General Notes

BIOGRAPHY:  Cambyses (Old Persian Kambujiya): second king of the ancient Persian empire (ruled 530-522) . In 525, he conquered Egypt. This is the first of two articles.  <http://www.livius.org/caa-can/cambyses_ii/cambyses_ii.html>  Early career Cambyses was the oldest son of Cyrus the Great <http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrus_I/cyrus.htm l>, the first king of the Persian empire (559-530). The name of Cambyses' mother is not known . The Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hero dotus01.htm> calls her Cassandane, but Ctesias of Cnidus <http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias /ctesias.htm> states she was Amytis, the daughter of the last king of independent Media, Asty ages <http://www.livius.org/as-at/astyages/astyages.htm>.  Cyrus' career was dazzling. In 559, he became king of Persia; in 550, he subdued his overlord , Astyages the Mede. Three years later, he conquered Lydia (western Turkey) and in 539, he ad ded Babylon to his empire (click here <http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrus_I/babylon01.html> fo r the story).  Babylon was an ancient kingdom, and its king played an important role in the religious and cu ltural life of the ancient Near East. If Cyrus were to rule Babylonia, he ought to act as a B abylonian king. In his official propaganda (the so-called Cyrus cylinder <http://www.livius.o rg/ct-cz/cyrus_I/babylon05.html>) he did indeed present himself as the one chosen by the Baby lonian supreme god Marduk.  However, the great king was not in the position to be present when the Babylonians celebrate d the Akitu festival <http://www.livius.org/aj-al/akitu/akitu.htm>. This was a problem, becau se the last king of independent Babylonia, Nabonidus, had lost much credit by not attending t he festival for several years. To prevent similar troubles, Cyrus appointed his son Cambyse s as king of Babylon, and in this quality, Cambyses was present during the ceremonies. A cont emporary source, the Chronicle of Nabonidus <http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrus_I/babylon02.ht ml>, states:  When, on the fourth day [March 27, 538] Cambyses, son of Cyrus, went to the temple of [uninte lligible], the priest of Nab√ª who [lacuna] the bull [lacuna] They came and made the weaving b y means of the handles and when he led the image of Nab√ª [lacuna]spears and leather quivers , from [lacuna] Nab√ª returned to Esagila <http://www.livius.org/es-ez/esagila/esagila.html> , sheep offerings in front of B√™l and the god M√¢rb√Æti. The lacunas in the text make it hard to understand what happened exactly, but it seems that t here was an incident because Cambyses was incorrectly dressed: he and his men were armed, whi ch was forbidden. Fortunately, the error was corrected and the statue of the god Nab√ª was bro ught to the Esagila temple according to the ritual regulations.  Cambyses' reign in Babylon lasted for only one year. It is not known why he resigned or wha t forced him to resign. The incident during the New Year's festival may have played a role, b ut it is also possible that his father was present in all the following years. We simply do n ot know.  Cyrus fell in a battle against the Massagetes <http://www.livius.org/sao-sd/scythians/scythia ns.html> in the last weeks of 530; the last letter that is dated to his reign was written i n November. Before he left, he had appointed Cambyses as his successor. The first letter date d to the reign of Cambyses was written on August 31, 530.  Every Persian king needed to secure the support of the nobility. One of the means to achiev e this, was a dynastic marriage. Herodotus tells us that Cambyses married Phaidymia, the daug hter of Otanes <http://www.livius.org/on-oz/otanes/otanes.html>. This Otanes may have been th e brother of Cassandane, who was, still according to Herodotus, Cambyses' mother. If Herodotu s is right, Cambyses' queen was also his cousin. However, Herodotus makes at least one mistak e in his description of the family tree (he calls Otanes' father Pharnaspes instead of Thukra ), so we must be skeptical.  Two other marriages were concluded with his sisters. One of them was -according to Ctesias- c alled Roxane; the other was called Atossa <http://www.livius.org/as-at/atossa/atossa.html> an d was later to marry Cambyses' successor Darius. Herodotus thinks that these marriages are a n example of Cambyses' madness, but if we assume that the Persian king was a Zoroastrian <htt p://www.livius.org/ag-ai/ahuramazda/ahuramazda.html>, there is nothing strange about it.  