Egypt Exploration Society

The Earliest Dated Monument of Amasis and the End of the Reign of Apries Author(s): Anthony Leahy Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 74 (1988), pp. 183-199 Published by: Egypt Exploration Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3821755 Accessed: 22/04/2009 07:09
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(I83)

JEA 74

THE EARLIEST DATED MONUMENT OF AMASIS AND THE END OF THE REIGN OF APRIES
By ANTHONY LEAHY
Publication of a donation stela BM 952 (year one of Amasis) followed by analysis of the sources for the civil war with Apries (P. BM 10113, Elephantine stela, cuneiform tablet BM 33041, Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus). P. BM 101 13 and BM 952 together show that Apries was still recognized at Thebes in October, 570, over eight months after the first monument dated by Amasis. It is argued that Apries was in Egypt for the whole of that period and only went abroad after his defeat at 'Immw/Momemphis. His fortified palace at Memphis may have been his base, and it is suggested that Apries had more native support than hitherto supposed. The effectiveness

of Amasis' subsequent propaganda, reflected in Herodotus, has misled historians in this respect.

AMONG the less prepossessing

treasures

of the British Museum

is a stela (BM 952),1

dated to year i of Amasis (pl. XXV and fig. i). It is of limestone and measures 53.8 x 30 x 8 cm. Although no information on its provenance is available, its dedication to Horus, 'lord of hwt-nsw', suggests that it comes from el-Kom el-Ahmar el-Sawaris/Sharuna, a site on the east bank of the Nile, some twenty kilometres south of el-Hibeh, and currently being studied by an expedition from the University of Tiibingen.2 The offering scene is unexceptional. The rounded top of the stela is echoed by an arched, elongated pt hieroglyph, from the tips of which framing lines drop vertically to the bottom of the text section. Beneath the sky-sign is a conventional winged disc. Below this, the king, who faces left and is described as 'The Good God Khnemibre, living for ever', presents a field symbol to Horus, 'Lord of hwt-nsw', behind whom stands Isis, 'Lady of hwt-nsw'. The king wears a wig encircled by a fillet and falling almost vertically onto, or behind, the shoulder. Traces of the uraeus can just be seen on the forehead. The cartouche is slightly damaged, as is the king's head, and the nomen in line two of the main text, but similar surface pitting is observable elsewhere on the stela, in quite innocuous places, and is certainly not deliberate. The text of six and a half lines is crudely incised, and somewhat obscured by a repaired diagonal break across the lower half. A blank section at the bottom of the stela would have allowed it to be inserted in the ground.
1 The stela is published by kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. I am grateful to Dr M. L. Bierbrier and Mr T. G. H. James for access to the stela, and to P. BM 10113 (discussed below). For its brief bibliography, see D. Meeks in E. Lipinfiski (ed.), State and Temple Economy in the Ancient Near East, ii (Louvain, 1979), 679. Study of the Elephantine stela of Amasis in Cairo (n. 27 below), in the context of preparation of a corpus of Saite inscriptions, was made possible by a grant from the British Academy which is gratefully

acknowledged here. 2 For the site, see F. Gomaa, Die Besiedlung Agyptens wdhrenddesMittleren Reiches (Wiesbaden, 1986), 343 -4, and P. Vernus, RdE 37 (I986), 146 n. 40. For preliminary reports on the work of the Tiubingen expedition, see L. Gestermann et al., GM 104 (I988), 53-70.

184

ANTHONY

LEAHY

JEA 74

d= 0

lllI 0
A"n,

j
' "-Th """"'-<<'1 0I

c;0

/v

?n (^

AM

^-

-4i ,
4 4b f ~~~~~~~
A JI

FIG. i. BM 952.

i 988

THE EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I85

Translation
(i) 'Year one, second month of Inundation, day one, under the Majesty of the Horus s[mn] m't, the Two Ladies s; Nt spd t;wy, Horus of Gold (2) stp ntrw, King of Upper and Lower Egypt Hnm-ib-R', Son of Re ['Thms s; Nt], living for ever, beloved of Horus, lord of Hutnesu. On this good day, (3) donation a of a field of ten arourae of dry land b which c is in the agricultural district of Skk, d to maintain a lamp e (4) before Horus, lord of Hutnesu, under the authority of the doorkeeper of Horus, lord of Hutnesu, Djedthotefankh, f son of (5) Pediese.g Its southern limit h the dry land, its northern the field of ...(?), i its western (6) . . . [its eastern the] dry land which is near i the 'r-tree, k (7) [it being established for ever]l and ever before Horus, lord of Hutnesu.'

Notes
(a) For tV st;t h.t, see Wb. Iv, 356, II. (b) On sw-land, see D. Meeks, Le grand texte des donations au temple d'Edfou (Cairo, 1972), 83 (96). (c) For the writing of nty, see Leahy, RdE 34 (1982-3), 84, s). (d) For sht, see Meeks, op. cit. 147. t? sht Skk is also mentioned in P. Rylands IX, i6/I I (F. LI. Griffith, Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri in the John Rylands Library, III
(Manchester,
1909), 424,

overlooked

by me, GM 49 (1981),

44 n. io) as a village

near

el-Hibeh. Although only the o determinative is used here, the most likely etymology of the toponym is S;-k(;)k(;), 'Field of kaka-plants'. kk has often been identified as Ricinus communis, L. Rizinicus, although R. Germer, Untersuchungen fiber Arzneimittelpflanzen im alten Agypten (Hamburg, 1979), 33I-5, has expressed reservations. The equation has
recently been reasserted by D. Brent Sandy, CdE 62 (1987),
49-52.

Meeks,

ALex I, 77.4521I

and iii, 79.3216, has suggested that it can also have the more general sense of 'buissons' or 'broussailles', but the examples cited do not exclude a consistently specific usage. It seems to be a feature of the Heracleopolitan region, with strong religious associations, since Osiris, Nephthys, and Bastet are all called hry-ib i;t-kk: P. Rylands IX, 22/7 = Griffith, Catalogue of the Demotic Papyri, III, 425; G. Daressy, ASAE 21 (1921), 141, no. 4; Daressy, Textes et dessins magiques (Cairo, 1903), 37. It is also reflected in the epithet of a goddess, . . . kk nbtpt, on a block from Heracleopolis (J. Lopez, OrAnt 13 (1974), 306) and the local appellation of Osiris, hw mkk, A. Forgeau, BIFAO 84 (1984), I17 n. i. The plant called qq, attested only in hwkk, two toponyms P;-qq (R. Faulkner, Wilbour Papyrus, iv (London, 1952), 90) and T;-nt-sqq (ibid. 89) from the same general area, may be the same as kk, in which case the entries in G. Charpentier, Recueil de materiaux epigraphiques relatifs a la botanique de l'Egypte antique (Paris, I981), nos. 1239 and 1179 should be conflated. The determinative used in P;-qq is in their not k, customary with kk, but the scribes of P. Wilbour were not consistent J-, usage in this respect, e.g. 'r (n. k below), which normally has 0, is once determined by A

(Faulkner,op. cit. 56). Since the castorplant is, in any case, the size of a small tree, there is no difficulty (Brent Sandy, CdE 62, 49, 51). W. Helck, Die BeziehungenAgyptens zu
Vorderasien (2nd edn., Wiesbaden,
1971),

522, no. 238, connects

qq with Rizinicus,

though

not with kk. On the convergence of k and q, see C. Evrard-Derriks and J. Quaegebeur, CdE 54 (1979), 47 n. 5; H. De Meulenaere and J. Yoyotte, BIFAO 83 (1983),I I5; M. Chauveau, RdE 37 (1986), 39 n. 48; in words of foreign origin, M. Gorg, JEA 63 (I977), 178-80.
(e) For the sense of hr hbs, see Leahy, GM49
(1981),

37-46,

esp. 44 n. I i. To Meeks'

list

of donations relating to lamps in State and Temple Economy, 650 n. 204, should be added Moscow, Pushkin i. i.a.5645, published by S. Hodjash and 0. Berlev, The Egyptian Reliefs and Stelae in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (Leningrad, 1982), 170, 173 (nature of donation misunderstood by editors).

