The Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069-525 BCE) is the era following the New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1570-c.1069 BCE) and preceding the Late Period (c.525-332 BCE). This era, spanning the Twenty-first to Twenty-sixth Dynasties, began with the death of Ramesses XI in 1070 BC and ended with ushering in the so-called "Late Period." The Third Intermediate Period of Egypt is the name used by Egyptologists to refer to the era following the New Kingdom of Egypt.
This period is considered to be the “darkest age” as far as the intermediate periods go, probably because there was no glorious period that followed it. It was marked by a division of the state for much of the period, as well as conquest and rule by foreigners. As you now know, much of the era was defined by political instability and war. There existed much internal rivalry, divisiveness, and political uncertainty between Tanis in the Delta region and Thebes located in Upper Egypt.
The Third Intermediate Period (TIP) has been much misunderstood. Spanning roughly four centuries it is a period characterised by cycles of division and reunification within the country, and also the influence of foreigners, particularly various groups of ‘Libyan’ settlers, and the emerging new power in the south, the kingdom of Kush. Individuals from both groups came to rule Egypt as pharaoh at various times.
Archaeological and textual evidence for the period is fragmentary and has proven difficult to reconcile with other sources, particularly the king list provided by the historian Manetho. We now have a much improved understanding of how Egypt changed during the TIP, of what was distinctive about it, and in particular how Egypt was influenced by the foreign groups.
The Third Intermediate Period began as the reign of Ramesses XI (1107-1077 BCE), the last pharaoh of the New Kingdom, came to an end. At the tail end of this dynasty, the influence of New Kingdom pharaohs was relatively weak. The 20th dynasty ended with the death of Ramesses XI in 1070 BC. Even in Ramesses XI’s day, the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on power in the city of Thebes, where priests were becoming increasingly powerful.
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After Ramesses XI died, Smendes I buried the king with full funerary rites. This act was performed by the king’s successor, who in many cases was the king’s eldest son. They would perform these rites as a way to indicate that they were divinely chosen to next rule Egypt. After his predecessor’s interment, Smendes took over the throne and continued to rule from the Tanis area. Smendes ruled from Tanis, but that is where his reign was contained.
The power of the great New Kingdom pharaohs had been waning throughout the 20th Dynasty (c. 1190-1077 BCE) while that of the High Priests of Amun had grown. By the end of the New Kingdom, the god Amun was effectively the ruler of Egypt as the pharaoh was no longer considered a necessary intermediary between the people and their gods. The city of Thebes was all but lost to the powerful priesthood of Amun. The High Priests of Amun had only gained more power during Ramesses XI’s reign and completely controlled Upper Egypt and much of the country’s middle region by this time. However, these two power bases were not always competing against each other.
The Rise of Libyan Dynasties
In the 21st Dynasty one finds a number of rulers with Egyptian names who still were most likely Libyan, and in the latter dynasties, Libyans reigned from both Tanis and Thebes under Libyan names, attesting to the acceptance of non-Egyptians in positions of power; a situation which would have been intolerable in Egypt’s earlier history. The 22nd Dynasty was also Libyan, whose kings now ruled openly under Libyan names. It was founded by Shoshenq I (943-922 BCE), who unified Egypt and embarked on military campaigns reminiscent of the days of Egypt’s empire.
The 22nd dynasty was founded by Sheshonq I of the Libyan Meshwesh tribe west of Egypt. The country was firmly reunited by the Twenty-second Dynasty, founded by Shoshenq I in approximately 943 BCE. Shoshenq I descended from Meshwesh immigrants originally from Ancient Libya. Unlike the Nubians with whom the ancient Egyptians knew about and came into contact throughout much of the state’s history, the Libyans were a bit more mysterious. The Meshwesh were nomadic; the ancient Egyptians left that way of life in the predynastic era and by the Third Intermediate Period had become so used to sedentism that they did not quite know how to deal with these wandering foreigners. In some ways, this may have made the Meshwesh people’s settlement into Egypt simpler.
The famous historian Manetho states that the rulers of this dynasty were from Bubastis. Still, evidence supports the theory that the Libyans had almost certainly come from Tanis, their capital and the city where their tombs were excavated. This unification brought stability to the country for well over a century, but after the reign of Osorkon II, the country had shattered in two states.
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Shoshenq III of the Twenty-Second Dynasty controlled Lower Egypt by 818 BCE, while Takelot II and his son Osorkon (the future Osorkon III) ruled Middle and Upper Egypt. In Thebes, a civil war engulfed the city between the forces of Pedubast I, a self-proclaimed pharaoh. Eventually Osorkon B defeated his enemies, and proceeded to found the Upper Egyptian Libyan Dynasty of Osorkon III, Takelot III, and Rudamun.
His successes, however, did not last long after his death. Starting in the last third of the 9th century BC of Dynasty 22, kingship began to weaken. By the end of the 8th century, Egypt had fragmented further, especially in the north, where a few local rulers seized power (eastern and western Delta regions, Sais, Hermopolis, and Herakleopolis). These different groups of independent local leaders became known as the 23rd dynasty by Egyptologists.
Preoccupied with the internal rivalries that had taken place in the latter part of the 22nd dynasty, Egypt’s grip on Nubia to the south gradually slipped. The 24th dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period comprised an ephemeral group of kings who ruled from Sais in the western Delta. These kings were also of Libyan origin and had broken off from the 22nd dynasty. Tefnakht, a powerful Libyan prince, expelled Osorkon IV, the last king of the 22nd dynasty, from Memphis and proclaimed himself king.
Unbeknownst to him, the Nubians had also noticed Egypt’s fractured state and Tefnakht’s actions and decided to take action. Led by king Piye, the Kushites led a campaign to the Delta region in 725 BC and seized control of Memphis. Most of the local rulers pledged their allegiance to Piye. This prevented the Saite dynasty from establishing a firm grasp on the Egyptian throne and eventually allowed the Nubians to seize control and rule Egypt as its 25th dynasty.
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The Kushite Dynasty
To the south, the Kushite king Kashta (c. 750 BCE) recognized Egypt’s weakness and moved to capitalize on it. The Nubian kingdom to the south took full advantage of the division of the country. Nubia had already extended its influence into the Egyptian city of Thebes around 752 BCE, when the Nubian ruler Kashta coerced Shepenupet into adopting his own daughter Amenirdis as her successor.
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Not long after, a son of Tefnakht by the name of Bakenranef took up his father’s post and was able to reconquer Memphis and crown himself king, but his rule was cut short. The 25th dynasty is the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period. Piye established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors.
Rulers under this dynasty originated in the Nubian Kingdom of Kush. Their capital was established at Napata, located at the fourth cataract of the Nile River by the modern city of Karima, Sudan. Their reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Kish created the largest Egyptian empire since the New Kingdom. The reunited Nile valley empire of the 25th Dynasty was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom.
They assimilated into society by adopting Egyptian religious, architectural, and artistic traditions while also incorporating some unique aspects of Kushite culture. During this dynasty, the first widespread building of pyramids since the Middle Kingdom resumed. Pharaohs of the dynasty, among them Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal.
However, during this time, the Nubians had gained enough power and traction to draw the attention of the Neo-Assyrian empire to the east, even becoming one of their main rivals. The Kingdom of Kush attempted to gain a foothold in the Near East through a series of campaigns, but the Assyrian kings Sargon II and Sennacherib were able to fend them off effectively. Their successors Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal invaded, conquered, and expelled the Nubians in 671 BC.
The Nubian king Taharqa was pushed south and the Assyrians placed a series of local Delta rulers allied with the Assyrians in power, including Necho I of Sais. For the next eight years, Egypt formed the battleground between Nubia and Assyria. Eventually, the 25th dynasty was followed by the 26th, the first of the Late Period , which was initially a puppet dynasty of Nubian kings controlled by the Assyrians before the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire invaded them.
