The History of Ancient Egypt: The Late Period (Part 1): Weiliao Series: Ancient Egypt Series, #10

By Hui Wang

"Weiliao" is a series program that tells the story of the world, it created by Wei Yi Culture and Media AB, and launched in 2020. The content touches on history, science, technology, astronomy, geography, music, and more.

 

"The History of Ancient Egypt" is a series of books to tell the historical stories of Ancient Egypt, and the stories run through the whole of Ancient Egypt. This book "The Late Period of Egypt (Part 1)" is the tenth episode, the historical period includes the entire Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The content includes Psamtik I reunified Egypt, Necho II, Revenge of Psamtik II, Psamtik III, etc. There is more exciting content in the book is looking forward to your reading.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wei Yi Culture and Media AB
• Release date: Dec 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9789189209169

Book preview

Introduction

The The History of Ancient Egypt is a series of books to tell the historical stories of Ancient Egypt, and the stories run through the whole of Ancient Egypt. This book The Late Period of Egypt (Part 1) is the tenth episode, the historical period includes the entire Twenty-sixth Dynasty. The content includes Psamtik I reunified Egypt, Necho II, Revenge of Psamtik II, Psamtik III, etc. There is more exciting content in the book is looking forward to your reading.

1

Overview

Map of the Median Empire, Egypt, Lydian Empire, and Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BC

Map of the Median Empire, Egypt, Lydian Empire, and Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BC

The Late Period of Ancient Egypt part one is mainly the occurrences that happened during the 26th dynasty which was preceded by the 25th dynasty and the last in the Third Intermediate Period. The Third Intermediate Period in Ancient Egypt is one of the periods that were dominated by drama and power struggles from foreigners including Libyans, Persians, and Nubians. It is from this foreign rule that saw the Egyptian form of kingship erode to almost extinction. There came several kings from the Egyptian side but they faced competition from the foreign kings forcing them to work under foreigners. This came as a result of the New Kingdom's problems since the rule of Ramesses XI where the split between the Lower and Upper Egypt erupted. Back during the New Kingdom period, which is popularly known as the Ramesses Period, the High Priest of Amun developed a lot of power as a result of the economic problems that made the country almost ungovernable.

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The economic problems came as a result of an idea brought forward by king Rameses II in the trial to bring back the prestige of the Egyptian gods that were destroyed during the reign of king Akhenaten. Akhenaten had developed a monothetic form of government and thus destroyed most of the temples in Ancient Egypt. This, therefore, forced Ramesses II to offer large tracks of land to the temples so that they would be able to develop and bring back the lost glory in the worship of Amun. This however turned against the aim of the king and there developed an economic problem as it turned out that the High Priest of Amun was the one who was controlling this land and its produce. This meant that the High Priest of Amun now was the one controlling most of the land that was productive and thus he was preparing on taking a center stage in the political arena.

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The result of the High Priest controlling most of the fertile lands in Ancient Egypt was civil unrest and economic deterioration. The government started facing economic strains and even was unable to pay their workers and thus faced the first ever workers strike. It is from here that the High Priest of Amun now chipped in with extraneous powers and now had a say in the operation of the government business. The first-ever to have got this chance was Amenhotep before he was overthrown by Piankh who was later succeeded by Herihor, who was his senior-most army commander. It is from here thus that Egypt was fully divided and Herihor became the third High Priest of Ancient Egypt ruling from Upper Egypt with the capital in Thebes while Smendes succeeded Ramesses XI and ruled from Memphis before he shifted his capital to Tanis. The beginning of the Third Intermediate period with Smendes as the overall Pharaoh while Herihor as the High Priest of Amun ruled without any form of quarrels and misunderstanding but later after their deaths, problems started to ensue. It is from here that the Egyptian pharaohs by birth started losing grip of leadership in their native lands. The duo, Smendes, and Herihor, both had Libyan origin and so were their successors. The Egyptians now had a hard time finding their way to kingship they were forced to remain in the provincial administration posts. The main thing that played a part in the peace that was witnessed during the reign of these two leaders is the fact that they came from the same family. It is believed that Smendes and Herihor had a form of connection and it is Herihor that introduced Smendes to Ramesses XI when Egypt needed a financial advisor as a result of what is traced back to the reign of Ramesses II.

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Although from the appearance, Egypt seemed to be united, the inside was different. Herihor and Smendes had a form of agreement that would make it seem like Smendes was in control of the whole country. The agreement was that Smendes would reign as the overall king of Ancient Egypt at that time but his power did not go beyond Lower Egypt that he ruled from Tanis. Smendes hence had no business with Upper Egypt and so was Herihor with Lower Egypt, they knew their bounds, and this ensured peaceful existence in their rule. Apart from their ruling styles, both had to marry from their predecessors to legitimize their rules. For Smendes he married Ramesses XI’s daughter, Tentamun, and this made him have the legitimacy required to rule in Lower Egypt. Herihor, on the other hand, married the window to Piankh, who is believed to have had young children and thus unable to succeed their father, but upon marrying Herihor, they were the heirs to the throne upon the death of Herihor and this was made sure by their mother. The capital that Smendes built is said to have started back before he ascended on the throne but he completed it within his first five years in power and immediately moved the capital from Memphis to Tanis. Tanis was mainly built using remains that were available after the Pi-Ramesses city completed among other projects that were already complete and requiring no more material to develop them.

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Smendes was succeeded by a man known as Amenemnisu and his rule came hand in hand with Menkheperre, who at this time was the High Priest of Amun, residing in Thebes. There is no much that these two are known to have left behind considering their reigns were obscure. He was later after his death succeeded by Psusennes, who was a son to Piudjen an army commander in Thebes. Immediately after rising to the throne, he was determined to unite both Upper and Lower Egypt and bring them under his authority. He did not want in any way to experience a political upheaval and thus he chose his brother, Menkheperra to take up the position of the High Priest of Amun. It is from this action that enabled him to be able to govern the whole of Egypt for a given period since his brother was