[guide.chat] egyptian dynasties
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:53:26 +0100
The history of Achaemenid Egypt is divided into two eras: an initial period of
Achaemenid Persian occupation when Egypt became a satrapy, followed by an
interval of independence; and a second period of occupation, again under the
Achaemenids.
The last pharaoh of the Twenty-Sixth dynasty, Psamtik III, was defeated by
Cambyses II of Persia in the battle of Pelusium in the eastern Nile delta in
525 BC. Egypt was then joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of
the Achaemenid Empire. Thus began the first period of Persian rule over Egypt
(also known as the 27th Dynasty), which ended around 402 BC.
After an interval of independence, during which three indigenous dynasties
reigned (the 28th, 29th, and 30th dynasty), Artaxerxes III (358-338 BC)
reconquered the Nile valley for a brief second period (343-332 BC), which is
called the thirty-first dynasty of Egypt.
Cambyses led three unsuccessful military campaigns in Africa: against Carthage,
the Siwa Oasis, and Nubia. He remained in Egypt until 522 BC and died on the
way back to Persia. The Greek and Jewish sources, especially Herodotus and
Diodorus Siculus, present us a bleak portrait of Cambyses' rule, describing the
king as mad, ungodly, and cruel. It is impossible unfortunately to compare
these texts with Egyptian sources, as all unofficial documents appear doing
their best to ignore Cambyses' existence.
Herodotus may have drawn on an indigenous tradition that reflected the
Egyptians' resentment, especially of the clergy, of Cambyses' decree (known
from a Demotic text on the back of papyrus no. 215 in the Bibliotheaque
Nationale, Paris) curtailing royal grants made to Egyptian temples under Ahmose
II.
In order to regain the support of the powerful priestly class, Darius I
(522-486 BC) revoked Cambyses' decree. Diodorus reported that Darius was the
sixth and last lawmaker for Egypt; according to Demotic papyrus no. 215, in the
third year of his reign he ordered his satrap in Egypt, Aryandes, to bring
together wise men among the soldiers, priests, and scribes, in order to codify
the legal system that had been in use until the year 44 of Ahmose II (c. 526
BC).
The laws were to be transcribed on papyrus in both Demotic and Aramaic, so that
the satraps and their officials, mainly Persians and Babylonians, would have a
legal guide in both the official language of the empire and the language of
local administration. To facilitate commerce, Darius built a navigable waterway
from the Nile to the Red Sea (from Bubastis [modern Zaqaziq] through the Wadi
Timelat and the Bitter Lakes); it was marked along the way by four great
bilingual stelae, the so-called "canal stelae," inscribed in both hieroglyphics
and cuneiform scripts.
In 1972 archaeological excavations at Susa brought to light a stone statue of
Darius I, standing and wearing a sumptuous Persian garment; it is inscribed in
cuneiform (in Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian) and in hieroglyphics. This
can be interpreted as a recognition of the role of Egypt in the Empire.
Shortly before 486 BC, the year of Darius' death, there was a revolt of the
type that had occurred under Aryandes, that was definitively subdued by Xerxes
I (486-464 BC) only in 484 BC. The province was subjected to harsh punishment
for the revolt, and especially its satrap Achaemenes administered the country
without regard for the opinion of his subjects.
A still more serious and extensive revolt took place in about 460 BC under
Artaxerxes I. It was led by the Libyan Inaros, son of Psamtik III (Thucydides
1.104), who asked for help from Athens; a fleet of 200 ships sailed up the Nile
as far as the ancient citadel of Memphis, two thirds of which was occupied by
the insurgents. Achaemenes was killed in the course of the battle of Papremis
in the western Delta.
The Second Egyptian Satrap
The Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent, around 500 BC.
