:Nectanebo II

Nectanebo is derived from the Greek form of his name, {{lang|grc-latn|Nectanebos}} ({{lang|grc|Νεκτανεβώς}}, or {{lang|grc|Νεκτανεβός}} in later sources). His Egyptian name was Nḫt-Ḥr-Ḥbt,{{sfn|Depuydt|2010|p=194}} which means "victorious is Horus of Hebyt".Toby Wilkinson, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (Bloomsbury, 2010), p. 463 Although convention in English assigns identical names to him and his grandfather, Nectanebo I, the latter was in fact called {{lang|grc-Latn|Nectanebis}} ({{lang|grc|Νεκτάνεβις}}).{{sfn|Depuydt|2010|pp=193–194}}

Medieval Arab authors referred to him as Naqatanibas ({{Langx|ar|ناقاطانيباس}}).{{Cite book |last=Al-Maqrīzī |title=Book of Exhortations and Useful Lessons in Dealing with Topography and Historical Remains |publisher=Hans A. Stowasser |pages=64 |translator-last=Stowasser |translator-first=Karl}}

File:Isis and Nectanebo II.jpg

In 525 BC, Egypt was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. Because of internal struggles for the Persian imperial succession, Egypt managed to regain independence in 404 BC. In 389 BC, Pharaoh Hakor negotiated a treaty with Athens and for three years (from 385 to 383 BC) managed to withstand Persian aggression.Grimal, p. 374 However, following the conclusion of the Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC between the Achaemenids and the Greek city-states, Egypt and Cyprus became the only obstacles to Persian hegemony in the Mediterranean.

At the beginning of 360 BC, Nectanebo's predecessor, Teos, started preparations for war against intruders. In the same year, the Egyptian army set off, traveling along the coast by land and sea. Nectanebo II accompanied his uncle Teos in that campaign and was in charge of the machimoi.Grimal, p. 377

In an attempt to quickly raise finances for the war, Teos imposed taxes on Egyptians and seized temple property.{{cite book | last = Educational Britannica Educational| title =Ancient Egypt: From Prehistory to the Islamic Conquest| publisher = The Rosen Publishing Group|year = 2010| pages = 88–89| isbn =978-1-61530-210-9}} Egyptians, particularly the priests, resented these measures but supported Nectanebo II. Teos asked Spartan military leader Agesilaus and Athenian general Chabrias to support him.{{cite book | last =Dandamaev | first = M. A.| title =A political history of the Achaemenid empire| publisher = BRILL|year = 1989| page = 301| isbn =90-04-09172-6}} Agesilaus, however, said he was sent to aid Egypt and not to wage war against it. Chabrias returned home with his mercenaries. Teos decided to flee to the Achaemenid court, where he ultimately died of natural causes.

Nectanebo contended with an unnamed pretender to the throne from the town of Mendes, who proclaimed himself pharaoh. The revolt was probably led by one of the descendants of Nepherites I, whose family had ruled the town before.{{cite book | last = Sharpe| first =Samuel| title =The history of Egypt from the earliest times till the conquest by the Arabs: A. D. 640| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uYUOAAAAQAAJ| publisher =Moxon|year = 1859| page = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_uYUOAAAAQAAJ/page/n248 211]}} The claimant sent messengers to Agesilaus in an attempt to persuade Agesilaus to his side. Agesilaus remained loyal to Nectanebo, fearing to become a turncoat. At one of the towns in the Nile Delta, the troops of Nectanebo and Agesilaus were besieged by the usurper, who had gained many sympathisers. Despite the enemy's numerical superiority, Nectanebo and Agesilaus were victorious and the revolt was put down in the fall of 360 BC.{{cite book |last=Grimal |first=Nicolás |title=A history of ancient Egypt |author2=Nicolas-Christophe Grimal |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=1994 |isbn=0-306-46158-7 |page=379}}

