Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dynasties of Pharaohs in ancient Egypt
Predynastic Egypt
Protodynastic Period
Early Dynastic Period
1st 2nd
Old Kingdom
3rd 4th 5th 6th
First Intermediate Period
7th 8th 9th 10th
11th (Thebes only)
Middle Kingdom
11th (All Egypt)
12th 13th 14th
Second Intermediate Period
15th 16th 17th
New Kingdom
18th 19th 20th
Third Intermediate Period
21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th
Late Period
26th 27th 28th
29th 30th 31st
Graeco-Roman Period
Alexander the Great
Ptolemaic dynasty
Roman

The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt originated in Kush at the city-state of Napata, whence they invaded and took control of Egypt under Piye (spelled Piankhi in older works). Manetho does not mention either the first king Piye, or the last king Tantamani, although inscriptions exist to attest to the existence of both. This dynasty is often considered part of the Third Intermediate Period.

The following chronology follows recent research by Dan'el Kahn<ref>"The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var and the Chronology of Dynasty 25," Orientalia 70 (2001), pp.1-18</ref> which argues 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 modern day Northwestern Iran and dated to 706 BC. This inscription calls Shebitku the king of Melunha, 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<ref>Journal of Egyptian Archeology 82(2002), p.182 n.24</ref> among others at the SCIEM 2000 (Synchronisation of Civilisations of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C.) project with the notable exception of Kenneth Kitchen and Manfred Bietak at present.

**Twenty-Fifth Dynasty**
Name	Dates
Kashta	–
Piye	c. 752 BC – 721 BC
Shabaka	721 BC – 707 BC
Shebitku	707 BC – 690 BC
Taharqa	690 – 664 BC
Tantamani	664 – 656 BC (died 653 BC)

Starting from the reign of Taharqa onwards, the kings of this dynasty were driven back into Nubia, at first by the Assyrians, then by the kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. Their successors came to settle in Nubia, where they established a kingdom at Napata (656 - 590 BC) then later at Meroë (590 BC - 4th century AD).