Cambyses II (Old Persian: 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 Kabūjiya) was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great (r. 550 – 530 BC), and his mother was Cassandane.
Before his accession, Cambyses briefly served as northern Babylonia governor under his father from April to December 538 BC. Afterwards, he resided in the Babylonian cities of Babylon and Sippar before being appointed by his father as co-ruler in 530 BC. His father then set off on an expedition against the Massagetae of Central Asia, where he met his end. Cambyses thus became the sole ruler of the vast Achaemenid Empire, facing no reported opposition.
His relatively brief reign was marked by his conquests in North Africa, notably Egypt, which he conquered after his victory over the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik III (r. 526–525 BC) at the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC. After having established himself in Egypt, he expanded the empire’s holdings in Africa, including the conquest of Cyrenaica. In the spring of 522 BC, Cambyses hurriedly left Egypt to deal with a rebellion in Persia.
While en route in Syria (Eber-Nari), he received a wound to the thigh, which was soon affected by gangrene. Cambyses died three weeks later at a location called Agbatana, which is most likely the modern city of Hama. He died childlessly and was thus succeeded by his younger brother Bardiya, who ruled for a short period before being overthrown by Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC), who went on to increase the power of the Achaemenids even further.
Etymology
The origins of the name “Cambyses” (Old Persian: 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 Kabūjiya) is disputed in scholarship; according to some scholars, the name is of Elamite origin, whilst others associate it with Kambojas, an Iranian people who inhabited northwestern India. Cambyses is known in other languages as Elamite Kanbuziya; Akkadian Kambuziya; Aramaic Kanbūzī.
Background
Cambyses’ paternal grandfather was his namesake Cambyses I, the king of Persis from 600 to 559 BC. Cambyses was the eldest son of Cyrus the Great (r. 550–530 BC) and Cassandane. Cambyses had a younger brother named Bardiya and three sisters named Artystone, Atossa and Roxanne. The family was descended from a line of rulers of Persian tribes, who starting with Cyrus, expanded their reach over Persis, subjugating the Median Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Lydia and Central Asia, thus establishing the Achaemenid Empire.
Early life of Cambyses II
In April 538 BC, Cambyses was appointed by his father as the governor of the northern part of Babylonia, including its city Babylon, whilst the central and southern parts continued to be directly supervised by Cyrus and his bureaucrats. Before his appointment, Cambyses had participated in a ritual at the regular New Year festival on 27 March 538 BC. He received the royal sceptre in Esagila, a temple dedicated to the god Marduk. His governorship, however, lasted only nine months; Cyrus dismissed him from the post in December 538 BC for unknown reasons. After his dismissal, Cambyses mostly continued to reside in the Babylonian cities of Babylon and Sippar.
According to Babylonian records, both Cambyses and Cyrus carried the title of “King of Babylon, King of the Lands” in 538/7 BC, which indicates that Cyrus had appointed him as co-ruler some years before he campaigned against the Massagetae. Cambyses reportedly took part in the expedition against the Massagetae. Still, because he was the heir to the throne, he was sent back to Persia before Cyrus fell to the Massagetae. Cyrus’ younger son, Bardiya, was given his realm in Central Asia, which was exempted from paying tribute. Cambyses had his father’s body carried to Pasargadae in Persis, where he was buried in a tomb that had been prepared for him earlier.
Military campaigns
Cambyses’ accession to the Achaemenid throne was relatively smooth. Ruling over a vast but young empire, Cambyses preserved his authority over the subjugated lands and expanded his dominion over Egypt, the last prominent power in the Near East. French Iranologist Pierre Briant states, “this must not be seen as a more or less irrational and uncontrollable desire to take over the entire inhabited world”. On the contrary, his father had already planned Cambyses’ action. The latter wanted to unify Babylonia with the lands of the Trans-Euphrates (an area that stretched from Posideium to Egypt). This would eventually require conquering the lands between the Euphrates and Nile rivers and therefore necessitated conflict with Egypt, which had previously and more recently shown interest in the area.
The incumbent pharaoh of Egypt was Amasis II, who had been ruling since 570. His ally, Polycrates, a Greek ruler of Samos, posed a considerable threat to the Achaemenids, launching several raids that jeopardised Achaemenid authority. However, Polycrates eventually forsook his Egyptian allies and reached out to Cambyses, whose plans he was well acquainted with. His sudden change of alliances was undoubtedly due to his uncomfortable position, with the Spartans raising a force against him and the rising hostility of some of the Samian aristocrats, who preferred partnership with Egypt. Another former ally of Amasis II, the Carian military leader Phanes of Halicarnassus, had joined Cambyses after escaping assassins sent by the pharaoh. Before starting his expedition into Egypt, Cambyses seized Cyprus from Amasis II, reportedly a heavy blow to the latter.
