ANCIENT EGYPT SURVIVES UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY

An Alternate History Timeline

by Robert Perkins

 

PART ONE--718 BC TO 500 BC

 

718-712 BC--Reign of Pharaoh Wahkare (Bocchoris), of the Saite 24th Dynasty.   Wahkare abolishes debt slavery, and grants to the tenants who farm the royal lands title to the lands they farm, establishing a class of land-owning bourgeoisie called the "nemhu" which will eventually exert profound influence on Egypt's future history.  

 

712 BC--King Shabaka of Kush invades Egypt and conquers the country.  Pharaoh Wahkare is killed.  Beginning of the Kushite 25th Dynasty. 

 

c. 710-620 BC--Cimmerian invasions of Anatolia.  The Cimmerians, a nomadic tribe of horse archers of Iranian stock, under pressure from the related Scythians, invade Asia Minor in a series of waves which will last for several decades. 

 

700 BC--Death of Pharaoh Shabaka of Egypt.  He is succeeded by Sabataka.  

 

c. 700 BC--Hellenic (Greek) colonization spreads to southern Italy, Asia Minor, Black Sea.  Greek colonies have existed on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor for a couple of centuries. 

 

 

696 BC--The Kingdom of Phyrgia in Asia Minor falls to invasions by the nomadic Cimmerians.  King Mita (Midas) commits suicide in the capital city of Gordium when the city falls to the barbarians. 


688 BC--Death of Pharaoh Sabataka of Egypt.  He is succeeded by Taharka. 

 

671 BC--King Esarhaddon of Assyria invades Egypt and sacks the Egyptian capital at Memphis.  Pharaoh Taharka, of the Kushite 25th Dynasty, is forced to flee from Egypt.  Esarhaddon, in contrast to usual Assyrian practice, is moderate in the implementation of the occupation of Egypt compared to past policies in other provinces, respecting local traditions as far as possible. The Assyrians show special interest for Egyptian experts, such as physicians, artisans and military specialists who are often deported to Assyria. The acquisition of horses from Egypt is of major importance to the Assyrians.  Esarhaddon appoints various native noblemen  as governors, functionaries and scribes in the provinces of Egypt.

670 BC--Prince Necho I of Sais, a descendant of Pharaoh Wahkare, is appointed governor over the regions of Sais and Memphis in Egypt. 

 

c. 670 BC--Miletus (Greek city on the Aegean Coast of Asia Minor) begins founding colonies both in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

 

669 BC--Death of Esarhaddon of Assyria.  Ashurbanipal takes the throne. Taharka of Kush (former Pharaoh of Egypt who was forced to flee by Esarhaddon) returns to Egypt with a Kushite army and tries to reconquer the land. Prince Necho, along with many other Egyptian governors appointed by Esarhaddon, ally themselves with Taharka.

  

668 BC--Ashurbanipal of Assyria invades Egypt, defeats Taharka, and drives the Kushites from Egypt for the final time.  Necho I of Sais is captured by Ashurbanipal and taken, with his sons, to Assyria.  His son Psamtik thus spends several years at the Assyrian court, and his observations while there will influence all later Egyptian history. Meanwhile, at Thebes,  Mentuemhet, Governor of the South and Prince of Thebes, restores Thebes and continues to rule the Thebaid for many years as an Assyrian vassal. 

 

663 BC--Necho I dies in Assyria.  Prince Psamtik is allowed to return to Egypt after taking an oath of loyalty to the Assyrian king.  He rules over Lower Egypt from Sais. 

 

c. 660-625 BC--Scythian invasions of Anatolia, Iran, and Mesopotamia.  The Scythians are beaten back by the Assyrians in Mesopotamia and the Lydians in Anatolia, but they temporarily bring the Medes (a powerful Iranian tribe to the east of Assyria) under their control, and greatly weaken the Kingdom of Urartu.   However, the invasion has one major effect which is relevant to this timeline...they keep the Assyrians occupied so they don't have resources to spare to bring Egypt back under their control. 

 

657 BC--Megara founds Byzantium.

655 BC--Psamtik I of Sais declares independence from Assyria and proclaims himself Pharaoh of Lower Egypt.  Thus begins the 26th Dynasty.  Shortly afterward, Mentuemhet of Thebes declares himself Pharaoh of Upper Egypt. Ashurbanipal, caught up in troubles of his own closer to home, is unable to restore Assyrian rule in Egypt. 

