Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Nubian invasion.
The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the Kingdom of Kush, located in present-day northern Sudan and Upper Egypt. Most of this dynasty's kings saw Napata as their spiritual homeland. They reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt from 744–656 BC. The dynasty began with Kashta's invasion of Upper Egypt and culminated in several years of both successful and unsuccessful wars with the Mesopotamia-based Neo-Assyrian Empire. The 25th Dynasty's reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Kush created the largest Egyptian empire since the New Kingdom. They assimilated into society by reaffirming Ancient Egyptian religious traditions, temples, and artistic forms, while introducing some unique aspects of Kushite culture. It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids since the Middle Kingdom.
After the emperors Sargon II and Sennacherib defeated attempts by the Nubian kings to gain a foothold in the Near East, their successors, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal, invaded, defeated and drove out the Nubians. War with Assyria resulted in the end of Kushite power in Northern Egypt and the conquest of Egypt by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. They were succeeded by the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, initially a puppet dynasty installed by and vassals of the Assyrians, the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Achaemenid Empire invaded them. The fall of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty also marks the beginning of the Late Period of ancient Egypt.
History
Piye
The twenty-fifth dynasty originated in Kush, which is presently in Northern Sudan. The city-state of Napata was the spiritual capital and it was from there that Piye invaded and took control of Egypt. Piye personally led the attack on Egypt and recorded his victory in a lengthy hieroglyphic filled stele called the "Stele of Victory." Piye revived one of the greatest features of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, pyramid construction. An energetic builder, he constructed the oldest known pyramid at the royal burial site of El-Kurru and expanded the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal. Although Manetho does not mention the first king, Piye, mainstream Egyptologists consider him the first Pharaoh of the 25th dynasty. Manetho also does not mention the last king, Tantamani, although inscriptions exist to attest to the existence of both Piye and Tantamani.Piye made various unsuccessful attempts to extend Egyptian influence in the Near East, then controlled from Mesopotamia by the Semitic Assyrian Empire. In 720 BC he sent an army in support of a rebellion against Assyria in Philistia and Gaza, however, Piye was defeated by Sargon II, and the rebellion failed.
Shebitku
conquered the entire Nile Valley, including Upper and Lower Egypt, around 712 BC. Shebitku had Bocchoris of the preceding Sais dynasty burned to death for resisting him. After conquering Lower Egypt, Shebitku transferred the capital to Memphis. Dan'el Kahn suggested that Shebitku was king of Egypt by 707/706 BC. This is based on evidence from an inscription of the Assyrian king Sargon II, which was found in Persia and dated to 706 BC. This inscription calls Shebitku the king of Meluhha, and states that he sent back to Assyria a rebel named Iamanni in handcuffs. Kahn's arguments have been widely accepted by many Egyptologists including Rolf Krauss, and Aidan Dodson and other scholars at the SCIEM 2000 project with the notable exception of Kenneth Kitchen and Manfred Bietak at present.Although the Manethonic and classical traditions maintain that it was Shebitku's invasion which brought Egypt under Kushite rule, the king burning his opponent, Bocchoris-Bakenranef, alive, there is no direct evidence that Shabaqo did slay Bakenranef, and although earlier scholarship generally accepted the tradition, it has recently been treated more sceptically.
