Amyrtaeus
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Amyrtaeus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Amenirdisu; Amyrtaios of Sais Greek Ἀμύρταῖος Σαΐτης |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Pharaoh of Egypt |
| DATE OF BIRTH | {{{Birth}}} |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ancient Egypt |
| DATE OF DEATH | {{{Death}}} |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Ancient Egypt |
| Preceded by: Darius II |
Pharaoh of Egypt 28th Dynasty |
Succeeded by: Nepherites I |
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| Amyrtaeus | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amenirdisu; Amyrtaios of Sais Greek Ἀμύρταῖος Σαΐτης |
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| Reign | 6 years 404 BCE to October 399 BCE |
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| Praenomen |
ỉmn-ỉr-dỉ-s<w> Amun causes him to be given |
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| Born | unknown | ||||||||||||||
| Died | October 399 BCE | ||||||||||||||
| Burial | unknown | ||||||||||||||
| Major Monuments |
none known | ||||||||||||||
Amyrtaeus (or Amenirdisu) of Sais is the only king of the Twenty-eighth dynasty of Egypt and is thought to be related to the royal family of the Twenty-sixth dynasty. He ended the First Persian Occupation and reigned from 404 BCE to 399 BCE.
Amyrtaeus was probably the grandson of the Amyrtaeus of Sais and is known to have carried on a rebellion in 465–463 BCE with the Libyan chief, Inaros (himself a grandson of Psametik III), against the Satrap of Artaxerxes II. He is known from Aramaic and ancient Greek sources, and is mentioned in the Demotic Chronicle. He is not known to have left any monuments, and his name in Egyptian is only reconstructed from demotic notices.
Previous to assuming the throne of Egypt, Amyrtaeus had revolted against Darius II as early as 411 BCE, leading a guerrilla action in the western Nile Delta around his home city of Sais. Following the death of Darius, Amyrtaeus declared himself king in 404 BCE. According to Isocrates, Ataxerxes assembled an army in Phoenicia under the command of Abrocomas to retake Egypt shortly after coming to the Persian throne, but political problems with his brother Cyrus the Younger prevented this from taking place, allowing the Egyptians sufficient time to throw off Achaemenid rule. While the rule of Amyrtaeus in the western Delta was established by 404 BCE, Artexerxes I continued to be recognized as king at Elephantine as late as 401 BCE, but Aramaic papyri from the site refer to Regnal Year 5 of Amyrtaeus in September 400 BCE. The Elephantine papyri also demonstrate that between 404 and 400 BCE (or even 398) Upper Egypt remained under Persian control, while the forces of Amyrtaeus dominated the Delta.
Amyrtaeus was defeated by his successor, Nepherites I of Mendes, and executed at Memphis, an event which the Aramaic papyrus Brooklyn 13 implies occurred in October 399 BCE.
