Histories

Ruler of Egypt from 570-526 BCE, Amasis rose to power by rebelling against the pharaoh Apries, who had sent him to subdue an insurrection of the Egyptian army. Herodotus describes how Amasis won over the Egyptians by his cleverness and tact: He owned a golden foot basin that he had melted down and recast as a statue of a god, which he placed at the busiest crossroads of the city. Noticing that the Egyptians marveled at the statue and worshipped it reverently, he summoned them and told them it had once been a foot basin in which they had previously vomited, urinated, and washed their feet. Amasis explained to them that he was like the foot basin: He had been a common man once, but now was their king and worthy of their reverence. Amasis was friendly toward the Greeks and gave them the Egyptian city of Naucratis in which to live and trade. The Persian king Cambyses decided to invade Egypt to punish Amasis for deceiving him; Amasis died before Cambyses arrived in Egypt.

Son-in-law of Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras ruled the Ionian city while Histiaeus was serving as counselor in Darius’ court at Susa, the Persian capital.