2013 Cologne Outline History Kush
2013 Cologne Outline History Kush
2013 Cologne Outline History Kush
THEPOWEROF
WA L L S
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HEINRICH-BARTH-INSTITUT
HEINRICH-BARTH-INSTITUT e.V.
in Kooperation mit der Universitt zu Kln
COLLOQUIUM AFRICANUM
KLN
2013
Proceedings of the
International Workshop
held at the University of Cologne
4th 7th August 2011
Edited by
Friederike Jesse & Carola Vogel
HEINRICH-BARTH-INSTITUT
Aerial view of the Gala Abu Ahmed fortress. ( University of Cologne, ACACIA project)
To Rudolph Kuper
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Friederike Jesse & Carola Vogel
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Border and Territory
Danel Kahn
The History of Kush an Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Anja Kootz
State-Territory and Borders versus Hegemony and its Installations:
Imaginations Expressed by the Ancient Egyptians during the Classical Periods . . . 33
Lszl Trk
Egypts Southern Frontier Revisited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Fortifications between Syria/Palestine and Nubia
Overview of the Historical Development of Fortifications
Carola Vogel
Keeping the Enemy Out
Egyptian Fortications of the Third and Second Millennium BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Kvta Smolrikov
Egyptian Fortications from the First Millennium BC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Bogdan urawski
Strongholds on the Middle Nile: Nubian Fortications of the Middle Ages . . . . 113
Mariusz Drzewiecki
Fortications and the Post-Meroitic Period in Upper Nubia: Some Thoughts . . . . 145
James K. Homeier
Reconstructing Egypts Eastern Frontier Defense Network in the
New Kingdom (Late Bronze Age) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Lucia Mori
Fortied Citadels and Castles in Garamantian Times:
the Evidence from Southern Fazzan (Libyan Sahara) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Derek A. Welsby
Romes Solution for the Defence of its Desert Frontier
a Model for Understanding the Strategies Adopted to Combat
Similar Problems by the States on the Middle Nile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Single Sites Locations, Architecture, Garrison and Function
Irene Forstner-Mller
City Wall(s) in Avaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Pamela Rose & Alison Gascoigne
Hisn al-Bab: More Symbol than Substance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Lisa Heidorn
Dorginarti: Fortress at the Mouth of the Rapids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Dieter Eigner
A Stone Building in the Desert Sands Some Remarks on the Architecture
of the Gala Abu Ahmed Fortress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Friederike Jesse
Far from the Nile
The Gala Abu Ahmed Fortress in Lower Wadi Howar (Northern Sudan) . . . . . . 321
Preface
The story behind this book can be traced back to the winter of 2008/09 and to the Wadi
Howar desert region in northern Sudan where a team of the University of Cologne was
doing excavation work at the Gala Abu Ahmed fortress. One of the important questions
of the project was Why was it necessary to build such a massive structure at this rather remote location? While working and in the evenings at the camp we came up with fascinating theories of the who and why. Beyond, there were a lot of serious discussions
about the functions of the different buildings we uncovered from beneath the sand, about
the possible trade routes or thoroughfares crossing this part of the Sahara, and whether or
not an Egyptian influence was possible despite the distance. The large amount of archaeological evidence pointing to a Pharaonic context such as faience fragments, sherds made
of marl clay or pieces of alabaster led to the discussion whether or not the Egyptians may
even have been responsible for the construction of Gala Abu Ahmed itself.
Against this background, the question of frontiers and their protection became important.
While discussing all these topics and realising that we could not find sufficient answers,
we came to a point when someone asked Why dont you organise a workshop on this
topic? The idea was born and a little more than two years later an international workshop
entitled The Power of Walls Ancient Fortifications in Northeastern Africa was held at
the University of Cologne. The meeting was part of the Gala Abu Ahmed research project
and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). As the organisers, we were
overwhelmed by the strong and positive reactions to the invitations news of the workshop spread quickly and many people called to ask whether they could participate. That
encouraged us very much and confirmed the necessity of discussions about fortifications,
frontiers, territories and their protection in northeastern Africa.
About 30 researchers from different countries in Europe, but also from the Sudan and the
United States finally met for a long and intense weekend in Cologne: 4th7th August 2011.
