Ruler
Amasis (Ahmose II)
King of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty
570 – 526 BCE
Regnal dates after Shaw (2000); they are more precise for this period than for earlier ones.
Biography
A general who took the throne after a revolt against King Apries. Herodotus says he granted Greek traders the town of Naukratis as their trading centre.
Key facts
Certainty: Probable
Herodotus says Amasis gave Naukratis to the Greeks, but excavations show Greek presence there before his reign.
Scholarly note: Amasis may have regulated an existing situation rather than created it.
- Herodotus “Histories, Book II (5th century BCE)”, II.178
- Ian Shaw (ed.) (2000) “The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt” Oxford University Press