| Piye demonstrated very soon that he was one of the most skillfull generals of history. Animated by a deep religious faith, he defended Amon and his cult going toward Hermopolis. The aim of the sovereign of Napata was to conquer the city, the master of which, Nemrod, had allied with prince Tefnakht. The traitor didn’t have time to stop the attack, that he had another one, in fact, the Nubian troops surrounded the city. The people searched for safety inside the walls, trying to drive back the soldiers, but they didn’t resist for long, in fact Piye plotted an ingenious plan to conquer the city and its people. To go over the inaccessible walls Napata’s soldiers received the order to build a tower to strike easily the target, suddenly a rain of arrows fell over Hermopolis and a little while later Nemrod was forced to send ambassadors to Piye and ask for surrender. Worried for the defeat, the traitor sent his wife Nesetcent to Piye’s wife to ask for mercy, which unexpectedly was given to him. After his victory, Piye entered the city, the chronicle is given in the Gebel Barkel stele: The Nubian King visited the royal palace, saw the people still frightened by the attack and at a certain point, the sovereign’s eyes were on Nemrod’s two beautiful horses and he was moved, seeing that more than anybody, they had suffered the difficulties of those days. Piye was furious with Nemrod:“I swear, as it’s true that Ra loves me, that on my heart weighs more the fact that these horses have suffered hunger, more than all the damages you’ve done for your ambitions”. His rage was placated only when he confiscated Nemrod’s riches. But the battles weren’t yet over. The sovereign now aimed to conquer Menfi, not an easy undertaking, nevertheless, once more, Piye’s military talent was victorious. Entrenched inside the walls, with provisions and water sufficient to resist to long sieges, the people in Menfi could count upon a good war armament and a great natural defense, made by the high walls and by a barrier of water that protected the eastern side of the city. Piye wasn’t discouraged, he reunited the war council and decided to attack exactly from that side that the Menfiti thought the safest. The Nubian soldiers took the enemies’ boats and with them, they made a kind of bridge that let them go over the famous white walls in Menfi. The battle was a bath of blood, stopped by Piye himself. He purified the city, except the temples and he went to Ptah’s temple where he let the god recognize him as a pharaoh. The princes of the other cities surrendered and went personally before Piye to submit themselves. Even Tefnakht, abandoned by everybody, asked for mercy, which the new sovereign gave him. |
