Page "Cambyses II" Paragraph 11

Whoever this new monarch may have been, Cambyses attempted to march against him, but died shortly after under disputed circumstances.

According to Darius, who was Cambyses's lance-bearer at the time, he decided that success was impossible, and died by his own hand in March 522 BCE.

Herodotus and Ctesias ascribe his death to an accident.

Ctesias writes that Cambyses, despondent from the loss of family members, stabbed himself in the thigh while working with a piece of wood.

He died eleven days later from the wound.

Herodotus's story is that while mounting his horse, the tip of Cambyses's scabbard broke and his sword pierced his thigh-Herodotus mentions it is the same place where he stabbed a sacred cow in Egypt.

He then died of gangrene of the bone and mortification of the wound.

Some modern historians suspect that Cambyses may have been assassinated, either by Darius as the first step to usurping the empire for himself, or by supporters of Bardiya.

According to Herodotus ( 3. 64 ) he died in Ecbatana, i. e. Hamath ; Josephus ( Antiquites xi.

2.

2 ) names Damascus ; Ctesias, Babylon, which is absolutely impossible.