Psamtik III

Psamtik III succeeded his long-ruling father Amasis II in 526 BC, reigning for approximately six months into 525 BC, with dates uncertain by about a year. He inherited a precarious geopolitical situation, as King Cambyses II of Persia had already mobilised an enormous invasion force to conquer Egypt.

The decisive clash took place near Pelusium in the eastern Nile Delta. Psamtik's forces were routed after intense fighting, and the young pharaoh retreated to the traditional royal citadel at Memphis. Following a siege, the Persians captured the city. Psamtik was taken prisoner, ending Saite rule and initiating the first period of Persian rule as the Twenty-seventh Dynasty.

Because his reign was exceptionally brief, Psamtik III left no major monuments. Scholars know him primarily through contemporary administrative dockets, brief mentions in Saite lineage stelae, and detailed narrative accounts written by later Greek historians such as Herodotus.

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