G
REEKS
The 26th Dynasty came to power as Assyrian vassals, when Assurbanipal installed Nekau I and his son Psamtik to rule Egypt after the invasion of 667 BC. However, little more than fifty years later, the Assyrian empire crumbled and its capital, Nineveh, was destroyed; Babylonia was the new power in the region. After another half-century, the plates shifted again, and Persia emerged as the dominant force in western Asia, with territorial ambitions stretching from the Aegean to the Indus. As Egypt contemplated the renewed threat from the east, its rulers were compelled to look for strategic support to the only other major force in the eastern Mediterranean, the Greek states.
It was into this complex and dangerous situation that Ahmose II was born, in the early years of the sixth century BC. Little is known of his background. Despite his classically Egyptian name, he was probably of Libyan ancestry, descended from prisoners of war who had settled in the Delta in Ramesside times. His distinctive physiognomy – a long face with eyes set high in his head – certainly suggests non-Egyptian ethnicity. Like many of his time, Ahmose saw the military as a route to the top. He joined the army and rose swiftly, achieving the rank of general towards the end of the reign of Apries (589–570 BC).
Apries was wary of Greek power and, in an attempt to keep it in check, dispatched the Egyptian army in 570 BC to attack the Greek city of Cyrene on the Libyan coast. Unfortunately, the king had not reckoned on his opponents’ military skill. The Egyptian army suffered a disastrous defeat and the native troops rebelled, their resentment against Apries fanned by what they perceived as the privileges enjoyed by the foreign mercenaries fighting alongside them. As the leading Egyptian general, Ahmose was at the centre of the rebellion and seized his chance. Bolstered by the support of his troops, he ousted Apries and claimed the throne. Apries fled the country and sought refuge at the court of his arch-rival, Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon. Three years later, Apries attempted a counter-coup against Ahmose II with Babylonian assistance. The two forces met in the Delta and Ahmose inflicted a crushing defeat. Apries was either killed in battle or captured and executed. The new pharaoh reigned unchallenged.
According to later Greek historians, Ahmose II’s humble origins did not fit him for the highest office in the land, and he was incapable of behaving in a properly regal manner. However, this reputation probably reflected Ahmose’s economic policies, which levied particularly high taxes on Greek traders living in Egypt, rather than his true character. The evidence from his forty-four-year reign (570–526BC) suggests that he fulfilled the traditional duties of Egyptian kingship in an exemplary manner. He maintained a strong naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea (staffed with men like Wadjhorresnet, no. 93), to protect Egyptian trade routes. He was a master of domestic policy, reforming Egypt’s judicial system and carrying out a substantial temple-building programme. He commissioned a shrine to the goddess Isis on the island of Philae and a more substantial temple in Memphis. This was the first major centre of the Isis cult in Egypt, paving the way for its great popularity and subsequent expansion across the Mediterranean and as far as Britain.
To boost the Egyptian economy, Ahmose II concentrated all Greek trading activity in the Delta city of Naukratis, where Greeks had first been encouraged to settle in the reign of Psamtik I. Ahmose’s Greek policy was concerned with more than trade, however. Always astute in matters of foreign policy, he took pains to cultivate the friendship of the Aegean states, recognizing that a strong alliance offered the best defence against the Babylonians and Persians – and, indeed, against an invasion of Egypt by the Greeks themselves. Ahmose therefore exchanged diplomatic gifts with Greek rulers, reinforced his army with Greek mercenaries, and made the ultimate diplomatic gesture of friendship by paying for the reconstruction of the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi – one of the most important sites of Greek religion – after it had been destroyed by fire in 548 BC. One of Ahmose’s wives may even have been the daughter of a Greek family living in Egypt.
Having come to the throne as a usurper, Ahmose II took steps to entrench his family’s position. He had his daughter Nitiqret (II) appointed heir to the incumbent God’s Wife of Amun, while his son Psamtik was designated heir apparent. Two further children, Pase-nenkhonsu and Ahmose, seemed destined to perpetuate the dynasty. But it was not to be. Far to the east, Cyrus II (‘the Great’) had united the Medes and Persians in 550 BC and proceeded to conquer Babylon eleven years later, defeating its last king, Belsharusur (Belshazzar) – who did, indeed, fail to see the writing on the wall. Sweeping on westwards, Cyrus added the Greek states of Asia Minor to his expanding empire, and became the sole great power of the Levant. By 530 BC or thereabouts, the Persian army was in Egypt’s back yard, waiting for any sign of weakness to attack.
