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The Late Period
Assyrian Policy
The Assyrians discovered that the local Egyptian princes whom they had installed as governors in Dynasty 25 were poor allies. The princes had switched allegiances and now gave political and military support to the deposed Nubian ruler Taharka, causing the Assyrians to remove them to Nineveh. Ashurbanipal subsequently restored Necho of Sais (a Delta town) and his son Psammetichus as petty rulers in the Delta. The latter would become the first king of Dynasty 26. This line of native rulers brought many changes to Egypt, and there was a brief resurgence of national power and pride. But the country’s international significance was never regained, and the gradual but inevitable decline continued. Necho had established an important kingdom in the western Delta and probably began to rule as a local king at Sais in 672 BC. He was killed, however, by the Nubian Tanuatamun who briefly regained Egypt in Dynasty 25, only to lose it to Psammetichus who founded Dynasty 26 and claimed the kingship of Egypt. At first he probably ruled only in the north while Tanuatamun still controlled the south. When Tanuatamun finally left Egypt for Nubia, Psammetichus took charge of the whole country.
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The Divine Wife of Amun
Psammetichus continued an important tradition established by earlier rulers by making his daughter Nitocris the Divine Wife of Amun at Thebes. In the New Kingdom the king’s chief wife had carried this title and acted as the god’s consort in state festivals. From Dynasty 21, however, the title came to have political significance. It was now accorded to the king’s daughter who became a priestess with extensive political and religious powers as well as great wealth and possessions. As the wife of Amun at Thebes, she owned property and land, controlled officials, and performed rituals for the gods. She was not allowed to marry but had to adopt the daughter of the next king as her own daughter and successor. This practice continued into Dynasty 25, when it was established as a vital method of ensuring the unity of the kingdom and preventing the division into northern and southern bases of power, which had happened in Dynasties 20 and 21. It also ensured that each king gained control over the south through his daughter’s unrivaled position at Thebes. There she had equal status to the king, but her power was limited to that city. Since she could not marry, her husband and sons could not threaten the king’s supremacy, and while she ruled at Thebes no male rival to the king could seize power there. The process of adopting the next divine heiress ensured a safe and smooth transition of her title and power.
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Saites and Mercenaries
The Saites (rulers of Dynasty 26) had gained the throne with the help of Greek mercenaries, and the line continued to rely on foreign naval and military skills as well as foreign merchants. They pursued a policy of encouraging foreigners to settle in Egypt, since foreigners provided the Saites with strength against other local princes. These foreigners included Greeks, Carians, Jews, and Syrians, but because the native population came to resent them, it became necessary to establish separate districts where they could live. Psammetichus I built the city of Naucratis in the Delta specially to accommodate Greek residents. Another reaction to this influx of foreigners was the native revival in religious and artistic traditions. This expressed itself in an increased interest in the particularly Egyptian custom of worshiping animals and in an archaistic tendency in literature and art, where styles found in the Old Kingdom were now revived. This dynasty produced the last fine quality goods of local manufacture, with special emphasis on funerary goods such as ushabti figures. .
SAITE FOREIGN POLICY
Psammetichus I’s son and successor, Necho II, was
interested in exploration and trade; he began the construction of a
canal between the Nile and Red Sea and established a fleet of
triremes. The Phoenician sailors he employed voyaged around Africa
for three years, taking a route from the Red Sea around the Cape and
then returning via Gibraltar. His reign, however, was mainly
dominated by foreign affairs. As the power of Assyria waned and the
Babylonians became the new force in the area, Necho II became
engaged in the politics of Syria/Palestine. The Babylonian ruler,
Nabopolassar, came to regard Egypt as an enemy, and his son,
Nebuchadnezzar, soundly defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish in 605
BC, pursuing them in the district of Hamath and making them flee.
