Piye's Kushite Conquest of Egypt and the 25th Dynasty
- Date
- c. 727 BCE
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- Egypt and Nubia (Sudan)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
The Kushite king Piye (reigned c. 743 to 716 BCE), ruling from Napata near the Fourth Cataract in Nubia, marched north and around 727 BCE conquered much of Egypt, defeating a coalition of Delta princes led by Tefnakht of Sais, capturing Hermopolis and Memphis.
His victory, commemorated on a great granite stela at Gebel Barkal, founded the Twenty-fifth ('Kushite' or 'Napatan') Dynasty, under which Nubian pharaohs ruled a combined Egyptian-Kushite realm for roughly seventy years until expelled by the Assyrians. This marked the only era in which an indigenous sub-Saharan African dynasty governed Egypt. The Kushite kings presented themselves as restorers of traditional Egyptian religion and Pharaonic culture, revived pyramid-building for their own royal burials at El-Kurru and Nuri, and intensified the worship of Amun centred at Gebel Barkal. The episode reflects the political and military strength of the Napatan state and the deep, reciprocal cultural ties binding Nubia and Egypt.
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Empires active in c. 727 BCE
- Neo-Assyrian Empire911 BCE to 609 BCE
- Roman Kingdom753 BCE to 509 BCE
- Zhou Dynasty1046 BCE to 256 BCE
- Scythians800 BCE to 300 BCE
- Kingdom of Kush1070 BCE to 350 CE
- Phoenician City-States1200 BCE to 539 BCE
Related politics & governance events
- Sack of Haojing and the Western-Eastern Zhou Transition771 BCE
- Guan Zhong's Reforms and the First Hegemony (Qi)c. 685 to 645 BCE
- Cyrus the Great Founds the Achaemenid Persian Empire550 BCE
- Foundation of the Roman Republicc. 509 BCE (traditional)
- Cleisthenes' reforms establish Athenian democracy508/507 BCE
- Rise of the sixteen Mahajanapadas in northern Indiac. 600 BCE
Essential reading
- Invention of Standardised Coinage in Lydia (the Lydian Stater)c. 630 BCE
- Tomb of Fu Hao: An Undisturbed Shang Royal Burialc. 1250 BCE
- Han-Xiongnu Heqin Treaty Inaugurates Tribute-and-Marriage Diplomacy198 BC
- Earliest securely dated Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count inscription36 BCE (Long Count 7.16.3.2.13)
Further reading
The wider story
The Kingdom of Kush: The Napatan and Meroitic Empires
The accessible standard on Nubia's great Nile kingdom.
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