The "Third Intermediate Period" is nothing more than a generally accepted term used to encompass the 21st—25th Dynasties, which is composed of three distinct cultural periods. Egypt of the 21st Dynasty was, in theory, a unified state whose ruling family was linked through marriage to that of the 20th Dynasty, and in many ways served as an adjunct to the late New Kingdom. From the thirteenth century BC on, large numbers of Libyan tribes had been slowly, but not always peacefully, infiltrating the western Delta, perhaps driven on by famine, drought or simply the desire for a better life. Whatever the origins of these refugees, they were able to adapt to and flourish within native Egyptian culture. So successful were they that by the middle of the tenth century BC, Libyan chieftains were able to ascend to the throne as the 22nd Dynasty, and were seemingly accepted as legitimate pharaohs.
The period of the 22nd-23rd Dynasties, with their chief towns at Tanis and Bubastis, is therefore best described as the "Libyan period." At first these pharaohs were able to impose upon Egypt, by the manipulation of appointments of chief officials throughout the realm. a unity unseen during the 21st Dynasty. As this period wore on, however, the ruling house gradually lost control of parts of the country, so that the last king of Manetho’s 23rd Dynasty, Osorkon IV, ruled over little more than the family seat in the eastern Delta. Perhaps first to go was Thebes, which began recognizing its own pharaohs (the "Theban" 23rd Dynasty) during the reign of Osorkon II, and ceased referring to the Tanite kings during the reign of Sheshonk III. At a later point, certainly before Piye’s invasion, Sais (24th Dynasty) and Leontopolis ("23rd Dynasty Leontopolis") had also begun recognizing their own monarchs. This plurality was brought to a close by a Kushite (Nubian) invasion, whose leaders were to rule Egypt as the 25th Dynasty. Thus it is clear that Egyptian, Libyan and Kushite cultures all contributed to the art and archaeology of the period.
The Third Intermediate Period is conventionally (and mistakenly) seen as a "Dark Age," since it has left few architectural remains. This view is compounded by the Delta location of the Dynastic capitals, Tanis, Bubastis and Sais, which have either been relatively little explored or survived poorly. The scattered remains of the temple ruins at Tanis and the Festival Hall of Osorkon II at Bubastis testify to the magnificence of the civic buildings which once stood in Delta cities.
Religious buildings
Religious buildings of the 21st Dynasty, in as far as they are preserved, appear to continue the traditions of the New Kingdom. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak, which, although principally built during the 20th Dynasty, was added to and finally decorated by Herihor and Pinedjem. Elsewhere scant remains of this date can be found in the Temple of Amen at Tanis; a temple of Isis at Giza; in sacred (?) structures at Tell ed-Dab’a, known from a block of Siamen; and at Memphis, where only remains of the gateway, also dating to the reign of Siamen, are preserved.
During the Libyan period, further work was carried out on the Amen temple complex at Tanis, particularly during the reigns of Osorkon II and Sheshonk III. The former was also responsible for much remodeling of the temple structures at Bubastis. Elsewhere the best preserved temple is probably the ruinous example at el-Hiba, begun by Sheshonk I and finished by Osorkon I. Blocks which came from smaller shrines have been found at Tell Balala, Kom-el-Hisn, Tell el-Yahudiya and el-Bindaraia. The remains of at least three 22nd Dynasty shrines, one of Sheshonk II and two of Osorkon II, have been found at Karnak. At Karnak too stands the best preserved piece of Libyan architecture, the so-called "Bubastite Portal." More small shrines, of which the most famous is that of the god Osiris Heka-djet (later expanded and remodeled during the 25th Dynasty), were also erected at Karnak by the rulers of the Theban 23rd Dynasty.
Following the Kushite conquest (25th Dynasty), much religious building was undertaken, particularly during the reign of Taharka, whose surviving temples, particularly those at Gebel Barkal, Kawa and Qasr el-Ghueida in Kharga Oasis, are perfect copies of traditional New Kingdom religious temples but on a smaller scale. Also at Karnak, the remains of numerous small shrines attest to a continuation of a style of building made popular by the Theban 23rd Dynasty. Elsewhere, little remains, though blocks from a small temple and shrine at Memphis dating to the reigns of Shabako and Taharka have come to light. At Karnak, Taharka was also responsible for the erection of a large colonnaded portico in front of the Second Pylon, and for the construction of a remarkable building with subterranean cult chambers beside the Sacred Lake.
Secular buildings
The remains of secular buildings are even less well preserved, which is not surprising since most would have been built of mudbrick. The town sites of Medinet Habu and Elephantine have revealed remains of domestic houses extending throughout the entire Third Intermediate Period. With the exception of that of the 21st Dynasty scribe, Butehamen, which clearly had a central colonnaded court, the published buildings have small ground plans, but the remains of staircases indicate that they normally had at least two floors. A growing sense of insecurity during these times led to the building of fortification walls around the towns at Medinet Habu and el-Hiba. Since another fort was erected at the undiscovered site of Per-Sekhemperre, it is likely that many of the towns of this period were so fortified.
