Wahibre Psamtik I (Ancient Egyptian: ) was the first pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt, the Saite period, ruling from the city of Sais in the Nile delta between 664 and 610 BCE. He was installed by Ashurbanipal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, against the Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, and later gained more autonomy as the Assyrian Empire declined.
Name
The Egyptian name , pronounced as , was a short form of , meaning "the man of Meṯek", with Meṯek presumably a deity.
His name was rendered by the Assyrians as Pishamilki (), by the Ancient Greeks as (), and by the Romans as .
Psamtik was also called Nabu-shezibanni ( and ), meaning "O Nabu, save me!" by the Assyrians.
Background
thumb|upright=1.5|left|Assyrian capture of an Egyptian city from the Kushite Pharaoh [[Taharqa or Tantamani, possibly Memphis in 663 BCE. British Museum.]]
In 671 BCE, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon invaded Egypt. This invasion was directed against the Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who had been in control of Upper Egypt, rather than against the native Egyptian rulers. The Assyrians created an administration relying on local Egyptian rulers, and put in place the twelve kinglets who formed a Dodecarchy ruling over the Nile Delta. They also formed alliances with the ruler of the city of Sais, Necho I, who was the most powerful of the Delta kinglets, as well as with Pakruru, the ruler of the important nome of Per-Sopdu.
In 665 BCE, the Kushite king Tantamani invaded Lower Egypt again, and Necho I and Pakruru resisted the Kushite attack. Necho I died in battle and his son Psamtik I fled to Syria, while Pakruru became the spokesperson of the Delta kinglets during the peace negotiations with Tantamani at Memphis.|thumb]]
After being chased from Memphis, Psamtik I received another similar prophecy from the goddess Wadjet of Buto, who promised him the rule over all Egypt should he employ bronze men from the sea. Beginning in 662 BCE, Psamtik I formed contacts with Gyges, the king of the Anatolian kingdom of Lydia, who sent to Egypt the Ionian Greek and Carian mercenaries that Psamtik I used to reconquer Memphis and defeat the other kinglets of the Dodecarchy, some of whom fled to Libya. Psamtik I might have been also aided in these military campaigns by Arabs from the Sinai Peninsula. By Psamtik I's 4th regnal year, he completed the forging of an alliance with the powerful family of the Masters of Shipping from Heracleopolis, and by his 8th regnal year in 657 BCE, he was in full control of the Delta. The exact dating of this siege is uncertain.
In the later part of Psamtik I's reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire started unravelling following the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BCE, leaving a power vacuum in the Levant which allowed the Assyrians' former Scythian vassals to overrun the area. Some time between 623 and 616 BCE, the Scythians reached as far south as Judah and Edom until Psamtik I met them and convinced them to turn back by offering them gifts.
Wives
Psamtik's chief wife was Mehytenweskhet, the daughter of Harsiese, the vizier of the North and High Priest of Re at Heliopolis. Psamtik and Mehytenweskhet were the parents of Necho II, Merneith, and the Divine Adoratrice Nitocris I.
Psamtik's father-in-law—the aforementioned Harsiese—was married twice: to Sheta, with whom he had a daughter named Naneferheres, and to an unknown woman, by whom he had both Djedkare, who succeeded him as vizier of the North, and Mehytenweskhet.
Discovery of a colossal statue
On 9 March 2017, Egyptian and German archaeologists discovered a colossal statue about in height at the Heliopolis site in Cairo. Made of quartzite, the statue was found in a fragmentary state, with the bust, the lower part of the head and the crown submerged in groundwater.
While the statue was initially speculated to be of Ramesses II, it was later been confirmed to be of Psamtik I due to engravings found that mentioned one of Psamtik's names on the base of the statue. A spokesperson at the time commented that "If it does belong to this king, then it is the largest statue of the Late Period that was ever discovered in Egypt." The head and torso are expected to be moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum. However, from the many fragments of quartzite collected (now 6,400 of them), it has been established that the colossus was at some time deliberately destroyed. Certain discolored and cracked rock fragments show evidence of having been heated to high temperatures then shattered (with cold water), a typical way of destroying ancient colossi.
Gallery
thumb|229x229px|Cartouche of Psamtik
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File:Egypte louvre 038.jpg|Psamtik I kneeling, Louvre Museum
File:Psammetique_Ier_T_Pabasa.jpg|Relief of Psamtik I making an offering to Ra-Horakhty (Tomb of Pabasa)
File:Slab of the Egyptian king Psamtik I. 26th Dynasty, 664-610 BCE. From Alexandria; originally from the temple of Atum at Heliopolis, Egypt. British Museum.jpg|Slab of Psamtik I. The king kneels and makes offerings to fearsome-looking deities, including a double-headed bull god and a snake. From Alexandria; originally from the temple of Atum at Heliopolis, Egypt. British Museum
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