[sect. 2]
The mention of Ionians connects this book with i. 141-76; cf.
the mention of Amasis (iii. 1), which links together Bks. II and III.
H.'s custom is to give some account of the manners and the past
history of each new people, as he brings it on the stage of his
history; but this account of Egypt, even more than that of Scythia
in Bk. IV, is out of all proportion to the rest of his history. Hence
the idea that it was composed separately, probably after the rest,
and only later incorporated in his general scheme (cf. Introd. 11).