186

ANTHONY

LEAHY

JEA 74

(f) The writing of the name is notable for the use of R = 'nh; cf. A. Fakhry, Bahria Oasis, i (Cairo, 1942), 49. to make this reading, rather than P;-n-st, (g) Just enough is visible of the two ends of certain. (h) As a description of the limits of the donation on stelae, rsy n-imw is a rare, late alternative to the usual p;y.f / p;y. w rsy, for which see R. el-Sayed, Documents relatifs a Sais (Cairo, 1975), 66 (k) and Leahy, RdE 34 (1982-3), 88 n. n. It is found in demotic papyri from
about the same date onwards, e.g. P. Louvre E. 10935, lines 9-IO (M. Malinine, textesjuridiques, I (Paris, 1953), 125-31; II (Cairo, I983), 77, pls. xviii-xix. Choix de

(i) The identity of the bird and the reading of the name are problematic. (j) For hnw in the sense of 'neighbour', see Wb. II, 494, 4; cf. Meeks, in Hommages a la
memoire de Serge Sauneron,
I (Cairo, 1979), 252

(62).

The

9 determinative

is evidently

borrowed from hnw, 'jubilation' (Wb. II, 493). (k) The 'r tree was another distinctive feature of the Heracleopolitan area and closely associated with Osiris. This is probably reflected in the Wilbour papyrus toponym p sg; n 'r (contra Vernus, RdE 19 (I967), I69, who takes 'r as a word for 'goat'), and the epithet of a local form of Osiris, hnt 'r. It may also be incorporated in the name of the ancient shrine N'rt. For discussion of these terms, see now Valerie Billingham, 'The Geography of the Nome of Heracleopolis Magna from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty' (University of Birmingham Ph.D. thesis, I987). The identity of the tree is not certain, cf. Germer, Arzneimittelpflanzen, 259 and Charpentier, Recueil, nos. 255-6, 258. (1) The lacuna offers space for no more than iw [.fmn r nh]h dt, for which see Leahy, RdE 34 (1982-3), 83 n. o).

Commentary The import of the stela is clear. It is a characteristically concise record of a donation3 of ten arourae of dry land in the district of Shakek to endow a lamp in the temple of Horus at Hutnesu. The administration of the gift is placed in the care of a temple official, and its location is described in terms of the adjoining plots of land. The provenance of the stela makes it one of the more southerly of such records in
existence.4
3The indispensable reference work is that by Meeks cited in n. i. A few bibliographic additions can be made to his list of donation stelae: 22.2.0: photograph in Naissance de l'ecriture, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 7 mai-9 aout I982 (Paris, I982), 282, no. 234. 22.8.15: imperfect copy in H. M. Stewart, Egyptian Stelae, Reliefs and Paintings from the Petrie Collection, III, 4, no. 5, pl. 4 (see my review in JEA 72 (1986), 226). 22.8.3 1: published by Hodjash and Berlev, The Egyptian Reliefs and Stelae in the Pushkin Museum, 157-8, i6o, 164, no. io6. 22. 10. I 9: publishedbyY. Koenig, ASAE68 (1982), III -13. 23.2.21: publishedbyJ.-L. Chappaz, Genava 30 (1982), 71-81 (probably luput ii, not i as suggested by Meeks and still by M.-A. Bonheme, Les Noms royaux dans l'Egypte de la Troisieme Periode Intermediaire (Cairo, 1987), 212- I6; cf. K. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period (2nd edn., Warminster, 1I986), 542. 26.2.4 and 26.2.11: published by Leahy, RdE 34 (1982-3), 77-91. 26.3.Ib: copy in Stewart, op. cit. 7, no. 14, pl. 3 (cf.JEA 72, 226). 26.4.ob: now in New York, MMA 02.4.105 B. 26.4.4a: new translation by T. Christensen, GM 65 (I983), 7-24. p. 68i,B4: published in Hodjash and Berlev, op. cit. 162, 164-5. Stelae not in Meeks' list are: Moscow, Pushkin Museum I.I.a.5645, year i8 Apries, published by Hodjash and Berlev, op. cit. 170, 173, no. i I4; Cairo T. 23.10.24.2, unpublished, cf. Leahy, GM 49 (1981), 44 n. 28. Cf. also the stelae of Osorkon III discovered at Hermopolis (A. J. Spencer et al., Ashumein (I982) (London, 1983), 12-13, no. 1982/77) and Akoris (Preliminary Report, Second Season of the Excavations at the Site of Akoris, Egypt, I982, by the Archaeological Mission of the Heian Museum of Ancient History, The Palaeological Association of Japan, Kyoto, 1983), and the stela of Taharqa published by Meeks, Hommages a la memoire de Serge Sauneron, I, 221-59. 4 Meeks, State and Temple Economy, 6 i n. i9.

