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History of Egypt under Persian rule is divided into three periods: the first period of occupation, followed by a period of independence, the second period of occupation under the Achaemenid Empire, and the last period of occupation by the Sassanians for a short time before it fell again to the Byzantines.

Egypt under the Achaemenids

After Cambyses II ascended to the throne in 530 BCE, he worked on establishing the foundations of his rule and securing his borders, which were plagued by some disturbances. Four years later, he began thinking about invading Egypt and incorporating it into the Persian Empire. He asked Cyrus the Great for the hand of the daughter of Pharaoh Ahmose II, but he refused and decided to send him the daughter of Pharaoh Apries instead, which greatly angered Cyrus and hastened the Persian invasion of Egypt.

Egypt was flourishing under the rule of Ahmoses II with great progress and stability throughout his reign. However, despite this, there were some signs of weakness that seemed to pose a threat, including the fact that the Egyptian army had many foreign mercenaries as its core members, making their loyalty suspect, and also the grants made by Ahmose to them made them objects of envy and hatred from the Egyptians. As a result of these matters, one of the leaders in the Egyptian army named Phanes defected to the side of Cambyses and informed him about the plans of the Egyptian army and its positions as well as the routes through the desert.

Ahmose attempted to prepare for the expected attack by Cambyses by trying to form an alliance with Cyprus and the tyrant Polycrates of Samos, who had a large fleet at his disposal, so that he would have naval supremacy. However, he failed because they were betrayed and joined the Persians.

Cambyses II was able to secure water for his army from the leaders of the regions through which his army would pass in southern Egypt. Meanwhile, Ahmose II died before Cambyses began his campaign and reached Egypt, and his son Psamtik III succeeded him as king. He faced Cambyses' Persian army after it crossed eastern Egypt and arrived at the forward fortress on the border of Bubastis near Port Said. Psamtik was defeated in the Battle of Pelusium and retreated to Memphis. Cambyses continued his advance, reaching Heliopolis and then Memphis, where he again faced Psamtik but was defeated and captured in this battle. Cambyses conquered Egypt, and it became a Persian province in 525 BCE.

Egypt under the Sassanians

The Sassanians from Persia (Iran) were able to defeat the Byzantines between 618-621 CE, and Alexandria, the Roman capital of Egypt, fell into the hands of the Persians.

The Sassanians took advantage of the internal strife in the Byzantine Empire when Phocas overthrew Emperor Maurice and attacked the Eastern Roman Empire, expelling them from Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and extending to Egypt to put an end to Roman rule in Asia. Alexandria fell after Nisces, the son of Heraclius' uncle, failed to defend the city and fled to Cyprus with Pope John V of Alexandria. After the fall of the city, the Persians expanded into southern Egypt after suppressing some scattered resistance until they were firmly established.

The Sassanian rule over Egypt lasted for ten years under the leadership of Commander Shahrbaraz from Alexandria. The new Roman Emperor Heraclius was able to defeat Khusro II and ordered Shahrbaraz to leave Egypt, but he refused. When a dispute arose between the Persians, Shahrbaraz provided assistance to Heraclius to take control of the Persian throne for himself, and they reached an agreement. The Sassanians withdrew from Egypt in the summer of 629 CE.

Sources:

* Herodotus (The Histories)
* Fragments of Ctesias (The History of Persia)
* Thucydides (The History of the Peloponnesian War)
* Diodorus Siculus (Bibliotheca Historica)
* Fragments of Manetho (Aegyptiaca)

Ancient Egyptian Prisoner
Sassanian Empire
History of Egypt by Period
Egypt under the Achaemenids