Egypt’s reliance on foreign Greek mercenaries signaled state weakness before the Assyrian conquest.

Evidence

The settlement of Greeks at Naucratis is interesting, since before this time they had been forbidden residence in Egypt. This dependence on foreign mercenaries to defend its borders was one symptom of the weakness of an Egyptian state that would succumb to the Assyrians less than half a century later. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 436