I988

THE EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I87

The chronology of year one Apart from its topographical information, the great interest of this stela lies in its date. It is one of eleven donation stelae known from the time of Amasis,5 of which three, perhaps four, date to year i. Of the other three, Berlin 14998 (probably from the western Delta) dates to III prt and Louvre C. 298 (from Pharbaithos) to IV smw, i. Meeks lists the remaining stela, in a magazine at Karnak, as of 'An i(?) d'Amasis'.6 If the reading were certain, and the stela definitely Theban, it would be a valuable addition to the documentation, but a precise date within the year is apparently not given, and as the donation recorded is to Isis of Buto it may not be local at all. The only other monument to date to year i (II smw), the Elephantine stela of Amasis (see below), is retrospective. The earliest papyri from his reign date to year 2 (see n. 36 below). BM 952 is thus by some five months the earliest record of Amasis.7 The stela is particularly valuable because it allows the accession of Amasis to be ascertained with an unusual degree of precision. This has been discussed recently by Spalinger,8 but is worth reviewing briefly. Gardiner showed long ago that, in the Saite period, 'year i' designated whatever was left of the civil year from the day of accession, so that 'year 2' began with the following New Year's Day.9 There would be no advantage for Amasis in deviating from this, so it may be assumed that he followed contemporary dynastic practice. On this assumption, the fact that II ;ht i falls in 'year i' means that Amasis must have claimed the throne in the first month of the civil year, and that his first regnal year occupied almost the whole of that year. It is now clear that Amasis' reign commenced in 570 BC.10On the basis of Parker's calculations,11 I ;ht i fell on 13 January 570, so that the new king counted from some point between that day and I2 February, when II ;ht began. Thirteenth January will also have marked the beginning of Apries' twentieth and final year, from which there are only two dated texts. One is a hieroglyphic inscription from a Hermopolis, which lacks a month and day.12 The other is an abnormal hieratic papyrus from Thebes, P. BM 10113 (pI. XXVI, i), recording a loan contract made in year 20, II smw I0 of pr-'; W;h-ib-R".13 Since papyri of the period always use the nomen in date formulae,
5 Ibid. 679-80, lists ten, to which should be added the undated stela from Memphis (Cairo T. 23.10.24.2) 7 First noted by G. Posener, RdPh 21 (1947), 129. 6 Ibid. 679, 26.5.IC. mentioned in n. 3 above. 8 A. Spalinger, Acts of the First International Congress of Egyptology (= Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur 9 A. H. Gardiner, JEA 31 (I945), des alten Orients I4), 593-604. 17-20. 10 R. A. Parker, MDAIK 15 (I957), 2o8-I2; E. Hornung, ZAS 92 (I965), 38-9; E. Edel, GM 29 (1978), 15; cf. 11 Op. cit. 212. A. B. Lloyd, Herodotus Book II: A Commentary, I (Leiden, 1975), I89-93. 12 H. Wild, Les Antiquites egyptiennes de la collection du Dr Widmer (Musee cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne, 1956), 25-6, pl. iv. See also Vom Euphrat zum Nil, Eine Ausstellung der Gesellschaft der Freunde im Kunstmuseum des Kantons Thurgau, Kartause Ittingen, 28 Orient-Museums eines Schweizerischen April- 5 September I985, 38-9. The stela is dedicated to Thoth nb hmnw. Meeks, State and Temple Economy, 679, takes this to be the Upper Egyptian Hermopolis, but the geographical distribution of donation stelae (n. 4 above) makes it more likely that one of the Delta sites of the same name is alluded to, as Wild suggests. 13 N. Reich, Papyri juristischen Inhalts (Vienna, 1914), 5-8, pls. i-ii; Malinine, Choix de textes juridiques, i, in Reich's publication are clear enough but one is included here for II, 5-6. The photographs 15-I9; convenience. In view of the implications of the date, I have collated the text myself and consulted Dr S. P. Vleeming. I am grateful to him for reconsidering the reading, and for his opinion that it is correct. A project to catalogue this and other abnormal hieratic/early demotic papyri in the British Museum was announced by Dr E. Cruz-Uribe at the Third International Conference of Demotic Studies at Cambridge in September, 1987.

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YEA 74

the king must be Apries rather than Psammetichus I, despite the high date.'4 The figures are clearly preserved, and the possibility of scribal error is eliminated by two subsequent references in the text to year 21, IV ;ht, as the date by which the loan must be repaid. From these sources the following sequence for the first year of Amasis' reign can be established:
570 BC

13 January
12 February
12

Year 20 of Apries begins (still recognized at a Hermopolis at an unspecified date in this year).
Amasis recognized at Sharuna (II ;ht i). Reign begun within

July-io August October-8 November

the preceding month. Amasis recognized by this date (III prt) in at least one place in
the western Delta (Berlin 14998).

io

Battle described in first section of Elephantine stela (II smw). Amasis installed at Sais before the conflict (see below).
The last reference to Apries as king (P. BM 10113, from

I9 October

9 December

Thebes, dated to II smw Io). Amasis acknowledged by this date (IV smw i) at Pharbaithos
(Louvre C. 298).

The significance of the British Museum papyrus in this context has not hitherto been noticed.15 It shows that Apries was still recognized at Thebes over eight months after the earliest extant record of Amasis as king. It is especially surprising that the last trace of allegiance to Apries should be Theban because it has always been assumed, on the basis of Herodotus and the Elephantine stela, that Apries drew his support largely from Greek mercenaries based in the Delta. This point will be pursued below; here, it must suffice to note the implication that acceptance of Amasis was not as rapid or as universal as has sometimes been assumed, and that many months of uncertainty should be envisaged. The nature of the two British
Museum texts is important. Both are local products, routine legal creations

following the practice of the day and place which produced them. They reflect the contemporary political situation only incidentally.16 The inevitable incompleteness of the record hinders a more precise reconstruction
of events. A minor complication of the is that we do not know from what Amasis to date-from his acclamation point began by the army (Herodotus ii, I62), or from a subsequent, more formal coronation. The latter is the more likely, and is

certainly implied by the full titulary which the new king is accorded on BM 952.17 If the official stela of the Apis which Vercoutter has persuasively argued to have been
The attribution to Apries has been unanimously accepted by demotic specialists: S. Pernigotti, EVO 2 6 and CdE 56 (1981), 36. 21-4; H.-J. Thissen, Enchoria 10 (1980), 109; Vleeming, OMRO 6i (1980), 15 It was apparently not known to Posener, RdPh 21, 129, hence his conclusion that Amasis 'a ete reconnu par l'ensemble du pays des sa prise du pouvoir'. Its significance is lost on Spalinger, Acts, 594, because he believes it to be an 'inscription' and 'probably from Lower Egypt'. 16 This is on the assumption that the stela records a private endowment, not a royal one. On the problem of identifying the actual donor in these texts, see my comments in GM 49, 42. 17 For the adoption of the royal titulary, see Bonheme, Les noms royaux, 11-17.
(979),
14

988

THE

EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I89

born in year 12 of Apries, and to have died in year 5 of Amasis, had survived,18 giving the detailed information preserved on other Saite Serapeum stelae, it would presumably preserve the retrospective, official view of the chronology of the transition, implying the end of Apries' reign on the day before Amasis began his first regnal year. The events of the civil war For the course of the usurpation,19 as distinct from the chronology,
dependent on a consideration of Herodotus
ii,

