Psamtik I (also spelled Psammeticus or Psammetichus, in Greek), is the first of three kings of that name of the Saite, or Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.

His prenomen, Wahibre, means "Constant is the Heart of Re."

The story in Herodotus of the Dodecarchy and the rise of Psamtik is fanciful.

It is known from cuneiform texts that twenty local princelings were appointed by Esarhaddon and confirmed by Assurbanipal to govern Egypt.

Necho I, the father of Psammetichus by his Queen Istemabet, was the chief of these kinglets, but they seem to have been quite unable to hold the Egyptians to the hated Assyrians against the more sympathetic Nubians.

The labyrinth built by Amenemhat III of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt is ascribed by Herodotus to the Dodecarchy, or rule of 12, which must represent this combination of rulers.

Psamtik was the son of Necho I who died in 664 BCE when the Kushite king Tantamani tried unsuccessfully to seize control of lower Egypt from the Assyrian Empire.

After his father's death, Psamtik manages to both unite all of Egypt and free her from Assyrian control within the first ten years of his reign.