CAMBYSES II. ( ? -B.C. 522). King of the united realm of the Medes and Persians front B.C. 529 to 522. He was the grandson of Cam byses 1. and sou of Cyrus the Great. Ascending the throne on the death of his father, he at once took the reins of government in his hands. His brother, Smardis (Old Pers. Bardiya), was made viceroy of the eastern provinces of Iran. Cam byses's first and chief design was the conquest of Egypt. Ile invaded this country with his armies, and in H.C. 525 defeated Psammetiehus. the King of Egypt, at Pelusium. Memphis, the capital, fell in the following year. n.e. 524. and Cambyses was soon master of the entire fertile valley of tlie Nile. Nubia was also subjugated. hut not without great loss to his forces, and an attempt to conquer the Ethiopians proved a disastrous failure. An expedition likewise against Carthage had to be abandoned because the Pluenicians re fused to lend their naval power. it. was now that Cambyses received news that the throne of Persia had been seized, during his absence, by a :Magian priest (Inumata. the Psendo-Smer dis. The usurper impersonated Bard iya, or Smerdis, Cambyses's brother, who had been assas sinated. though the people did not know it, at the instigation of Cambyses himself. Startled by this bold impersonation of one whom he be lieved to be dead, the guilty and crime-laden Canthyses hastened to retrace his steps to Persia, but died on the way, me. 522. at Ecbatana,
which Ilerodotus ( (12414) calls a city of Syria, but Josephus names I )amaseus. The oracle of liuto had prophesied he would die at Agbatana. but t'amI)yses always supposed the Median Febatana to be meant by this. In •er tain respects. the accounts of Ilerodotus fit ) and ('twins differ as to the manner of his death, but both attribute it to an accidental self-in theted wound. III the great Behistini inscription 43) Darius says that Cambyses died by a death but the word u r fi-ni a rg iyuA, iit. 'self death: semis rather. though not neces sarily, to imply suicide. Regarding the character of Cambyses, if we follow Herodotus, his be ha•ior iu Egypt was little short of that of a madman. his cruelties; and sacrilegious acts were atrocious. Ile is said to have violated the tombs of the Egyptians. and even to have put some of their leading men to death. In an cut rageors manner he stabbed the sacred bull of Apis so that it died, and lie caused the minister Mg priests to be scourged (lhlt. iii. 29). But it must be added that this account is not easy to reconcile with an existing stele on which Cam byses is portrayed as giving an honorable burial to the dead god Apis. on the whole, however, there can be no doubt that he 'MIT: a dissolute and inhuman ruler. See Cvaus; DARIL S ; InA; PERSIA.