A son of Megabazus, and an army commander under king Darius I,[2] Pherendates is mainly attested from three letters written in Egyptian Demotic. He replaced the satrap Aryandes who was deposed by Darius around 496 BCE;[1] although the exact accession date of Pherendates is unknown. Pherendates was definitely the satrap in 492 BCE.[3]
In the aforementioned letters, certain priests of the local temple of Khnum at Elephantine asked Pherendates to take care of some of their business in their place, a rather standard request to the pharaoh (or his representative, such as in this case) in any period of ancient Egyptian history.[1]
In 486–485 BCE a revolt occurred in Egypt, which was quelled in 484 BCE by a new satrap, Achaemenes. It is possible that Pherendates lost his life during the turmoil.[1]
References
^ abcdRay, John D. (2006). "Egypt, 525–404 B.C.". In Boardman, John; Hammond, N.D.L.; Lewis, D.M.; Ostwald, M. (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History (2nd ed.), vol. IV – Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean c. 525 to 479 B.C. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. ISBN0-521-22804-2.
Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (1928). "Drei demotische Schreiben aus der Korrespondenz des Pherendates". Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil-hist. Klasse (Berlin): 604ff.
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