"'And so, in honor of Athena (Neith), he (Amasis) constructed altogether magnificent propylaea , far superior to the constructions of all the others, in their height and extent, as well as in the size and beauty of their stones . Moreover, he ordered a set of colossal statues to be erected , enormous male sphinxes, and he had gigantic blocks of stone brought in for the restoration of the other edifices.... What I found most admirable, however is this: he had transported from Elephantine a monolithic edifice. It took three years to transport . Two thousand men, all ferrymen, had to work at the task.'
Herodotus, 'Histories,' Book II, 175.
"General Amasis, the first man to establish mandatory income declaration, was a king of the 25th Dynasty (570-526 BC). That dynasty set up its residence at Sais (Sau in ancient Egyptian), some 30 kilometers northeast of Tanta, on the Rosetta branch of the Nile in the Delta. Here Herodotus (about 484-420) describes him as a great builder.
"Sais was a great center for the worship of the goddess Neith , a divinity of many functions. She was at once creator, mother of the sun, an archer goddess, the inventor of the art of weaving, and patroness of holy oils. The Greeks identified her with Athena, and, as early as the beginnings of the Old Kingdom (2780-2280 BC), her name often comes up in documents.
"Administratively , Elephantine was in charge of the eastern quarries that supplied the whole of Egypt with gray or pink granite for use by sculptors and architects."
P. 580, "Science and Technology," AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY : THE PHARAONIC PERIOD (2780-330 BC) by Theophile Obenga (2004)

