| Battle of Mendes | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Statue of Nectanebo I | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Egypt | Greeks mercenaries | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nectanebo I | Pharnabazus II | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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The Battle of Pelusium (373 BC) or the Battle of Mendes took place after the Persian king Artaxerxes II launched an attack on Egypt with the aim of restoring Egypt to Persian rule. The campaign failed, and ended with the defeat of the Persians and their Greek mercenaries.
In 525 BC, a Persian force led by Cambyses II invaded Egypt. This force was able to enter Memphis, but could not control all of Egypt. So Cambyses II sent his forces to occupy Siwa Oasis. This force became known as the Lost Army of Cambyses. Cambyses was also unable to occupy much of Upper Egypt and Nubia. Over time, the Persians gained control of most of the populated regions with Egypt effectively becoming a Persian satrapy. This situation lasted until 404 BC when an Egyptian uprising, led by an Egyptian prince called Amyrtaeus was able to achieve independence. However, the native rulers were generally weak leading to disputes between royal princes. Nectanebo I became the first king of the 30th dynasty, after he was able to wrest the Egyptian throne from the last king of the 29th dynasty (Nepherites II). In the meantime, the Persians sought to reconquer Egypt. They tried to invade Egypt in 385 BC and again in 383 BC, but failed. The Persian King Artaxerxes was aware of the turmoil in Egypt between royal family members, so planned another invasion aimed at restoring Egypt to Persian rule. As part of that plan, Artaxerxes concluded a peace treaty with the Athenians. Under this treaty, Egypt lost a valuable ally.
After King Artaxerxes concluded his peace treaty with the Athenians, the Persians gathered a large fleet of 500 ships in Phoenician ports and at Acre, including many Greek mercenaries [1] . In 373 BC, the Persian force of 220,000 soldiers led by the Athenian general Iphicrates and the Persian satrap Pharnabazus then sailed and marched to Gaza. [2]
The Persians marched from Gaza to Pelusium (Port Said) and attacked the town. However, the Egyptians succeeded in defending the town. Fortifications on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another way to sail up the Nile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the less-defended Mendesian branch. However, the mutual distrust that had arisen between Iphicrates and Pharnabazus prevented the enemy from reaching Memphis. Nectanebo I then took advantage of the annual Nile floods to counter-attack. The flooding of the Nile and the Egyptian defenders' resolve to defend their territory hindered the movement of the Persians and Greeks forces and they were defeated and withdrew from Egypt. [3] [4]
This article concerns the period 409 BC – 400 BC.
This article concerns the period 399 BC – 390 BC.
This article concerns the period 379 BC – 370 BC.
This article concerns the period 369 BC – 360 BC
This article concerns the period 359 BC – 350 BC.
Year 343 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Corvus and Arvina. The denomination 343 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 373 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Third year without Tribunate or Consulship. The denomination 373 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Arses, known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II, was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II and his mother was Parysatis.
Artabazos was a Persian general in the army of Xerxes I, and later satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia under the Achaemenid dynasty, founder of the Pharnacid dynasty of satraps. He was the son of Pharnaces, who was the younger brother of Hystaspes, father of Darius I. Artabazos was therefore a first cousin of the great Achaemenid ruler Darius I.
Pharnabazus II was a Persian soldier and statesman, and Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of Pharnaces II of Phrygia and grandson of Pharnabazus I, and great-grandson of Artabazus I. He and his male ancestors, forming the Pharnacid dynasty, had governed the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia from its headquarters at Dascylium since 478 BC. He married Apama, daughter of Artaxerxes II of Persia, and their son Artabazus also became a satrap of Phrygia. According to some accounts, his granddaughter Barsine may have become Alexander the Great's concubine.
Ochus, known by his dynastic name Artaxerxes III, was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 359/58 to 338 BC. He was the son and successor of Artaxerxes II and his mother was Stateira.
Pelusium was an important city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km (19 mi) to the southeast of the modern Port Said. It became a Roman provincial capital and Metropolitan archbishopric and remained a multiple Catholic titular see and an Eastern Orthodox active archdiocese.
The Late Period of ancient Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period in the 26th Saite Dynasty founded by Psamtik I, but includes the time of Achaemenid Persian rule over Egypt after the conquest by Cambyses II in 525 BC as well. The Late Period existed from 664 BC until 332 BC, following a period of foreign rule by the Nubian 25th Dynasty and beginning with a short period of Neo-Assyrian suzerainty, with Psamtik I initially ruling as their vassal. The period ended with the conquests of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and establishment of the Ptolemaic dynasty by his general Ptolemy I Soter, one of the Hellenistic diadochi from Macedon in northern Greece. With the Macedonian Greek conquest in the latter half of the 4th century BC, the age of Hellenistic Egypt began.
Nectanebo I was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, founder of the last native dynasty of Egypt, the 30th.
Artabazos II was a Persian general and satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of the Persian satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia Pharnabazus II, and younger kinsman of Ariobarzanes of Phrygia who revolted against Artaxerxes III around 356 BC. His first wife was an unnamed Greek woman from Rhodes, sister of the two mercenaries Mentor of Rhodes and Memnon of Rhodes. Towards the end of his life, he became satrap of Bactria for Alexander the Great.
Djedhor, better known as Teos or Tachos, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 30th Dynasty.
The Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the First Egyptian Satrapy, was a province (Satrapy) of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 525 BC and 404 BC. It was founded by Cambyses II, the King of Persia, after the Battle of Pelusium and the Achaemenid conquest of Egypt, and his subsequent crowning as Pharaoh of Egypt. It was disestablished upon the rebellion and crowning of Amyrtaeus as Pharaoh. A second period of Achaemenid rule in Egypt occurred under the Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt.
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the largest empire by that point in history, spanning a total of 5.5 million square kilometres. The empire spanned from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, West Asia as the base, the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley to the southeast.
The Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Second Egyptian Satrapy, was effectively a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire between 343 BC to 332 BC. It was founded by Artaxerxes III, the King of Persia, after his reconquest of Egypt and subsequent crowning as Pharaoh of Egypt, and was disestablished upon the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great.
The second Achaemenid conquest of Egypt took place in 340 or 339 BC.
