When last we left Egypt, king Ramesses III had stopped the Sea People, but by the end of the 20th dynasty, Egypt had once more descended into a period of chaos.
After Hrihor and Smendes had split-up Egypt, it was now governed from two separate capitals, Thebes in the south and Tanis in the north; this begins the third intermediate period. For a time, relations between the two halves of the country were amicable and cooperative. However before long, Smendes (Nesbanebded), asserted his claim to the throne, thus begins the Twenty-first Dynasty, which appears to be in truth, a theocratic dynasty of priests, some of whom were even pious.
Smendes of his own accord could have no legitimate claim to the throne, so it is curious as to why the royals in Thebes accepted the suzerainty of Tanis so submissively. The answer seems to lie in the person of Tentamun - Smendes's wife, who appears to have been a member of the royal family. She may have been a daughter of another woman named Tentamun, who may have been the wife of Ramesses XI or possibly some other Ramesside king. She was also related to the royal house in Thebes. In fact, some of the later kings of the 21st. dynasty appear to have been from the Theban royal family. However, rule was never truly centralized during this entire intermediate period.
(The country west of Egypt)
From earlier times, Libyans and other Mediterranean peoples, who settled mostly in the delta (northern Egypt), had constituted a substantial part of the Egyptian army as mercenaries. They were most likely the descendants of captured prisoners or even settlers like the Sherden, {who were probably Sardinians }, who had been granted land of their own on the condition of their military service.
Greeks too, were part of this foreign population, as large numbers of Greek merchants and mercenaries also settled in the Delta. The Greeks however, were deterred from becoming too powerful by confining them to the city of Naucratis. Here the population was exclusively Greek. In Naucratis Greeks built great temples and Naucratis became the forerunner of Alexandria in terms of Greek influence in Egypt.
The Libyans, the Lebu/Libu and the Meshwesh - titled chiefs of the Meshwesh, Lords of Bubastis, (usually though to be Libyan in origin, however sometimes though to be of Elamite origin), had already, several generations before the time of Ramesses III, immigrated into the Egyptian Delta. They apparently had a sort of local autonomy, and their own hereditary chiefs.
Over time, the Libyans power had grown such that soon after the death of Pharaoh Ramesses III, some of his successors were apparently compelled to share power with a Libyan general named Sheshong, who apparently was Lord of Bubastis and also titled Great Chief of Meshwesh. He seems to have been related by marriage to the Ramesside dynasty (either his grandmother was also mother of a king, or his aunt had married a king).
Libyan power continued to grow, so that even before the death of the last 21st. dynasty king, Psusennes II. Tanis had already been ruled for some time, by King Usimare Osorkon Si-Bast, Lord of Bubastis and third descendant of the Libyan Hedj-kheper-re Sheshong.
After the death of the last King Psusennes (there were two), his family was more or less extinct. This opened the door for the reign of Libyan kings, they constitute the 22, 23 and 24th. dynasties. The capital cities of these Libyan kings were Bubastis, Tanis, Hermopolis, Herakleopolis, Leonthopolis, Thebes, Sais.
Sheshong I - 22nd dynasty. Also spelled Shosheng, (the Biblical Shishak in kings).
During his reign, political infighting and religious and family factionalism posed such a threat, that in 945 B.C, Pharaoh Sheshong I formed the world's first known secret police. This internal police force was so brutal and so thorough, that some historians have drawn parallels between it and the Nazi Gestapo and the Soviet KGB.
However Sheshong's greatest impact on history came about because of his greed. With the death of Solomon in 930 B.C, the Hebrew states fell into a period of civil war. Sheshong (who is referred to in the Bible as Shishak), used this period of turmoil to invade the Hebrew states. In 925 B.C, he smashed the Judean army of Rehoboam (Solomon's son) and defeated the forces of Jeroboam I (Rehoboam's chief rival). Then marched through to the other Hebrew state of Israel, plundering and looting as he had in Judah. With the Hebrew states thus depleted, Sheshong unwittingly sealed Egypt's doom, for he had weakened the buffer between Egypt, and what would become Egypt's eventual conqueror, Assyria.
