1.
Nile
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The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, in particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan. The Nile has two tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself, the Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and it flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast, the two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, then ends in a large delta, Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan, in the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥpī or Iteru, meaning river. In Coptic, the words piaro or phiaro meaning the river come from the ancient name. The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος, beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. One possible etymology derives it from a Semitic Nahal, meaning river, the standard English names White Nile and Blue Nile, to refer to the rivers source, derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum. Above Khartoum, the Nile is also known as the White Nile, at Khartoum the river is joined by the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift. The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers, the source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake has feeder rivers of considerable size. It is either the Ruvyironza, which emerges in Bururi Province, Burundi, or the Nyabarongo, the two feeder rivers meet near Rusumo Falls on the Rwanda-Tanzania border. Gish Abay is reportedly the place where the water of the first drops of the Blue Nile develop. The Nile leaves Lake Nyanza at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda and it flows north for some 130 kilometers, to Lake Kyoga. For the remaining part it flows westerly through the Murchison Falls until it reaches the very northern shores of Lake Albert where it forms a significant river delta
2.
Elephantine
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Elephantine is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in southern Egypt. There are archaeological sites on the island, Elephantine island is 1,200 metres from north to south, and is 400 metres across at its widest point. The layout of this and other islands in Aswan can be seen from west bank hillsides along the Nile. The island is located just downstream of the First Cataract, at the border of Upper Egypt with Lower Nubia. This region above is referred to as Upper Egypt due to land and river elevations being higher than downstream, and than the Nile Delta region to the Mediterranean Sea. The island may have received its name after its shape, which in aerial views is similar to that of an elephant tusk and this is the meaning of the Greek word elephas. Known to the Ancient Egyptians as Abu or Yebu, the island of Elephantine stood at the border between Egypt and Nubia and it was an excellent defensive site for a city and its location made it a natural cargo transfer point for river trade. Elephantine was a fort that stood just before the first cataract of the Nile, during the Second Intermediate Period, the fort marked the southern border of Egypt. According to Egyptian mythology, here was the place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts. He was worshipped here as part of a late triad among the Egyptian pantheon of deities, the Elephantine Triad included Satis and Anuket. Satis was worshipped from very early times as a war goddess, when seen as a fertility goddess, she personified the bountiful annual flooding of the Nile, which was identified as her daughter, Anuket. The cult of Satis originated in the ancient city of Swenet, later, when the triad was formed, Khnum became identified as her consort and, thereby, was thought of as the father of Anuket. His role in myths changed later and another deity was assigned his duties with the river, at that time his role as a potter enabled him to be assigned a duty in the creation of human bodies. Ongoing excavations by the German Archaeological Institute at the town have uncovered many findings, on display in the Aswan Museum located on the island, artifacts dating back to predynastic times have been found on Elephantine. A rare calendar, known as the Elephantine Calendar of Things, in ancient times, the island was also an important stone quarry providing granite materials that would be transported widely within Egypt for monuments and buildings. Prior to 1822, there were temples to Thutmose III and Amenhotep III on the island, at that time they were destroyed during the campaign of Muhammad Ali, who had taken power in Egypt, to Conquer Sudan. Both temples were relatively intact prior to the deliberate demolition, the first temple was the Temple of Satet, it was founded around 3000 BC and enlarged and renovated over the next 3000 years. There are records of an Egyptian temple to Khnum on the island as early as the third Dynasty of Egypt and this temple was completely rebuilt in the Late Period, during the thirtieth dynasty of Egypt, just before the foreign rule that followed in the Graeco-Roman Period
3.
Sinai Peninsula
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The Sinai Peninsula or simply Sinai is a peninsula in Egypt, situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, serving as a land bridge between Asia and Africa. It is the part of Egyptian territory located in Asia. Sinai has an area of about 60,000 km2. The bulk of the peninsula is divided administratively into two of Egypts 27 governorates, the Sinai Peninsula has been a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. In periods of occupation, the Sinai was, like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by foreign empires, in more recent history the Ottoman Empire. Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis of 1956, on 6 October 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula, which was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its setting, rich coral reefs. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant places in Abrahamic faiths, in addition to its formal name, Egyptians also refer to it as Arḍ ul-Fairūz. The ancient Egyptians called it Ta Mefkat, or land of turquoise, Sinai is triangular in shape, with northern shore lying on the southern Mediterranean Sea, and southwest and southeast shores on Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea. It is linked to the African continent by the Isthmus of Suez,125 kilometres wide strip of land, the eastern isthmus, linking it to the Asian mainland, is around 200 kilometres wide. The peninsulas eastern shore separates the Arabian plate from the African plate, the southernmost tip is the Ras Muhammad National Park. Most of the Sinai Peninsula is divided among the two governorates of Egypt, South Sinai and North Sinai, together, they comprise around 60,000 square kilometres and have a population of 597,000. Three more governates span the Suez Canal, crossing into African Egypt, Suez is on the end of the Suez Canal, Ismailia in the centre. The largest city of Sinai is Arish, capital of the North Sinai, other larger settlements include Sharm el-Sheikh and El-Tor, on the southern coast. Inland Sinai is arid, mountainous and sparsely populated, the largest settlements being Saint Catherine, Sinai is one of the coldest provinces in Egypt because of its high altitudes and mountainous topographies. Winter temperatures in some of Sinais cities and towns reach −16 °C, the mines were worked intermittently and on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable and these may be the first historically attested mines. According to the Hebrew Bible, the peninsula was crossed by the Israelites during the Exodus from Egypt and this included numerous halts over a 40-year period of travel sometime towards the end of the Bronze Age
4.
