15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
===The Saite Dynasty===
[[File: Third_Intermediate_Period_map.png|300px250px|thumbnail|left|Political Map of Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period: Sais Was Ruled by the Libyan “Chiefs of the West”]]
Psamtek I is generally considered to be the father of Egypt’s Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, which is often referred to as the “Saite Dynasty” and the kings as “Saites” because they hailed from the Delta city of Sau – Greek “Sais.” In a somewhat ironic turn of history, the Saites were descended from Libyan tribes known as the Libu, who infiltrated the western Delta in the ninth century BC. By the early eighth century, the tribal leaders established a power base in Sais and began referring to themselves as the “Great Chiefs of the West” and the “Great Chiefs of the Libu,” but not as Egyptian kings. <ref> Kuhrt, Amélie. <i>The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 BC.</i> (London: Routledge, 2010), p. 628</ref> But the Libu gradually became Egyptianized and their leaders began assuming Egyptian royal titles and prerogatives.
