Psamtik II

Lore & Background

Psamtik II led a foray into Nubia in 592 BC, marching as far south as the Third or even the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, according to a contemporary stela from Thebes (Karnak) which dates to Year 3 of his reign and refers to a heavy defeat inflicted upon the kingdom of Kush. The Victory Stela of Kalabsha commemorates his victory over Nubia. A well-known graffito inscribed in Greek on the left leg of the colossal seated statue of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel records: 'When King Psammetichus came to Elephantine, this was written by those who sailed with Psammetichus the son of Theocles, and they came beyond Kerkis as far as the river permits. Those who spoke foreign tongues (Greek and Carians) were led by Potasimto, the Egyptians by Amasis.' Kerkis was located near the Fifth Cataract of the Nile, within the Cushite Kingdom. This was the first confrontation between Egypt and Nubia since the reign of Tantamani. The Egyptian army advanced to Pnubs (Kerma) and the capital city of Napata, where they looted temples and destroyed royal Kushite statues. The Kushite capital was sacked under King Aspelta. The Year 3 Karnak stela states: 'The army that your Majesty sent to Nubia has reached the land of Pnubs....Nubians from all parts [of Kush] had arisen against him...His Majesty took part in the combat as soon as he reached the battle. The rebels capitulated before a single arrow was unleashed against them....Those who tried to flee did not succeed and were brought back as prisoners: four thousand two hundred men.' As a result, Kush's power was weakened, and its rulers later shifted their capital south to Meroë, though most historians agree this was not the only reason. Psamtik II did not capitalize on his victory, possibly due to lack of troops, and Elephantine remained Egypt's southern border. An outcome was the deliberate destruction of monuments of the 25th Dynasty Kushite kings in Egypt 'by hacking out their names and the emblems of royalty from their statues and reliefs.' In 591 BC, during his fourth year, Psamtik II launched an expedition into Palestine 'to foment a general Levantine revolt against the Babylonians' involving Zedekiah of Judah; alternatively, Dan’el Kahn suggests '592 B.C. seems to be the date of the military reconquest of the Levant by Psammetichus II.'

Reader's Guide

Psamtik II reigned only six years but left a significant mark through both military action and building. His Nubian campaign in 592 BC was the first confrontation between Egypt and Nubia since Tantamani, and it effectively ended any Kushite aspirations to reconquer Egypt. The destruction of Kushite royal monuments in Egypt was a deliberate policy to erase the memory of the 25th Dynasty. Despite the victory, Psamtik II did not extend Egyptian control southward, and the border remained at Elephantine. His building projects included a significant Saite temple at El-Mahalla El-Kubra, where a 1.8 metre long fragment of red granite with his name was found. He erected a pair of obelisks more than 21.79 metres high at Heliopolis; one, the Obelisk of Montecitorio, was later brought to Rome in 10 BC by Augustus. He constructed a kiosk on Philae island, which 'represents the oldest known monument known on the island' and consisted 'of a double row of four columns, which were connected by screen walls.' He was also responsible for founding the Temple-house at Hibis in El-Kharga Oasis for the triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, with significant installations for the cult of Osiris. This 19.5 x 26 metre temple was only completed under the Persian kings Darius I and possibly Darius II. The Hibis temple remains—together with the Oracle of Siwa—as 'the best preserved and best-documented temple of the early Egyptian Late Period.' According to Herodotus, Psamtik was visited by ambassadors from Elis who boasted about the Olympic games; the Egyptians advised that only strangers should compete to avoid bias. He died in 589 BC and was succeeded by his son Apries. The date of his death is mentioned in the Adoption stela of Ankhnesneferibre: Year 7, I Akhet day 23.

Did You Know?

• Psamtik II's prenomen, Nefer-Ib-Re, means 'Beautiful [is the] Heart [of] Re.'
• A graffito at Abu Simbel records that Greek and Carian mercenaries were led by Potasimto, while Egyptians were led by Amasis during the Nubian campaign.
• One of the obelisks Psamtik II erected at Heliopolis, over 21.79 metres high, was later brought to Rome in 10 BC by Augustus and is known as the Obelisk of Montecitorio.
• The Temple-house at Hibis is considered 'the best preserved and best-documented temple of the early Egyptian Late Period.'

A Crown Inherited, An Omen Ignored

Psamtik III ascended to the Egyptian throne in 526 BC, stepping into a role his father Amasis II had held for roughly forty-four years of prosperity. His rule, as recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus, lasted no more than six months. Within days of his coronation, an unusual rainfall struck Thebes, a weather event so rare in that region that portions of the Egyptian population read it as a dire portent. The young pharaoh, still inexperienced in the demands of governance, faced this unsettling omen without the political weight or military preparedness to counter the growing threat beyond Egypt's borders. What followed was not a gradual decline but a swift collapse, as the Persian army under Cambyses II moved toward the Nile Delta with decisive force. The omen, whether real or imagined, proved to be the last sign of Egyptian independence under the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

The Fall at Pelusium and the Siege of Memphis

In the spring of 525 BC, the Persian king Cambyses II led his forces across the Sinai desert, aided by Arabian guides who knew the arid terrain. The two armies met near Pelusium, a city guarding Egypt's eastern frontier, where the Egyptian defenders were decisively routed. Psamtik and his remaining troops were forced to retreat westward to Memphis, the great capital, where they hoped the city's walls and the Nile's geography would buy them time. The Persians laid siege to Memphis, and the assault stretched over a prolonged period before the city finally fell. With the capital in Persian hands, Psamtik was taken prisoner. The retribution was swift and brutal: Cambyses ordered the public execution of two thousand leading citizens of the conquered population. Some ancient sources add that among those put to death was a son of the deposed pharaoh himself. The fall of Memphis marked the end of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty and the beginning of Persian dominion over Egypt, a transformation sealed by the defeat at Pelusium and the long siege that followed.

The Test of Grief in Susa

Herodotus, in Book III of his Histories, preserves one of the most harrowing psychological portraits in ancient history: the moment Cambyses brought the full weight of his conquest before the eyes of the captive pharaoh. Psamtik's daughter, along with the daughters of every Egyptian nobleman, had been reduced to slavery. His son and two thousand other noble sons were condemned to death as retaliation for the killing of a Persian ambassador and the two hundred men of his vessel. An elderly man who had once been the king's close friend was stripped of all dignity and reduced to begging in the streets. Each of these victims was paraded before Psamtik in turn, and the Persian king watched to see which sight would break him. The pharaoh endured the spectacle of his daughter's enslavement and his son's sentencing without visible distress. It was only when the old beggar was brought forward that Psamtik's composure shattered. His compassion for the destitute friend earned him a reprieve, yet his son had already been put to the sword. The deposed king was then permitted to live within the court of the Persian monarch at Susa.

Rebellion, Suicide, and the Echo of Herodotus

Even in Persian captivity at Susa, Psamtik refused to accept his diminished status. According to Herodotus, the former pharaoh attempted to organize a rebellion among the Egyptian population under Persian rule. When news of this plot reached Cambyses, the consequences were immediate. The Greek historian reports that Psamtik drank bull's blood and died at once, an act understood as a deliberate suicide. The Graeco-Roman world remembered him under several names, Psammetichus, Psammeticus, and Psammenitus, testament to how widely his story circulated in the ancient Mediterranean. His family, as far as records allow, included a son named Amasis, a wife, and a daughter, all otherwise unnamed in surviving documents. Nearly everything modern readers know about this final king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty flows from a single source: the fifth-century Greek historian Herodotus, whose narrative in Book III of the Histories remains the sole detailed account of Psamtik's brief reign, his defeat, his captivity, and his death.