I am very grateful to King Davos from the West for his sincere blessings and generous gifts! Although Egypt is far away from Dionia, I have heard many times about the Kingdom of Dionia. The prestige and the bravery of King Davos make me very happy to be greeted by a king who also has the noble blood of the gods (the Egyptians believe that the pharaoh is the incarnation of the god, and the pharaoh often publicly declares that he is the son of the god Ra)! I am very happy! Warmly welcome your visit, the envoy of Dionia!"

Pharaoh Nektaneb stood up, stretched out his left hand, and made a welcoming gesture.

What he said was not polite, he did know a little bit about the Kingdom of Dionia.Although among these city-states and countries along the Mediterranean coast, the Egyptians are the most closed and conservative. They prefer to take care of the land rather than sailing ships to do business. Therefore, to this day, many Egyptian officials may not know that there is an extra Dionia in the Mediterranean. kingdom.But Pharaoh Nektaneb was different. Before becoming a pharaoh, he had guarded the town of Sais for many years. The city of Sais was not far from the city of Naukratis, so he heard a lot of trade coming to Naukratis. The magical rumors about the Kingdom of Dionia spread by Greek merchants.

"Honorable Pharaoh!" Ansitanos took over Nektaneb's words and continued: "Although Dionia and Egypt are far apart, it is because of this that there has never been any conflict between the two countries. Conflicts of interest can, on the contrary, make up for each other's shortcomings, so King Davos hopes that Dionia can establish more friendly relations with the country ruled by you, Pharaoh!"

　Thanks to Yijian68 and yyaJy2304 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)