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Cambyses as a Ruler: Herodotus vs. Udjahorresne - Coggle Diagram
Cambyses as a Ruler: Herodotus vs. Udjahorresne
Herodotus
Cambyses as Egypt's ruler
Cambyses is said to have disrespected the body of Amasis by ordering his men to '
desecrate it in every way
' and then burning it which was '
sacrilegious
' as the Egyptians never burnt their dead
When he returned from the Ethiopian disaster to Memphis, the city was celebrating an appearance of their God Ptah in the form of the
Apis Bull
but he thought they were celebrating his failure
the king then killed the leaders of Memphis who tried to explain the celebration to him
he then '
aimed a blow at the Apis' belly, but missed and struck his thigh
', whilst ridiculing the priests for worshipping a God with flesh and blood. This ended up being a fatal blow as the bull died later.
He organised the murder of his brother Smerdis after dreaming that he would take his throne. He enlisted Prexaspes, a trusted adviser to do this
He also killed his sister-wife for referring to Smerdis' murder
He even
'entered the temple of Hephaestus and jeered at the God's statue'
Herodotus
Cambyses' death
two Magi brothers launched a rebellion against him in Persia, where one pretended to be Cambyses' brother, the one that had been murdered
they sent proclamations throughout the empire announcing that 'Smerdis' should now have authority
Cambyses heard this and immediately mounted his horse, intending to ride and attack the false 'Smerdis'. But, whilst mounting the horse, an exposed blade accidentally pierced his thigh in the same place he struck the Apis Bull
Whilst he was dying, he told his advisors to ensure the false 'Smerdis' did not keep power. But they did not believe him and thought that this was the true Smerdis
Therefore, he died (from Gangrene) with the Persian Empire in turmoil
Non-Greek Sources
Cambyses as Egypt's Ruler
Archaeological remains show a temple in Memphis where the embalmed bodies of the dead Apis Bulls were kept
an inscription here suggest that Cambyses had ensured that this bull had been embalmed and buried with full ceremonies and was thus respectful of local religious traditions.
Udjahorrense
On a statue of Udjahorresne there was an account of his achievements and he speaks of Cambyses like a traditional Egyptian Pharaoh
when he came to Cambyses to complain about the presence of Persian soldiers in a sacred temple, he ordered the troops to leave and the temple to be purified
He also '
made a great offering...to Neith the Great'
'a madman'
'maniacal savagery'
Herodotus cannot be fully trusted here as he referred to biased Egyptian sources, including Priests that did not like Cambyses as he had forced them to pay taxes that they had previously avoided. Negatively biased
Udjahorresne may have wanted to paint Cambyses in a more positive light as they knew each other personally