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Cambyses
600 - 559 B.C.
Cambyses was the son and successor of Cyrus the
Great. He ruled the Persian Empire from the death of his father in 530 to his
own death in Ecbatane (Syria) in 522 while on his way back from Egypt with his
army (see Herodotus ' Histories at III, 62-66 for the story of Cambyses' death).
He continued the politic of expansion startd by his father Cyrus. First, he took
part with his father to the conquest of Babylonia and was named king of Babylon
after the capture of the city in 539. After becoming king of Persia, he
conquered Egypt and was named Pharao in 526. But he had a repute of madness and
despotism which led to palace struggles for the succession and, despite what
Herodotus says, it is possible that he was in fact assassinated upon order of
one of his brothers, Smerdis, which he himself tried to have assassinated.
The story of Cambyses is told by Herodotus in the first part of book III of his
Histories (III, 1-38 and 61-66).
In the Laws, the Athenian stranger explains Cambyses character by the
education he received at the hands of women while his father was waging war here
and there (Laws, III, 694c-695b).
At his death, after a short period during which Smerdis assumed the leadership,
more palace struggles led to the rise to the throne of Persia of Darius the
Great, whose task it was to organise such a vast empire.
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Senior Project : 2001-2002 The Great Persian Empire Website
