olasser recalled the victor to Babylon. Herodotus relates
that in Necho's reign a Phoenician ship despatched from Egypt actually
circumnavigated Africa, and the attempt was made to complete a canal
through the Wadi Tumilat, which connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas
by way of the Lower Egyptian Nile. (See SUEZ.) The next king,
Psammetichus II., 594-589 B.C., according to one account made an
expedition to Syria or Phoenicia, and apparently sent a mercenary force
into Ethiopia as far as Abu Simbel. Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), 589-570
B.C., fomented rebellion against the Babylonian suzerainty in Judah, but
accomplished little there. Herodotus, however, describes his reign as
exceedingly prosperous. The mercenary troops at Elephantine mutinied and
attempted to desert to Ethiopia, but were brought back and punished.
Later, however, a disastrous expedition sent to aid the Libyans against
the Greek colony of Cyrene roused the suspicion and anger of the native
soldiery at favours shown to the mercenaries, who of course had taken no
part in it. Amasis (Ahmosi) II. was chosen king by the former (570-525
B.C.), and his swarm of adherents overcame the Greek troops in Apries'
pay (see AMASIS). None the less Amasis employed Greeks in numbers, and
cultivated the friendship of their tyrants. His rule was confined to
Egypt (and perhaps Cyprus), but Egypt itself was very prosperous. At the
beginning of his long reign of forty-four years he was threatened by
Nebuchadrezzar; later he joined the league against Cyrus and saw with
alarm the fall of his old enemy. A few months after his death, 525 B.C.,
the invading host of the Persians led by Cambyses reached Egypt and
dethroned his son Psammetichus III.

The Persian period, XXVIIth Dynasty.

Cambyses at first conciliated the Egyptians and respected their
religion; but, perhaps after the failure of his expedition into
Ethiopia, he entirely changed his policy, and his memory was generally
execrated. He left Egypt so completely crushed that the subsequent
usurpation of the Persian throne was marked by no revolt in that
quarter. Darius, 521-486 B.C., proved himself a beneficent ruler, and in
a visit to Egypt displayed his consideration for the religion of the
country. In the Great Oasis he built a temple to Ammon. The annual
tribute imposed on the satrapy of Egypt and Cyrene was heavy, but it was
probably raised with ease. The canal from the Nile to the Red Sea was
completed or repaired, a