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Egyptian Pharoh Kheperkare
Nakhtnebef, better known by his hellenized name Nectanebo I, was an ancient
Egyptian pharaoh, founder of the last native dynasty of Egypt, the XXXth.
Nectanebo was an army general from Sebennytos, son of an important military
officer named Djedhor and of a lady whose name is only partially recorded, It
has been suggested that Nectanebo was assisted in the coup by the Athenian
general Chabrias.
Nectanebo carried out the coronation ceremony in c. 379/8 in both Sais and
Memphis, and shifted the capital from Mendes to Sebennytos. In 374/3 Nectanebo
had to face a Persian attempt to retake Egypt, which was still considered by
the Persian king Artaxerxes II nothing
more than a rebel satrapy. After a six-year preparation and applying pressure
on Athens to recall the Greek general Chabrias, Artaxerxes dispatched a great
army led by the Athenian general
Iphicrates and the
Persian Pharnabazus. It
has been recorded that the army was composed of over 200,000 troops including
Persian soldiers and Greek mercenaries and around 500 ships. Fortifications on
the Pelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to
seek another way to sail up the Nile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its
way up the less-defended Mendesian branch. At this point, the mutual distrust
that had arisen between Iphicrates and Pharnabazus prevented the enemy from
reaching Memphis. Then the annual Nile flood and the Egyptian defenders'
resolve to defend their territory turned what had initially appeared as certain
defeat for Nectanebo I and his troops into a complete victory. From 368 many
western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire started to rebel against Artaxerxes
II, so Nectanebo provided financial support to the rebelling satraps and
re-established ties with both Sparta and Athens.
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