Chapters › Kush: Napata & Meroe · Egypt
New Kingdom Egypt
1550 BCE – 1070 BCE Arabic under review
Approximate area of control
Research in progress No areas drawn: the file only has reference points.
Reference points
- Pi-Ramesses (reference marker) [low] — Wikipedia contributors New Kingdom of Egypt
- Kurgus frontier (reference marker) [medium] — N.M. Sherif (ch.10), in G. Mokhtar (ed.) (1981) General History of Africa, II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa – 'Nubia before Napata' pp. 265
- Napata / Fourth Cataract (reference marker) [medium] — G. Mokhtar (ed.), UNESCO International Scientific Committee (1981) General History of Africa, II: Ancient Civilizations of Africa pp. 270
Key events
- Conquest of Kush
- Ramesses II
Capitals / sites
Thebes
Geopolitics
Kush ended when Tuthmose I 'conquered Nubia beyond the Fourth Cataract' (GHA II ch.9, p.261). A viceroy, titled 'King's son of Kush' from the reign of Tuthmose IV, governed Wawat (Nekhen to the Second Cataract) and Kush (Second to Fourth Cataracts). He commanded garrisons and the troops escorting expeditions to the gold mines, and he delivered Nubia's tribute to the vizier at Thebes (p.270). Under Ramses XI the viceroy Pa-nehesi and his Nubian troops intervened in Upper Egypt, and Herihor later became viceroy, vizier and then king (p.274).
Culture
Egyptian administration brought 'complete egyptianization of Nubia': Nubians adopted Egyptian religion, burial rites and techniques. Princes' sons were educated at the royal court, where they 'forgot their own language'; Djehuty-hotep, Prince of Serra, lived as an upper-class Egyptian (GHA II ch.9, p.271). Yoyotte notes that Egypt 'firmly implanted the worship of the Theban god [Amun] in the land of Kush' (ch.3, p.128). Zayed adds that, although egyptianized, the people of the upper valley 'did not become Egyptian' (ch.4, p.144).
Economy
'The principal product of Nubia was gold.' Under Tuthmose III the annual tribute of Wawat alone was 550 pounds. Gold came from the Wadi Allaqi and Wadi Gabgaba mines in the eastern desert and from mines along the Nile as far south as Abu Hamed. Other tribute included ebony, ivory, cattle, and by the late 18th Dynasty manufactured goods such as shields, stools and beds (GHA II ch.9, p.273). Seti I and Ramses II tried to supply the gold-mine route with water (p.269).
Regional power
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Open data flags
- regional_power: no actors scored
- Pass 20 text: [WORKING TRANSLATION – needs native Arabic review] for every Arabic field
Sources
- J. Yoyotte (1981) Pharaonic Egypt: society, economy and culture, ch.3 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- A.H. Zayed (with J. Dévisse) (1981) Egypt's relations with the rest of Africa, ch.4 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- N.M. Sherif (1981) Nubia before Napata (−3100 to −750), ch.9 (General History of Africa II) UNESCO / Heinemann / University of California Press link [en]
- K. Michałowski (1981) The spreading of Christianity in Nubia (General History of Africa II, ch.12) UNESCO link [en]
- Wikipedia contributors New Kingdom of Egypt Wikipedia link [en]