Amasis & Apries

        In the revised history Amasis' ruled Egypt from 449-405 B.C..   His reign must have followed on the heels of the Inaros' rebellion.  It may even be a consequence of that conflict.    In turn Amasis' death, which brought an end to the combined 26th/27th Saite/Persian dynasty, precedes immediately the 28th dynasty of Amyrtaeus, whom Diodorus Siculus refers to as "Psammetichus, king of the Egyptians, son of the famous Psammetichus."   Clearly the beginning and end of the reign of Ahmose-sa-Neith are critical for our revision.    If we are going to establish Amasis in his rightful historical context our attention must be directed to the years 449 B.C. and 404 B.C..

        Two sources combine to describe the transition period between the reigns of Apries and Amasis in the traditional history.   Most familiar but least reliable - since they antedate by one to four centuries the events they describe - are the histories of Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, each of whom discusses in great detail the civil war which resulted in the dethronement and eventual death of Apries.    Less well known, but much more important - since it is contemporary with the events it documents  -  is the hieroglyphic inscription of the so-called Elephantine stela,  which describes two separate battles connected with the Apries-Amasis transition.   Volumes have been written on the subject of the Amasis' succession based on these two disparate sources.   Interpretive problems immediately surface.

         If our revision is correct a third source must also contribute to the debate.   The Inaros rebellion ended around the year 449 B.C.    Thucydides describes the critical final years.  Ktesias adds his own version of the same events.   If we are on track then Thucydides and Ktesias should complement Herodotus and the Elephantine stela.    As we shall soon see, the agreement is impressive.

The Inaros Rebellion according to Thucydides & Ktesias

        Precisely when the Egyptian rebellion began is uncertain.   Its conclusion is more precisely dated.   Our knowledge is limited to the brief comments preserved in the narratives of Thucydides, Ktesias, and other Greek and Roman historians, remarks which are narrowly focussed on the part played by the Athenian naval forces in the conflict.    If Thucydides is correct, Athens entered the war early in 459 B.C. and exited the conflict in 449 B.C.   When last we examined the course of the war Megabyzus had arrived in Egypt to relieve the siege of Memphis, most likely late in the year 456 B.C.   Inaros and the Greeks were driven back to the western Delta area of "Prosopitis", an "island", or land mass, enclosed by several Nile tributaries or channels.   At that location and for several years the Persians laid seige to the combined forces of Inaros and the Athenians.   In 454 B.C. the seige was successful.   Inaros was captured and executed, the Athenian navy destroyed.  Only a few Greeks escaped, seeking asylum in Cyrene.

Arriving by land he (Megabyzus) defeated the Egyptians and their allies in a battle, and drove the Hellenes out of Memphis, and at length shut them up in the island of Prosopitis, where he besieged them for a year and six months.  At last, draining the canal of its waters, which he diverted into another channel, he left their ships high and dry and joined most of the island to the mainland, and then marched over on foot and captured it.  Thus the enterprise of the Hellenes came to ruin after six years of war.  Of all that large host a few travelling through Libya reached Cyrene in safety, but most of them perished.   And thus Egypt returned to its subjection to the king, except Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes, who they were unable to capture from the extent of the marsh;  the marshmen being also the most warlike of the Egyptians.  Inaros, the Libyan king, the sole author of the Egyptian revolt, was betrayed, taken, and crucified.  (Thuc. 1.109-110)

Meanwhile a relieving squadron of fifty vessels had sailed from Athens and the rest of the confederacy for Egypt.  They put in to shore at the Mendesian mouth of the Nile, in total ignorance of what had occurred.  Attacked on the land side by the troops, and from the sea by the Phoenician navy, most of the ships were destroyed; the few remaining being saved by retreat.  Such was the end of the great expedition of the Athenians and their allies to Egypt. (Thuc. 1.110)

Released from Hellenic war, the Athenians made an expedition to Cyprus with two hundred vessels of their own and their allies, under the command of Cimon.  Sixty of these were detached to Egypt at the instance of Amyrtaeus, the king in the marshes; the rest laid siege to Kitium, from which, however, they were compelled to retire by the death of Cimon and by scarcity of provisions.  Sailing off Salamis in Cyprus, they fought with the Phoenicians, Cyprians, and Cilicians by land and sea, and being victorious on both elements departed home, and with them the returned squadron from Egypt.  (Thuc. 1.112)

        Within a year of the return of the Athenian fleet a peace was negotiated between the Persians and the Greeks.