We would like to thank all participants for attending, for their contributions and their enthusiasm for discussion. The workshop venue was appropriately located in the ancient
fortifications of the town of Cologne, now used by the University of Cologne. We would
like to thank the Institute of Geography and especially Andreas Janotta for their hospitality. The workshop venue represents only a small part of the enormous Prussian fortifications which turned Cologne into one of the most impressive fortified towns in Europe in
the 19th century. An excursion to the well preserved Fort X was the obvious thing to do
Dirk Wolfrum, Peter Sievert, Werner Pitzler and Uwe Zinnow of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Festung Kln vividly brought these powerful ancient walls to life for us. The realisation
of the whole workshop would not have been possible without the help of Eymard Fder,
Danel Kahn
The History of Kush an Outline
I have been asked to give a short review of Kushite history during the period in which the
Gala Abu Ahmed fortress was in use. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the fortress was
inhabited from the 20th Egyptian Dynasty (c. 1200 BC, Friederike Jesse, personal
communication 2011) until c. 400 BC (Jesse & Kuper 2006: 143; Eigner & Jesse 2009: 154).
Significant changes occurred in Kush during this long period of almost a thousand years.
In order to draw a complete picture, I will start my survey before the period in question.
1. The independent state of Kush (25001500 BC)
Between 2500 BC and 1500 BC, the kingdom in the middle Nile valley was extremely
powerful. It stretched from the area of the 5th Cataract in the south (Smith 2005: 136138;
Emberling & Williams 2010) to north of the 3rd Cataract. Its capital was at Kerma, just
south of the 3rd Cataract. At the zenith of its power, it bordered Egypt at the 1st Cataract,
as was revealed by the Kamose stela (Smith & Smith 1976: 59) and, according to the
fragmentary inscription on the tomb of Sobeknakht from the 17th Dynasty at el Kab, it
even conducted raids that penetrated deep into Egypt proper (Davies 2003a: 5254).
2. Egyptian expansion into Kush
Kamose, the last ruler of the 17th Dynasty, retaliated against the Kushites (Habachi 1972;
Smith & Smith 1976) and regained control over Buhen. Lower Nubia, which, long before,
had consisted of the kingdoms of Wawat, Irtjet and Satju but by then was simply
designated Wawat, also came under direct Egyptian control. Kamoses successor,
Ahmose I, the founder of the 18th Dynasty, conducted further incursions into Kush (Berg
1987; Morkot 2000: 70); to what extent remains unclear. We now know that Ahmose
campaigned deep into the territories of Kush, much farther south than the 2nd Cataract,
as had previously been agreed by scholars.
In the first decade of the 20th century, Frederick Green discovered an Ahmose
cartouche inscribed on Jebel Kajbar, downstream from the 3rd Cataract, but this was not
published. David Edwards (2006: 58f.) rediscovered the inscription, and it was recently
revisited by Vivian Davies (personal communication August 2010). This find strengthens
The History of Kush an Outline
17
the suggestion that Ahmose fought further south than previously thought. He must even
have gone much further south, since Emhab of Elkab claims on a stela that is difficult
to interpret that he followed in the footsteps of his master to Avaris in the north and
to the land of Miu in the south. Since Ahmose was the last Pharaoh to fight the Hyksos,
and who expelled them from Avaris, Emhabs stela should be dated to his reign at the
latest. Following the collation of the inscriptions on the Hajar al-Merwa rock, it is clear
that at least part of Miu is to be located there (Davies 2005: 55, n. 20). This campaign
seems to have been more of a raid with no territorial gain, as Davies has already
suggested. During the rest of the 18th Dynasty, several more campaigns were conducted
against Kush.
3. Subjugated Kush
Thutmose I recorded his arrival at Kurgus by carving a royal inscription on the rock
(Davies 1998: 2628). He conquered Kerma, the capital of Kush, and built a temple to
Amun-Re there (Bonnet 2007: 192194), the first of many in Kush. Consequently, the
postulated border of direct Egyptian control at Tombos (Morkot 1991a: 298; Smith 2003: 3),
to the north of the 3rd Cataract, cannot be affirmed. Thutmose II, the son of Thutmose I,
inherited a vast kingdom stretching from the Euphrates in the north to Abu Hamed in the
south. He had to crush an insurrection at the Kushite capital (Bonnet 2008: 75). Hatshepsut,
his queen and successor, probably lost control of vast parts of southern Kush, thus causing
her to conduct at least two military expeditions against Kush (Habachi 1957; Redford 1967:
5762; Davies 2005: 52f.). The now famous expedition to Punt was commemorated as a
major achievement but, in fact, avoided direct contact with the heartland of the Kingdom
of Kush, which had previously been controlled by her father. When Thutmose III finally
ruled alone, however, he repeated the achievements of his grandfather, Thutmose I, and
carved a royal inscription next to that of his grandfather (Davies 2001).