Sheshong IV was the ninth king of the 22nd Dynasty. In the year 732 B.C, toward the end of his reign, the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, took Damascus and killed its king Rezin. He then captured many cities of northern Israel and took the people to Assyria. Egyptian troops had earlier joined forces with Damascus, Israel and some other states to resist a previous Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III. This time Sheshong IV made no attempt to help his former allies.
Osorkon IV- (735-712 B.C.). Osorkon IV was the tenth and final ruler of the Twenty-second Dynasty. During his reign, Hoshea, the king of Israel, sent messengers to Osorkon, requesting help against Assyrian king Shalmaneser V. No help was sent, the city of Samaria was captured and the Israelites were taken away to Assyria. Later, there were also threats from Sargon II, the next Assyrian king. To try to avoid an attack, Osorkon IV sent him rich gifts and it apparently worked. The Assyrian king came no further. Nothing worthy of note is known of the kings of the 23rd and 24th dynasties.
The MoorsThis however was not the end of the Libyans: In 711 A.D. A Berber army led by general Tariq ibn Ziyad, invaded Iberia (Spain) and overthrew the Visigoths (Western Goths): Who were one of two main branches of the Goths, an east Germanic tribe, who over the period of only one hundred years, had migrated from eastern Europe, thru Greece, thru Italy, and finally down into the Iberian peninsula. In Iberia (Spain), the Berbers, now known as Moors, created a highly advanced civilization and culture, famous for it’s art, architecture, and centers of learning. While having rule over Spain: The Berbers, who themselves fifty years earlier had been forced to accept Islam, now forced the inhabitants of Iberia to do the same. Though the number of "Moors" remained small, (moors 400,000 – Arabs (Turks) 40,000), they forced large numbers of Iberians to convert to Islam. According to Ronald Segal, author of Islam's Black Slaves, some 5.6 million of Iberia's 7 million inhabitants were Muslim by 1200 AD, virtually all of them native inhabitants (Blacks). Beginning in about 900 A.D. A small Christian enclave of Visigoths in northwestern Spain, named Asturias; initiated conflicts between Christians and Muslims. Soon after, Christian states based in the north and west slowly, in fits and starts began a process of expansion and conquest of Iberia over the next several centuries. The end for the Moors came on January 2, 1492; the leader of the last Moorish City – Granada, (located in southern Spain) - surrendered to armies of a recently united Christian Spain (after the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile). The remaining Muslims and Jews were forced to leave Iberia, die, or convert to Roman Catholic Christianity. Earlier in 1480, Isabella and Ferdinand had instituted the Inquisition in Spain. The Inquisition was aimed mostly at Jews and Muslims who had overtly converted to Christianity but were thought to be practicing their faiths secretly - known respectively as marranos and moriscos - as well as at heretics who rejected Roman Catholic orthodoxy. (A note here: it is not known if the “Jews” of Spain, herein referenced, refers to Khazars or actual Hebrews. As the Khazars are also ethnically Turkish, they are likely the referenced group). It is of ironic note: that eight months later, in the nearby town of Palos, on the evening of August 3, 1492. Christopher Columbus would depart from Palos on his journey to the Americas. One result of which, would be the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic Slave trade. |
From earliest times, even from the time of unified Egypt's first Pharaoh - Narmer, Egypt's southern neighbor Nubia, {modern Sudan}, had always been treated as Egypt's private preserve for conquest, plunder and looting. The Nubians always rebelled, and always the rebellions were put down, sometimes brutally. This is best attested by the fact that the fortunes of the two countries were always the inverse: when Egypt was strong Nubia was weak, when Nubia was strong Egypt was weak. Yet at the same time, Nubia's culture was pretty much the same as Egypt's, Nubians were valued members of the Egyptian army, Pharaohs had Nubian wives and Nubians were found amongst Egypt's wealthy. One can only guess at the basis for this strange relationship, but surely it was buried in millennia.
Considering this history, the Hyksos king Apepi I, could hardly have been blamed for trying to form an alliance with the Nubians against Egypt when king Kamose began his war against the Hyksos to reunify Egypt. But Nubia refused, and instead, was Egypt's steadfast ally, providing all that was needed for a successful campaign, and together Egypt and Nubia expelled the Hyksos from Egypt.
