Psamtik II reigned for barely six years. Despite that, traces of his activity are not lacking, notably in a number of sites where he oversaw the upkeep of the temples: Sais, of course, but also Buto, Hermopolis-Baqlia, Tanis, Letopolis, Heliopolis, and Memphis in the north, and Abydos, Thebes, Elephantine, and Philai in the south. In the oases of Kharga and Dakhla, where the Saite ‘‘colonization’’ initiated by his two predecessors continued, some sanctuaries, like Hibis (at least if we follow the conclusions of Cruz-Uribe 1987: 230, but they are open to criticism) and Amheida (Davoli & Kaper 2006: 13), also benefited from his attention. In line with the policy initiated by Psamtik I of establishing himself firmly at Thebes, the king had his daughter Ankhnesneferibre adopted by the Adoratrice Nitokris in Year 1, thereby making her Nitokris’ heir presumptive (Leahy 1996: 157-8).
Like his father, Psamtik II was preoccupied with Palestine where he tried to arrest the Babylonian advance. Without delay he encouraged Zedekiah of Judah in his opposition to Nebuchadrezzar, and he seems, in effect, to have been an instigator of negotiations started in 594/3 to raise a coalition against Babylon, manoeuvres which involved Edom, Ammon, and Moab, as well as the cities of Tyre and Sidon (Spalinger 1977: 233-4). Careful, however, to avoid all direct conflict with the Babylonians, he went no further in involving himself in this policy of opposition, and his own vassals in Philistia remained aloof from the project.
In 593/2 Psamtik II directed a victorious campaign into Nubia against Aspelta, the new Kushite king. This initiative (Gozzoli 1997: 5-13; Hauben 2001), the most striking of his reign, may have been dictated by the wish to avoid an advancing tide of Kushite troops massed not far from the southern frontier, as suggested by a stele of Year 1 of Aspelta. The event made a major impact on contemporary consciousness, and it was commemorated by a series of official stelae, of which four, more or less well preserved, have come down to us: two set up at the very gates of Nubia, one at Karnak, and one at Tanis. According to a graffito at Abu Simbel (Haider 2001: 204), the Egyptian forces were composed of two army corps, one consisting of foreigners - notably Jews and Greeks from Rhodes and Caria - and the other Egyptian, respectively under the command of Generals Potasimto and Amasis (Hauben 2001: 56-71). We can follow the progress of Psamtik II’s troops on the ground, thanks to the Greek graffiti left at Abu Simbel (and perhaps also at Buhen: Gozzoli 1997: 5-6, n. 14) and the mutilation inflicted upon Kushite royal statues in at least two areas: Pnoubs-Kerma and Napata, the very capital of the country (Bonnet & Valbelle 2005: 70-83; 170 and 181-2). As the Abu Simbel graffito states (Haider 2001: 204), the expeditionary force, which moved along the Nile, did not pass beyond the navigable portion upstream of Kerkis, i. e. the region of the Fifth Cataract, if this toponym is to be identified with modern Kurgus. In Egypt itself the desire shown during the expedition to finish with the Kushites was translated into a campaign of monumental mutilation aimed at eradicating all the names of the Kushite kings from Kashta to Tanutamun. Taking advantage of his success in Kush, Psamtik II turned afresh to Palestine, where the influence of Egypt was still effective, and made a triumphal tour there which is recorded in the famous Chronicle of Petiese (Yoyotte 1951; Sauneron & Yoyotte 1952: 135-6). Accompanied by the traditional bouquets given to a victorious sovereign, he clearly intended to maintain the image of a strong Egypt in the face of an omnipotent Babylon.
World History
