Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDER STORY. VII
Amen-Ra as his father and had shewn reverence
unto the ancient gods of Egypt, and that he had
utterly beaten the Persians, the popular feeUng of
something Hl-:e sorrow mingled with gratitude would
straightway express itself in laudatory biographies
of their deliverer adorned with Oriental metaphor unique
and hyperbole. Alexander was a conqueror unlike Alexander"
any other known to the Egyptians and the nations
around. When their own victorious kings set out
on their military expeditions they left the countries
through which they passed filled with devastation
and death; cities were burnt to the ground, and
their inhabitants were carried away into slavery,
and a successful war in the conqueror's eyes meant
in many cases utter ruin for the conquered. And
the Egyptian was as ruthless as his less cultured
neighbour, for as far back as the Vlth dynasty
Una, the officer who led several expeditions in Methods of
the remote countries to the south of Egypt, inj^^^^^
describing the deeds of his soldiers said, "The
"soldiers marched in peace and ploughed up the
"land of those who live upon the sand {z. e., the
"dwellers in the desert); the soldiers marched in
"peace and laid it waste; the soldiers marched
"in peace and overthrew the fenced cities thereof;
"the soldiers marched in peace and cut down the
"fig trees and vines; the soldiers marched in peace
"and cast fire among the tribes ; the
soldiers
"marched in peace and slaughtered the people
"by myriads and myriads; the soldiers marched
"in peace and carried away countless multitudes