The constant threat of Persian invasion overshadowed Ahmose II’s last years as king. His personal determination, strength of character and astute diplomatic alliances succeeded in keeping the enemy at bay for a time. But at the moment of his death, the Persians invaded, led by their new king Cambyses. Ahmose’s son, Psamtik III, was sadly unequal to the task of defending his inheritance, and Egypt swiftly capitulated. The age-old office of God’s Wife of Amun was terminated. The rest of Ahmose’s family either fled or were killed. The fate of Ahmose himself is also a mystery. He had presumably prepared a tomb for himself within the precincts of the temple at Sais, but it has never been found. His reputation was to rest, not on a lavish burial or magnificent monument, but on his achievement in maintaining Egyptian independence against all the odds.
93 | Wadjhorresnet
A
DMIRAL WHO COLLABORATED WITH THE PERSIANS
When the Persian general Cambyses invaded Egypt in 525 BC, deposed the weak and ineffectual king Psamtik III, and absorbed Egypt into an expanding Persian empire, the land of the pharaohs found itself politically subordinate to a radically different culture. The response of the Egyptian elite to this unprecedented challenge is graphically illustrated by the life of Wadjhorresnet. The ultimate pragmatist (some would say collaborator), he chose not to fight the Persian invaders but to win them over to his – and Egypt’s – way of doing things, by a combination of loyalty and persuasion.
Wadjhorresnet came from the northwestern Delta city of Sais, which was the ancient cult centre of the warrior goddess Neith, and the home and power-base of the 26th (Saite) Dynasty. His father was a priest in the local temple, and Wadjhorresnet’s own devotion to Neith was to be one of the driving forces of his life. He first achieved high office in the reign of Ahmose (no. 92) and, like his king, carved out a successful career in the military, reaching the exalted rank of Admiral of the Fleet. Little is known of Wadjhorresnet’s naval activities, but under Ahmose’s ephemeral successor, Psamtik III, they must have included battles against the Persians.
When the invasion came, the Egyptians reacted with horror. Wadjhorresnet himself described the Persian conquest in graphic terms as ‘the monstrous cataclysm which happened in the entire land’. He boasted of having saved his city from the worst effects of the invasion, but it is equally clear that he did so not by resistance, but by collaboration with the Persians. Egypt’s new ruler, Cambyses, lost no time in appointing Wadjhorresnet to high civilian office, making him a companion (interestingly, a traditional Egyptian rank denoting a member of the monarch’s inner circle) and Controller of the Palace. Cambyses had evidently decided to retain the services of Egyptian officials who were willing to work with the new regime, while making sure that military power was firmly in loyal Persian hands. Wadjhorresnet could not have hoped to remain a high-ranking naval officer, but his leadership skills were clearly recognized and directed anew.
He set about using his influence to try and safeguard the traditions of his homeland. As personnel officer at the royal court, Wadjhorresnet took care to appoint new staff members from the ranks of the Egyptian nobility, thus ensuring cultural continuity at the centre of political power. When he gained further promotion, to the sensitive post of Chief Physician, he took it upon himself to go one stage further and convert the Persian conqueror into a model Egyptian pharaoh. He was especially concerned to protect his city and its temple from depredation and ruin, so he petitioned Cambyses to have foreigners expelled from the precinct of Neith at Sais so that it could be restored to its former state. For his part, Cambyses obviously recognized the political advantages of being seen to act as a model pharaoh, so he agreed to Wadjhorresnet’s request and subsequently honoured the cult of Neith with a royal visit. Wadjhorresnet’s lobbying, combined with pragmatism on both sides, saved the day for Sais.
