Apries

{{Short description|Egyptian pharaoh}} {{Redirect-distinguish2|Wahibre|Wahibre Ibiau and Wahibre Psamtik I}} {{distinguish|text=the Welsh name ap Rhys}} {{Infobox pharaoh |Name= Apries |Alt = Wahibre |Image=Apries.jpg |Caption=head of Apries, Louvre |Reign=589-570 BCE |Dynasty=26th dynasty |Predecessor=Psamtik II |Successor=Amasis II |NomenHiero=<hiero>ra-wAH-ib</hiero> |Nomen=Wahibre ''Wꜣḫ jb rꜥ'' ''Constant is the Heart of Re''<ref name=Clayton-2006-p195/> |PrenomenHiero=<hiero>ra-H-a:a-ib</hiero> |Prenomen=Haaibre ''Ḥꜥꜥ jb rꜥ'' ''Jubilant is the Heart of Re Forever''<ref name=Clayton-2006-p195>{{cite book |last=Clayton |first=Peter A. |year=2006 |title=Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The reign-by-reign record of the rulers and dynasties of ancient Egypt |publisher=Thames & Hudson |edition=Paperback |pages=195–197 |isbn=0-500-28628-0 }}</ref> |Golden= |Nebty= |HorusHiero= <hiero>wAH-ib</hiero> |Horus=Wahib ''Wꜣḫ jb'' ''He whose heart is constant'' |Mother = Takhuit |Spouse= |Children= Khedebneithirbinet II |Died=March 567 BCE<ref>{{cite web |last=Kahn |first=Dan'el |date=January 2018 |title=Nebuchadnezzar and Egypt: An Update on the Egyptian Monuments |url=https://www.mohrsiebeck.com// |website=mohrsiebeck.com |location=Germany |publisher=Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel (HeBAI) |access-date=21 January 2026}}</ref> |Father=Psamtik II }}

'''Apries''' ({{langx|grc|{{script|Grek|Ἁπρίης}}}}) is the name by which Herodotus<ref name=Herodotus-Hists-II>{{cite book |author={{math|Ἡρόδοτος}} (Herodotus) |author-link=Herodotus |id={{circa|{{nobr|430 {{sc|BCE}}}}}} |title={{math|Ἱστορίαι}} |trans-title=Histories |title-link=Histories (Herodotus) |at=book II }}</ref>{{rp|at=II.161}} and Diodorus<ref name=DiodorusSc-BibcaHist-I>{{cite book |author={{math|Διόδωρος}} (Diodorus Siculus) |author-link=Diodorus Siculus |id={{circa|{{nobr|33 {{sc|BCE}}}}}} |title={{math|Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική}} |trans-title=Historical Library |title-link=Bibliotheca historica |at=book I }}</ref>{{rp|at=I.68}} designate '''Wahibre Haaibre''', a pharaoh of Egypt ({{nobr|589–570 {{sc|BCE}}}}), the fourth king (counting from Psamtik I) of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Apries|volume=2|page=230}}</ref> He was equated with the '''Ouaphris''' ({{lang|grc|{{script|Grek|Οὔαφρις}}}}) of Manetho, who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years. Apries is also called '''Hophra''' in Jeremiah 44:30 ({{hebrew Name|חָפְרַע|Ḥofra'|H̱op̄ra'}}; {{langx|grc|{{script|Grek|Ουαφρη[ς]}}|translit=Ouaphre[s]}}).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Christoffer |last=Theis |year=2011 |title=Sollte Re sich schämen? Eine subliminale Bedeutung von עפרח in Jeremia 44,30 |trans-title=Should Re be ashamed? A subliminal meaning of H̱op̄ra' [''Chick''] in Jeremiah |journal=Ugarit-Forschungen |volume=42 |pages=677–691 |issn=0342-2356 |lang=de |postscript=— }} gives the written form of this particular name.</ref>

== Biography == Apries inherited the throne from his father, pharaoh Psamtik II, in {{nobr|February 589 BCE.}}<ref name=Clayton-2006-p195/> Apries was an active builder who constructed "additions to the temples at Athribis (Tell Atrib), Bahariya Oasis, Memphis and Sais."<ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37>{{cite book |first1=Ian |last1=Shaw |author1-link=Ian Shaw (Egyptologist) |first2=Paul |last2=Nicholson |year=1995 |title=The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Harry N. Abrams Pub. |pages=36–37 |isbn=0-8109-3225-3 }}</ref> In the 4th year of his reign, Apries' sister Ankhnesneferibre was made the new ''God's Wife of Amun'' at Thebes.<ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37/> However, Apries' reign was also fraught with internal problems. In {{nobr|588 BCE,}} Apries dispatched a force to Jerusalem to protect it from Babylonian forces sent by Nebuchadnezzar II (Book of Jeremiah 37:5; 34:21). His forces quickly withdrew, however, apparently avoiding a major confrontation with the Babylonians.<ref name=Miller-Hayes-1986-p414/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nour |first1=Mostafa Hassan |last2=Iskander |first2=John M. |last3=Hashem |first3=Sameh |year=2023 |title=The stela of King Apries from el-Qantara Gharb: A royal journey to the eastern borders |journal=Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur |volume=52 |pages=221–239, esp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-hz3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA238 p. 238] |issn=0340-2215 }}</ref> Jerusalem, following an 18 month-long siege, was destroyed by the Babylonians in either {{nobr|587 or 586 {{sc|BCE}}.}} Apries's unsuccessful attempt to intervene in the politics of the Kingdom of Judah was followed by a mutiny of soldiers from the strategically important Aswan garrison.<ref name=Clayton-2006-p195/><ref name=Miller-Hayes-1986-p414>{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=J. Maxwell |author-link1=J. Maxwell Miller (biblical scholar) |last2=Hayes |first2=John H. |year=1986 |title=A History of Ancient Israel and Judah |publisher=Westminster Press |edition=hardback |page=414 |isbn=0-664-21262-X }}</ref>