Oasis
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In geography, an oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source, such as a pond or small lake. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even if the area is big enough. The location of oases has been of importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas, caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames, and Kufra, oases are formed from underground rivers or aquifers such as an artesian aquifer, where water can reach the surface naturally by pressure or by man-made wells. Occasional brief thunderstorms provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat, substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the waters edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops, the word oasis came into English via Latin, oasis from Ancient Greek, ὄασις óasis, which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian. The word for oasis in the later attested Coptic language is wahe or ouahe which means a dwelling place, people who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully, fields must be irrigated to grow plants like apricots, dates, figs, and olives. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm and these palm trees provide shade for smaller trees like peach trees, which form the middle layer. By growing plants in different layers, the farmers make best use of the soil, many vegetables are also grown and some cereals, such as barley, millet, and wheat, are grown where there is more moisture. Great Man-Made River – the worlds largest irrigation project, developed in Libya to connect cities with fossil water. Guelta Mirage Oasification Qanat Wadi Water supply référence, Jardins au désert |Battesti, Jardins au désert, Evolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens, Jérid tunisien, Paris, Éditions IRD, coll. À travers champs,2005,440 p. ISBN 2-7099-1564-2 Open Archives, book in free access / in French The dictionary definition of oasis at Wiktionary
5.
Memphis, Egypt
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Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Mit Rahina,20 km south of Giza, according to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an important city throughout ancient Mediterranean history and it occupied a strategic position at the mouth of the Nile delta, and was home to feverish activity. Its principal port, Peru-nefer, harboured a high density of workshops, factories, during its golden age, Memphis thrived as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and religion. Memphis was believed to be under the protection of the god Ptah and its great temple, Hut-ka-Ptah, was one of the most prominent structures in the city. The name of temple, rendered in Greek as Aί γυ πτoς by the historian Manetho, is believed to be the etymological origin of the modern English name Egypt. The history of Memphis is closely linked to that of the country itself and its eventual downfall is believed to be due to the loss of its economic significance in late antiquity, following the rise of coastal Alexandria. Its religious significance also diminished after the abandonment of the ancient religion following the Edict of Thessalonica, the ruins of the former capital today offer fragmented evidence of its past. They have been preserved, along with the complex at Giza. The site is open to the public as an open-air museum, Memphis has had several names during its history of almost four millennia. Its Ancient Egyptian name was Inbu-Hedj, because of its size, the city also came to be known by various other names that were actually the names of neighbourhoods or districts that enjoyed considerable prominence at one time or another. For example, according to a text of the First Intermediate Period, it was known as Djed-Sut, the city was also at one point referred to as Ankh-Tawy, stressing the strategic position of the city between Upper and Lower Egypt. This name appears to date from the Middle Kingdom, and is found in ancient Egyptian texts. At the beginning of the New Kingdom, the city known as Men-nefer. The name Memphis is the Greek adaptation of this name, which was originally the name of the pyramid of Pepi I, in the Bible, Memphis is called Moph or Noph. The city of Memphis is 20 km south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. The modern cities and towns of Mit Rahina, Dahshur, Abusir, Abu Gorab, the city was also the place that marked the boundary between Upper and Lower Egypt. The island of the city is today uninhabited, the closest settlement is the town of Mit Rahina
6.
Egyptian language
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The language spoken in ancient Egypt was a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The earliest known complete sentence in the Egyptian language has been dated to about 2690 BCE, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the seventeenth century in the form of Coptic. The national language of modern Egypt is Egyptian Arabic, which gradually replaced Coptic as the language of life in the centuries after the Muslim conquest of Egypt. Coptic is still used as the language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It has several hundred fluent speakers today, the Egyptian language belongs to the Afroasiatic language family. Of the other Afroasiatic branches, Egyptian shows its greatest affinities with Semitic, in Egyptian, the Proto-Afroasiatic voiced consonants */d z ð/ developed into pharyngeal ⟨ꜥ⟩ /ʕ/, e. g. Eg. Afroasiatic */l/ merged with Egyptian ⟨n⟩, ⟨r⟩, ⟨ꜣ⟩, and ⟨j⟩ in the dialect on which the language was based. Original */k g ḳ/ palatalize to ⟨ṯ j ḏ⟩ in some environments and are preserved as ⟨k g q⟩ in others, Egyptian has many biradical and perhaps monoradical roots, in contrast to the Semitic preference for triradical roots. Egyptian probably is more archaic in this regard, whereas Semitic likely underwent later regularizations converting roots into the triradical pattern, scholars group the Egyptian language into six major chronological divisions, Archaic Egyptian language Old Egyptian language Middle Egyptian language, characterizing Middle Kingdom. Demotic Coptic The earliest Egyptian glyphs date back to around 3300 BC and these early texts are generally lumped together under the general term Archaic Egyptian. They record names, titles and labels, but a few of them show morphological and syntactic features familiar from later, more complete, Old Egyptian is dated from the oldest known complete sentence, found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen and dated to around 2690 BCE. It reads, dmḏ. n. f t3wj n z3. f nswt-bjt pr-jb. snj He has united the Two Lands for his son, extensive texts appear from about 2600 BCE. Demotic first appears about 650 BCE and survived as a written language until the fifth century CE and it probably survived in the Egyptian countryside as a spoken language for several centuries after that. Bohairic Coptic is still used by the Coptic Churches, Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian were all written using hieroglyphs and hieratic. Demotic was written using a script derived from hieratic, its appearance is similar to modern Arabic script and is also written from right to left. Coptic is written using the Coptic alphabet, a form of the Greek alphabet with a number of symbols borrowed from Demotic for sounds that did not occur in ancient Greek. Arabic became the language of Egypts political administration soon after the early Muslim conquests in the seventh century, today, Coptic survives as the sacred language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Coptic Catholic Church
7.
