Third Intermediate Period of Egypt

c. 1069 BC – c. 664 BC

Political factions fractured ancient Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period. The boundaries above show the political situation during the mid-8th century BC.

Capital

Tanis
(c. 1069-945 BC, Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt)
Bubastis
(c. 945-720 BC, Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt)
Heracleopolis Magna
(c. 837-728 BC, Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt)
Sais
(c. 732-720 BC, Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt)
Meroe
(c. 732-653 BC, Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt)

Languages

Ancient Egyptian

Religion

Ancient Egyptian religion

Government

Monarchy

History

•

Established

c. 1069 BC

•

Disestablished

c. 664 BC

Preceded by

Succeeded by

New Kingdom of Egypt

Late Period of ancient Egypt

Today part of

Egypt

Part of a series on the

History of Egypt

Prehistoric Egypt

pre–3100 BC

Ancient Egypt
Early Dynastic Period	3100–2686 BC
Old Kingdom	2686–2181 BC
1st Intermediate Period	2181–2055 BC
Middle Kingdom	2055–1650 BC
2nd Intermediate Period	1650–1550 BC
New Kingdom	1550–1069 BC
3rd Intermediate Period	1069–664 BC
Late Period	664–332 BC

Classical antiquity
Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt	332–30 BC
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British occupation	1882–1922
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Dynasties of Ancient Egypt

All years are BC

Early

First Dynasty	I	c. 3150–2890
Second Dynasty	II	2890–2686

Old Kingdom

Third Dynasty	III	2686–2613
Fourth Dynasty	IV	2613–2498
Fifth Dynasty	V	2498–2345
Sixth Dynasty	VI	2345–2181

First Intermediate

Seventh Dynasty	VII	spurious
Eighth Dynasty	VIII	2181–2160
Ninth Dynasty	IX	2160–2130
Tenth Dynasty	X	2130–2040
Early Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2134–2061

Middle Kingdom

Late Eleventh Dynasty	XI	2061–1991
Twelfth Dynasty	XII	1991–1803
Thirteenth Dynasty	XIII	1803–1649
Fourteenth Dynasty	XIV	1705–1690

Second Intermediate

Fifteenth Dynasty	XV	1674–1535
Sixteenth Dynasty	XVI	1660–1600
Abydos Dynasty		1650–1600
Seventeenth Dynasty	XVII	1580–1549

New Kingdom

Eighteenth Dynasty	XVIII	1549–1292
Nineteenth Dynasty	XIX	1292–1189
Twentieth Dynasty	XX	1189–1077

Third Intermediate

Twenty-first Dynasty	XXI	1069–945
Twenty-second Dynasty	XXII	945–720
Twenty-third Dynasty	XXIII	837–728
Twenty-fourth Dynasty	XXIV	732–720
Twenty-fifth Dynasty	XXV	732–653

Late Period

Twenty-sixth Dynasty	XXVI	672–525
Twenty-seventh Dynasty (1st Persian Period)	XXVII	525–404
Twenty-eighth Dynasty	XXVIII	404–398
Twenty-ninth Dynasty	XXIX	398–380
Thirtieth Dynasty	XXX	380–343
Thirty-first Dynasty (2nd Persian Period)	XXXI	343–332

Ptolemaic (Hellenistic)

Argead Dynasty	332–305
Ptolemaic Kingdom	305–30

The Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 BC, ending the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. Various points are offered as the beginning for the latter era, though it is most often regarded as dating from the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC, following the expulsion of the Nubian rulers of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty by the Assyrians under King Assurbanipal.

The period was one of decline and political instability, coinciding with the Late Bronze Age collapse of civilizations in the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean (including the Greek Dark Ages). It was marked by division of the state for much of the period and conquest and rule by foreigners. But many aspects of life for ordinary Egyptians changed relatively little.

25th Dynasty

Nuri pyramids

Twenty-first Dynasty

The period of the Twenty-First Dynasty is characterized by the country's fracturing kingship. Even in Ramesses XI's day, the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on power in the city of Thebes, whose priests were becoming increasingly powerful. After his death, his successor Smendes I ruled from the city of Tanis, but was mostly active only in Lower Egypt which they controlled. Meanwhile, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes effectively ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name.^[1] However, this division was less significant than it seems, since both priests and pharaohs came from the same family.