The conquest of Egypt The most important event during Cambyses' reign was the conquest of Egypt. This meant that th e king was away from Persia for some time. The Histories <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodot us/logoi.html> of Herodotus, our most important source, and the Persian Behistun inscriptio n <http://www.livius.org/be-bm/behistun/behistun01.html> agree that Cambyses ordered, as a ki nd of safety measure, Cambyses ordered his brother to be executed (section 10 <http://www.liv ius.org/be-bm/behistun/behistun03.html>); Herodotus calls this brother Smerdis <http://www.li vius.org/sj-sn/smerdis/smerdis.htm>, the Behistun inscription calls him Bardiya <http://www.l ivius.org/sj-sn/smerdis/smerdis.htm>, which is more or less the same name. The two sources di sagree about the moment of the murder: the Greek researcher dates it during the Egyptian camp aign, the inscription states that it happened before Cambyses left Persia.  A son of Cyrus, named Cambyses, one of our dynasty, was king here [...]. That Cambyses ha d a brother, Smerdis by name, of the same mother and the same father as Cambyses. Afterwards , Cambyses slew this Smerdis. When Cambyses slew Smerdis, it was not known unto the people th at Smerdis was slain. Thereupon Cambyses went to Egypt. Probably, the inscription is correct. As we will see below <cambyses_ii2.html>, Herodotus ha s constructed a part of his Egyptian narrative as a catalogue of crimes and may well have pos tdated the fratricide. (The colorful narrative of Ctesias of Cnidus about the killing can b e ignored as historical source. It is full of errors: for example, he calls Cambyses' victi m Tanyoxarkes and wants us to believe that bull's blood is a deadly poison.)  Egypt was well-prepared for the war. Its pharaoh Amasis (Egyptian name Khnemibre Ahmose-si-Ne it) had enlisted Carian <http://www.livius.org/cao-caz/caria/caria.html> and Greek mercenarie s and had allied himself with Polycrates of Samos, who owned a large navy. This could be a gr eat help, because marines could easily perform actions against the Persians when they were ma rching from Gaza to Pelusium, a vulnerable desert road along the coast. Shortly before the wa r broke out, Polycrates switched sides. Herodotus writes:  Without the knowledge of the Samians, Polycrates sent an envoy to Cambyses the son of Cyrus ( who was gathering an army to attack Egypt) and asked him to send a messenger to him in Samo s to ask for an armed force. When Cambyses heard this, he sent an envoy to the Samians and re quested a naval force to join him in the war against Egypt. So Polycrates selected those of t he citizens whom he most suspected of desiring to rise against him, and sent them away in for ty warships, charging Cambyses not to send them back.  [Herodotus, Histories 3.44] It is not clear whether these people ever joined Cambyses' Phoenician navy, but in any case , Amasis could not count on their support.  <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/herodotus4 _map.gif> <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/herodotus4_map.gif> (click on thumbnail to see  full scale map) We happen to possess the autobiography of the admiral of the Egyptian fleet, Wedjahor-Resene t <http://www.livius.org/w/wedjahor/wedjahor.htm>. It is written on a small statue now in th e Vatican Museums in Rome. One element is curiously absent from this text: Wedjahor-Resenet d oes not mention a naval battle. Herodotus does not mention fighting at sea either. It is poss ible that the Persians had bribed the Egyptian admiral and offered him an important function , because after the conquest, Wedjahor-Resenet was Cambyses' right-hand man. Ctesias of Cnidu s, who is not known for his reliability, explicitly mentions a traitor, although he calls hi m Combaphis.  Amasis died during the preparations of the war, probably in November 326, and was succeeded b y his son Psammetichus III (Ankhkaenre Psamtik). Six months later, the Persian invaders and t heir Arabian <http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/arabia/arabia.html> allies reached Pelusium. The E gyptians were defeated and Cambyses' men continued to the Egyptian capital Memphis, which the y took after a long siege. Psammetichus was captured alive and received a honorable treatment .  <http://www.livius.org/w/wedjahor/wedjahor.jpg> <http://www.livius.org/w/wedjahor/wedjahor.j pg> Statue of Wedjahor-Resenet <http://www.livius.org/w/wedjahor/wedjahor.htm>  (click on thumbna il to see  full scale picture) Cambyses was recognized as the new pharaoh. Wedjahor-Resenet tells:  The great king of all foreign countries Cambyses came to Egypt, taking the foreigners of ever y foreign country with him. When he had taken possession of the entire country, they settle d themselves down therein, and he was made great sovereign of Egypt and great king of all for eign countries. His Majesty appointed me his chief physician and caused me to stay with him i n my quality of companion and director of the palace, and ordered me to compose his titulary , his name as king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mesuti-Ra [born of Re]. Stated differently, Wedjahor-Resenet helped Cambyses behave like a true Egyptian king. (Cyru s had done his best to behave himself as a native king when he had conquered Babylon; his so n followed his example in the ancient kingdom along the Nile.) For example, Wedjahor-Resene t persuaded Cambyses to direct the Persian garrison in the holy city of Sais to another camp , making sure that the sanctuary of Neit, the mother of the supreme god Re, and the shrine o f Osiris were purified. His autobiography also makes it clear that the conquest of Egypt wa s accompanied with great misery.  I am the benefactor of my city. I have saved its inhabitants from the very large troubles whi ch had come over the whole country and which had not yet existed before in this country. I de fended the meek against the powerful; I saved those who were afraid after an accident had hap pened to them; I gave them all useful things when they were unable to take care of themselves . Human suffering must have been immense. Probably, every soldier in the Persian army was rewar ded with an Egyptian slave. This can be illustrated with a contract from Babylon: on Decembe r 31, 524, the veteran soldier Idin-Nab√ª sold his Egyptian slave with her baby, who was thre e months old. (The conclusion that Idin-Nab√ª sold his own child seems inescapable.)  A very late source, Iamblichus (c.245-c.330), tells us that among the slaves was the Greek ph ilosopher Pythagoras, who was forced to spend twelve years in Babylon before he was allowed t o return his own country. This may well be true.  Having conquered Lower Egypt, Cambyses sent out a small expeditionary force against the oase s in the western desert. According to Herodotus, it reached the beautiful Bahariya oasis. Bu t when the soldiers marched to Siwa, they were overtaken by the simoon storm and killed.   Mesuti-Ra Cambyses Cambyses and a part of his army went to the south (524/523). The capital of Upper Egypt, Theb es, was occupied and the army continued along the Nile until it reached the first cataract, w here a garrison was posted. (The soldiers were Jews who had a temple of their own.) When Camb yses had reached the second cataract, he founded a town called 'market of Cambyses'. It may h ave been a fortified trading place where the Persians, Egyptians and Nubians could exchange c ommodities.  According to Herodotus, Cambyses intended to conquer Nubia, but this is not very likely. Egyp t was not completely pacified and it would have been foolish to leave the country before it w as a safe possession of the Persian empire. It is perhaps better to see the campaign to the b order zone from an Egyptian point of view: the pharaoh had to go there at least once in his l ife to show himself as the true king.  A Persian embassy was sent to the Nubian capital Napata, and the Nubians started to pay tribu te (or continued an earlier trade). They are portrayed in Persepolis <http://www.livius.org/p en-pg/persepolis/persepolis.html>, bringing incense, ivory and an okapi for the great king' s zoo.   A Nubian  (relief from Persepolis <http://www.livius.org/pen-pg/persepolis/persepolis.html> )  Chicago Oriental Institute Disquieting news forced Cambyses to return to Lower Egypt (Autumn 523). Psammetichus had orga nized a revolt against the new overlord. The Persian army could easily suppress the revolt, b ut its revenge was bloody and destructive. The Greek geographer Strabo of of Amasia visited T hebes in 24 BCE and saw the ruins of several temples that had been destroyed. Perhaps this st ory was made up by the Egyptian priests, who had good reasons to hate Cambyses.  Pharaoh Amasis had offered great gifts to the temples, but Cambyses considered this outrageou s. He may have tried to 'defend the meek against the powerful' by remitting the taxes that th e Egyptians had to pay to the temples. A papyrus (now in the French Biblioth√®que nationale) g ives a summary of Cambyses' instructions:  Of the cattle that once were given by the people to the temples of the gods, let they give on ly half of it. [...] Regarding the poultry, do not give it to them any more. The priests ar e perfectly capable of rearing their own geese. So the priests, who now had to breed their own geese, had good reason to hate the Persian kin g.  *****PART II <http://www.livius.org/caa-can/cambyses_ii/cambyses_ii2.html>  Cambyses (Old Persian Kambujiya): second king of the ancient Persian empire (ruled 530-522) . In 525, he conquered Egypt. This is the second of two articles.   The madness of Cambyses Although Cambyses had reduced the temple taxes, he did his best to behave as an Egyptian phar aoh. This is proven by the autobiography of Wedjahor-Resenet <http://www.livius.org/w/wedjaho r/wedjahor.htm>, one of the few contemporary documents.  The Greek researcher Herodotus, living almost a century after the conquest of Egypt, offer s a completely different picture. In his view, Cambyses' behavior is almost criminal. He give s a complete catalogue of evildoings. In Sais, he had violated the corpse of Amasis:  When Cambyses had entered the palace of Amasis, he gave command to take the corpse of Amasi s out of his burial-place. When this had been done, he ordered [his courtiers] to scourge i t and pluck out the hair and stab it, and to dishonor it in every other possible way. When th ey had done this too, they were wearied out, for the corpse was embalmed and held out agains t the violence and did not fall to pieces. Cambyses gave command to consume it with fire, a t hing that was not permitted by his own religion. The Persians hold fire to be a god and to co nsume corpses with fire is by no means according to the Persian or Egyptian custom.  [Herodotus, Histories <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/logoi.html> 3.16] According to Herodotus, this happened almost immediately after the conquest of Egypt, in th e summer of 525. A new sacrilege was committed after the expedition to Upper Egypt: Cambyse s killed the Apis bull. This was a manifestation of the god Ptah and therefore a sacred anima l. After the death of the Apis bull, the priests started to search for a new Apis, and when t hey had found it, every Egyptian joined the celebrations.  When Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis appeared to the Egyptians [...] and they began to wea r their fairest garments and organized festivities. Cambyses saw the Egyptians doing thus an d supposed that they were rejoicing because he had fared ill. Therefore, he called for the of ficers who had charge of Memphis, and when they had arrived, he asked them why the Egyptian s had done nothing of this kind when he was at Memphis on the former occasion, but were now , when he came there after losing a large part of his army, very glad. They said that a god h ad appeared to them [...] and that whenever he appeared, they all rejoiced and kept festival . Hearing this Cambyses said that they were lying, and as liars he condemned them to death.  [Herodotus, Histories 3.27] <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/herodotus4_map.gif> <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/hero dotus/herodotus4_map.gif> (click on thumbnail to see  full scale map) After the execution, Cambyses called the priests and the sacred bull into his presence.  When the priests brought Apis, Cambyses -being somewhat affected with madness- drew his sword , and aiming at the belly of Apis, struck his thigh. Then he laughed [...] and ordered thos e whose duty it was to do such things, to scourge the priests without mercy, and to put to de ath any one of the other Egyptians whom they should find keeping the festival. Thus the festi val of the Egyptians was brought to an end, the priests were chastised, and Apis [...] lay dy ing in the temple. When he had died because of the wound, the priests buried him without th e knowledge of Cambyses.  [Herodotus, Histories 3.27] Egyptologists have refuted Herodotus' story. It is a fact that an Apis bull died in Septembe r 524, but he received a normal burial in the Serapeum at Saqqara (near Memphis). The funera l monument shows Cambyses worshipping the divine bull.  <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotu s/cambyses_apis.jpg> <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/cambyses_apis.jpg> Cambyses and the Apis  (click on thumbnail to see  full scale picture) The next crime on Herodotus' list is the killing of his brother Smerdis <http://www.livius.or g/sj-sn/smerdis/smerdis.htm>. We have already seen above <http://www.livius.org/caa-can/camby ses_ii/cambyses_ii.html#conquest> that this happened before Cambyses went to Egypt. Herodotus ' claims that Cambyses' next victim was the son of one of his courtiers, Prexaspes. Twelve Pe rsian noblemen were buried alive, courtiers were executed, statues of Egyptian gods were ridi culed. Herodotus concludes with a remark that this last crime shows that Cambyses was complet ely out of his mind, because only a madman would mock the ancient laws and customs of a forei gn country. (Click here <http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodotus/hist03.htm> for the complete s tory.)  