Late Period
Apries (Haaibre / Wahibre)
26th Dynasty (Saite) · 664-525 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Apries' overthrow after a failed campaign against Cyrene was significant enough abroad that the biblical prophet Jeremiah, addressing Judean refugees then living in Egypt under the name Pharaoh Hophra, predicted his downfall at the hands of his own people. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Bible Archaeology Report.
Reign dates: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
Foreign friction and civil war
Apries maintained an aggressive foreign policy in the Levant, attempting to support allies against the Babylonians. His heavy reliance on Greek and foreign mercenaries deeply alienated the native Egyptian military class. When a disastrous military campaign against the Greek colony of Cyrene sparked a mutiny among native soldiers, his chosen negotiator, Amasis, sided with the rebels. Apries was ultimately overthrown and later killed during a civil war backed by Babylon.
The pharaoh of Jeremiah's prophecy
Apries appears in the Hebrew Bible under the name Pharaoh Hophra, ruling Egypt at a time when Judean refugees, including the prophet Jeremiah himself, had fled there following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The Book of Jeremiah records a prophecy that God would hand Pharaoh Hophra over to his enemies just as the earlier king Zedekiah of Judah had been handed to Nebuchadnezzar. Ancient historians describe Apries' actual end in strikingly similar terms: after being deposed by Amasis, he was eventually captured and strangled by his own former subjects, a fate later writers, including the biblical text, treated as confirmation of the prophecy.
Sources for this profile
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- Leprohon, R. J. (2013). The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Society of Biblical Literature.
- UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Chronology. UCLA.
- University College London. Digital Egypt for Universities.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.