 

655 BC to 609 BC--In a long reign, Pharaoh Psamtik I establishes the pattern of kingship which will prevail in the new dynasty.  Psamtik  had spent much of his youth in Assyria, where the kings-while very powerful-were never considered to be divine. Therefore, the attitude of the Saite Pharaohs towards the kingship will be radically different from the Egyptian tradition. The lifestyle of the pharaohs of Sais will be much less ostentatious, to the point of being considered frugal by contemporary writers. And there will be no return to the ancient traditions under later kings (except for one notorious incident which will be described later in the timeline).  Psamtik will strengthen royal power over the provincial warlords and the priesthood by abrogating feudal and clerical immunities and privileges.  Another policy of Psamtik which will have profound influences on later history is his encouragement of Greek settlement within Egypt.  Psamtik  will make extensive use of Greek mercenaries in the army, and Psamtik will build a cities, the greatest of which is called Naukratis, where Greek scholars and merchants will be settled, and endow these Greek communities with land and rights.  These Greeks will make many contributions to Egypt's development in the years to come.

 

654 BC--Carthage, a colony of the Phoenician city of Tyre located in OTL Tunisia on the North African coast,  founds a colony in the Balearic Islands at Ibiza.

 

c.  650 BC--Psamtik I defeats Mentuemhet of Thebes and establishes control over Upper Egypt, reunifying the country. Psamtik begins wearing the Double Crown to signify his rulership of all Egypt. 

 

c. 650 BC--King Gyges of Lydia introduces the world's first standardized money, in the form of electrum coins, stamped with the king's seal.  The idea will eventually spread throughout the world, and replace barter economies with money economies. 

 

650 BC--Perdiccas Temenid founds the Macedonian kingdom with capital at Aegeae (Vergina).


640 BC--Sparta adopts a militaristic form of government.


632 BC--Athens abolishes the monarchy in favor of an oligarchy.

c.630 BC--Greek settlers from Thera found the city of Cyrene, on the northern coast of Libya.  

 

628 BC--Birth of Zoroaster, founder of the Persian national religion, Zoroastrianism. 

 

627-626 BC--King Ashurbanipal of Assyria dies in 627 BC.  He has twin sons, Ashur-etil-ilani and Sin-shar-ishkun.  Ashurbanipal has named  Ashur-etil-ilani as his successor, but  Sin-shar-ishkun does not recognize this and so begins a civil war that lasts until the latter gains the throne.  This civil war will weaken Assyria considerably and open the door to uprisings by various oppressed peoples within the Assyrian Empire. 

 

626 BC--King Nabopolasser of Babylon revolts and successfully overthrows Assyrian rule.  He makes an alliance with King Cyaxares of the Medes against Assyria. 

 

625-612 BC--Nabopolasser of Babylon and Cyaxares of Media wage war against Assyria, and the Assyrian army gradually falls apart after repeated defeats at the hands of the allies.  Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt, who wishes to maintain Assyria as a weakened buffer state against the rising power of Babylon, sends the Egyptian army northward, under the command of his son, Prince Necho,  in  618 BC, and for a while the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces are able to stem the Babylonian and Median advance.  Indeed, in 616 BC, the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces advance to within 300 km of Babylon itself before being forced to retreat.  But in 614 BC, Cyaxares of Media captures and sacks Ashur, the original capital and spiritual center of Assyria, and two years later, in 612 BC, the Babylonians and Medes capture and sack Nineveh. King Shin-shar-ishkun of Assyria dies in his burning palace. Prince Ashur-uballit escapes to Haran, where he declares himself King Ashur-uballit II of Assyria and tries to rally the remaining Assyrian forces around him.  Nabopolasser and Cyaxares divide the former Assyrian Empire among themselves. 

 

 

621 BC--Draco establishes the first Athenian code of law.  The code is extremely harsh (Draco's name will become synonymous with harsh...or DRACONIAN...measures in future times).

 

620 BC--King Ardys of Lydia decisively defeats the Cimmerians.  Lydia occupies the former area of the Kingdom of Phrygia.

 


616 BC--The Etruscans conquer the small Latin town of Rome in Italy.  Tarquinius I Priscus  becomes King of Rome.  Etruscan kings will reign there for the next 100 years. 

