General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1902 Original Publisher: Clarendon Press Subjects: Egypt History / Africa / General History / Ancient / General History / Ancient / Egypt History / Middle East / Egypt Social Science / Archaeology Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II THE STRUGGLE FOR EGYPT March on Egypt . Leontius, Prefect of Mareotis, in the plot . The country between Pentapolis and Egypt . Its fertility and population. Phocas alarmed about Alexandria. Nicetas, advancing from the west, wins a battle close to the city. His welcome. Bon6sus, Phocas' general, hurries from Syria. Nikiou surrenders to him. His army reaches Alexandria. Naval assault under Paul repulsed. From the Egyptian bishop's Chronicle we learn that even in Pentapolis there was some fighting. By large expenditure of money Heraclius assembled here a force of 3,000 men and an army of ' barbarians,' i. e. doubtless Berbers, which he placed under the command of ' Bonakis' as he is called in the Ethiopic corruption of a Greek name. By their aid he won an easy victory over the imperial generals Mardius, Ecclesiarius, and Isidore, and at one blow put an end to the power of Phocas in that part of Africa. At the same time, ' KisiP the governor of Tripolis sent a contingent which probably passed to the south of Pentapolis. In any case Nicetas now began his advance along the coast towards Alexandria, and was joined at some point by both Kisil and Bonakis. He was secure of a friendly reception up to the very borders of Egypt: for Leontius, Prefect of Mareotis, the Egyptian province on the western side of Alexandria, had been won over, and had promised a considerable body of troops. It is thought that n...