The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period. The Twenty-Fourth Dynasty was a short-lived group of pharaohs who had their capital at Sais in the western Nile Delta. The known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty are as follows:
Shepsesre Tefnakht (in Greek known as Tnephachthos), was a prince of Sais and founder of the relatively short Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt who rose to become a Chief of the Ma at his home city.
Herodotus wrote that Sais is where the grave of Osiris was located and that the sufferings of the god were displayed as a mystery by night on an adjacent lake.
The city's patron goddess was Neith, whose cult is attested as early as the 1st Dynasty, ca. 3100 - 3050 BCE. The Greeks, such as Herodotus, Plato and Diodorus Siculus, identified her with Athena and hence postulated a primordial link to Athens. Diodorus recounts that Athena built Sais before the deluge that supposedly destroyed Athens and Atlantis. While all Greek cities were destroyed during that cataclysm, the Egyptian cities including Sais survived.
In Plato's Timaeus and Critias (around 395 B.C., 200 years after the visit by the Greek Legislator Solon) , Sais is the city in which Solon (Solon visited Egypt in 590 B.C.) receives the story of Atlantis, its military aggression against Greece and Egypt, its eventual defeat and destruction by natural catastrophe, from an Egyptian priest. Plato also notes the city as the birthplace of the pharaoh Amasis II.
Plutarch said that the shrine of Athena, which he identifies with Isis, in Sais carried the inscription "I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised."
There are today no surviving traces of this town prior to the Late New Kingdom (c.1100 BC) due to the extensive destruction of the city by the Sebakhin (farmers removing mud brick deposits for use as fertilizer) leaving only a few relief blocks in situ.
A recently discovered statue dedicated by Tefnakht I to Amun-Re reveals important details about his personal origins. The statue's text states that Tefnakht was the son of a certain Gemnefsutkapu and the grandson of Basa, a priest of Amun near Sais. Consequently, Tefnakht was not actually descended from a line of Chiefs of the Ma and Libu tribes as traditionally believed but rather came from a family of priests. Tefnakht's royal name, Shepsesre, translates as "Noble like Re" in Egyptian.
Bakenrenef, known by the ancient Greeks as Bocchoris, was briefly a king of the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt. Based at Sais in the western Delta, he ruled Lower Egypt from c. 725 to 720 BC. Though the Ptolemaic period Egyptian historian Manetho considers him the sole member of the Twenty-fourth dynasty, modern scholars include his father Tefnakht in that dynasty.
Although Sextus Julius Africanus quotes Manetho as stating that "Bocchoris" ruled for six years, some modern scholars again differ and assign him a shorter reign of only five years, based on evidence from an Apis Bull burial stela. It establishes that Bakenrenef's reign ended only at the start of his 6th regnal year which, under the Egyptian dating system, means he had a reign of 5 full years. Bakenrenef's prenomen or royal name, Wahkare, means "Constant is the Spirit of Re" in Egyptian.
Manetho is the source for two events from Bakenrenef's reign. The first is the story that a lamb uttered the prophecy that Egypt would be conquered by the Assyrians, a story later repeated by such classical authors as Claudius Aelianus (De Natura Animalis 12.3). The second was that Bakenranef was captured by Shabaka, a king of the Twenty-fifth dynasty, who executed Bakenrenef by having him burned alive. A Kushite king, Shabaka extended his rule over the whole of Egypt, which had been split since the Twenty-first dynasty.
Diodorus Siculus, writing about three centuries after Manetho, adds some different details. Diodorus states that although Bakenranef was "contemptible in appearance", he was wiser than his predecessors (1.65). The Egyptians attributed to him a law concerning contracts, which provided for a way to discharge debts where no bond was signed; it was observed down to Diodorus' time (1.79). For this, and other acts, Diodorus included "Bocchoris" as one of the six most important lawgivers of ancient Egypt.
For a minor kinglet briefly in control of the Nile Delta, this is an unexpectedly prominent ranking: "He was a surprising choice," Robin Lane Fox observes, "Perhaps some Greeks, unknown to us, had had close dealings with him; from his reign we have scarab-seals bearing his Egyptian name, one of which found its way into a contemporary Greek grave on Ischia up near the Bay of Naples." Ischia was the earliest of eighth-century Greek colonies in Italy.
