Assyria’s leadership now retreated 100 km further west, to Carchemish,
where the Egyptians already had a garrison. But it was a futile move. In 605 BCE, the Babylonians, led by Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar, forced
their way into the city and slaughtered everyone. The Egyptian garrison was defeated. At Hamath, further south, a second Babylonian victory then brought Egypt’s renewed control of the northern Levant to an end. Worse, the Babylonians were getting closer and closer to Egypt itself. The possibility of renewed foreign occupation must have weighed heavy on Necho’s mind.
Four years later, in 601 BCE, the Babylonians made their move.
Nebuchadnezzar, now king, tried to enter Egypt at Pelusium in the eastern Delta, but the Egyptians forced his troops to retreat. Hot on their heels, Necho’s army pursued them into the Levant and retook Gaza. Despite this initial success, the Babylonian threat continued to loom large on the hori-zon. Nebuchadnezzar seized Jerusalem in 598 BCE, and a planned revolt by local leaders amounted to nothing. It was perhaps in this time that Necho took Migdol in the southern Levant, as reported by Herodotus, but there is little evidence for the pharaoh’s presence in the region. A period of calm followed, thanks to Babylon’s attention being directed elsewhere.
Meanwhile, late in his reign, Necho II launched a campaign south against the ‘Nubian bowmen.’ Recorded at Elephantine, the campaign included
horses and chariots, and a fleet of eighteen vessels, including the king’s own ship, which probably travelled as far as the Second Cataract. Necho’s Kushite rival at the time was Anlamani (623–593 BCE), whose death, soon War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 164
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after the campaign, would provide another opportunity for the Egyptians to attack Kush and weaken their southern rival.
Saites at Sea
For much of the Pharaonic Period, it cannot be said that Egypt had a true navy. Ships were primarily used for transporting infantry along the Nile, or for trading or expeditionary activities. It was only in the Late Period that the navy became an important aspect of Egypt’s military machine, a change that can be attributed to the Egyptians’ increased reliance on Greek mercenaries, including sailors. Under Necho II, Egypt created two sets of seafaring forces: one for the Mediterranean, and the other for the Red Sea. According to
Herodotus, Necho II also introduced triremes into the Egyptian navy: ships built for battle, with three levels of oarsmen on each side of the ship, capable of fast manoeuvres and ramming enemies. These were invented in the seventh century BCE in Corinth, and so were cutting edge in Necho’s day. Using them, the Egyptians once again took control of important trade routes. One man who would have known these vessels well was Hor (nicknamed Psamtik); Hor was overseer of the royal combat vessels in the Mediterranean under Psamtik II (Necho II’s successor) and commander of Aegean troops, suggesting that it was Greek crews that manned these combat vessels. Herodotus also says that Necho II attempted to dig a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and sent a Phoenician vessel to circumnavigate Africa.
The Destruction of Napata
With Babylon distracted, in his third regnal year (593 BCE), Psamtik II –
Necho II’s successor – decided to launch a campaign into Nubia. This
attack may have coincided with succession problems in Nubia following
the death of the Kushite King Anlamani. Monuments belonging to King
Aspelta, Anlamani’s successor, have been attacked and restored, and during his reign, various priests were put to death by burning, seemingly either because they’d planned regicide or had manipulated the oracle against the king (perhaps to install another ruler on the throne).
According to his Victory Stele, Psamtik II didn’t personally accompany
this campaign beyond Shellal, just south of Asawn (where this stele was inscribed). Taking a relaxed attitude to campaigning, he was roaming the marshes at Lake Neferibre (seemingly in the Aswan area), when a messenger arrived to tell him that his troops had reached ‘Pnubs’ (probably Kerma).
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The Kushites had attacked the pharaoh’s army there, but the Egyptians
were ultimately victorious, taking 4,200 captives. After the battle, the names of the Kushite 25th Dynasty kings were attacked across Egypt, reflecting a violent shift in attitude towards these pharaohs and their reigns, and the Egyptians seized territory between the First and Second Cataracts.
