Egyptian Rule over Kush-Ethiopia, and Ahmose Nefertari, Foremother of Oromos and Sudanese. Part III
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 12, 2010
Then, in two subsequent article titled "The Common Origins of Egypt, and Ethiopia Sudan. Oromos, Arabic Speaking Sudanese, Nubians. I" and "Hamitic-Kushitic Origins of Egypt and Ethiopia / Sudan. Oromos, Arabic Speaking Sudanese, Nubians II", I expanded on early periods of Prehistory and History (A-Group, C-Group, Kerma kingdom) of Ancient Kush Ethiopia (Sudan). I explored the earliest phases of Kushitic - Ethiopian civilization, the interaction with Egypt, and the mistaken use of the term ´Nubian´ for the monuments built and the historical states formed in Ancient Kush / Ethiopia, i.e. today´s Northern Sudan.
In the present article, I will focus on the period of Egyptian occupation of Kush Ethiopia, which corresponds with the New Egyptian Kingdom, Egypt´s most glorious period of History. After that period, the decay and the inner strife brought about the twilight o the Ancient Egyptian world. Then, Kush / Ethiopia seceded and later on, at the times of the 25th dynasty of Egypt, the ancestors of today´s Arabic speaking Sudanese and of the Kushitic Oromos and Sidamas ruled Egypt for almost 100 years.
The Anti-Egyptian Alliance, Kushitic / Ethiopian Kerma and Asiatic Hyksos, and its Implication with Modern Colonialism
The Hyksos rulers originated from Asia and were ideologically opposed to all the major priesthoods and doctrines that had prevailed in Egypt for at least 1500 years before the Hyksos´ arrival and imposition, namely the Heliopolitan Ennead and the Hermupolitan Ogdoad. The fact that the Hyksos rulers reigned over Egypt with alien names, and one of them was named "Satan" (Apope, Apophis; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyksos and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apepi_(pharaoh)) demonstrates that they knew very well that they represented the religious, spiritual and ideological antipodes of Egypt, and that for this reason they were reviled by the entire Egyptian population. In fact, they rose to power because of the decomposition of the military political authority in the last years of the Middle Kingdom, and they survived through a combined policy of alliance with some Canaanite chieftains, cooperation with a minor sect of the Egyptian priesthood (Ptah followers, the Memphitic polytheistic doctrine), and a coalition with the Kushite / Ethiopian kingdom of Kerma.
It is well known that the Egyptians, after they overthrew and expulsed from Egypt the Hyskos, deleted the names of the pseudo-pharaohs, who had defamed the fair name of Kemet (Egypt, in Ancient Egyptian), from every place they could. Very few documents have preserved the Egyptian appellation Hikaw Hasut, shepherd rulers, of which derived the Ancient Greek name Hyksos that is currently in wider use.
Because of the aforementioned, we can assuredly state that the same attitude was shown in post-Hyksos Egypt for the names of the powerful kings of the Kushite / Ethiopian kingdom of Kerma; that´ why only two or three of them have been attested throughout the vast Egyptian literature preserved down to our days. Of course, one could imagine that inscriptions could have been saved in Kerma. Unfortunately, the destruction caused at the times of the Egyptian invasion of Kush / Ethiopia eliminated most of the epigraphic evidence.
Pro-Hyksos Stance of Freemasonic Orientalism, and Kush / Ethiopia
Before examining the Egyptian domination of Kush / Ethiopia, it would be worthy to briefly focus on modern bibliography on the Hyksos control of Egypt. There is a trend among Egyptologists promoting a fallacious interpretation of the Ancient Egyptian History to reject traditionally accepted narrations of facts and to disapprove of historical sources for ideological political colonial profit. This effort brings forth a fake interpretation of the Hyksos´ presence in Egypt, and subsequently projects in on the sphere of political machinations.
