Campaign of Psamtek II c. 593 BCE

In a brief but vigorous reign, Psamtek II acted decisively to pre-empt a recurrence of the Kushite threat posed by their King Antamani from his capital in Napata. With a bipartite force of Egyptians and Greek/Carian mercenaries, he advanced as far as Kurgus at the fifth cataract, en route sacking Napata and despoiling its royal monuments. Whilst Psamtek chose not to extend the southern frontier of his kingdom beyond the first cataract, its negation of the Kushite threat was to prove permanent. Consequently, because of this campaign, the Kushite kings decamped further south to Meroe and never again threatened Egypt. This enabled Psamtek to turn his attention to neutralizing the threat to his kingdom from the Babylonian Empire in the north. His strategy was to foment insurgency in the Palestinian territories.