posted
^ Well Egypt's last native dynasty was the 26th dynasty. After that the Persians invaded and there were many successive foreign dynasties I am not too familiar with.
Posts: 26346 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Uri – Here is a condensed history of Egypt taken from Realhistoryww. I’m just giving the parts from the beginning of the end of Egypt, which is the Assyrian invasion, hope you find it useful
In 679 B.C. the Assyrian king Esarhaddon stationed a garrison at the Egyptian border, because Egypt, under the Nubian king Taharqa, was planning to intervene in Arum. Esarhaddon then put down, with great severity, a rebellion of the combined forces of Sidon, Tyre, and other Canaanite cities. Now the time was ripe to attack Egypt, which was suffering under the rule of the Nubians and was by no means a united country. Esarhaddon's first attempt in 674–673 B.C. miscarried, in 671 B.C. however, his forces took Memphis, the Egyptian capital. Assyrian consultants were immediately assigned to assist the princes of the provinces, their main duty being the collection of tribute.
The Egyptian records are silent, but stele and tablets inscribed in cuneiform, give circumstantial accounts of the campaign in which Esarhaddon, after subjugating Canaan, drove Nubian king "Taharka" reeling back to the south.
Here is a shortened excerpt from the best preserved of his inscriptions: From the town of Ishhupri as far as Memphis, a distance of fifteen days, I fought daily, very bloody battles against Tarky, king of Egypt and Nubia, the one accursed by all the great gods. Five times I hit him with the point of my arrows, inflicting wounds, and then I laid siege to Memphis, his royal residence. I destroyed it, tore down its walls, and burnt it down. (After mentioning the booty which he carried off to Assyria he continues): All Nubians I deported from Egypt, leaving not even one to do homage to me. Everywhere in Egypt I appointed new kings, governors, officers, harbor overseers, officials, and administrative personnel.
Soon after setting out for a further campaign, Esarhaddon fell ill at Harran and died. Thus enabling Taharka to regain Memphis, and to occupy it until driven out afresh by "Ashurbanipal", the new Assyrian king (667 B.C.). The Assyrians had expelled the Nubians from Egypt, and had taken control. But by now, the Assyrians themselves, have been defeated by a coalition of Media (Persia) and Babylon.
Now native Egyptian rule is re-established with the ascension of Psamtik I, {some say that he was half Libyan}, who was the first king of the 26th Dynasty, he reigned for almost 50 years. Both Psamtik I, and his father NeKau I (Necho) of Sais, were originally involved with an intrigue associated with the Nubian ruler Taharqo against Assyria, but Psamtik was captured, held and indoctrinated by the Assyrians. Psamtik I was even given the Assyrian name, Nabu-shezibanni, before finally being returned to Egypt, where his father had assumed power in the Delta. To all appearances, Psamtik I had been a loyal subject of his Assyrian overlords, but as that empire's glories waned, Psamtik took the opportunity to break their hold, and in so doing, became the absolute ruler of Egypt. It was during the reign of the third king of this dynasty, king Wahibre, that the Greeks first threaten Egypt.
As to king Wahibre, his troubles began after he had sent his Egyptian army to help Libya against the Dorian Greeks, who were attacking their city of Cyrene. In the ensuing battle, the Egyptians were badly beaten, and upon the survivor's return to Egypt, civil war broke out. King Wahibre was blamed for the disaster, this resulted in a confrontation between the regular Egyptian army, and the Greek mercenaries in the Egyptian army. The defeat at Cyrene, probably only provided an excuse for this revolt, because for some time, Egyptian soldiers had felt that Greek mercenaries were treated better than they, the native Egyptian army.
When Wahibre sent his general “Ahmose”, to put down this revolt, Ahmose was instead implored by the Egyptians soldiers to be their leader, a plead which he accepted. There ensued a battle between the Greek mercenaries, under the command of king Wahibre, and the Egyptians under the command of Ahmose.