The fallacious assumption by Janine Bourriau and Jan Assman of a peaceful rise of the Hyksos on the Egyptian throne consists in an effort to fully alter the sociopolitical, ideological, religious and spiritual realities of Ancient Egypt. This group of Freemasonic Egyptologists attempt to reject the historical facts:
a) the invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos and
b) the categorical Egyptian rejection of Hyksos.
They want to fittingly fabricate the story of an easy infiltration (due to a supposed Egyptian need for workforce either at the military or the agricultural level), gradual sociopolitical acceptance, and ultimately unopposed rise to the throne.
To do so, they reject the strongest historical narrative, namely that of Manetho (who clearly speaks of an invasion), and bring forth excerpts from the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus who gathered information from, but certainly misunderstood, Manetho. Josephus did not oppose Manetho´s mention of a Hyksos invasion; but he was rather interested in Manetho´s description of the increased corruption that prevailed in the Egyptian society due to early Hyksos´ presence in Egypt.
If modern Freemasonic Egyptologists prefer the hypothesis of infiltration in, and corruption of, the Egyptian society by the Hyksos (instead of the historical fact of the Hyksos invasion), this is due to their Manichaeist, Freemasonic conception of situations, developments and facts, and to the widespread Freemasonic policies of infiltration and corruption. They "see" in Ancient Egypt what they practice today in their lives; drawing on internal Freemasonic literature, nowadays corrupted and misunderstood, they associate themselves with the Hyksos at the ideological religious spiritual level, and want to "rectify" the Ancient Egyptian historiography in order to effectively readjust it to their own interests, ideas, and agendas.
There have certainly been many rebellions against the Hyksos in Egypt between 1650 and 1540 BCE; but nothing suggests that the first of them took place after the postulated, peaceful, infiltration in Egypt and the mistakenly assumed amalgamation of the Hyksos with Egyptians had taken place.
The fact that Janine Bourriau does not find ceramic evidence of Asiatic origin (that would have brought by the Hyksos) does not mean that there was not an invasion. In this case, the lack of foreign ceramic could also lead to the conclusion that they Hyksos . never existed! There would not have been any need for a military tribe of dominating shepherds to still use their unworthy and otherwise primitive ceramic (the one they may have had back in Canaan) once they settled in Egypt as rulers; they simply used Egyptian ceramic.
Who could possibly imagine a foreign barbaric Canaanite chieftain becoming pharaoh, and still using his contemptible Canaanite pottery, except a deviant Freemason Egyptologist?
On the other hand, Jan Assman cannot possibly deceive every one! His interpretation of the pictorial presentation of the evil worshipped by Hyksos as god cannot be left so incomplete. Certainly, the Hyksos worshipped Seth (Zety) and Apophis (Apope), but the depiction of Seth under the combined form of man and hippopotamus has nothing to do with artistic inventions due to a fictional need of "personalizing" Seth. Furthermore, Seth was not a properly speaking "desert god", as Assman implies; Seth was cast in the desert which represented for the Ancient Egyptians the concept of vacuum, the "non existence". But Seth was originally conceived as Satan, and according to the religious spiritual concepts and fundamentals of the Ancient Egyptian Art, Satan was represented as a hippopotamus (and at times as a crocodile), when the apocalyptic level of mythical semiotics was involved. A perfect example in this case is the Messiah Satan conflict narrative at Edfu (inner part of the Western Outer Wall) that antedates and clearly supersedes the Christian Book of the Revelation.
The fact that the Hyksos pseudo-pharaoh Apope dispatched a delegation to Thebes to demand the immediate termination of the traditional Egyptian game of harpooning hippopotamuses (which in the Ancient Egyptian culture was a theatrical sport, aptly pre-modeling the ultimate victory of Messiah Horus over Satan Seth) illuminates his Satanic identity, while shedding also light on the real identity of any modern scholar presenting a pro-Hyksos version of Egyptian History.
All this is necessary to notice, when the History of Ancient Kush / Ethiopia is concerned. Ideological religious spiritual identification clarifies much the situation and helps draw the correct conclusions. In fact, the same ideological spiritual religious clash that characterized Egypt for millennia can be attested in Ancient Kush / Ethiopia, and this greatly helps in properly assessing historical developments as the outcome of clash between two priesthoods.
