Amasis II

Amasis II Ahmose II A fragmentary statue head of Amasis II Pharaohof Egypt Reign570–526 BC, 26th dynastyPredecessor ApriesSuccessor Psametik III Royal titulary Prenomen: Khnem-ib-re
He Who Embraces the Heart of Re Forever[1]

Nomen: Ah-mose
The Moon is Born, Son of Neith[2]

Died 526 BC

Amasis II (also Ahmose II) was a pharaoh (570 BC - 526 BC) of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries. His capital was at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest.

Most of our information about him is derived from Herodotus (2.161ff) and can only be imperfectly verified by monumental evidence. According to the Greek historian, he was of common origins. A revolt of the native soldiers gave him his opportunity. These troops, returning home from a disastrous expedition to Cyrene, suspected that they had been betrayed in order that Apries, the reigning king, might rule more absolutely by means of his mercenaries, and their friends in Egypt fully sympathized with them. Amasis, sent to meet them and quell the revolt, was proclaimed king by the rebels, and Apries, who had now to rely entirely on his mercenaries, was defeated and taken prisoner in the ensuing conflict at Memphis; the usurper treated the captive prince with great leniency, but was eventually persuaded to give him up to the people, by whom he was strangled and buried in his ancestral tomb at Sais. An inscription confirms the fact of the struggle between the native and the foreign soldiery, and proves that Apries was killed and honourably buried in the 3rd year of Amasis. He ended up marrying Chedebnitjerbone II, one of the daughters of his predecessor Apries, in order to better sustain his position.

Although Amasis thus appears first as champion of the disparaged native, he had the good sense to cultivate the friendship of the Greek world, and brought Egypt into closer touch with it than ever before. Herodotus relates that under his prudent administration Egypt reached the highest pitch of prosperity; he adorned the temples of Lower Egypt especially with splendid monolithic shrines and other monuments (his activity here is proved by remains still existing). To the Greeks, Amasis assigned the commercial colony of Naucratis on the Canopic branch of the Nile, and when the temple of Delphi was burnt he contributed 1,000 talents to the rebuilding. He also married a Greek princess named Ladice daughter of King Battus III (see Battus) and he made alliances with Polycrates of Samos and Croesus of Lydia.

His kingdom consisted probably of Egypt only, as far as the First Cataract, but to this he added Cyprus, and his influence was great in Cyrene. At the beginning of his long reign, before the death of Apries, he appears to have sustained an attack by Nebuchadrezzar II (568 BC). Cyrus left Egypt unmolested; but the last years of Amasis were disturbed by the threatened invasion of Cambyses and by the rupture of the alliance with Polycrates of Samos. The blow fell upon his son Psametik III, whom the Persian deprived of his kingdom after a reign of only six months.

Amasis II died in 526 BC. He was buried at the royal necropolis of Sais, and while his tomb was never discovered, Herodotus described it for us:

“ (It is) a great cloistered building of stone, decorated with pillars carved in the imitation of palm-trees, and other costly ornaments. Within the cloister is a chamber with double doors, and behind the doors stands the sepulchre.[3]”

Gallery of images

Relief showing Amasis from the Karnak temple|

Papyrus, written in demotic script in the 35th year of Amasis II, on display at the Louvre |

Grant of a parcel of land by an individual to a temple. Dated to the first year of Amasis II, on display at the Louvre |

A stele dating to the 23rd regnal year of Amasis, on display at the Louvre |

References

^ Clayton, Peter A. Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p195. 2006. ISBN 0-500-28628-0
^ Clayton, Peter A. Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p195. 2006. ISBN 0-500-28628-0
^ Amasis