In the Late Period it includes the government of the XXIV to XXX Dynasties (730-330). The Egyptian Kingdom began to decline at the end of the Ramesid Dynasties, the period that begins then is known as the Late Period.
Not only was royal power weaker, but there were invaders from the south and west. The economic possibilities were precarious and did not favor the development of the country's art and culture.
The tombs of the rulers of the XXI and XXII Dynasties, discovered by Montet, were built in the courtyard of the temples. They are very modest, made of simple stone blocks and mediocre decoration. In the sarcophagi dominates silver, not gold.
Egypt's Late Dynasties
24th Dynasty (727-715)
Pharaoh Tefnakht (730-720) dethroned the last legitimate pharaoh of the XXIII Dynasty, Shesonquis or Sesonq IV, taking advantage of the weakness of the kings of the two previous Dynasties. At the same time, Piankhi of Nubia (747-716, Dynasty XXV) invaded Egypt, trying to seize power, which led to a confrontation between the two.
Bocchoris/Bekenrinef (720-715) was the successor of Tefnakht. This king was a great legislator who abolished debt slavery a hundred years before Solon in Greece.
Around this time, Egypt again entered the Mediterranean orbit through its relations with Miletus, a city on the coast of Ionia, in Asia Minor. Economic interests determined a similar evolution in Lydia and Egypt, whose best parallel we will see in the times of Psammetichus and Gyges of Lydia. Egyptian feudal elements also looked to Assyria for help against the centralizing power of the monarchy.
Dynasty XXV (747-656)
Part of the clergy of Amun who emigrated to Napata, a city in the Sudan, by not accepting Sheshonq I (as was seen when referring to the XXII Dynasty) founded a democratic kingdom there, with the absolute domain of the god Amun . Their first pharaoh was Pianki/Pianji/Peye (747-716).
This king unified all of Egypt, confronting Tefnakt, pharaoh of the XXIV Dynasty who, in turn, had united Lower and Middle Egypt, although he made the mistake of not removing the local princes whom he had defeated. Almost nothing is known about the end of Pianki's reign.
From Shabaka, (716-702), his successor, it is not known what ties united him with Piánkhi. He resided in Thebes, ruling over all of Egypt. He renewed the constructions and the work in the quarries of Wadi Hammamat. His policy with Assyria was one of prudence, sending gifts to Sargon II.
His successor, Sabataka , (702-690) was saved from the invasion of the Assyrian Sennacherib by the plague that decimated the invading army, which did not intervene in either Egypt or Palestine and was assassinated shortly after by members of his own family.
Taharqah (690-664) had his predecessor assassinated. He reorganized the administration and carried out numerous constructions (colonnade of the temple of Amun in Karnak, Medinet Habu, Edfu, etc.), and above all, he embellished the city of Tanis, where he liked to reside. He succeeded Tanutamón (664-656).
The kings of Napata (Dynasty XXV), have tombs, found in Djebel Barkal, which are only modest stone pyramids, very slender.
Assyrian Domination
In Assyria reigned at this time Asarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, Taharqa fomented the revolt against him of the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre. Esarhaddon besieged Tire and unable to take it, he continued to Egypt, taking Memphis, where he seized the harem and the sons of the pharaoh who took refuge in Thebes while Esarhaddon he proclaimed himself king of Upper and Lower Egypt. After an interval of time, the Assyrian king left Egypt, Taharqa remade himself and took power again. Esarhaddon tried to return to Egypt and died in his attempt, but his son Ashurbanipal conquered this country. A revolt of Nekao, Prince of Sais, was crushed by the Assyrians and he was sent to Nineveh as a hostage and treated magnanimously, his son Psammetichus being made Prince of Alhribis. Years later, he rebelled against the Assyrian invasion and started a new Dynasty:The one number XXVI (663-525), based in Sais.
Dynasty XXVI (664-525)
With Psammetichus (664-610), prince of Sais, the XXVI Dynasty begins and a new flourishing of Egyptian history and art, until Psammetichus III (526-525).
At this time, the art knew a new current of classicism and strove to imitate the great works of the Eighteenth Dynasty. That is why it is called classical Saite art or Saite neoclassicism .
In architecture, large buildings were built, as evidenced by the remains found in Tell Atrib of original funerary constructions. The American archaeological commission in Mendes has brought to light the foundations of a colossal temple to which Herodotus referred to with wonder. Other vestiges of Saite architecture have been found in the delta, as well as the so-called Hauara labyrinth.
In sculpture, most of the Saite works of art that have come down to us are small in size, since monumental art disappeared. An effort to match the art of the great ancestors and an authentic attention to detail can be seen in these objects. Highlights include the royal portrait of Berlin and the funerary furniture of Queen Tahut, wife of Psammetichus II.
This Saite art is characterized, despite its attempt to follow the classicism of the New Kingdom, for not often achieving the harmonious proportions of the body, which characterize the works of the Eighteenth Dynasty, instead, in certain works, it already reflects a spirit Greek, especially in the more flexible way of shaping the cheeks and chin.
We must also underline the predilection of this art for the representations of animals.
XXVII Dynasty (525-404)
The Persian domination of Egypt brought economic decline as a consequence, however temples continued to be built, such as the one built by Darius dedicated to the Theban god Amun in the oasis of Khargeh. His reliefs indicate a decline in the Saite artistic style, although his classicism and his love for detail will reappear in the last indigenous Egyptian Dynasty, the XXX and in the time of the Ptolemies, his art is in a certain way an extension of the previous one.
Last Dynasties
After the brief parenthesis of the XXVIII Dynasty (404-398), whose only king was Amirteo and the XXIX (398-378) and XXX (378-341) Dynasties, returned to dominate the Persians for a short time (341 -333) until their last king, Dario III Codomano He was defeated by Alexander the Great , who will be received in Egypt as a liberator and named pharaoh. He and his descendants are called "Macedonian Kings * who should be called the XXXII Dynasty, the Lagidas being the XXXIII.
When Alexander died, after Philip Arrideo and Alexander IV, the Ptolemy or Lagid Dynasty (founded by Ptolemy Lagos, Alexander's general who gave it its name) will begin to reign in Egypt, whose last representative will be Cleopatra VII Thea . After the death of this queen, Egypt will become a Roman province. With this Lagid Dynasty the so-called Hellenistic Egypt began.