As societies are not monolithic phenomena, one should not imagine that the kingdom of Kerma that sided with the Hyksos rulers was entirely under control of a priesthood dedicated to Satan Seth. Ancient Egypt and Kush / Ethiopia were highly nuanced societies whereby the rival priesthoods coexisted for millennia, perpetuating their fight by means of myth interpretational variants, educational literature, socioeconomic involvement, and grip over the political military power.
Kushitic / Ethiopian Kerma and the End of the Hyksos Rule
The association of the Kerma kings with the Hyksos rulers is highlighted by epigraphic evidence (a Theban stele inscription) that mentions the dispatch of message from the Hyksos pseudo-pharaoh Apope to the Kushite / Ethiopian king of Kerma, asking urgently support against the rise of the Egyptian Theban ruler Kamose who had revolted against the Avaris-based Hyksos in the North (Delta).
Ahmose, Kamose´s successor, vanquished Khamudi, the last Hyksos shepherd king, and expelled them all from Egypt. He thus inaugurated the 18th Egyptian dynasty that represents Egypt´s most glorious period of history. It was only normal for Aahmes (his name means ´Born of the Moon´ in Ancient Egyptian) to hit the Kerma kingdom and reduce it to impotence.
We know that Ahmose faced difficulties in the South, because the century-long Hyksos Kerma alliance had probably brought about a sociopolitical situation that would not easily accept opposite policies. Internal strives have been customary throughout Egypt´s History and were due to the opposite priesthoods´ involvement in politics. On one side, the revolutionary Theban Amunites would not accept Hyksos control; on the other side the administrative structure setup in Thebes during the Hyksos rule would not disappear easily.
As the anti-Egyptian rebellions were led by Kushites / Ethiopians, we can even be sure that in the Egyptian South, Egyptian, Nubian and Kushite / Ethiopian populations coexisted and eventually amalgamated with one another. However, the rebellions were of ideological political motives; as Aata, a Kushite / Ethiopian from the Egyptian South, was defeated immediately, the second attempt gathered greater support from Kerma, only to face the same fate at the end.
It was clear to Ahmose that he had to stop the infiltration of the Kushites / Ethiopians who opposed his ideological spiritual religious vision of Egypt; that is why great fortifications were then erected to totally control the population movements and the eventual military expeditions. A typical sample of Egyptian military workmanship was excavated at Buhen which like many other military outposts existed since the 3rd millennium BCE but was greatly enlarged in the late 16th century. The fortress built by Ahmose covered an area of 13000 m2, something incredibly huge for the period. At the beginning of the 2nd cataract, Buhen (210 55´) is located slightly north of Wadi Halfa (210 47´), still on Sudanese territory, but now submerged under the waters of the Nubian Lake formed behind Aswan High Dam, which was built in the late 50s and early 60s (the lake´s length is ca. 450 km). Able to accommodate more than 3000 soldiers, Buhen was a means to asphyxiate Kerma. Continuing customary policies, Ahmose installed in power local Kushitic / Ethiopian noblesse that supported his anti-Kerma activities.
Amenhotep I and the Decline of Kerma
The successor of Ahmose, Amenhotep I (1526 1506) intensified the diffusion of the Amunite Theban ideology throughout Egypt, and the best example was his own name which means ´Amun is happy´ in Ancient Egyptian. Amun was then promoted from insignificant local Theban deity to Master of the Universe and incorporated diverse elements, either monotheistic (from both, the Heliopolitan and the Hermupolitan doctrines) or polytheistic (from the Ptah ideology of the Memphis priesthood); the former was achieved through the identification of Amun with Ra Atum, and the latter involved the projection of some of Ptah´s typical characteristics onto Amun.
