The Date of Piye's Egyptian Campaign and the Chronology of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty

This paper examines the chronology of the Nubian kings Piye, Shabaka, and Shabataka. The status of 712 BC as an ‘anchor date’ for the period is challenged and a ‘minimal chronology’, based on the highest known regnal dates of these kings, is presented, yielding the dates 728–706 BC for the reign of Piye, 706–692 BC for that of Shabaka, and 692–690 BC for that of Shabataka. It is suggested that the absence of evidence positively refuting the minimal chronology, which is shorter than any dating ever accepted or assumed for the earlier part of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, shows how uncertain the period's chronology remains and that there may be room for a lower chronology.