we are

i62-9,

Diodorus

Siculus

I, 68, 2-5,

the Elephantine stela of Amasis, and a fragment of a Babylonian royal text. According to Herodotus,20 the defeat of an Egyptian army sent against Cyrene by Apries led to a rebellion. When Apries dispatched one of his officials,21 Amasis, to bring the soldiers to heel, the latter was proclaimed king by the rebels, and joined them, Apries alienating more of his subjects by the mutilation of an unfortunate courtier who brought the bad news. Apries advanced from Sais with onians against the oncoming Amasis. The battle which followed 30,000 Carians and lonians at Momemphis resulted in a victory for Amasis, the capture of Apries and, after an unspecified time, the death of the latter at the hands of the populace to whom he had been unwillingly surrendered by the new king. He was, howeve, granted burial in the dynastic cemetery in the precinct of Neith at Sais. Diodorus Siculus' more succinct account, written some four hundred years after Herodotus, differs on only two salient points. It records that Apries was forced to flee for safety to his mercenaries before any fighting occurred, and that the battle took place near the village of Marea. The modicum of independence which Diodorus demonstrates suggests that he was not, in this case, relying solely omission of on Herodotus for his information.22 Part of the difference-the Momemphis, which reappears elsewhere (I, 66, I2) as the place where Psambe the metichus I, with the help of Greek mercenaries, defeated his rivals-may encounter for an location result of confusion in his sources, but Marea is a likely between a king based in Sais and an army returning from Cyrene, and deserves to be considered seriously rather than rejected as a later, inferior, text.23 The Elephantine stela is the one extant Egyptian source to describe any facets of
18 Vercoutter's chronology is now 21-6. J. Vercoutter, Textes biographiques du Serapeum (Paris, 1962), obsolete: the bull would have been born in 578 and died in 566 at approximately eleven and a half. 19 See, in general, H. De Meulenaere, Herodotos over de 26ste dynastie (Louvain, 195 i), 77-82; F. Kienitz, Die politische Geschichte Agyptens vom 7, bis zum 4, Jahrhundert vor der Zeitwende (Berlin, 1953), I6I-4, and the works by Spalinger and Lloyd cited here in nn. 8 and 20. 20 The passage is discussed in detail in Lloyd, Herodotus, iii (Leiden, I988), 178-80. 21 No ancient source specifies Amasis' position before he became king. The widespread modern assumption that he was an army officer is likely to be correct, especially if Herodotus is right that he was of humble origin (for a note of caution on this, see Lloyd, Herodotus, III, 212), since the rest of Herodotus' description does not suggest a scribal career. The mutineers' acclamation of Amasis tends in the same direction. 22 For the possible sources of this section of Diodorus' Book I, see A. Burton, Diodorus Siculus Book i, A Commentary (Leiden, 1972), 25-8; cf. 0. Murray, JEA 56 (1970), I44-50, for the role of Hecataeus of Abdera; for the independence of Diodorus on Apries, see Lloyd, Herodotus, III, I71. 23 W. Helck, Geschichte des alten Agypten (Leiden-Cologne, I968), 255.

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YEA 74

the civil war explicitly. Although the text, known only from this exemplar, is dedicated to local gods, Elephantine does not figure in the narrative. A frontier was a standard location for such monumental commemoration, and the extant copy must be one of a number, based on a text composed at the capital by royal command, then adapted to local religious requirements.24 It is self-evidently a partial, retrospective account from the victor's standpoint, which predictably makes no reference to the manner in which he became king, but begins its narrative with Amasis already installed at Sais. As a royal inscription in the Konigsnovelle tradition, it subordinates even the detail it does give to the ritual response of Pharaoh challenged.25 These considerations must influence interpretation of the text, but do not require total scepticism. In particular, there is no justification for supposing that the dates given are not those of the events described.26 The extreme difficulties in recovering a full text from the very worn stone are reflected by the fact that Daressy's pioneering effort remains the only published copy of the whole inscription.27 Misreading of the dates on the stela has undermined most previous discussions, but Edel has now established the sense of a substantial part of the text and, most importantly, shown that the correct readings of the two dates on the stela are 'year I' and 'year 4' respectively (collated).28 It is unusual in recording two events which, although related, took place nearly two and a half years apart. The essence of the two sections is as follows:
Year one, II smw: Amasis, in his palace at Sais, was informed that Apries, accompanied by boats filled with Greeks (hIw-nbw)29 had reached Sht-mfk;t (Kom Abu Billu?). Amasis set forth and routed the opposition at 'Im;w (Kom el-Hisn). Nothing is said of the fate of

Apries, but measures were taken against his earlier base.

Year four, III ;ht 8: an Asiatic (sttiw) invasion of Egypt by land and sea was defeated at an unspecified place, probably near the eastern frontier. Apries, who apparently accompanied

the foreign force, did not survive and was honourably buried.
24 A good analogy is provided by the numerous records of Psammetichus II's Nubian campaign. It may be noted in passing that the dedication of the Shellal stela version to the local triad of Elephantine does not imply the presence of Psammetichus II at the first cataract, contra M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, inI (Berkeley, I980), 86 n. i. 25 On the constraints imposed by the genre, see N. Grimal, La Stele triomphale du roi Pi('ank)y (Cairo, 1 981 ), 26 Contra Kienitz, op. cit. I64. 295-8. 27 G. Daressy, RT 22 (1900), i-9. A partial translation was given by J. Breasted, Ancient Records, iv (New York, I906), ?? 996-1007. Improved readings of some sections have been made by Posener, ASAE 34 (1934), 148 and n. 4, and H. De Meulenaere, in C. Vandersleyen, Les Guerres d'Amosis (Brussels, 1971), 144. A few passages are studied from the formulaic point of view by Spalinger, Aspects of the Military Documents of the Ancient Egyptians (New Haven and London, I982), 255 (index). I have collated the text and am confident of the 28 Edel, GM 29, 13-19. reading of the passages discussed in this article. 29 The h.w-nbw of the stela have generally been equated with the Greeks of Herodotus, Lloyd, JHS 95 (1975), 59. The attempt by Vandersleyen, Les Guerres d'Amosis, 144 (cf. LA II, 1053-4), to identify them as Phoenicians is irretrievably undermined by an uncritical acceptance of Helck's description of the role of Cyprus (n. 40 below), and by misrepresentation of what Helck actually says. The latter does not, contrary to Vandersleyen, translate h;w-nbw as 'Asiatic'. The stela distinguishes clearly between the opponents of Amasis. In year i, they were hlw-nbw in kbnt boats, in year 4 they were sttiw in 'h'w boats. It is the latter whom Helck quite properly calls Asiatics, and Edel's demonstration that the events described for year 4 relate to the Babylonian invasion confirms the equation. This leaves the h.w-nbw as at least partly coterminous with the Greek mercenaries whom Herodotus describes as providing Apries' support. For a similar sense in the fourth century, see L. Limme in K. R. Veenhof (ed.), Schrijvend Verleden (Leiden, I983), 328 n. 19; 0. Perdu, RdE 36 (I985), 107 (o). On the wider use of the term, see now E. Iversen, ZAS 114 (I987), 54-9.

