Nectanebo II facts for kids

Nectanebo II ruled in 360–342 BC. He was the third and last pharaoh of the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt, and the last native ruler of ancient Egypt.

Under Nectanebo II, Egypt prospered. During his reign, the Egyptian artists developed a style on the reliefs of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Nectanebo II started the enormous Egyptian temple of Isis (the Iseum).

For several years, Nectanebo II was successful in keeping Egypt safe from the Achaemenid Empire. However, he was betrayed by a former servant, Mentor of Rhodes. Nectanebo II was finally defeated by combined Persian and Greek forces in the Battle of Pelusium (343 BC). The Persians occupied Memphis and then seized the rest of Egypt. They took the country into the Achaemenid Empire under Artaxerxes III. Nectanebo fled south and was influential for some time; his final fate is unknown.

Images for kids

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  The greywacke statue of Nectanebo II.

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  Isis and Nectanebo II

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  Egyptian gold stater of Nectanebo II. The design on the reverse consists of Egyptian hieroglyphs meaning “good gold”: pectoral necklace (nub = “gold”) crossing horizontally over a windpipe and heart (nefer = “good”).

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  Saqqara, Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, which he never used since he fled to the south. British Museum

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  Black siltstone obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II. According to the vertical inscriptions he set up this obelisk at the doorway of the sanctuary of Thoth, the Twice-Great, Lord of Hermopolis. Today, it is located in the British Museum, London.

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  Papyrus of the Dream of Nectanebo, ca. 160–150 BC

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  Alexander unhorsing Porrus, the King of India (BL Royal MS B xx, c. 1420)