The last king of this dynasty was =Psammetichus III=. During his short reign, which lasted six months only, the Persians under their king Cambyses invaded Egypt, and, having defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium, marched on to Memphis and captured it. After a short time Cambyses put Psammetichus to death, and =Egypt became a province=, or satrapy, of =Persia=. During the rule of the XXVIth dynasty over Egypt, it appears that several native Nubian kings ruled the Northern Sûdân from Napata, the modern Gebel Barkal. Among these were =Ȧspelta= and =Ḥeru-sa-ȧtef=, the former of whom probably reigned about B.C. 625 and the latter about B.C. 580. For casts of stelae recording the =Coronation of Ȧspelta= and the Annals of =Ḥeru-sa-ȧtef=, see Bay 18, No. =815=, and Bay 20, No. =816=. A cast of a stele inscribed with an edict against the =eaters of raw meat= is in Bay 20, No. =817=. Under the XXVIth dynasty a great =revival of art and learning= took place, due partly to the settled condition of the country under a firm government, and partly to the material prosperity which obtained at that period. The painter and sculptor took for their models the reliefs and statues of the Early Empire, and the funerary masons and scribes cut or wrote on the stelae and tombs texts which were composed under the VIth dynasty, or earlier. The monuments of the period are more often made of dark limestone, dark green or grey schist, and basalt than granite, which was so commonly used for coffins, statues, stelae, etc., under the Middle Empire. These substances give to the large monuments of the =Saïte Period= a sad and sometimes heavy effect. Among the many fine examples of the sculpture of the period may be mentioned: The black basalt kneeling statue of =Uaḥ-ȧb-Rā=, a prince and general of the army (see =Plate XLV=; Bay 21, No. =818=); the portion of the kneeling figure of =Khnem-ȧb-Rā-Men=, prefect of Saïs, holding a =shrine of Neith= (Bay 23, No. =819=); the portion of a figure of =Ānkh-p-kharṭ=, a priest who had ministered in the temple for eighty years (Bay 24, No. =820=); and the =libation bowl= dedicated to the goddesses Mut and Hathor (Bay 22, Nos. =821=, =822=). The casts of the =Cow= of Hathor and the =Hippopotamus= of Smeṭsmeṭ are also very instructive (Bay 25, No. =823=; Bay 26, No. =824=). Of the massive stone =sarcophagi= and coffins, Nos. =825-829= are very fine important examples. On the two granite sarcophagi of =Nes-Qeṭiu= (No. =825=) and =Ḥāp-men= (No. =826=) are cut the figures of all the gods who were believed to protect the dead; but the others (Nos. =827-29=) are plainer. The sepulchral stelae are very numerous; interesting examples will be found in Bays 21, 22, etc. Twenty-Seventh Dynasty. From Persia. B.C. 527.