File:Gold Stater of Pharaoh Nektanebo II.jpg of Nectanebo II. The design on the reverse consists of Egyptian hieroglyphs meaning "good gold": pectoral necklace (nebu, "gold") crossing horizontally over a windpipe and heart (nefer, "good").{{cite book |title=American Journal of Numismatics |date=1989 |publisher=American Numismatic Society |page=26 |isbn=9780897222969 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkdmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Forbes |first1=R. J. |title=Studies in ancient technology. 5 |date=1965 |publisher=Brill Archive |page=184 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TAw4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA184 |language=en|quote=It is worth noting that a series of gold staters apparently issued by Tachos' successor, Nectanebo II (361/60 – 343) bear hieroglyphs meaning 'good gold' (nefer nub)}}]]

Religion played an important part in Nectanebo's domestic policy. He began his reign by officiating over the funeral of an Apis bull in Memphis. There, Nectanebo added a relief decoration to the eastern and western temples of Apis.{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=171}} Among notable sanctuaries erected under Nectanebo II are a temple of Khnum in Abu and a temple of Amun at Sekhtam. He also dedicated a diorite naos to Anhur-Shu (a fragment of it was found in the temples of Tjebnutjer).{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=173}} Nectanebo II was responsible for the increasing popularity of the Buchis cult. Under Nectanebo II a decree forbidding stone quarrying in the so-called "Mysterious Mountains" in Abydos was issued.{{cite book | last =Assmann| first =Jan |title =Death and salvation in ancient Egypt| publisher =Cornell University Press|year = 2005| page = 190| isbn =0-8014-4241-9}}

Foreign affairs under Nectanebo II were thwarted by repeated Achaemenid attempts to reconquer Egypt. Before the accession of Nectanebo II to the throne, the Persians attempted to reclaim Egypt in 385, 383, and 373 BC. Nectanebo used the peace to build up a new army and employed Greek mercenaries, which was a common practice at the time. In about 351 BC, the Achaemenid Empire embarked on a new attempt to reclaim Egypt. After a year of fighting, Nectanebo and his allied generals, {{ill|Diophantus of Athens|ca|Diofant d'Atenes}} and Lamius of Sparta, managed to defeat the Achaemenids. Having scored a resounding victory, Nectanebo II was acclaimed "Nectanebo the divine falcon" by his people, and cults were set up in his name.{{cite book | last = Blyth| first =Elizabeth| title =Karnak: evolution of a temple| publisher =Taylor & Francis|year = 2006| page = 222|isbn=0-415-40486-X}}File:Ushabti del faraone Nectanebo II 1 F1231 C2509.tif of Nectanebo II, Egyptian faience. Museo Egizio, Turin]]In 345/44 BC, Nectanebo supported the Phoenician rebellion against the Achaemenid Empire, led by the king of Sidon, Tennes,{{cite book | last =Brosius| first =Maria |title =The Persians: an introduction| publisher =Taylor & Francis|year = 2006| page = 29| isbn =0-415-32089-5}} and dispatched military aid in the form of 4,000 Greek mercenaries, led by Mentor of Rhodes.{{cite web|url=http://www.third-millennium-library.com/readinghall/UniversalHistory/OLD_GREECE/4OI-3OI_BC/6-EGYPT.html|title=Cambridge's Ancient History of Greece|author=H. R. Hall|publisher=Third Millennium Library|access-date=March 4, 2011|archive-date=March 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315132615/http://www.third-millennium-library.com/readinghall/UniversalHistory/OLD_GREECE/4OI-3OI_BC/6-EGYPT.html|url-status=usurped}} However, having heard of the approach of the forces of Artaxerxes III, Mentor opened communication with the Persians in collusion with Tennes.

At the end of 344 BC, ambassadors of Artaxerxes III arrived in Greece, asking for the Greeks' participation in a campaign against Egypt.Dandamaev, p. 309 Athens and Sparta treated the ambassadors with courtesy, but refrained from committing to an alliance against Egypt. Other cities, however, decided to support the Persians: Thebes sent 1,000 hoplites and Argos 3,000.

In the winter of 343 BC, Artaxerxes set off for Egypt. The Egyptian army, headed by Nectanebo, consisted of 60,000 Egyptians, 20,000 Libu, and as many Greek mercenaries.Dandamaev, p. 310 In addition, Nectanebo had a number of flat-bottomed boats intended to prevent an enemy from entering the Nile mouths.{{cite book | last =Maspero| first = G.|title =History of Egypt| publisher =Kessinger Publishing|year = 2003| page = 309| isbn =0-7661-3512-8}} The vulnerable points along his Mediterranean sea border and east boundary were protected by strongholds, fortifications and entrenched camps. Persian forces were strengthened by Mentor and his men, well acquainted with the eastern border of Egypt, and by 6,000 Ionians.