The treaty of peace, concluded probably early in 448, has been named after Callias ... The treaty was concluded between Persia on the one hand and Athens and her Allies on the other.  The terms are known to us only in a paraphrase of the main articles.  'All the Greek cities in Asia shall be autonomous.  The Persian satraps shall not come within three day's journey of the coast, and no Persian warship shall sail the seas between Phaselis and Cyaniae.  Athens shall not invade the territory of the great King.'  By this treaty the Greeks in Asia were protected from Persia and the war with Persia was concluded ... Persian rule over Cyprus and Egypt was recognized and ensured against Athenian intervention; the sea power of Athens was recognized and her empire ... ensured against Persian intervention; and the seas were open to merchant vessels of both nations, which were now at peace.  The treaty marked the end of the Greek war against Persia ...  [1]

        Before answering these questions we need to revisit the earlier stages of the rebellion.  Thus far we have depended on Thucydides.   But Ktesias shows even more familiarity with the rebellion, and his version of events differs in some respects from that of Thucydides.   For future reference we quote the relevant sections of the Persika:

(32) Egypt revolted.   Inaros, a Libyan, and another Egyptian had stirred up this revolt (and) preparations were made for war.  The Athenians themselves, at the request of Inaros, sent 40 vessels.   Artaxerxes, inclined to participate in person in the war, was dissuaded by his friends, sending (instead) Achaemenes, his brother, at the head of an army of 400,000 infantry and 80 vessels.  Inaros engaged the battle against Achaemenes and victory rested with the Egyptians.  Achaemenes, wounded by Inaros, died and his remains were sent (in mockery) to Artaxerxes.  Inaros (continued) to engage himself in (the) naval battle in which Chartimides -  who commanded the forty vessels sent from Athens - distinguished himself.  Fifty Persian ships were lost.  Twenty were captured, along with their provisions, and thirty were sunk.
(33) Afterward Megabyzus was sent against Inaros at the head of another army which added to what remained of the previous (force) 200,000 soldiers and 300 vessels, commanded by Oriscus.  Thus, without including the fleet, the actual troop numbers amounted to 500,000 men.   Indeed, when Achaemenes had fallen (earlier) there fell with him 100,000 men of the 400,000 which he commanded.  Then a violent battle was engaged with considerable losses on both sides, but especially on the part of the Egyptians.  Megabyzus wounded Inaros in the thigh and put him to flight (while) the Persians prevailed victoriously.  Inaros escaped to Byblos, which is a well-fortified (lit. strong) Egyptian town, along with those Greeks who were not killed in the battle alongside Charitimides.
(34) All Egypt, excepting Byblos, submitted to Megabyzus, and since the place (i.e. Byblos) seemed impregnable, Megabyzus came to terms with Inaros and the Greeks, who numbered more than 6,000: no harm would come to them at the hands of the king and the Greeks could return to their homeland whenever they wished.
(35) He (Megabyzus) set up (S)arsamas as satrap of Egypt, and taking with him Inaros and the Greeks, he led (them) to Artaxerxes, whom he found in a great rage (directed) against Inaros because he had killed his brother Achaemenes.  Megabyzus explained what had happened, stating that he had taken Byblos thanks to the guarantees given to Inaros and the Greeks.  He entreated the king to protect them (lit. to leave them safe) and he obtained  it (i.e the king's agreement).  Finally it was announced to the army that Inaros and the Greeks would suffer no harm. Persika 32-35 (italics mine)  [2]

        The two versions are in essential agreement as to the course of the rebellion.  First there was a land and sea battle won by Inaros with Athenian help.   Then followed a seige at Memphis (omitted by Ktesias) and "afterwards" a responsive land and sea invasion by Megabyzus, lost by the Greek/Egyptian coalition.    Thucydides supplies the time frame; Ktesias the statistics which indicate the scale of the conflict.

