Page 42 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

In the first place these cities were strongholds of the Egyptian religion, where there were many
rich temples, schools and Priests, and therefore were representative of the Egyptian religious life.
In the second place these cities were centers of education, and after the Persian invasion, Greek
students who travelled to Egypt for the purpose of their education received their training from
the Priests of one or all of these cities, as elsewhere mentioned.

When Pythagoras went to Egypt, he carried a letter of introduction from Polycrates of Samos to
King Amasis, who in turn gave him letters of introduction to the Priests of Heliopolis, Memphis,
and Thebes. As centres of education, the temples and libraries of these cities contained very
valuable books; and in the third place, these regions had previously been captured by the
Persians for the very fact of their wealth. This should explain why they included these districts in
their Satrapy which paid them an enormous annual tribute amounting to 700 talents of gold,
together with the produce of the fisheries of Lake Moeris which amounted to a talent a day,
during the six months that the water flowed in from the Nile; and a third part of that sum, during
the afflux. In addition Egypt furnished 120 thousand medicini of corn as rations for the Persian
troops who were stationed in the White Fort of Memphis. The equivalent of this tribute was 170
thousand pounds sterling, and shows the underlying motive not only of the Persian invading
armies, but also of all invading armies of antiquity. In the case of Alexander there is no
exception.

According to history, the Persians were in occupation of Egypt, and Alexander having mustered
superior forces, went there and drove them out and took possession himself. May I ask this
question: was this a joke, or was there a motive? And if there was a motive, what else could it
have been but that Alexander wanted the wealth in books, gold, silver, ivory, slaves, and tribute
which the Persians were extorting from the unfortunate Egyptians?

In ancient times, the Oracle of Ammon at Siwah was the most celebrated, and Heliopolis,
Memphis and Thebes were representatives of the best of Egyptian culture. (John Kendrick's
Ancient Egypt Book II P. 433–435; Diodorus 15, 16. Herodotus Book III P. 124; Diogenes
Laertius Book VIII; Timaeus of Plato; Pliny N. H. XXXVI 9; Antiphon recorded by Porphyry).

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook