First Egyptian Campaign In around 351 BC, Artaxerxes embarked on a campaign to recover Egypt, which had revolted under his father, Artaxerxes II. At the same time, a rebellion had broken out in Asia Minor, which, being supported by
Thebes, threatened to become serious. Levying a vast army, Artaxerxes marched into Egypt, and engaged
Nectanebo II. After a year of fighting the Egyptian
Pharaoh, Nectanebo inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians with the support of mercenaries led by the Greek generals Diophantus and Lamius. Artaxerxes was compelled to retreat and to postpone his plans to reconquer Egypt.
Second Egyptian Campaign as Pharaoh, satrapal coinage of
Cilicia. depicting a Persian king thrusting his lance at an Egyptian pharaoh, while holding four other Egyptian captives on a rope. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes, in addition to his 330,000 Persians, had now a force of 8,000 Greeks furnished by the Greek cities of Asia Minor: 4,000 under
Mentor, consisting of the troops which he had brought to the aid of Tennes from Egypt; 3,000 sent by Argos; and 1000 from Thebes. He divided these troops into three bodies, and placed at the head of each a Persian and a Greek. The Greek commanders were Lacrates of Thebes,
Mentor of Rhodes and Nicostratus of Argos while the Persians were led by Rhossaces, Aristazanes, and
Bagoas, the chief of the eunuchs.
Nectanebo II resisted with an army of 100,000 of whom 20,000 were Greek mercenaries. Nectanebo II occupied the
Nile and its various branches with his large navy. The character of the country, intersected by numerous canals, and full of strongly fortified towns, was in his favour and Nectanebo II might have been expected to offer a prolonged, if not even a successful, resistance. But he lacked good generals, and over-confident in his own powers of command, he found himself out-manoeuvered and defeated by the combined Persian armies near
Pelusium. as Pharaoh, wearing the Pharaonic crown. Before he returned to Persia, he appointed Pherendares as
satrap of Egypt. With the wealth gained from his reconquest of Egypt, Artaxerxes was able to amply reward his mercenaries. He then returned to his capital, having successfully completed his invasion and occupation of Egypt.
Satrapal rule in Egypt , Achaemenid satrap of Egypt, from his coinage. Circa 340-333 BC. Achaemenid Egypt. It is not known who served as
satrap after Artaxerxes III, but
Pherendates II was an early satrap of Egypt. Under
Darius III (336–330 BC) there was
Sabaces, who fought and died at
Issus and was succeeded by
Mazaces. Egyptians also fought at Issus, for example, the nobleman Somtutefnekhet of
Heracleopolis, who described on the "Naples stele" how he escaped during the battle against the Greeks and how Arsaphes, the god of his city, protected him and allowed him to return home. In 332 BC, Mazaces handed over the country to
Alexander the Great without a fight. The Achaemenid empire had ended, and for a while Egypt was a satrapy in
Alexander's empire.
Cleomenes of Naucratis oversaw the transfer of Egypt's tax revenue to other provinces, possibly under the title of satrap. At Alexander's death,
Ptolemy was formally appointed satrap prior to his establishment of the
Ptolemaic Kingdom. The
Romans eventually replaced the
Ptolemaic dynasty, maintaining Egypt as the personal property of
Augustus and the subsequent emperors and ruling through local governors. ==Culture==