        At this point the two versions appear to differ.  According to Thucydides, Inaros and the Greeks fled to an "island" location, a land mass separated from the mainland by a canal.  According to Ktesias they fled to a well fortified town called Byblos.   Some time passed - there is no reason to doubt the 1 1/2 years suggested by Thucydides - until the capture, or surrender, of Inaros and his Greek allies.   In one version (Thucydides) Inaros is taken captive and subsequently killed; in the other (Ktesias) he willfully surrenders and only years later is martyred.

         Are these versions really different?

        It can be argued that the two Greek historians are accurately describing the same event.   If the fortified city (Byblos) lies on an "island" (Prosopitis) there is no fundamental disagreement.  It defies reason how an island location, otherwise unfortified,  could be defended against a vastly superior naval and land force for more than a few days, if all that the attacking army needed to do was cross a canal.   Ktesias must preserve the greater part of the truth.  Inaros and his Greek allies must have found sanctuary in an established sea port.  The island must have been home to a fortified town, known to Ktesias as Byblos.   But if so, then where is Byblos, the sanctuary of Inaros and the Greeks?

        The name Byblos is not Egyptian.  It is, of course, the identical name given the Phoenician port city on the Mediterranean coast which served as a base for the Persian fleet.   Perhaps the Egyptian site name was unknown to Ktesias who therefore refers to it as the (Egyptian) Byblos, an appropriate epithet since the Egyptian locale also served as a base for a foreign fleet.  Where else should the Athenian naval force seek sanctuary in the wake of heavy losses in the vicinity of Memphis, than its naval base of operations within Egypt during the preceding years of the rebellion.  And that port city was arguably Naucratis, a town founded specifically by Inaros to service his Greek allies (see below for the argument).    Located on the east bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile, north of the Rosetta tributary, it lies on an "island" bordered on the west and east by the Canopic and Rosetta branches and on the north by the Mediterranean.   And it lay in the extreme north-west of the Delta,  bordering Libya, whence escaped a number of the Greek defenders before the truce was negotiated.

        Even the two versions of Inaros' fate can be reconciled.  Thucydides was correct.  Inaros was taken captive after a prolonged seige of the "island" base, and he was subsequently crucified.   Ktesias provides more detail.   Inaros was taken captive after a negotiated plea bargain, and his execution followed his capture by five years.

        There remains for us only to identify Amyrtaeus, who survived the 454 B.C. seige of Naucratis and continued the rebellion for another five years.   If our revision of Egyptian history is correct there can be little doubt that the name Amyrtaeus is an epithet for Apries.    We cite the following reasons for this identification:

        1)   Ktesias specifically states that the rebellion was stirred up by "Inaros, a Libyan, and another Egyptian", whose name is not provided.   It is known from Thucydides and others that Amyrtaeus fought with Inaros prior to his capture and alone for the remaining years of the rebellion.   Scholars are in agreement that Amyrtaeus was the "other Egyptian" referred to by Ktesias.   But we have previously argued that Apries was the acknowledged king of Egypt throughout the rebellion, and that his battles on land and sea against Tyre and Sidon must have been fought as an ally of Inaros.  There is therefore a strong presumption that Apries was a co-leader of the rebellion.  It follows that Apries = Amyrtaeus.

