Nectanebo

Name employed by the Egyptian historian MANT. THO to refer to two Egyptian rulers of the 30th Dynasty (380-343 bc;), who actuali held two different ‘birth names’: Nakhtncbef (Nectanebo i) and Nakhthorheb (Nectanebo ri).

Neclaveho i Kheperkara (380—362 bc) of Sebennytos seized the throne after the deaths of the 29th-Dynasty rulers Hakor (393-380 bc) and Nepherites 11 (380 bc). Six years later the Persian satrap Pharnabazes launched an invasion of Egypt, sending a (leet manned mainly by gref. k soldiers from northern Palestine to the mouth of the

Mendcsian tributary of the Nile. Although the Persians were initially very successful, they were eventually delayed in their victorious march south as a result of dissension between Pharnabazes and the Greek general iphikrates, thus allowing Nectanebo to reassemble his armies and expel the Persians from the Delta. The rest of his reign was relatively peaceful, although the Egyptians appear to have been virtually alone in their defiance of the Persians. Towards the end of the reign, his son Teos (362—360 bc;) even led a campaign into Syria-Palestine.

Nectanebo undertook programmes of construction and decoration at virtually all of the major Egyptian temples, including the building ol the First Pylon in the temple of Amun at karnak. He built the earliest surviving section of the temple of Isis at phn-ae (although blocks of the reign of Taharqo have been found beneath the temple floor) and awarded new endowments and tax exemptions to a number of religious institutions. During his reign there was also a growth in the popularity of the cults of. sacred animals, reflected in new constructions at hi:r-MOPOi. is. MAGNA, MENDKS and Saft el-Hinna. It has been suggested that the cultivation of the animal cults by the 30th-Dynasty rulers was part of a concerted effort to emphasize the native culture of Egypt, thus making a stand against increasing foreign influences and incursions. In 362 Bt: Nectanebo was succeeded by Teos.

Nectanebo 11 Senedjemihra (360-343 bc) was enthroned through the machinations of his father Tjahepimu, who declared him king while he was campaigning in Syria-Palestine with his uncle Teos. Having the general support of the armies, Nectanebo 11 was able to depose Teos, who then fled to the court of the Persian king. The ensuing reign was lo be the last period of rule by a native Egyptian king until modern times. As well as constructing a huge temple to Isis at beiibeit i:i.-hag, ar, he continued the support of the cults of sacred animals b undertaking new works and restoration at ar. mavi', Bubastis (teli. ba. s ia), the Saqqara. si'.rapixm and the nearby complex associated with the Mother of Apis.

.After an unsuccessful invasion in 351 hc Arlaxerxes in eventually reincorporated Egypt into the Persian empire in 343 bc, reputedly plundering many tcmple. s and slaughtering APRS and BLCin. s bulls in the process. Nectanebo ii appears to have temporarily held on to Upper Egypt (and was briefly succeeded by an Egyptian or Nubian pharaoh named Khababash). Egypt, however, had effectively been absorbed into the Persian empire once

More, and was to remain a satrapy until ihc arrival of i. I':xandi:r the grf. at. j.-j. Ci. F.RK, ‘Une. statuette du fils aine du roi Nectanebo’, iV?(1951), 135-56.

H. Jknm, Das Dekoratioiisprogramma des Sarkophages Nektanebos it (Gene a, 1986).

N. Grimai.,H history of ancient Egypt (Oxford,

1992), 37.5-81.

Nefaarud (Nepherites) see e. ate pfriod