This development brought all major spiritual, religious and theological disputes within the same priesthood, whereas in the past, all theoretical disputes in Egypt had taken the form of elaboration of different cosmogonies, mythological variants, and diverse admonitions or educational material. This development is critically important for the History of Ancient Kush / Ethiopia because the Theban Amunite doctrine and practices were projected by the Egyptians onto the Kushites / Ethiopians, rendering the history of Napata and Meroe (the two great capitals of Pre-Christian Kush / Ethiopia, on today´s Sudanese soil) a perpetual clash between Amunite monotheists and Amunite polytheists.
Amenhotep I continued Ahmose´s policy with respect to Kush / Ethiopia; he pushed further to the south, beyond the 2nd cataract, reaching at a distance smaller than 200 km from Kerma. Biographical texts and mortuary inscriptions from the tombs of high ranking military (such as Ahmose Pen-Nekhebet and Ahmose son of Ebana) relate to a fabulous expedition in Kush / Ethiopia. The fact that Amenhotep I was at ease to build a temple dedicated to Amun at the island of Sai (near Abri, ca. 190 km south of Wadi Halfa) demonstrates the existence of an Egyptian settlement very close to the ailing kingdom of Kerma.
The clash may have been political and ideological, but at the ethnic level, there is no doubt that Egyptians and Kushites were intertwined by means of mixed marriages, common education, similar culture, and above all identical religious and theological options.
The stele of Amenhotep I and his mother, high priestess Ahmose Nefertari, clearly demonstrates that there were Kushites among Egypt´s royal family and that Egypt is, as its Ancient Egyptian name (Kenet) so clearly denotes, authentically Hamitic, purely African and inherently Black.
Thutmose I and the End of Kerma
The successor of Amenhotep I, Thutmose I (1506 1493), gave a final solution to the Hekaw government of Kush, the loathsome administration that had cooperated with the Hyksos before 40 years. According to the existing narratives, immediately after his coronation, Thutmose I led the army personally, engaged in personal battle with the King of Kerma, who of course was not a Nubian but a Kushite / Ethiopian (contrarily with the incessant inaccuracies of Wikipedia and other Orientalist literature; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_I), and hung the dead body of the last Kerma king from the prow of the pharaonic ship.
Thutmose I campaigned in Kush / Ethiopia again, on the 3rd year of his reign. Then, he built a great fortress at Tombos, nearby the third cataract, very close to the ruins of Kerma. With the extermination of the vile administration, a great part of Kushites / Ethiopians sided with the Egyptians and the Thebes-based Kushite noblesse, whereas others fled to the south. This act inaugurated a time-honoured tradition because, on many occasions, after a destruction due to foreign armies, Kushitic / Ethiopian populations fled to the south or the west.
Despite his campaigns in Canaan that drove him up to the ´Opposite river´ (the Egyptians called Euphrates as ´opposite´ to the Nile because of the different direction of the river flow), Thutmose I had to immediately undertake another military expedition in the South of Kush / Ethiopia, e.g. the entire area located between Dunqulah, Karima and Abu Hamed in today´s Northern Sudan.
This military operation must have been the result of the aforementioned Kuhite / Ethiopian flee to the south, and to the fact that some elements of the previous administration had survived and attempted to foment anti-Egyptian resistance. In this campaign (1502 BCE), Thutmose I eclipsed every pharaoh, emperor or general attacking Ancient Ethiopia (Sudan) from the North in any historical period. Reaching Kurgus, far beyond the fourth cataract, whereby he left a remarkable inscription, Thutmose I became the first ruler in the World History to reign over a country stretching over ca. 3500 km.
This marked the end of Kerma Kingdom, which had lasted ca. 700 years, and the beginning of a methodic Egyptian colonization of Kush / Ethiopia. There was an importation of goods and people (Kushites / Ethiopians were accepted as students and ordained as priests in Thebes) and an exportation of administrative skills and military power. Two administrative centers were then established one at Aniba and another at Sulb (Soleb).
