25th Dynasty

The 25th Dynasty was the dynasty of Egypt between its Assyrian occupation and its Babylonian invasion. The dynasty followed the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties, ruled concurrently with the 24th and 21st Dynasties, and was followed by the 26th and 27th Dynasties. It lasted from 638 to 564 B.C. before the invasion, which is 74 years. Following the Babylonian invasion, the dynasty lasted until 535 B.C., or 29 years. The dynasty consisted of Menkheperre Piankhi, Shabaka, Shabataka, Taharka, and Tanuatamon.

The dynasty began when Menkheperre Piankhi liberated Egypt from Assyria, and drove its Assyrian occupants out of the Levant, in 639 B.C. When he became king a year later, the 25th Dynasty truly began. Following his twentieth year, Piankhi led a number of successful military campaigns. By 597 B.C., he was too old to rule all of Egypt alone, and so Shabaka proclaimed himself pharaoh and coregent with Menkheperre.

Shabaka ruled alongside Piankhi until 585 B.C., when Shabaka died. Shabataka, his son, became pharaoh, and Menkheperre Piankhi died in his first year. Shabataka died fifteen years later, and appointed his brother and military commander Taharka as pharaoh. Taharka was driven into Nubia by Babylonian invasion in 564 B.C., and lived out the rest of his reign there.

Taharka's nephew, Tanuatamon, proclaimed himself pharaoh of all Egypt upon his uncle's death. He began a journey down the Nile to take back the delta from Babylon. After he defeated the remaining Babylonian garrisons, Cyrus the Great invaded/liberated Egypt and drove Tanuatamon south to Thebes. He lived out the rest of his short nine-year rule there, until his (and his dynasty's) death in 535 B.C.

The evidence for the revised history can be found at Displaced Dynasties. Evidence concerning this dynasty specifically can be found here and here.