Ancient Egyptian religion
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Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians interaction with many deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, rituals such as prayers and offerings were efforts to provide for the gods and gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, the king of Egypt and he acted as the intermediary between his people and the gods and was obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain order in the universe. The state dedicated enormous resources to Egyptian rituals and to the construction of the temples, individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for their help through prayer or compelling them to act through magic. These practices were distinct from, but closely linked with, the formal rituals, the popular religious tradition grew more prominent in the course of Egyptian history as the status of the Pharaoh declined. Another important aspect was the belief in the afterlife and funerary practices, the Egyptians made great efforts to ensure the survival of their souls after death, providing tombs, grave goods, and offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the deceased. The religion had its roots in Egypts prehistory and lasted for more than 3,000 years, the details of religious belief changed over time as the importance of particular gods rose and declined, and their intricate relationships shifted. At various times, certain gods became preeminent over the others, including the sun god Ra, the creator god Amun, for a brief period, in the theology promulgated by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a single god, the Aten, replaced the traditional pantheon. Ancient Egyptian religion and mythology left behind many writings and monuments, along with significant influences on ancient, the beliefs and rituals now referred to as ancient Egyptian religion were integral within every aspect of Egyptian culture. Their language possessed no single term corresponding to the modern European concept of religion, the characteristics of the gods who populated the divine realm were inextricably linked to the Egyptians understanding of the properties of the world in which they lived. The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and these deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which were involved in all aspects of nature and their religious practices were efforts to sustain and placate these phenomena and turn them to human advantage. This polytheistic system was complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many different manifestations. Conversely, many forces, such as the sun, were associated with multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles in the universe to minor deities or demons with very limited or localized functions. It could include gods adopted from foreign cultures, and sometimes humans, deceased Pharaohs were believed to be divine, and occasionally, distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified. The depictions of the gods in art were not meant as representations of how the gods might appear if they were visible. Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each gods role in nature
8.
Imperial cult
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An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor, or a dynasty of emperors, are worshipped as demigods or deities. Cult here is used to worship, not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may be one of personality in the case of a newly arisen Euhemerus figure or one of identity or supranational identity in the case of a multi-ethnic state. A divine king is a monarch who is held in a religious significance by his subjects. This system of government combines theocracy with an absolute monarchy, the Ptolemaic dynasty based their own legitimacy in the eyes of their Greek subjects on their association with, and incorporation into, the cult of Alexander the Great. In Imperial China, an emperor was considered the Son of Heaven, the scion and representative of heaven on earth, he was the ruler of all under heaven, the bearer of the Mandate of Heaven, his commands considered sacred edicts. A number of legendary figures preceding the proper imperial era of China also hold the title of emperor, such as the Yellow Emperor. Even before the rise of the Caesars, there are traces of a regal spirituality in Roman society, King Numitor corresponds to the regal-sacred principle in early Roman history. Romulus, the founder of Rome, was heroized into Quirinus. Varro spoke of the mystery and power of Roman regality. In Plutarchs Phyrro,19.5, the Greek ambassador declared amid the Roman Senate he felt instead like being in the midst of an assembly of Kings. As the Roman Empire developed the Imperial cult gradually developed more formally and this practice began at the start of the Empire under Augustus, and became a prominent element of Roman religion. The cult spread over the whole Empire within a few decades, Emperor Diocletian further reinforced it when he demanded the proskynesis and adopted the adjective sacrum for all things pertaining to the imperial person. The deification of emperors was gradually abandoned after the emperor Constantine I started supporting Christianity, however, the concept of the imperial person as sacred carried over, in a Christianized form, into the Byzantine Empire. In ancient Japan, it was customary for every clan to claim descendancy from gods, later in history, this was considered common practice by noble families, and the head members of the family, including that of the imperial family, were not seen to be divine. It was not until the Meiji period, that the Japanese Emperor began to be venerated along with a sense of nationalism. Arahitogami – the concept of a god who is a human being applied to the Shōwa Emperor, ningen-sengen – the declaration with which the Shōwa Emperor, on New Years Day 1946, declined claims of divinity, keeping with traditional family values as expressed in the Shinto religion. Devaraja is the Hindu-Buddhist cult of deified royalty in Southeast Asia and it is simply described as Southeast Asian concept of divine king
9.
Absolute monarchy
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Absolute monarchy, or despotic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which one ruler has supreme authority that is not restricted by any written laws, legislature, or customs. These are often, but not always, hereditary monarchies, in contrast, in constitutional monarchies, the head of states authority derives from and is legally bounded or restricted by a constitution or legislature. Some monarchies have weak or symbolic legislatures and other bodies that the monarch can alter or dissolve at will. Countries where a monarch still maintains absolute power are Brunei, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, Swaziland, in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh wielded absolute power over the country and was considered a living god by his people. In ancient Mesopotamia, many rulers of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer were absolute monarchs as well, in ancient and medieval India, rulers of the Maurya, Satahavana, Gupta and Chalukya Empires, as well as other major and minor empires, were considered absolute monarchs. In the Khmer Empire, the kings were called Devaraja and Chakravartin, in Kingdom of Siam, the kings were esestablished Somburanaya-sittiraj. Throughout Chinese history, many emperors and one empress wielded absolute power through the Mandate of Heaven, in pre-Columbian America, the Inca Empire was ruled by a Sapa Inca, who was considered the son of Inti, the sun god and absolute ruler over the people and nation. Throughout much of European history, the right of kings was the theological justification for absolute monarchy. Many European monarchs, such as those of Russia, claimed supreme autocratic power by right. James VI of Scotland and his son Charles I of Scotland and England tried to import this principle, there is a considerable variety of opinion by historians on the extent of absolutism among European monarchs. Some, such as Perry Anderson, argue that quite a few monarchs achieved levels of absolutist control over their states, a widely held story about Louis XIV of France is that he proclaimed Létat, cest moi. What Louis did say was, The interests of the state come first, when one gives these priority, one labors for ones own good. These advantages to the state redounds to ones glory, although often criticized for his extravagances, such as the Palace of Versailles, he reigned over France for a long period, and some historians consider him a successful absolute monarch. More recently, revisionist historians have questioned whether Louis reign should be considered absolute, the King of France concentrated in his person legislative, executive, and judicial powers. He was the judicial authority. He could condemn men to death without the right of appeal and it was both his duty to punish offenses and stop them from being committed. From his judicial authority followed his power both to make laws and to annul them and this law consequently authorized the king to abolish all other centers of power. Most important was the abolition of the Council of the Realm and his actions largely originated the militaristic streak of the Hohenzollern
10.