Despite the importance implied by these writers, few contemporary records of Bakenranef have survived. The chief inscription of his reign concerns the death and burial of an Apis bull during Years 5 and 6 of his reign; the remainder are a few stelae that Auguste Mariette recovered while excavating the Serapeum in Saqqara. Shabaka deposed and executed Bakenrenef by burning him alive at the stake and buried the Bull in his own Year 2 (720 BC) while campaigning in Lower Egypt. This effectively ended the short-lived 24th Dynasty of Egypt as a potential rival to the Nubian 25th Dynasty.
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Milki ya ishirini na moja, ishirini na mbili, ishirini na tatu, ishirini na nne na ishirini na tano ya Misri ya kale mara nyingi huunganishwa chini ya jina la kikundi, Kipindi cha Kati cha Tatu. Utawala wa 24 ulikuwa wa muda mfupi na ulianzishwa na Wafalme wa Misri waliokuwa na mji mkuu huko Sais, magharibi mwa Delta ya Mto Nile. "Mfalme wa Misri wa 24 wa karne ya XNUMX, Shepsesre Tefnakht (kwa Kigiriki ""Tnephathos"") alikuwa mfalme wa Sais na mwanzilishi wa nasaba ya 24 ya Misri, ambayo ilijitokeza kuwa Mkuu wa Ma katika mji wake wa nyumbani." Herodoto aliandika kwamba Sais ni mahali ambapo kaburi la Osiris lilikuwa na kwamba mateso ya mungu yalionyeshwa kama fumbo wakati wa usiku kwenye ziwa lililo karibu. Mlinzi wa mji huo alikuwa Neith, ambaye ibada yake inathibitishwa mapema kama nasaba ya kwanza, ca. 310-3050, kabla ya Kristo. Wagiriki kama vile Herodoto, Plato na Diodorus Siculus walimtanguliza Athena na hivyo kuamini kuwa alikuwa na uhusiano wa kwanza na Athene. Diodorus anasimulia kwamba Athena alijenga Sais kabla ya gharika ambayo inadhaniwa iliharibu Athene na Atlantidi. Ingawa majiji yote ya Ugiriki yaliharibiwa wakati wa msiba huo, majiji ya Misri kutia ndani Sais yaliokoka. "Katika kitabu cha Plato, ""Timaeus na Critias"" (karibu 395 KK, miaka 200 baada ya ziara ya Solon, Mgiriki Mtawala), Sais ni mji ambao Solon (Solon alitembelea Misri mwaka 590 KK) aliishi." Hadithi ya Atlantis, uvamizi wake wa kijeshi dhidi ya Ugiriki na Misri, kushindwa kwake na uharibifu kwa msiba wa asili, kutoka kwa kuhani wa Misri. Plato pia anataja jiji hilo kuwa mahali pa kuzaliwa kwa Farao Amasis wa Pili. "Plutarch anasema kwamba hekalu la Athena, ambalo yeye huitambulisha na Isis, katika Sais, lilikuwa na maandishi ""Mimi ni yote yaliyokuwa, na ni, na yatakuwa; na pazia langu hakuna mtu aliyekufa aliyewahi kuinua.""" Hakuna mabaki ya mji huu kabla ya Ufalme Mpya wa Mwisho (C. 1100 BC) kutokana na uharibifu mkubwa wa mji na Sebakhin (wakulima kuondoa matope ya matofali kwa ajili ya matumizi kama mbolea) na kuacha tu vitalu vichache vya misaada. Sanamu iliyogunduliwa hivi karibuni iliyowekwa wakfu na Tefnakht I kwa Amun-Re hufunua mambo muhimu kuhusu asili yake ya kibinafsi. Maandishi ya sanamu hiyo yanasema kwamba Tefnakht alikuwa mwana wa Gemenefshtakep, mjukuu wa Baasha, kuhani wa Amoni karibu na Sais. Kwa hiyo, Tefnakht hakuwa mzao wa viongozi wa makabila ya Ma na Libu kama inavyoaminika kwa kawaida, bali alitoka katika familia ya makuhani. Jina la kifalme la Tefnakht, Shepsesre, hutafsiriwa kuwa "Mtukufu kama Re" katika Kimisri. Bakrenrefu, aliyejulikana na Wagiriki wa