of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal – to sweep into Syria. Whereas reaching the Euphrates
had been the highpoint of the campaigns of Thutmosis I and Thutmosis III, this
venture marked the end of Egypt’s history as an independent power, since after the
defeat at Carchemish, Egyptian armies would never again sally forth. Ironically
therefore, the only time that Egypt and Babylon came into direct conflict can be
directly related to Egyptian efforts to defend their former invaders against rivals in
Mesopotamia. The situation was, however, far more complicated.
Initially, when Assurbanipal withdrew from Egypt, his vassal Psammetichus I
became the glorious ruler who marked the beginning of the final blossoming of Egypt.
The ‘Late Period’ therefore begins with the withdrawal of Assurbanipal, who was
compelled to return to Mesopotamia to deal with a civil war. A dozen years after the
withdrawal, Shamash-shumu-ukin (Assurbanipal’s brother whom he had placed on
the throne in 668 BC) called upon the aid of Psammetichus in his conflict with his
brother, the king of Assyria. The Egyptians do not appear to have been able to offer
any help, and Shamash-shun-ukin lost power and life in 648 BC.
Assurbanipal was thus able to reassert control over most of the Near East, and to
rely on Egyptian support, although the Assyrians no longer occupied the country. It
was during this period that Assurbanipal’s armies were thus able to move against
Elam and Urartu, subduing the last enemies in those directions. However, this
awakened the opposition of the Medes, who allied with the Babylonians to oppose
Assyria. After the defeats in Assyria ( 614 – 612 BC), the Assyrian capital was briefly
moved to Harran, and the Egyptian army moved up to the Euphrates to support the
last Assyrian king, Assur-Uballit. Nabopolassar of Babylon defeated these Egyptian
units in 609 , but seemingly did not inflict a decisive defeat, since after a second
action in 607 , he was obliged to abandon the west bank of the Euphrates.
In 605,Nebuchadrezzar II finally managed to defeat the Egyptians at Carchemish
and began an advance towards Egypt. Taking Ashqelon in 604 , he reached the Egyp-
tian border in 601 , but Necho II was prepared and Nebuchadrezzar’s assault was followed
by a series of defeats culminating in the final action in 599. Henceforth, the Babylon-
ians maintained control of Syria and Palestine, but were unable to approach Egypt.
This stand-off was terminated by the Persian conquest of Babylon itself, rapidly
followed by the conquest of Egypt itself by Cambyses. Western interest in the Persians
begins with the subsequent unsuccessful efforts to conquer Greece, but Greece also
played a role in the Egyptian relationship to the Persians. During the early decades
of the fifth century, the Greeks managed to ward off the Persian assaults, but during
the final decades of the century, the Persians were able to manipulate Greek politics
due to the Peloponnesian War. With the end of that war ( 404 BC), unemployed
Greek mercenaries began to interfere in Persian politics. Although the campaign of
the 10 , 000 described by Xenophon represented a defeat on the ground, the Persians
were visibly weakened as Egypt regained its independence at this same point.
The end of the Murashu archive in Babylonia can be related to the end of the
various archives at this same time (Waerzeggers 2003 / 2004 ), but it can also be related
to the fact that the archive was partially related to the activities of the Persian governor
of Egypt, who lost his official role with the appearance of Egyptian independence.
Thus, one can trace the impact of Egyptian history in Babylonia, but this was not
the crucial issue.
— David A. Warburton —