Wahibre and the Greek mercenaries were defeated, and then Wahibre was captured and killed, Ahmose became king Ahmose II. He has been called the last great Egyptian Pharaoh; this is because the rule of his son, Psamtik III, was very short lived. By the time of Ahmoses death - after a long reign of some 44 years, the Persians had long ago conquered Babylon, and were already at the frontiers of Egypt. His son "Psamtik III" was eventually captured by the Persians, and Herodotus tells us that the Persian ruler Cambyses, had Ahmose's mummy exhumed and: "subjected to every indignity, such as lashing with whips and the plucking of its hairs, until the executioners were weary. At last, as the corpse had been embalmed and would not fall to pieces under the blows, Cambyses ordered it burnt"
The Persian kings constitute the 27th dynasty of Egypt
However over time, dissension at home among the Persians, and various Persian palace intrigues, provided an opportunity for one "Amyrtaios", to take the throne of Egypt. He is believed to have expelled the Persians from the entire country. He was the only ruler of the 28th Dynasty, and he is thought to have been a Libyan, as are all the rest. He ruled Egypt from Sais for six years. His reign however, was unstable and he was removed from the throne by Nepherites I, who stabilized the country.
Nepherites I, thus became the first ruler of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty. Nepherites I, had sent a gift to the Spartans after an allegiance had been entered into with Sparta against Persia. The gift was taken by the Persians after the ships from Egypt were captured as they approached Rhodes. The Egyptians did not know that the Rhodians had defected to the Persians.
The 29th and 30th dynasties are much the same, various obscure rulers, from various places.
Nectanebo I was the first ruler of the Thirtieth Dynasty and was a general from Sebennytus. He is thought to have been related to the family of Nepherites I. He imposed heavy taxes on the people of Egypt in order to finance Egypt's war with Persia. In the spring of 373 B.C, the Persian army moved in to attack Egypt. They got as far as the Mendesian mouth of the Nile. The two commanders of the Persian forces could not agree on their strategy. As the time passed, the Nile rose and flooded the Delta area, making a march southward impossible. The Persians abandoned their efforts and left. The Egyptians had successfully turned back the Persians, with a little help from the Nile, and peace was reestablished. Nectanebo restored and built many monuments throughout Egypt.
Nectanebo II 360-343 B.C. Nectanebo II, was the third and final ruler of the Thirtieth Dynasty. He became king after the previous ruler, his uncle "Teo", had campaigned into Phoenicia, which was then a Persian provence, while leaving behind Nectanebo's father Tjahapimu, as governor of the country. Tjahapimu rebelled, and offered the throne to his son Nectanebo II, who was commanding Teo's troops in Phoenicia, some say Persian money was behind this intrigue. This turn of events left Teos little choice, and he fled to Persia, where he was given refuge, (the Persians felt that a former king would come in handy for the next attack), and Nectanebo returned to Egypt as Pharaoh.
Nectanebo ruled for eighteen years, and built many monuments in Egypt. After the disaster with the Persians, he risked no further expeditions against the Levant states. However, Cyprus and Phoenicia were now fighting against the Persians, and they were assisted by some troops sent by Nectanebo II. Unfortunately, the Persian King Artaxerxes III, destroyed these troops and then moved against Egypt. Unlike the last Persian attack against Egypt, some thirty years before, this time the Nile flooding had already passed, and the Persian attack was made much more wisely than the last time, (when Nectanebo I was king). The Persian attack was made at three different points at the same time. Defeated, Nectanebo II retreated to Memphis, where he felt that he could make a stand against the Persians. But as city after city fell, all that he could do was gather up, as much of his possessions as he could, and flee to Nubia. Thus the Persian king, Artaxerxes III, makes Egypt once more a Persian province. Artaxerxes, after taking over all of Egypt, demolished the walls of the most important cities and plundered the shrines, he carried off a vast quantity of silver and gold. He also carried off the written records from the ancient temples, these were later returned to the Egyptian priests, on the payment of huge sums. Then after he had lavishly rewarded the Greeks, who had accompanied him on the campaign, each according to his just deserts, he dismissed them to their native lands. And then, after having installed one "Pherendates" as satrap of Egypt, he returned home with his army.