 

610 BC--The Babylonian army, under the command of Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar, besieges the remnant Assyrian forces at Haran.  Pharaoh Psamtik I sends an Egyptian army, under the command of Crown Prince Necho,  northward to the relief of the  besieged Assyrians, but Necho is delayed by Josiah, King of Judah, who attacks Necho's army at Megiddo (and is defeated, at the cost of his own life).  As a result, Haran falls to the Babylonians, Ashur-uballit II of Assyria is killed, and the Assyrians are finally defeated.  End of the Assyrian Empire.   Necho, learning of the defeat of his Assyrian allies, continues his advance north, captures the city of Kadesh in Syria, finally advances all the way to the Euphrates.   An uneasy peace settles as the Egyptians and Babylonians watch each other across the river. Also in this year, Miletus founds a trading post in Egypt.

 

609 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik I of Egypt dies.  Crown Prince Necho returns to Egypt to assume the throne as Pharaoh Necho II.  On his way back to Egypt, he stops off in Jerusalem long enough to depose Josiah's son, Jehoahaz II, taking him in chains back to Egypt, where he will die in exile.  Necho installs Jehoiakim, another of Josiah's sons, as vassal King of Judah.  

 

c. 606 BC--Pharaoh Necho II, who at this time is temporarily in control of Phoenicia, hires Phoenician shipwrights to  build a fleet of ships for the purpose of exploring the coastline of the African continent.   

 

605 BC--Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats the Egyptian army at Carchemish, on the Euphrates.  Nebuchadnezzar pursues the defeated Egyptians all the way to the borders of Egypt.  Along the way he confirms Jehoiakim as vassal King of Judah. 

 

604 BC--King Nabopolassar of Babylon dies.   Crown prince Nebuchadnezzar returns to Babylon to assume the throne as King Nebuchadnezzar II.  

 

603-600 BC--The Egyptian exploration fleet, being built at the orders of Pharaoh Necho II by Phoenician shipwrights at an Egyptian port on the Red Sea, sets sail.  The fleet, manned by a mixed force of Egyptian soldiers and Phoenician sailors, sails south along the African coast.  Each autumn they come ashore and plant the land in whatever part of the coast they have reached, and there await the harvest; then, having gathered the crop, they sail on. And so, in this manner, they circumnavigate the African continent.  In 600 BC they pass through the Pillars of Heracles (the Straits of Gibraltar) and  return to Egypt.  As a result of the knowledge gained from this voyage of exploration, Necho is able to renew contacts with Ophir...what would in the OTL become Zimbabwe in Southern Africa.   Ophir had been, since the days of the Old Kingdom, a source of fabulous wealth, especially gold.  Necho establishes regular trading voyages to Ophir, and gold begins to flow into Egyptian coffers, greatly strengthening the Egyptian monarchy. 

 

601 BC--King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon attempts an invasion of Egypt, but is defeated by Pharaoh Necho II at Pelusium and forced to retreat back to Babylon.  The Egyptian army also suffers large casualties and is unable to exploit the victory.  However, Necho does support rebellions by Babylonian vassal kings in Syria and Palestine, including Jehoiakim of Judah. 

 

600 BC--Rome conquers the city of Alba Longa. Also in this year, Carthage fails to prevent the establishment of the Phocaean Greek colony at Massilia (Marseilles).

 

c. 600 BC onward--Pharaoh Necho II and his successors use the gold of Ophir to finance a reorganization of the Egyptian military.  Necho and his successors were, in the OTL, somewhat innovative militarily, at least for Egyptians. They used Greek mercenary troops, for example, but this was limited by the lack of a strong treasury. In this ATL, with the gold of Ophir at his disposal,  they raise a large infantry force, mostly native but supplemented by mercenaries, which is armed, equipped, and trained as Greek Hoplites. This force is supplemented by a large force of Egyptian and Nubian archers. They abandon their chariots and adopt armored horse archers and lancers based on those of the Assyrians and Babylonians. They also build a large navy and merchant fleet, based on Greek and Phoenician designs.   With this revamped force, Egypt is much better able to defend itself and to expand than it was at the same period in the OTL.  The continuing influx of gold from Ophir will allow later Pharaohs to perform reorganizations of the military as changing tactics and military technology call for it. 

