But the power of the Twenty-sixth dynasty rested upon its Greek mercenaries.  The kings themselves were, it is probable, Libyans by descent, and the feelings of the native priesthood towards them do not seem to have been cordial.  Their policy and ideas were European rather than Egyptian.  Necho, the son and successor of Psammetikhos, cleared out the old canal which united the Red Sea with the Nile, and did all that he could to encourage trade with the Mediterranean.  An exploring fleet was even sent under Phoenician pilots to circumnavigate Africa.  Three years were spent on the voyage, and the ships finally returned through the Straits of Gibraltar to the mouths of the Nile.  Meanwhile, the Pharaoh had marched into Palestine.  Gaza was captured, and the Jewish king, Josiah, slain in his attempt to bar the way of his unexpected enemy.  Jerusalem surrendered, and a nominee of the Egyptians was placed upon its throne.

The Asiatic empire of the Eighteenth dynasty was thus restored.  But it lasted barely three years.  In B.C. 605 the Egyptians were defeated by Nebuchadrezzar under the walls of Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Asia passed into the possession of the Babylonians.  Once more Palestine became a shuttlecock between the kingdoms of the Nile and the Euphrates.  Trusting to the support of Egypt, Zedekiah of Judah revolted from his Babylonian master.  His policy at first seemed successful.  The Babylonian army which was besieging Jerusalem retired on the approach of Psammetikhos II., who had succeeded his father Necho, and the Jewish statesmen again breathed freely.  But the respite lasted for only six years.  The Babylonian troops returned with increased strength; the Egyptians retreated to their own country, and Jerusalem fell in B.C. 588, one year after the death of the Egyptian king.

His son Hophra or Apries had made a vain attempt to rescue Zedekiah.  His fleet had held the sea, while his army marched along the coast of Palestine and occupied Tyre and Sidon.  But the fall of Jerusalem obliged it to retire.  The dream of an Asiatic empire was over, and the Pharaoh had more than enough to do to defend himself against his own subjects.  They saw with growing impatience that the power and wealth of the Greek mercenaries continually increased.  The native army had already deserted to Ethiopia; now the priests complained that the revenues of the temples were sacrilegiously confiscated for the support of the foreigner.  In B.C. 570 discontent reached a head; civil war broke out between Hophra and his brother-in-law Ahmes or Amasis, which ended in the defeat of Hophra and his loss of the crown.

But Amasis found the Greeks more indispensable than ever, and they were loaded with favours even more than before.  They were moved to Memphis that they might be close to the king, and at the same time overawe the native Egyptians, and Amasis himself married a Greek wife.  The invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar in B.C. 567 showed that the policy of Amasis had been a wise one.  The Babylonians were unable to penetrate beyond the eastern part of the Delta; the Greek troops fought too well.  The limits of the Babylonian empire were permanently fixed at the frontiers of Palestine.