It is not known who served as satrap after Artaxerxes III, but under Darius III
(336-330 BC) there was Sabaces, who fought and died at Issus and was succeeded
by Mazaces. Egyptians also fought at Issus, for example, the nobleman
Somtutefnekhet of Heracleopolis, who described on the "Naples stele" how he
escaped during the battle against the Greeks and how Arsaphes, the god of his
city, protected him and allowed him to return home.
In 332 BC Mazaces handed over the country to Alexander the Great without a
fight. The Achaemenid empire had ended, and for a while Egypt was a satrapy in
Alexander's empire. Later the Ptolemies and the Romans successively ruled the
Nile valley.
The Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt also known as the First Egyptian Satrapy
was effectively a province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 525 BCE to
402 BCE. The last pharaoh of the Twenty-Sixth dynasty, Psamtik III, was
defeated by Cambyses II of Persia in the battle of Pelusium in the eastern Nile
delta in 525 BC. Egypt was then joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth
satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. Thus began the first period of Persian rule
over Egypt (also known as the 27th Dynasty), which ended around 402 BC.
After an interval of independence, during which three indigenous dynasties
reigned (the 28th, 29th, and 30th dynasty), Artaxerxes III (358-338 BC)
reconquered the Nile valley for a brief second period (343-332 BC), which is
called the thirty-first dynasty of Egypt.
Cambyses 525-522 BC
Cambyses was the first ruler of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. He was the ruler of
Persia and treated the last ruler of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, Psammetichus III
(Psamtik III) with some consideration. Psammetichus then tried to revolt and
Cambyses caused him to be killed. There is an inscription on a statue that
tells of Cambyses going to Sais to worship Neith and restore the revenues and
festivals of the temple. But according to Herodotus, Cambyses did many
reprehensible things against Egyptian religion and customs and eventually went
mad.
In 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.ÊÊ
The empire of Cyrus passed to his son Cambyses (530-522 BC), who was as savage
and ugly of temper as Cyrus had been mild and generous. The father had
conquered Asia, the son undertook the conquest of Africa. Having skillfully and
successfully led his army across the deserts which separate the two continents,
Cambyses met and defeated the Egyptians in front of their city at Pelusium in
525 BC just a few weeks after the death of Pharaoh Amasis of the 19th/26th
Dynasty when Psammetichus II was king.
Cambyses captured Pelusium by using a clever strategy. The Egyptians regarded
certain animals, especially cats, as being sacred, and would not injure them on
any account. Cambyses had his men carry the `sacred' animals in front of them
to the attack. The Egyptians did not dare to shoot their arrows for fear of
wounding the animals, and so Pelusium was stormed successfully. After the
taking of the city Cambyses seized the opportunity to show his contempt of the
Egyptians. He himself carried a cage of cats in front of him upon his horse,
and hurled them with insulting taunts and laughter, in to the faces of his foes.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
The unfinished tomb of Cambyses II in Iran
The Lost Army of Cambyses II
Within recent years all manner of artifacts and monuments have been discovered
in Egypt's Western Desert. Here and there, new discoveries of temples and tombs
turn up, even in relatively inhabited areas where more modern structures are
often difficult to distinguish from ancient ruins. It is a place where the
shifting sands can uncover whole new archaeological worlds, and so vast that no
more than very small regions are ever investigated systematically by
Egyptologists. In fact, most discoveries if not almost all are made by
accident, so Egypt antiquity officials must remain ever alert to those who
bring them an inscribed stone unearthed beneath a house, or a textile fragment
found in the sand.
Lately, there has been considerable petroleum excavation in the Western Desert.
Anyone traveling the main route between the near oasis will see this activity,
but the exploration for oil stretched much deeper into the Western Desert. It
is not surprising that they have come upon a few archaeological finds, and it
is not unlikely that they will come across others. Very recently, when a
geological team from the Helwan University geologists found themselves walking
through dunes littered with fragments of textiles, daggers, arrow-heads, and
the bleached bones of the men to whom all these trappings belonged, they
reported the discovery to the antiquity service.