 

c. 600 BC to c. 350 BC--Expansion of Egypt in Africa.  The rediscovery of Ophir leads to a reorientation of Egyptian foreign policy and military activity which lasts for the next two centuries.  During this period Necho and his successors will not  attempt anymore to expand into Asia, but will remain on the defensive there, instead focusing on expansion southward into Africa, which they recognize as the source of their wealth. Necho's successors Psamtik II and Wahibre I will conquer the Kingdoms of Kush and Axum (most of modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia). This gives the Egyptians ports on the Horn of Africa (much closer to the mines of Ophir),  puts them in a good position to trade with India and other exotic regions, and Egypt grows wealthier still. Over the succeeding years, Egypt establishes a network of trading posts and military garrisons along the east coast of Africa,  and then expands out from these to bring the entire coast of East Africa under their control.  Finally, in the reign of Pharaoh Psamtik VII, an Egyptian army invades and occupies Ophir itself, bringing the region firmly under Egyptian control, where it will remain.  

 

598-597 BC--King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon returns to Syria and Palestine and once again brings the rebellious vassals under control.  King Jehoiakim of Judah dies under mysterious circumstances shortly before the arrival of the Babylonians before the gates of Jerusalem, and his son Jehoiachin is anointed King.  Jehoiachin appeals to Pharaoh Necho for aid, but none is forthcoming, and so he surrenders to the Babylonians in 587 BC, after reigning for a mere three months.   Nebuchadnezzar II deposes Jehoiachin, and appoints Zedekiah as the new vassal King of Judah.  Jehoiachin and 10,000 of his subjects are taken into captivity in Babylonia. 

 

594 BC--Pharaoh Necho II, known as "Gold Finder" because of his discovery and renewal of Egyptian ties to Ophir, dies.  He is succeeded by Psamtik II. Psamtik will focus on campaigns in Nubia, and thus Egypt takes no active role in the affairs of Syria-Palestine at this time. Also in this year, Solon founds the Athenian democracy.  He was heavily influenced by his observations of Egyptian society and law during a visit to Egypt a few years before. 

 

588 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik II dies, and is succeeded by Wahibre I.  Wahibre disagrees with his father's policies, which have oriented Egyptian efforts at expansion to the south, and will soon begin  to interfere in Syria-Palestine once again. 

 

587 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre I forms an alliance with the King of Tyre and King Zedekiah of Jerusalem.  Bolstered by promises of Egyptian aid, these kings lead a revolt against the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar II of  Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar calls on his loyal vassals to assail the rebels while he gathers his army.  Judah is assailed by forces from Samaria, Moab, Ammon, and Edom, while Tyre is assailed by a coalition of Phoenician and Cypriot city-states lead by the King of Sidon. 

 

586 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre I receives appeals for aid from the Kings of Tyre and Judah.  He sends a fleet which which defeats the Babylonian fleet (the combined navies of the allied Phoenician and Cypriot city states) and takes Sidon.  Sidon is sacked and Wahibre's fleet returns to Egypt with much booty.  Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezzar had arrived at Jerusalem and laid siege to the city.  Wahibre marches north from Egypt in an attempt to relieve their Judean allies, and is defeated and forced to retreat back into Egypt.   Jerusalem falls, and is sacked.  The Temple of Solomon is razed to the ground along with the rest of the city, King Zedekiah is blinded and lead off to Babylon in chains along with the rest of the royal household, and most of the population is carried off into captivity.  The Kingdom of Judah ceases to exist, and the Babylonian Captivity begins. 

 

585 BC--King Cyaxares of the Medes dies, and is succeeded by Astyages.  Later that year, Astyges is victorious over King Alyattes of Lydia in the Battle of the Eclipse (May 25, 585 BC).  The border between the Median Empire and Lydia is set at the Halys River.  Also in this year, a final Scythian invasion destroys the Kingdom of Urartu in what would later become known as Armenia. 

 

 

582 BC: The Pythian games are established in Delphi and the Isthmian games are established in Corinth.

 

580 BC--First attempt by the Greeks to drive the Phoenicians out of Sicily.  The attempt is unsuccessful. 

 

574 BC--The Phoenician city of Tyre falls to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  It's colony at Carthage is left to it's own devices. 

570 BC--Pharaoh Wahibre receives an appeal for aid from the King of Libya against the Greek colony at Cyrene, which has, since it's founding in 630 BC, had strained relations with the native Libyans of the region.  Wahibre leads an Egyptian army westward, but it is severely defeated by the Greeks of Cyrene.   A revolt breaks out among the native Egyptian contingent of the army, where rumour has it that the Pharaoh intentionally lead them to defeat.  As Herodotus would later write..."The Egyptians blamed him for this and rebelled against him; for they thought that the Pharaoh had knowingly sent his men to their doom, so that after their death his rule over the rest of the Egyptians would be strengthened. Bitterly angered by this, those who returned home and the friends of the slain rose against him."  Also in this year, the first coins are minted by Athens.

