Editing Megabyzus (section)

===Siege of Prosopitis (455 BCE)===
The Athenians now fell back to the island of [[Prosopitis]] in the Nile delta, where their ships were moored.<ref name = TI109/><ref name = DSXI77/> There, Megabyzus laid siege to them for 18 months, until finally he was able to drain the river from around the island by digging canals, thus "joining the island to the mainland".<ref name = TI109/> In Thucydides's account the Persians then crossed over to the former island, and captured it.<ref name = TI109/> Only a few of the Athenian force, marching through Libya to [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] survived to return to Athens.<ref name = TI110/> In Diodorus's version, however, the draining of the river prompted the Egyptians (whom Thucydides does not mention) to defect and surrender to the Persians. The Persians, not wanting to sustain heavy casualties in attacking the Athenians, instead allowed them to depart freely to Cyrene, whence they returned to Athens.<ref name = DSXI77/> Since the defeat of the Egyptian expedition caused a genuine panic in Athens, including the relocation of the Delian treasury to Athens, Thucydides's version is probably more likely to be correct.<ref name = h363>Holland, p. 363.</ref>