Amasis II () or Ahmose II was a pharaoh ( 570 B. C. E.

Amasis then married Chedebnitjerbone II, one of the daughters of his predecessor Apries, in order to legitimise his kingship.

Herodotus describes how Amasis II would eventually cause a confrontation with the Persian armies.

According to Herodotus, Amasis, was asked by Cambyses II or Cyrus the Great for an Egyptian ophthalmologist on good terms.

Herodotus also describes that just like his predecessor, Amasis II relied on Greek mercenaries and council men.

This head probably came from a temple statue of Amasis II.

Under Amasis or Ahmose II, Egypt's agricultural based economy reached its zenith.

), Amasis was able to defeat an invasion of Egypt by the Babylonians under Nebuchadrezzar II ; henceforth, the Babylonians experienced sufficient difficulties controlling their empire that they were forced to abandon future attacks against Amasis.

Herodotus also relates the desecration of Ahmose II / Amasis ' mummy when the Persian king Cambyses conquered Egypt and thus ended the 26th Saite dynasty:

Image: Louvres-antiquites-egyptiennes-img 2713. jpg | Papyrus, written in demotic script in the 35th year of Amasis II, on display at the Louvre

Dated to the first year of Amasis II, on display at the Louvre

vi: Amasis II

Nebuchadnezzar successfully fought the Pharaohs Psammetichus II and Apries throughout his reign, and during the reign of Pharaoh Amasis in 568 BC it is rumoured that he may have briefly invaded Egypt itself.

The war took place in 525 BCE, when Amasis II had just been succeeded by his son Psamtik III.

* 526 BC — Psammetichus III succeeds Amasis II as king of Egypt.

* 567 BC — Former pharaoh Apries invades Egypt with Babylonian help but is defeated by Saite pharaoh Amasis II ( also known as Ahmose II ).

* 570 BC — Amasis II succeeds Apries as king of Egypt.

There, according to Herodotus he visited the Pharaoh of Egypt Amasis II.

Croesus, now feeling secure, formed an alliance with Sparta in addition to those he had with Amasis II of Egypt and Nabonidus of Babylonia, and launched his campaign against the Persian Empire in 547 BC.

: See Amasis II for the 26th Dynasty pharaoh whose name sometimes appears as Ahmose II.

Amasis reacted by cultivating closer ties with the Greek states to counter the future Persian invasion into Egypt but was fortunate to have died in 526 B. C. E.

He succeeded his father as pharaoh in 526 BC, when Amasis died after a long and prosperous reign of some 44 years.

* Amasis II, Pharaoh of Egypt in 570 – 526 BC

* Amasis II ( or Ahmose II ), ( reigned c. 570 BC-c. 526 BC ), pharaoh of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

* c. 540 BC — Amasis Painter makes Dionysos with maenads, black-figure decoration on an amphora.

* Amasis I, Pharaoh of Egypt in 1550 – 1525 BC

At this time of crisis, the Egyptians turned in support towards a victorious general, Amasis II who had led Egyptian forces in a highly successful invasion of Nubia in 592 BC under pharaoh Psamtik II, Apries ' father.

Amasis quickly declared himself pharaoh in 570 BC and Apries fled Egypt and sought refuge in another foreign country.

When Apries marched back to Egypt in 567 BC with the aid of a Babylonian army to reclaim the throne of Egypt, he was likely killed in battle with Amasis ' forces.

The first important painter of this time was the Amasis Painter ( 560 – 525 BC ), named after the famous potter Amasis, with whom he primarily worked.

In 570 BC the Pharaoh Apries ( Wahibre, reigned 589-570 BC ) led the descendants of this mercenary army made up of 30, 000 Carians and Ionians against a former general turned rebel by the name of Amasis.

Although fighting valiantly they suffered defeat and Amasis II became Pharaoh ( reigned 570-526 BC ).

c. 470 BC Amasis compels Cyprus to pay tribute to Egypt after becoming the first man to take it by force.

Contract for metayage, papyrus, 35th year of Amasis II ( 533 BC, Demotic ( Egyptian ) | 26th Dynasty )

General Amasis, sent to meet them and quell the revolt, was proclaimed king by the rebels instead, and Apries, who had now to rely entirely on his mercenaries, was defeated.

An inscription confirms the struggle between the native Egyptian and the foreign soldiery, and proves that Apries was killed and honourably buried in the third year of Amasis ( c. 567 B. C. E .).

Some information is known about the family origins of Amasis: his mother was a certain Tashereniset as a bust statue of this lady, which is today located in the British Museum, shows.

Amasis seems to have complied by forcing an Egyptian physician into mandatory labor causing him to leave his family behind in Egypt and move to Persia in forced exile.

In an attempt to exact revenge for his forced exile, the physician would grow very close with Cambyses and would suggest that Cambyses should ask Amasis for a daughter in marriage in order to solidify his bonds with the Egyptians.

Cambyses complied and requested a daughter of Amasis for marriage.

Amasis worrying that his daughter would be a concubine to the Persian king refused to give up his offspring ; Amasis also was not willing to take on the Persian empire so he concocted a trickery in which he forced the daughter of the ex-pharaoh Apries, whom Herodotus explicitly confirms to have been killed by Amasis, to go to Persia instead of his own offspring.

" Nitetis naturally, betrayed Amasis and upon being greeted by the Persian king explained Amasis's trickery and her true origins.

Amasis would die before Cambyses reached him, but his heir and son Psamtik III would be defeated by the Persians.

One such figure was Phanes of Halicarnassus, who would later on leave Amasis, for reasons Herodotus does not clearly know but suspects were personal between the two figures.

Amasis would send one of his eunuchs to capture Phanes, but the eunuch is bested by the wise council man and Phanes flees to Persia, meeting up with Cambyses providing advice in his invasion of Egypt.

Although Amasis thus appears first as champion of the disparaged native, he had the good sense to cultivate the friendship of the Greek world, and brought Egypt into closer touch with it than ever before.

Amasis assigned the commercial colony of Naucratis on the Canopic branch of the Nile to the Greeks, and when the temple of Delphi was burnt, he contributed 1, 000 talents to the rebuilding.