The King His Own Army Betrayed | Africa Explained #43

He sent his general to stop a rebellion. The general came back with something worse — a crown.

Egypt, around 570 BC. Pharaoh Apries had ruled for nearly twenty years when an army he sent west toward Cyrene was destroyed. The survivors believed their king had betrayed them — so they crowned his general, Amasis, in his place. What followed was a civil war between a king and the army that had once been his, decided at Momemphis in the Nile Delta.

This film follows the account of the ancient historian Herodotus (Histories, Book 2) and says so in the narration. One honest note: some modern accounts describe Apries fleeing Egypt in 570 BC and dying in battle in 567 BC, rather than the capture and strangling Herodotus records. We follow Herodotus — and tell you that we do.

Cinematic reconstruction. No actor's likeness is a verified portrait of Apries; his appearance is reconstructed, as are the battle scenes, from the world Herodotus describes.

Sources: Herodotus, Histories Book 2 (2.161–169); Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Apries"; Jeremiah 44:30 (Apries as "Hophra").

How could the man sent to save a king become the man who destroys him? Tell us below — and vote: should the next film be Behanzin, the king behind the Agojie, or the Numidians, the riders Rome feared?

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