Inaros’ rebellion Against Artaxerxes I and the Athenian Disaster in Egypt
Dan’el Kahn
Classical Quarterly: Vol.58:2 (2008)
Abstract
“Inaros, son of Psammetichus, an Egyptian ruler of Libyan descent, rebelled against his overlord Artaxerxes I. The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the conventionally accepted dates of this event. It is commonly held that Inaros rebelled on hearing about the death of Xerxes, King of Persia in 465/4 B.C. The ensuing struggle between Persia and Egypt, supported by Athenian allies, is commonly dated between 460/59 and 454 B.C. This reconstruction of dates and events is based on acceptance of the version given by Thucydides, his interpretation of the political situation in Greece and his chronological order of events. The reconstruction of the rebellion of Inaros here will be based on Diodorus Siculus, Thucydides and Ctesias, but also on Aramaic and Egyptian documents from Egypt written in demotic script.”
Historical Background
Cambyses, King of Persia, conquered Egypt in the year 525 B.C. In 522, when Cambyses died and his successor Darius I ascended the throne of Persia, Egypt rebelled. It is not clear when and how this rebellion was quelled, but Persian controlover Egypt was probably resumed by Darius I in his third regnal year at the latest, and in his fourth regnal year the burial of the Apis bull, which died, was dated according to the regnal years of Darius. When Darius died in 486 B.C. and Xerxes ascended the throne, rebellion again broke out in Egypt. This rebellion was quelled by Xerxes, who‘reduced the country to a condition of worse servitude than it had ever been in theprevious reign’ (Hdt. 7.7). The misdeeds of Xerxes in Egypt may have been described in the Satrap stele. It should come as no surprise that at the death of Xerxes Egypt revolted once more.
Dan’el Kahn
Classical Quarterly: Vol.58:2 (2008)
Abstract
“Inaros, son of Psammetichus, an Egyptian ruler of Libyan descent, rebelled against his overlord Artaxerxes I. The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the conventionally accepted dates of this event. It is commonly held that Inaros rebelled on hearing about the death of Xerxes, King of Persia in 465/4 B.C. The ensuing struggle between Persia and Egypt, supported by Athenian allies, is commonly dated between 460/59 and 454 B.C. This reconstruction of dates and events is based on acceptance of the version given by Thucydides, his interpretation of the political situation in Greece and his chronological order of events. The reconstruction of the rebellion of Inaros here will be based on Diodorus Siculus, Thucydides and Ctesias, but also on Aramaic and Egyptian documents from Egypt written in demotic script.”
Historical Background
Cambyses, King of Persia, conquered Egypt in the year 525 B.C. In 522, when Cambyses died and his successor Darius I ascended the throne of Persia, Egypt rebelled. It is not clear when and how this rebellion was quelled, but Persian controlover Egypt was probably resumed by Darius I in his third regnal year at the latest, and in his fourth regnal year the burial of the Apis bull, which died, was dated according to the regnal years of Darius. When Darius died in 486 B.C. and Xerxes ascended the throne, rebellion again broke out in Egypt. This rebellion was quelled by Xerxes, who‘reduced the country to a condition of worse servitude than it had ever been in theprevious reign’ (Hdt. 7.7). The misdeeds of Xerxes in Egypt may have been described in the Satrap stele. It should come as no surprise that at the death of Xerxes Egypt revolted once more.
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