| Nectanebo II | ||||
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| Nakhthoreb | ||||
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| Granodiorite head of Nectanebo II, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. | ||||
| Pharaoh of Egypt | ||||
| Reign | 360–343 BC, 30th Dynasty | |||
| Predecessor | Teos | |||
| Successor | Artaxerxes III | |||
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Nectanebo II (ruled 360 - 343 BC), also known by the name Nakhthoreb, was the third and last king of the Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt and also the last native Egyptian ruler of the country in antiquity.
Nectanebo was placed on the Egyptian throne by the Spartan king Agesilaus II, who helped him overthrow Teos and fight off a rival pretender. After a reign of 17 years, he was defeated by the Persian king Artaxerxes III, and fled first to Memphis then into Upper Egypt, and finally into exile in Nubia, where he vanishes from history. With Nectanebo's flight, all organized resistance to the Persians collapsed, and Egypt once again was reduced to a satrapy of the Persian Empire.
Nectanebo II's sarcophagus was found in modern times in a mosque at Alexandria; his intended burial "presumably lay at his native town [of] Sebennytos."[2] At some point in time, the king's sarcophagus was "used as a water container, bath, or a tank for ablutions, as shown by the twelve draining holes drilled around the base."[3] It today resides in the British Museum.
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Nectanebo's gold stater
Nectanebo II has the distinction of being the pharaoh to have minted a gold coin with hieroglyphs. The reverse of the coin has a horse reared on its back legs;[4] the obverse has two hieroglyphs, in ligature, the necklace of gold, nb, upon the nfr symbol for beauty. (Perfect gold, or in modern translation: 'Fine' gold.)
Nectanebo and the Alexander Romance
There is an apocryphal tale, appearing in the pseudo-historical Alexander Romance, which details another end for the last Egyptian Pharaoh of Egypt. Soon after Alexander the Great's godhood was confirmed by the Oracle of Zeus Ammon, a rumor was begun that Nectanebo II 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 his 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 his issue came Alexander.[5] This myth would hold strong appeal for Egyptians who desired continuity and harbored a strong dislike for foreign rule.
References
- ^ Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd., p.203
- ^ Bill Manley, The Seventy Great Mysteries of Ancient Egypt" Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2003. p.101
- ^ Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II
- ^ Schulz, Seidel, 1998. Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, Editors, Regine Schulz, Matthias Seidel, Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne, English translation version. p. 370. (obverse, reverse) (hardcover, ISBN 3-89508-913-3)
- ^ Ogen, Daniel, Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0195135756, p. 59 searchable at [1]
External links
| Preceded by Teos |
Pharaoh of Egypt Thirtieth Dynasty |
Succeeded by Conquered by Artaxerxes III |
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