During the reign of Thutmose III, at the latest, a temple complex was founded at Jebel
Barkal (Kendall & Wolf 2011: 237). This would serve as a religious centre for centuries to
come. During the reign of Amenhotep III and, later, during the early part of the reign of
Akhenaten, several religious centres were built in the middle of the most fertile territories
of Kush, namely at Sedeinga, Soleb, Sesebi, Kerma, Gem-pa-Aten/Kawa and Napata (Hein
1991; Trk 2009: 157207), thus strengthening the colonialist grip of the Egyptian
administration in Kush. The priests were surely not left to administer and control Upper
Nubia on their own. Minor building programs during the reigns of Tutankhamun (Faras,
Soleb and Kawa) and Horemheb (attested at Jebel Barkal) indicate that control over the
southern boundaries of Kush remained firmly in Egyptian hands. Only a handful of smallscale rebellions are attested in different parts of Kush during the reigns of Amenhotep III,
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Danel Kahn
Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, as is known from royal stelae and temple reliefs (OConnor
1998; Schulman 1982; Helck 1980; Johnson 1992) and a mention in the Kamid el Loz letters
about the settling of Kushite deportees in the northern district of the Empire at Upe, i.e.
Lebanon during the days of Tutankhamun (Naaman 1988).
Early in the 19th Dynasty, Seti I was confronted with attacks by the Kingdom of Irem.
These are reported on several royal stelae that were set up at Amara West, Sai and also
in the Qurqur Oasis (Kitchen 1977: 213219; Darnell 2011; El-Saady 2011). The location
of Irem is debated by scholars: Kenneth Kitchen suggested that Irem lay to the west of
the Dongola reach (Kitchen 1977); Jean Vercoutter (1980) located Irem to the south of
this area, at the bend between Dongola and Napata, while David OConnor (1987)
preferred to search for Irem in the northern part of the Butana, at the confluence of the
Nile with the Atbara, up to Shendi and the 6th Cataract. Ramesses II also had to deal with
Irem and took some 7,400 captives (Kitchen 1977: 220). These rulers controlled Napata
and Ramesses II built there extensively (Hein 1991: 66; Kendall 2009), so there would have
been no serious entity to the west of the Nile between the 3rd and 4th Cataracts that was
strong enough to challenge and endanger these powerful kings. I maintain that Irem lay
to the south of Abu Hamed (contra Trk 2009: 18, n. 61). It should further be noted that
only these warrior kings, who are known to have pushed on as far as the southern borders
of Kush (cf. Davies 2001; 2003b), confronted Irem. Thus, during the early 19th Dynasty,
Egypt controlled the most southerly borders it had ever reached, and fought against a
new and powerful opponent Irem.
4. Climate catastrophe and the temporary weakness of the Empire
According to several sources, it seems that the fifth year in the reign of Merneptah,
Ramesses IIs successor, was a turning point in the favourable situation that the king had
inherited from his father. A massive rebellion broke out on all the borders of Egypt:
Ashqelon in Canaan rebelled; Libyan hordes endangered Heliopolis, the Delta and the
Nile valley, and the Nubians in Wawat (Lower Nubia) revolted after decades of peace.
The rebellion did not occur many hundreds of miles to the south of Egypt but, rather, in
Egypts backyard, between the 1st and the 2nd Cataracts, in the area where many Egyptian
temples with enormous granaries had been built during the reign of Ramesses II (Kahn
2012). The rebellion was brutally quelled by Mesui, the Kings son of Kush and viceroy
in the days of Merneptah, who can probably be identified as the later King Amenmesse
(Dodson 2011; contra Trk 2009: 194), and control was restored at least as far as Doukki
Gel. This may be inferred from the find of a still-unpublished cartouche on a masonry
block of King (Akh-[n]-Re [setepen-Amun]) Siptah at the site (Bonnet et al. 2000: 1114).
The years following Merneptahs reign were years of weakness and a rapid succession of
The History of Kush an Outline
19
rulers. Seti II, the rightful heir of Merneptah, fought against Amenmesse, an usurper
who ruled for four years. Despite these setbacks, it seems that the Egyptian zone of
control remained stable during these turbulent times. No Egyptian building activity or
artefacts dating to the end of the 19th Dynasty have been recorded south of Kerma.
