View source for Piye

{{short description|Ancient Kushite king and Egyptian pharaoh}}
{{Infobox pharaoh
|Name=Piye
|Image=Stele Piye Mariette.jpg
|Caption=Drawing of the upper part of the [[Stele of Piye]]. The lunette on the top depicts Piye being tributed by various Lower Egypt rulers, and the text describes his successful invasion of Egypt. While the stele itself dates back to Piye's reign in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, it also describes events from the Twenty-third Dynasty.
|ImageSize=300px
|NomenHiero=<hiero>p-S34-i-i</hiero>
|Nomen=''Piy''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/piy.html |title=King Piy |access-date=2007-06-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426111147/http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/piy.html |archive-date=2007-04-26 }} Piy (Piankhi)</ref><ref name="tla859167">{{cite web|url=https://thesaurus-linguae-aegyptiae.de/lemma/859167 |title=Py (Lemma ID 859167)|editor= Altägyptisches Wörterbuch|website=Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae|access-date=2024-08-09}}</ref>
|Prenomen=''Usimare''
|Golden=''Sasha-qenu''
|Nebty=''Mes-hemut''
|Horus=''Zematawy''
|GoldenHiero=
|NebtyHiero=
|HorusHiero=
|Reign=744–714 BC 
|Predecessor=[[Kashta]]
|Successor=[[Shebitku]]
|Spouse= [[Tabiry]], [[Abar (queen)|Abar]], [[Khensa]], [[Peksater]]
|Children=[[Shebitku]]<br>[[Taharqa]]<br>[[Shepenupet II]]<br>[[Qalhata]]<br>[[Arty (queen)|Arty]]<br>[[Tabekenamun]]<br>[[Naparaye]]<br>[[Takahatenamun]]<br>Har<br>Khaliut
|Dynasty=[[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|25th Dynasty]]
|Father= [[Kashta]]
|Mother= possibly [[Pebatjma]]
|Born=
|Died=
|Burial=[[El-Kurru]]
|Monuments=Stelae at [[Jebel Barkal]], enlargement of [[Temple of Amun, Jebel Barkal]], Pyramid at [[El-Kurru]]
|Alt=Pānkhi, Piankhy, Piānkhi, Paiānkhi, Paānkhi
|}}
'''Piye''' (also interpreted as '''Pānkhi''', '''Piankhy''', '''Paiānkhi''', '''Piānkhi''', or '''Paānkhi''')<ref>{{cite book|last=Budge|first=Ernest Alfred Wallis|author-link=E. A. Wallis Budge|url=|title=A History of Ethiopia, Nubia & Abyssinia|publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd.|publication-place=London|page=26|volume=I}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|first1=Karola |last1=Zibelius-Chen| year=2006| title=Zur Problematik der Lesung des Königsnamens Pi(anch)i| journal=Der Antike Sudan| volume=17|pages=127–133| url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/mittsag/article/view/85101/79392}}</ref>{{efn|The complete nomen is always written with an [[ankh]] hieroglyph (𓋹 "life, live"),<ref name="tla859167" /> once presumed a phonemic part of the name, but now thought to be an unpronounced<ref>{{cite book |last1=von Beckerath |first1=Jürgen |title=Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen |date=1999 |publisher=Verlag Philipp von Zabern |location=Mainz am Rhein |pages=206–207 |edition=2nd|language=German|isbn=9783805325912}}</ref> [[determinative]] or an inserted honorific,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leprohon |first1=Ronald J. |title=The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary |date=2013 |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |location=Atlanta |isbn=978-1-58983-736-2 |pages=160–161}}</ref> cf. [[ankh wedja seneb]].}} was an ancient [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]]ite king and founder of the [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]], who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC.<ref>F. Payraudeau, Retour sur la succession Shabaqo-Shabataqo, Nehet 1, 2014, p. 115-127 [https://www.academia.edu/11021678/_Retour_sur_la_succession_Shabaqo-Shabataqo_Nehet_1_2014_p._115-127. online here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507023737/http://www.academia.edu/11021678/_Retour_sur_la_succession_Shabaqo-Shabataqo_Nehet_1_2014_p._115-127. |date=2018-05-07 }}</ref> He ruled from the city of [[Napata]], located deep in [[Nubia]], modern-day [[Sudan]].