Under Cambyses’ successor, Darius I, Wadjhorresnet remained a key player at court. He was summoned by the Persian king to distant Susa, at the heart of the Persian empire, before being sent back to Egypt to restore its temples. Wadjhorresnet paid particular attention to the House of Life (temple scriptorium) at Sais, since this was the institution which, above all others, preserved and transmitted Egyptian religious and cultural traditions from one generation to another. Wadjhorresnet was ensuring not only the immediate survival of his local temple, but the long-term survival of his national identity.
It is entirely fitting that his lasting memorial, a statue inscribed with an account of his remarkable career, should have been set up in the temple of Neith. His hope was that his goddess would guarantee him eternal life. He had already repaid the compliment.
94 | Wennefer (Onnofri)
S
NAKE DOCTOR AND POLITICAL SURVIVOR
Wennefer was a medical specialist, practised in the treatment of snake bites and scorpion stings. Exotic as his profession may have been, he could not have predicted that his life would involve extraordinary twists and turns of fate, mirroring Egypt’s political travails in the second half of the 30th Dynasty.
Wennefer was born in the central Delta town of Behbeit el-Hagar (ancient Hebyt), in the twelfth Lower Egyptian nome (province). The provincial capital, Samannud (ancient Tjebnutjer), was less than 16 km (10 miles) away, and had only recently been propelled from regional to national importance after a local man, Nakhtnebef (Nectanebo I), had come to power as pharaoh and founder of a new dynasty (the 30th). Wennefer therefore grew up in the heartland of the new royal family, and this accident of geography and history influenced his later life profoundly.
Initially, however, he seemed destined to follow in his father’s footsteps with employment in the local temple. Here he seems to have developed a more specialist interest in magic/medicine (the two were effectively indivisible in ancient Egypt). As Director of the wab-Priests of Sekhmet in Hetepet, he would have been involved in carrying out ritual sacrifices.
Sacred office and secular responsibility often went hand in hand in ancient Egypt. This was certainly the case for Wennefer who, in 362/361 BC, received his first royal commands, one religious, one administrative. His sacred task was to oversee the lavish funeral of the Apis bull and the search for its successor. On the secular side, his mission was no less important. When the satraps of the Asiatic coast revolted against their Persian overlords, the Egyptian king, Djedher (Teos), decided to take advantage of the situation and go to war himself against the Persian ruler Artaxerxes II; Wennefer was put in charge of keeping the expedition’s official record. In a society where the written record carried enormous symbolic and religious weight, this was a highly significant appointment. It shows that Wennefer was already a trusted member of the dynasty’s inner circle.
But events soon took a more sinister turn. Djedher marched with his army towards Asia to engage the Persian forces. No sooner had the king left Egypt than a letter was delivered to the ruler governing the country in Djedher’s absence, implicating Wennefer in a plot. He was arrested, bound in copper chains, and taken into the ruler’s presence, and interrogated. By some stroke of luck or guile, Wennefer not only escaped punishment but also turned the situation to his advantage. The details are sketchy, but he emerged from the interrogation as a loyal confidant of the ruler (just as he had been of the king), given official protection and showered with gifts. He was even entrusted with a diplomatic mission of the greatest sensitivity, to sail to Asia at the head of a flotilla of transport ships and warships in order to find Djedher. Wennefer tracked the king down at Susa, before being sent back to Egypt.
On his arrival, Wennefer was welcomed and embraced by the Egyptian ruler’s messenger; the two men spent the whole day together, with Wennefer recounting the details of his journey. Indeed, he became one of the closest and most loyal followers of the new king, Nakhthorheb (no. 95). On his monarch’s behalf, Wennefer restored the mortuary cults of two kings from distant antiquity: Sneferu and Djedefra of the 4th Dynasty. For the 30th Dynasty and its supporters, the propaganda value in restoring these cults was obvious: it associated the new royal family with two of the most illustrious kings from the Pyramid Age.
Wennefer’s reward for helping to legitimize Nakhthorheb’s accession included a host of honorific titles, lucrative benefices in a number of Delta towns, and the privilege of a tomb near the Serapeum at Saqqara. His funerary monument was impressive indeed: with an avenue of sphinxes leading to a pylon gateway, a four-columned hypostyle hall and three small chapels, it was a veritable temple in miniature. Inside the burial-chamber, his final resting-place was a diorite sarcophagus; his grave goods included eighty-two servant statuettes of faience.
