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The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) was the last native dynasty of ancient Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although other brief periods of rule by
With the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC and the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, both Psamtik and his successors attempted to reassert Egyptian power in the Near East but were driven back by the
File:Pottery vessel. Applique face of god Bes on surface. Pink-brown ware. From Egypt. 26th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg, Pottery vessel showing the face of god Bes from the 26th Dynasty. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
File:Female amulet E17114 mp3h8679.jpg, Female figure, Louvre Museum. The name of Psamtik I is inscribed under the feet.
File:Sphinx of Apries-N 515-IMG 0583-gradient.jpg, Sphinx of Apries, from the collection of Anne Claude de Caylus
File:Sarcophagus of Harkhebit, 595–526 BCE, 26th dynasty of Egypt.jpg, alt=Sarcophagus of Harkhebit: "Royal Seal Bearer, Sole Companion, Chief Priest of the Shrines of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Overseer of the Cabinet", 595–526 BCE, Saqqara, 26th dynasty of Egypt., Sarcophagus of Harkhebit "Royal Seal Bearer, Sole Companion, Chief Priest of the Shrines of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Overseer of the Cabinet", 595–526 BCE, Saqqara, 26th dynasty of Egypt.
The 26th Dynasty may be related to the 24th Dynasty. Manetho begins the dynasty with:
* Ammeris the Nubian (= ? Ammeris), 12 (or 18) years
* Stephinates (= ? Tefnakht II), 7 years
* Nechepsos (= ? Nekauba), 6 years
* Necho (= ? Necho I), 8 years.
When the Nubian King Shabaka defeated Bakenranef, son of Tefnakht, he likely installed a Nubian commander as governor at Sais. This may be the man named Ammeris. Stephinates may be a descendant of Bakenrenef. He is sometimes referred to as Tefnakht II in the literature. Nechepsos has been identified with a local king named Nekauba (678–672 BC). Manetho's Necho is King Necho I (672–664 BC); Manetho gives his reign as 8 years.Kitchen, Kenneth A. ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1100-650 B.C.'' (Book & Supplement) Aris & Phillips. 1986 Necho was killed during a conflict with the Nubian king Tantamani. Psamtik I fled to Nineveh – capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire – and returned to Egypt when Ashurbanipal defeated Tantamani and drove him back south. Scholars now start the 26th Dynasty with the reign of Psamtik I.
Sextus Julius Africanus states in his often accurate version of Manetho's ''Epitome'' that the dynasty numbered nine pharaohs, beginning with a "Stephinates" ( Tefnakht II) and ending with Psamtik III. Africanus also notes that Psamtik I and Necho I ruled for 54 and 8 years respectively.
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from: -664 till: -610 color:PA text:" Psamtik I (664–610 BC)"
from: -610 till: -595 color:PA text:" Necho II (610–595 BC)"
from: -595 till: -589 color:PA text:" Psamtik II (595–589 BC)"
from: -589 till: -570 color:PA text:"
Karl Jansen-Winkeln''Bild und Charakter der ägyptischen 26. Dynastie''
''Altorientalische Forschungen'', 28 (2001), 165–182. {{Ancient Egypt topics States and territories established in the 7th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC 26 Nile Delta 7th century BC in Egypt 6th century BC in Egypt 660s BC 7th-century BC establishments in Egypt 6th-century BC disestablishments 525 BC 1st-millennium BC disestablishments in Egypt
Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...
followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 BC) is also called the Saite Period after the city of Sais, where its pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
s had their capital, and marks the beginning of the Late Period of ancient Egypt.Aidan Dodson, Dyan Hilton. ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt''. The American University in Cairo Press, London 2004
History
This dynasty traced its origins to the Twenty-fourth Dynasty. Psamtik I was probably a descendant of Bakenranef. However, other sources describe him as of Libyan descent. Following the Neo-Assyrian conquest of Egypt during the reigns of Taharqa and Tantamani, and the subsequent collapse of the Napata-based Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Psamtik I was recognized as sole king over all of Egypt. Psamtik formed alliances with King Gyges of Lydia, who sent him mercenaries fromCaria
Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...
and ancient Greece
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...
that Psamtik used to unify all of Egypt under his rule.