5. Temporary recovery
During the reign of Ramesses III, Egyptian military accomplishments reached further
heights. Egyptian hegemony over Upper Nubia was re-established after several decades
(Kitchen 1977: 224f.; Kahn 2010: 20, n. 45). According to texts and reliefs of Ramesses III,
he defeated the armies of Irem, although no building activity by him is reported to the
south of Soleb (Hein 1991: 103; Trk 2009: 199)1. The date of the end of Egyptian
domination in Upper Nubia is contested. Whether it occurred during the reign of
Ramesses VI as Karola Zibelius-Chen suggests, or during the reign of Ramesses IX as
Lszl Trk proposes in his recent research Between Two Worlds (Hein 1991: 51ff.;
Zibelius-Chen 1996: 197; Trk 2009: 373) depends on whether the statue of an official
of Ramesses IX named Bakenwerel was set up by the official himself or was looted and
brought to Jebel Barkal as booty. The question of Egyptian withdrawal from Upper
Nubia may be linked with Egypts almost concurrent withdrawal from Canaan (cf.
Finkelstein 1995), or it may have been the consequence of Panehesys revolt against
Payankh (Trk 2009: 204207).
6. Independent rule the rise of the Kushite state
Kush was freed from its Egyptian overlords at the end of the New Kingdom. Since no
power vacuum remains empty for more than ten seconds, it is clear that members of the
local population seized control immediately. However, our information on this period
is very fragmentary. The 1992 Nubian conference at Gosen was aimed at clarifying the
origins of the Kushite state (Wenig, ed., 1999). Some scholars suggested that the new
rulers came from Lower Nubia, others thought they came from the south. However, one
should not forget two facts:
A. The emerging kingdom was called Kush by its own people; it could thus be the successor
of the former Kingdom of Kush and should be sought within the borders of that kingdom.
1 For a possible inscription of Ramesses III from Doukki Gel, see: Bonnet et al. 2000: 1114f., referred to again in
Valbelle 2006: 433, where the inscription is dated sans doute durant le rgne de Ramss III, with no further
elaboration.
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While tackling the question of royal succession in the Kingdom of Kush, Robert Morkot
(1999b: 218ff.) suggested that the royal line was created by the merging of two families
of chiefs, the matrilinear family of Alara and the patrilinear family of Kashta. The two
chiefdoms were based at two different centres at least. In a previous paper, I claimed that
this idea is not supported by any evidence (Kahn 2005). Trk came to a similar
conclusion, claiming that the Kingdom of Kush was in origin a confederacy of chiefdoms
(Trk 1992; 1995: 6573). This is not the place to delve into this problem. Suffice it to say
that in the many periods of weakness the Kingdom of Kush did not break up and revert
to these alleged chiefdoms, nor is there any concrete textual evidence to support their
hypothetical existence (cf. Wenig 1992).
The emergence of the Kushite kingdom remains mostly based on an interpretation of the
finds from the El Kurru cemetery, where the ancestors of the 25th Dynasty, the future rulers
of Kush, were buried. The start of the cemetery was dated to c. 900 BC by its original
excavator, George Reisner (1919), who assigned several of the graves to female members
of the royal family. This date leaves a gap of c. 200 years between the end of the Egyptian
New Kingdom and the resumption of local rule in Upper Nubia. This chronologicalhistorical problem has been treated in three ways:
The lack of archaeological material from the Third Intermediate Period is now slowly
being reduced by finds from the cemeteries at Sanam, opposite Napata (Lohwasser 2010:
91100), Hillat el Arab (Vincentelli 2006), Tombos (Smith 2007; 2008), Sai and Amara
West (Spencer 2009: 57), to name just a few sites. No Third Intermediate Period remains
The History of Kush an Outline
21
have been found so far at Doukki Gel (Charles Bonnet, personal communication August
2010). When considering the various chronologies proposed for the El Kurru cemetery,
one should bear in mind that these cemeteries may have been in continuous use from the
time of the New Kingdom onwards, or that burial grounds in the same area may have
been reused, as seems to be the case at Tombos (Smith 2007; 2008). This hinders the
analysis of the great variety of C14 dates and the suggested heirlooms in the cemetery
(cf. Kendall 1999a: 4447). Be the chronology as it may, it is clear that the El Kurru chiefs
gradually adopted Egyptian religious customs and abandoned indigenous Kushite
practices. While Kendalls suggestion that the Napatan Amun cult was revived by
refugee priests after the Theban civil war cannot be substantiated on any factual basis,
there is still no alternative explanation for the rise of Egyptianization and the resumption
of the Amun cult.
Morkot and Kendall followed Hans Goedicke (1972) in claiming that so-called postRamesside rulers, such as Men-maat-Re setepen-Amun and User-maat-Re setepen-Re
Ary-mery-Amun and KTSN, may have ruled as local successors to their imperial
Ramesside predecessors (Morkot 1999a, 2000: 145149; Kendall 1999a: 6365). However,
grammatical and iconographical considerations firmly secure their dating in the late 4th
century, as was initially suggested (Zibelius-Chen 2003: 435; 2006: 295f.; Trk 2009:
292f.). There is thus not a shred of evidence of a post-Ramesside kingdom with local
rulers in Kawa, or elsewhere, except in the Napata region.
The rising Kingdom of Kush thrived because of its direct access to gold-producing areas
and its control over the caravan routes: to Chad in the west through Wadi Howar; to the
deep African South along the Nile; to the Red Sea coast in the east and, to the north,
trade with Upper Egypt and polities in the Levant (Heidorn 1994; 1997; Lohwasser 2010;
Vincentelli 2011). This trade even reached as far as Assyria, as is indicated by the mention
of African luxury items that were given by the King of Egypt to Shalmaneser III, his
Assyrian counterpart, around 828 BC (Grayson 1996: 149f.).
7. Kushite expansion towards Egypt
A further piece of evidence that is thought to illuminate the dark ages in Kush is the
notorious Kadimalo/Karimala inscription from Semna. This text has been used as one of
the fundamental proofs of a Kushite expansion into Lower Nubia before the 25th Dynasty.
While John Darnell (2006) dates this inscription to the 21st Dynasty, largely on the
palaeographic peculiarities of seven signs (!) (Darnell 2006: 46), Morkot dates the
inscription to the 9th8th centuries BC (Morkot 2000: 150153) and Trk dates it to the
early 8th century BC (Trk 1995: 4549; 2009: 294298). These scholars interpret it as
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Meroitic/Nubian. However, the dating of the inscription seems shaky; the degree of
Egyptianization is too early for a Kushite/Meroitic text; the royal title nsw does not fit
early Napatan rule; and the identification of Karimala/Kadimalo as a Meroitic queen,
based on an alleged etymology of a Meroitic graffiti some hundreds of years later in the
yet undeciphered Meroitic language meaning Good Lady, is too modest and male
chauvinist a name for an allegedly remarkably successful woman. She may be a queen
of Libyan descent, as suggested by her clothes, hairstyle and the proposed Libyan
etymology. Her piety with regard to Amun would be surprisingly early for a Kushite
queen of Meroitic descent (Bennett 1999; Kendall 1999a: 6163; Zibelius-Chen 2007).
The first clear evidence of a Kushite expansion to the north is a stela from Elephantine
of Kashta, the ruler of Kush during the second quarter of the 8th century BC (Leclant
1963). Kashta adopted royal Egyptian titles and his scribes erected a royal monument in
the Egyptian style and dedicated to the Egyptian gods. Clearly, another step towards
the Egyptianization of the Kushite royal house had been taken. The date of Kashtas
monument in Egypt coincides with the demise of the Egyptian office of Viceroy of Kush
during the reign of Takeloth III (Trk 2009: 289). It is not clear whether it was Kashta
who conquered Upper Egypt and installed his daughter as the wife of the god Amun at
Thebes, or whether it was his son, Piankhy, who may have installed his sister (Trk
1995: 5052). During Piankhys reign, at the latest, the Kushite Kingdom controlled a
vast area, from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the city of Meroe in the south
(Trk 1995: 44f.), and may have even controlled territories yet further to the south.
However, no clear archaeological data are available at present.
8. Conflict between Kush and Assyria
The arrival of the Kushites on the shores of the Mediterranean coincided with the conquest
of the Levant by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the days of Tiglath-Pileser III (Kahn 2001).
The encounter between these two superpowers initially created trade opportunities
(Lohwasser 2002; Heidorn 1994) with trade routes stretching from deep within Africa,
through Phoenicia and the emerging markets in the western Mediterranean, east to
Mesopotamia and beyond. This economic honeymoon very soon fell apart, when the
Kushites and Assyrians fought for control over the southern Levantine kingdoms (Kitchen
1983; 1996; Spalinger 1978; Kahn 2001) and the Arabian and Phoenician trade routes. This
conflict ended with the inevitable Assyrian realisation that in order to succeed in rooting
out Kushite control from the Levant, Assyria would need to expel them from Egypt as
well (Spalinger 1974a and b; Kahn 2004; 2006). In a concentrated effort, the Assyrian kings
Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal conducted five successive campaigns to conquer Egypt,
which lasted a total of ten years; after a prolonged continuous war, they finally succeeded
in expelling the Kushites.
