Cambyses II

Ezra 4:7 states: “In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language.”

“Artaxerxes” is a title for a Persian king meaning “his rule is through truth.” The Bible mentions two kings with this title (Ezra 4:7; 7:1). The Jewish historian Josephus identifies the Artaxerxes in Ezra 4:7 as Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapter 2).

Cambyses II reigned from 530 to March 522 BCE. In 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great defeated King Nabonidus of Babylon and successfully captured the city. Around 537 BCE, Cambyses served as Cyrus’s plenipotentiary in Babylon. After Cyrus the Great died in battle in 530 BCE, Cambyses succeeded him as king, becoming Cambyses II. In 525 BCE, he led the Persian army to invade Egypt, defeating the Egyptians at Pelusium and capturing Pharaoh Psamtik III. On May 25, 525 BCE, Cambyses II became the ruler of Egypt, establishing the Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt (the First Persian Dynasty). He used the title “Emperor of Egypt, Emperor of Nations.”

In 524 BCE, Cambyses II’s invasion of Kush (Nubia) was thwarted. The same year, a revolt against Persian rule broke out in Egypt. After suppressing the revolt, Cambyses II planned another conquest of Kush, but this plan was interrupted by an uprising in Persia itself. He marched his army back home but died on the way. Darius, a royal collateral and the commander of his royal guard, was then acclaimed by the army and, after quelling the rebellion, ascended the throne as Darius I.