| Piye the Conqueror | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 4 February 744 - 15 August 714 |
| Predecessor | Bakenranef I |
| Successor | Shebitku I |
| Born | July 8, 768 Napata, Kush |
| Died | August 15, 714 (aged 54) |
| Spouse | Tabiry, Abar, Khensa, Peksater, Nefrukekashta |
| Issue | Taharqa, Shepenupet II, Queen Qalhata, Queen Arty, Queen Tabekenamun, Queen Naparaye, Queen Takahatenamun, Har, Khaliut |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Sematawy Nebty Name: Mes-hemut Golden Horus Name: Sasha-qenu Praenomen: Usimara Nomen: Piye | |
| House | Napata |
| Dynasty | Nubia |
| Father | Kashta |
| Mother | Pebatjma |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Piye (also interpreted as Pankhy or Piankhi; d. 714 BC) was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 4 February 744 - 15 August 714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia.
Name[]
Piye adopted two throne names: Usimara and Sneferra. He was passionate about the worship of the god Amun, like many kings of Nubia. He revitalized the moribund Great Temple of Amun at Djuamun, which was first built under Thutmose III of the New Kingdom, employing numerous sculptors and stonemasons from Egypt. He was once thought to have also used the throne name 'Menkheperre' ("the Manifestation of Ra abides") but this prenomen has now been recognized as belonging to a local Theban king named Ini V instead who was a contemporary of Piye.
Family[]
Piye was the son of Kashta 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:
- King Shebitku. Said to be a son of Piye, or alternatively a brother of Piye.
- King Taharqa. Son of Queen Abar. He would take the throne after his uncle Shabaka and another male relative Shebitku.
- God's Wife of Amun Shepenwepet II. Installed in Thebes during the reign of her brother Taharqa.
- Qalhata, wife of King Shabaka, she was the mother of king Tanutamun and probably of King Shabataka as well.
- Tabekenamun married her brother Taharqa.
- Naparaye married her brother Taharqa.
- Takahatenamun married her brother Taharqa.
- Arty, married king Shebitku.
- Har. Known from an offering table of his daughter Wadjrenes from Thebes (TT34).
- Khaliut, Governor of Kanad according to a stela found at Djuamun.
- Princess Mutirdis, Chief Prophet of Hathor and Mut in Thebes and daughter of Piye according to Morkot. Thought to be a daughter of a local ruler named Menkheperre Khmuny from Hermopolis by Kitchen.
Conquest of Egypt[]
As ruler of Nubia 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 I 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 Peftjauawybast and the local Nubian commanders appealed to Piye for help. Piye reacted quickly to this crisis in his regnal 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 Djuamun:
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 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 III of Leontopolis, Osorkon VIII 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 Peftjauawybast 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 Shebitku, Piye's successor, who later rectified this unsatisfactory situation by attacking Sais and defeating Tefnakht's successor Bakenranef there, in his second regnal year.