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Persian Empire

Persian Empire in the Achaemenid era, 6th century BC
Persian Empire in the Achaemenid era, 6th century BC
In 529 BCE, the Greek general of mercenaries, Phanes of  Halicarnassus, betrayed the Egyptian pharaoh Amasis (r. 570-526  BCE). Thus the Persian king Cambyses II was able to threaten the  Egyptian  frontier.  After  Amasis  died,  his  successor,  Psamtik III,  was conquered and captured bv Cambvses in the battle of Pelusium  (525 BCE). Egypt then became, with Cyprus and Phoenicia, the sixth satrapy of  the  Achaemenid  Empire.  With  Cambyses II,  the  First  Persian  Occupation began Egypt's twenty-seventh dynasty, and it includes  Darius I (r. 521^486 BCE), Xerxes (r. 486-465 BCE), Artaxerxes I (r.  465-424 BCE), Darius II (r. 423-405 BCE), and Artaxerxes II (405- 359 BCE).  The Greek historian Herodotus traveled in Egypt about  450 BCE, so the Egypt he described was a Persian satrapy.

Memphis continued  as  the  capital  (as  it  had  been  under  the  previous Saite dynasty) and was soon the residence of the Persian  satrap, who headed Egypt's entire administration. Various officials  and  numerous  scribes  were  employed,  and  among  these  were  Egyptian  scribes  for  reports  in  their  native  language,  while  the  official language became Aramaic. The garrison posts continued to  be situated in Mareotis, Daphnis, and Elephantine, yet everywhere in the Nile Valley, between  the  Delta  and  Nubia,  there  was  a  presence  of  Near  Eastern  foreigners,  merchants,  and  soldiers— Phoenicians,  lonians,  and  Car-ians—from  all  of  the  satrapies  throughout the Achaemend Empire.

The  First  Persian  Occupation  began  with  Cambyses,  who  undertook an "Africa" policy, with three unsuccessful expeditions  against  Carthage  on  the  Mediterranean,  against  the  oasis  of  the  Libyan Desert, and against Nubia. Cambyses assumed a pharaonic  guise, as indicated by autobiographical texts of Wedjahorresenet, a  high  official  and  court  doctor.  The  texts  are  engraved  on  his  naophorus  statue  (now  in  the  Vatican  Museum),  a  basalt  statute  brought  from  Egypt  and  discovered  at  Tivoli  in  the  ruins  of  Hadrian's villa. Wedjahorresenet served under Amasis, Cambyses,  and Darius I. For Cambyses Wedjahorresenet created the epithet  mswty-R"  ("Born  of  Re"),  Cambyses  was  interested  in  removing  the  "foreigners"  (evidently  members  of  the  army  of  occupation)  from the temple of Neith at Sais, to purify the temple, to return to  the goddess her annuity, and to reestablish the priests, ceremonies,  and processions as they had been before.

Ruin and oppression certainly could have occurred throughout  Egypt during the violence of the conquest; but the evidence for the  ferocity  and  impiety  of  Cambyses  in  Egypt,  referred  to  by  the  Greek  historians,  is  not  supported  by  contemporary  Egyptian  documents.  A  stela  from the Serapeum (the  underground  catacombs  where  the Apis bulls  were  buried  at  Saqqara)  dated  from the sixth year of the Cambyses rule, testifies that Cambyses  did not kill Apis, but that instead, the sacred bull, born in Year 27  of  Amasis,  received  solemn  obsequies  and  was  buried  in  a  sarcophagus  donated  by  the  same  Cambyses,  and  that  the  succeeding  Apis,  born  during  the  reign  of  Cambyses,  died  of  natural causes in Year 4 of Darius I (as is shown by another stela  from  the  Serapeum).  To  understand  the  foundation  of  the  anti- Cambyses tradition, it is worth considering the resentment on the  part of the Egyptian priesthood, which had been stung by Cambyses' decree that  drastically  limited  royal  subsidies  to  the  Egyptian  temples  previously in effect.

Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire (the first Persian Empire) in the 6th century BC
Tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder
of the Achaemenid Empire (the
first Persian Empire) in the
6th century BC
The posthumous persecutions of Amasis by Persian conquerors  is  suggested  by  the  Cambyses  legend  related  by  the  Greek  and  Roman  historians.  In  it,  Cambyses,  a  grandson  of  Apries,  took  revenge against the usurper Amasis and reclaimed the throne of his  grandfather.  In  522  BCE,  on  the  return  trip  home  to  Persia,  Cambyses died from a leg infection incurred while in Syria. There,  in the court circle of Susa, the rebellion broke out of the sorcerer  Gaumata,  claimant  to  the  legitimate  succession  of  Cyrus.  The  circumstances  of  the  death  (a  dagger  wound  to  the  thigh  that  became gangrenous) are related by Herodotus as proof of divine  punishment—since  the  wound  was  in  the  same  spot  that  would  have  resulted  from  an  attack  on  the  Apis  bull  by  Cambyses.  According  to  Dio-dorus  Siculus,  Cambyses'  death  is  punishment  for  his  impiety.  He  is  contrasted  with  the  piety  of  his  successor  Darius  I,  who  was  generous  toward  the  temples  of  the  Egyptian  gods and revoked Cambyses' decree.

Darius  I  (522-486  BCE)  was  the  son  of  Istaspe,  satrap  of  Hyrcania;  Darius  was  a  tolerant  and  strong  ruler  who  restored  order  in  the  empire  and  conquered  a  new  province,  India.  According to Diodorus, Darius I was the sixth and last law-giver  of Egypt, as confirmed by the Demotic papyrus mentioned above.  In  his  third  year  of  rule,  Darius  ordered  his  satrap  in  Egypt  to  convene the learned among the soldiers, the priests, and the scribes  so as to codify the laws in use to Year 44 of the reign of Amasis.  His  committee  of  wise  men  sat  for  sixteen  years,  until  Darius's  nineteenth year. Between his nineteenth and twenty-seventh year,  the committee was reunited at Susa and the laws were transcribed  on  papyrus  in  Aramaic  and  Demotic.  Such  a  juridical  guide  for  Egypt was needed by the administration of that satrapy, since they  were generally Persian or Babylonian and their official language  was Aramaic.

The  protection  accorded  to  Egyptian  temples  and  priests  by  Darius  I  was  extended  to  the  construction  of  a  grand  temple  to  Amun-Re, in the Kharga Oasis (an archive of Persian-era Demotic  ostraca  was  recently  found at Deir  Manawir). Darius  Is  building  activities  in  Egypt  are  also  known  from  the  hieroglyphic  inscriptions in the quarries of Wadi Hammamat, from blocks with  Darius' cartouche found at Elkab, and from those at Busiris in the  Delta. A large number of the Saqqara Serapeum stelae have dates  between  the  third  and  fourteenth  year  of  Darius I.  A  small  stela  from  the  Faiyum (now  in  the  Berlin  Museum)  is  dedicated  to  Darius I  in  the  form  of  the  falcon-god  HOI-US.  The  Vatican  naophorus  statue  of  Wed-jahon'esnet  reveals  that  Darius  ordered  restoration work at the "House of Life" at Sais.

Yet rebellion against the Persians was constant. Aryandes,  the  first  satrap  of  Egypt,  was  deposed  by  Darius  I  after  rebelling. Pherendates succeeded him in 492 BCE and was the satrap  to whom Peteese of Teudjoi referred his petition in Year 9 of Darius  I,  to  obtain  justice  (Demotic  Papyrus  Rylands  IX).  To  intensify  contact  with  the  Egyptian  satrapy,  Darius  I  accomplished  an  objective imagined but never carried out by Necho II—the opening  of  a  navigable  route  from  the  Nile  to  the  Red  Sea.  This  was  accomplished  by  means  of  a  canal  45  meters  wide  and  5  meters  deep (130 by 15 feet) that could be traveled for some 84 kilometers  (52  miles),  enabling  navigation  from  Bubastis  at  Lake  Timsah  by  the Bitter Lakes (Gulf of Heroonpolita) to the Red Sea in four days.  Along the route of the canal were erected commemorative stelae of  large dimensions—over 3 meters (10 feet) in height and 2 meters (6  feet)  in  width—in  the  three  languages  of  the  empire:  Elamite,  Akkadian, and Old Persian; they were located at Suez, at Chaluf or  Kebret,  at  the  Serapeum,  and  at  Pithom  (Tell  el-Maskhuta).  The  waterway, which tended to silt up in the southern part, was put back  into  use  under  Ptolemy  II  (according  to  the  stela  discovered  at  Pithom) and also under the Roman emperor Hadrian. From as early  as Cambyses, the Persian kings resorted to Egyptian sculptors and  stonemasons,  who  are  often  mentioned  on  the  Elamite  foundation  tablets  of  Persepolis.  Many  learned  Egyptians,  especially  doctors,  resided at the Court of Susa.

