The Battle of Pelusium (373 BC) Or The battle of Mendes took place after the Persian king

Artaxerxes II Arses ( grc-gre, Ἄρσης; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and suc ...

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

Background

In 525 BC, a Persian force led by

Cambyses II Cambyses II ( peo, 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ''Kabūjiya'') was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane. Before his accession, Cambyses ...

invaded Egypt. This force was able to enter

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, but could not control all of Egypt when

sent his forces to occupy

Siwa Oasis The Siwa Oasis ( ar, واحة سيوة, ''Wāḥat Sīwah,'' ) is an urban oasis in Egypt; between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert, 50 km (30 mi) east of the Libyan Egypt–Li ...

. This force became known as the Lost Army of Cambyses. Cambyses was also unable to occupy much of Upper Egypt and Nubia. Egypt was full of turmoil and fighting, until an uprising succeeded in 404 BC, led by an Egyptian prince called

Amyrtaeus Amyrtaeus ( , a Hellenization of the original Egyptian name Amenirdisu) of Sais, is the only pharaoh of the Twenty-eighth Dynasty of EgyptCimmino 2003, p. 385. and is thought to be related to the royal family of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–52 ...

. Amyrtaeus was able to gain independence for Egypt, but Egypt suffered a local rule full of internal problems between the royal princes.

Nectanebo I Nectanebo I (Egyptian: ; grc-gre, Νεκτάνεβις ; died 361/60 BCE) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, founder of the last native dynasty of Egypt, the 30th. Name Nectanebo's Egyptian personal name was Nḫt-nb.f, which means "the strong ...

became the first king of the 30th dynasty, after he was able to wrest the rule from the last king of the 29th dynasty (

Nepherites II Nepherites II or Nefaarud II was the last pharaoh of the feeble and short-lived Twenty-ninth Dynasty (399/8–380 BC), the penultimate native dynasty of Egypt. Short reign An "ineffectual" ruler,Wilkinson 2011, p. 456. Nepherites II became pha ...

). The Persians viewed Egypt as just a rebellious province of Persia, so they tried to reconquer it several times during the reign of the 29th Dynasty. They tried to invade Egypt and failed twice, in 385 and 383 BC. The Persian King Artaxerxes was aware of the turmoil in Egypt between the royal family, so he planned to invade and restore Egypt. As part of that plan, Artaxerxes concluded a peace treaty with the Athenians. Under this treaty, Egypt became without allies, and the Athenian general Shabrias was summoned in 379 BC.

Preparing the Persians for the campaign

The

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

concluded a peace treaty with the Athenians in order to leave

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

without allies and The Persians gathered a large fleet of 500 ships that were collected in Phoenicia and Acre, almost all full of Greek mercenaries and The

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

collected a Huge ground forces consisting of 220,000 soldiers that passed through Gaza

The battle

The

’ march began during a five-day journey from Gaza to

Pelusium Pelusium ( Ancient Egyptian: ; cop, /, romanized: , or , romanized: ; grc, Πηλουσιον, Pēlousion; la, Pēlūsium; Arabic: ; Egyptian Arabic: ) was an important city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km to ...

(Port Said). The Persians attacked Pelusium, however the Egyptians succeeded in defending it, so the Persians decided to use the Nile branch and rally around them. The Persians and their Greek mercenaries wanted to march towards Memphis and leave

after they succeeded in entering the country through the Nile branch, but they differed among themselves. This hesitation caused a counterattack by

, taking advantage of the Nile floods, which caused swamps. This hindered the movement of the Persians and their Greeks mercenaries and they were defeated and withdrew in July 373 BC.

References

{{Reflist 373 BC

Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt