Piye
Encyclopedia
Piye, (whose name was once transliterated as Piankhi the Nubian) (d. 721 BC) was a Kush
ite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
who ruled Egypt from 747 BCE to 716 BCE according to Peter Clayton. He ruled from the city of Napata
, located deep in Nubia
, Sudan
. His predecessor as king of Kush, Kashta
, almost certainly exercised a strong degree of influence over Thebes prior to Piye's accession because Kashta managed to have his daughter, Amenirdis I
, adopted as the Heiress to the serving God's Wife of Amun, Shepenupet I
, before the end of his reign.
and Pebatjma
. He is known to have had three or four wives. Abar
was the mother of his successor Taharqa
. Further wives are Tabiry
, Peksater and probably Khensa.
Piye is known to have had several children. He was the father of:
and Upper Egypt, Piye took advantage of the squabbling of Egypt
's rulers by expanding Nubia's power beyond Thebes into Lower Egypt. In reaction to this, Tefnakht of Sais
formed a coalition between the local kings of the Delta Region and enticed Piye's nominal ally—king Nimlot of Hermopolis
—to defect to his side. Tefnakht then sent his coalition army south and besieged Herakleopolis where its king Peftjaubast and the local Nubian commanders appealed to Piye for help. Piye reacted quickly to this crisis in his Year 20 by assembling an army to invade Middle and Lower Egypt and visited Thebes in time for the great Opet Festival
which proves he effectively controlled Upper Egypt by this time. His military feats are chronicled in the Victory stela at Gebel Barkal.
Piye viewed his campaign as a Holy War
, commanding his soldiers to cleanse themselves ritually before beginning battle. He himself offered sacrifices to the great god Amun
.
Piye then marched north and achieved complete victory at Herakleopolis, conquering the cities of Hermopolis and Memphis
among others, and received the submission of the kings of the Nile Delta
including Iuput II
of Leontopolis
, Osorkon IV
of Tanis and his former ally Nimlot at Hermopolis. Hermopolis fell to the Nubian king after a siege lasting five months. Tefnakht took refuge in an island in the Delta and formally conceded defeat in a letter to the Nubian king but refused to personally pay homage to the Kushite ruler. Satisfied with his triumph, Piye proceeded to sail south to Thebes and returned to his homeland in Nubia never to return to Egypt. Despite Piye's successful campaign into the Delta, his authority only extended northward from Thebes up to the western desert oases and Herakleopolis where Peftjaubastet ruled as a Nubian vassal king. The local kings of Lower Egypt especially Tefnakht were essentially free to do what they wanted without Piye's oversight. It was Shabaka
, Piye's successor, who later rectified this unsatisfactory situation by attacking Sais and defeating Tefnakht's successor Bakenranef
at Sais, in his second regnal year
.
. He revitalised the moribund Great Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal, which was first built under Thutmose III
of the New Kingdom by employing numerous sculptors and stonemasons from Egypt to renew the temple. He was once thought to have also used the throne name 'Menkheperre' ("the Manifestation of Ra
abides") but this prenomen has now been recognised as belonging to a local Theban king named Ini instead who was a contemporary of Piye. Piye's Highest known Date was long thought to be the Year 24 III Akhet
day 10 date mentioned in the "Smaller Dakhla Stela" (Ashmolean Museum
No.1894) from his reign. This sandstone stela measures 81.5 cm by 39.5 cm and was discovered from the Sutekh temple at Mut al-Kharib in the Western Desert Oasis town of Dakhla, according to a JEA 54(1968) article by Jac Janssen. However, in early 2006, the Tomb of the Southern Vizier Padiamonet, son of Pamiu, was discovered in the third Upper Terrace of Queen Hatshepsut
's mortuary Temple at Deir El-Bahari by the Polish Mission for the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. It was carved approximately 8 metres into the rock face of the temple cliff in an area where several other Third Intermediate Period and Late Period burials have also been discovered. According to this article in the Polish news site Nauka w Polsce (Science & Scholarship in Poland), Padiamonet's tomb contains a burial inscription which is dated to Year 27 of Piye.http://www.egyptologyblog.co.uk/2006/03/06.html#a1431 Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański
, Director of the Polish Mission, states regarding the find:
Szafrański further notes that the Mummy cartonnage (a cover in which the mummy is placed) found in Padiamonet's burial chamber featured "beautiful, ornate, colourful pictures [in which] you can read in hieroglyphs the name of the Vizier. It is also visible on the fragments of the [mummy] bandages."
The Great Temple at Gebel Barkal contains carved relief scenes depicting Piye celebrating a Heb Sed Festival but there is some doubt among scholars as to whether it portrayed a genuine Sed Feast or was merely Anticipatory. Under the latter scenario, Piye would have planned to hold a Jubilee Festival in this Temple in his 30th Year—hence his recruitment of Egypt's Artisans to decorate it—but died before this event took place.
While Piye's precise reign length is still unknown, this new find and his subsequently higher Year 27 date affirms the traditional view that Piye lived into his Year 30 and celebrated his Jubilee that year. Kenneth Kitchen
in his book, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, has suggested a reign of 31 years for Piye based on the Year 7 donation stela of a certain Shepsesre Tefnakht whom he viewed as Piye's opponent. However, this stela is now believed to refer instead to a second later Saite king called Tefnakht II
from the late Nubian era because it is almost similar in style and format to a newly revealed donation stela—from a private collection—which is dated to Year 2 of Necho I
's reign. (This new document was analysed by Olivier Perdu in CRAIBL 2002) Hence, no reliance can be placed on the Year 8 stela of Shepsesre Tefnakht to determine Piye's reign length. However, Dr Szafrański's recent discovery suggests that the Gebel Barkal Heb Sed scenes are genuine and supports the conventional view that Piye enjoyed a reign of roughly three full decades. More recently, in the February 2008 issue of National Geographic, Robert Draper
wrote that Piye ruled for 35 years and invaded all of Egypt
in his 20th regnal year in about 730 BC; however, no archaeological source gives Piye a reign of more than 31 years at present.
Piye was buried east of his Pyramid
, down stairway of 19 steps opened to the east leading to the burial chamber cut into the bedrock as an open trench and covered with a corbelled masonry roof. Piankhi's body had been placed on a bed which rested in the middle of the chamber on a stone bench with its four corners cut away to receive the legs of the bed, so that the bed platform lay directly on the bench. Beside the pyramid
(the first pharaoh to receive such an entombment in more than 500 years) were also buried his four favorite horses at el-Kurru
near Gebel Barkal in what is now Northern Sudan. This site would be also occupied by the tombs of several later members of the dynasty.
The Sudanese people consider Piye and Taharqa
as historical figures and regarded more than the other pharaohs from the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
.
Kingdom of Kush
The native name of the Kingdom was likely kaš, recorded in Egyptian as .The name Kash is probably connected to Cush in the Hebrew Bible , son of Ham ....
ite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
who ruled Egypt from 747 BCE to 716 BCE according to Peter Clayton. He ruled from the city of Napata
Napata
Napata was a city-state of ancient Nubia on the west bank of the Nile River, at the site of modern Karima, Northern Sudan.During the 8th to 7th centuries BC, Napata was the capital of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, whence the 25th, or Nubian Dynasty conquered Egypt...
, located deep in Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. His predecessor as king of Kush, Kashta
Kashta
Kashta was a king of the Kushite Dynasty and the successor of Alara. His name translates literally as "The Kushite".-Family:Kashta is thought to be a brother of his predecessor Alara. Both Alara and Kashta were thought to have married their sisters...
, almost certainly exercised a strong degree of influence over Thebes prior to Piye's accession because Kashta managed to have his daughter, Amenirdis I
Amenirdis I
Amenirdis I was a God's Wife of Amun in ancient Egypt.She was a Kushite princess, daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma. She is likely to have been the sister of pharaohs Shabaka and Piye. Kashta arranged to have her adopted by the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, at Thebes as her...
, adopted as the Heiress to the serving God's Wife of Amun, Shepenupet I
Shepenupet I
Shepenupet I was an ancient Egyptian high priestess during the reign of the 23rd dynasty. She was the first “hereditary” God's Wife or Divine Adoratrice of Amun to wield political power in ancient Thebes and its surrounding region...
, before the end of his reign.
Family
Piye was the son of KashtaKashta
Kashta was a king of the Kushite Dynasty and the successor of Alara. His name translates literally as "The Kushite".-Family:Kashta is thought to be a brother of his predecessor Alara. Both Alara and Kashta were thought to have married their sisters...
and Pebatjma
Pebatjma
Pebatjma was a Nubiaqueen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of King Kashta. She is mentioned on a statue of her daughter Amenirdis I, now in Cairo . She is also mentioned on a door-jamb from Abydos.-Family:...
. He is known to have had three or four wives. Abar
Abar (Queen)
Abar was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.-Life:Abar was the mother of King Taharqa and wife of the King Piye. She was a niece of King Alara of Nubia ....
was the mother of his successor Taharqa
Taharqa
Taharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
. Further wives are Tabiry
Tabiry
Tabiry was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Tabiry was the daughter of Alara of Nubia and his wife Kasaqa and the wife of King Piye...
, Peksater and probably Khensa.
Piye is known to have had several children. He was the father of:
- King ShebitkuShebitkuShebitku was the third king of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt who ruled from 702 BCE to 690 BCE according to Peter Clayton or 707/706 BC-690 BC, according to Dan'el Kahn's most recent academic research. He was the nephew and successor of Shabaka. He was a son of Piye, the founder of this dynasty...
. Said to be a son of Piye , or alternatively a brother of Piye. - King TaharqaTaharqaTaharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
. Son of Queen AbarAbar (Queen)Abar was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.-Life:Abar was the mother of King Taharqa and wife of the King Piye. She was a niece of King Alara of Nubia ....
. He would take the throne after his uncle ShabakaShabakaShabaka or Shabaka Neferkare, 'Beautiful is the Soul of Re', was a Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, between according to Peter Clayton .-Family:...
and another male relative Shebitku. - God's Wife of AmunGod's Wife of AmunGod's Wife of Amun was the highest ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important Ancient Egyptian religious institution centered in Thebes during the Egyptian 25th and 26th dynasties...
Shepenwepet II. Installed in Thebes during the reign of her brother Taharqa. - QalhataQalhataQalhata was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Qalhata was a daughter of King Piye and a queen consort to her brother Shabaka. She is known from the Dream Stela of King Tantamani and from her pyramid in El-Kurru ....
, wife of King ShabakaShabakaShabaka or Shabaka Neferkare, 'Beautiful is the Soul of Re', was a Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, between according to Peter Clayton .-Family:...
, she was the mother of king Tanutamun and probably of King Shabataka as well. - TabekenamunTabekenamunTabekenamun was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Tabekenamun was a daughter of King Piye and may have been a queen consort to her brother Taharqa. She is known from Cairo Statue 49157 from Karnak....
married her brother TaharqaTaharqaTaharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
. - NaparayeNaparayeNaparaye was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Naparaye was the daughter of King Piye and the sister-wife of King Taharqa....
married her brother TaharqaTaharqaTaharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
. - TakahatenamunTakahatenamunTakahatenamun was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Takahatamun was the daughter of King Piye and the sister-wife of King Taharqa...
married her brother TaharqaTaharqaTaharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
. - Arty, married king ShebitkuShebitkuShebitku was the third king of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt who ruled from 702 BCE to 690 BCE according to Peter Clayton or 707/706 BC-690 BC, according to Dan'el Kahn's most recent academic research. He was the nephew and successor of Shabaka. He was a son of Piye, the founder of this dynasty...
. - Har. Known from an offering table of his daughter Wadjrenes from Thebes (TT34TT34The Theban Tomb TT34 is located in El-Assasif, part of the Theban Necropolis, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite to Luxor. It is the burial place of the Ancient Egyptian official, Mentuemhat ....
). - Khaliut, Governor of Kanad according to a stela found at Barkal.
- Princess Mutirdis ?, Chief Prophet of Hathor and Mut in Thebes and daughter of Piye according to MorkotRobert MorkotRobert George Morkot is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter, where he specialises in the external relations of Ancient Egypt, particularly the relations with Kush...
. Thought to be a daughter of a local ruler named Menkheperre Khmuny from Hermopolis by KitchenKenneth KitchenKenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
.
Piye's Conquest of Egypt
As ruler of NubiaNubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
and Upper Egypt, Piye took advantage of the squabbling of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
's rulers by expanding Nubia's power beyond Thebes into Lower Egypt. In reaction to this, Tefnakht of Sais
SAIS
SAIS can refer to:* Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, part of The Johns Hopkins University.* Sharjah American International School* Southern Association of Independent Schools...
formed a coalition between the local kings of the Delta Region and enticed Piye's nominal ally—king Nimlot of Hermopolis
Hermopolis
Hermopolis Magna or simply Hermopolis or Hermopolis Megale or Hermupolis is the site of ancient Khmun, and is located near the modern Egyptian town of El Ashmunein in Al Minya governorate.-Etymology:Khmun, the Ancient Egyptian name of the city, means "eight-town", after the Ogdoad, a group of...
—to defect to his side. Tefnakht then sent his coalition army south and besieged Herakleopolis where its king Peftjaubast and the local Nubian commanders appealed to Piye for help. Piye reacted quickly to this crisis in his Year 20 by assembling an army to invade Middle and Lower Egypt and visited Thebes in time for the great Opet Festival
Opet Festival
The Beautiful Feast of Opet was an Ancient Egyptian festival, celebrated annually in Thebes, during the New Kingdom period and later....
which proves he effectively controlled Upper Egypt by this time. His military feats are chronicled in the Victory stela at Gebel Barkal.
Piye viewed his campaign as a Holy War
Religious war
A religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
, commanding his soldiers to cleanse themselves ritually before beginning battle. He himself offered sacrifices to the great god Amun
Amun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
.
Piye then marched north and achieved complete victory at Herakleopolis, conquering the cities of Hermopolis and Memphis
Memphis, Egypt
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...
among others, and received the submission of the kings of the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
including Iuput II
Iuput II
Iuput II was a ruler of Leontopolis in the Egyptian Delta region of Lower Egypt who existed during the late Third Intermediate Period. He was an ally of Tefnakht of Sais who resisted the invasion of Lower Egypt by the Kushite king Piye...
of Leontopolis
Leontopolis
Leontopolis or Leonto or Latin: Leontos Oppidum or Egyptian: Taremu, was an Ancient Egyptian city that is known as Tell al Muqdam today.-History:The city is located in the central part of the Nile Delta region...
, Osorkon IV
Osorkon IV
Osorkon IV was a ruler of Lower Egypt who, while not always listed as a member of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt, he is attested as the ruler of Tanis--and thereby one of Shoshenq V's successors. Therefore he is sometimes listed as part of the dynasty, whether for convenience or in fact.His...
of Tanis and his former ally Nimlot at Hermopolis. Hermopolis fell to the Nubian king after a siege lasting five months. Tefnakht took refuge in an island in the Delta and formally conceded defeat in a letter to the Nubian king but refused to personally pay homage to the Kushite ruler. Satisfied with his triumph, Piye proceeded to sail south to Thebes and returned to his homeland in Nubia never to return to Egypt. Despite Piye's successful campaign into the Delta, his authority only extended northward from Thebes up to the western desert oases and Herakleopolis where Peftjaubastet ruled as a Nubian vassal king. The local kings of Lower Egypt especially Tefnakht were essentially free to do what they wanted without Piye's oversight. It was Shabaka
Shabaka
Shabaka or Shabaka Neferkare, 'Beautiful is the Soul of Re', was a Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, between according to Peter Clayton .-Family:...
, Piye's successor, who later rectified this unsatisfactory situation by attacking Sais and defeating Tefnakht's successor Bakenranef
Bakenranef
Bakenranef, known by the ancient Greeks as Bocchoris, was briefly a king of the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt. Based at Sais in the western Delta, he ruled Lower Egypt from c. 725 to 720 BC. Though the Ptolemaic period Egyptian historian Manetho considers him the sole member of the Twenty-fourth...
at Sais, in his second regnal year
Regnal year
A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin regnum meaning kingdom, rule.The oldest dating systems were in regnal years, and considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of rule, a third, and...
.
Reign Length
Piye adopted two throne names: Usimare and Sneferre during his reign and was much more passionate (in common with many kings of Nubia) about the worship of the god AmunAmun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
. He revitalised the moribund Great Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal, which was first built under Thutmose III
Thutmose III
Thutmose III was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. During the first twenty-two years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his stepmother, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh...
of the New Kingdom by employing numerous sculptors and stonemasons from Egypt to renew the temple. He was once thought to have also used the throne name 'Menkheperre' ("the Manifestation of Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
abides") but this prenomen has now been recognised as belonging to a local Theban king named Ini instead who was a contemporary of Piye. Piye's Highest known Date was long thought to be the Year 24 III Akhet
Season of the Inundation
The Season of the Inundation is the first season in the ancient Egyptian calendar and corresponds roughly with early September to early January....
day 10 date mentioned in the "Smaller Dakhla Stela" (Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
No.1894) from his reign. This sandstone stela measures 81.5 cm by 39.5 cm and was discovered from the Sutekh temple at Mut al-Kharib in the Western Desert Oasis town of Dakhla, according to a JEA 54(1968) article by Jac Janssen. However, in early 2006, the Tomb of the Southern Vizier Padiamonet, son of Pamiu, was discovered in the third Upper Terrace of Queen Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut also Hatchepsut; meaning Foremost of Noble Ladies;1508–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt...
