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the Temple of Neith - Original

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Ian Nottingham
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« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2008, 01:33:21 pm »

Cambyses II, the Persian Ruler of Egypt
(27th Dynasty) And His Lost Army
by Jimmy DunnIn 525 BC the Persian emperor Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the
Great, who had already named his son as king of Babylon though Cambyses
II resigned that position after only one year, invaded Egypt and
successfully overthrew the native Egyptian pharaoh, Psamtek III, last
ruler of Egypt's 26th Dynasty to become the first ruler of Egypt's 27th
Persian Dynasty. His father had earlier attempted an invasion of Egypt
against Psamtek III's predecessor, Amasis, but Cyrus' death in 529 BC
put a halt to that expedition.
After capturing Egypt, Cambyses took the Throne name Mesut-i-re
(Mesuti-Ra), meaning "Offspring of Re". Though the Persians would rule
Egypt for the next 193 years until Alexander the Great defeated Darius
III and conquered Egypt in 332 BC, Cambyses II's victory would bring to
an end (for the most part) Egyptians truly ruling Egyptians until the
mid 20th century, when Egypt finally shrugged off colonial rule.

We know very little about Cambyses II through contemporary texts, but
his reputation as a mad tyrannical despot has come down to us in the
writings of the Greek historian Herodotus (440 BC) and a Jewish document
from 407 BC known as 'The Demotic Chronicle' which speaks of the Persian
king destroying all the temples of the Egyptian gods. However, it must
be repeatedly noted that the Greeks shared no love for the Persians.
Herodotus informs us that Cambyses II was a monster of cruelty and
impiety.

Herodotus gives us three tales as to why the Persians invaded Egypt. In
one, Cambyses II had requested an Egyptian princess for a wife, or
actually a concubine, and was angered when he found that he had been
sent a lady of second rate standing. In another, it turns out that he
was the bastard son of Nitetis, daughter of the Saite (from Sais) king
Apries, and therefore half Egyptian anyway, whereas the third story
provides that Cambyses II, at the age of ten, made a promise to his
mother (who is now Cassandane) that he would "turn Egypt upside down" to
avenge a slight paid to her. However, Ctesias of Cnidus states that his
mother was Amytis, the daughter of the last king of independent Media so
we are really unsure of that side of his parentage. While even Herodotus
doubts all of these stories, and given the fact that his father had
already planned one invasion of Egypt, the stories do in fact reflect
the later Greek bias towards his Persian dynasty.

Regardless of Cambyses II's reason for his invasion of Egypt, Herodotus
notes how the Persians easily entered Egypt across the desert. They were
advised by the defecting mercenary general, Phanes of Halicarnassus, to
employ the Bedouins as guides. However, Phanes had left his two sons in
Egypt. We are told that for his treachery, as the armies of the Persians
and the mercenary army of the Egyptians met, his sons were bought out in
front of the Egyptian army where they could be seen by their father, and
there throats were slit over a large bowl. Afterwards, Herodotus tells
us that water and wine were added to the contents of the bowl and drunk
by every man in the Egyptian force.

This did not stop the ensuing battle at Pelusium, Greek pelos, which was
the gateway to Egypt. Its location on Egypt's eastern boundary, meant
that it was an important trading post was well and also of immense
strategic importance. It was the starting point for Egyptian expeditions
to Asia and an entry point for foreign invaders.

Here, the Egyptian forces were routed in the battle and fled back to
Memphis. Apparently Psamtek III managed to escape the ensuing besiege of
the Egyptian capital, only to be captured a short time afterwards and
was carried off to Susa in chains. Herodotus goes on to tell us of all
the outrages that Cambyses II then inflicted on the Egyptians, not only
including the stabbing of a sacred Apis bull and his subsequent burial
at the Serapeum in Saqqara, but also the desecration and deliberate
burning of the embalmed body of Amasis (a story that has been partly
evidenced by destruction of some of Amasis' inscriptions) and the
banishment of other Egyptian opponents.

The story of Cambyses II's fit of jealousy towards the Apis bull,
whether true or simply Greek propaganda, was intended to reflect his
personal failures as a monarch and military leader. In the three short
years of his rule over Egypt he personally led a disastrous campaign up
the River Nile into Ethiopia. There, we are told, his ill-prepared
mercenary army was so meagerly supplied with food that they were forced
to eat the flesh of their own colleagues as their supplies ran out in
the Nubian desert. The Persian army returned northwards in abject
humiliation having failed even to encounter their enemy in battle.

Then, of course, there is also the mystery of his lost army, some fifty
thousand strong, that vanished in the Western Desert on their way to the
Siwa Oasis along with all their weapons and other equipment, never to be
heard of again. Cambyses II had also planned a military campaign against
Carthage, but this too was aborted because, on this occasion, the king's
Phoenician sea captains refused to attack their kinfolk who had founded
the Carthagian colony towards the end of the 8th century BC. In fact,
the conquest of Egypt was Cambyses' only spectacular military success in
his seven years of troubled rule over the Persian empire.