Conquest of Egypt and its surroundings
By 526 BC, Amasis II had died, and his son Psamtik III had succeeded him, thus weakening Egypt’s position. In the meantime, Cambyses had made substantial preparations for his army. He had laid the foundations for the Persian navy, which was crucial to his ambitions to conquer Egypt. The navy was created using men and equipment from Phoenicia and Asia Minor. Cambyses made a treaty with the Arabs during his march to Egypt, who controlled the desert area between Gaza and the Egyptian frontier. This treaty granted Cambyses sufficient water for his forces to reach the Nile. This paved the way for Cambyses to extend his authority over the unsubdued lands between Egypt and Persia, including Gaza. This prominent commercial region equalled that of Sardis in Lydia. The area served as the headquarters for the Persian expedition into Egypt.
In 525 BC, Cambyses finally invaded Egypt. In the spring of that year, the Persian and Egyptian forces clashed at Pelusium, where the Persians emerged victorious. According to one author, Cambyses defeated the Egyptians by putting cats, sheep, dogs and other animals that the Egyptians considered sacred on the front lines. This led the Egyptians to cease using their war engines for fear of killing an animal and angering the gods. The forces of Cambyses then laid siege to Memphis, where Psamtik III and his men had fortified themselves. Despite the considerable resistance by the pharaoh’s forces, Cambyses captured Memphis and established a Persian-Egyptian garrison there. The 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus does not specify the siege length. Regardless, by summer, all of Egypt was under Persian suzerainty. Cambyses now adopted the last pharaohs’ aspirations to control the neighbouring lands towards the west (Libya and Cyrenaica) and south (Nubia).
Further conquests
The Libyans, and soon the Greeks of Cyrene and Barca, willingly acknowledged the authority of Cambyses and sent offerings to Cambyses as proof of their submission. As a demonstration of his generosity, Cambyses had Amasis II’s Greek widow, Ladice, return to Cyrene. Cambyses originally intended to make an expedition against the Phoenician state of Carthage. Still, it was ultimately called off due to his Phoenician subjects’ reluctance to make war against their people. In the south, Cambyses followed the same policy of the last pharaohs to keep the Kingdom of Kush in check and had a garrison established at Elephantine.
According to Herodotus, Cambyses’ campaigns against Ammon in the Siwa Oasis and Ethiopia ended catastrophically. He states that the reason behind this defeat was the “madness” of Cambyses, who “at once began his march against Ethiopia, without any orders for the provision of supplies, and without for a moment because he was to take his men to the ends of the earth”. However, according to Briant, “the deliberate bias against Cambyses raises doubts about the accuracy of Herodotus’s version.” Herodotus’ statement is contradicted by other sources that do not suggest a catastrophe for his forces, even though the obstacles of the campaign possibly compelled Cambyses to withdraw. Archaeological proof indicates that the Achaemenids used the stronghold of Dorginarti (south of Buhen) during the time they controlled Egypt.
Policies of Cambyses II in Egypt
Cambyses used propaganda to show his Egyptian conquest as a legitimate unification with the native Egyptians and that he was himself of Egyptian descent, claiming to be the son of Princess Nitetis, a daughter of the pharaoh Apries. Following the traditional Egyptian royal custom, Cambyses took the titles of “king of Upper and Lower Egypt” and “descendant of (the gods) Ra, Horus, Osiris,” used by the previous Egyptian pharaohs. At Sais, Cambyses was crowned in the temple of the goddess Neith as part of a religious ritual, during which he made sacrifices to the Egyptian gods.
According to ancient historians, Cambyses’ rule of Egypt was marked by brutality, looting temples, ridiculing the local gods, and blasphemy of the royal tombs. However, no looting of temples has been reported by contemporary Egyptian sources. Historians such as Herodotus emphasized Cambyses’ supposed killing of the Egyptian sacred bull Apis. The successor of the Apis died in 518 BC, four years after Cambyses had already died. In addition, Cambyses is said to have ordered the burial of an Apis in a sarcophagus.
