BC530-511 Cambyses II of Persia

In the twenty years from 530-511 BC, Cyrus II the Great of Persia died in 530 BC and was succeeded by his son Cambyses II (of the lost army, pictured) who conquered Egypt in 525 BC and started the 27th dynasty -- the Persian Achaemenid Pharaohs.

After Cyrus had conquered Asia, Cambyses took on the conquest of Egypt, the only remaining independent state of the Eastern world. Before Cambyses set out on his expedition, he killed his brother Bardiya (Smerdis), whom Cyrus had appointed governor of the eastern provinces.

Cambyses had prepared for the Egyptian desert conquest by an alliance with Arabian chieftains who providedng water stations. King Amasis of Egypt had hoped that Egypt would be able to withstand the threatened Persian attack by an alliance with the Greeks, but this hope failed. The Cypriot towns and the tyrant Polycrates of Samos, who possessed a large fleet, now preferred to join the Persians, and the commander of the Greek troops, Phanes of Halicarnassus, went over to the Persians, too.

In the decisive battle at Pelusium the Egyptian army was defeated, and shortly afterwards Memphis was taken. The captive king Psammetichus was executed, having attempted a rebellion. The Egyptian inscriptions show that Cambyses officially adopted the titles and the costume of the Pharaohs, even though he was contemptuous of the customs and the religion of the Egyptians.

Ankhkaenre Psammetichus III (Psamtik III) -- son of Amasis II -- was the last Pharaoh of the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, ruling from 526 –525 BC. He was defeated by King Cambyses II of Persia at Pelusium, carried to Susa in chains, and executed.

From Egypt, Cambyses attempted the conquest of Kush -- the kingdoms of Napata and Meroe,in Sudan -- but his army was not able to cross the desert. After heavy losses he was forced to return. In an inscription from Napata the Nubian king Nastesen relates that he had defeated the troops of Cambyses.

A plan to attack Carthage was frustrated by the refusal of the Phoenicians to operate against their kinfolk, and another expedition against the Siwa Oasis also failed. Cambyses' army of 50,000 men was halfway across the desert when a massive sandstorm sprung up, burying them all.

Back in Persia, a Magian named Gaumata claimed to be Smerdis -- the king's murdered brother -- and was acknowledged throughout Asia as king. Cambyses attempted to march against the imposter, but died in 521 BC and was buried in Pasargadae.

Cambyses was succeeded by Darius I, his brother-in-law and the grandson of Arsames.

During the reign of Darius, many building projects were initiated -- the largest being the building of the new capital of Persepolis. Pasargadae was too well associated with the previous dynasty of Cyrus and Cambyses, and Darius sought a new capital. He also dug a canal from the Nile to Suez, and his ships sailed from the Nile through the Red Sea by Saba to Persia.

Darius also built a ‘royal road’ from Susa to Persepolis and from Sardis to Susa. It was highly organised with rest stations, guarded garrisons and inns.

In Rome, the seventh of the seven kings of Rome -- the Etruscan Tarquinius Superbus or Tarquin the Proud -- continued his long rule.

In Jerusalem, from 520-515 BC, the Second Temple was completed under the spiritual leadership of the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah. At this time, Jerusalem was part of a Persian province.

BC490-471 Darius and Xerxes of Persia

In the twenty years from 490-471 BC Darius I of Persia (pictured) had been previously defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon in 491 BC by a Greek army led by the Athenian general Miltiades.

Darius I died in 486 BC and was succeeded by his son, Xerxes.

Xerxes I, sent a much more powerful force by land. After being delayed by the Spartan King Leonidas I at Thermopylae, Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens. But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under Themistocles they defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

A year later, the Greeks, under the Spartan Pausanius, defeated the Persian army at Plataea.

The Athenian fleet then turned to chasing the Persians out of the Aegean Sea, and in 478 BC they captured Byzantium. Athens had enrolled all the island states and some mainland allies into an alliance, called the Delian League, to fight the Persians. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation after it, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power.

By 480 BC, Gelo, the tyrant of Greek Syracuse, backed by support from other Greek city-states, was attempting to unite the island under his rule. This threat could not be ignored, and Carthage in alliance with Persia, declared war on Greece.

Carthage fielded its largest military force under the leadership of general Hamilcar. En route to Sicily, Hamilcar suffered losses due to poor weather. Landing at Panormus (Palermo), he was then defeated by Gelo at the Battle of Himera and died. This loss severely weakened Carthage, and the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic.