Psamtik II

Psamtik II (Egyptian name: Nefer-Ib-Re, meaning "Beautiful is the Heart of Re") ruled Egypt from 595 to 589 BC as part of the Saite-based Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The Greeks and Romans called him Psammetichus or Psammeticus. He was the son of Necho II.

In 592 BC, Psamtik II led a military campaign into Nubia, reaching as far south as the Third or Fourth Cataract of the Nile. A stela from Karnak, dated to his third year, records a heavy defeat inflicted on the kingdom of Kush. The Victory Stela of Kalabsha also commemorates this victory. A Greek graffito on the leg of a colossal statue of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel notes that the king came to Elephantine, and that his army—led by Potasimto for the foreign troops (Greeks and Carians) and Amasis for the Egyptians—advanced beyond Kerkis, near the Fifth Cataract, deep inside Kushite territory.

This was the first Egyptian-Nubian conflict since the reign of Tantamani. The Kushite king Anlamani had revived Napata’s power, and Psamtik II’s campaign aimed to crush any future Kushite ambitions to reconquer Egypt. The Egyptian army fought fierce battles at Pnubs (Kerma) and the capital Napata, looting temples and destroying royal Kushite statues. The Kushite king at the time was Aspelta, Anlamani’s younger brother and son of Senkamanisken. The Karnak stela, dated to II Shemu day 10 of Psamtik II’s third year, states that the army reached Pnubs, where Nubians from across Kush had risen in anger. The rebels surrendered without a single arrow being shot, and 4,200 men were captured as prisoners.

The campaign weakened Kush and ended its chance to regain control of Egypt. The Nubian rulers later moved their capital south from Napata to Meroë, though historians note this was not solely due to the defeat. Psamtik II did not follow up his victory, likely because of troop shortages, and his forces withdrew to the First Cataract, leaving Elephantine as Egypt’s southern border. As a result, monuments of the 25th Dynasty Kushite kings in Egypt were deliberately defaced, with their names and royal emblems hacked out.

In 591 BC, during his fourth year, Psamtik II launched an expedition into Palestine to stir up a Levantine revolt against the Babylonians, involving figures such as Zedekiah of Judah. Some scholars date this military reconquest of the Levant to 592 BC.

Despite his short six-year reign, Psamtik II was an active builder. A significant Saite temple, likely built by him and his son Apries, stood at El-Mahalla El-Kubra in the Nile Delta. Napoleonic expedition officials noted many reused granite and turquoise pharaonic elements there, and in 1828 Nestor L’Hôte counted over 120 granite columns in the village’s mosque alone. A 1.8-meter red granite fragment bearing Psamtik II’s name and a door lintel of Apries were also found there.

At Heliopolis, Psamtik II erected a pair of obelisks over 21.79 meters high. One, the Obelisk of Montecitorio, likely toppled by Persian invaders in 525 BC, was later brought to Rome by Emperor Augustus in 10 BC.

On Philae island, Psamtik II built a kiosk, the oldest known monument there, consisting of two rows of four columns connected by screen walls. He also founded the Temple-house at Hibis in El-Kharga Oasis for the triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, with installations for the cult of Osiris. This 19.5-by-26-meter temple stood on the bank of an ancient lake, now vanished. Its decorations were completed under the Persian kings Darius I and possibly Darius II. The temple included a hypostyle hall with two-by-two papyrus-column capitals, a hall of offerings, three rear sanctuaries, and a side chapel for Psamtik II’s cult. The front featured a pronaos with four papyrus-bundle columns and screen walls; during construction, the side walls were extended for a courtyard, though this addition was only completed in the 30th year of a later reign.