kale kama Bocchoris, alikuwa mfalme wa muda mfupi wa nasaba ya ishirini na nne ya Misri. Alitawala Misri ya Chini kuanzia mwaka 725 KK hadi 720 KK. Ingawa mwanahistoria wa kipindi cha Ptolemaic Manetho anamwona kuwa mwanachama pekee wa nasaba ya ishirini na nne, wasomi wa kisasa wanamjumuisha baba yake Tefnakht katika nasaba hiyo. "Julius Africanus alimwita Manetho ""Bocchoris"" kwa miaka sita, lakini wasomi wengine wa kisasa wanamtaja kuwa mfalme wa miaka mitano tu, kulingana na ushahidi kutoka kwa stela ya mazishi ya Apis Bull." "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, utawala wa Bakruni ulimalizika katika mwaka wa sita wa utawala wake, na kwa mujibu wa mfumo wa tarehe ya Misri, utawala wake ulikuwa wa miaka mitano.""" Jina la kwanza la Bakenrenef au jina la kifalme, Wahkare, linamaanisha "Mzima ni Roho ya Re" katika Kimisri. Manetho ndiye chanzo cha matukio mawili ya utawala wa Bakenrenef. "Mwanzo wa hadithi hii ni kwamba ""ndama"" alitoa unabii kwamba Misri ingeshindwa na Waashuru, hadithi ambayo baadaye ilirudia na waandishi wa kale kama vile Claudius Aelianus (De Natura Animalis, 123)." Bakroni alifungwa na Shabak, mfalme wa nasaba ya ishirini na tano, ambaye alimwua Bakroni kwa kumchoma moto akiwa hai. Mfalme wa Kush, Shabaka alipanua utawala wake juu ya Misri yote, ambayo ilikuwa imegawanyika tangu nasaba ya ishirini na moja. Diodorus Siculus, akiandika karibu karne tatu baada ya Manetho, anaongeza maelezo fulani tofauti. Diodorus anasema kwamba ingawa Bakenranef alikuwa "mwenye kutisha kwa sura", alikuwa mwenye hekima kuliko wale waliomtangulia (1.65). Wamisri walimwambia kwamba aliandika sheria kuhusu mikataba, ambayo ilitoa njia ya kulipa madeni bila kutia sahihi dhamana; sheria hiyo ilitunzwa hadi wakati wa Diodoro (1.79). Kwa sababu ya jambo hilo, na matendo mengine, Diodorus alimtia "Bocchoris" katika orodha ya watunga-sheria sita wa maana zaidi wa Misri ya kale. "Kwa kuwa mfalme huyo mdogo alitawala kwa muda mfupi Delta ya Mto Nile, alipewa cheo cha juu sana, Robin Lane Fox anasema: ""Labda baadhi ya Wagiriki, ambao hatukujua, walikuwa na uhusiano wa karibu naye; kutoka wakati wa utawala wake tuna muhuri wenye jina lake la Misri, mojawapo ya mihuri hiyo ilipatikana katika kaburi la Wagiriki la wakati huo huko Ischia, karibu na Ghuba ya Naples.""" Ischia lilikuwa koloni la kwanza la Wagiriki katika karne ya nane nchini Italia. Licha ya umuhimu unaotajwa na waandishi hao, rekodi chache za wakati huo za Bakenranef zimehifadhiwa. Maandishi ya kwanza ya utawala wake yanahusu kifo na kuzikwa kwa ng'ombe-dume wa Apis wakati wa miaka ya 5 na 6 ya utawala wake; mabaki ni stelae chache ambazo Auguste Mariette alipata wakati wa kuchimba Serapeum huko Saqqara. Shabaka alimshinda Bakrenafu na kumteketeza akiwa hai kwenye mti na kumzika Bull katika mwaka wake wa pili (720 KK) wakati wa kampeni yake huko Misri ya Chini. Kwa hivyo, utawala wa kifalme wa Misri wa 24 uliishia kuwa mshindani wa kipekee wa Nubia ya 25. "Kipindi cha kwanza cha ""Kipindi cha Utamaduni wa Kale wa Misri"" (Kipindi cha kwanza cha ""Kipindi cha Utamaduni wa Kale wa Misri") ni kitabu cha ""Kipindi cha Utamaduni wa Misri"" (Kipindi cha Kwanza cha ""Kipindi cha Utamaduni wa Misri ya Kale") kilichoandikwa na Ellie."