Extra detail about this campaign can be gleaned from a stele of Psamtik II, erected at Tanis, and from graffiti left by the king’s army at Abu Simbel during their march. According to the Tanis stele, the Egyptians learnt of an impending Kushite attack, and decided to act first, sending the army to Napata. There, they burned the Kushite king in his palace. Archaeological evidence backs up this account: the Napatan palace and nearby temples
were indeed burned down. Excavators also found ten royal statues fallen and smashed. The soldiers’ graffiti, meanwhile, found on the legs of the seated colossi in front of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, reveal the presence of Greek, Carian, and Phoenician soldiers on the campaign. They were led by the Commander of Foreign Mercenaries, Padisematawy, better known today
as Potasimto, while the Egyptian Division was led by Ahmose – probably
the later King Ahmose II. A man named Psamtik, son of Theocles, served
under Potasimto. His father, Theocles, must have earlier settled in Egypt and, despite his foreign origin, named his son in honour of the Egyptian king. A letter, written centuries after the campaign, suggests that Judean troops were also present. It was a truly multicultural force.
The Phoenicians in Egypt
During the first millennium BCE, the Phoenicians – living along the northern Levantine coast – were renowned for their maritime activities, and enjoyed good relations with Egypt, transporting Egyptian goods across the known world. Their most important city-states were at Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre, but there were also Phoenician trading stations along the Mediterranean coastline, both in north Africa and southern Europe (in fact, it was through the Phoenicians that the alphabet entered Greece). In the Late Period,
Phoenicians, some acting as mercenaries, lived in the eastern Delta and Memphis too. But due to Egypt’s long-standing interactions with the northern Levant, many were already Egyptianized to some degree before their
arrival: the Phoenicians already used Egyptian-style scarab seals, and their art had long been influenced by Egypt. During the 27th Dynasty, important Phoenicians were even buried in Egyptian-inspired stone sarcophagi.
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The Wars of Apries and Ahmose
In 588 BCE, the Babylonians marched west to crush a rebellion in Judah, placing Jerusalem under siege. Apries, son and successor of Psamtik II, sent his troops to the city’s defence, but it fell to the Babylonians two years later.
Apries also sent a force to assist the cities of Sidon and Tyre against the Babylonians, but with equally little success. Once again, the Babylonians directly threatened the Egyptians, who reacted by launching campaigns
against Cyprus and the northern Levant, attempting to bolster their power in the eastern Mediterranean. Cypriote mercenaries would now fight for
Egypt, leaving their graffiti on the Great Pyramid at Giza, at Abydos,
and Karnak Temple, and dedicating their sculptures in the sanctuary of
Aphrodite at Naukratis.
But this was only the start of Apries’ problems. According to Herodotus, late in Apries’ reign, the king sent a force of machimoi – Egyptian warriors, mainly of Libyan descent – against Cyrene, a Greek kingdom in Libya,
probably at the request of a local Libyan ruler. For this reason, Egypt�
�s Greek mercenaries were kept behind, for they might have had mixed allegiances. The campaign was a disaster and the Egyptian machimoi were decimated. The survivors accused Apries of favouring his foreign troops over the Egyptians, arguing that he was happy to send them to their deaths. To ease tensions, the king suggested that the troops speak with General Ahmose, a high-level Egyptian military man. It’s safe to say that this didn’t have the desired result: the Egyptian troops quickly decided that it was time for a revolution and Ahmose was the man to lead them, proclaiming him king in 570 BCE. But this wasn’t the end of Apries. After launching a failed attempt at retaking the throne, Apries fled to Babylon, seeking the assistance of the Babylonian king in his bid to regain his kingship. He returned to Egypt four years later backed by a Babylonian fighting force. Fierce battles raged on land and at sea, with the Egyptian army supported by Carian and Ionian
warriors, as well as Greeks from Cyrenaica (north-east Libya). This time, Apries was defeated and killed.
Now unchallenged in Egypt, Ahmose II resumed contact with Kush,
sending a probable trading mission under military escort in his forty-first year as king. Prosperity should have followed, but new developments in the east would change the political landscape once again: the rapid and violent expansion of Persia. The Persians had arrived in south-west Iran in around 1000 BCE, and under Cyrus II, 450 years later, were aggressively expanding their territory. They conquered Babylon in 539 BCE, defeating War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 167
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its king, Nabonidus, bringing about the collapse of the Babylonian Empire.