Later the Babylonians seized all of Egypt’s foreign territorial
possessions. When Nebuchadnezzar became ruler of the Babylonian
Empire, he was able to campaign against Egypt in 601 BC, but he was
unsuccessful and was forced to return to Babylon. Although the brief
reign of Psammetichus II, son and successor of Necho II, was
concerned with domestic policies, his own heir, Apries, again became
involved in foreign affairs when King Zedekiah of Judah rebelled
against Babylon. The exact role Apries (the biblical pharaoh Hophra)
played against the Babylonians is not clear, but Jerusalem was
captured by the Babylonians, Zedekiah was taken prisoner, and a
large proportion of the population was removed to Babylon while the
prophet Jeremiah led the remainder to Egypt.
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LATER SAITE RULERS
Internal politics in Egypt finally resulted in
the removal of Apries and his replacement as ruler by an army
general, Amasis. The events of his life and reign are provided by
Herodotus, and it is clear that although Amasis continued to use
Greek mercenaries in Egypt, he was mindful of native feeling since
he owed his kingship to the Egyptian population. He checked the
growth of Greek merchants in Egypt by limiting their trading
ventures to the city of Naucratis. Amasis’s son, Psammetichus III,
ruled for only a few months before Egypt was taken over by the
Persians. Cyrus II, the Achaemenid ruler who founded the Persian
Empire, defeated Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, in 539 BC
after he had overcome Media, Lydia, and the cities of the Ionian
coast. Persia became the great new power of the area, and Cyrus II’s
son, Cambyses, was sent to subdue Egypt. He defeated the Phoenicians
and took possession of their fleet before proceeding to rout the
Egyptians at the Battle of Pelusium (525 BC). A final seige of
Memphis resulted in the death of Psammetichus III and the annexation
of Egypt. This first Persian period (Manetho’s Dynasty 27) lasted
until 404 BC.
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Persian Rule
As a satrapy (province) of the Persian Empire, Egypt was governed by a satrap on behalf of the Persian king. The Persian kings, however, seem to have taken on the title and role of pharaoh and to have performed religious duties and upheld Egyptian traditions. Herodotus is again a main source for this period, characterizing Cambyses as a cruel tyrant who may have suffered from insanity. By contrast Darius I was regarded as a positive ruler who, according to Diodorus Siculus, was a lawgiver. Whereas Cambyses apparently neglected the Egyptian gods, Darius supported their cults and made additions to their temples. He also completed (518 BC) the canal to link the Nile and the Red Sea, which had been started by Necho II. His son and successor, Xerxes, was a tyrant to the Egyptians and put down a series of uprisings. Disturbances continued under his successor Artaxerxes I. Eventually a local chieftain, Amyrtaeus of Sais, seized some power; he is recorded by Manetho as the only ruler of Dynasty 28. In the two succeeding dynasties native rulers continued to claim power, but Artaxerxes II began to prepare to reestablish Persian control over Egypt and sent forces there under the satrap Pharnabazus. However, local circumstances including the Nile inundation helped the Egyptians to repel them. This was merely a temporary respite, however, and when Artaxerxes III became emperor (358 BC) he reorganized his forces and marched against Egypt in 343 BC. He was successful and destroyed the walls of the most important cities and removed treasure and inscribed records from the temples. Finally, before he left for Babylon he installed a new satrap, and a second Persian period ensued. This Dynasty 31 was added later to the thirty dynasties given by Manetho. Persia’s control of Egypt came to an end in 332 BC when Alexander the Great, king of Macedon, took the country and laid the foundations for the Ptolemaic Period. The periods of Persian domination, like the Assyrian, had no profound effect upon Egypt. Despite Herodotus’s claims of tyranny, it is unlikely that their rule was excessively cruel. They had little impact on Egyptian civilization although communities of foreigners now resided in Egypt, Egyptian soldiers fought in Persian campaigns, and artists and officials were taken to work in cities in Persia. Nevertheless, the Egyptians welcomed the arrival of Alexander the Great as their savior from Persian domination and segmented native rulership. .
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The Late Period
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