1988

THE
tablet

EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT
This

OF AMASIS

I9I

The second phase has been elucidated

cuneiform fragment (BM
33041).30

by Edel in the light of a tantalizing

is an unusual kind of royal text,

exhibiting a sudden transition from prayer to campaign record. Although it has long been recognized as a record of an attack on Egypt in year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar (which corresponds to year 4 of Amasis), the full significance of the passage has been clarified by three recent advances in understanding. One is the recognition that the the far-off areas in the midst of the sea, and parts of toponyms listed-Putuiaman, the Egyptian king raised troops, and not part of from which regions Egypt-are Nebuchadnezzar's conquests.31 The second is the identification of one of them, Putuiaman, as Cyrene.32 The third is Edel's incontrovertible equation of the events described with those in the second section of the Elephantine stela. The tablet is thus a record of an attack on Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar in his year 37, to which Amasis responded by raising forces from Cyrene, the Mediterranean, and Egypt itself. As far as it is preserved, it makes no reference to the outcome or to the presence of Apries. It is the Elephantine stela, with descriptions of events in both year i and year 4, that provides the link between the otherwise apparently unrelated Greek and Babylonian evidence. There is no trace of an attack from the east in Herodotus or Diodorus Siculus. This is presumably the result of ignorance,33 and suggests that tradition regarded the events of year i as decisive. There can be no doubt that it is those crucial, initial stages which Herodotus and Diodorus record, although the Greek accounts of the usurpation are not easily reconciled with that of the stela. On one broad aspect of the conflict-that Amasis had native support whereas Apries relied on Greek mercenary is agreement, as there is on the treatment accorded to Apries after his troops-there death. This apparent harmony is deceptive, reflecting the success of Amasis' propaganda (see below), rather than mutually independent confirmation. On other
30 D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (London, 1956), 94-5, pis. xx-xxi); translation by A. Oppenheim in J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, I955), 308; partial translation by P. Berger, Die neubabylonischen Kdnigsinschriften (Neukirchen-Vluyn, I973), 6, 68-9, 321, and by Edel, GM 29, translation reflects 5. I am most grateful to Professor W. G. Lambert for collating the text. Oppenheim's 14very accurately (except for the omission of 'King' in line i) what is present, with a minimum of restoration, and may usefully be compared with Edel's version. Although there are a number of minor inaccuracies in the last published version of the text (Wiseman, loc. cit.), the corrections do not significantly improve understanding of the text. At the beginning of line i of the reverse . . . -ra'-su is probably correct, the second sign certain. The following phrase 'King of Egypt' suggests that this is the end of the name of an Egyptian king, as widely recognized. Amasis is the only king of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty whose name could end so, which confirms that the next few lines refer to his reign, and to Nebuchadnezzar's year 37 itself, and are not a retrospective account of earlier events. Professor Lambert regards the reading [Ni]-ku-u (Wiseman, Nebuchadrezzar and Babylon (Oxford, I985), 40) at the beginning of line 2, as impossible. [Ni-ik]-ku-u could be read but [sa]-ku-u, 'chiefs', is epigraphically more likely. Since it is difficult to imagine why Necho should be mentioned at all, let alone just before the toponym 'Putuiaman', Wiseman's suggestion may safely be rejected. 31 First recognized by Berger, op. cit. 6; also by Edel, GM 29, 14-15. Berger's unambiguous elucidation has been misunderstood by A. Malamat, JANESCU 5 (I 973), 278, who credits him with identifying the contingents as part of the Babylonian army, and by Spalinger, SAK 5 (1977), 237 n. 63, who attributes to him the view that the tablet has to do solely with troop levies. 32 This is due to Edel, GM 29, 15-i6; Spalinger, Acts, 597. 33 For Herodotus' notoriously defective knowledge of Egypt's relations with the Near East, see Lloyd, Herodotus, III, 117 and 241.

192

ANTHONY

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JEA 74

points, they are at variance. There is discrepancy between Herodotus and Diodorus on the location of the decisive battle, and between Herodotus and the stela on the direction of the opposing forces.34 According to Herodotus, Apries was at Sais when the rebels advanced, whereas the stela places Amasis at Sais with his opponent moving north towards him. The simplest solution is as follows. The rebellious troops led by Amasis advanced on Sais from some point in the north-western Delta. There was an encounter early in 570 near the capital (Diodorus' Marea) which resulted in the seizure of Sais by Amasis, and the discomfiture and retreat of Apries. The former dated his reign from that point and was recognized as far south as Sharuna within a very short space of time. After a lengthy period of consolidation and preparation, Apries advanced from the direction of Memphis on Sais, was met en route by Amasis and defeated at 'Imw, which can probably be identified with Herodotus' Momemphis.35 Apries again escaped and this time fled abroad, to return only in year 4. This leaves Herodotus misunderstanding the direction of the two forces in the second conflict. The alternative of supposing that the battles at 'Imw and Momemphis are distinct requires two encounters in the same general area. This is not impossible, given the strategic importance of the Nile arm between Memphis and Sais, but is perhaps less likely. There are too many imponderables to allow a definitive conclusion. It is possible, for example, that Apries was resident the at Memphis at outbreak of hostilities, so that Amasis was able ttotake is s without a struggle, and that Herodotus made a false assumption. Any schema must, however, start with the primary, non-partisan texts BM 952 and P. BM 10113 rather than the conflicting secondary sources. Sharuna is unlikely to have dated by Amasis before an upset of some sort had occurred, while Apries would not still have been acknowledged at Thebes eight months later if he had been decisively defeated before then. After the second battle of year i, Apries escaped and must have gone abroad, ultimately to Babylonian territory. Only Amasis is attested in Egypt between then and year 4, by several papyri from el-Hibeh in years 2 and 3, and by a Theban papyrus and a donation stela from Bubastis in year 3,36 and it may be assumed that overt support for Apries evaporated with his flight in October/November 570.37 The new king took immediate measures to guard against a return. The identification of Putuiaman as Cyrene, and an ally by year 4, suggests that Herodotus' story (ii, 187) of Amasis' Cyrenean marriage belongs early in his reign,38 and was designed to
See the discussions cited in n. 19 above. See the summaries of Heick, Die altdgyptischen Gaue (Wiesbaden, 1974), 155 and LA iv, 191; Spalinger, The evidence allows the equation of Momemphis with Kom Acts, 602 n. 15; Lloyd, Herodotus, iii, 18I-2. el-Hisn, without proving it. The toponym on the stela is certainly Q0 0 0@ = 'Immw(Helck, loc. cit.; Edel, GM 29, 19) but Helck's view that this is decisive assumes that Herodotus and the stela are referring to the same battle. 36 P. Rylands III-VI (the earliest dating to 2, 1I smw); see Thissen, Enchoria I0, 110; Vleeming, OMRO 6i, 6; most recent translations in B. Menu, RdE 36 (1985), 83-5. P. Louvre E. 7861 (3, ii smw 19): Malinine, MDAIK i6 (1958), Cairo T. 14.2.25.2: 221-5. Meeks, State and Temple Economy, 680, no. 26.5.3. 37 It is likely, as Lloyd, Herodotus, III, 170, and Historia 37 (1988), 37-8, has suggested, that the classical tradition of a reign of 22 or 25 years reflects continuing loyalty to Apries in some quarters. 38 Edel, GM 29, 15- I6,
35 34

