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Late Period
Period of Ancient Egypt, 664-332 BCE, 332 years, consisting of 6 dynasties, the 26th through the 31st Dynasty.
The first 8 years overlap with the Third Intermediate Period; in 664 a new, strong dynasty was established, in 556 this had united all of Egypt, when Thebes peacefully passed from the control of Cush, known as the 25th Dynasty of Egypt.
During this period, Egypt was a united country, but it was a period of international weakness. For about 132 of these years, Egypt was only a Persian satrapy (province).
The period begins with the Assyrian-backed king of the northern city of Sais, Psametik 1, becoming king, but it would take a few years before he managed to fully exercise his power. His 26th Dynasty would bring back a level of prosperity and peace that Egypt had not seen in centuries, but soon Babylonia, then Persia would emerge as regional superpowers.
This period ended with Alexander the Great's conquest, eventually leading to the establishment of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Egypt would now pass through a period of almost 2300 years of being ruled by foreigners.
This was a period of large Greek immigration, in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, immigration had been dominated by Libyans. Trade was strongly developed between Greece and Egypt.
Egyptians proved strongly opposed to immigrants and their cultures. A reaction to their times was a strong nationalism, and increased focus on national culture.
National society was dominated by the temples and the priesthoods. In many temple inscriptions, the elite was only mentioned with their religious offices, not the administrative that they clearly also had. Temples grew increasingly stronger, benefiting from great donations.
Seth became the god of foreign lands.
Animal worship became the new great thing in Egyptian religion during this period, and was especially popular in popular religion. Towards the end of the Late Period, animal worship emerged as the most common form for religious practice all over. The more than 2000 year old worship of the Apis bull at Saqqara became one of the main cults in Egypt; Apis was seen upon as a manifestation of Ptah.
Animal burials became very common, involving at least 10 species, including ibises, cats and dogs.
The central parts of Egypt, economically and culturally, was the Nile Delta and the up the Nile until the region of Memphis.
Throughout the 26th Dynasty, the Egyptian economy grew and thrived. The richest periods was that of Ahmose 2 (570-526).
The main monuments built by individuals of this period were statues erected in or near temples.
This was a period in which demotic script became increasingly used across the whole country, beginning in the north. Demotic became the script used by administration. Hieratic remained in use, but became retained for literary and religious texts. But even in literature, demotic would be used more and more.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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