To best incorporate Kush / Ethiopia, Thutmose I institutionalized the top administrative position of Viceroy of Kush / Ethiopia. The iniquity of Gem-aten, today´s Kawa (7 km north of Dunqulah), the notorious city-temple of Kush, was effectively dealt with. The evil was vanquished in both Egypt and Kush or at least it so appeared. When 750 years later, a Kushitic / Ethiopian drive for independence is clearly marked, Gem-aten becomes again the main religious center of Kush / Ethiopia.
Egypt and Kush / Ethiopia: the Search for the Authenticity of the Divine
As I already said, there was a search for ideological religious spiritual authenticity perceived in terms of divinity-oriented Mankind. There was no ethnic issue or connotation involved. The holy mountain of Amun of Napata (later capital of Kush in the area of Karima, 750 km south of Wadi Halfa, in North Sudan) was viewed by the enthralled Egyptian soldiers as a holy place, and identified as the ancestral center of Pre-dynastic Egypt (once forever encapsulated in the white crown of Upper Egypt), and as the eternal abode of Amun.
By making of Kush an Egyptian territory, the Ancient Egyptians made of Egypt a derivative of Kush. The eternal priestly spiritual strife never ended, and after 400 years of Egyptian vigor, Thebes became the epicenter of a typically Egyptian Kushitic / Ethiopian intrigue, when a part of the Egyptian priesthood aligned themselves with the Thebes-based Kushites, and called the Kushites to rule Egypt against the "Other Egypt" (which was represented by the Heliopolitan and Hermupolitan doctrines, the political forces of the Delta region, and the Berberic Libyan princes of the Northwest.
Kushites / Ethiopians, Egyptians and Nubians
Nubians coexisted with the Egyptians and the Kushites, but they did not rule either state and they did not specify the rules, the principles, and the modalities of life. This is the reason for which the ancient states of Kush / Ethiopia cannot be called Nubian and the ancient Egyptian and Kushitic / Ethiopian temples cannot be called Nubian either.
It is true that, today, Nubians are the exclusive inhabitants of the Egyptian South and the Sudanese North; historical and archeological places like Kerma, Sulb, Sadinga, Sesebi, Dunqulah are today entirely inhabited by Nubians. But this does not make the existing monuments Nubian. The same occurs in Italy; because Syracuse is today entirely inhabited by Italians, no one can call the existing Ancient Greek monuments of Syracuse ´Italian´.
On the other hand, Nubians cannot be expropriated from these monuments and this historical heritage because of the aforementioned; their forefathers participated indeed in the erection of most of these monuments, and shared the same beliefs or almost with the forefathers of the Egyptians in Egypt and the forefathers of the Arabic speaking Sudanese and the Oromos in Sudan.
In a forthcoming article, I will focus on the brief historical period (750 666 BCE) when the ancestors of today´s Oromos and Arabic speaking Sudanese ruled the entire Egypt and Sudan (Ethiopia) from Napata; at those days, the ancestors of the modern Amhara and Tigray Abyssinians who are totally unrelated with the Kushitic Oromos were still in Yemen.
Further readings (read ´Kush´ instead of ´Nubia´):
The Middle Kingdom Egyptian Fortresses in Nubia
Brian Yare, January 2001
http://www.yare.org/essays/fortresses.htm
Possible reasons for forts
While the fortresses would have been easy to defend, it is difficult to see an enemy of any size in the region. However, the support of the docks, quays, warehouses, porters, etc., needed to run an efficient trade operation would have entailed the storage of a large amount of foodstuffs. There was very little food available locally, certainly not enough to support several thousand families.
The fortresses would have served as excellent lookout posts and signal towers, enabling good warning to be given of the approach of shipping on the Nile as well as of potential aggressors overland. The valuable trade goods would need to be transferred from boats above the Second Cataract, overland for some distance onto boats below the Second Cataract. Although evidence of a slipway has been found north of Mergissa, it seems unlikely that whole vessels would have been dragged overland past the Cataract on a regular basis.