        2)  Apries and Amyrtaeus both ended their careers in 449 B.C..  As we will soon see, both were engaged that year in physical warfare against the Egyptian establishment in an attempt to regain power they had previously lost.   Both battles were fought in the extreme north western delta and in both cases Apries and Amyrtaeus invited the assistance of the Greeks, who responded by sending a naval force.  This coincidence of dates and circumstances is simply too remarkable to overlook.  In and of itself it argues strongly, not only for the identification of Apries and Amyrtaeus, but also for the reliability of the revised history.   The details are discussed below in our treatment of the Elephantine stela inscription.

        3)  The epithet Amyrtaeus (probably from mery-tauw = "beloved of the two lands") was commonly adopted by Egyptian kings.   There is nothing which associates the name uniquely with Apries; but then there is nothing which precludes its use either.  And there is at least some evidence that the name was commonly used by the descendants of Psamtik II.  According to Herodotus, after the death of Amyrtaeus and Inaros, the Persians gave back "sovereign power to Thannyras son of Inaros, and also to Pausiris son of Amyrtaeus" this in spite of the fact that "none ever did the Persians more harm than Inaros and Amyrtaeus" (Her. 3.15.4)  Scholars argue that the second Amyrtaeus, the successor of Darius II and sole occupant of Manetho's 28th dynasty (404-399 B.C.), must be the son of this Pausiris and therefore grandson of the Amyrtaeus who assisted Inaros in the Egyptian rebellion.  And since the 28th dynasty Amyrtaeus is described by Diodorus as "Psammetichus, king of the Egyptians, son of the famous Psammetichus", he must trace his ancestry back to Psamtik II.   For the traditional history to be true this connection with Psamtik II must look back in time almost two hundred years, an unlikely circumstance!   But in the revised history the 28th dynasty Amyrtaeus must be the son of Pausiris, son of Amyrtaeus (=Apries), son of Psamtik II.   Only seventy years, or four generations, separate the second Amyrtaeus from his great-grandfather Psamtik II.   If two immediate descendants of Psamtik II bear the name Amyrtaeus we should not be surprised that Apries was one of them.

The Final Years of Apries according to Herodotus

        If we are correct in our identifications, then power was wrested from Apries, alias Amyrtaeus,  in 454 B.C..   In the eyes of the priesthood and the majority of Egyptians he remained the legitimate king, but in reality he was a fugitive, excluded from power, and confined to the extreme north-western delta following the battle of Prosopitis/Naucratis.  It may even be that he left Egypt entirely and sought sanctuary in Libya or Cyrene awaiting further assistance from the Greeks to regain his capital.  That assistance, as we have seen, was forthcoming only late in 450 B.C. or early in 449 B.C..   That year, according to the Elephantine stela, accompanied by a Greek expeditionary force, Apries attempted to regain a foothold in the western Delta, where a Persian appointee named Amasis now held power.

        Prior to the discovery of the Elephantine stela (now commonly called the Amasis stela) the story of the "civil war" between Apries and Amasis was preserved only by Herodotus.   Herodotus' version of events has been discounted by most scholars - since it conflicts in its broad details with the data of the Amasis stela - but it does preserve some interesting detail and needs to be examined.

        According to Herodotus, near the end of his reign "Apries sent an army against Cyrene and there he met with a very great defeat."  The failed expedition proved fatal.   Its failure resulted in a loss of popular support.  "For this the Egyptians held him (ie. Apries)  to blame, suspecting that he had knowingly sent his men to certain destruction, so that after their slaughter he might rule more securely over the rest of his people.  Thus inflamed, those who came home, supported by the friends of those who had perished in Cyrene, openly revolted from him." (Her. II.162).  When Apries sent an official named Amasis to placate the angry returnees, those same troops crowned him as king.

When he heard of the revolt, Apries sent Amasis to win over the malcontents.  When he met them and was endeavouring to persuade them, an Egyptian standing behind him put a helmet on his head, saying that he did so to make him king.  This was not displeasing to 'Amasis, as the event showed, for being crowned by the rebels, he made ready to attack Apries.  When the king heard of it, he sent Patarbemis, a man of repute and one of his advisers, to bring Amasis alive into his presence.  (Her. II.162)

In this fresh misfortune, Apries armed his bodyguard for war and led them against the Egyptians.  With him were thirty thousand Carians and Ionians; and his royal palace was in Sais, a great and magnificent building.  So the forces of Apries marched aginst the Egyptian, and those of Amasis against the foreigners, until they met at Momemphis and prepared for a trial of strength.  Her. II.163.

When Apries with his guard and Amasis with all the Egyptians came to the city of Momemphis, they fought; and though the foreigners behaved well, they were fewer by far in number, and for that reason were defeated.  It is said that Apries believed that he could not be dispossessed of his kingdom even by a god, so  firmly did he think himself established.  And yet in this battle he was overthrown and afterwards taken captive to Sais, to the palace that once was his but now belonged to Amasis.  There he was kept for a time and was treated well; but then the Egyptians found fault with the new king for keeping alive their worst enemy and his.  So Amasis delivered him up to the people, and they strangled him and entombed him in the sepulchre of his forefathers. (Her. II.169)

        Thucydides does not describe the activities of the 60 Greek vessels sent to assist Amyrtaeus in 450/49 B.C..  Nor does he mention the fate of Amyrtaeus.  According to him the Athenians fleet exited Egypt soon after arriving and apparently without extensive losses.    These facts are not in conflict with Herodotus who preserves only a summary account of the battle, and avoids any statistics regarding loss of life and property..    According to his History "though the foreigners behaved well, they were fewer by far in number, and for that reason were defeated."   It is certainly possible that the Greeks aborted the battle soon after it began, when confronted by a much larger Egyptian force.   The few thousands of troops carried by sixty ships, augmented by whatever army remained to Amyrtaeus, was hardly a match for the Egyptian/Persian alliance.

        Herodotus has apparently confused the roles of the participants in the battle.  Otherwise his story can be reconciled with the Thucydides version of the Amyrtaeus/Greek expedition of 449 B.C..    The pseudo-Herodotus is apparently privy to a tradition that the two kings Amasis and Apries contested for power, Apries supported by Greek soldiers and Amasis by native Egyptians.  Since Apries was the recognized king it was natural for Herodotus to assume that he, not Amasis, resided in the capital city, and that Amasis was the challenger, invading from without the capital.   His error is fortunately set right by details on the Elephantine stela to which we briefly direct our attention.

The Final Years of Apries According to the Elephantine Stela

        Breasted refers to this stela as "perhaps the most important document of the Saitic period."   Originally found as part of a doorway of a house in Cairo, and now located in the Cairo Museum, it is "unfortunately, so badly preserved that a consecutive translation is totally impossible". [4]     In spite of the stated "impossibility",  a complete translation was provided by Daressy [5], its first editor, and Breasted himself provides a fairly comprehensive treatment.  Other noteworthy translations of selection portions of the text occurred throughout the last century, the most recent by Anthony Leahy [6], following Edel [7].   According to Leahy:

The Elephantine stela is the one extant Egyptian source to describe any facet of the civil war explicitly... It is self-evidently a partial, retrospective account from the victor's standpoint, which makes no reference to the manner in which he [Amasis] became king, but begins its narrative with Amasis already installed at Sais....  there is no justification for supposing that the dates given are not those of the events described.[8]

The extreme difficulties in recovering a full text from the very worn stone are reflected by the fact that Daressy's pioneering effort remains the only published copy of the whole inscription.  Misreading of the dates on the stela has undermined most previous discussions, but Edel has now established the sense of a substantinal part of the text and, most importantly, shown that the correct readings of the two dates on the stela are 'year 1" and 'year 4' respectively (collated).  It is unusual in recording two events which, although related, took place nearly two and a half years apart.  The essence of the two sections is as follows:
    Year one, II smw: Amasis, in his palace at Sais, was informed that Apries, accompanied by boats filled with Greeks (h'w-nbw) had reached Sht-mfkt (Kom Abu Billu?).  Amasis set forth and routed the opposition at 'Im'w (Kom el-Hisn).  Nothing is said of the fate of Apries, but measures were taken against his earlier base.
    Year four, III 'ht 8: an Asiatic (sttiw) invasion of Egypt by land and sea was defeated at an unspecified place, probably near the eastern frontier.  Apries, who apparently accompanied the foreign force, did not survive and was honourably buried.[9]

        Our primary interest is in the first of the two inscriptions.  For reference we quote Breasted's partial translation, with commentary, correcting only the year date:

Year 1 [Petrie has year 3], second month of the third season (tenth month), under the majesty of King Amasis, beloved of Khnum, lord of the Cataract, and Hathor, residing in Zeme (D'-mw.t), given all life, stability, satisfaction, like Re, forever ....
Here follows the statement that his majest was in the palace-hall, deliberating the affairs of the land, when
one came to say to his majesty:  "Apries (H''-yb-R'), he has sailed southward --- ships of [---] while Greeks without number are coursing through the Northland [-----] They are wasting all Egypt; they have reached Malachite-Field, and those who are of thy party flee because of them."  Then his majesty caused the royal companions and [ --- ] to be called, and informed them of what had happened.
He addressed them with reassuring exhortations (ll.5-7), and they replied with praise of Amasis, declaring that Apries had acted like a dog at a carcass (ll.7-10)
Said his majesty:  "Ye shall fight tomorrow! Every man (hr-nb) to the front!"  His majesty mustered his infantry and his cavalry - - -.  His majesty mounted upon his chariot; he took arrows and bow in his hand, he arrived ([spr-nf]) at [-], he reached Andropolis, the army jubilating and rejoicing on the road.
The introduction to the battle is totally unintelligible. There follows (l. 12):
His majest fought like a lion, he made a slaughter among them, whose number was unknown.  Numerous ships [took] ('w') them, falling into the water, whom they saw sink as do the fish.
Amasis triumphed BAR IV 1002-1005

        1)  The first inscription is dated to the tenth month of Amasis first year.   We assume that the date records when the inscription was made, not when the battle occurred.   The battle must therefore have taken place several months earlier, i.e. early in 449 B.C.   If so then the Elephantine inscription records a correct version of the same battle of which Herodotus preserves a distorted version.  According to Leahy "There can be no doubt that it is [the same as] those crucial, initial stages which Herodotus and Diodorus record, although the Greek accounts of the usurpation are not easily reconciled with that of the stela."[10]

        2)  The battle took place in the extreme north-western Delta, in the vicinity of Naucratis, precisely where we would expect if Apries/Amyrtaeus was confined to the marshes further to the north along the Canopic branch of the Nile.  The early section of the inscription, much of which Breasted leaves untranslated, is described more fully in Darresy's edition.  It states explicitly that the Greeks who are assisting Apries are based in the vicinity of Naucratis:

Apries has (left).  He (leads) the vessels which (have departed).  Greeks without number traverse the northland.  It is as if they have no master to govern them.  He [Apries] has summoned them and they have accepted.  The king had assigned them a residence in the Pehu An:  They infest all of Egypt.  They have reached Sekhet-Mafek, everything that is in your territory (lit. in your waters) runs away from them.(italics mine) [11]

        3)  If Daressy's translation is reliable then the Greeks who assisted Apries are there by special invitation.   The stela considers the fact worth mentioning.   The same emphasis is placed by Thucydides on the fact that the flottila which arrived in Egypt to assist Amyrtaeus was responding to a invitation by the deposed Egyptian king.

        4)  The same passage which Breasted translated "Apries (H''-yb-R'), he has sailed southward --- ships of [---] while Greeks without number." and Daressy translates "Apries has (left).  He (leads) the vessels which (have departed).  Greeks without number ..." is now translated by Edel as "Apries - the island (sent out?) for him vessels completely filled with H'w-nbw (= Greek soldiers), without number." [13]   Edel also sees reference to an "island" in the final line of the first inscription, in a statement which he translates:  "Then his majesty encircled the island on all sides." [14]   Edel attempted to identify this "island" with Cyprus, arguing that the Greek troops which Apries has called to assist him were based in that location and that Amasis in the later stages of the battle actually ventured to attack Cyprus.   But the battle is clearly local.    Leahy points out that the first reference to island (iw) has a possessive suffix (iw.f = his island) which Edel ignores.    If the translation is correct then Apries is in possession of the island which serves as a base of operations for his Greek allies.   In Leahy's opinion all that can be determined from the inscription is that Amasis, after defeating Apries (and the Greeks who assisted him), "took some sort of action against his island base." [15]

         We recall our earlier argument that Naucratis was a fortified camp on the island of Prosopitis, lost to Inaros in 454 B.C..   It is probable that this is the "island" base from which Apries launched his assault against Amasis.  We assume that in the early stages of this final phase of the Egyptian rebellion Amyrtaeus, assisted by the Greek vessels dispatched by Cimon, had succeeded in reclaiming the "island" and the city Naucratis.   Then followed the abbreviated battle with Amasis and a retreat to the sanctuary of Naucratis, against which Amasis "took some sort of action.".   If  Thucydides is describing the same incident, we must assume that the Greek ships fled Naucratis, exited the Egyptian Delta and rejoined the main Greek fleet near Cyprus.

Amasis' 4th Year

        It is the opinion of Leahy, following Edel, that after the battle of year 1, "Apries escaped and must have gone abroad", based on the fact that "only Amasis is attested in Egypt between then and year 4." [16]   According to him the second section of the Elephantine stela describes an entirely different conflict.    Where the first thirteen columns describe a civil war involving Greek troops, columns 14-18 describe an Asiatic invasion.  "The stela distinguishes clearly between the opponents of Amasis.  In year 1, they were h'w-nbw [Greeks] in kbnt boats, in year 4 they were sttiw [Asiatics] in 'h'w boats."

         The observation that the final columns of the Amasis stela describe a foreign invasion actually originates with the Egyptologist Spalinger, who provides the most detailed argument:

But it is the entire narrative of this second section on the historical stela (cols. 14-18) which is most important.   The enemy of Amasis is depicted in a different light than Apries.  For one, the ships employed by Amasis' opponents are different: being simple 'h'w vessels instead of the kbnt boats which Apries' Greek mercenaries employed.  Secondly, the enemy is not specified by name, as Apries is in the opening sections.  In this latter passage, the text states that "...thousands are there, invading (thm) the land.  They cover every road.  Those who are in 'h'w vessels, they have taken up (?) ... in their hearts" (col. 14)  The following description is very difficult to read, owing to the faulty text publication.  However, after an oath before the battle, the Pharaoh urged his troops forward (col. 16: "then his majest summoned his troops, shouting upwards ...").  It appears that a storm took place ... during which the enemy ships were defeated (col. 17: "their ships were overturned").  The use of the third person plural in this section (.sn: "they" or "their") by the scribe of the stela when depicting Amasis' enemy is  quite different from the opening narrative; it definitely indicates that Apries is not the foe of Amasis.  For in fact, the use of the verb thm, "to invade," "to overstep," and "to penetrate," would imply that an enemy whose origin lay outside Egypt invaded Amasis' territory.  It may even be possible to read "the ruler of Asia" (hk' st[t])  in column seventeen of the stela; however, this is very speculative.  (In any case, the title hk', if it is correctly read, cannot refer to Apries as the latter is in this stela either specifically named or given the epithet mh-ib.)  Thus it is rather clear that the final columns of the historical stela refer to a war between Amasis and an unnamed foreign foe. (italics mine) [17]

        1)  Herodotus preserves the tradition that Apries was taken captive by Amasis and kept under house arrest for some time in Sais, apparently enjoying good favor with Amasis.    There are several conflicting traditions concerning Apries' subsequent violent death, but unanimity in representing Amasis as a friend of his defeated political rival.

        2)  Amasis' treatment of Apries in the Elephantine stela is likewise entirely positive.  He appears to be fighting with, not against, his former antagonist. We quote Breasted's partial translation in support of this claim:

Year 4 [ Breasted reads year 3] third month of the first season (third month), day 8, [came] one to say to his majesty:  " The enemy infest the ways, there are thousands there, invading the land; they cover every road.  As for those who are in the ships, [they bear hatred of thee in their hearts] without ceasing."
Amasis then gave his troops instructions to scour "every road, not letting a day pass," without pressing the enemy (ll. 15,16); whereupon the army greatly rejoiced, and proceeded to their task (l. 16).  The enemy's ships were taken (l. 17) and Apries was probably surprised and slain while taking his ease on one of the vessels.  "He (Amasis) saw his favorite fallen in his --- which he had made before the water."  Amasis had him buried as befitted a king, forgot the "abomination of the gods," which he had committed, and "he (Amasis) founded divine offerings in great multitude," for the mortuary observances of the fallen Apries. BAR 1006-7 (italics mine)

      4)  It is generally assumed that Amasis won the battle, but there is no certainty of that fact.   These five columns of text, affixed as a postscript to the description of an earlier conflict, hardly qualify as a suitable context in which to boast of victory over a powerful foreign army, whether Babylonian or Persian.   The fact that Apries died in the conflict is at least suggestive of the fact that Amasis' brief attempt at rebellion, or resistance,  ended in failure.   It is not surprising that Amasis was left in office by the Persians.   If Herodotus is to be believed, and if we are correct in our identification of Apries and Amyrtaeus,  even Pausiris, a son of Apries/Amyrtaeus, was given a position of authority following Apries' death.   The Persians were noted for their willingness to forgive defeated rebels, providing the loser was sufficiently humbled.

Postscript

        According to Herodotus, corrected and informed by the Elephantine stela, Apries, son of Psamtik II, early in the year 570 B.C., fought a losing battle with Amasis in an attempt to regain his throne.  He requested and received the help of Greek mercenaries, who manned sea-faring kbnt boats.   The rebels controlled an island naval base in the extreme north-western Delta.  From that base of operations the allies proceeded upriver toward Memphis.  The ensuing battle was concluded quickly, with minimal losses, and the Greek army faded from the scene.  Three years later Amasis and Apries appear to be united in conflict with a ruler of Asia, identified elsewhere as the king the Persia.

        According to Thucydides, informed by Ktesias and others, Amyrtaeus, son (or descendant) of Psamtik II, early in the year 449 B.C., engaged an apparently losing battle with the Persian rulers of the Egyptian Delta in an attempt to regain territory lost earlier in the Egyptian rebellion.  He requested and received the help of Greek mercenaries who manned sea-faring vessels.  The rebels controlled an island naval base in the extreme north-western Delta.  We can assume that from that base of operations the allies advanced up the Canopic branch of the Nile toward Memphis.  Details of the encounter are not preserved, but within months of their arrival the Greek naval forces retreated from Egypt and rejoined the Athenian fleet in the Mediterranean.  Within a year a peace was concluded between Athens and Persia, leaving the Egyptian rebels, whatever their fate in 449 B.C., to fend for themselves.  If Amyrtaeus lived to continue his struggle to liberate Egypt he would necessarily have to rely solely on assistance from his fellow Egyptians.

        It is curious, to say the least, that two apparently harmonious sets of circumstances prevailed in Egypt, involving the same family, but separated in time by precisely 121 years.    But by now we are used to this curiosity.