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Wahibre Psamtik I ( Ancient Egyptian: ) was the first pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt, the Saite period, ruling from the city of
Sais Sais ( grc, Σάϊς, cop, Ⲥⲁⲓ) was an ancient Egyptian city in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile,Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Saïs." '' Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfiel ...
in the Nile delta between 664–610 BC. He was installed by
Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Inheriting the throne as ...
of the
Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew t ...
, against the Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, but later gained more autonomy as the Assyrian Empire declined.


Name

The Egyptian name , pronounced as , was a short form of , meaning "the man of (the Libyan deity) Meṯek." His name was rendered by the Assyrians as Pishamilki (
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...
: ), by the Ancient Greeks as (), and by the Romans as . Psamtik was also called Nabu-shezibanni (
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...
: and ), meaning "O Nabu, save me!" by the Assyrians.


Background

In 671 BCE, the
Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...
king
Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his ...
invaded Egypt. This invasion was directed against the
Kushite The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what ...
rulers of the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of th ...
, who had been in control of Upper Egypt, rather than against the native Egyptian rulers. The Assyrians created an administration relying on local Egyptian rulers, and put in place the twelve kinglets who formed a Dodecarchy ruling over the Nile Delta. They also formed alliances with the ruler of the city of
Sais Sais ( grc, Σάϊς, cop, Ⲥⲁⲓ) was an ancient Egyptian city in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile,Mish, Frederick C., Editor in Chief. "Saïs." '' Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary''. 9th ed. Springfiel ...
, Necho I, who was the most powerful of the Delta kinglets, as well as with Pakruru, the ruler of the important nome of
Per-Sopdu Saft el-Hinna ( ar, صفط الحنا, translit=Ṣafṭ al-Ḥinnā), also written as Saft el-Hinneh, Saft el-Henna, Saft el-Henneh, is a village and an archaeological site in Egypt. It is located in the modern Al Sharqia Governorate, in the Ni ...
. In 665 BCE, the Kushite king
Tantamani Tantamani ( egy, tnwt-jmn, Neo-Assyrian: , grc, Τεμένθης ), also known as Tanutamun or Tanwetamani (d. 653 BC) was ruler of the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan, and the last pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. His pre ...
invaded Lower Egypt again, and Necho I and Pakruru resisted the Kushite attack. Necho I died in battle and his son Psamtik I fled to Syria, while Pakruru became the spokesperson of the Delta kinglets during the peace negotiations with Tantamani at Memphis. The next year, in 664 BCE, the Assyrians under Esarhaddon's son
Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Inheriting the throne as ...
invaded Egypt again, and the Assyrian army retook Memphis, proceeded with the Sack of Thebes, and expelled Tantamani from Egypt. Necho I's son Psamtik I returned to Egypt with this invading force, was installed by the Assyrians as the ruler of Sais and Memphis, and concluded with the Assyrians an agreement, some type of superior-inferior relation, but unfortunately none of the Assyrian sources details the arrangements.


