Sack of Thebes

Sack of Thebes
Part of the Assyrian conquest of Egypt
Assyrian siege of an Egyptian fort, probably a scene from the war in 667-663 BCE. Sculpted in 645 – 635 BCE, under Ashurbanipal. British Museum.[1]
Date 663 BC Location Thebes, Egypt Result Immediate: Assyrian victory, end of the 25th Dynasty Within a decade: unification of Egypt under Psamtik I Long term: Thebes permanently weakened
Belligerents
Neo-Assyrian Empire Egyptian vassals	Kushite Egypt
Commanders and leaders
Ashurbanipal Psamtik I	Tantamani
Units involved
Assyrian military Psamtik's forces, including Carian mercenaries	Tantamani's army

The sack of Thebes took place in 663 BC in the city of Thebes at the hands of the Neo-Assyrian Empire under king Ashurbanipal, then at war with the Kushite Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt under Tantamani, during the Assyrian conquest of Egypt. After a long struggle for the control of the Levant which had started in 705 BC, the Kushites had gradually lost control of Lower Egypt and, by 665 BC, their territory was reduced to Upper Egypt and Nubia. Helped by the unreliable vassals of the Assyrians in the Nile Delta region, Tantamani briefly regained Memphis in 663 BC, killing Necho I of Sais in the process.^[2]

On learning of these events, Ashurbanipal aided by Necho's son, Psamtik I and his Carian mercenaries, returned to Egypt with a large army and comprehensively defeated the Kushites near Memphis. The army then proceeded south to Thebes, which quickly fell as Tantamani had already fled to Lower Nubia. According to Assyrian texts, the city was thoroughly sacked, its inhabitants were deported and much booty taken back to Assyria, including two large obelisks. To the contrary, the archaeological evidence from Thebes shows no signs of destruction, plunder or major changes. The evidence shows more signs of continuity than of disruption: all the officials that were in office before the alleged sack of Thebes were still in office afterwards and the development of tombs on the western bank of Thebes continued without interruption.^[3] In the publications of Diethelm Eigner or Julia Budka, the Assyrian sack of Thebes is not archaeologically detected.^[4][5]

The sack of Thebes was a major event in the history of the city and of ancient Egypt in general. It effectively marks the end of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt as Tantamani lost his main foothold in Egypt. The Kushites were permanently expelled within a decade of the fall of Thebes as none of Tantamani's successors would ever manage to retake territories north of Elephantine. Durably weakened, Thebes peacefully submitted itself less than six years after the sack to a large fleet sent by Psamtik to control Upper Egypt as he freed himself from the Assyrian vassalage. The sack thus permitted the rise of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the end of the Third Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Late Period. The sack seems to have reverberated more generally throughout the Ancient Near East, it is notably mentioned in the Book of Nahum as an example of the destruction and horror that can befall a city.