The Cambyses II Rule

The eldest son of King Cyrus II and the second king of the Achaemenid dynasty was Cambyses II. He ruled between 529 and 522 BC. In 525 BC, he overcame Egypt, which was one of his greatest triumphs. During the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik III, Egypt was invaded. The Greek generals serving in the Egyptian army gave Psamtik their full backing, and he also obtained some help from Polycrates of Samos. Cambyses, however, triumphed in the Battle of Pelusium in the Nile Delta later that year in 525 BC. Additionally, he was successful in taking Heliopolis and Memphis, which ultimately caused the Egyptian resistance to crumble. Many people thought Cambyses was odd, and according to Darius the Great, before traveling to Egypt, he assassinated his brother Bardiya in secret.

Cambyses adopted the regal titles used by the previous Egyptian pharaohs, including "king of Upper and Lower Egypt" and "descendant of (the gods) Ra, Horus, and Osiris." Cambyses claimed to be the son of Princess Nitetis, a daughter of the pharaoh Apries, and utilized propaganda to portray his invasion of Egypt as a rightful unification with the local Egyptians and that he himself was of Egyptian ancestry. At Sais, Cambyses performed a religious ritual in which he offered sacrifices to the Egyptian gods and had himself crowned in the temple of the goddess Neith. Ancient historians claimed that Cambyses' tenure over Egypt was characterized by cruelty, temple plundering, making fun of the regional deities, and desecration of the royal graves. Historians like Herodotus highlighted the alleged slaying of the sacred Egyptian bull Apis by Cambyses. However, no reports of temple plunder have been made by current Egyptian sources. Cambyses is also alleged to have commanded the sarcophagus burial of an Apis. Four years after Cambyses' demise, in 518 BC, the Apis' successor passed away.