Episode 40 Dynasty XVII: The Persians
The History of Ancient Egypt
Professor Robert Brier
Film Review
According to Brier, the Persian king Cambyses II launched an invasion of Egypt in 525 BC after the Egyptian army murdered a Persian envoy sent to them with truce conditions. Allegedly the Persian conquest of Egypt was facilitated by Greek mercenaries, including one who defected, providing crucial information about securing water in the Sinai desert, and others who reportedly slit the throat of the pharaoh’s sons before the battle. Psamtik III (526-525 BC) would become the first Egyptian king to be taken captive (in chains) by foreigners.
After leveling Memphis, Cambyses forced all the Egyptian nobles to dress in rags to beg water from his troops. Persian troops then led off all noble Egyptian youths with bridles in their mouth to their execution.
Bringing Psamstek III to live as a captive in his royal palace, Cambyses tried to ingratiate himself with the king of Nubia by sending him a red cloak, myrrh, gold jewelry and an amphora of wine. Rejecting all the gifts but the wine, he sent the Persian king an enormous Ethiopian bow, daring him to invade his country unless he could supply his troops with comparable weapons.
Cambyses next dispatches 50,000 troops to destroy the temple of Amun at the Siwa Oasis on the Egyptian border with Libya. Leading the rest of his military on an invasion of Nubia, he watched them starve to death in the desert and start to eat one another. On retreating to Egypt, he learned the 50,000 troops sent to the Siwa Oasis had vanished. After killing the Apis bull, he returned to Persia, where he ruled Egypt in absentia.
He was followed by Darius I (423-405 BC), who took more interest in Egypt and built a temple at the Oasis of Karta. There he wrote his name in a cartouche, signifying his divinity according the Egyptian religion. He died following the suppression of a major Egyptian revolt, to be replaced by Xerxes (485-465 BC). The latter ruled out of Susa and never left a large military force in Egypt.
Following Xerxes’s assassination, Artaxeres I assumed the Persian throne. His rule over Egypt was marked by major revolt led by Psamtec I’s son Inaros After killing Inaros, the Persians temporarily crushed the rebellion.
However the rebellions escalated, and Artaerxes II (405-359 BC) would be the last Persian ruler of Egypt.
Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.
https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/1492791/1492879
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