Tanutamun, the last Nubian king of the 25th dynasty, retreated to Napata. Upper Egypt remained under the rule of Tantamani for a time, while Lower Egypt was ruled by the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, starting in 664 BCE. In 663 BC, Tantamani launched a full-scale invasion of Lower Egypt, taking Memphis in April of this year, killing Necho I of Sais in the process as Necho had remained loyal to Ashurbanipal. Tantamani was defeated north of Memphis and Thebes was thoroughly sacked shortly after. The Kushite king withdrew to Nubia while the Assyrian influence in Upper Egypt quickly waned.
To affirm his authority, Psamtik placed his daughter in position to be the future Divine Adoratrice of Amun, thereby also submitting the priesthood of Amun and effectively uniting Egypt. Tantamani's successor Atlanersa was in no position to attempt a reconquest of Egypt as Psamtik also secured the southern border at Elephantine and may even have sent a military campaign to Napata.
Although originally established as clients of the Assyrians, the Twenty-sixth Dynasty managed to take advantage of the time of troubles facing the Assyrian empire to successfully bring about Egypt’s political independence. In 656 BCE, Psamtik I (last of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty kings) occupied Thebes and became pharaoh, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt. He proceeded to reign over a united Egypt for 54 years from his capital at Sais. Four successive Saite kings continued guiding Egypt through a period of peace and prosperity from 610-525 BCE.
Unfortunately for this dynasty, however, a new power was growing in the Near East: Persia. Pharaoh Psamtik III succeeded his father, Ahmose II, only six months before he had to face the Persian Empire at Pelusium. The new king was no match for the Persians, who had already taken Babylon. Psamtik III was defeated and briefly escaped to Memphis. He was ultimately imprisoned, and later executed at Susa, the capital of the Persian king Cambyses.
| Dynasty | Approximate Dates | Key Rulers/Events |
|---|---|---|
| 21st Dynasty | c. 1069-945 BCE | Smendes I rules from Tanis; High Priests of Amun control Upper Egypt |
| 22nd Dynasty | c. 943-716 BCE | Founded by Shoshenq I; reunification of Egypt; Libyan Meshwesh origin |
| 23rd Dynasty | c. 818 BCE | Fragmentation of Egypt; local rulers seize power |
| 24th Dynasty | Ephemeral | Kings rule from Sais; Libyan origin; conquest by Nubians |
| 25th Dynasty | c. 750-664 BCE | Kushite Dynasty; reunification of Egypt; conflict with Assyrians |
| 26th Dynasty | c. 664-525 BCE | Saite Dynasty; initially Assyrian clients; Persian conquest in 525 BCE |
Artistic and Religious Practices
However, this isn’t the full picture. Local native and foreign rulers alike drew inspiration from old Egyptian artistic, architectural, and religious practices and melded them with their own regional styles. Burial practices, of course, were maintained throughout the Third Intermediate Period. However, certain dynasties (22 and 25) produced famously elaborate funeral art, equipment, and ritual services for the upper class and royal tombs.
Art was extremely detailed and employed different mediums such as Egyptian faience, bronze, gold, and silver to create these works. Whereas extravagant tomb decoration was a focal point in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, burial practices shifted towards more richly decorated coffins, personal papyri, and stelae during this period. In the 8th century BC, it was popular to look far back in time and mimic Old Kingdom monument and iconographic styles. In imagery depicting figures, this looked like broad shoulders, narrow waists, and emphasized leg musculature.
Religious practices became more focused on the king as a son of the divine. In previous periods in ancient Egypt, the king was usually praised as an earthly god himself; this change probably had something to do with the instability and waning influence of this position by the end of the New Kingdom and into the Third Intermediate Period. Along the same line, royal imagery began to appear ubiquitously once more, but in a different way than kings from previous dynasties had commissioned.
Several of these works also depicted or referred to Horus in relation to his mother, Isis, goddess of magic and healing, and sometimes also his father, Osiris, lord of the underworld. These new kinds of works reflected the growing popularity of the divine Cult of Isis and the famous Triad of Osiris, Isis, and the child Horus. Children were often depicted with a sidelock, otherwise known as a Horus lock, which symbolized that the wearer was a legitimate heir of Osiris. So, by portraying themselves as Horus the child, kings declared their divine right to the throne.
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