Djoser
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Djoser was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty during the Old Kingdom and the founder of this epoch. He is well known under his Hellenized names Tosorthros and Sesorthos and he was the son of king Khasekhemwy and queen Nimaathap, but if he also was the direct throne successor is still unclear. The painted limestone statue of Djoser, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is the oldest known life-sized Egyptian statue, today at the site in Saqqara where it was found, a plaster copy of the statue stands in place of the original. The statue was found during the Antiquities Service Excavations of 1924–1925, in contemporary inscriptions, he is called Netjerikhet, meaning divine of body. Later sources, which include a New Kingdom reference to his construction, help confirm that Netjerikhet, more significantly, the English Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has demonstrated that burial seals found at the entrance to Khasekhemwys tomb in Abydos name only Djoser, rather than Nebka. This supports the view that it was Djoser who buried and, hence, directly succeeded Khasekhemwy and this is also suggested by another jar sealing, dating to Djosers reign, calling her Mother of the King of the Two Lands. Her cult seems to have still been active in the reign of Sneferu. Inetkawes was their only known by name. There was also a royal female attested during Djosers reign. The relationship between Djoser and his successor, Sekhemkhet, is not known, and the date of his death is uncertain, manetho states Djoser ruled Egypt for twenty-nine years, while the Turin King List states it was only nineteen years. Because of his many building projects, particularly at Saqqara. Manethos figure appears to be accurate, according to Wilkinsons analysis. Unfortunately, next to all entrances are illegible today, the Year of coronation is preserved, followed by the year events receiving the twin-pillars and stretching the cords for the fortress Qau-Netjerw. Djoser dispatched several military expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula, during which the inhabitants were subdued. He also sent expeditions there to mine for minerals such as turquoise. This is known from inscriptions found in the desert there, sometimes displaying the banner of Seth alongside the symbols of Horus, the Sinai was also strategically important as a buffer between the Nile valley and Asia. His most famous monument was his step pyramid, which entailed the construction of several mastaba tombs one over another and these forms would eventually lead to the standard pyramid tomb in the later Old Kingdom. Some fragmentary reliefs found at Heliopolis and Gebelein mention Djosers name, also, he may have fixed the southern boundary of his kingdom at the First Cataract
11.
Netjerkare Siptah
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Netjerkare Siptah was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the seventh and last ruler of the 6th Dynasty. Alternatively some scholars classify him as the first king of the combined 7th and 8th Dynasties, as the last king of the 6th Dynasty, Netjerkare Siptah is considered by some Egyptologists to be the last king of the Old Kingdom period. Netjerkare Siptah enjoyed a reign in the early 22nd century BC, at a time when the power of the pharaoh was crumbling. Although he was male, Netjerkare Siptah is most likely the person as the female ruler Nitocris mentioned by Herodotus. The prenomen Netjerkare is inscribed on the 40th entry of the Abydos King List, Netjerkare immediately follows Merenre Nemtyemsaf II on the list. The prenomen Netjerkare is also attested on a single copper tool of unknown provenance, the nomen Neitiqerty Siptah is inscribed on the Turin canon, on the 5th column, 7th row. In his Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus records a legend according to which an Egyptian queen Nitocris took revenge on the murder of her brother and she diverted the Nile to drown all of the murderers during a banquet where she had gathered them. This story is reported by the Egyptian priest Manetho, who wrote an history of Egypt called Aegyptiaca in the 3rd century BC. Manetho writes of Nitocris that she was, braver than all the men of her time, the most beautiful of all women, fair-skinned with red cheeks. Manetho goes further and credits her with the construction of the Pyramid of Menkaure By her, it is said, although the murdered king is not named by Herodotus, Nitocris follows immediately Merenre Nemtyemsaf II in Manethos Aegyptiaca and so he is often identified as this king. Since the king following Merenre Nemtyemsaf II in the Abydos king list is Netjerkare, the Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt confirmed Sterns hypothesis in a recent study of the matter. Ryholt argues that the name Nitocris is a result of conflation and distortion from the name Netjerkare, confirming this analysis, the Turin canon, another king list redacted during the early Ramesside period lists a Neitiqerti Siptah at an uncertain position. Ryholts microscopic analyses of the fibers of the papyrus suggest that the fragment where this name belongs to the end of the 6th Dynasty. Since on the Abydos king list, Netjerkare is placed in the equivalent spot that Neitiqerti Siptah holds on the Turin canon, additionally, the nomen Siptah is masculine indicating that Nitocris was in fact a male pharaoh
12.