569-566 BC--Civil War in Egypt.  In response to the rebellion in the native Egyptian contingents of the army, Wahibre sends Ahmosi, his son and one of his most trusted generals, to negotiate with the rebels.   But when Ahmosi arrives at the rebel camp, the rebels "put a helmet on his head from behind, saying it was the token of royalty," and declare him the new king.  Ahmosi decides "it is good to be the king," goes over to the rebels, and leads the rebel army against Wahibre.  Wahibre rallies the mercenary contingent of the army and attempts to put down the insurrection with these forces, but is    defeated and forced to flee from Sais.   Ahmosi is crowned Pharoah, and takes the throne as Ahmosi II.  However, Wahibre I continues to claim the kingship, and gathers another mercenary army while in exile in Upper Egypt.  Finally, in 566 BC, Wahibre I, at the head of his mercenary army, attempts to retake the throne of Egypt from Ahmosi II.  He is defeated and killed.  Wahibre will go down in history as "Wahibre the Unlucky."

 

569-525 BC--Reign of Ahmosi II, who will be known as "the Wise"  because of the many reforms he will enact that will greatly strengthen the kingdom.  Ahmosi drastically reduces proportion of mercenaries in army and reduces the term of service for native troops, ending a continual problem with army revolts.   With regard to foreign policy, Ahmosi once again focuses on Africa and ceases to intrigue in Palestine and Syria.  He concludes a treaty with King Amel Marduk of Babylon which recognizes Babylon's claim to these lands and establishes the border between the two empires. Ahmosi also establishes the world's first income tax.  According the Herodotus, he established a law that "every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death." Ahmosi exempts members of the Egyptian Army from this tax, thus making military service more attractive to native Egyptians. Because of the flow of gold from Ophir and the huge trade profits Egypt is raking in, the income taxes are very low, and unlike OTL, the people do not feel overburdened by taxation.  Ahmosi also disposes of the goods of the temples as he sees fit. Just as the military nobles had been neutralized by absorbing many of them into the royal administration, the priests are turned into officials of the monarchy too, and their upkeep and that of their temples becomes the responsibility of the royal treasury. The threat to the monarchy posed by the power of the priestly class is broken.  Thus by the end of Ahmose II’s reign the foundations have been laid for a very stable, prosperous, and secure society, which will remain so for a long, long time.

 

562 BC--Death of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.  He is succeeded by Amel Marduk. 

 

560 BC--Death of King Amel Marduk of Babylon.  He is succeeded by Nergalsharusur.  Also in this year, Lydian king Croesus conquers Ionia, except Miletus, and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus is built.  This temple will eventually become one of the seven wonders of the world. 


559 BC--Cyrus II comes to the throne of Anshan, a Persian sub-kingdom of the Median Empire.  Cyrus is a vassal of the Median king, Astyages.  Cyrus will establish the Persian Empire and be known to history as "Cyrus the Great."

 

556 BC--Death of King Nergalsharusur of Babylon.  He is succeeded by Labashi Marduk. However, Labashi Marduk dies the same year, and is succeeded by Nabunaid (Nabonidus).

 

555 BC--Pharaoh Ahmosi II invades and conquers the city of Cyrene in Libya. 

 

550 BC--Cyrus II of Anshan revolts against King Astyages of Media.  Astyages is defeated and killed.  Cyrus takes control of the Median Empire, which will henceforth be known as the Persian Empire.  Also in this year, Carthage allies with the Etruscans against the Greeks.  A Carthaginian force led by Malchus defeats the Greeks in Sicily, but is vanquished in Sardinia. Malchus is banished, and in response marches on Carthage, but is caught and executed.

 

c. 550 BC onward--Carthaginian presence in the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.  Carthaginian colonies formed along coast of Africa, Algeria, Hadrumetum, Leptis.

 

547 BC--Cyrus II of Persia defeats King Croesus of Lydia at the Battle of the Halys River.  Persia absorbs all of Asia Minor, and assumes Lydia's overlordship of the Greek colonies o the Aegean coastline. 

 

546 BC--The Tyrant Peisistratus overthrows democracy in Athens, and Sparta forms the Peloponnesean League.


539 BC--King Cyrus II of Persia takes Babylon.  All of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine come under Persian rule. 

