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αὐτόπτης. This statement is especially attacked as untrue by Sayce (ad loc. and Introd. p. 27; also in J. of P. xiv). His arguments are (answers are added in brackets):

(1) Elephantine is an island—not a town (it is both, cf. Artace iv. 14. 2, and in Egyptian records is frequently called ‘a town’).

(2) H. makes Amasis bring stones from Elephantine (175. 3 n.); the red granite quarries were really at Syene (cf. ‘Syenite’). (But Egyptian sources also call granite ‘stone from Elephantine’.)

(3) H. could never have been at Thebes, or he would describe the great buildings there. (The argument ex silentio is always most untrustworthy; cf. also 143. 2 n.)

(4) Had H. been at Elephantine he would have known more of the Nile's course above it. (But cf. notes on following chapters, which show that his knowledge was really considerable.)

Sayce's attack is usually held to fail completely.

Elephantine = ‘Elephant town’, because here the Nubians brought their ivory for tribute (iii. 97. 3) or to exchange it for Egyptian products.

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