Piye (Piankhy)
c. 747 – 716 BCE (reign; dates vary by chronology)
Kush (Napata, Nubia) and Egypt
Kushite king from Napata who took control of Upper Egypt and then defeated a coalition of Delta rulers led by Tefnakht of Sais, recording the campaign on a great stela at Gebel Barkal; his reign laid the foundations of Egypt's 25th Dynasty.
A note on dates and names
Reign dates for Piye differ between sources. The British Museum text on Smarthistory gives 747–716 BCE; UCL's Digital Egypt gives about 746 to 715 or 713 BCE. As with most Egyptian dates, published chronologies differ by a few years. His name has been read as Piankhy (or Piankhi) and Piy as well as Piye.
Background
Piye ruled the kingdom of Kush from Napata, near Gebel Barkal in what is now Sudan. Earlier in the 8th century BCE, Kashta had united Nubia. Piye presented himself as a devotee of the Egyptian god Amun, whose temple stood at Gebel Barkal. Within the first decade of his reign Piye controlled Upper Egypt. His sister Amenirdis I was adopted as the future God's Wife of Amun at Thebes, which tied Kushite rule to the city's priesthood and lands.
The northern campaign
Egypt was then divided among rival rulers. Tefnakht, prince of Sais in the western Delta, formed a coalition, pushed south and besieged Hermopolis. Piye's great stela, dated to his regnal year 21, tells how he sent his army north and then came himself. Hermopolis surrendered, and its ruler Nimlot was rebuked for letting his horses go hungry. Memphis was taken by assault. Piye made offerings at Heliopolis, and the Delta rulers came to submit and bring tribute, horses among it. Tefnakht sent a plea for mercy and swore loyalty. The stela ends with Piye sailing south, his ships laden with goods.
The stela is Piye's own account, presented as Amun's will restoring order, so it should be read as royal propaganda as well as history. UCL notes that it is uncertain how much of Egypt he went on to control after the campaign.
Burial and succession
Piye was buried in an Egyptian-style pyramid at El-Kurru, the royal cemetery near Napata excavated by George Reisner in 1919. Horses, prized by the Napatan kings, were buried standing nearby with gold and silver trappings. His brother Shabaqo succeeded him, reconquered Egypt and took the full pharaonic titles; the Met calls Shabaqo the first true pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty.
Legacy
Piye is remembered as the king whose victory opened the era of the 25th Dynasty (747–656 BCE in the British Museum's dating), when Kushite kings such as Taharqa ruled Egypt. The stela, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is the main source for his campaign. Under the later 26th Dynasty, his name was deliberately erased from a temple fitting.
Achievements
- First decade of his reign: Extends Kushite control over Upper Egypt and Thebes
- Regnal year 21 (c. 728 BCE by one reckoning): Marches north and defeats the Delta coalition led by Tefnakht
- Takes Hermopolis and Memphis and receives the submission of the Delta rulers
- Sets up a granite victory stela at the Amun temple at Gebel Barkal
- Buried in a pyramid at El-Kurru, with horses buried nearby
Related entries
Sources
- UCL Digital Egypt for Universities, "King Piy" (Scholarly)
- Smarthistory (text from the Trustees of the British Museum), "King Piye and the Kushite Dynasty" (Scholarly)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "Sudan, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D." (Scholarly)
- Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, "The Royal Cemetery at El Kurru" (El Kurru field blog, 2013) (Scholarly)
- "The Victory Stela of Piye," trans. Robert K. Ritner, in The Literature of Ancient Egypt (reproduced at attalus.org) (Primary source)
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