Piya (744–714 BC)

Piye's pyramid at El-Kurru

Piya (744–714 BC), third  king  of  the  twenty-fifth or Kushite, dynasty. Late period. Piya, also known as Piankhy, was the  first ruler of the Kushite kingdom to attempt to control all of Egypt;  he is therefore to be viewed as the real founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. His activities are known mainly from his monumental stela  erected at the site of Napata (Gebel Barkal). Piya's first attempts to  involve himself in affairs to the north of his southern kingdom of Kush (now  in  Sudan)  led  him  into  immediate conflict with  the  various  princes and dynasts of  a  divided  Egypt. In  particular,  he  claims to have moved north to the ancient center of Amun worship,  Thebes, in an effort to exert political and religious influence over that region.  He first installed his sister Amunirdis as "God's Wife of Amun" at  Kamak,  and  he  appears  to  have  received  the  tacit  submission  of  Middle  Egypt,  where  various  garrisons  held  by  local  potentates  blocked  his  way.  On  his  famous  stela  of  victory,  dated  to  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign,  Piya  is  described  as  focusing  particular  attention  on  the  city  Hermopolis,  led  by  Namlot,  who  subsequently betrayed him.

Egypt at this time was nominally held by a weak and ineffective  pharaoh, Takelot III (r. 750-720 BCE),  who effectively ruled only  his center in the eastern Nile Delta, Bubastis. Real control over the  land was held by numerous monarchs, among the most powerful of  whom was Tefnakhte, prince of Sais in the western Delta (r. 724- 717 BCE).  It was Tefnakhte who organized the resistance to Piya  after  the  Kushite  ruler  had  effectively  gained  control  of  Hermopolis and, hence, of all Upper Egypt. After recounting the  fall  of  Hermopolis  in  his  stela,  Piya  then  explains  in  detail  his  march to regain control of the old capital of Memphis and its final  capture through another siege. At this point, the war became more  complicated  for  the  Kushite  ruler.  Although  Piya  claimed  pharaonic  jurisdiction  over the entire Nile Valley—a  theological  claim as well as a political one—and although he had received ap- proval  from  the  priesthood  at  Heliopolis,  Piya  faced  organized  resistance from the western Delta.

For more than a century, the northwest portions of Egypt had  been  assimilated  by  a  series  of  Libyan  military  men,  who  eventually consolidated their power at the ancient commercial city  of  Sais.  At  the  time  of  Piya's  move  to  the  North  of  Egypt,  the  leader  of  this  center,  Tefnakhte,  was  pharaoh  in  name  and  deed,  and he effectively controlled all of the Delta northwest of El-Lisht. It was Tefnakhte  who  initiated  opposition  to  Piya's  control  over  Middle Egypt after Namlot, the ruler of Hermopolis, had switched  his allegiance from Piya to the Saite ruler, and after other major  cities  in  the  vicinity  also  opposed  the  Kushite  pharaoh.  This  political  move  was  the  effective  cause  of  Piya's  march  north,  eventually  to  capture  all  of  Egypt  and  subsequently  to  take  Memphis  itself.  Piya  returned  to  his  ancestral  kingdom  of  Kush  and  erected  his  stela  of  victory  in  his  twenty-first  regnal  year  (c.715  BCE).  Nonetheless,  Tefnakhte  was  not  deposed,  and  soon  thereafter Sais resumed its opposition to the Kushites.

Known mainly from the lengthy and detailed inscription on his  victory  stela  as  well  as  from  decorated  blocks  at  Thebes,  Piya  remains a shadowy figure, especially in contrast to his successors.  He  was  not  a  native  Egyptian  and,  as  such,  was  vehemently  opposed by the native rulers. They organized the resistance against  him  and  the  subsequent  Kushite  rulers.  Nevertheless,  Piya's  religious piety—or at least his conservatism—was one of his hall marks, and there is little doubt that his adherence to the long- standing Amun cult of Thebes, stressed in his stela of victory, was  a  primary  reason  why  Thebes  remained  firmly under  his  control  during his reign.

Recent Pages:


·        Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
·        Petuabastis
·        Philae
·        Piety in Ancient Egypt
·        Piramesse
·        Tell el-Maskhuta (Pithom)
·        Second Intermediate Period