CAMBYSES

kam-bi'-sez (Aram., c-n-b-n-z-y; Persian, Kambujiya; Assyrian, Kambuzia; Egyptian, Kambythet; Susian, Kanpuziya): The older son of Cyrus, king of Persia. Some have thought that he is the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6. This seems to be most improbable, inasmuch as the Hebrew form of Ahasuerus is the exact equivalent of the Old Persian form of Xerxes, and we have no evidence that Cambyses was ever called Xerxes.

Ancient authorities differ as to who was the mother of Cambyses. It is variously said that she was Cassandane, a Persian princess, Amytis, a Median princess, or Nititis, a daughter of Apries king of Egypt. He had one brother, Bardes or Smerdes, whom he put to death secretly shortly after his accession, probably because of an attempted rebellion. Cambyses organized an expedition for the conquest of Egypt, which was rendered successful by internal treachery and by the aid of the Phoenician, Cyprian and Greek fleets. During this campaign Cambyses seems to have acted with good generalship and with clemency toward the conquered. After the subjugation of Egypt, Cyrene and Barca, the modern Tripoli, submitted to his sway. He then desired to undertake the conquest of Carthage, but was compelled to give it up, because his Phoenician allies, without whose ships it was impossible for him to conduct his army in safety, refused to join in an attack upon a country that had been colonized by them. He is said to have sent an army of 50,000 men against the oasis of Jupiter Ammon. This army is said to have perished in the sands. A little less unsuccessful expedition was made against Ethiopia. After some initial successes, Cambyses was forced to return to Egypt with the shattered remains of his army. He found that the Egyptians were in revolt, led by their king Psammetichus III, whose life he had formerly spared. This revolt was put down with great harshness, the Egyptian king being taken and executed, and many of the temples being destroyed. Shortly after this, Cambyses heard that a certain Magian, who claimed to be his brother Smerdes whom he had secretly put to death, had set himself up as king of Persia, and that almost the whole of his Asiatic dominions had acknowledged him as king. With the fragments of his army he started toward Persia to attack the usurper, but on the way was killed by a wound inflicted by himself, it is uncertain whether by accident or with intention. His general and cousin, Darius Hystaspis, soon put down the false Smerdis and reigned in his stead.

For two or more years Cambyses was king of Babylon, while his father was king of the lands. The son was a drunkard and subject to fits of unbridled passion, but seems to have been of good capacity as a general and as an administrator. Many of the tales that have been told against him were doubtless invented by his enemies, and he has left us no records of his own. That he married his own sisters is probable; but it must be remembered that this was the custom of the Egyptian kings of that time and may have been of the Persian kings as well. As to his conduct in Egypt, the only contemporary Egyptian authority says that he worshipped before the holiness of Neit as all the pious kings had done, that he ordered that the temple of Neit should be purified, and that its revenues should be restored as they had been before they had been confiscated by Akhmes for his Greek troops. He adds also that not merely were the strangers who had taken up their abode in the temple of Neit ejected from her sanctuary, but that their goods were taken away and their houses destroyed. Darius Hystaspis, the only other contemporary source of information, says of him simply that he was the son of Cyrus, of the same father and mother as Bardes, whom he slew secretly at some time before he set out on his Egyptian campaign; and that he died by suicide shortly after he had heard of the rebellion of Persia, Media and the other provinces against him, and of the establishment of Gaumata the Magian as king under the claim that he was "Barzia, the son of Cyrus and brother of Cambyses."

The name of Cambyses is found in three of the Elephantine papyri recently published (September, 1911) by Professor Sachau of Berlin. The fragment numbered 59 1 is so broken that it is impossible to make out the connection or the sense. In papyrus I, we are told that when Cambyses came to Egypt he found in the fortress of Yeb (Elephantine) a temple or synagogue ('agora'), which had been built in the days of the Egyptian kings; and that although he had torn down the temples of the Egyptian gods, he had allowed no harm to be done to that of Yahweh. The third papyrus is so interesting, because of its mention of Bagoas, the Persian governor of Jerusalem in 407 B.C., who had hitherto been known only from Josephus, and of Dalayah the son of the Sanballat who opposed the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in the time of Ezra-Nehemiah, that we shall now give a translation of it in full: "A memorial of that which Bagoas and Dalayah said to me: Thou shalt say in Egypt unto Arsames with regard to the house of the altar of the God of heaven that was built in the fortress of Yeb before the time of Cambyses and which the accursed(?) Waidrang destroyed in the 14th year of Darius the king, that it shall be built again upon its place as it was before, and that meal-offerings and incense-offerings shall be offered upon that altar as they used to be."

LITERATURE.

For further information as to the history of Cambyses see Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies; Prasek, Geschichte der Meder und Perser; the Behistun inscription in the editions of the various recensions by Bezold, Spiegel, Weisbach, Thomson, and King; Herodotus; Josephus; the Sachau papyri; and Petrie, History of Egypt, III.