I988

THE EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I93

nullify a potentially hostile element on his western frontier. The removal of the Greek garrison from the eastern Delta (Herodotus II, 1 54; Diodorus I, 67, 2) should be dated to the same period and seen in the same light. If an attack from that direction was likely, Amasis would not want to rely on soldiers who might well go over to their previous master.39 When it did come, in 567, Amasis was ready. The nature and location of Apries' support The continuing recognition of Apries, and at Thebes, so long after Sharuna had begun to date by Amasis, raises important questions about the whereabouts of Apries during that time, and the extent of his support. In his brief summary of the contents of the inscription, Edel identified an 'island' (c. = iw, 'die Insel'), mentioned twice in the first section of the text, as Cyprus. This interpretation apparently goes back to a paper read in 1952, but never published, and lies behind Helck's assertion that in Cyprus, in Apries' reign, 'die iigyptische Flotte Stuiitzpunkte gebildet hatte',40 and Vandersleyen's that at the date in question 'Chypre etait la base principale de la flotte egyptienne'.41 Vandersleyen refers to Helck as his authority, and the latter is avowedly dependent on Edel's unpublished paper. The first passage (cols. 2-3) reads H"-ib-R' hnt.n.f iw.f kbnwt mh.ti m hww-nbw n Insel (= Cypern) setzt fur rh.tw dr.sn. Edel's recent translation, 'Der Apries-die ihn Seeschiffe iuber gefiillt mit H3w-nbw (= griechischen Soldnern), deren Zahl man nicht kennt', does not acknowledge the suffix after iw, read by other scholars,42 and confirmed by personal collation. Edel does not elaborate on his version but Helck's interpretation of the 1952 paper is that Apries had actually fled to Cyprus after an initial defeat and returned with reinforcements. The second passage (col. I 3) reads rdit hm.f sn.tw iw hr w;t nb, which Edel translates 'Dann liess Seine Majestat [i.e. Amasis] die Insel (= Cypern) auf jeder Seite einschliessen(?)'. The verb rendered 'einschliessen(?)' is sn rather than sn, and alternative translations such as 'open up', or 'cut off' conform more closely to its recognized meanings,43 but it may be regarded as common ground that action against the source of support for Apries mentioned earlier in the text is described. Since Edel simply asserts that this was Cyprus, and since the consequences are by no means negligible, the background is worth some scrutiny. The Egyptian name for Cyprus at the time of the Saite kings is not known, despite evidence for relatively intense contact of various kinds. The form used in the
39 Herodotus' idea that they were moved to protect Amasis from his own people is patently unsatisfactory, and has been rejected in favour of a variety of explanations. For Helck, Geschichte des alten Agypten, 256-7, the intention was to keep the mercenaries out of sight; for Lloyd, Herodotus, I, 23 to soothe the wounded pride of the 'machimoi'; for Spalinger, SAK 5, 242, to allow more effective control.
40

Helck, Geschichtedes alten Agypten, 255 n. 8. Edel's views in GM 29 seem to be the same as those expressed
is

in the 1952 paper. Exactly how much of Helck's narrative is based on Edel, and how much independent,

41 Vandersleyen, Les Guerres d'Amosis, 145. unclear. 42 Daressy, RT 22, 2; De Meulenaere, in Vandersleyen, Les Guerres d'Amosis, 144. 43 For sn the up', 'open up', see Wb. III, 454 and for its use to describe submission/capture of cities, Grimal, La

Stele triomphale,

329

(index); for sn, 'cut off', see Wb.

III,

457.

I94 Canopus decree of Ptolemy

ANTHONY
III (Urk,
ii,

LEAHY
I3I,

JEA 74

9), (t may (n) S(?)lmynm in demotic,

hieroglyphic probably iw S(;)lmyn;, after the main city of the island, Salamis), may already have replaced the usual New Kingdom form, irs = Alashiya.44 If iw.f is correct, the term cannot be an abbreviation of the fuller form, and must be intended to characterize, rather than designate, the place in question. If, with Edel and for the sake of argument, the suffix is omitted, it could be an abbreviation but in either case, it would be a curiously oblique reference to a place well known to Egyptians of the period. Furthermore, the term implies a closeness of association inappropriate for any relationship Apries is known to have had with Cyprus. The patchy picture given by classical and biblical sources of the situation in the eastern Mediterranean in the early sixth century BC does not suggest that Cyprus was either a vassal or an ally of Apries.45 Herodotus is explicit in his assertion (ii, I82) that Amasis was 'the first man to take Cyprus and compel it to pay tribute'. Despite palpable inaccuracy,46 this must surely exclude any earlier Egyptian king. Although Diodorus Siculus (i, 68, i) records that Apries 'made a campaign with strong land and sea forces against Cyprus and Phoenicia ... he also defeated the Phoenicians and Cyprians in a great sea-battle and returned to Egypt with much booty', he makes no mention of conquest being achieved. Indeed, he too notes that Amasis 'reduced the cities of Cyprus' (i, 68, 6). Apries' campaigns are difficult to date. They have usually been placed at the beginning of his reign, before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, but on no firm grounds.47 Since the bulk of Apries' reign falls after 586, a respectable case can be made for dating them to his last years.48 Whatever their date, they would scarcely have been likely to assure him of willing Cypriot assistance in his subsequent troubles. It is possible, moreover, that intervention in areas regarded by Nebuchadnezzar as within his sphere of interest provoked a Babylonian attack on Egypt itself late in Apries' reign. The evidence is not conclusive, but a motley collection of texts preserves a tradition to that effect, and there is no reason to confuse the episode with the certain invasion in year 4 of Amasis.49 It is perfectly feasible that there were two separate Babylonian attacks within a short space of time, especially if Egypt were perceived to be internally weak. The stela's statement that Apries approached from the direction of Memphis does not necessarily militate against Cyprus as his base. A fleet starting from the island
might well, depending on intelligence reports, have preferred not to make a direct attack on Sais via the western branch of the Nile, but instead to enter Egypt by way
but cf. J. Osing, GM 40 (1980), Heick, LA vi, 1452-5; 45-5 I, who argues that isy was the main name of Cyprus, and that irs was, perhaps, the name of a town on the island. Heick has subsequently argued for the location of isy in south-western Anatolia (ZAS I io (1983), 29-36). J. Leclant, in Salamine de Chypre, histoire et archeologie, Colloques internationaux CNRS, no. 578 (Paris, 1978), 131-5, seems to regard irs and isy as variants of the same toponym. J. Strange's view that Cyprus was synonymous with Kftiw does not convince, cf. S. Wachsmann, Aegeans in the Theban tombs (Louvain, I987), 99-I02. 45 For a general survey of Egypt's foreign relations at the time, see Spalinger, SAK 5 (I966), 221-44. 46 For earlier conquests of Cyprus, see Lloyd, Herodotus, III, 241. 47 Spalinger, SAK 5, 234. 48 49 Spalinger, SAK Lloyd, Herodotus, III, 17I-2. 5, 236-41.
44