Trade  with  Persia  was  important  to  Egypt.  An  Aramaic  text,  recovered  by  B.  Porten  and  A.  Yardeni,  contains  the  accounts  of  many  colonies  and  of  maritime  traffic  for  a  port  (probably  Memphis) during Year 11 of Xerxes I (475 BCE). The captains of the  ships—which  brought  gold,  silver,  wine,  oil,  and  lumber—are  indicated  as  lonians  and  have  Greek  names  (e.g.,  Simonides,  Moskhos, Tymok-ledes, Mikkos, lokles, Phanes', etc.); other ships'  captains  are  perhaps  Phoenician.  The  boats  returned  loaded  with  Egyptian natron (sodium carbonate), highly valued in antiquity for  the manufacture of glass.

From  404  to  343  BCE,  the  recovered  independence  of  Egypt  included  the  twenty-eighth,  twenty-ninth,  and  thirtieth  dynasties.  The  rulers  of  the  thirtieth  dynasty  defended  Egypt  from  Persia's  attempts at reconquest, even resorting to alliances with the Greeks.  Nektanebo I secured the support of the priesthood by a maneuver  that  consisted  of  a  customs  tax  on  merchandise  that  arrived  at  Naukratis in the Nile Delta (the Greek emporium from the time of  the  Saite  kings),  allotting  10  percent  of  the  tax  to  the  temple  of  Neith  at  Sais.  Nektanebo's  son  Tachos  (or  Teos;  r.  362-360  BCE)  intervened militarily in an anti-Persian role in Syria, but his uncle,  the  general  Tjaha-pimu,  who  was  kept  in  Egypt  as  regent,  took  advantage  by  placing  his  own  son,  Nektanebo,  by  the  Queen  Udjashu,  on  the  throne.  This  change  was  favored  because  of  the  discord incurred by the financial measures that Tachos took.  He  limited  the  priests'  revenues  and  a  tax  was  imposed  on  housing and on the grain to be offered to Atria, in addition to the  tenth  due  on  ships  and  crafts.  Tachos,  betrayed  by  the  Spartan  general Agesilaos, fled Egypt, took refuge at Sidon, and then at the  Persian court at Susa.

Nektanebo  II  (r.  361/60-343  BCE)  repelled  two  Persian  invasions: one in 358 BCE, by the army of Prince Arta-xerxes; the  second  in  351  BCE,  led  by  the  same  man,  now  Ar-taxerxes  III  Ochus. When he retook Cyprus and Sidon, he was able to land at  Pelusium in the Nile Delta. From Pelu-sium, the Persians then took  the  other  cities  of  the  Delta  and  as  far  south  as  Memphis.  Nektanebo II escaped to Nubia with his treasure. Classical sources  accuse Artaxerxes III of violence and brutality even more subtle  than  that  ascribed  to  Cambyses.  Then  in  338  BCE,  the  eunuch  Bagoas murdered Artaxerxes; in 336 BCE, he also killed the king's  son  and  successor  Xerxes.  Under  Darius  III,  the  satrap  Sabace  fought  and  died  at  Issus.  The  last  Persian  satrap,  Mazaces,  lost  Egypt  to  Alexander  the  Great  of  Macedon  in  332  BCE.  The  Achaemenid Empire had ended, and Egypt had become a province  once more. After Alexander, the Ptolemies and then the Romans  became  the  masters  of  the  Nile  Valley,  which  was  governed  by  foreign rulers until after World War II.

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