Twenty-second and Twenty-third Dynasty

The country was firmly reunited by the Twenty-Second Dynasty founded by Shoshenq I in 945 BC (or 943 BC), who descended from Meshwesh immigrants, originally from Ancient Libya. This brought stability to the country for well over a century, but after the reign of Osorkon II, particularly, the country had effectively shattered in two states with Shoshenq III of the Twenty-Second Dynasty controlling Lower Egypt by 818 BC while Takelot II and his son Osorkon (the future Osorkon III) ruled Middle and Upper Egypt. In Thebes, a civil war engulfed the city between the forces of Pedubast I, who had proclaimed himself Pharaoh versus the existing line of Takelot II/Osorkon B. These two factions squabbled consistently and the conflict was only resolved in Year 39 of Shoshenq III when Osorkon B comprehensively defeated his enemies. He proceeded to found the Upper Egyptian Libyan Twenty-Third Dynasty of Osorkon III – Takelot III – Rudamun, but this kingdom quickly fragmented after Rudamun's death with the rise of local city states under kings such as Peftjaubast of Herakleopolis, Nimlot of Hermopolis, and Ini at Thebes.

Twenty-fourth Dynasty

The Nubian kingdom to the south took full advantage of this division and political instability. Prior to Piye's Year 20 campaign into Egypt, the previous Nubian ruler – Kashta – had already extended his kingdom's influence over into Thebes when he compelled Shepenupet, the serving Divine Adoratice of Amun and Takelot III's sister, to adopt his own daughter Amenirdis, to be her successor. Then, 20 years later, around 732 BC his successor, Piye, marched North and defeated the combined might of several native Egyptian rulers: Peftjaubast, Osorkon IV of Tanis, Iuput II of Leontopolis and Tefnakht of Sais.

Twenty-fifth Dynasty

Piye established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors. He was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka, and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa respectively. The reunited Nile valley empire of the 25th dynasty was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal, etc.^[2]^[3] The 25th dynasty ended with its rulers retreating to their spiritual homeland at Napata. It was there (at El-Kurru and Nuri) that all 25th dynasty pharaohs are buried under the first pyramids to be constructed in the Nile valley in millennia.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] The Napatan dynasty led to the Kingdom of Kush, which flourished in Napata and Meroe until at least the 2nd century AD.^[4]

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. 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 invasion of Egypt in 670 BC.^[8] Consequently, Pharaoh Taharqa's reign, and that of his successor and cousin Tantamani, were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians. In 664 BC the Assyrians delivered a mortal blow, sacking Thebes and Memphis.

End of the Third Intermediate Period

Upper Egypt remained for a time under the rule of Tantamani, whilst Lower Egypt was ruled from 664 BC by the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, client kings established by the Assyrians who nevertheless managed to successfully bring about Egypt's political independence during the time of troubles facing the Assyrian empire. In 656 BC Psamtik I occupied Thebes and became Pharaoh, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, bringing increased stability to the country in a 54-year reign from the city of Sais. Four successive Saite kings continued guiding Egypt into another period of peace and prosperity from 610 to 525 BC. Unfortunately for this dynasty, a new power was growing in the Near East – Persia. Pharaoh Psamtik III had succeeded his father Ahmose II for only 6 months before he had to face the Persian Empire at Pelusium. The Persians had already taken Babylon and Egypt was no match. Psamtik III was defeated and briefly escaped to Memphis, before he was ultimately imprisoned and, later, executed at Susa, the capital of the Persian king Cambyses, who now assumed the formal title of Pharaoh.

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: first, there are the difficulties in dating common to all of Egyptian chronology but these are compounded due to synchronisms with Biblical Archaeology that also contain heavily disputed dates. Finally, some Egyptologists and biblical scholars, such as Kenneth Kitchen, or David Rohl have novel or controversial theories about the family relationships of the dynasties comprising the period.

References

↑ Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 3rd edition, 1986, Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, p.531
↑ Bonnet, Charles (2006). The Nubian Pharaohs. New York: The American University in Cairo Press. pp. 142–154. ISBN 978-977-416-010-3.
↑ Diop, Cheikh Anta (1974). The African Origin of Civilization. Chicago, Illinois: Lawrence Hill Books. pp. 219–221. ISBN 1-55652-072-7.
1 2 Emberling, Geoff (2011). Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa. New York, NY: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9.
↑ Mokhtar, G. (1990). General History of Africa. California, USA: University of California Press. pp. 161–163. ISBN 0-520-06697-9.
↑ Emberling, Geoff (2011). Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa. New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. pp. 9–11. ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9.
↑ Silverman, David (1997). Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-19-521270-3.
↑ Shillington, Kevin (2005). History of Africa. Oxford: Macmillan Education. p. 40. ISBN 0-333-59957-8.

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 Twighlight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Porter, Robert M., A Network of 22nd-26th Dynasty Genealogies, JARCE 44 (2008), 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)

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