With the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC and the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, both Psamtik and his successors attempted to reassert Egyptian power in the Near East but were driven back by the Neo-Babylonian Empire
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to ancient Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC a ...
under Nebuchadnezzar II
Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...
. With the help of Greek mercenaries, Pharaoh Apries was able to hold back Babylonian attempts to conquer Egypt.
The Persians would eventually invade Egypt in 525 BCE when Emperor Cambyses II captured and later executed Psamtik III in the First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt. Cambyses founded the First Egyptian Satrapy, a territory of the Achaemenid Empire, and was crowned the first pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...
of the Dynasty XXVII.
Archaeology
In May 2020, an Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission headed by Esther Ponce revealed a unique cemetery, which consists of one room built with glazed limestone dating back to the 26th Dynasty (also known as the El-Sawi era) at the site of ancient Oxyrhynchus. Archaeologists also uncovered bronze coins, clay seals, Roman tombstones and small crosses. On October 3, 2020, Egypt unveiled 59 coffins of priests and clerks from the 26th dynasty, dating to nearly 2,500 years ago.Art
Pharaohs of the 26th Dynasty
The 26th Dynasty may be related to the 24th Dynasty. Manetho begins the dynasty with:
* Ammeris the Nubian (= ? Ammeris), 12 (or 18) years
* Stephinates (= ? Tefnakht II), 7 years
* Nechepsos (= ? Nekauba), 6 years
* Necho (= ? Necho I), 8 years.
When the Nubian King Shabaka defeated Bakenranef, son of Tefnakht, he likely installed a Nubian commander as governor at Sais. This may be the man named Ammeris. Stephinates may be a descendant of Bakenrenef. He is sometimes referred to as Tefnakht II in the literature. Nechepsos has been identified with a local king named Nekauba (678–672 BC). Manetho's Necho is King Necho I (672–664 BC); Manetho gives his reign as 8 years.Kitchen, Kenneth A. ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1100-650 B.C.'' (Book & Supplement) Aris & Phillips. 1986 Necho was killed during a conflict with the Nubian king Tantamani. Psamtik I fled to Nineveh – capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire – and returned to Egypt when Ashurbanipal defeated Tantamani and drove him back south. Scholars now start the 26th Dynasty with the reign of Psamtik I.
Sextus Julius Africanus states in his often accurate version of Manetho's ''Epitome'' that the dynasty numbered nine pharaohs, beginning with a "Stephinates" ( Tefnakht II) and ending with Psamtik III. Africanus also notes that Psamtik I and Necho I ruled for 54 and 8 years respectively.
Timeline of the 26th Dynasty
Wahibre Haaibre
Apries () is the name by which Herodotus (ii. 161) and Diodorus (i. 68) designate Wahibre Haaibre, a pharaoh of Egypt (589 BC570 BC), the fourth king (counting from Psamtik I) of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. He was equated with the Waphr ...
(589–570 BC)"
from: -570 till: -526 color:PA text:" Amasis II (570–526 BC)"
from: -526 till: -525 color:PA text:" Psamtik III (526–525 BC)"
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See also
* History of ancient Egypt * Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt family tree * Late Period of ancient Egypt * Saite Oracle PapyrusReferences
Bibliography
* Aidan Dodson, Dyan Hilton. ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt''. The American University in Cairo Press, London, 2004. * Kenneth Kitchen, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1100–650 B.C.'' (Book & Supplement) Aris & Phillips. 1986 .Karl Jansen-Winkeln
''Altorientalische Forschungen'', 28 (2001), 165–182. {{Ancient Egypt topics States and territories established in the 7th century BC States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC 26 Nile Delta 7th century BC in Egypt 6th century BC in Egypt 660s BC 7th-century BC establishments in Egypt 6th-century BC disestablishments 525 BC 1st-millennium BC disestablishments in Egypt