| Historical Background:
At the end of Dynasty 20 (late New Kingdom), during the renaissance era of Ramesses XI, this ruler continued –in name– as King of Upper and Lower Egypt. However, the de-facto rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt, namely Herihor and his successor Piankh (High Priests of Amun in Thebes) and Smendes (a ruler/king based at Tanis), governed southern and northern Egypt in his name, dating events to Ramesses XI until his death. In Dynasty 21, Upper and Lower Egypt became basically independent regions, although the High Priests at Thebes (Pinudjem I and his successors) continued to date events to the regnal years of the Dynasty 21 kings at Tanis. The advent of Dynasty 22 is marked by the seizure of the Tanite throne by a Libyan chieftain (Sheshonq I), who became ruler of Lower Egypt. This ruler, however, was recognized in year dates by the otherwise independent Theban priesthood of Amun in Upper Egypt. Towards the end of the 9th century BC, a rival kingdom (i.e., Dynasty 23) arose at Leontopolis in the eastern delta. It co-existed with the Tanite kingdom (Dynasty 22), the Theban kingdom (Upper Egypt), and smaller vassal territories in the western delta (ruled by Libyan chieftains). In the early 8th century BC, a kingdom began to emerge at Napata in Nubia (modern-day Sudan). The Napatan kingdom (Kush) dominated southern Egypt by the mid-8th century BC, briefly invading northern Egypt (ca.728 BC) in the reign of King Piye (Piankhy). The Napatans seized control of all Egypt in 715 BC, under King Shabako. He ushered in Dynasty 25's rule of Upper and Lower Egypt, ending much of the political disunity of the Third Intermediate Period . Soon after the advent of Kushite rule in Egypt, the Assyrian empire completed its conquest of Palestine. It incorporated the Levant within its empire as far south as the borders of Egypt in North Sinai. An Egyptian army apparently aborted an attack against the Assyrian army of King Sennacherib in Southwest Palestine in 701 BC, thereby failing to prevent Assyria from gaining a foothold beside Egypt’s eastern border. Egypt managed to stave off an attempted Assyrian invasion led by King Esarhaddon in 674 BC, but failed to prevent Esarhaddon’s 671 BC invasion, which reached as far as Memphis. After a brief occupation of the Egyptian delta, the next Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal, had to re-invade Egypt in 667 and 664 BC, taking southern Egypt and ending the Kushite/Napatan rule (Dynasty 25). Ashurbanipal appointed a local kinglet, Necho I, and subsequently his son Psamtik I, from the West Delta, to serve as a vassal ruler of Egypt with the assistance of Assyrian garrisons.
Chart summarizing Late Period military activity near Tebilla (525-332 BC). (G. Mumford)The decline of the Assyrian empire allowed Psamtik I to become independent (after 664 BC), reunifying Egypt by 656 BC. This ruler, and his successor (Necho II), later assisted the declining Assyrian empire against the Medes and the Babylonians (ca. 612-605 BC). Despite a short renewal of Egypt’s domination of Syria-Palestine, the rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire, and its defeat of Necho II’s army at Carchaemish (605 BC), effectively thwarted Egypt’s imperial aspirations. The Babylonian empire followed up its gains by attacking Egypt’s eastern border across North Sinai in 601 BC and 568 BC. Several decades later, in ca. 540 BC, the Persian empire replaced the Babylonian empire, and invaded and occupied Egypt in 525 BC. Despite various rebellions, the Persians held Egypt for over a hundred years until 404 BC. The following period, from 404 BC to 343 BC, included a succession of indigenous dynasties (28-30), rebellions, civil warfare, repeated Persian attempts to retake Egypt, and the final Persian Second Occupation of Egypt (initiated by Artaxerxes III). The second Persian occupation was particularly harsh, beginning with a devastating Persian campaign of destruction throughout the delta. The Persian occupation lasted for ten years before Alexander the Great and the Macedonian empire "liberated" Egypt from a particularly cruel Persian oppression. The Macedonians replaced one foreign occupying force with another. |
East Delta (Tell Tebilla) |
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Commerce:The inscriptions, monumental remains, artifacts, and other evidence at Tebilla, suggest that it was more than a simple community during the Third Intermediate Period to Late Period (ca.1069-332 BC). The Gebel Barkal stela of King Piye (Dynasty 25) places Ro-nefer in King Osorkon IV’s East Delta, Tanite kingdom in a list of rulers and polities opposing Piye’s ca. 728 B.C. campaign against northern Egypt. In this account, Mendes formed the capital for a Libyan-derived Chief of the Ma, who ruled a polity separate from Ro-nefer. Of note, the Kingdom of Tanis lay to the east across a large coastal embayment (estuary). It controlled the western shoreline along this body of water, including the northern terminus of the Mendesian branch of the Nile. Hence, Osorkon IV’s control of Ro-nefer would have enabled him to dominate the east delta's commercial relations with the East Mediterranean and the territories to the south of Ro-nefer along the Mendesian river.
Chart summarizing commerce between Tebilla, the delta, and neighbouring regions. (G. Mumford) |
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Tebilla's key riverine and maritime location probably played a significant role in ensuring the accumulation of wealth and royal patronage. This is seen through the town elite’s ability to afford private statuary, rich burial furnishings, and large stone sarcophagi. The prosperity of the overall community is also apparent through the presence of imported southern Egyptian materials and items (e.g., marl pottery containers; limestone; flint; carnelian; alabaster [calcite]; granite; natron; kohl; copper; gold; finished products), Red Sea products (e.g., turquoise; pearls; cowrie shells; incense), Levantine goods (e.g., a Judean juglet; bitumen; Cypro-Phoenician vessels; Phoenician amphorae), East Greek pottery, and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan.
Map summarizing commerce between Tebilla, the delta, and neighbouring regions. (G. Mumford)On the other hand, Tell Tebilla’s hinterland and the surrounding delta landscape offered a variety of local resources: salt, alluvial clay, pleistocene sands and gravels, tamarisk and acacia trees, papyrus, reeds, bulrushes, lotus plants, flax, maritime and riverine fish, marsh birds, sheep, goats, domestic and wild cattle, wild animals (i.e., big game hunting), wheat and barley crops, orchards, vineyards, and flowers. The various byproducts from these resources included such things as papyri, leather, wool, linen, basketry, ropes, furniture, utensils, pottery, beer, wine, and Mendesian perfume. |
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