AMASIS, King of Egypt, ascended the throne 569 b.c. From the rank of a common soldier he gradually rose to be one of the principal officers in the court of Apries, the last king of the line of Psammetichus. Being commissioned by Apries to quell an insurrection, he went over to the rebels, who proclaimed him king. Apries, whose tyranny had caused nearly all his subjects to desert him, took the field with an army of mercenaries, and meeting Amasis near Memphis, was defeated and taken prisoner. The usurper treated the captive prince with great lenity; but so violent was the popular hatred, that he was compelled to deliver him into the hands of his enraged countrymen, who instantly put him to death by strangling. Under the prudent administration of Amasis, Egypt enjoyed the greatest prosperity. He adorned it with numerous and splendid buildings, among which were a portico to the temple of Minerva at Sais, and the great temple of Isis at Memphis. He also erected a colossus before the temple of Vulcan, 75 feet in length, resting on its back; and on the basis stood two statues, each 20 feet high, cut out of the same stone. To gain the alliance of the Greeks, he allotted settlements for them on the sea-coast, permitting them to build temples, and to observe all the rites of their religion unmolested; and when the temple of the Delphians was burnt he presented them with 1000 talents to assist them in rebuilding it. He also married a Grecian lady, named Ladice, the daughter of Battus of Cyrene, and had a bodyguard of Greeks in his pay. Solon, the celebrated lawgiver, is reported to have visited Amasis. The close of his reign was disturbed by the threatened invasion of Cambyses, king of Persia, and by the rupture of the alliance between Amasis and Polycrates of Samos. (See ...