ABSTRACT
Poetically termed the “Twilight” of Egypt, the fi rst millennium BCE is often viewed as a time of general decline (Mysliwiec 2000) of Egyptian culture. During these centuries, the political control of Egypt was initially divided between the king in the north and the High Priest of Amen controlling the south in Dynasty 21. The political fragmentation and internal weakness allowed non-Egyptians to repeatedly take control of Egypt. Beginning with Dynasty 22, the Libyan population that had already entered Egypt during the New Kingdom became a powerful presence and men of Libyan descent ascended to the throne of Egypt. By mid-eighth century BCE, the Nubian Dynasty 25 gained control of Egypt and removed the Libyans from power. Despite renewed campaigns in the Levant by the kings of Dynasties 22 and 25, Egypt lost cultural prestige in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Subsequently, Egypt was occupied by the Assyrians, Persians and ruled over by the Ptolemaic dynasty until the fi rst century when it became a Roman province and ceased to exist as an independent state. Implicit in scholarship is the idea that the “beginning of the end” of Egyptian culture had its roots in the Third Intermediate Period. 1
In general Dynasties 21-25 constitute the Third Intermediate Period (1069-664 BCE), which concludes with the rise to power of the Saite Dynasty 26, which in turn inaugurated the Late Period. Chronological debates about periodization complicate discussions of the Third Intermediate Period. While most scholars (Kitchen 1986; Shaw 2000) place Dynasty 21 within the framework of the Third Intermediate Period, Bierbrier (1975) applied the term “Late New Kingdom” to the entire period from ca. 1300-664 BCE to indicate cultural continuities from the Ramesside Period. Jansen-Winkeln (2001, 2006) proposes the recognition of Dynasty 21 as part of the Libyan period and Dodson (2001, 388) suggests marking Dynasty 25 as the beginning of the Late Period. Although Fazzini (1988, 1) emphasizes the continuities between the Libyan Period and the Kushite Period.
