Nectanebo II

"The Magician Pharaoh"

Brief Summary of Egyptian History:

• Egypt's history is divided into dynasties, called "houses"
• Kingship descended from heaven to the city of the sun god, Heliopolis
• Egypt was a province of the Persian Empire from 525-404 BC
• Other than the Greek city-states, it was the first country to shake off Achaemenid control
• After 25 years of being independent, power slipped from the family of Dynasty XXIX to a distant relative and military officer, Nekhtenebef, or Nectanebo I.
• In 362 BC, Nectanebo I was succeeded by his son Djeho, or Teos.
• Teos soon became unpopular, referred to as "un-Egyptian"
• Most of the army became loyal to his nephew, Nekhtharnehbo, or Nectanebo II.

Nectanebo II:

• He was the last Egyptian Pharaoh of Egypt
• Having seen the errors of his uncle, he felt he must become the self-image of Egypt
• He became the "dreamer of the Nile", devoted to the traditions of a timeless Egypt; the magician Pharaoh
• He became obsessed with temple-building, and built hundreds of temples, including the famous Temple of Isis at Behbeit
• The Demotic Chronicle, which is now on a papyrus in Paris, was written during his reign. This text includes a series of oracles with a general moral of "Honor the gods, that your days may be long"
• The cult of "Nectanebo the Falcon" grew during his reign as he took literal the ancient belief that the king of Egypt was a manifestation of the god Horus, whose emblem was a falcon. Numerous statues were constructed across the kingdom showing the disgraced Teos being replaced by Nectanebo II, or by his father Tamos.
• A statue of him holding a scimitar beneath the bosom of a large falcon can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
• Stelae known as "cippi of Horus" resemble boundary markers, made of stone, contain inscriptions describing the victories of Horus over serpents, scorpions and all the demons of this world. One of the best examples of these is the Metternich Stela, located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• In 343 BC, Artaxerxes led the Persians in re-capturing most of Egypt. Nectanebo fled, possibly to Ethiopia. 12 years later, Alexander came and was proclaimed Pharaoh.
• A magnificent sarcophagus was prepared for Nectanebo, which he was never to rest in, now located in the British Museum.
• The Dream of Nectanebo is on a papyrus, written in Greek by Apollonios, in Leiden. In the dream, the goddess Isis is accompanied by the god Onuris, who says that the temple of Sebennytos has been neglected, in that none of the hieroglyphs had been inscribed. The fault is on Samaus, the temple administrator, but Nectanebo sets out to find the fastest hieroglyph carver in the country to make things right. Petesis, the winner, was heading towards the temple when he saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Unfortunately, Apollonios the scribe broke off here, and we don't know the end of the story.
  
• The most detailed written account of Nectanebo can be seen the "The Greek Alexander Romance."

Reference:

Ray, John. Reflections of Osiris: Lives from Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, 2002. 113-129.