==Name==
Piye adopted two [[throne name]]s: '''Usimare''' and '''Sneferre'''.<ref>[[Jürgen von Beckerath]], Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, MÄS 49, 1999. pp. 206-207</ref> He was passionate about the worship of the god [[Amun]], like many kings of Nubia. He revitalized the moribund [[Temple of Amun, Jebel Barkal|Great Temple of Amun]] at [[Jebel Barkal]], 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")<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Peter A. Clayton|last=Clayton|first=Peter A.|title=Chronicle of the Pharaohs|publication-place=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd|year=1994|isbn=0500050740|pages=189–191|lccn=94-60269}}</ref> but this [[Ancient Egyptian royal titulary|praenomen]] has now been recognized as belonging to a local [[Thebes, Egypt|Theban]] king named [[Ini (pharaoh)|Ini]] instead who was a contemporary of Piye.<ref>[[Jean Yoyotte]], 'Pharaon Iny, un Roi mystèrieux du VIIIe siècle avant J.-C.', CRIPEL 11(1989), pp.113-131</ref>

{{Kushite Monarchs}}

==Family==
{{see also|Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt family tree}}
Piye was the son of [[Kashta]] and [[Pebatjma]]. He is known to have had three or four wives. [[Abar (queen)|Abar]] was the mother of his successor [[Taharqa]]. Further wives are [[Tabiry]], Peksater and probably [[Khensa]].<ref name="DH">Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. {{ISBN|0-500-05128-3}}</ref>

Piye is known to have had several children. He was the father of:
* King [[Shebitku]]. Said to be a son of Piye,<ref name="ReferenceA">Kitchen, Kenneth A. The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt, 1100-650 B.C. (Book & Supplement) Aris & Phillips. 1986 {{ISBN|978-0-85668-298-8}}</ref> or alternatively a brother of Piye.<ref name="DH"/><ref name="RM"/>
* King [[Taharqa]]. Son of Queen [[Abar (Queen)|Abar]]. He would take the throne after his uncle [[Shabaka]] and another male relative Shebitku.<ref name="DH"/>
* [[God's Wife of Amun]] [[Shepenwepet II]]. Installed in Thebes during the reign of her brother Taharqa.<ref name="DH"/>
* [[Qalhata]], wife of King [[Shabaka]], she was the mother of king [[Tanutamun]] and probably of King [[Shabataka]] as well.<ref name="DH"/>
* [[Tabekenamun]] married her brother [[Taharqa]].<ref name="DH"/>
* [[Naparaye]] married her brother [[Taharqa]].<ref name="DH"/>
* [[Takahatenamun]] married her brother [[Taharqa]].<ref name="DH"/>
* [[Arty (queen)|Arty]], married king [[Shebitku]].<ref name="DH"/>
* Har. Known from an offering table of his daughter Wadjrenes from Thebes ([[TT34]]).<ref name="DH"/>
* Khaliut, Governor of Kanad according to a stela found at Barkal.<ref name="DH"/>
* Princess Mutirdis, Chief Prophet of Hathor and Mut in Thebes and daughter of Piye according to [[Robert Morkot|Morkot]].<ref name="RM">Morkot, Robert G., The Black Pharaohs: Egypt's Nubian Rulers, The Rubicon Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-948695-24-2}}</ref> Thought to be a daughter of a local ruler named Menkheperre Khmuny from Hermopolis by [[Kenneth Kitchen|Kitchen]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Conquest of Egypt==
[[File:GD-EG-Alex-MuséeNat065.JPG|thumb|Image of [[Shepenupet II]], "Divine adoratrice of Amón" and daughter of Piye.]]
[[File:Gebel Barkal Amun temple (B500).JPG|thumb|Ruins of the Temple of [[Gebel Barkal]].]]
As ruler of [[Nubia]] and Upper Egypt, Piye took advantage of the squabbling of [[Ancient Egypt|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 [[Heracleopolis Magna|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 [[Gebel Barkal]]:

{{quote|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 ....|Victory Stele of Piye.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Literature Of Ancient Egypt |pages=368 ff |url=https://archive.org/details/TheLiteratureOfAncientEgyptKellySimpsonBySamySalah/page/n389/mode/2up |language=ar}}</ref>}}

Piye viewed his campaign as a [[religious war|holy war]], commanding his soldiers to cleanse themselves ritually before beginning battle. He himself offered sacrifices to the great god [[Amun]].<ref name=draper>"[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/02/black-pharaohs/robert-draper-text The Black Pharaohs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506165440/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2008/02/black-pharaohs/robert-draper-text |date=2014-05-06 }}", by Robert Draper, ''National Geographic'', February 2008.</ref>

Piye then marched north and achieved complete victory at Herakleopolis, conquering the cities of Hermopolis and [[Memphis, Egypt|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 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.

