Cambyses II

Cambyses II was the eldest son and successor of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. After ascending the Persian throne, Cambyses launched a meticulously prepared military expedition against Egypt in 525 BC. He defeated the young pharaoh Psamtik III at the Battle of Pelusium and captured the ancient capital of Memphis, bringing the independent Twenty-sixth Dynasty to an abrupt end.

Following his victory, Cambyses assumed traditional Egyptian pharaonic titles, adopting the throne name Mesutire, which means 'Offspring of Ra', and the Horus name Sematawy, meaning 'Uniter of the Two Lands'. He took up residence at Memphis and ruled Egypt as a conquest territory until his sudden death in 522 BC, with dates uncertain by about a year. Egyptian inscriptions from the period reveal that he worked with native collaborators, such as the naval commander Udjahorresne, to present himself as a legitimate pharaoh adhering to local religious traditions.

Later Greek accounts, particularly that of Herodotus, portrayed Cambyses as an erratic tyrant who desecrated temples and killed the sacred Apis bull. However, direct archaeological evidence contradicts these tales. An epitaph on a dedicated limestone stela from the Serapeum at Saqqara records that an Apis bull died peacefully in his reign and was buried by Cambyses with full religious honours and lavish offerings, demonstrating adherence to traditional funerary customs.

Cambyses died while returning to Persia to suppress a rebellion, leaving Egypt to his successor, Darius I. Scholars know him through royal Persian inscriptions, official Egyptian records from Saqqara, temple texts, and classical Greek histories. His disputed burial place is traditionally located at Pasargadae in modern Iran.

Monuments

• Serapeum stela of Apis bull

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Try the name on the Cartouche Desk, or see where the reign falls on the timeline.