Nectanebo II was ultimately defeated and, in the summer of 342 BC, Artaxerxes entered MemphisBrosius, p. 30 and installed a satrap.{{cite book| last =Watterson| first =Barbara| title =The Egyptians| publisher =Wiley-Blackwell| year =1998| page =[https://archive.org/details/egyptianspeoples00barb/page/182 182]| isbn =0-631-21195-0| url =https://archive.org/details/egyptianspeoples00barb/page/182}} Nectanebo fled to Upper Egypt and finally to Nubia, where he was granted asylum. He, however, preserved a degree of power there for some time. With the help of Khabash, Nectanebo made a vain attempt to regain the throne.{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=177}}

File:The black siltstone obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II, c.350 BCE. From Cairo, Egypt. British Museum.jpg obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II. According to the vertical inscriptions he set up this obelisk at the doorway of the sanctuary of Thoth, the Twice-Great, Lord of Hermopolis. Today, it is located in the British Museum, London.]]

Though placed in an unfortunate period of Egyptian history, and with his legacy perhaps marred by being the last pharaoh to rule an independent Egypt, Nectanebo was an extensive builder, likely on a scale that would equal many kings of the glory days of the New Kingdom.{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=170}} References to either Nectanebo II or his grandfather have been found almost ubiquitously at the premier religious centres, and the piety of the two kings matched those of the great kings of the past, attested to by the numerous monuments across Egypt bearing their names.{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=171}} Nectanebo II, specifically, built and improved temples across the country, and he donated extensively to the priesthoods of the plethora of sites which he donated to. Nectanebo's name has been found at Heliopolis, Athribis, and Bubastis in the Nile Delta, among other places, but he built most extensively at Sebennytos,{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=172}} including the modern site of Behbeit El Hagar. The reliefs of the temples at Sebennytos would leave a distinct mark on the art of the later Ptolemaic Kingdom. The religious focus of his building campaigns, however, may not be solely due to sheer piety; because Nectanebo was an usurper, he likely sought to legitimise his rule over Egypt religiously.{{Sfn | Myśliwiec | 2000 | p=170}}

File:God Horus Protecting King Nectanebo II MET DT559.jpg statue of Horus protecting Nectanebo II]]

Except for the small-scale greywacke statue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which shows Nectanebo II standing before the image of Horus, no other annotated portraits of Nectanebo II are known.{{cite web |title=An Egyptian Colossal Quartzite Head of the Pharaoh Nectanebo II |url=http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5078748 |access-date=March 5, 2011 |publisher=Christie's}} In the greywacke statue, Nectanebo II is shown in a nemes and uraeus. His bent arm with the sword stands for the hieroglyph nakht, the falcon represents Horus, while the hieroglyph in Nectanebo's right hand stands for heb.{{cite web |title=The God Horus Protecting King Nectanebo II |url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/amica/amico1256763-105620.html |access-date=March 5, 2011 |publisher=David Rumsey Map Collection/AMICA Library}} Other portraits attributed to Nectanebo II (all featuring the khepresh) include a quartzite head in the museum of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, a basalt head in Alexandria, a granite head acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and a damaged quartzite head.

File:Saqqara,_Sarcophagus_of_Nectanebo_II_(never_used),_British_Museum.jpg

In 1798, Napoleon captured the Egyptian city of Alexandria.{{Cite web |title=The Campaign in Egypt |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/the-campaign-in-egypt/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=napoleon.org |language=en-US}} Soon after, following the Battle of Alexandria in 1801, Napoleon's forces surrendered to the British, and conditionally turned over antiquities they had gathered from the ancient city. Notably, among these was the Rosetta Stone, as well as a seven ton sarcophagus, covered in hieroglyphics. Soon after the British secured these, they were approached by locals who believed that this was the tomb of Alexander the Great.{{Cite journal |last=Chugg |first=Andrew |date=2002 |title=The Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/826879 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=8–26 |issn=0017-3835}} Thereafter, the sarcophagus was taken to London, where it still resides at the British Museum.{{Cite web |title=sarcophagus; bath-tub (re-use); religious/ritual vessel {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10 |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |language=en}}