Mohammed al-Saghir of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) now believes
that this accidental find may very well be at least remnants of the mysterious
Lost Army of Cambyses II, and he is now organizing a mission to investigate the
site more thoroughly. If he is successful and the discovery is that of Cambyses
II's 50,000 strong lost army, than it will not only answer some ancient
mysteries, but will probably also provide us with a rich source of information
on the Persian military of that time, and maybe even expand our knowledge of
Cambyses II himself.
The Persian armed forces consisted of many elements, including companies of
foreign mercenaries such as Greeks, Phoenicians, Carians, Cilicians, Medes and
Syrians. Hence, if this is not another false lead, we may expect excellent
preservation of helmets, leather corselets, cloth garments, spears, bows,
swords and daggers - a veritable treasure trove of military memorabilia. The
rations and support equipment will all be there, ready for detailed analysis.
However, it should be noted that some Egyptologists question the very existence
of such an army, rather believing that the whole affair was simply a fable told
by a very prejudiced Greek.
Yet if true, Cambyses II probably sent his army to Siwa Oasis in the Western
Desert to seek (or seize) legitimization of his rule from the oracle of Amun,
much as Alexander the Great would do in the 4th century BC. However, the army
was overtaken by a sandstorm and buried. For centuries adventurers and
archaeologists have tried to find the lost army, and at times, tantalizing,
though usually false glues have been discovered.
Legitimizing his rule does not fully explain the need for taking such a large
army to the Siwa Oasis. Accounts and other resources provide that the priests
of the oracle were perhaps posing a danger to Cambyses II's rule, probably
encouraging revolt among the native Egyptians. Perhaps the priests felt
slighted that Cambyses II had not immediately sought their approval as
Alexander the Great would do almost upon his arrival in Egypt. Therefore, it is
likely that Cambyses II intended to forces their legitimization of his rule. In
fact, some sources believe that his intent was to simply destroy the Oasis
completely for their treachery, while it is also know that the army was to
continue on after Siwa in order to attack the Libyans.
Yet the Siwa Oasis, the western most of Egypt's Oasis, is much deeper into the
desert than others, such as Bahariya, and apparently, like many of Cambyses
II's military operations, this one too was ill conceived. Why he so easily
entered Egypt with the help of the Bedouins, and than sent such a large force
into the desert only to be lost is a mystery.
We know that the army was dispatched from the holy city of Thebes, supported by
a great train of pack animals. After a seven day march, it reached the Kharga
Oasis and moved on to the last of the near Oasis, the Bahariya, before turning
towards the 325 kilometers of desert that separated it from the Siwa Oasis. It
would have been a 30 day march through burning heat with no additional sources
of water or shade.
According to Herodotus (as later reported to him by the inhabitants of Siwa),
after many days of struggle through the soft sand, the troops were resting one
morning when calamity struck without warning. "As they were at their breakfast,
a wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns
of whirling sand, which buried the troops and caused them utterly to
disappear." Overwhelmed by the powerful sandstorm, men and animals alike were
asphyxiated as they huddled together, gradually being enveloped in a sea of
drift-sand.
It was after learning of the loss of his army that, having witnessed the
reverence with which the Egyptians regarded the sacred Apis bull of Memphis in
a ceremony and believing he was being mocked, he fell into a rage, drew his
dagger and plunged it into the bull-calf. However, it seems that he must have
latter regretted this action, for the Bull was buried with due reverence.
Cambyses left no heirs, and Darius I, one of his generals, fought his way to
sovereignty against many rivals.
Darius I 520-486 BC
Darius I - Darius The Great - was the second ruler of the Twenty-seventh
Dynasty. He was king of Persia in 522-486 BC, one of the greatest rulers of the
Achaemenid dynasty, who was noted for his administrative genius and for his
great building projects. Darius attempted several times to conquer Greece; his
fleet was destroyed by a storm in 492, and the Athenians defeated his army at
Marathon in 490.
Ascension to monarchy
Darius was the son of Hystaspes, the satrap (provincial governor) of Parthia.
The principal contemporary sources for his history are his own inscriptions,
especially the great trilingual inscription on the Bisitun (Behistun) rock at
the village of the same name, in which he tells how he gained the throne. The
accounts of his accession given by the Greek historians Herodotus and Ctesias
are in many points obviously derived from this official version but are
interwoven with legends.
According to Herodotus, Darius, when a youth, was suspected by Cyrus II the
Great (who ruled from 559 to 529 BC) of plotting against the throne. Later
Darius was in Egypt with Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus and heir to his kingdom,
as a member of the royal bodyguard. After the death of Cambyses in the summer
of 522 BC, Darius hastened to Media, where, in September, with the help of six
Persian nobles, he killed Bardiya (Smerdis), another son of Cyrus, who had
usurped the throne the previous March.
In the Bisitun inscription Darius defended this deed and his own assumption of
kingship on the grounds that the usurper was actually Gaumata, a Magian, who
had impersonated Bardiya after Bardiya had been murdered secretly by Cambyses.
Darius therefore claimed that he was restoring the kingship to the rightful
Achaemenid house. He himself, however, belonged to a collateral branch of the
royal family, and, as his father and grandfather were alive at his accession,
it is unlikely that he was next in line to the throne. Some modern scholars
consider that he invented the story of Gaumata in order to justify his actions
and that the murdered king was indeed the son of Cyrus.
Darius did not at first gain general recognition but had to impose his rule by
force. His assassination of Bardiya was followed, particularly in the eastern
provinces, by widespread revolts, which threatened to disrupt the empire. In
Susiana, Babylonia, Media, Sagartia, and Margiana, independent governments were
set up, most of them by men who claimed to belong to the former ruling
families. Babylonia rebelled twice and Susiana three times.
In Persia itself a certain Vahyazdata, who pretended to be Bardiya, gained
considerable support. These risings, however, were spontaneous and
uncoordinated, and, notwithstanding the small size of his army, Darius and his
generals were able to suppress them one by one. In the Bisitun inscription he
records that in 19 battles he defeated nine rebel leaders, who appear as his
captives on the accompanying relief. By 519 BC, when the third rising in
Susiana was put down, he had established his authority in the east.
In 518 Darius visited Egypt, which he lists as a rebel country, perhaps because
of the insubordination of its satrap, Aryandes, whom he put to death.
Fortification of the empire
Having restored internal order in the empire, Darius undertook a number of
campaigns for the purpose of strengthening his frontiers and checking the
incursions of nomadic tribes. In 519 BC he attacked the Scythians east of the
Caspian Sea and a few years later conquered the Indus Valley.
In 513, after subduing eastern Thrace and the Getae, he crossed the Danube
River into European Scythia, but the Scythian nomads devastated the country as
they retreated from him, and he was forced, for lack of supplies, to abandon
the campaign.
The satraps of Asia Minor completed the subjugation of Thrace, secured the
submission of Macedonia, and captured the Aegean islands of Lemnos and Imbros.
Thus, the approaches to Greece were in Persian hands, as was control of the
Black Sea grain trade through the straits, the latter being of major importance
to the Greek economy.
The conquest of Greece was a logical step to protect Persian rule over the
Greeks of Asia Minor from interference by their European kinsmen. According to
Herodotus, Darius, before the Scythian campaign, had sent ships to explore the
Greek coasts, but he took no military action until 499 BC, when Athens and
Eretria supported an Ionian revolt against Persian rule.
After the suppression of this rebellion, Mardonius, Darius' son-in-law, was
given charge of an expedition against Athens and Eretria, but the loss of his
fleet in a storm off Mount Athos (492 BC) forced him to abandon the operation.
