Ägypter und Perser

Until the early 1st millenium B. C. more or less stable political conditions prevailed in the Near East thanks to the great powers of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Hittites. In 525 B. C., however, the Persian Great King Cambyses II conquered Egypt after the victorious Battle of Pelusion, and he and his successors were to rule there for some 125 years. Reactions to this occupation, which systematically destroyed parts of Egypt’s cultural heritage, varied: While some parts of the native elite came to terms with the foreign rulers, massive resistance formed up in others. The book sketches the results of the conquest for Pharaonic society and culture in different fields. A cultural-historic overview is followed by reports of contemporary witnesses of the occupation, discusses the building activities of the Persians in Egypt, e. g. the Canal of the Pharaohs, highlights the Persian attitude towards Egyptian religious cults, and presents the few testimonies of autochthonous art production of this period severely suffering from the withdrawal of different groups of craftsmen. An outlook gives an evaluation of the period from an Egyptian point of view.