There is evidence that raw copper was processed in the fortresses at Buhen, Kubban and possibly Mergissa. (Trigger, 1983, p131)
It seems unlikely that the forts were needed for defence against the friendly local C-Group people. Perhaps the threat was from further south, from the land of Kush. Two hundred miles south of Semna, at Kerma on the Dongola reach of the Nile, 12th Dynasty Egyptians had built a trading post. Reisner found an inscription there naming one of the Deffufas "The Walls of Amenemhet", and attributes one of the three 12th Dynasty Pharaohs of that name as the founder (Drower. 1970, p30). He found some graves nearby, apparently of Egyptian officials who lived and died there. The bodies were interred facing north, their sandals ready for the long journey home to their homeland, and plenty of food and drink nearby. Reisner also found large burial mounds of officials, surrounded by their sacrificed retainers. Most Egyptologists, Drower and Morkot (2000, p61) included, now identify these graves, and probably the whole site of Kerma, to the local Kushites. They are probably later than 12th Dynasty, and the local rulers were buried with a number of scavenged Old and Middle Kingdom artefacts acquired from the north during the Second Intermediate Period.
Senusret III made several campaigns to ´smite the miserable Kush´ from his 8th year onwards. The fact that he was later worshipped as a god in the region of the Second Cataract suggests that Kush was the real enemy.
Conclusions
The Second Cataract fortresses are much too large and strong to have been used purely to defend against the small local Nubian C-Group population. Controlling trade with the south would have been easy with these fortresses, and they would have provided plenty of storage space for valuables in transit and provisions for the tradesmen and sailors, as well as a safe area in which to smelt copper and process other raw materials. The fortresses must have had another purpose. By the reign of Senusret III, Kerma was gaining power, and would eventually take control of Lower Nubia during the 13th Dynasty. The fortresses were probably built to contain this threat. However, mainly they stood as a monument to the might of the Egyptian Pharaohs who dominated this area. For the remainder of the Middle Kingdom trade with the south was secure and could be controlled by a very small group of people.
H. Kushite Resurgence: The Nubian Conquest of Egypt: 1080-650 BC.
http://www.nubianet.org/about/about_history6.html
1. The Nubian Dark Age: ca. 1100-800 BC
Egyptian control over Nubia lapsed after the death of Ramses II (ca. 1224 BC) as Egypt itself again destabilized. In the early eleventh century BC Egypt split into two semi-independent domains: Lower Egypt, which was governed by the pharaoh, and Upper Egypt, which was governed in the name of Amun by his high priest at Thebes. By early Dynasty 21 (ca. 1080-945 BC), most of Lower Nubia seems to have become a no-man's land, while Upper Nubia became independent under unknown rulers.
From the meager data available, it would appear that those who ultimately gained control in Upper Nubia were people who had been little influenced by Egyptian culture. The old Egyptian centers show poor continuity of occupation, and their temples became derelict.
Not until the tenth century BC are African products again listed among gifts dedicated to Amun of Karnak by an Egyptian king. The donor, Sheshonq I (ca. 945-924 BC), and his successor Osorkon I (ca. 924-889 BC) of Dynasty 22 are also said in the Old Testament to have employed Kushite mercenaries and officers in their campaigns against Judah. Assyrian texts of the later ninth century BC also describe African products sent by the pharaohs to the Assyrian kings. Such evidence suggests that the Egyptians during this period had re-established trade relations with the far south, but they never reveal with whom they were dealing. One can only assume that from the tenth century on one or more dominant independent chiefdoms had emerged in Nubia - again, as in the case of Kerma centuries before, beginning a process of material, cultural, and political enrichment through commerce with Egypt. Until now, however, no archaeological remains have yet been found in Nubia that shed light on this obscure period.
Digging into Africa's past
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/870/heritage.htm
Charles Bonnet and Dominique Valbelle, (2006) The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo
Reviewed by Jill Kamil
The powerful Pharaohs of Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2133-1786 BC) built fortresses at Semna, Buhen, and beyond, and even established a trading post in Kerma, where generation after generation of Egyptian soldiers and settlers lived in or around the fortress towns. The Nubians protected their own trade routes with buttressed walls and rectangular and semi-circular bastions for defence. Egyptologists have described this as a period of colonisation in Nubia, during which they slowly spread their traditions and religious beliefs.
