Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
Third Intermediate Period of Egypt | |||||||||
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c. 1077 BC – c. 664 BC | |||||||||
Capital |
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Common languages | Ancient Egyptian | ||||||||
Religion | Ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Pharaoh | |||||||||
• c. 1077–1052 BC | Smendes (first) | ||||||||
• c. 664–656 BC | Tantamani (last) | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Began | c. 1077 BC | ||||||||
• Ended | c. 664 BC | ||||||||
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Today part of | Egypt Sudan |
Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt | ||
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All years are BC | ||
XXXIII | 305–30 |
The Third Intermediate Period of
The period was ruled by non-native Egyptians and is viewed as one of decline and political instability including division of the state, coinciding with the Late Bronze Age collapse of civilizations in the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean (including the Greek Dark Ages).
History
Twenty-first Dynasty
The period of the
Twenty-second and Twenty-third Dynasty
The country was firmly reunited by the
at Thebes.Twenty-fourth Dynasty
The
Twenty-fifth Dynasty
Piye established the
The international prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by this time. The country's 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 as Esarhaddon had realised that a conquest of Lower Egypt was necessary to protect Assyrian interests in the Levant.
Despite Egypt's size and wealth, Assyria had a greater supply of timber, while Egypt had a chronic shortage, allowing Assyria to produce more charcoal needed for iron-smelting and thus giving Assyria a greater supply of iron weaponry. This disparity became critical during the Assyrian invasions of Egypt over the period 670–663 BC.[11] Consequently, pharaoh Taharqa's reign, and that of his successor Tantamani, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians. In 664 BC the Assyrians delivered a mortal blow, sacking Thebes and Memphis. Following these events, and starting with Atlanersa, no Kushite ruler would ever rule over Egypt again.
End of the Third Intermediate Period
Upper Egypt remained for a time under the rule of Taharqa and Tantamani, whilst Lower Egypt was ruled from 664 BC by the nascent 26th Dynasty, client kings established by the Assyrians. In 663 BC, Tantamani launched a full-scale invasion of Lower Egypt, taking Memphis in April of this year, killing Necho I of Sais in the process as Necho had remained loyal to Ashurbanipal. Tantamani barely had the time to receive the submission of some Delta kinglets and expel the remaining Assyrians that a large army led by Ashurbanipal and Necho's son Psamtik I came back. Tantamani was defeated north of Memphis and Thebes was thoroughly sacked shortly after. The Kushite king withdrew to Nubia while the Assyrian influence in Upper Egypt quickly waned. Permanently weakened by the sack, Thebes peacefully submitted itself to Psamtik's fleet in 656 BC. To affirm his authority, Psamtik placed his daughter in position to be the future Divine Adoratrice of Amun, thereby also submitting the priesthood of Amun and effectively uniting Egypt. Tantamani's successor Atlanersa was in no position to attempt a reconquest of Egypt as Psamtik also secured the southern border at Elephantine and may even have sent a military campaign to Napata. Concurrently, Psamtik managed to free himself from the Assyrian vassalage while remaining on good terms with Ashurbanipal, possibly owing to an ongoing rebellion in Babylon. By doing so, he brought increased stability to the country during his 54-year reign from the city of Sais beginning the Late Period of ancient Egypt.
Historiography
The historiography of this period is disputed for a variety of reasons. Firstly, there is a dispute about the utility of a very artificial term that covers an extremely long and complicated period of Egyptian history. The Third Intermediate Period includes long periods of stability as well as chronic instability and civil conflict: its very name rather clouds this fact. Secondly, there are significant problems of chronology stemming from several areas, there are the difficulties in dating that are common to all of Egyptian chronology and are compounded by synchronisms with Biblical archaeology that also contain heavily disputed dates.
Fringe theories
See also
Explanatory notes
References
- ISBN 978-3-11-020672-2. Archivedfrom the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ a b Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 3rd edition, 1986, Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, pp.xi-xii, 531.
- ^ "Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt Vol. 46(2010)". American Research Center in Egypt. 2010: 170.
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(help) - ^ "Journal of Egyptian History 11 (2018)". Brill. 2018: 147.
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(help) - ISBN 978-977-416-010-3.
- ISBN 1-55652-072-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9.
- ISBN 0-520-06697-9.
- ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9.
- ISBN 0-19-521270-3.
- ISBN 0-333-59957-8.
- (PDF) from the original on 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
Bibliography
- Dodson, Aidan Mark. 2001. "Third Intermediate Period." In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 3 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 388–394.
- Kitchen, Kenneth Anderson. [1996]. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC). 3rd ed. Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited.
- Myśliwiec, Karol. 2000. The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
- Porter, Robert M. 2008. A Network of 22nd–26th Dynasty Genealogies, JARCE 44, 153–157.
- Taylor, John H. 2000. “The Third Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC).” In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 330–368.
External links
- Allen, James, and Marsha Hill. "Egypt in the Third Intermediate Period (1070–712 B.C.)", In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2004)
- Images
Egyptian third intermediate period.
- Artabase.net: Face from a Coffin Archived 2014-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
- Artabase.net: Right Hand from an Anthropoid Coffin Archived 2014-09-10 at the Wayback Machine