Kingdom of Kush - 25th Dynasty of Egypt

25th Dynasty of Egypt

In Ancient Egypt, Libyan princes had taken control of the delta under Sheshonq I in 945 BCE, founding the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty that would rule for some 200 years. Sheshonq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. However, Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis, and Kushites threatened from the south. Around 727 BCE the Kushite king Piye invaded Egypt, seizing control of Thebes and eventually the Delta. His dynasty, the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, continued until about 653 BCE. Piye attempted to regain a foothold in the Near East, but was defeated by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the 720's BC. The 25th dynasty was based at Napata, in Nubia, what is now The Sudan. Alara is universally regarded as the founder of the 25th Kushite dynasty by his successors.

The power of the 25th Dynasty reached a climax under the pharaohs Piye and Taharqa. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. The 25th dynasty ushered in a renaissance period for Ancient Egypt. Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal, etc. It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom.

Taharqa was the son of Piye and the first seventeen years of his reign were very prosperous for Kush. During this period Writing was introduced to Kush (Nubia), in the form of the Egyptian influenced Meroitic script circa 700-600 BC, although it appears to have been wholly confined to the Royal Court and Major Temples.Egypt's international prestige declined considerably towards the end of the Third Intermediate Period. Its Semitic allies in the Southern Levant had fallen to the Assyrian Empire. The Semitic Assyrians, from the 10th Century BC onwards, had expanded from their northern Mesopotamian homeland, and conquered a vast empire, including the whole of the Near East, and much of Asia Minor, the eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus and ancient Iran. By 700 BC war between the two Empires became inevitable. Taharqa enjoyed some initial success in his attempts to regain influence in the Near East. He aided King Hezekiah from attack by Sennacherib and the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:9;Isaiah 37:9), however disease among the Assyrian army appears to have been the main cause of failure to take the Jerusalem. Eventually, the Assyrian King Sennacherib defeated and drove the Nubians and Egyptians from the region. Between 674 and 671 BC the Assyrians began their invasion of Egypt under King Esarhaddon, the successor of Sennacherib. The Assyrians conquered this vast territory with surprising speed. Taharqa was driven from power by Esarhaddon, and fled to his Nubian homeland. Esarhaddon describes "installing local kings and governors" and "All Ethiopians I deported from Egypt, leaving not one to do homage to me". However, the native Egyptian vassal rulers installed by Esarhaddon were unable to retain control for long. Two years later, Taharqa returned from Nubia and seized contol of a section of Egypt as far north as Memphis. Esarhaddon prepared to return to Egypt and once more eject Taharqa, however he fell ill and died in his Capital Nineveh, before he left Assyria. His successor, Ashurbanipal, sent a Turtanu (general) with a small army which ejected Taharqa from Egypt, and he was forced to flee back to Nubia, where he died two years later. His successor, Tanutamun, attempted to regain Egypt. He successfully defeated Necho, the subject ruler installed by Ashurbanipal, taking Thebes in the process. The Assyrians, who had a military presence in the north, then sent a large army southwards. Tantamani was heavily routed and the Assyrian army sacked Thebes to such an extent it never truly recovered. Tantamani managed to escape back to Nubia, but never threatened the Assyrian Empire again. A native ruler, Psammetichus I was placed on the throne, as a vassal of Ashurbanipal

Why the Kushites chose to enter Egypt at this crucial point of foreign domination is subject to debate. Archaeologist Timmothy Kendall offers his own hypotheses, connecting it to a claim of legitimacy associated with Gebel Barkal. Kendall cites the stele of Pharaoh Piye, which states that "Amun of Napata granted me to be ruler of every foreign country," and "Amun in Thebes granted me to be ruler of the Black Land (Kmt)". Noteworthy is that according to Kendall, "foreign lands" in this regard seems to include Lower Egypt while Kmt seems to refer to a united Upper Egypt and Nubia.