In 490 BC another force under Datis, a Mede, destroyed Eretria and enslaved its
inhabitants but was defeated by the Athenians at Marathon. Preparations for a
third expedition were delayed by an insurrection in Egypt, and Darius died in
486 BC before they were completed.
Darius as an administrator
Although Darius consolidated and added to the conquests of his predecessors, it
was as an administrator that he made his greatest contribution to Persian
history. He completed the organization of the empire into satrapies, initiated
by Cyrus the Great, and fixed the annual tribute due from each province. During
his reign, ambitious and far-sighted projects were undertaken to promote
imperial trade and commerce.
Coinage, weights, and measures were standardized and land and sea routes
developed. An expedition led by Scylax of Caryanda sailed down the Indus River
and explored the sea route from its mouth to Egypt, and a canal from the Nile
River to the Red Sea, probably begun by the chief of the Egyptian delta lords,
Necho I (7th century BC), was repaired and completed.
While measures were thus taken to unite the diverse peoples of the empire by a
uniform administration, Darius followed the example of Cyrus in respecting
native religious institutions. In Egypt he assumed an Egyptian titulary and
gave active support to the cult. He built a temple to the god Amon in the
Kharga oasis, endowed the temple at Edfu, and carried out restoration work in
other sanctuaries.
He empowered the Egyptians to reestablish the medical school of the temple of
Sais, and he ordered his satrap to codify the Egyptian laws in consultation
with the native priests. In the Egyptian traditions he was considered as one of
the great lawgivers and benefactors of the country. In 519 BC he authorized the
Jews to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, in accordance with the earlier decree
of Cyrus. In the opinion of some authorities, the religious beliefs of Darius
himself, as reflected in his inscriptions, show the influence of the teachings
of Zoroaster, and the introduction of Zoroastrianism as the state religion of
Persia is probably to be attributed to him.
Darius was the greatest royal architect of his dynasty, and during his reign
Persian architecture assumed a style that remained unchanged until the end of
the empire. In 521 BC he made Susa his administrative capital, where he
restored the fortifications and built an audience hall (apadana) and a
residential palace.
The foundation inscriptions of his palace describe how he brought materials and
craftsmen for the work from all quarters of the empire. At Persepolis, in his
native country of Fars (Persis), he founded a new royal residence to replace
the earlier capital at Pasargadae.
The fortifications, apadana, council hall, treasury, and a residential palace
are to be attributed to him, although not completed in his lifetime. He also
built at Ecbana and Babylon.
Darius died while preparing a new expedition against the Greeks; his son and
successor, Xerxes I, attempted to fulfill his plan.
Tomb of Darius
Xerxes I Pharaoh, The Great (486-466 BC)
Xerxes I, detail of a bas-relief of the north courtyard in
the treasury at Persepolis, late 6th - early 5th century BC
Xerxes I - (Xerxes the Great) - was the third ruler of the Twenty-seventh
Dynasty. His name in Old Persian is Khshayarsha, in the Bible Ahasuerus.
Xerxes became king of Persia at the death of his father Darius the Great in
485, at a time when his father was preparing a new expedition against Greece
and had to face an uprising in Egypt. According to Herodotus, the transition
was peaceful this time.
Because he was about to leave for Egypt, Darius, following the law of his
country had been requested to name his successor and to choose between the
elder of his sons, born from a first wife before he was in power, and the first
of his sons born after he became king, from a second wife, Atossa, Cyrus'
daughter, who had earlier been successively wed to her brothers Cambyses and
Smerdis, and which he had married soon after reaching power in order to confirm
his legitimacy. Atossa was said to have much power on Darius and he chose her
son Xerxes for successor. When his father died, in 486 BC, Xerxes was about 35
years old and had already governed Babylonia for a dozen years.
One of his first concerns upon his accession was to pacify Egypt, where a
usurper had been governing for two years. But he was forced to use much
stronger methods than had Darius. In 484 BC he ravaged the Delta and chastised
the Egyptians.
