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CAMBYSES (Pers. Kambujiya)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 100 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMBYSES (Pers. Kambujiya) , the name See also:borne by the See also:father and the son of See also:Cyrus the See also:Great. When Cyrus conquered See also:Babylon in 539 he was employed in leading religious ceremonies (See also:Chronicle of Nabonidus), and in the See also:cylinder which contains Cyrus's See also:proclamation to the Babylonians his name is joined to that of his father in the prayers to See also:Marduk. On a tablet dated from the first See also:year of Cyrus, Cambyses is called See also:king of. See also:Babel. But his authority seems to have been quite ephemeral; it was only in 530, when Cyrus set out on his last expedition into the See also:East, that he associated Cambyses on the See also:throne, and numerous Babylonian tablets of this See also:time are dated from the See also:accession and the first year of Cambyses, when Cyrus was " king of the countries " (i.e. of the See also:world). After the See also:death of his father in the See also:spring of 528 Cambyses became See also:sole king. The tablets dated from his reign in Babylonia go down to the end of his eighth year, i.e. See also:March 521 B.c.1 See also:Herodotus (iii. 66), who See also:dates his reign from the death of Cyrus, gives him seven years five months, i.e. from 528 to the summer of 521. For these dates cf.

Ed. See also:

Meyer, Forschungen zur See also:alien Geschichte, ii. 470 if. The traditions about Cambyses, preserved by the See also:Greek authors, come from two different See also:sources. The first, which forms the See also:main See also:part of the See also:account of Herodotus (iii. 2; 4; 10-37), is of See also:Egyptian origin. Here Cambyses is made the legitimate son of Cyrus and a daughter of See also:Apries (See also:Herod. iii. 2, Dinon fr. 1r, Polyaen. viii. 29), whose death he avenges on the successor of the usurper See also:Amasis. (In Herod. iii. 1 and See also:Ctesias ap.

Athen. xiii. 56o D, this tradition is corrected by the Persians: Cambyses wants to marry a daughter of Amasis, who sends him a daughter of Apries instead of his own daughter, and by her Cambyses is induced to begin the See also:

war.) His great See also:crime is the killing of the See also:Apis, for which he is punished by madness, in which he commits many other crimes, kills his See also:brother and his See also:sister, and at last loses his See also:empire and See also:dies from a See also:wound in the See also:hip, at the same See also:place where he had wounded the sacred See also:animal. Intermingled are some stories derived from the Greek mercenaries, especially about their See also:leader Phanes of See also:Halicarnassus, who 1 On the much discussed tablet, which is said to date from his nth year, the writer had at first written " loth year of Cyrus," and then corrected this date into " 1st year of Cambyses "; see Strassmaier, Inschriften von Cambyses, No. 97. betrayed See also:Egypt to the Persians. In the See also:Persian tradition the crime of Cambyses is the See also:murder of his brother; he is further accused of See also:drunkenness, in which he commits many crimes, and thus accelerates his ruin. These traditions are found in different passages of Herodotus, and in a later See also:form, but with some trustworthy detail about his See also:household, in the fragments of Ctesias. With the exception of Babylonian dated tablets and some Egyptian See also:inscriptions, we possess no contemporary See also:evidence about the reign of Cambyses but the See also:short account of See also:Darius in the See also:Behistun inscription. It is impossible from these sources to form a correct picture of Cambyses' See also:character; but it seems certain that he was a See also:wild See also:despot and that he was led by drunkenness to many atrocious deeds. It was quite natural that, after Cyrus had conquered See also:Asia, Cambyses should undertake the See also:conquest of Egypt, the only remaining See also:independent See also:state of the Eastern world. Before he set out on his expedition he killed his brother Bardiya (See also:Smerdis), whom Cyrus had appointed See also:governor of the eastern provinces. The date is given by Darius, whereas the Greek authors narrate the murder after the conquest of Egypt.

The war took place in 525, when Amasis had just been succeeded by his son See also:

Psammetichus III. Cambyses had prepared for the march through the See also:desert by an See also:alliance with Arabian chieftains, who brought a large See also:supply of See also:water to the stations. King Amasis had hoped that Egypt would be able to withstand the threatened Persian attack by an alliance with the Greeks. But this See also:hope failed; the See also:Cyprian towns and the See also:tyrant See also:Polycrates of See also:Samos, who possessed a large See also:fleet, now preferred to join the Persians, and the See also:commander of the Greek troops, Phanes of Halicarnassus, went over to them. In the decisive See also:battle at See also:Pelusium the Egyptians were beaten, and shortly afterwards See also:Memphis was taken. The See also:captive king Psammetichus was executed, having attempted a See also:rebellion. The Egyptian inscriptions show that Cambyses officially adopted the titles and the See also:costume of the Pharaohs, although we may very well believe that he did not conceal his contempt for the customs and the See also:religion of the Egyptians. From Egypt Cambyses attempted the conquest of See also:Ethiopia (See also:Cush), i.e. the See also:kingdom of Napata and Meroe, the See also:modern See also:Nubia. But his See also:army was not able to See also:cross the deserts; after heavy losses he was forced to return. In an inscription from Napata (in the See also:Berlin museum) the Ethiopian king Nastesen relates that he had beaten the troops of Kembasuden, i.e. Cambyses, and taken all his See also:ships (H. Schafer, See also:Die Aethiopische Konigsinschrift See also:des Berliner Museums, 1901).

Another expedition against the great See also:

oasis failed likewise, and the See also:plan of attacking See also:Carthage was frustrated by the refusal of the Phoenicians to operate against their kindred. Meanwhile in See also:Persia a usurper, the Magian Gaumata, arose in the spring of 522, who pretended to be the murdered Bardiya (Smerdis). He was acknowledged throughout Asia. Cambyses attempted to march against him, but, seeing probably that success was impossible, died by his own See also:hand (March 521). This is the account of Darius, which certainly must be preferred to the traditions of Herodotus and Ctesias, which ascribe his death to an See also:accident. According to Herodotus (iii. 64) he died in the Syrian See also:Ecbatana, i.e. Hamath; See also:Josephus (See also:Ant. xi. 2. 2) names See also:Damascus; Ctesias, Babylon, which is absolutely impossible. See A. Lincke, Kambyses in der See also:Sage, Litteratur and Kunst des Mittelalters, in Aegyptiaca: Festschrift See also:fur Georg See also:Ebers (See also:Leipzig 1897), pp.

41-61; also PERSIA: See also:

Ancient See also:History. (ED.

End of Article: CAMBYSES (Pers. Kambujiya)

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