Now a thousand years later, a similar situation exists, northern Egypt is once again in the hands of foreign kings, and once again, Egypt's salvation lies in the hands of Nubia. This history perhaps explains Nubian King "Piye's", seemingly strong emotional ties with Egypt, which he obviously considered part of his motherland.Accordingly, Piye decided to step in and fix Egypt's problems. He marched north and subdued almost all the rebellious elements in Egypt. Then after conquering Egypt, Piye simply went home to Nubia, and to our knowledge, never again returned to Egypt. But he did maintain oversight from his capital in Nubia/Kush. Though Piye chose to govern from Kush, his successor "Shabaka", after completing the total reunification of Egypt, chose to rule from the city of Waset in Egypt. Conventionally, there were five Nubian kings of Egypt, they ruled for about sixty years and comprise the 25th dynasty. Click here for the text of Piye's Victory Stela wherein he describes his conquest of Egypt. <<CLICK>>
The end of the Nubian 25th dynasty was brought on by two factors: first - the Egyptians had apparently tired of foreign rule, even if it was Nubian. Second - the full-scale invasion of Egypt by the Assyrians. By the time of Nubian king Pi'ankhy, Lower Egypt and part of Middle Egypt had already disintegrated into a number of petty princedoms, which were always ready to side with whichever of the two great powers (Nubia and Assyria), that would be the more likely to leave them with their independence.
The smoldering hostility of the two great powers flared up afresh under Assyrian king Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), whose third campaign in Canaan, started with the subjugation of the Phoenician coast-towns.
Trouble had arisen farther south however. The people of the Philistine city of Ekron had expelled their king Padi, on account of his loyalty to Assyria, but Hezekiah of Judah who had received and imprisoned him, became afraid and appealed to Egypt for help. The armies meant at Eltekeh, and a great defeat was inflicted on the Egyptian and Nubian forces.
Padi's throne was restored to him. Many towns of Judah were ravaged, though Jerusalem was not taken. To avoid this, Hezekiah submitted to pay a heavy tribute.
Upon the death of Sennacherib, his son "Esarhaddon" (680-669 B.C.), became Assyria's king. At the beginning of his reign, the Aramaean tribes were still allied with Elam against him, but Urtaku of Elam (675–664 B.C.) signed a peace treaty and freed him from campaigning there. This spelled trouble for Egypt.
In 679 B.C. Esarhaddon stationed a garrison at the Egyptian border, because Egypt, under the Nubian king Taharqa, was planning to intervene in Arum. Esarhaddon then put down, with great severity, a rebellion of the combined forces of Sidon, Tyre, and other Canaanite cities. Now the time was ripe to attack Egypt, which was suffering under the rule of the Nubians and was by no means a united country. Esarhaddon's first attempt in 674–673 B.C. miscarried, in 671 B.C. however, his forces took Memphis, the Egyptian capital. Assyrian consultants were immediately assigned to assist the princes of the provinces, their main duty being the collection of tribute.
The Egyptian records are silent, but stele and tablets inscribed in cuneiform, give circumstantial accounts of the campaign in which Esarhaddon, after subjugating Canaan, drove Nubian king "Taharka" reeling back to the south.
Here is a shortened excerpt from the best preserved of his inscriptions:
From the town of Ishhupri as far as Memphis, a distance of fifteen days, I fought daily, very bloody battles against Tarky, king of Egypt and Nubia, the one accursed by all the great gods. Five times I hit him with the point of my arrows, inflicting wounds, and then I laid siege to Memphis, his royal residence. I destroyed it, tore down its walls, and burnt it down. (After mentioning the booty which he carried off to Assyria he continues): All Nubians I deported from Egypt, leaving not even one to do homage to me. Everywhere in Egypt I appointed new kings, governors, officers, harbor overseers, officials, and administrative personnel.
Soon after setting out for a further campaign, Esarhaddon fell ill at Harran and died. Thus enabling Taharka to regain Memphis, and to occupy it until driven out afresh by "Ashurbanipal", the new Assyrian king (667 B.C.).
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