For a time, the sarcophagus was believed to have belonged to Alexander. However, after the translation of the Rosetta Stone, the writings on the sarcophagus were deciphered, and it became clear the tomb was not fashioned for him. The hieroglyphics on the tomb were sections from the Book of What is in the Underworld, and contained the cartouche of Nectanebo II. The tomb was likely created for Nectanebo, before going unused as he was overthrown and fled to Nubia.{{Cite book |last=Van de Mieroop |first=Marc |title=A history of ancient Egypt |date=2011 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-6071-1 |edition=1. publ |series=Blackwell history of the ancient world |location=Chichester}}

File:Egyptian_Conglomerate_Sarcophagus_of_Nectanebo_II_Later_Used_as_Ritual_Bath_in_Attarin_Mosque,_30th_Dynasty,_c._345_BC_(35701905434).jpg

It has been argued that the sarcophagus did indeed house the remains of Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great's body was temporarily entombed in Memphis following his death in 323 BC, and Saqqara is a suspected location of his temporary Memphite tomb. Nectanebo had erected a temple there, where he may have intended to be laid to rest. It is possible the tomb was vacant in Memphis at the same time Alexander's body was placed there. When Alexander's remains were moved to Alexandria in 280 BC, it may have been moved along with the sarcophagus. In an article in the Egyptology journal Kmt (fall 2020), Andrew Chugg showed that a 3rd century BC fragment of a high status Macedonian tomb found embedded in the foundations of St Mark's Basilica in Venice in 1960 (which was believed to have been brought over from Alexandria along with the relics of St. Mark in 828 AD) is an exact fit as part of a tomb-casing for the sarcophagus, sparking renewed claims that the sarcophagus once held Alexander's remains.A. M. Chugg, [https://www.academia.edu/44109577/Was_Alexander_the_Great_Originally_Interred_in_the_Usurped_Sarcophagus_of_Nectanebo_II_In_KMT_A_Modern_Journal_of_Egyptology_Volume_31_Number_3_Fall_2020 "Was Alexander the Great Originally Interred in the Usurped Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II?"] Kmt: A Modern Journal of Egyptology, Volume 31, Number 3, Fall 2020, pp. 66–74

At the Attarine Mosque, where it was found by Napoleon's men, holes had been drilled in the sarcophagus. It had been used as a ritual bath when Alexandria was under Islamic rule.

{{main|Alexander Romance}}

File:Droom van Nectanebo - Google Art Project.jpg

File:Sola Busca tarot card 33.jpg

There is an apocryphal tale appearing in the pseudo-historical Alexander Romance that details another end for the last native pharaoh. Soon after Alexander the Great's godhood was confirmed by the Libyan Sibyl of Zeus Ammon at the Siwa Oasis, a rumor was begun that Nectanebo II, following defeat in his last battle, did not travel to Nubia but instead to the court of Philip II of Macedon in the guise of an Egyptian magician. There, while Philip was away on campaign, Nectanebo convinced Philip's wife Olympias that Amun was to come to her and that they would father a son. Nectanebo, disguising himself as Amun, slept with Olympias and from this event came Alexander.{{cite book |last=Ogden |first=Daniel |title=Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-513575-X |page=59 }}

This myth would hold strong appeal for the Egyptians, who desired continuity and harbored a strong dislike for foreign rule. In art of this event, Nectanebo is usually depicted as having dragon-like features, for example in the Speculum Historiale.{{cite web|title=Héros, d'Achille à Zidane|url=http://classes.bnf.fr/heros/grand/fr_50_120v.htm|work=BnF|language=fr|quote=Vincent de Beauvais, qui reprend cette tradition légendaire initiée par le Pseudo-Callisthène à la fin du III e siècle et suivie par un certain nombre d'auteurs médiévaux, raconte comment Olympias, abusée par les tours de magie de Nectanebo, a conçu Alexandre avec lui, sous la forme d'un dragon.}}

