The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
History
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
World history
The campaigns of Piankhi, which fell in the year XXI of his reign
(_circa_ 775 B.C.), do not seem to have resulted in a lasting
subjection of Egypt. If the vassal king Uasarken (III) of Bubastis
was the second ruler of the XXIIIrd Dynasty, the Ethiopians must by
that time have been expelled from Upper Egypt; for we meet with the
third ruler of this house, Psamus, in two small inscriptions in the
temple of Karnak. In the monuments Manetho lets him be succeeded by
an unauthenticated king, Zet. Then follows the XXIVth Dynasty, which,
according to him, only consists of the Saïte Bakenranf (probably
733-729 B.C.), who, according to the reliable Greek reports, was a son
of Tnephachthus, that is to say, of Tefnekht, Piankhi’s adversary. In
tradition he is praised as a wise prince and great legislator; from
the monuments we only know that in his sixth year, an Apis was placed
in the same sepulchral chamber with one that died under Shashanq IV;
according to this he probably succeeded the last title-bearing king
of the XXIInd Dynasty, but must already have reigned for some time
previously in Saïs.
In Ethiopia, Piankhi (it is not known whether after one or more
interregnums) was followed by Kashta, who was married to Shepenapet,
a daughter of King Uasarken, probably Uasarken III of Bubastis.
His son Shabak repeated the expedition to Egypt, conquered
Bakenranf,--according to Manetho he burnt him alive,--and compelled the
local dynasties to acknowledge his supremacy (728 B.C.). He took the
title of a king of Egypt, but as real rulers of the land he established
his sister Ameniritis and her husband, Piankhi (II?). We often meet
with Shabak and his sister in the temples of Thebes, likewise in
Hammamat and elsewhere; an exquisite alabaster statue of the queen has
been found in Karnak. Greek tradition asserts that the Ethiopian king
reigned very mildly over Egypt, executions never took place, criminals
were made to build canals and dams. But a fixed and uniform dominion
was never practised by the Ethiopians over Egypt. As in the time of
Piankhi, the local dynasties remained in possession of their dominions,
and amongst them in all probability also the successors of Tefnekht and
Bakenranf in Saïs, the ancestors of the XXVIth Dynasty.
Although in the year 725 (II Kings xvii. 4) and in 720 (Annals of
Sargon), Shabak is called “King of Egypt,” yet in 715 Sargon speaks of
the tribute of “Pharaoh, King of Egypt”; in 711 he mentions the same
together with the King of Melukhkha (i.e. Cush), and in Sennacherib’s
time the “Kings of Egypt” appear together with “the troops of the King
of Melukhkha.”
Numerous battles for the possession of the Lower Nile occupied the
reigns of Shabak and his successors; it made it impossible for them to
take part in the affairs of Asia, no matter how much they desired done.
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 704-672 B.C.]]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account