n the island of Leros, and an Athenian from having spent the greater part of his life at Athens; and it may be added that, except in Suidas, we find mention of only one historical writer of this name. (Comp. D. L. 1.119; Strab. x. p.487b.) Suidas also makes a mistake in calling him older than his namesake of Syros; but the exact time at which he lived is differently stated. Suidas places him before the 75th Olympiad, B. C. 480 ; but Eusebius and the Chronicon Paschale in the 81st Olympiad, B. C. 456, and Isidorus (Orig. 1.41) in the 80th Olympiad.
There can be no doubt that he lived in the former half of the fifth century B. C., and was a contemporary of Hellanicus and Herodotus.
He is mentioned by Lucian as one of the instances of longevity, and is said to have attained the age of 85 years. (Lucian, de Macrob. 22, where he is erroneously called o( *Su/rios instead of o( *Le/rios.）
Works
Works known from Suidas
Suidas ascribes several works to the Athenian or Lerian Pherecydes.
T
must make the sea their element, and he took the first steps towards this object. His policy was not to let the fortune of the Athenians depend on the fate of their city Athens; but if they were ever hard pressed, his advice was that they should leave it for the Peiraeeus, which he designed to make so strong that a few men could defend it, while the rest could embark in the fleet.
The building of the walls which connected Athens with Peiraeeus and Phalerum was later, and accomplished about B. C. 456. (Thuc. 1.107.)
The influence of Themistocles does not appear to have survived the expulsion of the Persians from Greece and the fortification of the ports.
He was probably justly accused of enriching himself by unfair means, for he had no scruples about the way of accomplishing an end.
A story is told by Plutarch in his Lives of Aristides and Themistocles, that after the retreat of the fleet of Xerxes, when the Greek fleet was wintering at Pagasae, Themistocles told the Athenians in the
) erected the nilometer in the vicinity of what was afterward Grand Cairo, year Hegira 97.
Citizen Langles has been employed in examining the various nilometers from Alouyah, above the cataracts, to Lower Egypt.
He finds 15 between the isle of Elephantina and the mouth of the Nile. — Nat.
Institute of France, 1800.
The rise seems to have been less in former times than now. In the days of Moeris it is said that 8 cubits were sufficient; 15 or 16 were required in the time of Herodotus, 456 B. C. At the present day 18 cubits is considered the lowest inundation at Cairo.
Hear the Father of history : —
One fact which I learnt of the priests is to me a strong evidence of the origin of the country.
They said to me that, when Moeris was king, the Nile overflowed all Egypt below Memphis, as soon as it rose so little as 8 cubits.
Now Moeris had not been dead 900 years at the time when I heard this of the priests; yet at the present day, unless the river rise 15 or 16 cubits, it d
g its usual top-dressing, refused to repay the toils of the husbandman.
The periodical rise of the Nile commences about the first of June, continues for three months, remains stationary about twelve days, and then as gradually subsides.
The rise is greatest in Upper Egypt, and less toward the month of the river.
The rise was less at former periods than now. In the time of Moeris, it is said that eight cubits were sufficient; fifteen or sixteen were required in the time of Herodotus, 456 B. C. At the present day eighteen cubits is considered the lowest inundation at Cairo.
In the time of Pliny (A. D. 70) twelve cubits were a famine, thirteen scarcity, fifteen safety, sixteen plenty.
At the present day eighteen cubits in the lowest, and at this hight the canals are cut, and distribution commences; nineteen cubits are tolerable, twenty adequate, twenty-one excellent, twenty-two abundant, and twenty-four ruinous to the houses and stores which are overflowed thereby.
The rise tow
