(e) Tlie Restoration. — Incited by Gyges, king of the last country, P«niA;-Psammiticlius of Sais (663-610), son of Necho, whom the Assyrians had reinstated, seized this opportunity to raise a fresh insurrection. He was himself of either Libyan or Nubian descent, and the success of his policy depended wholly on the foreign troops he em- ployed. With the help of Lydia and of Ionian ana Carian mercenaries (the xa-^ffoi duSpes of the prophecy, Herod, ii. 152), Fsaiiimitichus overthrew the Dodecarchy, i.e. tlio Assyrian regents, and, by marriage with a niece of Sabakon's, gained the approval of the Theban priests and so of Ui>])ei Egypt. He pursued the Assyrians into Palestine, and captured after a long siege the town of Ashdod. The misfortunes of Assyria favoured the attempts of the Saite Pharaohs to re-establish their domin- ance in Asia, and during this and the following reign (Necho II.) Syria was again brought under Egypt's sovereignty. But the rise of Babylon under Nebucliadrezzar put a check on this revival, and Necho II. (610-594), after defeating Josiali of Judah at Megiddo,* was himself routed by Nebucliadrezzar at Carchemish, and expelled from Syria.
The energies of the 26th Dynasty were directed before all things to taking advantage of Egypt's geographical situation and bringing her, by the help of hired Phoenician ships, witiiin the sphere of Mediterranean commerce. Kelations were opened with Periander of Oorinth and with other Greek states. Greek traders were assigned special quarters in Memphis, where a Tyrian colony had already been settled ; indeed, rUms-Amash, a later king of the Dynasty, allowed them to found a separate town on the (!ruek model — Naucratis in the W. Delta — to which their ojierations were to be restricted, and which only waned in importance before the rise of Alexandria. Aiiiasis had been the general of ir'/u^/Apries-Hophra (588-569), whom tho troops had driven from the throne in his favour. About this time Nebuchadrezzar appears to have invaded Egypt, though the history ol the campaign is not known. His object was
})resumably vengeance for the iiart whicli Apries lad recently played in Syria, where Judah, again trusting to Egyptian support, had begun the hostilities which ended in the fall of Jerusalem (586) and the flight of many of the inhabitants — among them Jeremiah— to Egypt, where they were settled in Tahi>anhe8 ('fell Defeneh), a frontier fort in the E. Delta.
* Presumably 8. of Carmel, though this IdentiflcatioD i« diapuU-sI.
664
EGYPT
EGYPT
The characteristics of the Saite period are, in all bat commercial aspects, those or an archaizing renaissance. To jud^'e by art, literature, names, titles, etc., we might imagine ourselves again in the age of the Pyramid builders, though on closer inspection the resemblance is seen to be but superficial.
(/) The Persian Supremacy. — This prosperous and uneventful period was suddenly terminated by an invasion by the great power which was now overturning the political balance of W. Asia. Cyrus had seen the formation of a hostile league between Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt ; but his death had delayed chastisement, and tlie expedi- tion against Egypt was left for his son, Cambyses (525), who appears not to have acted with the customary clemency of Persian conquerors ; for his memory was execrated throughout Egypt. The Saites had gro>vn weak, and the country lay an easy prey to the invaders. The conquest was turned to full advantage by his successor Darius (521-486), who set about the reorganization of the country on its former lines, and won the acqui- escence of priests and people by assuming the ancient titles and functions of the native kings. The check gufl'ered by the Persians at Marathon, however, gave courage to the patriotic party in Egypt, ana under the leadership of a Libyan, HbbS (Cliabash), the Persians were for a time expelled. But a fresh expedition was undertaken by Xerxes (486-46S), and the insurrection suppressed with severity, Egypt being constituted a satrapy under the king's brother Achsemenes. Some years of
?uiet followed, and then, in the W. Delta, came a resh revolt led by Inaros — possibly a Saite prince — and aided by the Athenians (463). This in turn was suppressed by Megabyzus, the general of Artaxerxes, while the leadership of the party fell to Amyrtseus, for whose support Cimon, on his Cyprian expedition, sent a fleet (449).
The history of this period is fragmentary and obscure ; of native records we have none. The chronology of events cannot be accurately settled. We gather that, throughout the time of Persia's decline, various revolts of the national party took place in northern Egypt — the upper valley plays by this time no historical part. Manetho intro- duces, in the midst of the Persian supremacy, two more native Dynasties, the 28tli and 29th, of which we know very little, and then another, the 30th, to which belong two kings, iV^/)<ArAA<-Nektanebes (382-364) and A^4<n6/-Nektaneb'o (361-343), the former of whom succeeded in su|)pressing his rivals, while the latter, during a long reign, was active as a builder throughout the country (PhUiE, Edfu, Thebes, Heliopolis, the Delta). Persia, however, by a 6nal eliort, was able to reinstate herself (343), and Nektanebo, the last of the Pharaohs, abandoned his Greek allies and fled to Elliiopia.
But the Persian domination, too, was at an end. In a few years Alexander of Macedon had dis- membered the empire of the Acha'menides, and in 332 he led his armies into Egypt, which submitted without resistance.