Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (also written Dynasty XXVI or Dynasty 26) was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The Dynasty's reign (c. 685-525 BC) is also called the Saite Period after the city of Sais

Sais, Egypt

Sais or Sa el-Hagar was an ancient Egyptian town in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was the provincial capital of Sap-Meh, the fifth nome of Lower Egypt and became the seat of power during the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt and the Saite Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt ...

, where its pharaohs had their capital, and marks the beginning of the Late Period of ancient Egypt

Late Period of Ancient Egypt

The Late Period of Ancient Egypt refers to the last flowering of native Egyptian rulers after the Third Intermediate Period from the 26th Saite Dynasty into Persian conquests and ended with the death of Alexander the Great...

History

This dynasty traced its origins to 24th dynasty

Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period.-Rulers:...

. Psamtik I was probably a descendant of Bakenrenef, and following the Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

ns' invasions during the reigns of 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...

and Tantamani

Tantamani

Tantamani or Tanwetamani or Tementhes was a Pharaoh of Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan and a member of the Nubian or Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt...

, he was recognized as sole king over all of Egypt. While the Assyrian Empire was preoccupied with revolts and civil war over control of the throne, Psammetichus threw off his ties to the Assyrians, and formed alliances with Gyges

Gyges of Lydia

Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC . He was succeeded by his son Ardys II.-Allegorical accounts of Gyges' rise to power:...

, king of Lydia

Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....

, and recruited mercenaries from Caria

Caria

Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

and Greece to resist Assyrian attacks.

With the sack of Nineveh

Nineveh

Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....

in 612 BC and the fall of the Assyrian Empire, both Psamtik and his successors attempted to reassert Egyptian power in the Near East, but were driven back by the Babylonia

Babylonia

Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...

ns under Nebuchadnezzar II. With the help of Greek mercenaries, Apries

Apries

Apries is the name by which Herodotus and Diodorus designate Wahibre Haaibre, Ουαφρης , a pharaoh of Egypt , the fourth king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. He was equated with the Waphres of Manetho, who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years...

was able to hold back Babylonian attempts to conquer Egypt, but it was the Persians who conquered Egypt, and their king Cambyses II carried Psamtik III to Susa

Susa

Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....

in chains.

Dynasty 26th pharaohs

The 26th dynasty may be related to the 24th dynasty

Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period.-Rulers:...

. Manetho begins the dynasty with:

Ammeris the Nubian, 12 (or 18) years
Stephinates, 7 years
Nechepsos, 6 years
Necho, 8 years.

When the Nubian King 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:...

defeated Bakenrenef, son of Tefnakht, he likely installed a Nubian commander as governor at Sais. This may be the man named Ammeris. Stephinates may be a descendant of Bakenrenef. He is sometimes referred to as 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...

in the literature. Nechepsos has been identified with a local king named Nekauba

Nekauba

Almost nothing is known of Nekauba or Nechepsos as he is also called except that he is listed as one of the early kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty in Manetho's Epitome and is assigned a reign of six years...

(678-672 BC). Manetho's Necho is King 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...

(672 BC - 664 BC) Manetho gives his reign as 8 years. Necho was killed during a conflict with the Nubian king Tanutamun. Psamtik I fled to Nineveh - capital of the Assyrian Empire - and returned to Egypt when Assurbanipal defeated Tanutamun and drove him back south. Scholars now start the 26th dynasty with the reign of Psamtik I.

**Dynasty XVIII pharaohs**
Pharaoh	\|Horus-name	\|Reign (BCE)	\|Burial	\|Consort(s)	\|Comments
Psamtik I	Wahibre	664 - 610 BC	Sais	Mehytenweskhet Mehytenweskhet Mehytenweskhet was the daughter of the High Priest of Re Harsiese, and the Great Royal Wife of Psamtik I. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.-Biography:...	Manetho gives his reign as 54 years
Necho II Necho II Necho II was a king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt .Necho II is most likely the pharaoh mentioned in several books of the Bible . The Book of Kings states that Necho met King Josiah of the Kingdom of Judah at Megiddo and killed him...	Wehemibre	610 - 595 BC		Khedebneithirbinet I
Psamtik II	Neferibre	595 - 589 BC		Takhuit Takhuit Takhuit was the Great Royal Wife of Psamtik II. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.-Biography:Takhuit was the wife of Psamtik II and the mother of Pharaoh Apries and the God's Wife of Amun Ankhnesneferibre...
Apries Apries Apries is the name by which Herodotus and Diodorus designate Wahibre Haaibre, Ουαφρης , a pharaoh of Egypt , the fourth king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. He was equated with the Waphres of Manetho, who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years...	Haaibre	589 - 570 BC			Manetho gives his reign as 19 years
Amasis II Amasis II Amasis II or Ahmose II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest.-Life:...	Khnemibre	570 - 526 BC	Sais	Tentkheta Tentkheta Tentkheta was the Great Royal Wife of Amasis II. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.-Biography:Tentkheta was one of the wives known for Pharaoh Amasis II. She was a daughter of a priest of Ptah named Padineith. She was the mother of a King's son named Khnum-ib-Re and the mother of... Nakhtubasterau Nakhtubasterau Nakhtubasterau was the Great Royal Wife of Amasis II. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. Her name honors Bastet.-Biography:...	Herodotus claims that when Cambyses II invaded Egypt, realizing he was not able to exact revenge for Amasis's previous misdeeds and trickery, he exhumed his body, desecrated it and burned what remained of the mummy.
Psamtik III	Ankhkaenre	526 - 525 BC

Sextus Julius Africanus

Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian traveller and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD. He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers.His name indicates that...

states in his often accurate version of Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic era, approximately during the 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca...

's Epitome that the dynasty numbered 9 pharaohs, beginning with a "Stephinates" (Tefnakht II

Tefnakht II

) and ending with Psamtik III. Africanus also notes that Psamtik I and Necho I

Necho I

ruled for 54 and 8 years respectively.

History

Dynasty 26th pharaohs

See also