Cambyses, Nebuchadnezzar, Bacht-Nassar: One more time concerning the image of the king-conqueror of Egypt in Coptic and Arabic traditions
EDN: DTVFPY
Abstract
The article deals with the image of King Cambyses II in Coptic and Late Arabic traditions. According to the author, the identification of Cambyses II with Nebuchadnezzar II occurred in Egypt due to the fact that both rulers were perceived as adversaries of religion and were reputed to destroy temples in conquered territories. However, the Coptic and Arabic versions of the story of Cambyses’-Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion contain some elements that can be regarded as a reminiscence of the historical campaign of Nebuchadnezzar II against King Apries. The appearance of such elements in the context of Egypt’s loss of independence may be linked to the tradition of King Apries’ supporters of the 6th–5th centuries BC, who considered him to have been the last legitimate ruler of Egypt and the following reign of Amasis as an interruption of Egyptian history. This tradition was blended with the representation of Cambyses’ invasion as a crucial point in Egypt’s history into the Coptic version of the story of the Egypt’s loss of independence during Cambyses’-Nebuchadnezzar’s attack on King Apries. In the Coptic “Cambyses’s Romance” and the “Chronicle” of John of Nikiu there is still a distinction between Cambyses II and Nebuchadnezzar II, but in the Arabic tradition both figures were merged into a single image of King Bacht-Nassar, and the conquest of Egypt was attributed to this “hybrid” ruler.
Keywords
Ancient Egypt,
Coptic literature,
Cambyses II,
Nebuchadnezzar II,
John of Nikiu,
Cambyses’ Romance,
classical tradition
Supporting agencies: The research is sponsored by the grant 24-18-00378 of the Russian Science Foundation “The Origin and the Contents of the Late Antique and Medieval Picture of the Near Eastern and Aegean Past in the Earliest (preAchaemenid) Period”, https://rscf.ru/project/24-18-00378/.
About the Author
D. A. Izosimov
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Denis Aleksandrovich Izosimov, Junior Research Fellow, research group for the project of the Russian Science Foundation 24-18-00378; unior Research Fellow, Centre of PreIslamic East Archaeology
119334, Moscow, Leninsky Prospekt, 32a
07031, Moscow, ul. Rozhdestvenka, 12,
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Review
For citations:
Izosimov D.A. Cambyses, Nebuchadnezzar, Bacht-Nassar: One more time concerning the image of the king-conqueror of Egypt in Coptic and Arabic traditions. Shagi / Steps. 2026;12(1):55-76. (In Russ.) EDN: DTVFPY
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