other · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan

Achaemenid Egypt

525 BCE – 404 BCE · capital Memphis

Egypt as a satrapy of the Persian Empire, ruled by Persian kings who were also crowned as pharaohs.

Origins

In 525 BCE Cambyses II defeated Psamtik III of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt at Pelusium and took Memphis, making Egypt a province of the Achaemenid Empire. Manetho counts the Persian kings as the Twenty-seventh Dynasty. The Egyptian official Udjahorresnet helped Cambyses adopt pharaonic titles.

Rule and society

A Persian satrap governed from Memphis, collecting tribute in grain and silver. Darius I had Egyptian laws collected, completed the Nile to Red Sea canal and built the temple of Hibis in the Kharga Oasis. Aramaic served as the administrative language beside Egyptian, and a garrison of Jewish soldiers at Elephantine left a rich archive of Aramaic papyri. Revolts broke out in 486 BCE and under Inaros, who was supported by Athens, around 460 BCE.

Decline and legacy

After the death of Darius II, the Saite noble Amyrtaeus rebelled in 404 BCE and freed Egypt, founding the Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt. Persia reconquered the country in 343 BCE.

Lineage

Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt 664 BCE – 525 BCEAchaemenid Egypt

Connections (2)

Achaemenid Egypt was a province of Achaemenid Empire525 BCE – 404 BCE
Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt split from Achaemenid Egypt404 BCE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Achaemenid Egypt. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/achaemenid-egypt
MLA: “Achaemenid Egypt.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/achaemenid-egypt. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Achaemenid Egypt.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/achaemenid-egypt.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Achaemenid Egypt’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/achaemenid-egypt (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