The Twenty-fifth Dynasty

The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Nubian invasion. The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the Kingdom of Kush. Most of this dynasty's kings saw Napata as their spiritual homeland.  The 25th dynasty was highly Egyptianized, using the Egyptian language and writing system as their medium of record and exhibiting an unusual devotion to Egypt's religious, artistic, and literary traditions. Earlier scholars have ascribed the origins of the dynasty to immigrants from Egypt, particularly the Egyptian Amun priests. The 25th Dynasty's reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Kush created the largest Egyptian empire since the New Kingdom. The fall of the 25th Dynasty also marks the beginning of the Late Period of ancient Egypt.  

The kings:  

Alara was a King of Kush, who is generally regarded as the founder of the Napatan royal dynasty by his 25th Dynasty Kushite successors and was the first recorded prince of Kush. He unified all Upper Nubia from Meroë to the Third Cataract and is possibly attested at the Temple of Amun at Kawa

Kashta was an 8th century BCE king of the Kushite Dynasty in ancient Nubia and the successor of Alara. His name k3š-t3 (transcribed as Kashta, possibly pronounced) "of the land of Kush" is often translated directly as "The Kushite". He was succeeded by Piye, who would go on to conquer ancient Egypt and establish the 25th Dynasty there. While Kashta ruled Nubia from Napata, which is 400 km north of Khartoum, the modern capital of Sudan, he also exercised a strong degree of control over Upper Egypt by managing to install his daughter, Amenirdis I, as the presumptive God's Wife of Amun in Thebes in line to succeed the serving Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, Osorkon III's daughter. This development was "the key moment in the process of the extension of Kushite power over Egyptian territories" under Kashta's rule since it officially legitimized the Kushite takeover of the Thebaid region. The pyramids of el-Kurru contain the tombs of Kashta and several of his successors. The highest part of the cemetery contains 4 tumulus tombs. To the east of the tumulus tombs, we find a row of at least eight pyramids. One of them partially intrudes on a tumulus tomb. The southernmost of this row of pyramids belongs to Kashta his wife Pebatjma. Before this row is another row of pyramids which includes those of Piye, Shabaka and Tanutamani. 

 

Piye (once transliterated as Pankhy or Piankhi) was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan. Piye adopted two throne names: Usimare and Sneferre. He was passionate about the worship of the god Amun, like many kings of Nubia. He revitalized the moribund Great Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal, which was first built under Thutmose III of the New Kingdom. His military feats are chronicled in the Victory stela at Gebel Barkal: “Hear what I have done in exceeding the ancestors. I am the king, the representation of god, the living image of Atum, who issued from the womb marked as ruler, who is feared by those greater than he, [whose father] knew and whose mother perceived even in the egg that he would be ruler, the good god, beloved of the gods, the Son of Re, who acts with his two arms, Piye, beloved of Amon“. Piye's highest known date was long thought to be the Year 24.  

Shebitku also known as Shabataka or Shebitqo, and anglicized as Sethos, was the second pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. According to the most recent academic research. He was a son of Piye, the founder of this dynasty. The Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories writes of a High Priest of Ptah named Sethos  who became pharaoh and defeated the Assyrians with divine intervention. This name is probably a corruption of Shebitku. Herodotus' account was the inspiration for the 18th-century fantasy novel Life of Sethos, which has been influential among Afrocentrists.  

Neferkare Shabaka, or Shabako was the third Kushite pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt. Shabaka succeeded his uncle Shebitku to the throne and adopted the throne name of the 6th Dynasty ruler Pepi II Neferkare. new evidence indicates that Shebitku died around 705 BC because Sargon II  of Assyria states in an official inscription at Tang-i Var (in northwest Iran)—which is datable to 706 BC—that it was Shebitku, Shabaka's predecessor, who extradited Iamanni of Ashdod to Shebitku as king of Egypt. Shabaka is assumed to have died in his 15th regnal year based on BM cube statue, which is dated to Year 15, II Shemu day 11 of Shabaka's reign. Shabaka was buried in a pyramid at el-Kurru and was succeeded by Taharqa, who would be his nephew if Shabaka was indeed a son of Kashta. 

Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo, was a pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt and qore  of the Kingdom of Kush. He was one of the "Black Pharaohs" who ruled over Egypt for nearly a century. Taharqa may have been the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt, though the relationships in this family are not completely clear. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of Piye and Shabaka paved the way for a prosperous reign by Taharqa. Although Taharqa's reign was filled with conflict with the Assyrians, it was also a prosperous renaissance period in Egypt and Kush. The empire flourished under Taharqa, due in part to a particularly large Nile River flood, abundant crops, and the "intellectual and material resources set free by an efficient central government." Taharqa's inscriptions indicate that he gave large amounts of gold to the temple of Amun at Kawa. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. Taharqa and the 25th dynasty revived Egyptian culture. Religion, arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. During Taharqa's reign, the "central features of Theban theology were merged with Egyptian Middle and New Kingdom imperial ideology.". Under Taharqa, the cultural integration of Egypt and Kush reached such a point that it could not be reversed, even after the Assyrian conquest. It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids (many in modern Sudan) since the Middle Kingdom.Taharqa built the largest pyramid in the Nubian region at Nuri with the most elaborate Kushite rock-cut tomb. Taharqa was buried with "over 1070 shabtis of varying sizes and made of granite, green ankerite, and alabaster." Taharqa died in the city of Thebes in 664 BC. He was followed by his appointed successor Tantamani, a son of Shabaka, who invaded Lower Egypt in hopes of restoring his family's control. This led to a renewed conflict with Ashurbanipal and the Sack of Thebes by the Assyrians in 663 BCE. He was himself succeeded by a son of Taharqa, Atlanersa. 

Taharqa's successor, Tantamani sailed north from Napata, through Elephantine, and with a large army to Thebes, where he was "ritually installed as the king of Egypt." From Thebes, Tantamani began his reconquest and regained control of Egypt, as far north as Memphis. Tantamani's dream stele states that he restored order from the chaos, where royal temples and cults were not being maintained.  After defeating Sais and killing Assyria's vassal, Necho I, in Memphis, "some local dynasts formally surrendered, while others withdrew to their fortresses." Tantamani proceeded north of Memphis, invading Lower Egypt and, besieged cities in the Delta, several of which surrendered to him. He died in 653 BC and was succeeded by Atlanersa, a son of Taharqa. He was buried in the family cemetery at El-Kurru. 

Atlanersa (also Atlanarsa) was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th century BC. He was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Taharqa or less likely of Tantamani, while his mother was a queen whose name is only partially preserved. Atlanersa's reign immediately followed the collapse of Nubian control over Egypt. Foundation tablets bearing Atlanersa's name show that he started a temple dedicated to the syncretic god Osiris-Dedwen at Jebel Barkal, now known as B700. The choice for this location followed from its closeness to the "Pure Mountain" the ancient name of Jebel Barkal and the presence of a small New Kingdom chapel there. Atlanersa's name was present on a scene inscribed on the front pylon of the temple, now destroyed. The decoration of the pylon was predominantly made during Senkamanisken's reign, yet it depicted queens Yeturow and Khaliset, who are implied to be both Atlanersa's wives as well as his sisters. Finally, Atlanersa's name is written on a granite altar from the same temple. The progression of the temple construction suggests that Atlanersa died unexpectedly, shortly after completing the construction works and the decoration of the two interior rooms as attested by the presence of his name there but before completing the decoration of the exterior. This task was finished under Senkamanisken who added inscriptions of his own on the columns and front pylon and donated a small obelisk. A colossal statue of Atlanersa was placed on the western side of the temple entrance, where it was discovered by Reisner, albeit toppled with its head cut-off. It is now in the National Museum of Sudan. A scarab seal of Atlanersa, now in the Louvre Museum, may originate from Thebes. At Old Dongola, a fragmentary obelisk bearing Atlanersa's name was discovered in a church, where it had been reused as a column.In a quarry near Tombos, a statue of the same size and shape and made of the same stone as the statue of Atlanersa from B700 was uncovered unfinished, almost certainly left there because it had cracked. The statue was likely destined to be the eastern pendant of the colossal statue at the west of the entrance of B700 and therefore represents Atlanersa. Following excavations at the necropolis of Nuri, Reisner proposed to attribute the pyramid Nuri 20 to Atlanersa on chronological grounds. Nuri 20 is the second-oldest pyramid of the necropolis after that of Taharqa and did not belong to Senkamanisken, whose pyramid Nuri 3 was built subsequently. The pyramid is made of sandstone masonry, with a steep slope at 66° and a surface area of c. 12.09 m2. The pyramid complex is surrounded by a sandstone enclosure and comprises a small chapel adjacent to the pyramid's eastern side. At its center, the chapel housed an offering stand on which was an offering table, both of grey granite. The table was originally inscribed with reliefs and hieroglyphs, now illegible. 

SENKAMANISKEN