they reckon one hundred and six
years, during which they say that there was nothing but evil for the
Egyptians, and the temples were kept closed and not opened during all
that time. These kings the Egyptians by reason of their hatred of them
are not very willing to name; nay, they even call the pyramids after the
name of Philitis the shepherd, who at that time pastured flocks in those
regions. After him, they said, Mykerinos became king over Egypt, who was
the son of Cheops; and to him his father's deeds were displeasing, and
he both opened the temples and gave liberty to the people, who were
ground down to the last extremity of evil, to return to their own
business and to their sacrifices: also he gave decisions of their causes
juster than those of all the other kings besides. In regard to this then
they commend this king more than all the other kings who had arisen in
Egypt before him; for he not only gave good decisions, but also when
a man complained of the decision, he gave him recompense from his own
goods and thus satisfied his desire. But while Mykerinos was acting
mercifully to his subjects and practising this conduct which has been
said, calamities befell him, of which the first was this, namely that
his daughter died, the only child whom he had in his house: and being
above measure grieved by that which had befallen him, and desiring to
bury his daughter in a manner more remarkable than others, he made a cow
of wood, which he covered over with gold, and then within it he buried
this daughter who as I said, had died. This cow was not covered up in
the ground, but it might be seen even down to my own time in the city
of Sais, placed within the royal palace in a chamber which was greatly
adorned; and they offer incense of all kinds before it every day, and
each night a lamp burns beside it all through the night. Near this cow
in another chamber stand images of the concubines of Mykerinos, as the
priests at Sais told me; for there are in fact colossal wooden statues,
in number about twenty, made with naked bodies; but who they are I am
not able to say, except only that which is reported. Some however tell
about this cow and the colossal statues the following tale, namely that
Mykerinos was enamoured of his own daughter and afterwards ravished her;
and upon this they say that the girl strangled herself for grief, and
he buried her in this cow; and her mother cut off the hands of the maids
who had betrayed the daugh