According to classical historians, Apries campaigned in the Levant, took Sidon and so terrified the other cities of Phoenicia that he secured their submission.<ref name=Herodotus-Hists-II/>{{rp|at=ii. 161}}<ref name=DiodorusSc-BibcaHist-I/>{{rp|at=I.68}} However, this supposed submission was likely short lived.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elayi |first=Josette |year=2018 |title=History of Phoenicia |publisher=Lockwood Press |pages=195–196 }}</ref> A recently uncovered stela from Tahpanhes records that {{nobr|Nebuchadnezzar II}} attempted to invade Egypt in {{nobr|582 BCE,}} but Apries' forces were capable to repel the invasion.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abd El-Maksoud |first1=Mohamed |last2=Valbelle |first2=Dominique |year=2013 |title=Une stèle de l'an 7 d'Apriès découverte sur le site de Tell Défenneh |trans-title=A stele from the 7th year of Apries, discovered at the site of Tell Defenneh |journal=Revue d'Égyptologie |volume=64 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.2143/RE.64.0.3011326 |lang=fr }}</ref>

In Cyrenaica to the west, Battus II of Cyrene had encouraged further Greek settlement in his city, especially from the Peloponnese and Crete. This sparked conflict with the indigenous Libyans, whose king Adicran appealed to Apries for help around {{nobr|570 BCE.}} Apries launched a military expedition against Cyrene, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Irasa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kenrick |first=Philip |year=2013 |title=Cyrenaica |series=Libya Archaeological Guides |volume=2 |publisher=Silphium Press |isbn=978-1-900971-14-0 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rC_qngEACAAJ |via=Google }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosamilia |first1=Emilio |year=2023 |title=La città del Silfio: Istituzioni, culti ed economia di Cirene classica ed ellenistica attraverso le fonti epigrafiche |trans-title=The city of Silphium: Institutions, cults, and economy of classical and Hellenistic Cyrene through epigraphic sources. |page=19 |publisher=Scuola Normale Superiore |location=Pisa, IT |isbn=978-88-7642-736-7 |lang=it }}</ref><ref name=Clayton-2006-p195/>

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 to {{nobr|Amasis II,}} a general who had led Egyptian forces in a highly successful invasion of Nubia in {{nobr|592 BCE}} under Pharaoh {{nobr|Psamtik II,}} Apries' father.<ref name=Clayton-2006-p195/> Amasis quickly declared himself pharaoh in {{nobr|570 BCE,}} and Apries fled Egypt and sought refuge in a foreign country. When Apries marched back to Egypt in {{nobr|567 BCE}} with the aid of a Babylonian army to reclaim the throne of Egypt, he was likely killed in battle with Amasis' forces.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wahibre |series=Chronology |website=Digital Egypt (digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk) |publisher=University College London |place=London, UK |url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/wahibre.html }}</ref><ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37/>{{efn|Shaw & Nicholson write that Apries ''"probably died in battle in 567 BC"''.<ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37/>}} Alternatively, Herodotus<ref name=Herodotus-Hists-II/>{{rp|at=II.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.<ref name=Herodotus-Hists-II/>{{rp|at=II.169}} 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 to Sais and buried there with "full military honours."<ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37/> 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 called '''Nitetis''' ({{lang|grc|{{script|Grek|Νιτῆτις}}}}, in Greek), "there are no contemporary references naming her" in Egyptian records.<ref name=Shaw-Nicholson-1995-p37/>

Eusebius placed the eclipse of Thales in {{nobr|585 BCE,}} in the eighth or twelfth year of Apries' reign.

==Monuments== An obelisk which Apries erected at Sais was moved by the 3rd century AD Roman Emperor Diocletian and originally placed at the Temple of Isis in Rome. It is today located in front of the Santa Maria sopra Minerva basilica church in Rome.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="4"> File:Sphinx of Apries-N 515-IMG 0583-gradient.jpg|Sphinx of Pharaoh Apries, from the collection of Count Caylus, now in the Louvre Museum File:Pulcino della Minerva (Leverich).jpg|Apries' obelisk in Rome is known as the ''Pulcino della Minerva'' </gallery>

==Footnotes== {{notelist}}

==See also== {{Commons category|Apries}} *Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt family tree *List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apries}} Category:570s BC deaths Category:6th-century BC pharaohs Category:Pharaohs of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Pharaohs in the Bible Category:People in the Book of Jeremiah