Piye (Piankhi)

Piye (also known as Piankhi) was a formidable monarch of the Kingdom of Kush in Nubia who marched northward to conquer a fractured Egypt, founding the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (the 'Black Pharaohs'). Ruling from his sacred royal capital of Napata at the foot of Gebel Barkal (in modern Sudan), Piye was a devout worshipper of the god Amun of Thebes and saw his northern campaign not as a foreign plunder, but as a holy war to restore moral and spiritual order to a degenerate, divided Nile valley.

In 728 BCE, when northern Libyan dynasts led by Tefnakht of Sais threatened Upper Egypt, Piye mobilized a massive fleet and army down the Nile. He captured Memphis after an assault from riverboats, receiving the submission of all Egyptian princes. Rather than ruling from Egypt, Piye returned to Napata with vast spoils, recording his epic victory on the celebrated Victory Stele of Piye. An avid lover of fine horses, he had his four favorite steeds buried with royal honors beside him in his royal pyramid at el-Kurru, reviving the royal tradition of pyramid entombment after a five-century hiatus.