As the Swiss mission excavations show, however, this was Kerma's classic heyday. The Nubians lived on the edge of the Egyptian empire and remained in contact with the populations of central Africa and the Red Sea shoreline. The king's audience chamber (rebuilt at least 10 times on the same spot) bears no resemblance to any Egyptian building. On the contrary, the chamber might be seen as a prototype for the large princely and royal huts discovered on the African continent in the last hundred years. The most ancient architecture of Kerma clearly reveals that its roots lay in an African architecture. The kings asserted their power by planning their own funerary cult and by having hundreds of people sacrificed at the time of their death. Kerma has provided an opportunity to rediscover the originality of Nubian rituals and accomplishments.
Nearly 1,000 years of uninterrupted cultural development in Nubia came to an end only with the first military campaigns of Egyptian Pharaohs in the early 18th Dynasty. In about 1547 BC Tuthmosis I pushed the Egyptian frontier south of the Second Cataract. Many fine temples were raised in Nubia, among them that of Queen Hatshepsut at Semna, later claimed by her successor Tuthmosis III who built another at Soleb. At nearby Sesibi, his successor Akhenaten built another temple. Egyptian viceroys were appointed to govern these territories and ensure the regularity of shipments northwards.
By the 19th Dynasty (c. 1320 BC) Egyptian influence had spread southwards to the Fourth Cataract, and another settlement was established at Napata. With the establishment of large communities, not only were Egypt's technological skills introduced far southwards, but its religious tradition as well. Ramses II constructed six temples in Nubia between the first and second cataracts. There is no doubt that Egypt's dominant position in the ancient world was due largely to the country's command of Nubian gold production -- the precious metal assured Egypt's superiority as the richest country in Africa and western Asia.
The situation changed when the Egyptian high priest Hrihor declared himself viceroy of Kush, and his control of the Nubia gave him the wealth and military might to usurp the throne of Egypt in about 1000 BC. Anarchy reigned, and after Hrihor's death there followed a period of confusion. This enabled the African rulers of Kush to become increasingly independent. Liberated from Egyptian domination, Napata became the focal point of a revived kingdom.
Topography of Ancient Kush / Ethiopia
The Land of Nubia
http://ib205.tripod.com/nubia.html
Key to Map of Nubia
1 - Dakka
C-Group Site (C-Group people first appeared in Nubia at the time of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt)
2 - Quban
Fortress and base for mining operations (mines included the gold mines at Wadi el-Allaqi and Wadi Gabgaba, the copper mines at Abu Segal and diorite quarries in the desert west of Toshka) - time of Sesostris I (12th Dynasty).
3 - Wadi es-Sebua
Fortified C-Group settlement.
4 - Sayala
Includes the grave of a chief (?) from an A-Group Settlement.
5 - Aniba
C-Group site (also includes an important cemetery dating to the period)
6 - Toshka
Diorite quarries
7 - Faras
A site occupied throughout the ancient period, it contains an A and C-Group cemetery, it was an important administrative centre of Egypt in Nubia in the 18th Dynasty (also in the Late Period)
8 - Qustul
A-Group cemetery, also burials of Kings dating to the early Christian era.
9 - Buhen
Middle Kingdom fortress site (although the site did originally flourish in the 4th and 5th Dynasties), copper was also smelted here, the site was re-used by rulers of the New Kingdom
10 - Wadi Halfa
Considered a strategic position by the ancient Egyptians. Inscriptions here date to the Nubian campaigns of Sesostris I. Another stela dates to the 19th Dynasty which celebrates the building of a temple to Horus. In many eras of ancient Egypt, Wadi Halfa marked Egypt's southern border.
11 - Mirgissa
A fortress in the Middle Kingdom, used as a port for the transport of goods from Nubia to Egypt.