The epitaph of the Apis, buried in 524 BC, states:
[Year] 6, the third month of the season Shemou, day 10 (?), under the Majesty of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt […] endowed with eternal life, the god was brought in [peace toward the good West and laid to rest in the cemetery in] his [place] which is the place which his Majesty had made for him, [after] all [the ceremonies had been done for him] in the embalming hall […] It was done according to everything his Majesty had said […]
A legend on the sarcophagus also says:
(Cambyses], the king of Upper and Lower Egypt […] made as his monument to his father Apis-Osiris a large sarcophagus of granite, dedicated by the king […], endowed with all life, with all perpetuity and prosperity (?), with all health, with all joy, appearing eternally as king of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Thus, this debunks Cambyses’ supposed killing of the Apis and according to Briant, Herodotus documented bogus reports. Instead, Cambyses took part in the preservation and burial ceremony of an Apis. Other similar sources also make mention of Cambyses’ careful treatment of Egyptian culture and religion. According to the Egyptian Demotic Chronicle, Cambyses decreased the immense income the Egyptian temples received from the Egyptian pharaohs. Only the three main temples were permitted to maintain all their entitlements. In response to this action, Egyptian priests who had lost their entitlements circulated spurious stories about Cambyses. The issue with the temples dates back to the earlier pharaohs, who had also tried to reduce the economic power of the temples. This issue would continue until the demise of ancient Egypt. Like Cyrus in Babylon, Cambyses allowed the Egyptian nobility to maintain their jurisdictions.
Administration
Although a tax system existed during the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses, it was not a systematic one, and thus the subjects of the king were either obligated to give gifts or pay taxes. As was the case during his father’s reign, Cambyses’ satraps were all of the Persian stock: Gubaru in Babylonia-Trans-Euphrates: Aryandes in Egypt: Oroetes in Sardis, Mitrobates in Dascylium, Dadarsi in Bactria, and Vivana in Arachosia. Likewise, the imperial treasurer in Babylon, Mithradata, was from a Persian family. Indeed, the senior officials and officers accompanying Cambyses in Egypt were composed solely of Persians. The most notable of these Persians were relatives of the king, such as his cousin Darius, who occupied high offices under Cyrus and Cambyses and serving as a spear-bearer under the latter. Darius’ father, Hystaspes, served as the governor of Parthia and Hyrcania or at least held a prominent role there. Important offices centred around the king were also occupied by the Persians, as in the case of Prexaspes, who served as the “message-bearer” of Cambyses, and Sisamnes, who was the royal judge but was later executed by Cambyses.
Personality
According to Herodotus, the Persians labelled Cambyses a “despot” because he was “half-mad, cruel, and insolent”. However, this would seem to be part of later Persian and Egyptian propaganda critical of Cambyses. Indeed, due to Cambyses’ willingness to consolidate authority to himself, the Persian tribal nobility was increasingly antagonistic towards him.
Marriages
In Achaemenid Persia, marriages between family members, such as half-siblings, nieces and cousins, took place but were not seen as incestuous. However, Greek sources state that brother-sister and father-daughter marriages allegedly took place inside the royal family, yet it remains problematic to determine the reliability of these accounts. According to Herodotus, Cambyses supposedly married two of his sisters, Atossa and Roxane. This would have been regarded as illegal. However, Herodotus also states that Cambyses married Otanes’ daughter Phaidyme, whilst his contemporary Ctesias names Roxane as Cambyses’ wife, but she is not referred to as his sister.
The accusations against Cambyses of committing incest are mentioned as part of his “blasphemous actions”, which were designed to illustrate his “madness and vanity”. These reports derive from the same Egyptian source that was antagonistic towards Cambyses, and some of these allegations of “crimes”, such as the killing of the Apis bull, have been confirmed as false, which means that the report of Cambyses’ supposed incestuous acts is questionable.
Death and succession
In the spring of 522 BC, Cambyses hurriedly left Egypt to deal with a rebellion in Persia. Before he left the country, he made Egypt into a satrapy under the governorship of the Persian Aryandes.
However, Cambyses died shortly after under disputed circumstances. By most accounts, while Cambyses was on his way through Syria (Eber-Nari), he received a wound to the thigh, which soon became gangrenous. Cambyses died three weeks later (in July) at a location called Agbatana, which is most likely the modern city of Hama. He died childlessly and was succeeded by his younger brother Bardiya.
According to Darius, who was Cambyses’ lance-bearer then, Bardiya decided he could not succeed as King of Kings and died by his hand in 522 BC. Herodotus and Ctesias ascribe his death to an accident.
Ctesias writes that Cambyses, despondent from the loss of family members, stabbed himself in the thigh while working with a piece of wood and died eleven days later from the wound. Herodotus’ story is that while mounting his horse, the tip of Cambyses’ scabbard broke, and his sword pierced his thigh. Some modern historians suspect that Darius assassinated Cambyses as the first step to usurping the empire for himself or by supporters of Bardiya.
Cambyses was buried in Neyriz in southeastern Persis. As reported in the Persepolis Administrative Archives, sacrifices were offered in his name. At the time of Cambyses’ death, the Achaemenid Empire was more vital than ever, reaching from Cyrenaica to the Hindu Kush and from the Syr Darya to the Persian Gulf.
