Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

OTN. XXVII.

XERXES I.

437

-under the reign of Khshiarsh (Xerxes I.).

of Persia Aliurta, the son of Arthames and the child of his wife
Qanzu, remaining before the face of the [god Amsu of Coptos].

A comparison of all these rock-inscriptions gives
the following determination of the regnal years of the
kings, in their relation to the years of service of the
■two Persians.
Ataiuhi lived—

(1) 6 full years under the reign of Kanbuza (Cambyses) ;

(2) 36 „ „ „ „ „ Nthariush (Darius I.);

(3) 2 „

(4) 6 „

(5) 10 „

(6) 12 „

(7) 16 „
Aliurta lived-

(1) 5 full years I under the reign of Arta-khshesesh

(2) 16 „ „ | (Artaxerxes).

That the phrase ' he lived' referred, not to the
"Whole lifetime of the person from his birth, but to his
actual years of service spent in Egypt, is proved by
the dates given in the two inscriptions of Aliurta, who
expressed the five years, besides the sixteen years, in
order to show his service under Artaxerxes. If Cam-
byses reigned six years as king of Egypt, the conquest
of Egypt must be placed, not in the year 525, but in
•^27, as before stated.

Xerxes I.—or, as he is named in the Egyptian
inscriptions, Khshiarsh or Khsherish—did not enjoy
the best reputation among the Egyptians, who had
learnt to esteem his predecessor, Darius I., as a be-
nignant and well-disposed ruler. After Xerxes had
by force of arms crushed the insurrection made by
the Egyptians to throw off the Persian yoke, the
foreign rule pressed more severely than ever on the
land, over which Achsemenes, the king's brother, was
placed as satrap.

The defeats which the Persians soon after suffered