Neferirkare
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Neferirkare was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 7th/8th Dynasty during the early First Intermediate Period. According to the egyptologists Kim Ryholt, Jürgen von Beckerath and Darell Baker he was the 17th, for many scholars, this makes Neferirkare the last pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, which comes to an end with the 8th Dynasty. Neferirkare IIs name is attested on the 56th entry of the Abydos King List. The latest reconstruction of the Turin canon, another king list compiled in the Ramesside era, indicates that Neferirkare II is also attested there on column 5, line 13. Farouk Gomaà, William C. Hayes and Baker identify Neferirkare II with the horus name Demedjibtawy appearing on a single decree, the decree concerns the temple of Min at Coptos, exempting it from dues and duties. This identification is rejected by Jürgen von Beckerath, another proposed identification concerns the prenomen Wadjkare, which also appears on the Coptos Decree R. At the opposite, Gomaà and Hayes equate Wadjkare with a ruler named Hor-Khabaw. Alternatively, Hans Goedicke proposed that Wadjkare is the predecessor of Demedjibtawy, thomas Schneider leaves the problem open and relates Wadjkare equally to either Neferkare II or Neferirkare II without further reference to Demedjibtawy. In 2014 Maha Farid Mostafa published an inscription, found in the tomb of Shemay, the inscription belongs most likely to Idy, a son of Shemay, albeit Idys name is not preserved. The text is dated under a king with the name Pepy, Maha Farid Mostafa reconstructed that throne name to Neferirkare. The inscription dates for sure to the 8th Dynasty, if this reconstruction is correct, Neferirkare is most likely identical with Demedjibtawy. Idy is mentioned on one of the Coptos decrees together with Demedjibtawy, the Turin canon credits Neferirkare II with a year and half of reign. Both the Turin canon and the Abydos king list record Neferirkare II as the last ruler of the combined 7th/8th, Neferirkare was possibly overthrown by the first king of the succeeding Herakleopolitan 9th Dynasty, Meryibre Khety. Alternatively the Egyptian state may have collapsed with the onset of low Nile floods, mass famine
13.
Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)
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The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt is the era immediately following the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt c.3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the end of the Naqada III archaeological period until about 2686 BC, with the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Thinis to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, before the unification of Egypt, the land was settled with autonomous villages. With the early dynasties, and for much of Egypts history thereafter, the pharaohs established a national administration and appointed royal governors. The buildings of the government were typically open-air temples constructed of wood or sandstone. The earliest Egyptian hieroglyphs appear just before this period, though little is known of the language they represent. By about 3600 BC, neolithic Egyptian societies along the Nile had based their culture on the raising of crops, shortly after 3600 BC Egyptian society began to grow and advance rapidly toward refined civilization. A new and distinctive pottery, which was related to the pottery in the Southern Levant, extensive use of copper became common during this time. The Mesopotamian process of sun-dried bricks, and architectural building principles—including the use of the arch, concurrent with these cultural advances, a process of unification of the societies and towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, occurred. At the same time the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt also underwent a unification process, warfare between Upper and Lower Egypt occurred often. During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on the Delta, in mythology, the unification of Egypt is portrayed as the falcon-god, called Horus and identified with Lower Egypt, as conquering and subduing the god Set, who was identified with Upper Egypt. Divine kingship, which would persist in Egypt for the next three millennia, was established as the basis of Egypts government. The unification of societies along the Nile has also linked to the drying of the Sahara. Funeral practices for the peasants would have been the same as in predynastic times, thus, the Egyptians began construction of the mastabas which became models for the later Old Kingdom constructions such as the Step pyramid. Cereal agriculture and centralization contributed to the success of the state for the next 800 years and this would last for many centuries. It was also during this period that the Egyptian writing system was further developed, initially Egyptian writing had been composed primarily of a few symbols denoting amounts of various substances. By the end of the 3rd dynasty it had expanded to include more than 200 symbols
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History of Egypt
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The history of Egypt has been long and rich, due to the flow of the Nile river, with its fertile banks and delta. Its rich history also comes from its inhabitants and outside influence. Much of Egypts ancient history was a mystery until the secrets of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered with the discovery, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the other Seven Wonders, is gone, the Library of Alexandria was the only one of its kind for centuries. Human settlement in Egypt dates back to at least 40,000 BC with Aterian tool manufacturing, Ancient Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty, Narmer. Predominately native Egyptian rule lasted until the conquest by the Achaemenid Empire in the sixth century BC, the Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its final annexation by Rome. The death of Cleopatra ended the independence of Egypt resulting in Egypt becoming one of the provinces of the Roman Empire. Roman rule in Egypt lasted from 30 BC to 641 AD, in 1517, Ottoman sultan Selim I captured Cairo, absorbing Egypt into the Ottoman Empire. Egypt remained entirely Ottoman until 1867, except during French occupation from 1798 to 1801, starting in 1867, Egypt became a nominally autonomous tributary state called the Khedivate of Egypt. However, Khedivate Egypt fell under British control in 1882 following the Anglo-Egyptian War, after the end of World War I and following the Egyptian revolution of 1919, the Kingdom of Egypt was established. While a de facto independent state, the United Kingdom retained control over affairs, defense. British occupation lasted until 1954, with the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1954, President Gamal Abdel Nasser introduced many reforms and created the short-lived United Arab Republic. His terms also saw the Six-Day War and the creation of the international Non-Aligned Movement and he led Egypt in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to regain Egypts Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967. This later led to the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, recent Egyptian history has been dominated by events following nearly thirty years of rule by former president Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian revolution of 2011 deposed Mubarak and resulted in the first democratically elected president in Egyptian history, unrest after the 2011 revolution and related disputes led to the 2013 Egyptian coup détat. There is evidence of petroglyphs along the Nile terraces and in desert oases, in the 10th millennium BC, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishermen was replaced by a grain-grinding culture. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 6000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River, where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society. By about 6000 BC, a Neolithic culture rooted in the Nile Valley, during the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt
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Prehistoric Egypt
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This Predynastic era is traditionally equivalent to the final part of the Neolithic period beginning c.6000 BC and corresponds to the Naqada III period. The Predynastic period is divided into cultural periods, each named after the place where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first discovered. The Late Paleolithic in Egypt started around 30,000 BC, the Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and dated in 1982 from nine samples ranging between 35,100 and 30,360 years. This specimen is the only complete human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. Excavation of the Nile has exposed early stone tools, the earliest of these lithic industries were located within the 100-foot terrace, and were Chellean, primitive Acheulean and an Egyptian form of the Clactonian. Within the 50-foot terrace was developed Acheulean, originally reported as Early Mousterian but since changed to Levalloisean, other implements were located in the 30-foot terrace. The 15- and 10-foot terraces saw a more developed version of the Levalloisean, finally, tools of the Egyptian Sebilian technology and an Egyptian version of the Aterian technology were also located. Some of the oldest known buildings were discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski along the border near Wadi Halfa. They were mobile structures—easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled—providing hunter-gatherers with semi-permanent habitation, Aterian tool-making reached Egypt c.40,000 BC. The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 40,000 and 30,000 BC, khormusans developed advanced tools not only from stone but also from animal bones and hematite. They also developed small arrow heads resembling those of Native Americans, the end of the Khormusan industry came around 16,000 B. C. with the appearance of other cultures in the region, including the Gemaian. The Halfan culture flourished along the Nile Valley of Egypt and Nubia between 18,000 and 15,000 BC, though one Halfan site dates to before 24,000 BC, people survived on a diet of large herd animals and the Khormusan tradition of fishing. Greater concentrations of artifacts indicate that they were not bound to seasonal wandering and they are viewed as the parent culture of the Ibero-Maurusian industry, which spread across the Sahara and into Spain. The Halfan culture was derived in turn from the Khormusan, which depended on specialized hunting, fishing, the primary material remains of this culture are stone tools, flakes, and a multitude of rock paintings. Qadan peoples developed sickles and grinding stones to aid in the collecting and processing of plant foods prior to consumption. However, there are no indications of the use of these tools after around 10,000 BC, in Egypt, analyses of pollen found at archaeological sites indicate that the Sebilian culture were gathering wheat and barley. It has been hypothesized that the sedentary lifestyle used by farmers led to increased warfare, continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. The period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left little in the way of archaeological evidence
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History of ancient Egypt
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The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest, in 30 BC. The Pharaonic Period is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule, note For alternative revisions to the chronology of Egypt, see Egyptian chronology. Egypts history is split into different periods according to the ruling dynasty of each pharaoh. The dating of events is still a subject of research, the conservative dates are not supported by any reliable absolute date for a span of about three millennia. The following is the list according to conventional Egyptian chronology, traces of these early people appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the terraces of the Nile and in the oases. To the Egyptians the Nile meant life and the desert meant death, evidence also indicates human habitation and cattle herding in the southwestern corner of Egypt near the Sudan border before the 8th millennium BC. Despite this, the idea of an independent bovine domestication event in Africa must be abandoned because subsequent evidence gathered over a period of thirty years has failed to corroborate this, the oldest-known domesticated cattle remains in Africa are from the Faiyum c.4400 BC. Continued desiccation forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently, however, the period from 9th to the 6th millennium BC has left very little in the way of archaeological evidence. The Nile valley of Egypt was basically uninhabitable until the work of clearing and irrigating the land along the banks was started, however it appears that this clearance and irrigation was largely under way by the 6th millennium. By that time, Nile society was already engaged in organized agriculture, at this time, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar was in use by the 4th millennium, the people of the valley and the Nile Delta were self-sufficient and were raising barley and emmer, an early variety of wheat, and stored it in pits lined with reed mats. They raised cattle, goats and pigs and they wove linen, prehistory continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Amratian culture. Between 5500 BC and the 31st century BC, small settlements flourished along the Nile, the Tasian culture was the next to appear, it existed in Upper Egypt starting about 4500 BC. This group is named for the burials found at Deir Tasa, the Tasian culture is notable for producing the earliest blacktop-ware, a type of red and brown pottery painted black on its top and interior. The Badari culture, named for the Badari site near Deir Tasa, followed the Tasian, however, the Badari culture continued to produce the kind of pottery called blacktop-ware, and was assigned the sequence dating numbers between 21 and 29. The Amratian culture is named after the site of el-Amreh, about 120 kilometres south of Badari, el-Amreh was the first site where this culture was found unmingled with the later Gerzeh culture. However, this period is attested at Nagada, and so is also referred to as the Naqada I culture. The Amratian period falls between S. D.30 and 39, newly excavated objects indicate that trade between Upper and Lower Egypt existed at this time
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Middle Kingdom of Egypt