In the central chapel of his temple-tomb, Wennefer had himself depicted resplendent in a large surcoat and a fringed Persian-style scarf, the characteristic costume of the 30th Dynasty elite. From relatively humble beginnings, he had acquired prominence, prestige and wealth through a combination of luck, astute manoeuvring, and hedging his bets at a time of great political uncertainty. His career had taken him from a town in the Delta to the heart of the Persian empire and back again: an extraordinary journey for a doctor of snake bites and scorpion stings.
95 | Nakhthorheb (Nectanebo II)
E
GYPT
’
S LAST NATIVE RULER
The clash between the Greek world and the Persian empire, which formed the backdrop to the story of Wennefer (no. 94), also provided the context for the last native-born Egyptian to rule the Nile Valley until modern times. Nakhthorheb, better known as Nectanebo II, was the great-nephew of the founder of the 30th Dynasty, Nakhtnebef. He was still a young man, serving in the Egyptian army on campaign in Phoenicia, when Spartan mercenaries deposed his uncle, King Djedher, and installed Nakhthorheb in his place. The ousted monarch fled into the arms of Egypt’s arch-enemy, Artaxerxes II of Persia, a desperate and fateful move that would ultimately spell the end of Egyptian independence.
The army returned to Egypt, but Nakhthorheb did not exactly receive a hero’s welcome. He was besieged at Tanis by the prince of Mendes, a serious rival for the throne, and only saved by the military intervention of Agesilaos, the king of Sparta who had promoted Nakhthorheb’s candidature in the first place. The young pharaoh must have realized the precariousness of his position, so he set about winning support from the most influential bodies in the land, the priesthoods of the great temples. The best way of doing this was to carry out the traditional kingly duty of embellishing and magnifying the homes of the gods (and, not incidentally, the wealth of their priests). Nakhthorheb’s programme embraced additions to many of the existing cult centres, and the construction of an entirely new temple to Isis at Behbeit el-Hagar in the Delta. Statues of previous 30th Dynasty rulers were set up in sanctuaries throughout Egypt, and Nakhthorheb himself used sculpture to associate himself closely with Horus, the traditional god of kingship. Under the king’s patronage, the arts and literature flourished, and Egyptian culture enjoyed something of a renaissance.
But indulging Egypt’s sense of national identity could not mask the stark reality of the country’s diminished power in the Near East, nor could it keep at bay the forces that sought to snuff out Egyptian sovereignty. The first challenge came in 351 BC, just a decade into Nakhthorheb’s reign. The Persians, no doubt egged on by the exiled Djedher, attempted to invade Egypt. Nakhthorheb’s forces prevailed, but this victory bred in the king an unwarranted and dangerous complacency. Thinking himself equal to any opposition, he neglected to make treaties with the Greeks and other regional powers. It was a fatal mistake. Seven years later, the Persians returned, this time led from the front by their great king Artaxerxes III. They massed at the fortified Delta city of Pelusium, facing Nakhthorheb’s army of 100,000 men. Numbers alone, however, were not enough to save the Egyptians. The Persian forces captured Pelusium and pressed on to the capital, Memphis. Accepting the inevitable, Nakhthorheb fled the country.
His fate is unknown. He may have gone to Nubia, where pharaonic culture had implanted itself and would survive many more centuries. A more tantalizing possibility, reflected in medieval myth, is that he found his way to the court of Philip of Macedon, Persia’s main adversary, there to attract the attentions of Philip’s wife Olympias, and so father Alexander the Great. Such a story is impossible to verify, and perhaps unlikely, but it is a fact that Alexander and the Ptolemies honoured Nakhthorheb’s memory and built shrines for his cult.
A more certain, though less edifying, fate awaited the unused stone sarcophagus of Egypt’s last native pharaoh: it found its way to Alexandria and was used as a water-tank for public ablutions.
96 | Sematawytefnakht (II)
