History of Achaemenid Egypt

The history of Achaemenid Egypt is divided into two eras.

The initial period of Achaemenid Persian occupation when Egypt (Old Persian: 𐎸𐎭𐎼𐎠𐎹 Mudrāya) became a satrapy, known today as the Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt, was followed by an interval of independence. A second period of rule, again by the Achaemenids, is known as the Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt.

Historical sources

• Herodotus (Histories)
• Fragments of Ctesias (Persica)
• Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War)
• Diodorus Siculus (Bibliotheca historica)
• Fragments of Manetho (Aegyptiaca)
• Flavius Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews)

Satrapies

• Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt (525 BC−402 BC) — also known as the First Egyptian Satrapy.
• Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt (343 BC−332 BC) — also known as the Second Egyptian Satrapy.