Xerxes then learned of the revolt of Babylon, where two nationalist pretenders
had appeared in swift succession. The second, Shamash-eriba, was conquered by
Xerxes' son-in-law, and violent repression ensued: Babylon's fortresses were
torn down, its temples pillaged, and the statue of Marduk destroyed; this
latter act had great political significance.
Xerxes was no longer able to "take the hand of" (receive the patronage of) the
Babylonian god. Whereas Darius had treated Egypt and Babylonia as kingdoms
personally united to the Persian Empire (though administered as satrapies),
Xerxes acted with a new intransigence.
Having rejected the fiction of personal union, he then abandoned the titles of
king of Babylonia and king of Egypt, making himself simply "king of the
Persians and the Medes." It was probably the revolt of Babylon, although some
authors say it was troubles in Bactria, to which Xerxes alluded in an
inscription that proclaimed: "And among these countries (in rebellion) there
was one where, previously, daevas had been worshipped. Afterward, through Ahura
Mazda's favor, I destroyed this sanctuary of daevas. Let daevas not be
worshipped. There, where daevas had been worshipped before, I worshipped Ahura
Mazda."
Xerxes thus declared himself the adversary of the daevas, the ancient
pre-Zoroastrian gods, and doubtlessly identified the Babylonian gods with these
fallen gods of the Aryan religion. The questions arise of whether the
destruction of Marduk's statue should be linked with this text proclaiming the
destruction of the daeva sanctuaries, of whether Xerxes was a more zealous
supporter of Zoroastrianism than was his father, and, indeed, of whether he
himself was a Zoroastrian.
It is said that the slaves' lives were much harder during the time of Xerxes.
It is not certain whether this is true since Xerxes was much more involved
elsewhere and paid little attention to Egypt.
During his reign he put down uprisings in both Egypt and Babylon, but his
efforts to invade Europe were thrown back by Greece in 480.
Xerxes was assassinated in 465 BC. Some believe that it was his son who had him
assassinated, but there is no proof.
Xerxes' Hall of the 100 Columns is the most impressive
building in the Persepolis Complex. jumble of fallen
columns, column heads, and column bases.
The Gate of Xerxes at Perespolis shows that the Winged Lion was placed at the
corner of one entrance. When you stood in front of the gate you saw a lion with
four legs and when you were inside the gate you also saw a lion with four legs.
Artaxerxes I 465-424
The king of ancient Persia (464-425 BC), of the dynasty of the Achaemenis.
Artaxerxes is the Greek form of "Ardashir the Persian." He succeeded his
father, Xerxes I , in whose assassination he had no part. The later weakness of
the Persian Empire is commonly traced to the reign of Artaxerxes, and there
were many uprisings in the provinces.
The revolt of Egypt, aided by the Athenians, was put down (c.455 BC) after
years of fighting, and Bactria was pacified. The Athenians sent a fleet under
Cimon to aid a rebellion of Cyprus against Persian rule.
The fleet won a victory, but the treaty negotiated by Callias was generally
favorable to Persia. Important cultural exchanges occurred between Greece and
Persia during Artaxerxes' reign. He was remembered warmly in the books of Ezra
and Nehemiah because he authorized their revival of Judaism.
Darius II (424-404 BC)
Darius II was the fifth king of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. 404 B.C., king of
ancient Persia (423?-404 B.C.); son of Artaxerxes I and a concubine, hence
sometimes called Darius Nothus [Darius the Bastard].
His rule was not popular or successful, and he spent most of his reign in
quelling revolts in Syria, Lydia (413), and Media (410).
He lost Egypt (410), but through the diplomacy of Pharnabazus, Tissaphernes,
and Cyrus the Younger he secured much influence in Greece in the Peloponnesian
War.
Artaxerxes II succeeded Darius, but the succession was challenged by Cyrus the
Younger.
During his reign, he did some work on the temple of Amun is the Kharga oasis.
There were also many foreigners in Egypt during this time, mostly Greeks and
Jews.
He died in the spring of 404 BC.
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Vanessa The Google Girl.
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