Alexander the Great And so things remained in Egypt, the Persians are lords of the land once more. That is until Alexander III of Macedon (356-323 B.C.), better known to history as 'Alexander the Great'. Alexander is now at war with Persia, and after conquering Persia's naval bases all along the coastline of Asia Minor (Anatolia), and Phoenicia/Canaan, Alexander marched south into Egypt.
Alexander's march into Egypt had a purpose. Egypt was essential to his future plans, he needed a strong coastal base for both military and commercial purposes. Egypt could provide ports, from which he could not only communicate across the Mediterranean, but from which he could also handle highly lucrative sea trade, which he wanted to divert from Phoenicia ports. With his naval force's following his progress down the coast, his Macedonian army covered the hazardous 130 mile distance in only a week, and he reached the heavily fortified coastal town of Pelusium, in late October 332 B.C.
With his reputation going before him, Alexander was met by Egypt's Persian governor "Mazaces", who had no armed forces, and with the defeated king Darius' making a swift departure back east to Persia. Mazaces simply handed over the treasury's 800 talents and "all the royal furniture". In return he was kept on, as part of the new administration, which included the new governor Cleomenes. He was made responsible for finance, and later created the royal mint, around 331 B.C.
For almost 200 years, Egypt had been occupied by Persia, which had incorporated it into their growing empire. The Persian kings had ruled in absentia through a satrap, exploiting Egypt's vast grain reserves and taxing its people. The Persians showed relatively little respect for the ancient traditions of Egypt, and were deeply unpopular. The Egyptians had often rebelled, so parts of the country remained virtually independent.
Alexander was therefore, hailed as Savior and Liberator, he was the people's choice and legitimate heir. Alexander was given the double crown of the Two Lands, and anointed pharaoh, in Memphis on November 14, 332 B.C. With Alexander's annexation of Egypt, Greek officials, soldiers, merchants and immigrants from Greece and elsewhere in Europe, poured into Egypt. This would greatly change the population demographic. Alexander laid the groundwork for the first European city in Egypt, Alexandria, before leaving the country. After his death, his body was returned and entombed there.
Egypt would remain a Greek possession for the next three centuries, much to the betterment of Greece.
With the death of Cleopatra – the last Greek sovereign, Egypt passed into Roman hands. And now, Egypt has a Roman King. It is with the ascension of the Roman emperor Constantine, that a new era begins for Alexandria, as well as for the Empire as a whole. By defeating his co-ruler "Licinius" (Rome had begun the practice of having two rulers, one for the eastern half of the Empire, and one for the western half), Constantine now is sole ruler.
He established the eastern capital for the Empire in what is now modern Turkey, in a city called Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. (After this city is sacked and taken over by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, it would be renamed Istanbul). The Romans, as the Greeks had earlier done, assume Egyptian customs and regalia, and do their best to drain the country dry. As had happened when the Greeks took control of Egypt, now Romans and those under Roman hegemony have unfettered access to Egypt. Further eroding the population demographic.
Now in Persia, a new Persian dynasty, the "Sassanians" have ascended. Thus begins a series of great wars against the Romans, because these two great empires were of equal strength, it was not possible for either side to gain decisive victory. So for year after year, the battles raged, and the two sides became weaker and weaker.
After so long battling each other, the Persians and the Romans had little hope of defeating the Arab forces that came sweeping in. The exact nature of these "early" Arab forces is not well understood: But Later occurrences make it obvious that Turks and Greeks were the dominant elements.
In 627 A.D, the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, caused letters to be written to several rulers, including letters to the governor of Alexandria and the Viceroy of Egypt. {No guarantee on the accuracy of this letter}. In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
From Muhammad slave of Allâh and His Messenger to Muqawqas, vicegerent of Egypt. Peace be upon him who follows true guidance. Thereafter, I invite you to accept Islam. Therefore, if you want security, accept Islam. If you accept Islam, Allâh, the Sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, you will bear the burden of the transgression of all the Copts.
There is controversy as to exactly who the Copt's are, though certainly NOT native Egyptian, they may perhaps be a combination of Greek and Levant Christians from the time of the Ptolemy's. Native Egyptians, who had not governed themselves for almost 1,200 years, had no say in the matter. They were totally at the mercy of officials, bureaucrats and an elite class, that was of foreign blood. Who of course, had their own interest to think about, their home was now Egypt. The Egypt of the Pharaoh's was a long lost memory, save for the statues and monuments that they left behind. The Egypt they knew was the Egypt of their own making, and they had no desire to be uprooted.
