Second Achaemenid conquest of Egypt

[3][4] His force included Greek mercenaries from Thebes, Argos and Asia Minor, as well as a war fleet and a number of transport ships.

[5] Although the Persian army was said to have outnumbered that of the Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo II, the invasion started inauspiciously when Artaxerxes lost some troops to quicksand at Barathra, and the fortress of Pelusium resisted an attempt to take it.

One unit, to which he assigned the Thebans, a force of cavalry and Asiatic infantry, was tasked with taking Pelusium, while a second, commanded by turncoat mercenary Mentor of Rhodes and the eunuch Bagoas, was sent against Bubastis.

The third division, which comprised the Argives, some unspecified elite troops and 80 triremes, was to establish a bridgehead on the opposite bank of the Nile.

[10] The Argive troops landed in their destination and beat off an Egyptian attempt to dislodge them; Nectanebo failed to mount an effective counterattack and fell back to Memphis.