Shabaka
restored the great Egyptian monuments and returned Egypt to a theocratic monarchy by becoming the first priest of Amon. In addition, Shabaka is known for creating a well-preserved example of Memphite theology by inscribing an old religious papyrus into the Shabaka Stone. Shabaka supported an uprising against the Assyrians in the Philistine city of Ashdod, however he and his allies were defeated by Sargon II.The most recent archaeological evidence shows that Shabaka ruled Egypt after Shebitku and not before—as previously thought. The construction of the tomb of Shebitku resembles that of Piye while that of Shabaka is similar to that of Taharqa and Tantamani . Secondly, Payraudeau notes in French that "the Divine Adoratrix Shepenupet I, the last Libyan Adoratrix, was still alive during the reign of Shebitku because she is represented performing rites and is described as "living" in those parts of the Osiris-Héqadjet chapel built during his reign . In the rest of the room it is Amenirdis I,, who is represented with the Adoratrix title and provided with a coronation name. The succession Shepenupet I - Amenirdis I thus took place during the reign of Shebitku/Shabataqo. This detail in itself is sufficient to show that the reign of Shabaka cannot precede that of Shebitku/Shabataqo. Finally, Gerard Broekman's GM 251 paper shows that Shebitku reigned before Shabaka since the upper edge of Shabaka's NLR #30's Year 2 Karnak quay inscription was carved over the left-hand side of the lower edge of Shebitku's NLR#33 Year 3 inscription. This can only mean that Shabaka ruled after Shebitku
Taharqa
was a Nubian king that ruled over Egypt after the Kushite invasion. He ruled as Pharaoh from Memphis, but constructed great works throughout the Nile Valley, including works at Jebel Barkal, Kawa, and Karnak. At Karnak, the Sacred Lake structures, the kiosk in the first court, and the colonnades at the temple entrance are all owed to Taharqa and Mentuemhet. Taharqa built the largest pyramid in the Nubian region at Nuri.From the 10th century BC onwards, Egypt's remaining Semitic allies in Canaan and southern Aramea had fallen to the Mesopotamian based Assyrian Empire, and by 700 BC war between the two empires became inevitable. Taharqa enjoyed some success in his attempts to regain a foothold in the Near East by allying himself with various Semitic peoples in the south west Levant subjugated by Assyria. He aided Judah and King Hezekiah in withstanding a siege by King Sennacherib of the Assyrians. There are various theories as to why the Assyrians failed to take the city. However, Sennacherib's annals record Judah was forced into tribute after the siege. Sennacherib drove the Egyptians from the entire region and back into Egypt. After preventing the Egyptians from gaining a foothold in the region, the Assyrians did not return to the area to do battle for another 20 years, being preoccupied by revolts among their Babylonian brethren and also the Elamites, Scythians and Chaldeans. Sennacherib was murdered by his own sons in revenge for the destruction of the rebellious Mesopotamian city of Babylon, a city sacred to all Mesopotamians, the Assyrians included.
His successor, King Esarhaddon, tired of attempts by Egypt to meddle in the Assyrian Empire, began an invasion of Egypt in 671 BC. Taharqa was defeated, and Egypt conquered by Esarhaddon. Taharqa fled to his Nubian homeland. Esarhaddon describes "installing local kings Nubians/Kushites I deported from Egypt, leaving not one left to do homage to me". The Assyrian conquest ended the Nubian invasion that was in the 25th dynasty in Egypt.
However, the Assyrians only stationed their own troops in the north, and the native Egyptian puppet rulers installed by the Assyrians were unable to retain total control of the south of the country for long. Two years later, Taharqa returned from Nubia and seized control Egypt from the native vassal rulers as far north as Memphis. Esarhaddon set about returning to Egypt to once more eject Taharqa from the south; however, he fell ill and died in the northern Assyrian city of Harran before departing. His successor Ashurbanipal sent a general with a small, well-trained army corps which easily defeated and ejected Taharqa from Egypt once and for all. He died in Nubia two years later. Taharqa remains an important historical figure in Sudan and elsewhere, as is evidenced by Will Smith's recent project to depict Taharqa in a major motion picture. As of 2017, the status of this project is unknown.
A study of the sphinx that was created to represent Taharqa indicates that he was a Kushite pharaoh from Nubia.