Reign

For the first two years of his reign, Psamtik I ruled in conformity with the arrangement implemented by the Assyrians in Egypt as one of many vassal kinglets of the Egyptian Dodecarchy. According to Herodotus, during this period, Psamtik unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy by an oracle which promised the kingship of all Egypt to whoever poured a libation from a bronze vessel, after which the other kinglets of the Docecarchy chased him from Memphis, of which he lost the rule, and he had to flee into the swamps of the Nile Delta. After being chased from Memphis, Psamtik I received another similar prophecy from the goddess Wadjet of
Buto Buto ( grc, Βουτώ, ar, بوتو, ''Butu''), Bouto, Butus ( grc, links=no, Βοῦτος, ''Boutos'') Herodotus ii. 59, 63, 155. or Butosus was a city that the Ancient Egyptians called Per-Wadjet. It was located 95 km east of Alexandr ...
, who promised him the rule over all Egypt should he employ bronze men from the sea. Beginning in 662 BCE, Psamtik I formed contacts with
Gyges Gyges can refer to: * One of the Hecatoncheires from Greek mythology * King Gyges of Lydia * Ogyges * Ring of Gyges The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the ...
, the king of the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia, who sent to Egypt
Carian The Carian language is an extinct language of the Luwic subgroup of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The Carian language was spoken in Caria, a region of western Anatolia between the ancient regions of Lycia and Lydia, ...
and Ionian mercenaries that Psamtik I used to reconquer Memphis and defeat the other kinglets of the Dodecarchy, some of whom fled to Libya. Psamtik I might have been also aided in these military campaigns by
Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
from the Sinai Peninsula. It is also known that Psamtik I had Greek mercenaries in his army. After having eliminated all his rivals, Psamtik I reorganized these mercenaries and placed them in key garrisons at
Daphnae Tahpanhes or Tehaphnehes; he, תַּחְפַּנְחֵס, translit=Taḥpanḥēs or he, תְּחַפְנְחֵס, translit=Tǝḥafnǝḥēs; known by the Ancient Greeks as the ( Pelusian) Daphnae ( grc, Δάφναι αἱ Πηλούσιαι) ...
in the East and
Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...
in the South to prevent a possible Kushite attack and to control trade. This military aid from Lydia lasted until 658 BCE, at which point Gyges faced an impending
Cimmerian The Cimmerians ( Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into West ...
invasion. By Psamtik I's 4th regnal year, he completed the forging of an alliance with the powerful family of the Masters of Shipping from Heracleopolis, and by his 8th regnal year in 657 BCE, he was in full control of the Delta. Interpretations of Psamtik I's wars as an alliance between Sais and Lydia against Assyria appear to be inaccurate, despite negative attitudes of the Assyrians towards Gyges's and Psamtik's actions. The Assyrians had risen Sais into preeminence in Egypt after expelling the Saites'
Kushite The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what ...
enemies from the country, but Psamtik I and Ashurbanipal had signed a treaty with each other, and no hostilities between them is recorded. Thus Psamtik I and Ashurbanipal had remained allies ever since the former had been put in power with Assyrian military support. The participation of the Arab tribes of the Sinai, who were Assyrian vassals, further attest to the lack of enmity between Sais and Assyria at this period, and the silence of Assyrian sources concerning Psamtik I's expansion imply there was no hostility, whether overt or covert, between Assyria and Sais during Psamtik I's unification of Egypt under his rule. Likewise, Gyges's military support of Psamtik I was not directed against Assyria and is not mentioned as hostile to Assyria or allied with other countries against Assyria in Assyrian records; the Assyrian disapproval of Gyges's support for Psamtik I was primarily motivated by Gyges's refusal to form an alliance with Assyria and his undertaking of these actions independently of Assyria, which the Assyrians interpreted as an act of arrogance, rather than by the support itself. Psamtik I's campaigns were not directed against Assyrian power and appear to have been conducted only against the rival kinglets of the Delta, and Ashurbanipal's disapproval of his actions were motivated not by his claim of kingship over Egypt, but by his revocation of the agreement between the two kings, as well as by Psamtik I's elimination of the other kinglets allied to Assyria, especially Pakruru of Per-Sopdu and Šarru-lū-dāri, since Ashurbanipal was aware that he had to rely on those kinglets to maintain Assyrian power in Egypt. In Psamtik I's 9th regnal year, in 656 BCE, he sent an expedition to the city of Thebes which compelled the existing
God's Wife of Amun God's Wife of Amun ( Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twent ...
, Shepenupet II, daughter of the former Kushite Pharaoh
Piye Piye (once transliterated as Pankhy or Piankhi; d. 714 BC) was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan ...
, to adopt his daughter
Nitocris I Nitocris I (alt. Nitiqret, Nitokris I) (died 585 BC) served as the heir to, and then, as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun or God's Wife of Amun for a period of more than seventy years, between 655 BC and 585 BC.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Comple ...
as her heiress in the so-called
Adoption Stela Nitocris I (alt. Nitiqret, Nitokris I) (died 585 BC) served as the heir to, and then, as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun or God's Wife of Amun for a period of more than seventy years, between 655 BC and 585 BC.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Comple ...
. This was concluded with the approval of the Theban aristocracy and the tacit support of
Mentuemhat Mentuemhat or Montuemhat (c. 700 BCE – c. 650 BCE) was a rich and powerful Theban official from ancient Egypt who lived during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the Fourth Priest of Amun in Thebes ...
, who was the Fourth Priest of Amun and the Mayor of Thebes. Psamtik I had unified all of Egypt under his rule. In 655 and 654 BCE, that is his 10th and 11th regnal years, Psamtik I carried out a war with Libyan tribes who had seized control of the area from the Oxyrhynchite nome around the Bahr Yussef till the Mediterranean Sea, and who had been joined by Psamtik I's previously defeated enemies from his wars in the Delta. Following the successful conclusion of this war, Psamtik I placed an Egyptian garrison at
Marea MAREA is a 6,600 km (4,000 mile) long transatlantic communications cable connecting the United States with Spain. Owned and funded by Microsoft and Meta Platforms, but constructed and operated by Telxius, a subsidiary of the Spanish telecom ...
to prevent incursions by Libyans from the desert. Thus, by the end of his first decade of rule in 654 BCE, Psamtik I was firmly in control of all Egypt. According to Herodotus, Psamtik carried out a twenty-nine year siege of
Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...
. The exact dating of this siege is uncertain. In the later part of Psamtik I's reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire started unravelling following the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC, leaving a power vacuum in the Levant which allowed the Assyrians' former Scythian vassals to overrun the area. Some time between 623 and 616 BCE, the Scythians reached as far south as Judah and Edom until Psamtik I met them and convinced them to turn back by offering them gifts. Following the encounter with the Scythians, Psamtik expanded his military operations through the
Via Maris Via Maris is one modern name for an ancient trade route, dating from the early Bronze Age, linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia — along the Mediterranean coast of modern-day Egypt, Israel, Turkey ...
into the Levant to support the collapsing Assyrian Empire against the
Medes The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, ...
, Babylonians, Scythians and
Chaldea Chaldea () was a small country that existed between the late 10th or early 9th and mid-6th centuries BCE, after which the country and its people were absorbed and assimilated into the indigenous population of Babylonia. Semitic-speaking, it was ...
ns who had revolted against it. Psamtik I's intervention implied that an alliance had already been concluded between him and the Neo-Assyrian Empire, although it is unknown whether it was a new alliance between him and the new Assyrian king Sin-shar-ishkun or a renewal of the old alliance signed when Psamtik I had been enthroned by the Assyrian army as king of Sais in 664 BCE. Psamtik died in 610 BCE and was succeeded by his son,
Necho II Necho II (sometimes Nekau, Neku, Nechoh, or Nikuu; Greek: Νεκώς Β'; ) of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty (610–595 BC), which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, accord ...
.


