PSELCIS
PSELCIS (
Ψελκίς,
Strab. xvii. p.820; Itin. Anton. p. 162;
Ψέλχις, Aristid.
Aegin. p. 512), was a town of the region Dodecaschoenus situated on the left bank of the Nile. Originally Pselcis was little more than a suburb of the older Aethiopian town Tachompso; but it speedily outgrew its parent, so that in process of time Tachompso was denominated Contra-Pselcis. In B.C. 23 the Aethiopian nation, alarmed by the approach of the Romans to their frontier, harassed the neighbourhood of Philae and Syene, and it became necessary to repel their incursions. C. Petronius, accordingly, who had succeeded Aelius Gallus is the government of Aegypt, undertook to drive them back, and Pselcis was one of the towns which submitted to him. (Strab.
l.c.; D. C. 54.5.) So long as the Romans maintained their hold on Northern Aethiopia, Pselcis was the permanent headquarters of a troop of German horse.
The modern hamlet of
Dekkeh occupies a portion of the site of the ancient Pselcis.
[
W.B.D]
