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The New Kingdom (1567-1085BC) :
The Twenty-First Dynasty was established by successors of Herihor and
Smendes who continued to rule Upper and Lower Egypt separately from
Thebes and Tanis. But by this period external threats from Libyan
invaders and others were eroding Egypt's power to defend itself.
Eventually both Upper and Lower Egypt succumbed to foreign invasions.
Libyan warriors who established their own Twenty-Second Dynasty drove
the Tanites from power.
Upper Egypt held out longer against Nubian invaders until being
overrun by the armies of their ruler Piankhi all the way to Memphis.
Piankhi's brother Shabaka marched north to conquer the Delta and
reunite Upper and Lower Egypt under the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty of Nubian
Kings (747-656BC).
During this period there was an artistic and cultural revival. The
Twenty-Fifth Dynasty ended when Assyrian armies captured Memphis and
attacked Thebes, driving the Nubian pharaoh Tanutamun back to Nubia.
The Assyrians found a willing Egyptian collaborator in the form of a
prince from the Delta. Psammetichus I governed on behalf of the
Assyrians until they were forced to withdraw their forces to wage war
against the Persian Empire. On the departure of the Assyrians,
Psammetichus I declared himself pharaoh and established the
Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, ruling over a re-united Egypt from his capital
at Saïs in the Delta. This was to be the last great Pharaonic age
which witnessed the revival of majestic art and architecture and the
introduction of new technologies.
Gradually, though, the power of the kingdom eroded due to invasion,
ending ignominiously when Amasis, "the Drunkard", was forced to depend
on Greek forces to defend his Kingdom against the onslaught of Persian
imperial armies.
The Persians first invaded Egypt in 525BC, initiating a period of
foreign domination of the country which lasted until
1952, when an
Egyptian republic replaced the monarchy of King Farouk. The conquering
Persians established the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty (525-404BC) which
ruled Egypt with an iron hand.
The Persians, under the emperors Cambyses and Darius, completed a
canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea which had been started by
the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty king Necho II. They also constructed temples
and a new city on the site of what is now called Old Cairo. This was
called Babylon in Egypt.
The harshness of Persian rule resulted in revolts against the Persian
satraps Xerxes and Artaxerxes which led to the Twenty-Eighth dynasty
of the Egyptian ruler Amyrtaeus and his successors. The Egyptian kings
of succeeding dynasties were under continual attack by Persians until
the Thirtieth and final Pharaonic dynasty was overthrown by Artaxerxes
III, remaining under Persian domination until the arrival of Alexander
the Great in 332BC.
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