Ancient Nubian kingdom flourished from 1700 BCE to CE 350. Kush was a black African kingdom that influenced the Egyptians after the Egyptians influence Kush. Indeed, Kushite kings ruled Egypt itself for nearly 100 years. The period when Kushites dominated the region of Nubia, the era existed in three phases, each referred to by the kingdom’s capital city at the time: Kerma, Napata, and Meroe. The first city, Kerma, was the capital of a Nubian kingdom known as Yam, but by 1700 BCE, it had become the capital of the Kushite kingdom.
The earliest structures built there, including homes and palaces, were round, and they reflected traditional African architecture. Later structures are rectangular, influenced by Egyptian architecture. A cemetery to the south of the city reveals a great deal about Kushite culture. That Kush was a stratified society is illustrated by the differences between the tombs of ordinary people and those of the ruling class. The dead were buried in oval pits, about five feet (1.5 m) deep, with offerings buried with the dead, the elite with food, pottery, weapons, horses, and dogs; the common people with much less. In many of the larger graves, there are several skeletons, indicating that many people were buried along with members of their household. One tomb holds more than 300 servants who were sacrificed with their master. Bodies were placed on wooden or stone beds in the fetal position, heads facing the rising sun to symbolize the idea of a new life after death. Kings’ tombs often included huge stone boats, perhaps intended to ferry them to the next world. The people covered the burial mounds with millions of black and white pebbles.
As part of an expansion effort, Egypt attacked Kush in 1950 BCE and by 1425 BCE. dominated most of upper and lower Nubia. A great deal of Egypt’s wealth came from Nubia. Gold, slaves, wood, resins, gemstones, skins, cattle, ivory, and exotic animals were imported into Egypt through Nubia. Nubians came to Egypt as slaves and they served in the Egyptian military; young Nubian noblemen grew up in the Egyptian court. The Egyptians built hundreds of temples in Nubia and intermarried with the indigenous population. Nubians readily accepted Egyptian culture and religion. One of the most important sites for worship of the Egyptian god Amen was in Nubia at Gebel Barkal, a mountain near Napata from which projects a huge stone pinnacle. Recent historical research suggests that both Egyptians and Nubians regarded this site as one of the holiest in the entire empire, and that Egyptian pharaohs came to Nubia to be crowned. Gebel Barkal later became important to the Nubian pharaohs as a sign of their right to rule both Egypt and Nubia. After the death of Pharaoh Rameses III in 1156 BCE, Egypt fragmented into several smaller kingdoms.
As a result, between 1100 and 800 BCE, Nubia was free from Egyptian control. However, historians know little about this period in Nubian history. In the eighth century B.C.E, a new Kushite kingdom, centered in Napata, arose. The kingdom grew rich because of its dominance over trade routes from the south and its access to gold and precious gems. The Egyptian religion and culture thoroughly influence the Kushite ruling elite, perhaps through contact with Theban priests of Amen. The Kushite king Kashta (760–747 BCE) conquered all of northern Nubia and declared himself “King of Upper and Lower Egypt,” although there is no evidence that he actually ever visited Egypt. Kashta’s son Piye, also known as Piankhy, succeeded in conquering Upper Egypt, and founded Egypt’s Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Piye ruled both nations from Napata, but in the twenty-first year of his reign, he moved into Egypt to quell a rebellion fomented by kings of the Nile Delta. Uncharacteristically for a ruler of his day, Piye noted that he disliked bloodshed and forgave his enemies. Some historians speculate that these sentiments were characteristically Nubian.
The Kushite pharaohs ruled Egypt for nearly 100 years (760–671 BCE). Historians credit them with orchestrating a renaissance of many Egyptian values and traditions that the Egyptians abandoned over the years. They revived the pyramid as the proper royal tomb; over the centuries, the Kushites built 228 pyramids, three times more than did the Egyptians, though of a slightly different design. They also built magnificent temples and sponsored a revival of painting and sculpture in the Egyptian style. During the early seventh century BCE, an Assyrian army drove the Kushites out of Egypt. Although the Kushites reconquered Egypt in 663 BCE, within a year they again were defeated and forced to abandon the country. Nevertheless, Kushite kings continued to proclaim themselves pharaohs; they spoke the Egyptian language, used hieroglyphic writing, and worshipped Egyptian deities.
These pretensions may have angered later Egyptian kings. In any case, in 593 BCE, Psammeticus 1st of Egypt invaded Kush and sacked Napata. Historians know little about Kushite culture after this period. Historians had once thought that the Kush moved their capital from Napata to Meröe during this time, but most now believe that Napata was never the capital, that it was, in fact, a religious center. Nevertheless, historians often refer to the period between 600 and 300 BCE as the Napatan period, and the period after 300 BCE, when the people began burying Kushite kings in Meröe, as the Merötic period. During the interim period, because it appears clear from archeological excavations of Meroe, Kushite culture
PRIMARY SOURCES: Burstein, Stanley Mayer, ed. Ancient African Civilizations: Kush and Axum. Princeton, NJ: Wiener, 1998. Ma’At-Ka-Re Monges, Mariam. Kush: The Jewel of Nubia: Reconnecting the Root System of African Civilization. Trenton, NJ: African World Press, 1997. Welsby, Derek A. The Kingdom of Kush: The Napatan and Meroitic Empires. Princeton, NJ: Wiener, 1998.