Accordingly, in about 639-640 A.D, after much maneuvering and many intrigues, a treaty was signed by Roman representatives and Arab representatives, which called for the total withdrawal of Roman soldiers, it also stipulated certain monies to be paid to the Arabs. After occupying Egypt, Arabs forces later spread out over Northern Africa, the Middle-East, Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
The Prophet Muhammad, had made Medina his capital, and it was there that he died. Leadership then fell to Abu Bakr (632-634), Muhammad's father-in-law and the first of the four orthodox Caliphs, or temporal leaders of the Muslims. Umar followed him (634-644) and organized the governmental administration of captured provinces. The third caliph was Uthman (644-656), under whose administration the compilation of the Quran was accomplished. An aspirant to the caliphate was Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. Upon the murder of Uthman, Ali became caliph (656-661). After a civil war with other aspirants to the caliphate, Ali moved his capital to Kufa Iraq, and was later assassinated at Al Kufah. Ali's followers established the first of Islam's dissident sects, the Shia (from Shiat Ali "party of Ali"). Those before and after Ali's succession remained the orthodox of Islam; they are called Sunnis - from the word sunnia meaning orthodox.
The Umayyad dynasty: After Ali's murder in 661, Muawiyah - the governor of Syria, (Syria - the Greek name for the region that connected three continents), and a kinsman of Uthman, and also a member of the Quraysh lineage of the Prophet - proclaimed himself caliph and established his capital in Damascus, Syria.
Muawiyah cultivated the goodwill of Christian Syrians by recruiting them for his army at double pay, appointing Christians to many high offices, and by appointing his son by his Christian wife as his successor. {Since the time of Alexander, Greeks had built many cities in Syria and had become the dominate element of the population. By virtue of the Roman occupation, most had become Christians. The province of Syria included the modern elements of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria}.
The Syrian army became the basis of Umayyad strength, enabling the bypassing of Arab tribal rivalries. It was under Umayyad Caliph Umar II (reigned 717-720), that these discontented mawali (non-Arab Muslims) were placed on the same footing with all other Muslims, without respect to nationality. This decree allowed Greeks, Turks and other Eurasians to fully assimilate into the Muslim brotherhood.
The Abbasid dynasty: Later the mawali became involved with the Hashimiyah, a religious/political sect that denied the legitimacy of Umayyad rule. In 749 the Hashimiyah, proclaimed as caliph Abu al-'Abbas as-Saffah, who thereby became first Caliph of the 'Abbasid dynasty. The Abbasid dynasty would rule over Islam for approximately the next 500 years. The Abbasids were descended from an uncle of Muhammad and were cousins to the ruling Umayyad dynasty. The Abbasids established the caliphate in the new city of Baghdad. The strength of the Abbasid dynasty was its Turkish troops.
The Tulunid dynasty: It was during the rule of Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid (ruled 786-809), that the caliphs began assigning Egypt to Turks rather than to Arabs. The first Turkish dynasty was that of Ibn Tulun who entered Egypt in 868.
The Ikhshidid dynasty: 935 A.D. ushered in the Ikhshidid dynasty of Muhammad ibn Tughj, a Turk from Uzbekistan in Central Asia. The Ikhshidid dynasty was usurped by their Abyssinian slave tutor named Kafur, he ruled Egypt with the caliphate's sanction.
The Fatimid Dynasty: When Kafur died in 968, the Fatimids (a contending force for the Caliphate), took advantage of the disorder in Egypt to attack, the attack was successful and led to the occupation of Egypt by a Berber army led by the Fatimid general Jawhar. The early Fatimids' reliance on Berber troops was soon replaced by the importation of Turkish, Sudanese, and Arab contingents. By the time of their decline however, the Fatimid army was under the leadership of Eurasian Armenian generals, (not Aramaean).
