Late Period
Teos (Djedhor)
30th Dynasty (Sebennytos) · 380-343 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Teos took Egypt's offensive into Persian-held Phoenicia with an army of Greek mercenaries, but paid for it with temple confiscations that turned the country against him, and while he was away campaigning his own regent and his own field commander used that discontent to put the commander on the throne in his place. Further reading: UCL Digital Egypt.
Chronological source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
An ambitious miscalculation
Teos succeeded his father after a peaceful co-regency and sought to carry the offensive directly into Persian territory during a period of satrapal revolts. To fund his ambitious military campaign in Syria, he imposed heavy new taxes and controversially seized wealth from the Egyptian temples. This alienated the native population and priesthood, enabling a palace coup led by his brother and supported by the disgruntled Spartan king Agesilaus, forcing Teos into exile at the Persian court.
Betrayed by his own commander
Teos left his brother Tjahapimu behind as regent in Egypt while he led the Phoenician campaign in person, with his nephew Nakhthorheb serving as a field commander of the Egyptian troops in that same army. With Teos's popularity collapsing at home over the temple seizures, Tjahapimu persuaded his son to claim the throne, and the mercenary king Agesilaus of Sparta, whom Teos himself had hired to help lead the campaign, switched his support to the nephew rather than staying loyal to the king who had brought him to Egypt. Nakhthorheb was proclaimed pharaoh as Nectanebo II, and Teos, deserted by the army he had marched out with, fled to the Persian court at Susa; Nectanebo then had to fight off a separate rival claimant from Mendes before his own rule was secure.
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.