Tombs and burial customs
It is through its burials, however, that the archaeology of ancient Egypt is best known, and the Third Intermediate Period stands out as a period of marked change. The isolated royal burial is given up in favor of burial within the sacred precincts of a temple area, most obviously at Tanis and Sais, but this is also noticeable at Thebes, where burials were placed in tombs cut through the New Kingdom mortuary temples. Perhaps more striking, however, is that the idea of spending one’s lifetime preparing a "goodly burial" with splendid tomb and furnishings practically vanishes. Apart from the royal burials at Tanis, Memphis, Heracleopolis and Medinet Habu, the concept of a specially constructed tomb is all but abandoned, though some private tomb chapels of this period are known at Tanis, Abydos, and in the Ramesseum area at Thebes, while an extant pyramidion indicates tomb chapels at Bubastis.
Since Thebes provides most of the evidence for burial customs during the Third Intermediate Period, the remainder of this section is based entirely on Theban beliefs. During the 21st Dynasty a practice developed of private interments within usurped earlier tombs, and this practice even extended as high as royal children, as can be seen with the burial of Princess Nauny, interred within the tomb of the 18th Dynasty Queen Meryetamen. At first only single burials were so made, but there quickly developed a system of family vaults, of which the most famous are those of Pinedjem II and his immediate family (which was later used to house the "royal cache" of mummies) and, later, the Montu priest burials, both at Deir el-Bahri. Although there are noticeable changes in style throughout the period, the well-provided Theban went to the grave with little more than coffins, heart scarabs and a complement of 401 shawabtis enclosed within a pair of chests.During the Libyan period, burial goods included freestanding wooden figures of the Four Sons of Horus, small mummies made of wheat, and a polychrome cartonnage case, which was enclosed within coffins of a much more drab appearance than the ornately decorated ones of the 21st Dynasty. Finally, during the 25th Dynasty, a bead net without face and a figure of the god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris complemented the burial.Specialists can recognize six distinctive funerary phases within the Third Intermediate Period, depending on the styles and types of the grave goods, with distinct changes noticeable at about 1000 BC, at circa 950/ 930 BC, circa 850/825 BC, circa 750 BC and finally at around 675/650 BC.
Sculpture
Since very little standing architecture remains, it follows that correspondingly little relief sculpture survives. The best of it, however, is to be found at Tanis, particularly in the tombs of Psusennes I and Osorkon II and carved on the temple blocks of Sheshonk III. By contrast, a large number of sculptures in the round can be attributed to the Third Intermediate Period. At Tanis, such objects are fragmentary, generally of small size, and made exclusively out of hard stone. The best known sculptures are probably the stone statuettes found in the Karnak Cachette, a cache of statues intentionally buried at Karnak in the Late period. These tend to show high officials of the realm, and almost all are in cuboid form showing the deceased squatting, or sitting on the floor, in a wrap-around cloak. The seated statue, however, practically disappears at this time. Toward the end of the Libyan period, and certainly during Kushite times, these sculptures show a marked veering away from idealized portraits of eternal youth to a style of portraiture intended to convey an aspect of more maturity, and a harking back to more archaic prototypes. This archaizing tendency began to manifest itself during the eighth century BC before the Kushite conquest, and is most noticeable in royal monuments, particularly in the terse style of the titulary, which harks back to Old and Middle Kingdom models, and in the use of the Blue Crown. However, if there is one type of object for which the Third Intermediate Period should be justly famed, it is for its metal sculptures. The most opulent of these were made of gold, though the usual medium was bronze. These statues exhibit a slenderness of form achieved by an accentuated modeling of the upper torso, a distinctly slim waist and slender thighs. Many of the bronzes, of which the most famous are the Louvre Karomama (reign of Osorkon II) and the statue of Takushet (reign of Piye) in Athens, have their surfaces enriched with gold, silver and electrum inlays.
Minor arts
Within the fields of minor arts, particular mention should be made of the royal jewelry found at Tanis, Memphis and Tell Muqdam, and of the richly painted coffins from Thebes. During the 21st Dynasty, the art of coffin painting reached a peak that has never been equaled. Coffin exteriors of the 21st Dynasty tend to be decorated in rich colors on a yellow ground, while the interiors are on a wine red ground. A reorganization in funerary iconography at the end of the 20th Dynasty led to the adoption of a new repertoire of scenes drawn mainly from Osirian and solar mythology. Also popular were scenes of the Four Sons of Horus, Osiris seated on a double throne, a Hathor cow emerging from the necropolis, and scenes taken from the Litany of Re. On the coffin interior, representations of Nut or a djed pillar, a hieroglyph symbolizing "stability," are the usual motifs encountered. By the reign of Osorkon I, however, these brightly painted coffins had gone out of fashion and were replaced by new types which were different in shape, construction and style of decoration. These tended to be drab, but the rise of the richly decorated cartonnage case continued the tradition of the earlier coffin painters. These cartonnages are painted most often with numerous winged deities and djed symbols on a white ground. These went out of fashion during the early 25th Dynasty, and coffin painting was never again of such a high standard.