However, we are told that when the Persians at home received news of
Cambyses' several military disasters, some of the most influential
nobles revolted, swearing allegiance to the king's younger brother
Bardiya. With their support, the pretender to the great throne of Cyrus
seized power in July 522 BC as Cambyses II was returning home.

The story is told that, on hearing of this revolt, and in haste to mount
his horse to swiftly finish the journey home, Cambyses II managed to
stab himself in the thigh with his own dagger. At that moment, he began
to recall an Egyptian prophecy told to him by the priests of Buto in
which it was predicted that the king would die in Ecbatana. Cambyses II
had thought that the Persian summer capital of Ecbatana had been meant
and that he would therefore die in old age. But now he realized that the
prophecy had been fulfilled in a very different way here in Syrian
Ecbatana.

Still enveloped in his dark and disturbed mood, Cambyses II decided that
his fate had been sealed and simply lay down to await his end. The wound
soon became gangrenous and the king died in early August of 522 BC.
However, it should be noted that other references tell us that Cambyses
II had his brother murdered even prior to his expedition to Egypt, but
apparently if it was not Bardiya (though there is speculation that
Cambyses II's servants perhaps did not kill his brother as ordered),
there seems to have definitely been an usurper to the throne, perhaps
claiming to be his brother, who we are told was killed secretly.

The Real Cambyses II

Modern Egyptologists believe that many of these accounts are rather
biased, and that Cambyses II's rule was perhaps not nearly so traumatic
as Herodotus, who wrote his history only about 75 years after Cambyses
II's demise, would have us believe. In reality, the Saite dynasty had
all but completely collapsed, and it is likely that with Psamtek III's
(Psammetichus III) capture by the Persians, Cambyses II simply took
charge of the country. The Egyptians were particularly isolated at this
time in their history, having seen there Greek allies defect, including
not only Phanes, but Polycrates of Samos. In addition, many of Egypt's
minorities, such as the Jewish community at Elephantine and even certain
elements within the Egyptian aristocracy, seem to have even welcomed
Cambyses II's rule.

Right: A depiction of Cambyses II worshipping the Apris Bull

The Egyptian evidence that we do have depicts a ruler anxious to avoid
offending Egyptian susceptibilities who at least presented himself as an
Egyptian king in all respects. It is even possible that the pillaging of
Egyptian towns told to us by Greek sources never occurred at all. In an
inscription on the statue of Udjadhorresnet, a Saite priest and doctor,
as well as a former naval officer, we learn that Cambyses II was
prepared to work with and promote native Egyptians to assist in
government, and that he showed at least some respect for Egyptian
religion. For example, regardless of the death of the Apris Bull, it
should be noted that the animal's burial was held with proper pomp,
ceremony and respect. Udjahorresnet also tells us that:


"I let His Majesty know the greatness of Sais, that it is the seat of
Neith-the-Great, mother who bore Re and inaugurated birth when birth had
not yet been...I made a petition to the majesty of the King of Upper and
Lower Egypt, Cambyses, about all the foreigners who dwelled in the
temple of Neith, in order to have them expelled from it., so as to let
the temple of Neith be in all its splendor, as it had been before. His
Majesty commanded to expel all the foreigners who dwelled in the temple
of Neith, to demolish all their houses and all their unclean things that
were in the temple.

When they had carried all their personal belongings outside the wall of
the temple, His Majesty commanded to cleanse the temple of Neith and to
return all its personnel to it...and the hour-priests of the temple. His
Majesty commanded to give divine offerings to Neith-the-Great, the
mother of god, and to the great gods of Sais, as it had been before.
His Majesty knew the greatness of Sais, that it is a city of all the
gods, who dwell there on their seats forever."


Indeed, Cambyses II continued Egyptian policy regarding sanctuaries and
national cults, confirmed by his building work in the Wadi Hammamat and
at a few other Egyptian temples.

Left: The statue recording the autobiography of Udjadhorresnet

Udjadhorresnet goes on to say in his autobiography written on a
naophorous statue now in the Vatican collection at Rome, that he
introduced Cambyses II to Egyptian culture so that he might take on the
appearance of a traditional Egyptian Pharaoh.

However, even though Cambyses II had his name written in a kingly
Egyptian cartouche, he did remained very Persian, and was buried at
Takht-i-Rustam near Persepolis (Iran). It has been suggested that
Cambyses II may have originally followed a traditional Persian policy of
reconciliation in the footsteps of their conquests. In deed, it may be
that Cambyses II's rule began well enough, but with the his defeats and
losses, his mood may very well have turned darker with time, along with
his actions.

We do know that there was a short lived revolt which broke out in Egypt
after Cambyses II died in 522 BC, but the independence was lost almost
immediately to his successor, a distant relative and an officer in
Cambyses II's army, named Darius. The dynasty of Persian rulers who then
ruled Egypt did so as absentee landlords from afar.

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