In the early Ptolemaic tale of Nectanebo and Petesis,{{cite book |last=Maspero |first=Gaston |title=Popular Stories of Ancient Egypt |location=New York |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |year=1915 |pages=239–242 |oclc=5696112 }} preserved only in a Greek fragment from the Serapeum of Saqqara, the pharaoh has a prophetic dream of Isis in which the god Onuris is angry with him because of his unfinished temple in Sebennytos. Nectanebo calls in the best sculptor of the realm, Petesis, to finish the job, but he bungles his assignment when he gets drunk and chases a beautiful girl instead. The narrative ends abruptly here, but this is probably the preface to the fall of Egypt.{{cite journal |last=Koenen |first=Ludwig |title=The Dream of Nektanebos |journal=The Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists |volume=22 |year=1985 |issue=1/4 |pages=171–194 |jstor=43785964 }} Al-Biruni's A History of India reproduces the story.{{cite book |author=Al Beruni |author-link=Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī |translator-first=Edward |translator-last=Sachau |title=Alberuni's India |location=London |publisher=K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. |year=1910 |oclc=4384506 }}

File:Alexander unhorsing Porrus - British Library Royal MS 20 B xx f53r (detail).jpg

The legend of Nectanebo (or Nectanebus, or Natanabo, as reported in some versions of the Alexander Romance) left a profound mark on European culture up to the Renaissance and beyond. It is no coincidence that this character is included in the Sola Busca tarot (with the name Natanabo) together with other important "actors" of the same legend: Alexander, Philip of Macedon, Olympias and Ammon.{{cite book |last=Gnaccolini|first=Laura Paola|title=I Tarocchi Sola Busca e la cultura ermetico-alchemica tra Marche e Veneto alla fine del Qattrocento |publisher=Skira =location=Milan |year=2012 |isbn=978-88-572-1764-2 |page=22 }} An alchemical interpretation of this character was provided by the Italian scholar Sofia Di Vincenzo in a study on the Sola Busca Tarot, where she explains that Natanabo represents a celestial messenger who came to earth with a gift, the helmet, which is a symbol of invulnerability and both physical and mental potency.{{cite book |last=Di Vincenzo|first=Sofia |title=Sola Busca Tarot |publisher=U.S. Games Systems |location=Stamford, Connecticut|year=1998|isbn=1-57281-130-7 |page=58}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Depuydt |year=2010 |first=Leo |title=New Date for the Second Persian Conquest, End of Pharaonic and Manethonian Egypt: 340/39 B.C.E. |journal=Journal of Egyptian History |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=191–230 |doi=10.1163/187416610X541709 }}
• {{cite book |last=Lloyd |year=1994 |first=Alan B. |section=Egypt, 404–332 B.C. |pages=337–360 |title=The Cambridge Ancient History VI: The Fourth Century B.C. |edition=2nd |editor=D.M. Lewis |editor2=John Boardman |editor3=Simon Hornblower |editor4=M. Ostwald |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-23348-8 |title-link=iarchive:iB_Ca/06/page/n373 |name-list-style=amp |editor-link=David Malcolm Lewis |editor2-link=John Boardman (art historian) |editor3-link=Simon Hornblower |editor4-link=Martin Ostwald }}
• {{Cite book |last=Myśliwiec |first=Karol |title=The twilight of ancient Egypt: first millennium B.C.E |date=2000 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-3716-8 |location=Ithaca, N.Y |pages=173}}
• {{cite book |last=Nawotka |year=2017 |first=Krzysztof |title=The Alexander Romance by Ps.-Callisthenes: A Historical Commentary |publisher=Brill |place=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-33521-9 |url={{googlebooks|MtMuDwAAQBAJ|plainurl=y}} }}
• {{cite magazine |last=Pascual |year=2013 |first=José |title=La datación de la ascensión al trono de Esparta de Agesilao II y la cronología de la dinastía XXX egipcia |magazine=Gerión |publisher=Complutense University of Madrid |volume=30 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.5209/rev_GERI.2012.v30.41802 |issn=0213-0181 }}

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{{s-bef |before=Teos}}

{{s-ttl |title=Pharaoh of Egypt |years=358–340 BC }}

{{s-aft |after=Artaxerxes III}}

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{{Pharaohs}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nectanebo 2}}

Category:Pharaohs of the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:Year of death unknown