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THE SAITE PERIOD: the EMERGENCE of a Mediterranean Power

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THE SAITE PERIOD: the EMERGENCE of a Mediterranean Power THE SAITE PERIOD: THE EMERGENCE OF A MEDITERRANEAN POWER Damien Agut-Labordère preliminary remarks 1. Unless otherwise specified, all dates are B.C. 2. P. Louvre 7848, a document drafted in abnormal hieratic and dating from the year 12 of the reign of Amasis, indicates both solar and lunar dates, making it possible to synchronize the Egyptian calendar with the Julian calendar. Year 12 of the reign of Amasis thus runs from 10 January 559 to 9 January 558.1 The Saite dynastic list is thus: Psamtik I 664–610 Nekau II 610–595 Psamtik II 595–589 Apries 589–570 Amasis 570–526 Psamtik III 526–525 3. abbreviations: ar. = Aramaean dem. = demotic gr. = Greek ab. hierat. = abnormal hieratic O.P. = Old Persian The Saite period corresponds to the 26th Manethonian Dynasty, and covers approximately the century and a half of Egyptian history between two invasions from the East: that of the Assyrians in the first half of the seventh century, and that of the Persians in 526.2 The first invasion put an end to the Kushite domination of Egypt, while the second confirmed the domination of the Achaemenid Persians. In 570, a coup d’État by General Amasis interrupted the dynastic continuity and led to the overthrow of Apries. After his lengthy reign of 44 years, his son and successor Psamtik III reigned for only a few months before being overthrown by Cambyses. 1 R.A. Parker, “The Length of Amasis and the Beginning of the 26th Dynasty,” in: Festschrift Junge = MDAIK 15 (1957), 208–212. 2 J.F. Quack, “Zum Datum der persischen Eroberung Ägyptens unter Kambyses,” JEH 4/2, 2011, pp. 228–246. 966 damien agut-labordère Sources and Problems The widely used and abused term “Saite Renaissance” is so fraught with error and simplification that its meaning requires explanation. It originated in the work of the art historians, who quickly determined that the Saite monuments, statues, and votive inscriptions cut into the hard stones were characterized by a search for archaism, an unques- tionable taste for what was ancient. Scribes and lapidaries used ancient titles and turns of phrase, some of which dated from the Old Kingdom, to designate the positions of their time.3 In our opinion, this practice, which creates the illusion of a millennial continuity of functions, helps to conceal the changes. Worse, it can lead the epigraphist to inter- pret a sixth-century position in terms of an identical title attested to more than a millennium earlier. Historians of the Saite period must therefore be wary of engaging in a kind of “nominalism of titles” con- sisting in confusion of words and objects. Papyrus documentation (in both abnormal hieratic and in demotic) is of great help in this regard. By putting flesh on the simple statement of titles and positions that constitutes the ordinary work of the epigraphist, papyrus texts show the agents of the king and the gods in action, and supply vital infor- mation on the duties, scope of action, and position in the hierarchy of titles that in and of themselves are sometimes not very revealing. Thus, in this short history of the Saite royal administration, we shall look chiefly at the positions explained by both the epigrapher and the papyrus. The best method for clarifying the functioning of the Saite administration is to cross-reference these two types of documentation as often as possible. Two very penetrating studies serve as the basis for the historiogra- phy of the period. Kees has analyzed the meaning of the Saite domestic policy established as resumption of control over the Egyptian territory and the centralization of the administration.4 Meanwhile, Kienitz has described Saite foreign policy and positioned it in the long term by showing that it foreshadowed that of the Ptolemies.5 It is true that for 3 P. der Manuelian, Living in the Past. Studies in Archaism of the Egyptian Twenty- Sixth Dynasty (London, 1994). The archaizing trends go back to the seventh century; F. Payraudeau, “Les prémices du mouvement archaïsant à Thèbes et la statue Caire JE 37382 du quatrième prophète Djedkhonsouiouefânkh,” BIFAO 107 (2007), 141–156. 4 H. Kees, Innenpolitik der Saitenzeit (Göttingen, 1935). 5 F.K. Kienitz, Die politische Geschichte. Ägyptens vom 7. bis zum 4. Jahrhundert vor der Zeitwende (Berlin, 1953), 140–149 (Chapter 12)..
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