This conclusion tells a lot about Herodotus, who had great respect for foreign cultures. Th e question is what its says about Cambyses, and the answer is: nothing. Herodotus is interest ed in the moral aspect of his story and did not check his spokesmen, the Egyptian priests wh o had, as we have already seen above <http://www.livius.org/caa-can/cambyses_ii/cambyses_ii.h tml#hatred>, every reason to hate the Persian king.  However, it is too easy to conclude that Cambyses' behavior was completely normal and Herodot us is simply mistaken. The Apis was buried comparatively late, which may suggest that somethi ng unusual had happened. Many inscriptions mentioning Amasis were damaged, and although we d o not know why and when, it certainly makes sense if we assume that Cambyses wanted to eradic ate Amasis' reign. We simply do and can not know what happened in Egypt between 525 and 522.   The revolt of Gaum√¢ta Herodotus and the Behistun inscription <http://www.livius.org/be-bm/behistun/behistun01.html > agree that Cambyses' stay in Egypt was interrupted in the spring of 522 by the news tha t a Magian <http://www.livius.org/maa-mam/magians/magians.html> named Gaum√¢ta <http://www.liv ius.org/sj-sn/smerdis/smerdis.htm> had seized power in the Persian empire, claiming to be Sme rdis. (Gaum√¢ta could do this, because the real Smerdis had been killed secretly.) According t o the Behistun inscription:  When Cambyses had departed into Egypt, the people became hostile, and the lie multiplied in t he land, even in Persia and Media, and in the other provinces. Afterwards, there was a certai n man, a Magian, Gaum√¢ta by name, who raised a rebellion in Paishiy√¢uv√¢d√¢ <http://www.livius. org/paa-pam/paishiyauvada/paishiyauvada.htm>, in a mountain called Arakadri≈°. On the fourteen th day of the month Viyakhna [March 11, 522] did he rebel. He lied to the people, saying: ' I am Smerdis, the son of Cyrus <http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrus_I/cyrus.html>, the brothe r of Cambyses.' Then were all the people in revolt, and from Cambyses they went over unto him , both Persia and Media, and the other provinces. He seized the kingdom; on the ninth day o f the month Garmapada [July 1, 522] he seized the kingdom. Afterwards, Cambyses died uvamar≈°i yu≈°. The word uvamar≈°iyu≈° means 'his own death'. Nobody knows how to understand this: some scholar s have argued that Cambyses died of natural causes, others maintain that it means suicide. Th e second alternative seems more plausible, because otherwise 'he died' would have been suffic ient.  Herodotus offers no real help. He tells that Cambyses, on hearing the news of the rebellion , rushed back to Persia. But when he jumped into the saddle of his horse, the cap fell of th e sheath of his sword and exposed the blade, which pierced his thigh. Herodotus does not fai l to stress that this was just the spot where Cambyses had wounded the Apis. According to th e Greek researcher, the Persian king died not much later. The idea that Cambyses died by hi s own sword may or may not corroborate the interpretation that uvamar≈°iyu≈° means suicide.  The last letter that is dated to Cambyses' reign was written on April 18, 522. It was found i n Babylon, and it merely proves that Gaum√¢ta was recognized as king in April or May. Cambyse s probably was still alive. He may have died in July.  It is not known what happened to Cambyses' body. Before he left, he had ordered the construct ion of a funeral monument similar to that of his father at Pasargadae. It has been discovere d some two kilometers south of Naq≈°-i-Rustam <http://www.livius.org/na-nd/naqsh-i-rustam/naqs h-i-rustam.html>. The monument was left unfinished, and this leaves us with the question wha t happened to Cambyses' corpse.  One of the officers in Cambyses' army was a distant relative named Darius. According to bot h Herodotus and the Behistun inscription, he and six noblemen killed the Magian Gaum√¢ta on Se ptember 29, 522. The next year 522/521 saw nineteen battles in an intense civil war, but at t he end of that long but single year, Darius was victorious and was recognized as the true suc cessor of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses.