Apries

"Wahibre" redirects here. Not to be confused withWahibre IbiauandWahibre Psamtik I.

Not to be confused with the Welsh nameap Rhys.

Apries
Wahibre
head of Apries, Louvre
Pharaoh
Reign	589–570 BC
Predecessor	Psamtik II
Successor	Amasis II
Royal titulary Horus name Wahib Waḫ jb He whose heart is constant Prenomen (Praenomen) Haaibre Ḥˁˁ jb r՚ Jubilant is the Heart of Re Forever Nomen Wahibre Waḫ jb r՚ Constant is the Heart of Re
Children	Khedebneithirbinet II
Mother	Takhuit
Died	567 BC
Dynasty	26th dynasty

Apries(Ancient Greek:Ἁπρίης) is the name by whichHerodotus(ii. 161) andDiodorus(i. 68) designateWahibre Haaibre,a pharaoh ofEgypt(589 BC – 570 BC), the fourth king (counting from Psamtik I) of theTwenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.He was equated with theWaphresofManetho,who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years. Apries is also calledHophrainJeremiah 44:30(Hebrew:חָפְרַע,Modern:Ḥofra',Tiberian:H̱op̄ra';Greek:Ουαφρη[ς],romanized:Ouafri[s]).

Biography

Apries inherited the throne from his father, pharaohPsamtik II,in February 589 BC.Apries was an active builder who constructed "additions to the temples atAthribis(Tell Atrib),Bahariya Oasis,MemphisandSais."In Year 4 of his reign, Apries' sisterAnkhnesneferibrewas adopted as the new God's Wife ofAmunatThebes.However, Apries' reign was also fraught with internal problems. In 588 BC, Apries dispatched a force toJerusalemto protect it from Babylonian forces sent byNebuchadnezzar II(Jer. 37:5; 34:21). His forces quickly withdrew, however, apparently avoiding a major confrontation with the Babylonians.Jerusalem, following an18-month-long siege, was destroyedby the Babylonians in either 587 BC or 586 BC. Apries's unsuccessful attempt to intervene in the politics of theKingdom of Judahwas followed by a mutiny of soldiers from the strategically importantAswangarrison.

According to classical historians, Apries campaigned in the Levant, tookSidonand so terrified the other cities of Phoenicia that he secured their submission.However, this supposed submission was likely short lived.A recently uncovered stela fromTahpanhesrecords that Nebuchadnezzar II attempted to invade Egypt in 582 BC, but Apries' forces were capable to repel the invasion.

InCyrenaicato the west,Battus II of Cyrenehad encouraged further Greek settlement in his city, especially from thePeloponneseandCrete.This sparked conflict with the indigenous Libyans, whose kingAdicranappealed to Apries for help around 570 BC. Apries launched a military expedition against Cyrene, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Irasa.

When the defeated army returned home, a civil war broke out in the Egyptian army between the indigenous troops and the foreign mercenaries. The Egyptians threw their support toAmasis II,a general who had led Egyptian forces in a highly successful invasion ofNubiain 592 BC under PharaohPsamtik II,Apries' father.Amasis quickly declared himself pharaoh in 570 BC, and Apries fled Egypt and sought refuge in a foreign country. When Apries marched back to Egypt in 567 BC with the aid of aBabylonianarmy to reclaim the throne of Egypt, he was likely killed in battle with Amasis' forces.Alternatively, Herodotus (Histories2.169) holds that Apries survived the battle, and was captured and treated well by the victorious Amasis, until the Egyptian people demanded justice against him, whereby he was placed into their hands and strangled to death.Amasis thus secured his kingship over Egypt and was then its unchallenged ruler.

Amasis, however, reportedly treated Apries' mortal remains with respect and observed the proper funerary rituals by having Apries' body carried toSaisand buried there with "full military honours."Amasis, the former general who had declared himself pharaoh, also married Apries' daughter, Khedebneithirbinet II, to legitimise his accession to power. While Herodotus claimed that the wife of Apries was calledNitetis(Νιτῆτις) (inGreek), "there are no contemporary references naming her" in Egyptian records.

Eusebiusplaced theeclipse of Thalesin 585 BC, in the eighth or twelfth year of Apries' reign.

Monuments

Anobeliskwhich Apries erected at Sais was moved by the 3rd century AD Roman EmperorDiocletianand originally placed at theTemple of Isisin Rome. It is today located in front of theSanta Maria sopra Minervabasilica church in Rome.

• 
  Sphinx of Pharaoh Apries, from the collection ofCount Caylus,now in theLouvre Museum
• 
  Apries' obelisk in Rome is known as thePulcino della Minerva

See also

• Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt family tree
• List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources

References

Works cited

• Kenrick, Philip (2013).Cyrenaica.Libya Archaeological Guides. Vol. 2. Silphium Press.ISBN978-1-900971-14-0.
• Rosamilia, Emilio (2023).La città del silfio. Istituzioni, culti ed economia di Cirene classica ed ellenistica attraverso le fonti epigrafiche(in Italian). Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore.ISBN978-88-7642-736-7.