12 - Batn el-Hagar
Called 'Belly of Stones' by the local inhabitants, a desolate region of Nubia which extends for more than 100 miles - the river is filled with rapids which is matched by wasteland on the shore - a natural defence for the region.
13 - Semna
Frontier of Egyptian control under Sesostris I and Sesotris III
14 - Amara West
Town, walled with a stone temple - for a time the residence for the Viceroy of Kush.
15 - Sai
Island on the Nile, an important Kushite settlement, as such this was garrisoned by Egyptian troops during the reign of Tuthmosis I.
16 - Sedeinga
Amenhotep III built 'an impressive temple' here in honour of his Chief Queen Tiye.
17 - Soleb
Amenhotep III built a temple here solely for the worship of himself - a pair of red granite lions stood by the temple (these now reside in the British Museum), inscriptions on the lions link Amenhotep III as the father of Tutankhamun.
18 - Sesebi
Walled town, with stone temple - also used for the residence of the Viceroy of Kush
19 - Kerma
Large and important site - Centre of Kushite Power - one of the earliest settlements in tropical Africa. Evidence has been found of the first activity of the site in the 4th millennium BC, graves date to 2,400BC and then had constant development for the next 1,000 years. The town had a large religious structure / temple as its focal point (in 1750-1600BC this also had workshops and other religious buildings within the temples quarter). Mud brick walls and dry ditches protected the town. Craftsmen skilled in metal working, woodworking, ceramics, Jewellery etc were housed at Kerma. Tuthmosis I attacked and sacked the town - the outer defences were demolished by him (it is thought to stop Kerma becoming a focal point for Nubian uprising against the Egyptians).
20 - Napata
Frontier settlement, built by Tuthmosis III - this marked the entry point for goods entering Egypt from the rest of Africa at this point in time. In the 8th Century BC a new and powerful Kushite kingdom emerged in the region of Napata, this was to go on to become the greatest civilisation of Nubia. The first period of this development took place in the Napata Period (it would then continue to become the Merotic Period following a break-away from Egyptian culture). This Kushite Kingdom would gain in power and whose descendants would eventually become pharaohs of Egypt (25th Dynasty). Rulers of Kush were buried in pyramids at Nuri, close to Napata.
21 - Gebel Barkal
Flat Topped Mountain'. The most important religious centre in Nubia during the New Kingdom - called 'Holy Mountain' by the Egyptians. It became the Nubian centre for the cult of Amun, many temples were built at the base of the mountain.
22 - Kurgus
Furthest point that Tuthmosis I reached in his campaigns into Nubia
23 - Meroe
The chief city of Nubia in the 6th century BC (although it was used as a royal residence as early as the 8th century BC), the rulers of Nubia were buried here in steeply sided pyramids. From the beginning of the 3rd Century BC there was a gradual shift away from the pharaonic influence of Egypt, it was then that the royal burials became to be placed at Meroe than at the cemetaries close to Napata. The town of Meroe has only been partly excavated, but a great temple to Amun has been found which had an avenue of rams. In the 8th century BC a new and powerful Kushite Kingdom emerged in Napata, this was to become the greatest civilisation of ancient Nubia - the Kingdom of Meroe (the Merotic Period) - it was to exist for over a thousand years (although the major events were to take place in the first half - the Napata Period).
24 - Wad Ban Naga
Important trade centre
25 - Musawwarat es-Sufra
The site of the 'Great Enclosure' - an area which included temples and a complete arrangement of courts, rooms and passages. Decoration includes sculptures of elephants - it is thought that this 'Great Enclosure' may have been a place for pilgrimage and / or a royal residence.
26 - Naga
Location of temples.
27 - Kadero
Important early site in Nubia - as early as 4,000BC there is evidence of the domestication of cattle and cultivation of cereal crops as well as hunting and gathering.
A Chronological table can be consulted here:
http://wysinger.homestead.com/chronology.html
Note
Picture: Ahmose Nefertari, the Kushitic mother of Pharaoh Amenhotep I: Foremother of today´s Oromos and Arabic speaking Sudanese
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