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Kush was an ancient kingdom to the south of Nubia where the new rulers of Egypt resided at Napata. These kings were still buried in pyramids long after the Pyramid Age of the Old Kingdom had dissipated. The Assyrians ended Kushite rule over Egypt in two invasions, first in 671 BCE and again in 663 BCE. The last ruler was Taharqa (Tirhaka of the Bible) depicted as a sphinx on the right.
The Assyrians appointed Egyptian governors from the town of Sais in the Delta to govern Egypt on their behalf, but these Saite governors of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty achieved independence from Assyria in 656 BCE. With this conquest a new golden era of prosperity and creativity started. Psamtek II subdued the Kushite kings at Napata and forced them to move their capital even further south to Meroe. The era was ended by the Persian invasion in 525 BCE.
The Twenty-seventh Dynasty or First Persian Period lasted until 404 BCE when a prince from Sais rebelled against Persia with the help of Sparta and founded the Twenty-eighth Dynasty. The following dynasties had several rulers and in 343 BCE the Second Persian Period or Thirty-first Dynasty started with another conquest. The last Persian ruler was Darius III who lost his empire to Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 332 BCE.
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 A sphinx with the face of Taharqa, the last ruler of Nubia, currently housed in the British Museum. |