Tantamani
His successor, Tantamani, tried to regain control of Egypt from the Assyrian Empire. He proceeded north from Napata through to Elephantine and Thebes with a large army, defeating and killing Necho I in Memphis. Necho was then an Egyptian kinglet in the Delta region, ruling over Sais as a vassal of Ashurbanipal. Tantamani proceeded north of Memphis, invading Lower Egypt and, besieged cities in the Delta, a number of which surrendered to him.from his tomb in El-Kurru
Necho's son Psamtik I had fled Egypt to Assyria and soon after returned with Ashurbanipal and a large army comprising Carian mercenaries. Tantamani was routed somewhere north of Memphis, possibly because his army was still fighting with bronze weapons versus the iron ones of the Assyrians. Tantamani fled to Thebes but less than 40 days later, the Assyrians arrived. Tantamani escaped back to Nubia, and the Assyrian army sacked Thebes to such an extent that it never truly recovered. As the sole native Egyptian ruler loyal to Assyrians since the days of Esarhaddon, Psamtik I was placed on the throne of Lower Egypt as a vassal of Ashurbanipal. Psamtik quickly unified Lower Egypt under his aegis, becoming the first ruler of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. In 656 BC, Psamtik sent a large fleet southwards to Thebes, peacefully taking control of the still rebellious Upper Egypt thereby unifying all of Egypt.
Tantamani and the Nubians never again posed a threat to either Assyria or Egypt. Upon his death, Tantamani was buried in the royal cemetery of El-Kurru, upstream from the Kushite capital of Napata. He was succeeded by a son of Taharqa, king Atlanersa.
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty ruled for a little more than one hundred years. The successors of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty settled back in their Nubian homeland, where they established a kingdom at Napata, then, later, at Meroë.
Revenge of Psamtik II
, the third ruler of the following dynasty, the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, deliberately destroyed monuments belonging to the 25th Dynasty of Kushite kings in Egypt, erasing their names and their emblems of royalty from statues and reliefs in Egypt. He then sent an army to Nubia in 592 BCE to erase all traces of their rule, during the reign of the Kushite King Aspelta. This expedition and its destructions are recorded on several victory stelae, especially the :File:Victory_stela_of_Psamtik_II_at_Kalabsha_by_John_Campana.jpg|Victory Stela of Kalabsha. The Egyptian army advanced to the capital city of Napata, looting and destroying all they found. This led to the transfer of the Kushite capital farther south at Meroë.Art and architecture
Although the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty controlled Ancient Egypt for only 73 years, it holds an important place in Egyptian history due to the restoration of traditional Egyptian values, culture, art, and architecture.Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty
The pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty ruled for approximately seventy-three years in Egypt, from 744 BC to 671 BC.| Pharaoh | Image | Throne Name | Reign | Pyramid | Consort | Comments |
| Piye | Usimare | c. 744–714 BC | Kurru 17 | Tabiry Abar Khensa Peksater Nefrukekashta | Kashta is sometimes considered the first pharaoh of the dynasty, as opposed to Piye. | |
| Shebitku | Djedkare | 714–705 BC | Kurru 18 | Arty | ||
| Shabaka | Nefer-ka-re | 705–690 BC | Kurru 15 | Qalhata Mesbat Tabekenamun? | ||
| Taharqa | Khunefertumre | 690–664 BC | Nuri 1 | Takahatenamun Atakhebasken Naparaye Tabekenamun? | ||
| Tantamani | Bakare | 664–656 BC | Kurru 16 | Piankharty salka Malaqaye? | Lost control of Upper Egypt in 656 BC when Psamtik I captured Thebes in that year. |
The period starting with Kashta and ending with Malonaqen is sometimes called the Napatan Period. The later Kings from the twenty-fifth dynasty ruled over Napata, Meroe, and Egypt. The seat of government and the royal palace were in Napata during this period, while Meroe was a provincial city. The kings and queens were buried in El-Kurru and Nuri.
Alara, the first known Nubian king and predecessor of Kashta was not a 25th dynasty king since he did not control any region of Egypt during his reign. While Piye is viewed as the founder of the 25th dynasty, some publications may include Kashta who already controlled some parts of Upper Egypt. A stela of his was found at Elephantine and Kashta likely exercised some influence at Thebes since he held enough sway to have his daughter Amenirdis I adopted as the next Divine Adoratrice of Amun there.
Timeline of the 25th Dynasty
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from: -664 till: -656 color:PA text:"Tantamani "
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