Investigation into the origin of language

The Greek historian Herodotus conveyed an anecdote about Psamtik in the second volume of his ''
Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...
'' (2.2). During his visit to Egypt, Herodotus heard that Psammetichus ("Psamṯik") sought to discover the origin of language by conducting an experiment with two children. Allegedly he gave two newborn babies to a shepherd, with the instructions that no one should speak to them, but that the shepherd should feed and care for them while listening to determine their first words. The hypothesis was that the first word would be uttered in the root language of all people. When one of the children cried "βεκός" (bekós) with outstretched arms, the shepherd reported this to Psammetichus, who concluded that the word was Phrygian because that was the sound of the Phrygian word for "bread". Thus, they concluded that the Phrygians were an older people than the Egyptians, and that Phrygian was the original language of men. There are no other extant sources to verify this story.


Wives

Psamtik's chief wife was
Mehytenweskhet Mehytenweskhet (Mehtenweskhet) was the daughter of the High Priest of Re Harsiese, and the Great Royal Wife of Psamtik I. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.Tyldesley, Joyce. Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2006. B ...
, the daughter of Harsiese, the
vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
of the North and High Priest of Re at Heliopolis. Psamtik and Mehytenweskhet were the parents of Necho II, Merneith, and the Divine Adoratrice
Nitocris I Nitocris I (alt. Nitiqret, Nitokris I) (died 585 BC) served as the heir to, and then, as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun or God's Wife of Amun for a period of more than seventy years, between 655 BC and 585 BC.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Comple ...
. Psamtik's father-in-law—the aforementioned Harsiese—was married twice: to Sheta, with whom he had a daughter named Naneferheres, and to an unknown woman, by whom he had both Djedkare, who succeeded him as vizier of the North, and Mehytenweskhet.


Discovery of a colossal statue of Psamtik I

On 9 March 2017, Egyptian and German archaeologists discovered a colossal statue about in height at the Heliopolis site in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. Made of quartzite, the statue was found in a fragmentary state, with the bust, the lower part of the head and the crown submerged in groundwater. It has been confirmed to be of Psamtik I due to engravings found that mentioned one of the pharaoh's names on the base of the statue. A spokesperson at the time commented that "If it does belong to this king, then it is the largest statue of the Late Period that was ever discovered in Egypt." The head and torso are expected to be moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum. The statue (colossus) was sculpted in the ancient classical style of 2000 BC, establishing a resurgence to the greatness and prosperity of the classical period of old, and reconstructions bear a strong similarity with a statue of a striding Senusret I (1971-1926 BC), now in the Cairo Museum. However, from the many gathered fragments (now 6,400 of them) of quartzite collected, it has also been established that the colossus was at some time deliberately destroyed. Certain discolored & cracked rock fragments show evidence of having been heated to high temperatures then shattered (with cold water), a typical way of destroying ancient colossi.


Gallery

File:Egypte louvre 038.jpg, Psamtik I kneeling, Louvre Museum File:Psammetique_Ier_T_Pabasa.jpg, Relief of Psamtik I making an offering to Ra-Horakhty (Tomb of
Pabasa The ancient Egyptian noble Pabasa was chief steward of the God's Wife of Amun Nitocris I during the Saite Period. He is buried in tomb TT279, which is located in the El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, near Thebes. His sarcophagus was ...
) File:Slab of the Egyptian king Psamtik I. 26th Dynasty, 664-610 BCE. From Alexandria; originally from the temple of Atum at Heliopolis, Egypt. British Museum.jpg, Slab of Psamtik I. The king kneels and makes offerings to fearsome-looking deities, including a double-headed bull god and a snake. From Alexandria; originally from the temple of Atum at Heliopolis, Egypt. British Museum


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Psammetichus I 610 BC 7th-century BC Pharaohs Kings of Egypt in Herodotus Pharaohs of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt Year of birth unknown