Piye

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Piye, whose name was once transliterated as Pi(ankh)y. (d.721 BC) was a Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt. His predecessor in Napata, captal of the Nubian kingdom 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 God's Wife of Amun before the end of his reign. A Year 19 date carved at Wadi Gasus associates the existing God's Wife, Shepenupet I (daughter of Osorkon III) with Year 12 of her Adopted Adoratice, Amenirdis I. This inscription has been interpreted by Egyptologists to mean that Year 12 of a Nubian king (either Piye or Kashta) was equivalent to Year 19 of one of Osorkon III's sons, likely Takelot III based on recent archaeological discoveries.

Conquest of Egypt

As the next ruler of Nubia, Piye took advantage of the squabbling of Egypt's rulers by expanding Nubia's power beyond Thebes into central Egypt. In reaction against the growing Kushite influence in Upper Egypt, Tefnakhte 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. Tefnakhte then sent his coalition army south and besieged Herakleopolis where 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 Feast which proves he controlled this great city by this time. His military feats are chronicled in a stela at Gebel Barkal. 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 5 months. Tefnakhte took refuge in an island in the Delta and conceded defeat but refused to personally pay homage to the Kushite ruler. Piye then sailed 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 to northward from Thebes up to the Western Desert Oases region and Herakleopolis where Peftjaubast ruled as a Nubian vassal king. The local kings of Lower Egypt especially Tefnakhte 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 (Bocchoris) at Sais, in his Second Year.

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 Amun. He revitalised the moribund Great Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal, built under Thutmose III of the New Kingdom by employing numerous sculptors and stone masons 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" (Ashmoleum 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 February 2006 article in the Polish news site Nauka w Polsce (Science in Poland), Padiamonet's tomb contains a burial inscription which is dated to Year 27 of Piye.[1] Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański, Director of the Polish Mission, states regarding the find:

"The tomb had been plundered. We don't know whether in antiquity or in more recent times; however we have found fragments of the mummy. On the basis of the inscriptions found in the tomb we suspect that buried there was the vizier Padiamonet who died in the 27th Year of the rule of the Pharaoh Piankhi (Piye) from the 25th Dynasty." Szafrański 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." (Fifth article: English translation by A. Bak)[2]

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 unknown, this new find and his 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 Year 2 donation stela--from a private collection--near Sebennytos from Necho I's reign. (This new document was analysed by Olivier Perdu in RdE 55) 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 likely genuine and supports the conventional view that Piye enjoyed a reign of roughly three full decades.

Piye was buried in a pyramid at el-Kurru near Gebel Barkal, a site that would come to be occupied by the tombs of several later members of the dynasty. He was succeeded by his brother Shabaka.

External links and references

• The Victory Stela of Piankhy
• Jac Janssen, "The Smaller Dakhla Stele," JEA 54(1968) pp.165-171
• Kenneth Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC). 3rd ed. (1996) Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd.
• Olivier Perdu, "La Chefferie de Sébennytos de Piankhy à Psammétique Ier", RdE 55 (2004), pp.95-111
• Szymon Łucyk, "Polscy archeolodzy odkryli grób wezyra w świątyni Hatszepsut" or 'Polish Archaeologists have discovered a tomb of a vizier in the temple of Hatshepsut' in Nauka w Polsce, February 22, 2006 [3]

Preceded by: Kashta

Pharaoh of Egypt Twenty-fifth Dynasty

Succeeded by: Shabaka

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