Amasis, ring of

Amasis, ring of

Herodotus tells us that Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, was so fortunate in everything that. Amasis, king of Egypt, fearing such unprecedented luck boded ill, advised him to part with something which he highly prized. Polycrates accordingly threw into the sea a ring of great value. A few days afterwards, a fish was presented to the tyrant, in which the ring was found. Amasis now renounced friendship with Polycrates, as a man doomed by the gods; and not long afterwards, a satrap put the too fortunate despot to death by crucifixion.

Owen Meredith ( E. R. Bulwer LYTTON) gave the title The Ring of Amasisto a romance. T. Sturge Moore has a well-known poem on the story in the Oxford Book of English Verse.

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