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Cushite)
- For the son of Rama and Sita from Indian epic of Ramayana, go to Kush (hindu).
Kush or Cush was a civilization south of Ancient Egypt in Nubia. While heavily influenced by Egypt it was a distinct culture and civilization and is often seen as the first civilization to develop in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Origins
The first developed societies appeared in Nubia around the time of the First Dynasty in Egypt. Little is known of these people's who had no writing and appeared only infrequently in Egyptian accounts. The first known Kushite state to develop was the Kingdom of Kerma that appeared c. 2600 BC and at times ruled all of Nubia and parts of Egypt. While it existed for close to a millenium very little is known about it.
Kush is known to us mostly by the reports of the Egyptians who first began moving south in about 2500 BC, but this was halted by the fall of the Middle Kingdom. About 1500 BC Egyptian expansion continued, but this time it was resisted by organized forces. Historians are not sure if this refers to multiple city states in the region, or if it was then united into one empire. There is also debate as to whether the notion of forming states was indigenous in origin or whether it was borrowed from the Egyptians. Despite this new organization the Egyptians still prevailed and the region became a colony of Egypt by the reign of Thutmose I. The region supplied Egypt with resources and ruled from a number of sturdy fortresses erected in the region.
In the eleventh century BC internal disputes in Egypt caused colonial rule to collapse and there arose an independent kingdom based at Napata . It is unknown if this kingdom was ruled by Egyptians prefects who elevated themselves once disconnected from Egypt, or by locals who overthrew the colonial regime. It is clearly visible that this New Kingdom learned much of its technology and culture from the Egyptians, including the building of pyramids and the worship of the Egyptian gods.
Napata
This Napata based kingdom became quite potent and under king Kastra and then Piye it invaded Egypt establishing the twenty-fifth dynasty. Egypt and Kush were again fused into one state, but this time ruled by the Nubians. The Kushites were forced to withdraw from Egypt due to the Assyrian invasion of 671 BC and Kush became, once again, an independent state. In 591 BC the Egyptians under Psammetik II invaded Kush, perhaps because Kush ruler Aspelta was preparing to invade Egypt, and sacked Napata before withdrawing north.
Move to Meroe
It is clear from the records that Aspelta's successors had their capital at Meroe, considerably farther south than Napata. The exact date this change was made is uncertain but some historians believe it was during Aspelta's reign, in response to the Egyptian invasion of Lower Nubia. Other historians believe it was the attraction of iron working that drove the kingdom south. Around Meroe, unlike Napata, there were large forests that could fire the blast furnaces. The arrival of Greek merchants throughout the region also meant that Kush was no longer dependent on trade along the Nile, rather it could export its goods east to the Red Sea and the Greek trading colonies there. An alternate theory is that two separate, but closely linked states, developed one based at Napata and the other at Meroe, with the Meroe based state gradually eclipsing the northern one. Napata clearly remained an important centre with the kings being crowned and buried there for many centuries even when they lived at Meroe. Another theory is that the capital had always long been based at Meroe. No royal residence had been found north of Meroe and it is possible Napata had only been the religious headquarters.
In around 300 BC the move to Meroe was made more complete as the monarchs began to be buried at Meroe instead of Napata. One theory is that this represents the monarchs breaking away from the power of the priests based a Napata. Diodorus Siculus tells a story about a Meroitic ruler named Ergamenes who was ordered by the priests to kill himself, but broke tradition and refused having the priests executed instead. Some historians think Ergamenese refers to Arrakkamani , the first ruler to be buried at Meroe. However, a more likely transliteration of Ergamenes is Arqamani , who ruled many years after the royal cemetery was opened at Meroe.
Kush continued for several centuries but we have little information on it. While earlier Kush had used Egyptian hieroglyphics Meroe developed a new script and began to write in the Meroitic language, that has yet to be fully deciphered. The state seems to have prospered, trading with its neighbours and continuing to build monuments and tombs. In 23 BC the Roman governor of Egypt Publius Petronius invaded Nubia in response to a Nubian attack on southern Egypt, pillaging the north of the region and sacking Napata before returning north.
Decline
The decline of Kush is hotly disputed. After the 1st century AD the royal tombs began to shrink in size and splendour and the building of large monuments seems to cease. The royal burials halt altogether in the 4th century AD. A diplomatic mission in Nero's reign travelled to Meroe, they reported almost no habitation (Pliny the Elder, N.H. 6.35). The archeological record shows a cultural shift to a new society known as the X-Group, or Ballana culture . Examinations of skeletal remains shows that physically the people remained the same despite these changes.
This corresponds closely to the traditional theory that the kingdom was destroyed by the invasion by Ezana of Axum in around 350. However the Ethiopian account seems to be describing the quelling of a rebellion in lands they already controlled. It also refers only to the Nuba, and makes no mention of the rulers of Meroe. Many historians thus theorize that
These Nuba are likely the same people the Romans called the Nobatae . When the Roman empire pulled out of northern Nubia in 272 Strabo reports that they invited the Nobatae to fill this void. The other new arrivals were the Blemmyes , likely ancestors to the Beja these desert warriors were the ones threatening the Roman possessions and who contributed to the withdrawal to more defensible lines.
By the sixth century new states had formed in the area that had once been controlled by Meroe. It seems almost certain that the Nobatae evolved into the state of Nobatia , and were also behind the Ballana culture and the two other states that arose in the area, Makuria and Alodia were also quite similar. The Beja meanwhile were expelled back into the desert. These new states of Nubia inherited much from Kush, but were also quite different. They spoke Old Nubian and wrote in a modified version of the Coptic alphabet, Meroitic and its script seemed to disappear completely.
The origin of the Nuba/Nobatae who replaced Meroe is uncertain. They may have been nomadic invaders from the west who conquered and imposed their culture and language on the settled peoples. P.L. Shinnie has speculated that the Nobatae were in fact indigenous and were natives of the Napata region who had been dominated by Meroitic leaders for centuries, and that the word Nobatae is directly related to Napata.
In the Bible
The name given this civilization comes from the Old Testament where Cush was one of the sons of Ham who settled in Northeast Africa. In the Bible and archaically a large region covering southern Egypt and parts of Ethiopia were known as Cush. The Bible refers to Cush on a number of occasions. Some contend that this Cush was in southern Arabia. See Biblical Cush for a full discussion.
See also
References
- Jean Leclant. "The empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe" UNESCO General History of Africa
- A. Hakem with I. Hrbek and J. Vercoutter. "The civilization of Napata and Meroe" UNESCO General History of Africa
- P.L. Shinnie. "The Nilotic Sudan and Ethiopia c. 660 BC to c. AD 600" Cambridge History of Africa - Volume 2 Cambridge University Press, 1978.
External link
Last updated: 05-07-2005 06:29:21
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
