Amyrtaeus of Sais

SAIS

SAIS can refer to:* Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, part of The Johns Hopkins University.* Sharjah American International School* Southern Association of Independent Schools...

 is the only king of the Twenty-eighth dynasty of Egypt

Twenty-eighth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-Eighth Dynasty is often combined with other groupings of rulers of ancient Egypt under the title, Late Period. These other groupings include the Twenty-Sixth, Twenty-Seventh, Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-First dynasties.-Rulers:...

 and is thought to be related to the royal family of the Twenty-sixth dynasty

Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC . The Dynasty's reign The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (also written Dynasty XXVI or Dynasty 26) was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC...

. He ended the First Persian Occupation and reigned from 404 BC to 399 BC.

Amyrtaeus was probably the grandson of the Amyrtaeus of Sais who is known to have carried on a rebellion in 465–463 BC with the Libyan chief, Inarus (himself a grandson of Psamtik III), against the Satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

 of Artaxerxes I. He is known from Aramaic

Aramaic language

Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 and ancient Greek sources, and is mentioned in the Demotic Chronicle. He is not known to have left any monuments, and his name in Egyptian

Egyptian language

Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...

 is only reconstructed from demotic

Demotic (Egyptian)

Demotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...

 notices.

Before assuming the throne of Egypt, Amyrtaeus had revolted against Darius II as early as 411 BC, leading a guerrilla action in the western Nile Delta

Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

 around his home city of Sais. Following the death of Darius, Amyrtaeus declared himself king in 404 BC. According to Isocrates

Isocrates

Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....

, Artaxerxes II assembled an army in Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

 under the command of Abrocomas

Abrocomas

Abrocomas , one of the satraps of the king Artaxerxes II Mnemon, was sent with an army of 300,000 men to oppose Cyrus the Younger on his march into Upper Asia. On the arrival of Cyrus at Tarsus in 401 BC, Abrocomas was said to be on the Euphrates; and at Issus four hundred heavy-armed Greeks, who...

 to retake Egypt shortly after coming to the Persian throne, but political problems with his brother Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger

Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis, was a Persian prince and general. The time of his birth is unknown, but he died in 401 B.C. The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of the Greeks is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of...

 prevented this from taking place, allowing the Egyptians

Egyptians

Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...

 sufficient time to throw off Achaemenid rule. While the rule of Amyrtaeus in the western Delta was established by 404 BC, Artaxerxes II continued to be recognized as king

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 at Elephantine

Elephantine

Elephantine is an island in the River Nile, located just downstream of the First Cataract at the southern border of Ancient Egypt. This region is referred to as Upper Egypt because the land is higher than that near the Mediterranean coast. The island may have received its name because it was a...

 as late as 401 BC, but Aramaic papyri

Elephantine papyri

The Elephantine Papyri are a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts dating from the 5th century BC. They come from a Jewish community at Elephantine, then called Yeb, the island in the Nile at the border of Nubia, which was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BC during...

 from the site refer to Regnal Year 5 of Amyrtaeus in September 400 BC. The Elephantine papyri also demonstrate that between 404 and 400 BC (or even 398) Upper Egypt remained under Persian control, while the forces of Amyrtaeus dominated the Delta.

Amyrtaeus was defeated in open battle by his successor, Nepherites I of Mendes

Mendes

Mendes , the Greek name of the Ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in Ancient Egypt as Per-Banebdjedet and Anpet, is known today as Tell El-Ruba ....

, and executed at Memphis

Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...

, an event which the Aramaic

Aramaic language

Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 papyrus Brooklyn

Brooklyn Museum

The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....

 13 implies occurred in October 399 BC.

Bibliography

• A. Lemaire, 'La fin de la première période perse in Égypte et la chronologie judéene vers 400 av. J.-C., Transeuphratène 9 (1995), 51-61.

• O. Perdu, 'Saites and Persians (664-332),' in A.B. Lloyd (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Egypt (Chichester, 2010), 140-58 (at 153-7).

• J.D. Ray, 'Egypt: Dependence and Independence (425-343 B.C.), in Achaemenid History 1 (Leiden, 1987), 79-95.