Assimilating Babylonian territory, the newly established Persian Empire (also known as the Achaemenid Empire) now stretched all the way from
Central Asia to the Levant. It was only a matter of time before they would attempt to invade Egypt.
Seeing this growing threat, Ahmose II had earlier reached out to Croesus of Lydia, and the leaders of Babylon and Sparta to form a coalition against the Persians, but Cyrus had seized Lydia and Babylon before any action
could be taken. Unwilling to give up, Ahmose tried to forge other alliances among the Greek city-states, sending gifts and contributing to the reconstruction of Delphi. He even married a Greek princess named Ladice,
according to Herodotus.
War loomed nonetheless, and Ahmose began to make preparations.
Among the foreign mercenaries hired to fight for Egypt was Phanes of
Halicarnassus, a man described by Herodotus as brave and intelligent. For some unexplained reason, however, Phanes deserted the Egyptian army
and joined the Persians, providing them with information on how best to cross the desert into Egypt. This left the Egyptians in a weakened position.
Luckily for Ahmose, he wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout: he died in 526 BCE, leaving the impending crisis in the hands of his son, Psamtik III.
Trading with the Greeks: The Cities of Naukratis and
Thonis-Heracleion
During the Late Period, ships carrying Greek trade goods were forced
to enter Egypt through the thriving port and customs station of Thonis-
Heracleion. From there, they passed along the Canopic Branch of the Nile to Naukratis in the western Delta, where taxes were imposed on precious goods, providing extra income for the temple of the goddess Neith. From Naukratis, ships could then sail onwards to Memphis, or along a canal to Sais. Both Naukratis and Thonis-Heracleion housed large Greek populations, with Naukratis eventually awarded the status of polis and Greek trading post; Herodotus says that the people of twelve Greek city-states and islands lived there. Traders sold Egyptian grain, papyrus, and perfume to their foreign counterparts, and workshops at Naukratis produced Egyptian scarabs, popular among the Greeks and Phoenicians as protective amulets.
Foreign traders brought copper, tin, iron, wine, wool, oils, and lead ingots into Egypt, and left offerings from their homelands in the sanctuaries of their gods at Naukratis. Temples to Apollo, Aphrodite, and Hera, as well War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 168
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as other foreign gods, were constructed there, near temples to traditional Egyptian gods, such as Amun-Re of Naukratis. Thonis-Heracleion was also home to Greek mercenaries: Greek armour has been found there, as was a
bronze mould, probably used to produce lead sling ‘bullets’ for the Greeks.
The Persian Invasion and Occupation
In 525 BCE, the Persians, now led by Cambyses II, launched their inva-
sion of Egypt. The Egyptian army met them at Pelusium, in the eastern
Delta. There, according to Herodotus, the Greeks and Carians, angry with Phanes of Halicarnassus for turning traitor, brought Phanes’ sons (apparently left behind in Egypt) to their camp, making sure that Phanes could see them from across the battlefield. The mercenaries then slit each son’s throat, draining the blood into a bowl and mixing it with water and wine.
Only after drinking this grisly concoction did they go into battle. But their gruesome show made no difference to the outcome: the Persians were still the better fighting force and the Egyptians fell back to Memphis. The city was besieged for ten days, and in the end, Psamtik was taken prisoner. The Persians enslaved Psamtik’s daughter, executed his son, and paraded 2,000
Egyptians, condemned to execution, before the captured pharaoh. Later, as a prisoner of Cambyses, Psamtik planned an uprising against his captors, but was discovered. According to Herodotus, as punishment, the Persians forced Psamtik to drink bull’s blood, causing his death. And so, bathed in enough blood to keep a vampire happy for decades, the 26th Dynasty
ended, and the 27th Dynasty – better known as the Persian Period – began.
Egyptians were now forced to fight for the Persian army and the country’s naval fleet was seized. Egypt’s Greek mercenaries were sent home.
Accounts describing the Persian occupation of Egypt are strikingly at
odds with one another. Classical sources present Cambyses II’s rule as one of horrors and Persian atrocities, whereas Egyptian texts portray Cambyses as at pains to understand Egyptian customs. The most detailed description of life during this intriguing period was left by a man named Udjahorresnet.
Udjahorresnet had served as admiral of Egypt’s naval fleet under Ahmose II and Psamtik III, but shifted career quite dramatically after the Persian invasion: Cambyses appointed the former admiral controller of his palace, asked him to compose the royal titulary, and made him chief physician. In his account, Udjahorresnet goes on to say that Cambyses removed Persian squatters from the Temple of Neith at Sais, re-established the temple’s offerings and festivals, and visited the temple himself to make offerings. In short, War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 169
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he presents Cambyses as a foreign king trying his best to follow Egyptian traditions and be accepted as a true pharaoh.
This is all at odds with Herodotus’ account, in which Cambyses is
described as cruel to Egypt’s priests and temples, to the extent that he even murdered the sacred Apis bull. It’s true that an Apis bull was buried under Cambyses, but the associated inscription presents the Persian pharaoh as a true king (rather than a bull killer). At the same time, however, Cambyses did limit the revenues of the temples, an act that would surely have made him unpopular among Egypt’s priests. This probably led to people inventing stories about the Persian’s impiety. Whatever the case may be, with rebellion back home in Persia, Cambyses left Egypt in 522 BCE, but died en route
after being wounded in Syria. Following news of his death, the Egyptians revolted. Their uprising was quashed by Cambyses’ successor, Darius I.
Darius I is remembered in classical writings as less cruel than Cambyses: he commanded the compilation of Egypt’s laws from
ancient times through to the reign of Ahmose II, for example – an interest in law that’s commented on by the first century BCE Greek historian Diodorus Siculus – and just like any true pharaoh, his name is found on monuments across Egypt (but particularly at el-Qab and Kharga Oasis, continuing the Late Period interest in the region). A statue of Darius, carved in Egypt and covered in hieroglyphic texts (but wearing Persian clothing), was even erected at Susa, the Persian capital. And Darius had one of his palaces at Susa decorated with ivory provided by the kings of Kush, who sent new supplies of elephant
ivory every three years, according to Herodotus.
Darius placed Egypt under a satrap (provincial governor) named
Aryandes, who was based at Memphis along with an Assyrian garrison (all paid for by Egyptian taxes and tribute, of course). And Persian governors and commanders were sent out to different parts of the country: among them
was Parnu, commander of Aswan, and Atiyawahy, governor of Coptos from
524 to 473 BCE. Atiyawahy oversaw the despatch of stone from the Wadi
Hammamat to Kharga Oasis for construction projects (and intriguingly, also invoked Egyptian gods in his inscriptions). And like Udjahorresnet, some Egyptians supported the Persian administration during the occupation. One such man, a treasurer named Ptahhotep, may have been rewarded by the
Persian king, for he wears a Persian torque on one of his statues (although he may have just been fashion conscious). Udjahorresnet’s life story also continues under Darius: towards the end of Cambyses’ reign, he had travelled abroad, but returned home under Darius to restore a House of Life (a place of learning), where he taught medicine at the request of the king. (Egyptian War and Trade with the Pharaohs.indd 170
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doctors also helped Darius when he sprained himself when dismounting
from his horse, according to Herodotus.)
The reigns of Cambyses and Darius were brief periods of calm during
the Persian occupation. The rulers that succeeded them were far more brutal, leading to repeated rebellions across Egypt. One revolt was led against Darius I in the early 480s BCE, only to be crushed by Xerxes I, his successor in 486 BCE. In response, Xerxes intensified the Persianification of Egypt’s administration. Later, in the mid-460s BCE, upon Xerxes’ death, another revolt broke out, led by a man named Inarus. Proclaimed king of Egypt by his followers, Inarus – apparently from the western Delta, and perhaps a descendant of Psamtik I – raised an army of Egyptians and Athenian mercenaries against the Persians, who were distracted by succession problems at home. At first, Inarus’ movement was successful: the Egyptians defeated a Persian force, led by the Satrap Achaemenes (who himself was killed), and marched on Memphis, placing the Persian garrison there under siege. But two years later, the city remained under siege, and a second Persian fighting force had arrived to restore order, led by the famous commanders Artabazus and Megabyzus. The Egyptians and Athenians fled north, but were pursued and defeated. Inarus, apparently betrayed, was crucified. His revolt had lasted only six or seven years. Egypt would not regain independence for another six decades.
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