The superstitious antipathy of the Egyptians having been thus broken
through, and the recurrence of this antipathy secured against, by the
advantages they derived from navigation and commerce, the Egyptian monarchs
seem, as long as Egypt continued free, to have directed their attention and
resources, with considerable zeal and success, to maritime affairs. Their
strength by sea, as well as their experience, may be estimated by an event
during the reign of Apries, the grandson of Necho: this monarch was engaged
in war with the Sidonians, Tyrians and Cypriots; he took the city of Sidon
by storm, and defeated both the Phoenicians and Cypriots in a sea fight. In
fact, during his reign the Egyptians had the command of the Mediterranean
Sea. It is probable, that if they had continued long after this time an
independent state, they would have been still more celebrated and
successful in their maritime and commercial affairs; but in the year 525
before Christ, about seventy years after the reign of Apries, Egypt was
conquered by the Persians.
Notwithstanding, therefore, this temporary dereliction of their antipathy
to the sea, and intercourse with foreigners, the Egyptians can scarcely be
regarded as a nation distinguished for their maritime and commercial
enterprises; and they certainly by no means, either by sea or land, took
advantages of those favourable circumstances by which their country seemed
to be marked out for the attainment of an extensive and lucrative commerce.
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