Until the 1990s, no information existed on the history of the Dakhleh Oasis during the Late Period (Dynasties 26-30, 664-332 BCE). There were, in fact, some archaeological remains from this period that had come to light in the cemetery of 'Ain Tirghi (Mills 1983, 128; Frey 1986; Hope 1999, 229), together with dated skeletal remains (Molto 2001, 85). Yet outside of Dakhleh, the involvement of the kings from this period in the Western Desert was obvious, because of the well-known Saite chapels at 'Ain el-Muftella, Bahriyya, and the Persian period and 30th Dynasty temple decoration at Hibis, Kharga. It was clear that also Dakhleh, being the largest oasis, must have benefited from similar royal attention. But it was only in 1990 that the first dated inscriptional evidence from the Late Period was discovered at Tell Marqula. This took the form of a block of temple relief with the name of Psamtik II, described further below, found together with other Late Period finds and ceramics (Yamani 2002; Hope 2000, 192, 200-1, figures 4j and 6a). Another Late Period cemetery was found at Balat (Ginsburg 1995; Castel et alii 2005). In recent years, excavations at the sites of Mut al-Kharab and Amheida (Amhida) have substantially expanded our knowledge of the involvement of the Saite and Persian kings in the Dakhleh Oasis. In this paper, all royal inscriptions of the Late Period are described that have been found in Dakhleh. The focus on securely dated material is aimed to provide a historical framework for the oasis through which other archaeological evidence may be seen in a new light. The inscriptions from the two principal sites _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 At the conference in Lecce, I presented the historical development of the temple at Amheida, which has been supplemented here with material from Mut al-Kharab and some other sites. The Late Period in Dakhleh I discussed previously in 2005 at the 7th Egyptological Tempeltagung, Leuven University, and at the British Museum Colloquium of 2006. Except where stated, the material discussed in this article has been excavated by different missions that make up the Dakhleh Oasis Project, directed by Anthony J. Mills. The temple enclosure at Mut al-Kharab is being excavated by Colin A. Hope (Monash University). The town site of Amheida is being excavated under the direction of Roger S. Bagnall (New York University), with Paola Davoli in charge of excavations. The drawings and photographs in this paper are by the author, except for Plates 8, 9 and 10, which are by Bruno Bazzani, and Figure 1 which is adapted from Davies 1953. Elsbeth van der Wilt, Carina van den Hoven and Lisa Saladino-Haney acted as field assistants in various seasons at Amheida. I thank all the above for their help in various ways. Colin Hope commented in detail on a draft version of this paper, from which I have benefited much.