I988

THE EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I95

of the eastern. The forfeiture of surprise might be outweighed by the rallying of supporters (especially Greek mercenaries?), to Apries, and the aim might have been to secure Memphis before moving on Sais. The identification of iw as Cyprus is, however, doubly inconsistent with the situation in Egypt. First, Thebes is unlikely to have continued to acknowledge Apries if he had left the country. Secondly, it is impractical. At the end of the first section of the Elephantine stela, Amasis is said to act against the Ziw.Edel sees Amasis' conquest of Cyprus as retribution for the support it had afforded Apries. Although the classical sources do not date the event within Amasis' reign, the archaeological evidence from Cyprus has been used to argue for the earliest date possible.50 While some point in the first decade is likely, the Egyptian king's motive could equally well have been economic or strategic, and the archaeological evidence is not sensitive enough to distinguish between strong economic/cultural influence and political/military control.51 It is improbable in the extreme that one of Amasis' first acts as a still insecure victor was to blockade Cyprus, an enterprise of some moment. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he could have, since a substantial part of his potential navy was scattered or unreliable, having just fought for an opponent who had not been finally defeated and was presumably still at large.52 It would be essential, however, for him to seek to reduce a camp which had sheltered Apries in Egypt itself. This would also explain why the reference on the Elephantine stela is so would not be disposed to broadcast the fact that any part unilluminating-Amasis of Egypt had been against him. An alternative to Cyprus is therefore desirable. It is well known that iw has a wider range of meaning than 'island' in the narrow sense of land permanently surrounded by water. It can refer to high-lying areas of whatever kind and is, for that reason, often confused with i;t, 'mound, kom', in Late Period writings.53 It could appropriately describe an elevated or isolated base of Apries within Egypt. There are no compelling clues to the location of such a site. Apries' approach from the direction of Memphis, is compatible with a starting-point in Upper Egypt, the occurs in a number of Eastern Delta, or even abroad, as noted above. The word iwzv and a Greek as P;-iw-n-'1Imn54 such Delta toponyms, mercenary garrison like that at Tell Defenneh would provide a good defensive position, allowing reinforcement from abroad or escape from Egypt as necessary. It would, however, have ceded
50 E. Gjerstad, The Swedish Cyprus Excavations, Iv.2, The Cypro-geometric, Cypro-archaic and Cyproclassical Periods (Stockholm, 1948), 466 ff. 51 See Lloyd, Herodotus, iII, 240, for discussion of Amasis and Cyprus. 52 If there is any truth in Herodotus' story of Apries' captivity, it could refer to a brief period after this or the second battle. 53 W. Guglielmi, The WilbourPapyrus,ii LAii1,64-5.A. 1948),27, 33; Wb. 1, 26and47; (Oxford, Gardiner, P. Munro, Form und Mass-Festschrift fur Gerhard Fecht (Wiesbaden, i987), 312 n. f); cf. P. Vernus, Athribis (Cairo, 1978), 336 on possible nuance. It is noteworthy that in the Libyan period iw is used to refer to a temple of Isis of i;t wrt, K. Jansen-Winkeln, Die dgyptische Biographien der 22, und 23, Dynastie (Wiesbaden, 1985), 165 n. 26. 54 J. Malek, RdE 36 (1985), i8i -5. iw was an archaism by the sixth century, when m;wt had inherited its broad ioo-i; 9 (I962), 5-9; W. Schenkel, Die range of meaning: J. Yoyotte, Comptes-rendus GLECS 8 (I957-60), Bewasserungsrevolution im alten Agypten (Mainz, 1978), 62-5.

I96

ANTHONY

LEAHY

JEA 74

Memphis and Upper Egypt to Amasis, and an eastern Delta stronghold might not have been enough to ensure continuing Theban recognition. If BM 952 were evidence for universal acceptance of Amasis at least as far south as Sharuna, then Apries would have to have been based in Middle or Upper Egypt. However, a single stela cannot justify this assumption. The pattern of recognition may have been erratic, with pockets of support for both parties, and, in the part of Egypt in question, the Bahr Yussuf provides an alternative to the Nile as a transport and communications artery between Memphis and Upper Egypt.55 This allows another possibility, namely that Apries was at Memphis, where a remarkable fortified palace still stands high above the surrounding cultivation in the corner of a military enclosure.56 The palace has been ascribed to him on the basis of cartouches on columns in situ, and there is no reason to suppose that it was begun before his reign. A recent survey has confirmed that the height of the palace mound represents a single phase of artificial construction,57 rather than centuries of occupation debris, as has sometimes been thought. The only inscription found by Petrie from earlier in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty is a bronze doorpiece.58 Since it was discovered in the fosse and had been usurped by Psammetichus I I from a Twenty-fifth Dynasty ruler, it is at best evidence for a structure of some sort somewhere in the vicinity. The association of the palace reliefs, and hence its construction, with Necho I I, on the basis of a brief hieratic graffito in the Step-Pyramid enclosure, is unconvincing.59 The exact date of the structure within Apries' reign is unclear, but the fact that the cartouches on the reliefs were left blank may indicate that the decoration at least was overtaken by the civil war.60 The palace is impressive for its height (the mound is I2.5 m high) and its fortifications, which include a ditch c.6 m deep. It stood in the corner of an area covering some thirty acres, enclosed by a huge mud-brick wall io m thick at the base. There is, at present, no evidence for the date of this wall or its relationship to the palace, so it is not certainly part of the defences of the latter.61 None the less, the impression is of a citadel designed to withstand a siege. In the absence of i the first millennium BC, it comparative evidence for Egyptian palace construction n is hard to say whether Apries' palace was abnormally fortified. Toponyms of the type e stela shows that Ph-sbty-x-X had proliferated in the Libyan period,62 and th Piye several towns, including Memphis,63 were sufficiently well defended to be able to resist assaults for some time. The choice of iw/iat rather than a military term,64 to
55 See Grimal, La stele triomphale, 222, for a useful map of the region in relation to Tefnakht's campaign there. W. M. F. Petrie, The Palace of Apries (Memphis ii) (London, 1909), esp. 1-4; Petrie, E. Mackay, and G. ch. xiii. Wainwright, Meydum and Memphis (iii) (London, 1910), 40-4, 57 B. J. Kemp, MDAIK 58 PM I12, 830. and GM 29 (1978), 6i. 101-2 33 (1977), 59 D. Wildung, Die Rolle dgyptischer Konige im Bewusstsein ihrer Nachwelt, I (Berlin, 1969), 78.
56

43 (i987), 123-4. My thanks are due to Mr David Jeffreys, Director of the EES Memphis Survey, for his comments on this 62 Yoyotte, RdE matter. 15 (1963), 112-I13; Grimal, La Stele triomphale, i6 n. 26. 63 On the siege techniques required, see Grimal, La Stele triomphale, 233-6. In resisting Piye (line 88), Memphis was helped by the protection afforded by the river on its immediate east. It also held out against a prolonged Athenian siege, P. Salmon, La Politique egyptienne d'Athenes (Brussels, 1965), 105-1. 64 e.g. sbty, htm or nhtw, for which see Grimal, La Stele triomphale, i 6 n. 26, 84 n. 237, 11 5 n. 336 respectively.
61

