Lecture on The Late Period the 27th Dynasty (the Persian Dynasty) The Twenty-Seventh Dynasty coincides with

the First Persian Period (525-404 B. C.),

which saw Egypt conquered by the Persian

Empire under Cambyses, who placed Egypt

under occupation and made it a satrapy of the

Achaemenid Persian Empire.

The kings of the 27th Dynasty:

1. Cambyses II. He was the first ruler of Egypt

under the Persian Dynasty. His father, Cyrus the

Great, had earlier attempted an invasion of

Egypt against Ahmose II of the 26th Dynasty, but

the death of Cyrus put a halt to that expedition.

• Cambyses II undertook building activities in Wadi Hammamat in the eastern desert and other Egyptian temples.

• The disappearance of the army of Cambyses II (about 50, 000 men) remains veiled with secrets. All his army vanished in the Western Desert on their way to Siwa Oasis along with all their weapons and other equipment, never to be heard of again. The suggested reasons behind this action; • A.Maybe the priests of the oracle were posing a danger to

Cambyses rule, encouraging revolt among the Egyptians.

B.Perhaps the priests Celt angry that Cambyses II had not

immediately sought their approval as Alexander the Great

would do almost upon his arrival in Egypt.

C.Another reason is that the army was to continue on after

Siwa in order to attack the Libyans.

• Cambyses II was buried in Iran.

2. Darius I:

• He was the son of Cambyses II. He ordered the

completion of the Hibis temple of god Amun at

the Kharga Oasis. His reign appears to have been

a period of great prosperity for Egypt.

3. Artaxerxes I. Inaros, the son of the last king of the 26th Dynasty Psamtik III, gathered together the nationalist forces scattered throughout the Delta and declared himself king of Egypt. After a series of skirmishes the Persians eventually regain control and Inaros was imprisoned and then executed in executed in Persia. 4. Darius II. He revived Darius I conciliatory policy by continuing the decoration of the temple of Amun at Hibis. The support given to him by the Jewish community at Elephantine (a jewish military colony was based at Elephantine during the Late Period, and particularly in the 26th Dynasty) had the effect of exasperating the nationalist Egyptians, so they destroyed the temple at Hibis in the 17th year of his reign.