It is believed that Nepherites was a general from the deltaic city of Mendes who, in the autumn of 399 BC, rose against pharaoh Amyrtaeus, defeated him in open battle,[3] and then executed him at Memphis.

In Lower Egypt, he is attested at Thmuis, Buto (where a statue of him has been found[7]), Memphis, Saqqara (where an Apis burial took place in his regnal year 2) and his capital and hometown Mendes.

In Middle and Upper Egypt, he ordered a chapel at Akoris while at Akhmim, near Sohag, there is evidence of the worship of a statue of him which was placed inside a naos.

[6][5] A basalt sphinx with his name is now located in the Louvre, but it was known to have been brought to Europe as early as the 16th century, having adorned a fountain at the Villa Borghese gardens, Rome.

However, the cargo reached Rhodes just after the Persians managed to retake the island, so it was entirely seized by the philo-Persian admiral Conon of Athens.