60

W. Kaiser, MDAIK

I 988

THE EARLIEST

DATED

MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

I97

describe the palace site might reflect a physical reality-the moat, a perennial waterway or the inundation situation65-or might be metaphorical, characterizing its, or Apries', isolation.66 iw.f would be appropriate in such a case, as would Amasis' reaction in immediately moving against it. It is not at present possible to prove any direct association between the palace and the civil war,67 but the former does provide a retreat ideally placed to play a role in a prolonged struggle, one which would have allowed Apries to remain in Egypt, with access to all parts of the country, while regrouping his forces for the attack on Amasis at Sais.68 The final point raised by the Theban provenance of P. BM 10 13 is the attitude of the native population. The impact of the civil war on Egypt as a whole is difficult to gauge. Traces of accompanying or resulting disorder have been seen in some private autobiographical inscriptions datable to the early years of Amasis,69 but none is explicit and a causal connection remains uncertain.70 Herodotus' statement that the Egyptians went over to Amasis en masse, leaving Apries with only the support of Greek mercenaries, has generally been accepted, especially as the Elephantine stela seems to confirm the ethnic division. Yet there is no reason to assume that the two sources have independent value on this point. Amasis had over forty years to disseminate his version of events, and his propaganda will inevitably have coloured the information available to Herodotus. The fact that Thebes still recognized Apries so long after the outbreak of hostilities plainly refutes Herodotus' version. It may even suggest that the perception of Apries' support as essentially Greek was not a universal contemporary one, but the consequence of a vigorous and effective publicity campaign by his victorious opponent. At the least, Thebes maintained a prudently conservative neutrality, presaging the inactivity of Upper Egypt during the Delta rebellions against the Persians in the fifth century. If Apries still held the traditional capital, and thus a central position within the country, while Amasis was ensconcing himself at Sais, it would be natural for Thebes to preserve the status quo, continuing to recognize the legitimate and better-established of the two contenders until his defeat was apparent. The effect of
66 The Boundary stelae of Akhenaten refer to the central part of the city as P?-iw-n-'Itn, N. de G. Davies, Rock Tombsof El Amarna, v (London, 1908), pl. 30, 11. I5-I6. This may be intended to convey the spiritual/physical separateness of the part of the city particularly dedicated to the Aten. Cf. also J. Vandier, Mo'alla (Cairo, I950),
65 H. S. Smith, D. G. Jeffreys, and J. Malek, JEA 69 (1983), (London, I985), 51-5.

40; D. G. Jeffreys, Survey of Memphis, i

67 It may at least be wondered whether the canopic jar of a king 'Wahibre' (i.e. Apries?, Leahy, GM 8o (1 984), 69-70) found reused at Saqqara is relevant here. According to J. F. and L. Aubert, Statuettes egyptiennes(Paris, 1974), 214, a ushabti of a king Wahibre (Cairo CG 485 i6) is an 'offrande votive decouverte a Saqqarah'. The first part of the description is an assumption, and the basis for the second unclear. P. E. Newberry, Funerary Statuettes (Cairo, I937) gives no provenance. 68 The idea that Apries might have had supporters at Memphis, and even been resident there, was mooted by 26, mainly on the basis of his tentative recognition (idem. 20 n. o) of a reference Vercoutter, Textes biographiques, to a Memphite coronation of Amasis on a Serapeum stela which he dates to year 5. Amasis could have held a second ceremony then to symbolize the final triumph of year 4--for a probable instance of recoronation after a civil war in the reign of Achoris, see J. D. Ray, JEA 72 ( 1986), 149-58-but the context suggests that the allusion is to the induction of an Apis bull. 69 Posener, RdPh 2I, 128-3I; De Meulenaere, Herodotos over de 26ste Dynastie, 92-3. 70 Leahy, GM 70 (I984),

VIa7, 242, 246.

50-2; Lloyd, Herodotus,

III,

I80.

I98

ANTHONY

LEAHY

JEA 74

the reunification of Egypt on Thebes had probably been relatively slight. The Twenty-sixth Dynasty kings had made little effort to popularize themselves, and it may be guessed that the local inhabitants had accepted northern rule unenthusiastically. However, there is nothing to suggest opposition to the dynasty or to Apries. The mutiny of the Elephantine garrison in his reign was merely a mercenary revolt, one of the hazards inherent in the employment of such troops. Its causes are unknown, but it was probably a minor, local affair which did not involve the native population.71 It tells us nothing about the popularity of the king or his policies. The key to harmonious relations was the institution of God's Wife of Amun, which installed a Saite princess as head of the ancient Theban cult. By the sixth century, the Chief Stewards of the God's Wife and their families had come to dominate the Theban aristocracy.72 Their ties to the dynasty through the God's Wife would certainly have been conducive to loyalty, even if it were tinged with pragmatism. If their possession of titles such as 'Overseer of Upper Egypt' implies real influence, their response would probably have been decisive in determining that of local officials as far north as Hermopolis. There may be indirect evidence for a pro-Apries stance. Two changes at Thebes in Amasis reign were the introduction of the demotic script, implying an administrative reorganization, and an apparent reduction in the powers of the Chief Stewards.73 These might be interpreted as a gradual assertion of his authority as a consequence of Theban support for Apries. A pointer to more widespread sympathy for Apries is Amasis' treatment of his dead opponent. The appropriate conclusion to draw from Herodotus' repetition of his claim that Apries was buried with due honour is that Amasiss deliberately emphasized it. This implicit acknowledgement of Apries' legitimacy is confirmed by the general absence of evidence for erasure of his monuments,74 which is in marked contrast to the subsequent fate of Amasis himself. Such an admission was not the usual conclusion to a civil war in ancient Egypt, and suggests a strong desire to reconcile a significant body of opinion.75 Much of this is evidently hypothetical. Historians of the Saite period inevitably look to Herodotus for a framework of events, and there is a strong temptation to regard agreement in an Egyptian source as proving the accuracy of Herodotus.76 In this case, at least, the latter is merely an eloquent witness to the efficacy of Amasis'
H. Schafer, Klio 4 (1904), Cf. Lloyd, Herodotus, iii, 170. 152-63. For the titles and family relationships of these men, see E. Graefe, Untersuchungen zur Verwaltung und Geschichte der Institution der Gottesgemahlin des Amun (Wiesbaden, I98I). Sheshonq A was probably still Chief Steward in 570. 73 I I, notes the possibility that the Although he does not make this specific connection, Graefe, op cit. ii, reduced titles of the last three Chief Stewards were the result of measures taken by Amasis, with the quite proper reservation that these officials are less well documented than their predecessors. 74 My argument, GM 80 ( 984), 72-3, that there are no certain examples of the erasure of Apries' names needs to be modified in the light of Munro, Form und Mass, 328-33, but the two statues of Hor discussed there still represent no more than an isolated act of personal vengeance against a supporter of Apries. 75 Helck, Geschichte des alten Agypten, 256 n. 2, notes that such an attitude towards a defeated opponent is 'unagyptisch', and explains it as the result of Amasis' Libyan background. 76 For an acute and realistic assessment of the limitations of Herodotus on Egyptian history, see now Lloyd, Historia 37, 22-53.
72 71

i988

THE EARLIEST DATED MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

199

propaganda. In the attempt to look beyond that barrier, parochial texts such as BM 952 and P. BM IO1I 3 provide a valuable element of control on the more obviously

'historical' sources, and demand some reappraisal of the prevailing views of Apries' position.77
77

A more general reconsideration may be desirable. The passionate and partisan voices of biblical prophets
of Apries' reign.

are still unduly influential in assessments

PLATE XXV

British Museum EA 952 (pp. I83-6)

THE EARLIEST DATED MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

PLATEXXVI

i. P.BM IOI 3 (p. I87)

THE EARLIEST DATED MONUMENT

OF AMASIS

'~?.

}...'-:,

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'..i'~,.v. 'aS 'i..:.ei?

";jh)

;; gE
.

'

s1- s
:. t .

%io '
!y

,; 2

, sT^ X

2.

The coffin in situ (p. zo8)

COFFIN OF A DOG FROM BENI HASAN