The Ayyubid dynasty: In 1169 The Turkish governor of Syria sent an army lead by Saladin (a Kurd born in Tikrit Iraq), to occupy Egypt. He was appointed Fatimid vizier. Two years later Saladin restored Egypt to Abbasid allegiance, abolished the Fatimid caliphate, and established the Ayyubid dynasty. The Ayyubids depended on Turkish slaves - called Mamluks, as a means of manning their armies.
The Mamluk dynasty: In 1250 A.D. The Mamluks rebelled and established their own dynasty. The Ottoman dynasty: In 1516 A.D. the Ottoman Turks along with other Eastern European troops (Serbs and Bosnians), defeated the Mamluks.
In 1798, the French army under Napoleon, invaded and occupied Egypt.
In 1801, the British invaded and occupied Egypt. Muhammad Ali (Pasha): In March 1803 the British were evacuated in accordance with the Peace of Amiens. But the Ottomans, determined to reassert their control over Egypt remained, establishing their power through a viceroy and an occupying army of Albanians. The Albanians later mutinied and installed their own leader as acting viceroy. When he was assassinated shortly afterward, the command of the Albanians passed to his lieutenant, Muhammad Ali.
In Arabia, the domination of Mecca and Medina by puritanical Wahhabi Muslims was a serious embarrassment to the Ottoman sultan, who was the titular overlord of the Arabian territory of the Hejaz and the leading Muslim sovereign. At the invitation of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-39), Muhammad Ali sent an expedition to Arabia that between 1811 and 1813 expelled the Wahhabis from the Hejaz. In a further campaign (1816-18), Ibrahim Pasha, the viceroy's eldest son, defeated the Wahhabis in their homeland of Najd, and brought central Arabia under Albanian control.
In 1820-21 Muhammad Ali sent an expedition up the Nile and conquered much of what is now the northern Sudan. By so doing, he made himself master of one of the principal channels of the slave trade, and began an African Empire that was to be expanded under his successors.
The conquest of the Sudan was intended to provide recruits. But the slaves, encamped at Aswan, died wholesale, and Muhammad Ali had to look elsewhere for his troops. In 1823 he took to conscripting Egyptian peasants for the rank and file of his new army. On the other hand, the officers were mostly Turkish Ottomans, while the director of the whole enterprise, Sulayman Pasha (Colonel Sève), was a former French officer. The conscription was brutally administered.
In 1882 the British once again invaded and occupied Egypt. This occupation was to last until the end of WWI. After which, Egypt became a protectorate of Britain.
In 1922 Egypt was granted limited independence, and on March 15, the Sultan Ahmad Fuad, son of the Turkish Khedive (Viceroy), Ismail Pasha, became King Fuad I of Egypt.
On Feb.1,1958, Egypt and Syria proclaimed the two countries to be the United "Arab" Republic (U.A.R.). The union ended on Sept. 28, 1961, when Syria, following a military coup, declared itself independent of Egypt. Despite the dissolution of the union, Egypt retained the name United Arab Republic until Sept. 2, 1971, when it took its current name the "Arab Republic of Egypt".
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I believe the last true dynasty involved the Nubians, none of that Cleopetra crap, the chick was a true "Harlet" if you ask me. But yeah, the last great dynasty was the 25, which involved the Nubians.
Posts: 62 | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
^ I agree that the greatest last dynasty that was 'true' to the Egyptian culture was the 25th also, but just in defense of Cleopatra she only did what she thought needed to be done in defense of her country Kemet, and unfortunately in the Greco-Roman world as a woman that meant using sexual wiles.
Posts: 26346 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree the last true Dynasty was obvioulsy the 25th...The 26th was also a "Native" African(Lybian) Dynasty.
Posts: 8808 | From: The fear of his majesty had entered their hearts, they were powerless | Registered: Nov 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Cleopetra? Do you Afro-Nuts still think she was African?
We know who her father and mother were! We are also talking well after the end of native Egyptian rule.
-------------------- Across the sea of time, there can only be one of you. Make you the best one you can be. Posts: 4028 | From: NW USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
^ Well at least nobody called you a "Hebrew-nut" for saying Ramses or others had 'Hebrew' ancestry even though we know what their parentage was also.
Posts: 26346 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic