Apries

Names of Apries
Horus name	Wah-ib-Re
Sideline	Wah-ib-Re
Gold name	Se-wadj-taui S-w3ḏ-t3.w (j) Who allows the two countries to flourish
Throne name	Haa-ib-Re Ḥˁˁ-jb-Rˁ With a jubilant heart, a Re
Proper name	Wah-ib-Re W3ḥ-jb-Rˁ With constant will, a Re
Greek for Manetho	Quaphris

Apries ( Hebrew Hophra ) belonged to the ancient Egyptian pharaoh (king) and fourth ruler of the 26th dynasty of the Saïten dynasty. He ruled from February 10th ^July 589 to 570 BC Chr.

Life

Apries was the son of Psammetich II and his wife Tachuit . After his father's death, Apries embarked on an aggressive foreign policy that was different from that of his predecessors. In doing so, he mainly focused on expanding the Egyptian territory on the northeastern border. To achieve this goal, he initiated military operations in Phenicia , Palestine and Cyprus with moderate success .

The first of these operations was the attempt in 588 BC. To end the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II . However, he thwarted the project by initially withdrawing his troops and continuing the siege a year later. The subsequent conquest by his troops led to the fall of the kingdom of Judah and the deportation of a large number of its inhabitants into Babylonian exile . It remains a mystery to this day what role Apries played in this process and why he withdrew his troops.

Another operation allegedly initiated by Apries was the siege of Tire by the Egyptian fleet . Herodotus' account of this sea victory, however, contradicts other sources, which is why this attack may never have taken place.

In 576 BC The garrison of the city of Elephantine mutinied . The soldiers intended to move to Ethiopia , but at the last minute their commander Neshor negotiated skillfully to persuade them to turn back.

Despite the military failures that Apries suffered, he arranged for the Saïten temples to be expanded in Memphis , as well as the donation of lands, servants and cattle from the legacy of his father Psammetich II to the priests of the local temple of the deity Ptah . So he left an impression of prosperity on later generations.

In the last year of his reign , Apries was confronted with an uprising by the entire Egyptian army with the exception of the Greek mercenaries, which he led through the wrong strategic decision of 571 BC. To undertake a campaign against the Greek city-state of Cyrene himself.

The campaign to Cyrene ended with a heavy defeat for the Egyptian troops. The survivors then suspected Apries of betraying them. The king ordered the general Amasis to end the revolt , which meant an open outbreak of hostilities in the Egyptian troops (Greek mercenaries against native soldiers (Greek: Machimoi)).

However, since the rebels represented local soldiers and thus the greater part of the Egyptian army, Amasis ran over to them and had himself proclaimed Pharaoh. Amazingly, only the Greek mercenaries were still under the command of Apries. In the Battle of Momemphis, Apries' mercenary army was defeated. Due to the lack of further soldiers, Apries had no other option than from the Nile Delta in 569 BC. To flee.

Herodotus reports that Apries 567 BC In the fourth year of Amasis' reign, moved with a renewed army from Upper Egypt towards the Nile Delta to defeat Amasis and recapture the Egyptian throne . Apries is said to have been handed over to the people and strangled after his defeat and capture. In contrast, the report on the Elephantine stele speaks of a military conflict between Amasis and Asian armies. Apries attacked Amasis in an alliance, but fell during the battle. There is no doubt that he was buried in the capital, Saïs, in all honor .

• 

  Fragment of a statue named Pharaoh Apries ( Museum of Fine Arts , Boston)

• 

  Ruins of a palace in Apries (Memphis)

• 

  Apries stele in the open air museum in Memphis

literature

• Peter A. Clayton: The Pharaohs. Rulers and Dynasties in Ancient Egypt. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0661-3 .
• Leo Depuydt : Saite and Persian Egypt, 664 BC-332 BC (Dyns. 26-31, Psammetichus I to Alexander's Conquest of Egypt). In: Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, David A. Warburton (eds.): Ancient Egyptian Chronology (= Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One. The Near and Middle East. Volume 83). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-11385-5 , pp. 265-283 ( online ).
• Alan H. Gardiner : History of Ancient Egypt. An introduction. Weltbild, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-723-X .
• Barry J. Kemp: A Further Note on the Palace of Apries at Memphis. In: Göttinger Miszellen (GM). No. 29, 1978, pp. 61-62.
• Herodotus: histories . Edited and translated by Josef Felix. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7608-4111-2 .
• Friedrich Karl Kienitz : The political history of Egypt from the 7th to the 4th century before the turn of the times. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1953.
• Susanne Martinssen-von Falck: The great pharaohs. From the New Kingdom to the Late Period. Marix, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 978-3-7374-1057-1 , pp. 223–228.
• Eduard Meyer : History of Antiquity. Volume 3: The outcome of ancient oriental history and the rise of the West up to the Persian Wars. Reprint of the 2nd, completely revised edition, Stuttgart 1937, 5th, unchanged edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1975.
• Diana Alexandra Pressl: officials and soldiers. The administration in the 26th dynasty in Egypt (664–525 BC) (= European university publications . Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences. Volume 779). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1998, ISBN 3-631-32586-X (also: Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 1996).
• Michael Rice: Who's Who in Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London / New York NY 1999, ISBN 0-415-15448-0 .
• Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 81-83.
• David P. Silverman (Ed.): Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, New York NY 1997, ISBN 0-19-521270-3 .
• BG Trigger , BJ Kemp, D. O'Connor, AB Lloyd: Ancient Egypt. A social history. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1983, ISBN 0-521-28427-9 .
• Christoffer Theis: Should Re be ashamed? A subliminal meaning of עפרח in Jeremiah 44:30. In: Ugarit research . (UF) Volume 42, Ugarit-Verlag , Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-86835-053-1 , pp. 677-691.
• Pascal Vernus, Jean Yoyotte : Dictionnaire des Pharaons. Édition Noêsis, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-911606-08-6 .

Web links

Commons : Apries  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Alexander Schütze:  Apries. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (eds.): The scientific biblical lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff., Accessed on May 26, 2012.
• Article Hophra of the Jewish Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Roberto Gozzoli: Psammetichus II, Reign, Documents and Officials , London 2017, ISBN 978-1-906137-41-0 , p. 22.
2. ↑ Perhaps this retreat was reflected in the writing of his name in Jeremiah 44:30, see Christoffer Theis: Should Re be ashamed? A subliminal meaning of עפרח in Jeremiah 44:30. In: Ugarit research. Volume 42, 2011, pp. 677-691.

predecessor	Office	successor
Psammetich II.	Pharaoh of Egypt 26th Dynasty	Amasis