Page "Necho II" Paragraph 15

Herodotus ( 4. 42 ) also reports that Necho sent out an expedition of Phoenicians, who in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa back to the mouth of the Nile.

Some current historians tend to believe Herodotus ' account, primarily because he stated with disbelief that the Phoenicians " as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya ( Africa ), they had the sun on their right-to northward of them " ( The Histories 4. 42 ) -- in Herodotus ' time it was not known that Africa extended south past the equator ; however, Egyptologists also point out that it would have been extremely unusual for an Egyptian Pharaoh to carry out such an expedition.

Alan B. Lloyd doubts the event and attributes the development of the story by other events.