amasis

Amasis II, also rendered as Amasis or Amosis II in various sources and sometimes identified with the Greek form Amasis, was a pharaoh of Egypt’s 26th Dynasty, the Saite period. He ruled from about 570 to 526 BCE, governing from the delta city of Sais. He is the best-known ruler among the Saite kings named Amasis and is generally positioned as the successor of Apries and the predecessor of Psamtik III.

During his reign, Egypt enjoyed relative internal stability and economic activity. The administration built on the Saite system of centralized rule, while the state fostered trade networks across the eastern Mediterranean, including Greek city-states, Phoenician ports, and other Near Eastern traders. Amasis supported religious institutions and temple endowments, contributing to a cultural flourishing typical of the Saite period. He is often noted for maintaining Egyptian independence in the face of the rising power of the neighboring empires to the east and north.

Amasis II died around 526 BCE, and his death occurred shortly before the Persian king Cambyses II invaded Egypt, marking the end of native rule in the 26th Dynasty and the beginning of Persian domination. In modern scholarship, Amasis II is primarily known from Egyptian inscriptions and from later Greek and Latin writers who refer to him by the name Amasis. His reign is regarded as a high point of the Saite era in terms of political stability and commercial activity.