's mortuary Temple at Deir El-Bahari by the Polish Mission for the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. It was carved approximately 8 metres into the rock face of the temple cliff in an area where several other Third Intermediate Period and Late Period burials have also been discovered. According to this article in the Polish news site Nauka w Polsce (Science & Scholarship in Poland), Padiamonet's tomb contains a burial inscription which is dated to Year 27 of Piye.http://www.egyptologyblog.co.uk/2006/03/06.html#a1431 Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański
Zbigniew Szafrański
-Life:Zbigniew Szafrański is the director of the Polish archeological mission to Egypt that has been working at Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple since 1961. He is known as the founder of the Polish school of Mediterranean Archaeology. He is a faculty member at the University of Warsaw, Department...
, Director of the Polish Mission, states regarding the find:
Szafrański further notes that the Mummy cartonnage (a cover in which the mummy is placed) found in Padiamonet's burial chamber featured "beautiful, ornate, colourful pictures [in which] you can read in hieroglyphs the name of the Vizier. It is also visible on the fragments of the [mummy] bandages."
The Great Temple at Gebel Barkal contains carved relief scenes depicting Piye celebrating a Heb Sed Festival but there is some doubt among scholars as to whether it portrayed a genuine Sed Feast or was merely Anticipatory. Under the latter scenario, Piye would have planned to hold a Jubilee Festival in this Temple in his 30th Year—hence his recruitment of Egypt's Artisans to decorate it—but died before this event took place.
While Piye's precise reign length is still unknown, this new find and his subsequently higher Year 27 date affirms the traditional view that Piye lived into his Year 30 and celebrated his Jubilee that year. Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
in his book, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, has suggested a reign of 31 years for Piye based on the Year 7 donation stela of a certain Shepsesre Tefnakht whom he viewed as Piye's opponent. However, this stela is now believed to refer instead to a second later Saite king called Tefnakht II
Tefnakht II
Tefnakht II may have been a native Saite king who ruled Sais during the 25th Nubian Dynasty of Ancient Egypt or merely a local mayor of Sais who was erroneously assigned a kingship by the later kings of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt...
from the late Nubian era because it is almost similar in style and format to a newly revealed donation stela—from a private collection—which is dated to Year 2 of Necho I
Necho I
Necho I was the prince or governor of the Egyptian city of Sais. He was the first attested local Saite king of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt who reigned for 8 years, according to Manetho's Epitome. Egypt was reunified by his son, Psamtik I...
's reign. (This new document was analysed by Olivier Perdu in CRAIBL 2002) Hence, no reliance can be placed on the Year 8 stela of Shepsesre Tefnakht to determine Piye's reign length. However, Dr Szafrański's recent discovery suggests that the Gebel Barkal Heb Sed scenes are genuine and supports the conventional view that Piye enjoyed a reign of roughly three full decades. More recently, in the February 2008 issue of National Geographic, Robert Draper
Robert Draper
Robert Draper is a freelance writer, a correspondent for GQ and a contributor to The New York Times Magazine. Previously, he worked for Texas Monthly, where he first became acquainted with the Bush political family. He is the author of Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, a chronicle of...
wrote that Piye ruled for 35 years and invaded all of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in his 20th regnal year in about 730 BC; however, no archaeological source gives Piye a reign of more than 31 years at present.
Piye was buried east of his Pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
, down stairway of 19 steps opened to the east leading to the burial chamber cut into the bedrock as an open trench and covered with a corbelled masonry roof. Piankhi's body had been placed on a bed which rested in the middle of the chamber on a stone bench with its four corners cut away to receive the legs of the bed, so that the bed platform lay directly on the bench. Beside the pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
(the first pharaoh to receive such an entombment in more than 500 years) were also buried his four favorite horses at el-Kurru
El-Kurru
El-Kurru was one of the royal cemeteries used by the Nubian royal family. Reisner excavated the royal pyramids. Most of the pyramids date to the early part of the Kushite period, from Alara of Nubia to King Nastasen ....
near Gebel Barkal in what is now Northern Sudan. This site would be also occupied by the tombs of several later members of the dynasty.
The Sudanese people consider Piye and Taharqa
Taharqa
Taharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...
as historical figures and regarded more than the other pharaohs from the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt
The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....
.