Th e fi rst pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (ca. 672–
525 b.c.e.) was Neko I (r. 672–664 b.c.e.) of Sais. He was an
Assyrian puppet who was killed by Tantamani. His succes-
sor was Psamtek I (r. 664–610 b.c.e.). Although he began as
an Assyrian vassal, during his long reign Psamtek I slowly
rebuilt the Egyptian government. With Assyria distracted
by wars elsewhere in the Near East, Egypt reoccupied part
of Palestine in 630 b.c.e., and in 616 b.c.e. Psamtek’s army
invaded Syria. Aft er Babylon overcame Assyrian dominance,
its new king, Nebuchadnezzar II, attacked Egypt in 601 b.c.e.
and again in 581 b.c.e. Th ese invasions were repelled deci-
sively by the pharaohs Neko II (r. 610–595 b.c.e.) and Apries
(r. 589–570 b.c.e.). Th e Egyptian general Amasis (r. 570–526
b.c.e.) deposed Apries in 570 b.c.e., but Apries returned to
Egypt at the head of a Babylonian army to reclaim his throne.
He was defeated and probably killed by an army led by Ama-
sis. Amasis and his successor, Psamtek III (r. 526–525 b.c.e.),
were shrewd statesmen who won many friends in other na-
tions, but they were outmatched by Persia.
Persia defeated Babylon in 539 b.c.e. and, when Ama-
sis died, invaded Egypt, defeating the forces of Psamtek III.
Th ese events began the Twenty-seventh Dynasty (525–404
b.c.e.), which consisted of Persia’s kings, who treated Egypt as
a province of Persia. Th e Persian kings Cambyses (r. in Egypt
525–522 b.c.e.) and Darius I (521–486 b.c.e.) ruled somewhat
benevolently, spending long periods in Egypt while behaving
like traditional pharaohs; thereaft er the reign of Persians in
Egypt was notable for its brutality. Around 404 b.c.e. Amyr-
taeus (r. ca. 404–ca. 399 b.c.e.), the ruler of Sais, succeeded in
driving out the Persians. Amyrtaeus was the only pharaoh of
the Twenty-eighth Dynasty.
Th e Twenty-ninth Dynasty (ca. 399–ca. 380 b.c.e.) and
the Th irtieth Dynasty (ca. 380–ca. 343 b.c.e.) ruled an Egypt
that was slowly regaining its infl uence in the Near East and
Mediterranean. When Persia invaded in 374 b.c.e., it was de-
feated. When Persia invaded again in 351 b.c.e., it was de-
feated again, but the cost of the war nearly bankrupted the
Egyptian government. When Persia’s Artaxerxes III Ochus
(ruled Egypt 343–338 b.c.e.) invaded in 343 b.c.e., he not only
conquered Egypt but also desecrated its sacred sites. Th e last
pharaoh of the Th irtieth Dynasty, Nectanebo II (r. 360–343
b.c.e.), briefl y clung to power in Upper Egypt. He was the last
native Egyptian pharaoh. Th e Th irty-fi rst Dynasty (ca. 343–
ca. 332 b.c.e.), known as the Second Persian Period, consisted
of Persian kings (Artaxerxes III, Arses, Darius III) who were
despised by the Egyptians.
GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD
When Alexander the Great’s army drove the Persians out of
Egypt in about 332 b.c.e., the Macedonian king was greeted
as a hero. He cultivated his hero status by honoring Egyptian
gods and following Egyptian customs, and the Egyptians gave
him the status of pharaoh. When Alexander the Great died in
323 b.c.e., his empire broke into pieces, and one of his gener-
als, Ptolemy Soter, eventually took over Egypt from the Mace-
donian kings and made himself Ptolemy I (r. 304–284 b.c.e.).
He and his immediate successors (almost all named Ptolemy)
tried to force Egypt to adopt a Greek-style culture. Ptolemy I
changed the names of cities and gods to Greek ones, and he
enforced laws that reduced women from partners of men, as
had long been the Egyptian practice, to mere servants of men.
Th e language of government became Greek, and using Egyp-
tian was discouraged. As a result, the Egyptians viewed the
Ptolemaic Dynasty (304–30 c.e.) with resentment.
Nonetheless, the Greek pharaohs viewed Egypt as an in-
dependent nation, and they reasserted Egypt’s ancient claim
to domination of Palestine. Ptolemy III (r. 247–221 b.c.e.) con-
quered territory all the way to Syria and Babylon, and by the
end of his reign Egyptian ships ruled much of the Mediterra-
nean. Th e Greek pharaohs negotiated treaties with the Nubian
kingdom of Kush, thereby regaining Egypt’s access to trade
in both the Near East and Africa. Th e Greeks also introduced
new farming techniques that increased the yield of crops.
Rome began to interfere in Egyptian politics when its
Senate nominated Philometer to become the pharaoh, which
he did under the royal name Ptolemy VI (r. 180–144 b.c.e.).
In 51 b.c.e. the Senate named two coregents, Ptolemy XIII
(r. 51–47 b.c.e.) and his sister and wife, Cleopatra VII (r. 51–
30 b.c.e.). Ptolemy XIII was succeeded by Cleopatra’s other
brother and second husband, Ptolemy XIV (r. 47–44 b.c.e.),
and then by her son with Julius Caesar, Ptolemy XV (r. 44–30
b.c.e.) Courtiers tried to exclude Cleopatra VII from rule, but
Julius Caesar and Marc Antony championed her cause, and
she became the dominant political fi gure in Egypt. Rather
than submit to the rule of the Roman emperor Augustus, she
committed suicide. With her death came the end of the Egyp-
tian empire and its dynasties.THE MIDDLE EAST
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
By 3500 b.c.e. there were many cities in Mesopotamia, the
lands around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Eventually,
these became the city-states of Sumer. Th e residents of these
cities spoke a common language and worshiped the same
gods, and they recognized themselves as all being part of the
same culture. People who lived in the cities and those who
lived in land around the cities were passionate about their
love for their particular city, oft en treating their entire city as
a sacred entity with a life of its own. Th e cities were governed
by a chief administrator, and there is evidence for the exis-
tence of city councils as well.
Th e invention of writing in about 3400 b.c.e. allowed city
governments to become more centralized because writing
gave them the means to keep track of large amounts of goods,
taxes, and population. As the city-states grew, they competed
with one another for good farmland, and they fought wars,
for which they needed good leaders. Th e chief city adminis-396 empires and dynasties: The Middle East