Despite the apparent finality of Piyi’s triumph and the return to centralized rule which it implied, it seems not to have been long before Tefnakht of Sais returned to power. The same individual appears in the archaeological record as a king with full titulary and regnal dates which he perhaps only adopted after Piyi’s invasion - he had been labeled the ‘‘Chief of the West’’ at the time of Piyi’s invasion (Lichtheim 1980: 70). Furthermore, a successor of Tefnakht’s, the king Bakenrenef, is also attested.
The latter has been equated with the “Bocchoris’’ of the Twenty-fourth Dynasty who Manetho tells us was taken captive by Shabaqa and burned alive (Waddell 1940: 166-9). Serapeum records suggest that Bakenrenef was recognized as Pharaoh in Memphis until his sixth year. If Shabaqa was responsible for Bakenrenef’s downfall, this decisive act of aggression presumably happened early in the new Kushite king’s reign, as his rule was recognized in Buto, part of Bakenrenef’s territory, in his fourth year (Eide et al. 1994: 41). There is no record of Shabaqa’s campaign that is illuminating as that of Piyi’s triumph, but hereafter Shabaqa, ruling from Memphis, was recognized throughout Egypt (Morkot 2000: 208), and thus established his line in charge of the country.
Shabaqa’s reign saw the beginning of the revival in monumental construction in Thebes. The southern city furnishes us with more evidence of the period than any other site, perhaps in part due to certain biases in preservation and the relative lack of archaeological work elsewhere. Nonetheless it was of greater importance at this time than it had been during the preceding centuries. It was strategically significant as a staging post on the way from Napata to Memphis and the Delta, and its role as the cult center of Amun had particular resonance for the Kushites. The Kushites maintained control of the city and region by securing alliances with established local families and individuals. Piyi had been assisted in his campaign by the chief lector priest, Padiamunnebnesuttawy (Grimal 1981: 170), whose descendants were allied to the Kushites by marriage and would remain among the most prominent individuals in the region into the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (Vittmann 1978: 66-95). Indeed, many of the most powerful Thebans survive throughout this period, a fact which suggests that the Kushites had left much of the administration of the region in place. Notably, the evidence suggests that very few Kushites, other than royal family members, occupied prominent positions within the Theban administration.
The Kushite princess Shepenwepet (II) had been installed in the harim of the god’s wife of Amun, presumably during the reign of her father Piyi. It was perhaps due to the impracticality of appointing yet another Kushite princess as heiress to the God’s Wife that Shabaqa revived a Libyan tradition by installing his son Haremakhet as High Priest of Amun, the post having been vacant since the last years of Libyan rule in Thebes. Resources were focused on the renovation of existing monuments dedicated to Amun and the addition of new structures, many built in the name of the God’s Wife of Amun. This investment brought renewed prestige to the city and ensured the loyalty of the local individuals who were appointed to govern it and oversee such projects.
World History
