During the tenth through seventh centuries BC, Egypt was ruled by a series of pharaohs of Libyan ancestry. The Libyans had hitherto been enemies of the Egyptians, with conflicts going back into the third millennium BC. Yet early in the tenth century BC the first of a long series of pharaohs of Libyan descent ascended the Egyptian throne.

Although the earlier Libyan pharaohs seem to have maintained the tradition of a unitary Egyptian state, as time went by Libyan ideas of decentralised control became more prevalent.

As a result, we find individuals holding both Libyan and Egyptian titles controlling distinct territories around Egypt, some of whom assumed the names and titles of a pharaoh. Conflict sometimes accompanied this process, with a long civil war fought for the control of southern Egypt and the great religious capital of Thebes. Some degree of central control was imposed with the advent of a further set of rulers from Nubia during the eighth century, but a single Egyptian state would not be restored until the middle of the seventh century.

This evening, we will explore some of the strands of history of this often-ignored era of Egyptian history, including the way in which the protagonists were rediscovered by modern historians and archaeologists.