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Some scholars also include the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period as well, in which case the Middle Kingdom would finish c. 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre Ay c.1700 BC, during the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion. The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th Dynasty onwards which was centered on el-Lisht, after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered a period of weak Pharaonic power and decentralization called the First Intermediate Period. Towards the end of period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought for power over the entire country. The Theban 11th Dynasty only ruled southern Egypt from the first cataract to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt, to the north, Lower Egypt was ruled by the rival 10th Dynasty from Herakleopolis. The struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who ascended the Theban throne in 2055 B. C, during Mentuhotep IIs fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herakleopolis, which met little resistance. After toppling the last rulers of the 10th Dynasty, Mentuhotep began consolidating his power over all Egypt, for this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in Nubia and he also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old Kingdom. He also sent the first expedition to Punt during the Middle Kingdom, by means of ships constructed at the end of Wadi Hammamat, Mentuhotep III was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose name significantly is omitted from all ancient Egyptian king lists. The Turin Papyrus claims that after Mentuhotep III came seven kingless years, despite this absence, his reign is attested from a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments. The leader of expedition was his vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future pharaoh Amenemhet I. Mentuhotep IVs absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his throne, while there are no contemporary accounts of this struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point to the existence of a civil war at the end of the 11th dynasty. Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the Haty-a of Hermopolis, suggest that he was attacked at a place called Shedyet-sha by the forces of the reigning king, but his forces prevailed. Khnumhotep I, an official under Amenemhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of 20 ships to pacify Upper Egypt, donald Redford has suggested these events should be interpreted as evidence of open war between two dynastic claimants. What is certain is that, however he came to power, from the 12th dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies, which included Nubian contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces which were raised for defence against invasion, however, the Middle Kingdom was basically defensive in its military strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of the Nile, in the Delta and across the Sinai Isthmus. Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to campaign in the Delta region, in addition, he strengthened defenses between Egypt and Asia, building the Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta region. Perhaps in response to this perpetual unrest, Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt in the north, known as Amenemhet Itj Tawy, or Amenemhet, the location of this capital is unknown, but is presumably near the citys necropolis, the present-day el-Lisht
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Second Intermediate Period of Egypt
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The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when Ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known as the period when the Hyksos made their appearance in Egypt, the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt came to an end at the end of the 19th century BC with the death of Queen Sobekneferu. Apparently she had no heirs, causing the twelfth dynasty to come to an end, and, with it. Retaining the seat of the dynasty, the thirteenth dynasty ruled from Itjtawy near Memphis and Lisht. The Thirteenth Dynasty is notable for the accession of the first formally recognised Semitic-speaking king, the Fifteenth Dynasty dates approximately from 1650 to 1550 BC. Known rulers of the Fifteenth Dynasty are as follows, Salitis Sakir-Har Khyan Apophis, 1550–1540 BC The Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt was the first Hyksos dynasty, ruled from Avaris, without control of the entire land. The Hyksos preferred to stay in northern Egypt since they infiltrated from the north-east, the names and order of kings is uncertain. The Turin King list indicates that there were six Hyksos kings, the surviving traces on the X figure appears to give the figure 8 which suggests that the summation should be read as 6 kings ruling 108 years. Some scholars argue there were two Apophis kings named Apepi I and Apepi II, but this is due to the fact there are two known prenomens for this king, Awoserre and Aqenenre. However, the Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt maintains in his study of the Second Intermediate Period that these prenomens all refer to one man, Apepi and this is also supported by the fact that this king employed a third prenomen during his reign, Nebkhepeshre. Apepi likely employed several different prenomens throughout various periods of his reign and this scenario is not unprecedented, as later kings, including the famous Ramesses II and Seti II, are known to have used two different prenomens in their own reigns. The Sixteenth Dynasty ruled the Theban region in Upper Egypt for 70 years, of the two chief versions of Manethos Aegyptiaca, Dynasty XVI is described by the more reliable Africanus as shepherd kings, but by Eusebius as Theban. For this reason other scholars do not follow Ryholt and see only insufficient evidence for the interpretation of the Sixteenth Dynasty as Theban, the continuing war against Dynasty XV dominated the short-lived 16th dynasty. The armies of the 15th dynasty, winning town after town from their enemies, continually encroached on the 16th dynasty territory, eventually threatening. Famine, which had plagued Upper Egypt during the late 13th dynasty, from Ryholts reconstruction of the Turin canon,15 kings of the dynasty can now be named, five of whom appear in contemporary sources. While most likely based in Thebes itself, some may have been local rulers from other important Upper Egyptian towns, including Abydos, El Kab. By the reign of Nebiriau I, the controlled by the 16th dynasty extended at least as far north as Hu. Not listed in the Turin canon is Wepwawetemsaf, who left a stele at Abydos and was likely a local kinglet of the Abydos Dynasty, Ryholt gives the list of kings of the 16th dynasty as shown in the table below
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New Kingdom of Egypt
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Radiocarbon dating places the exact beginning of the New Kingdom between 1570–1544 BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period and it was Egypt’s most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power. The later part of period, under the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties is also known as the Ramesside period. It is named after the pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses I. Egyptian armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day Syria, the Eighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypts most famous Pharaohs, including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on expanding Egypts external trade by sending an expedition to the land of Punt. Thutmose III expanded Egypts army and wielded it with success to consolidate the empire created by his predecessors. This resulted in a peak in Egypts power and wealth during the reign of Amenhotep III, during the reign of Thutmose III, Pharaoh, originally referring to the kings palace, became a form of address for the person who was king. Akhenatens religious fervor is cited as the reason why he was written out of Egyptian history. Under his reign, in the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished and attained a level of realism. Towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, the situation had changed radically, Ramesses II sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of the Hittite king Muwatalli II. Ramesses was caught in historys first recorded military ambush, although he was able to rally his troops, the outcome of the battle was undecided with both sides claiming victory at their home front, ultimately resulting in a peace treaty between the two nations. The last great pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely considered to be Ramesses III, in the eighth year of his reign the Sea Peoples invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles and he incorporated them as subject peoples and settled them in Southern Canaan although there is evidence that they forced their way into Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states, such as Philistia and he was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypts Western Delta in his sixth year and eleventh year respectively. The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypts treasury and contributed to the decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. Something in the air prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground, one proposed cause is the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Iceland but the dating of this remains disputed
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Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
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The Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 BC, ending the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. The period was one of decline and political instability, coinciding with the Late Bronze Age collapse of civilizations in the Near East and it marked by division of the state for much of the period and conquest and rule by foreigners. But many aspects of life for ordinary Egyptians changed relatively little, the period of the Twenty-First Dynasty is characterized by the countrys fracturing kingship. Even in Ramesses XIs day, the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on power in the city of Thebes, after his death, his successor Smendes I ruled from the city of Tanis, but was mostly active only in Lower Egypt which they controlled. Meanwhile, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes effectively ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all, however, this division was less significant than it seems, since both priests and pharaohs came from the same family. The country was reunited by the Twenty-Second Dynasty founded by Shoshenq I in 945 BC. In Thebes, a civil war engulfed the city between the forces of Pedubast I, who had proclaimed himself Pharaoh versus the existing line of Takelot II/Osorkon B. These two factions squabbled consistently and the conflict was resolved in Year 39 of Shoshenq III when Osorkon B comprehensively defeated his enemies. The Nubian kingdom to the south took full advantage of this division, piye established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors. He was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa respectively, the reunited Nile valley empire of the 25th dynasty was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal, the 25th dynasty ended with its rulers retreating to their spiritual homeland at Napata. It was there that all 25th dynasty pharaohs are buried under the first pyramids to be constructed in the Nile valley in millennia, the Napatan dynasty led to the Kingdom of Kush, which flourished in Napata and Meroe until at least the 2nd century AD. The international prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by this time, the countrys international allies had fallen firmly into the sphere of influence of Assyria and from about 700 BC the question became when, not if, there would be war between the two states. This disparity became critical during the Assyrian invasion of Egypt in 670 BC, consequently, Pharaoh Taharqas reign, and that of his successor and cousin Tantamani, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians. In 664 BC the Assyrians delivered a blow, sacking Thebes. In 656 BC Psamtik I occupied Thebes and became Pharaoh, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, four successive Saite kings continued guiding Egypt into another period of peace and prosperity from 610 to 525 BC. Unfortunately for this dynasty, a new power was growing in the Near East – Persia, Pharaoh Psamtik III had succeeded his father Ahmose II for only 6 months before he had to face the Persian Empire at Pelusium. The Persians had already taken Babylon and Egypt was no match, the historiography of this period is disputed for a variety of reasons
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Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
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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 Ancient Egypt. The 25th dynasty was a line of rulers originating in the Nubian Kingdom of Kush – in present-day northern Sudan and southern Egypt – and they reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt from 760 BCE to 656 BCE. The dynasty began with Kashtas invasion of Upper Egypt and culminated in several years of successful and unsuccessful war with the Mesopotamian based Assyrian Empire. The 25th Dynastys reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and 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, war with Assyria resulted in the end of Kushite power in Northern Egypt and the conquest of Egypt by Assyria. They were succeeded by the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt, initially a puppet dynasty installed by and vassals of the Assyrians, the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest. The known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the dynasty are the following, The period starting with Kashta. The later Kings from the dynasty ruled over Napata, Meroe. The seat of government and the palace were in Napata during this period. 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, the twenty-fifth dynasty originated in Kush, or, which is presently in Northern Sudan. The city-state of Napata was the capital and it was from there that Piye invaded. 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 burial site of El-Kurru. 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 attempts to extend Egyptian influence in the Near East. 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, Shabaka conquered the entire Nile valley, including Upper and Lower Egypt, around 710 BC. Shabaka had Bocchoris of the preceding Sais dynasty burned to death for resisting him, after conquering Lower Egypt, Shabaka transferred the capital to Memphis
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Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
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The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC. The dynastys reign is called the Saite Period after the city of Sais, where its pharaohs had their capital. This dynasty traced its origins to the 24th Dynasty, Psamtik I was probably a descendant of Bakenrenef, and following the Assyrians invasions during the reigns of Taharqa and Tantamani, he was recognized as sole king over all of Egypt. With the help of Greek mercenaries, Apries was able to hold back Babylonian attempts to conquer Egypt and their king, Cambyses II, captured and later executed Psamtik III. The 26th Dynasty may be related to the 24th Dynasty, Manetho begins the dynasty with, Ammeris the Nubian,12 years Stephinates,7 years Nechepsos,6 years Necho,8 years. When the Nubian King Shabaka defeated Bakenrenef, son of Tefnakht and this may be the man named Ammeris. Stephinates may be a descendant of Bakenrenef and he is sometimes referred to as Tefnakht II in the literature. Nechepsos has been identified with a king named Nekauba. Manethos Necho is King Necho I, Manetho gives his reign as 8 years, Necho was killed during a conflict with the Nubian king Tanutamun. Psamtik I fled to Nineveh – capital of the Assyrian Empire – and returned to Egypt when Assurbanipal defeated Tanutamun, scholars now start the 26th Dynasty with the reign of Psamtik I. Sextus Julius Africanus states in his often accurate version of Manethos Epitome that the dynasty numbered 9 pharaohs, beginning with a Stephinates, Africanus also notes that Psamtik I and Necho I ruled for 54 and 8 years respectively. History of Ancient Egypt Twenty-sixth Dynasty Family Tree Twenty-sixth Dynasty Timeline Late Period of ancient Egypt Achaemenid Empire Saite Oracle Papyrus Aidan Dodson, the Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press, London 2004 Kenneth Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt,1986 ISBN 978-0-85668-298-8 Karl Jansen-Winkeln, Bild und Charakter der ägyptischen 26
