Cambyses II

Cambyses II (Persian: کمبوجيه دوم‎‎; Old Persian: 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹, Kɑmboujie; Aramaic כנבוזי, Kanbūzī; Greek Καμβύσης, Kambúsēs; Latin Cambyses; Medieval Hebrew כמבישה, Kambisha) (d. 522 BC) son of Cyrus the Great (r. 559–530 BC), was King of Kings of Persia. Cambyses' grandfather was Cambyses I, king of Anshan. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of the Near East and Central Asia, Cambyses II further expanded the empire into Egypt during the Late Period by defeating the Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik III during the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC. After the Egyptian campaign and the truce with Libya, Cambyses invaded the Kingdom of Kush (located in what is now the Republic of Sudan) but with little success.

Rise to power

When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC, Cambyses was employed in leading religious ceremonies. In the cylinder which contains Cyrus' proclamation to the Babylonians, Cambyses' name is joined to his father's in the prayers to Marduk. On a tablet dated from the first year of Cyrus, Cambyses is called king of Babylon, although his authority seems to have been ephemeral. Only in 530 BC, when Cyrus set out on his last expedition into the East, did Cyrus associate Cambyses with the throne. Numerous Babylonian tablets of the time date from the accession and the first year of Cambyses, when Cyrus was "king of the countries" (i.e., of the world).