But the Egyptians of Gylippus's time had probably advanced
much further than the Greeks in the direction of rational manhood. When
Amasis had his rival Apries in his power, he did not put him to death,
but kept him as his coadjutor on the throne. Apries fled from him,
allied himself with Greek pirates, and advanced against his generous
rival. After his defeat and murder at Momemphis, Amasis gave him a
splendid burial. When we compare this generosity to a beaten foe with
the savagery of the Assyrians, for instance, we see how far the later
Egyptians had progressed in the paths of humanity.
The ancient custom of killing slaves was first discontinued at the death
of the lesser chieftains, but we find a possible survival of it in the
case of a king, even as late as the time of the XIth Dynasty; for at
Thebes, in the precinct of the funerary temple of King Neb-hapet-Ra
Mentuhetep and round the central pyramid which commemorated his memory,
were buried a number of the ladies of his _harim_. They were all buried
at one and the same time, and there can be little doubt that they were
all killed and buried round the king, in order to be with him in the
next world. Now with each of these ladies, who had been turned into
ghosts, was buried a little waxen human figure placed in a little model
coffin. This was to replace her own slave.
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