==Length of reign ==
[[File:Stele Piye submission Mariette.jpg|thumb|left|Detail of a drawing of the [[Stele of Piye|Victory stele]]: Piye (left, partially erased) is tributed by four Nile Delta rulers: [[Nimlot of Hermopolis|Nimlot]] standing, and kneeling from left to right, [[Osorkon IV|Osorkon (IV)]], [[Iuput II|Iuput (II)]] and [[Peftjauawybast]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leahy |first1=Anthony |title=Royal Iconography and Dynastic Change, 750-525 BC: The Blue and Cap Crowns |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |date=1992 |volume=78 |page=227, and Plate XXVI |doi=10.2307/3822074 |jstor=3822074 |issn=0307-5133}}</ref>]]
Piye's highest known date was long thought to be the "Year 24 III [[Season of the Inundation|Akhet]] day 10" date mentioned in the "Smaller Dakhla Stela" ([[Ashmolean Museum]] No.1894) from the [[Set (deity)|Sutekh]] temple of [[Mut el-Kharab]] in the [[Dakhla Oasis]].<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/3855921 | issn = 0307-5133 | volume = 54 | pages = 165–172 | last = Janssen | first = Jac. J. | title = The Smaller Dâkhla Stela (Ashmolean Museum No. 1894. 107 b) | journal = The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology | date = 1968-08-01 | jstor = 3855921 }}</ref> However, reliefs from the Great Temple at Gebel Barkal depict Piye celebrating a [[Heb Sed|Heb Sed Festival]]. Such festivals were traditionally celebrated in a king's 30th Year. It is debated whether the reliefs portrayed historical events, or were prepared in advance for the festival—in which case Piye might have died before his 30th regnal year. Piye is also attested by two papyri dated to Year 21 and 22 of his reign where he is named  Pharaoh "Piye Si-Ese Meryamun" which is undoubtedly this king's name.<ref>Kenneth Kitchen, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)''. 3rd ed. (1996) Warminster: Aris & Phillips S123</ref> 

[[Kenneth Kitchen]] has suggested a reign of 31 years for Piye, based on the Year 8 donation stela of a king Shepsesre Tefnakht who is commonly viewed as Piye's opponent.<ref>Kenneth Kitchen, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)''. 3rd ed. (1996) Warminster: Aris & Phillips</ref> A dissenting opinion came from [[:fr:Olivier Perdu|Olivier Perdu]] in 2002, who believes that this stela refers instead to the later king [[Tefnakht II]] because of stylistic similarities to another, dated to Year 2 of [[Necho I]]'s reign.<ref>Olivier Perdu, ''"De Stéphinatès à Néchao ou les débuts de la XXVIe dynastie"'', ''Compte-rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (CRAIBL) ''2002, pp.&nbsp;1215–1244</ref><ref>Olivier Perdu, ''"La Chefferie de Sébennytos de Piankhy à Psammétique Ier"'', ''RdE'' 55 (2004), pp.&nbsp;95–111</ref> Secondly, Kitchen observes that:
{{block quote|A fragmentary bandage from Western Thebes bears an obscure date of Sneferre Piankhy [or Piye]. The visible traces indicate ‘Regnal Year 20', a patch and trace (the latter compatible with a ‘10'), and a shallow sign perhaps an otiose ''t''. In other words, we here have a date higher than Year 20 of Piankhy [or Piye], and very possibly Year 30 - which would fit very well with the 31 years’ minimum reign which has been already inferred on independent grounds.<ref>Kenneth Kitchen, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)''. 3rd ed. (1996) Warminster: Aris & Phillips S123</ref>}}

==Burial==

Piye's tomb was located next to the largest [[Pyramid]] in the cemetery, designated Ku.1 (seen in the image on the right), at [[el-Kurru]] near [[Jebel Barkal]] in what is now [[Northern, Sudan|Northern Sudan]]. Down a stairway of 19 steps opened to the east, the burial chamber is cut into the bedrock as an open trench and covered with a [[Corbel|corbelled]] masonry roof. His 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. Further out to the edge of the cemetery (the first pharaoh to receive such an entombment in more than 500 years)<ref name=draper /> his four favorite horses had been buried. This site would be also occupied by the tombs of several later members of the dynasty.

== Footnotes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Roberto B. Gozzoli: ''The Writing of History in Ancient Egypt during the First Millennium BC (ca. 1070-180 BC), Trends and Perspectives'', London 2006, S. 54-67 {{ISBN|0-9550256-3-X}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Piye}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927051521/http://www.yare.org/essays/pianky.htm The Victory Stela of Piankhy]
* [http://attalus.org/egypt/piye.html The Stela of Piye - verbatim translation]  
{{Kushite Monarchs footer}}{{Pharaohs}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:710s BC deaths]]
[[Category:8th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:8th-century BC monarchs of Kush]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Kush]]
[[Category:Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]]
[[Category:Egyptian people of Nubian descent]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]