R. Dick Wilson

How after the Death of Cambyses and the Slaughter of the Magi but ...
... CHAPTER 3. How After The Death Of Cambyses And The Slaughter Of The Magi But Under
The Reign Of Darius, Zorobabel Was Superior To The Rest In The Solution Of ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 3 how after the.htm

Cambyses.
... CHAPTER I. CAMBYSES. BC530-524 Cyrus the Great."His extended
conquests."Cambyses and Smerdis."Hystaspes and Darius."Dream ...
//christianbookshelf.org/abbott/darius the great/chapter i cambyses.htm

The End of Cambyses.
... CHAPTER II. THE END OF CAMBYSES. BC523-522 Cambyses's profligate
conduct."He marries his own sisters."Consultation of the Persian ...
//christianbookshelf.org/abbott/darius the great/chapter ii the end of.htm

How Upon the Death of Cyrus the Jews were Hindered in Building of ...
... How Upon The Death Of Cyrus The Jews Were Hindered In Building Of The Temple By
The Cutheans, And The Neighboring Governors; And How Cambyses Entirely Forbade ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 2 how upon the.htm

The Mother of Xerxes.
... Persian magnificence."The mother of Xerxes."Cambyses."Ambition and selfishness
of kings."General influence exerted by great sovereigns upon the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/abbott/xerxes/chapter i the mother of.htm

History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9
... THE IRANIAN CONQUEST. THE IRANIAN RELIGIONS -- CYRUS IN LYDIA AND AT BABYLON;
CAMBYSES IN EGYPT -- DARIUS AND THE ORGANISATION OF THE EMPIRE. ...
/.../history of egypt chaldaea syria babylonia and assyria v 9/title page.htm

Smerdis the Magian.
... favoring it."Murder of Smerdis not known."He is supposed to be alive."Precautions
taken by Smerdis."Effect of Cambyses's measures."Opinion in regard ...
/.../abbott/darius the great/chapter iii smerdis the magian.htm

The Accession of Darius.
... There was no heir, of the family of Cyrus, entitled to succeed to the vacant throne,
for neither Cambyses, nor Smerdis his brother, had left any sons. ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/abbott/darius the great/chapter iv the accession of.htm

The Revolt of Babylon.
... In this capacity he followed the army of Cambyses into Egypt in the memorable
campaign described in the first chapter of this volume. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/abbott/darius the great/chapter vii the revolt of.htm

Of the Wisdom of Moses, which was an Object of Imitation to the ...
... of the Assyrian Empire, which was destroyed by thunderbolts from Heaven, [3454]
the providence of God conducted Daniel to the court of Cambyses the Persian king ...
/.../pamphilius/the life of constantine/chapter xvii of the wisdom of.htm

Cambyses
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia CAMBYSES. kam-bi ... called Xerxes. Ancient
authorities differ as to who was the mother of Cambyses. ...
/c/cambyses.htm - 12k

Persians (6 Occurrences)
... HISTORY 1. Cyrus 2. Capture of Babylon 3. Cambyses 4. Pseudo-Smerdis 5. Darius I
6. Darius' Suez Canal 7. Xerxes I 8. Artaxerxes II 9. Xerxes II 10. ...
/p/persians.htm - 20k

Cyrus (20 Occurrences)
... King of Persia" (Elam) who was conqueror of Babylon, and issued the decree of
liberation to the Jews (Ezra 1:1, 2). He was the son of Cambyses, the prince of ...
/c/cyrus.htm - 39k

Darius (26 Occurrences)
... There were two intermediate kings, viz., Cambyses (the Ahasuerus of Ezra), the son
of Cyrus, who reigned from BC 529-522, and was succeeded by a usurper named ...
/d/darius.htm - 24k

Ahasbai (1 Occurrence)
... Ewald and others have suggested that this Ahasuerus was Cambyses, the son
and successor of Cyrus. It seems to be more probable that ...
/a/ahasbai.htm - 11k

Calyxes (6 Occurrences)

/c/calyxes.htm - 8k

Dispersion (4 Occurrences)
... This Jewish temple had been erected to Yahweh at least 125 years before and had
been spared by Cambyses in 525 BC when he destroyed all the temples erected to ...
/d/dispersion.htm - 44k

No (18543 Occurrences)
... 26). Cambyses, king of the Persians (BC 525), further laid it waste by
fire. Its ruin was completed (BC 81) by Ptolemy Lathyrus. ...
/n/no.htm - 9k

Medes (15 Occurrences)
... his son, Phraortes by his son Kyaxares; and the latter in turn left his kingdom
to his son Astyages whose daughter Mandane married Cambyses, father of the ...
/m/medes.htm - 18k

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