 

538-Upon capturing Babylon, King Cyrus II of Persia issues an edict of religious toleration and allows the Jews (who had been deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar) to return to their homeland. 42,360 Jews plus 7,337 servants return to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Sheshbazzar, and Jeshua.  In October of that year, the Jews finish building the foundation of the temple. An altar and sacrificial offering to the Lord is made on the foundation of the temple. At this time the Samaritans and other neighboring nations complain to Cyrus and such influence is brought to bear on Cyrus's court at the imperial capital that the government suspends their building permit.  Because of this opposition, all further work on the building of the temple will be suspended until the 2nd year of Darius the Great, about 520 BC.

 

535 BC--Carthage, with the Etruscans, destroys the Phocaean colony in Corsica and closes Sardinia-Corsica off to the Greeks.

 

530 BC--Pythagoras founds Mathematics.

525 BC--Pharaoh Ahmosi II "The Wise" dies, and is succeeded by his son, Psamtik III.   Later that same year, the Persian army, under King Cambyses, invades Egypt.  The Egyptian army meets them at Pelusium, and the Persians are crushed.  However, the Egyptians also take heavy casualties, and do not pursue the defeated Persians. 

 

c. 525 BC--The first Greek Tragedies are written.  Among the writers are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

 


523 BC--Cambyses again attempts the invasion of Egypt.  His army is again defeated, and Cambyses is killed.  

 

523-522 BC--Civil War in the Persian Empire.  Upon the death of King Cambyses, there is a struggle for the succession to the Persian throne.  Gaumata, a pretender who claims to be a son of King Cyrus II named Smerdis who had actually been killed some years earlier, assumes the throne, but is disputed by another prince of the Achaemenid House, who finally defeats Gautama in 522 BC and assumes the throne as King Darius I.

 

520 BC-516 BC--Completion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.  In September 520 BC, in the 2nd year of King Darius, the Prophet Haggai began to stir up the people of Judah and Jerusalem to start building on the foundation for the temple which had been laid in 538 BC, and later that month the Jewish governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Jeshua, along with the rank and file of the people, began to rebuild the 2nd temple on the foundation that was laid 16 years before.   This task will take over three years, and will be completed in February 516 BC. 

 

510 BC--Pharaoh Psamtik III invades Palestine, but is killed in battle against the Persians, leaving no heirs.   He is succeeded by general in the army who is a cousin from a related family  Sais  and takes the throne as Pharaoh Rameses XIII.  Beginning of the 27th (Saite) Dynasty. Also in this year,  Athens joins the Peloponesean League, and the temple of Ceres at Paestum (in Italy) is built.

509 BC--Revolution in Rome.  The last Etruscan King, Tarquinius Superbus, is expelled.  Founding of the Roman Republic. 

 

509-505 BC--War between Egypt and Persia.  King Darius I of Persia invades Egypt in 509 BC, but his army is defeated by that of Pharaoh Rameses XIII at Pelusium.   Rameses tries an invasion of Palestine the next year, but his invasion is no more successful, and he is forced to retreat to Egypt.  The war will drag on for a further two years, mainly fought between the rival fleets in the Mediterranean,  until a treaty is signed, establishing the border between the two empires. 

 

508 BC--Attack on Rome by the Etruscan general Lars Porsena.   Rome is able to withstand the attack.  Several Roman noblewomen, including Cloelia, swim the Tiber River to escape from Lars Porsenna and his men. Also in this year, the last of the Tyrants is overthrown in Athens, and democracy is restored.  Cleisthenes grants full rights to all free men of Athens.

 

507 BC--First treaty between Carthage and Rome.


506 BC--A planned invasion of Rome by ousted King Tarquinius Superbus and an army of Etruscans is defeated by the Latin League and Greeks lead by Aristodemos of Cumae in a battle at Aricia.   Also in this year, a  Roman noble named Horatius Cocles stops an invasion, when he bars the bridge into Rome. While he is defending the bridge, the consuls Sp. Lartius and T. Herminius chop it down to prevent the enemy crossing. Horatius swims, fully armored across the Tiber to safety.

 

505 BC--A temple to Apollo is built at Delphi.

 

500 BC--Death of Pharaoh Rameses XIII.  He is succeeded by Necho III. 

 

 

    

 

Egyptian clipart on this page is courtesy of

 

Copyright 2004 by Robert Perkins.  All rights reserved.  Last updated on June 16, 2004.

 

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