Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
754 BC–656 BC
The
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated
Dynasty XXV, alternatively
25th Dynasty or
Dynasty 25), also known as the
Nubian Dynasty, the
Kushite Empire, the
Black Pharaohs,
[2][3] or the
Napatans, after their capital
Napata,
[4] was the first dynasty of the
Late Period of Egypt that occurred after the
Kushite invasion.
The 25th dynasty was a line of pharaohs who originated in the
Kingdom of Kush, located in present-day northern
Sudan and
Upper Egypt. Most of this dynasty's kings saw
Napata as their spiritual homeland. They reigned in part or all of Ancient Egypt for nearly a century, from 744 to 656 BC.
[5][6][7][8]The 25th dynasty was highly Egyptianized, using the Egyptian language and writing system as their medium of record and exhibiting an unusual devotion to Egypt's religious, artistic, and literary traditions. Earlier scholars have ascribed the origins of the dynasty to immigrants from Egypt, particularly the Egyptian Amun priests.
[9][10][11] The third intermediate-period Egyptian stimulus view is still maintained by prominent scholars, especially that excavations from el-Kurru cemetery, the key site to the origin of the Napata state, show sudden Egyptian arrivals and influence during the 3rd intermediate period, concurrent with the Egyptianization process.
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