The History of Kush an Outline
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It is not clear when and how Egypt gained independence from Assyria, but the rulers of the
26th Dynasty were not content with the expulsion of the Kushites from Egypt and waged
war against Kush several times, from the inception of the dynasty onwards. During the
reigns of Psammetichus I (Kahn 2007: 513f.) and Necho II., Egypt expanded its borders again
into Lower Nubia and occupied the fortress of Dorginarti at the 2nd Cataract (Heidorn 1991).
According to a fragmentary stela of Necho II from Elephantine, he conducted a
campaign against Kush upstream along the Nile (Jansen-Winkeln 1989). This campaign
seems not to have achieved lasting success, since he had to muster troops for an expedition
down the Red Sea (Herodotus, Histories II, 158), possibly to bypass Kush and, most
probably, in order to reach Punt. The peak of hostilities was reached during the reign of
Psammetichus II who effaced the Kushite name from their monuments in Egypt and
campaigned against Kush. He evidently reached Kerma (Bonnet & Valbelle 2005) and Jebel
Barkal (cf. Trk 2009: 361f.), destroying the temples and setting them on fire during the
reign of Aspelta, the King of Kush. Sanam Abu Dom (Vincentelli 2011: 281) was also
destroyed and abandoned.
Memories of the wars between 26th Dynasty Egypt and Kush are echoed in the biblical
books of Zephaniah, Ezekiel and later classical authors such as Herodotus (Histories II, 161),
Poliaenus and Aristeas as well as in the graffiti of the participating mercenaries along their
route of advancement in Kush (FHN I: 286290, 322f.; Kahn 2007; 2009: 446449).
A 26th Dynasty stela, found at Dafneh in the Delta, claims that the Egyptian forces
marched southwards toward Punt (Petrie 1888: 107, pl. 42; Kahn 2008: 147). To me, the
agreement in dates with the recorded campaign of Psammetichus II does not seem to be
mere coincidence. Indeed, I would go as far as to suggest that the recently found smashed
statues of Taharqa, Senkamanisken and probably Aspelta at the temple of Dangeil
(Anderson & Mohamed Ahmed 2009), were also destroyed by the wrath of the troops of
Psammetichus II. Julie Anderson, one of the excavators of Dangeil, doubted this
interpretation when discussing the issue with me because a broken statue in the Meroitic
1st century level was found in the same archaeological context. We must patiently await the
results of future excavations at Dangeil to resolve this question.
Egyptian economic interest in African commodities may therefore have been a
significant factor in Egypts policy towards the south. The finds of Egyptian artefacts and
luxury items, such as the New Year flasks, at the Gala Abu Ahmed fortress may point to the
same conclusion (Lohwasser 2009; Trk 2009: 363). A small tablet made of faience with a
cartouche was first read as Nefer-ib-Re, referring to Psammetichus II, and allegedly
strengthening his interest in trade routes deep into Africa. However, a second reading
suggested Nefer-ka-Re, the throne name of Shabaka, which should clearly be preferred
(Lohwasser 2009: 161). A small cartouche made of blue faience also shows Shabakas throne
name, Nefer-ka-Re (Friederike Jesse, personal communication 2012).
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The history of the Kingdom of Kush is obscure during the decades between the
campaign of Psammetichus II (593 BC) and the appearance of the Persian Empire on the
borders of Kush during the reign of Cambyses (525522 BC). According to one tradition,
Cambyses is claimed to have invaded Kush and, on arrival at Meroe, re-named the city
after his sister. According to another tradition, his army perished on the way (Herodotus,
Histories III, 1726). According to Herodotus, the main army, which marched to Ethiopia,
suffered from hunger and many died on the way. The unit that marched against the
Amonians at Siwa vanished in a sand storm. Recently, the Castiglioni brothers
announced the discovery of remains of the lost Persian army near the Bahrin oasis, a
small oasis not far from Siwa (http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2010/06/
flashback-vanished-persian-army-found.html, accessed September 2011).
Herodotus claims that Ethiopia paid bi-annual tribute to Egypt from the time of
Cambyses until his own day (Herodotus, Histories III, 97). Pliny (1st century AD), while
describing Petronius Nubian campaign (Natural History VI, 181), mentions Forum
Cambusis in the vicinity of the 2nd Cataract (probably Faras? See: FHN I: 313; FHN III:
879), thus suggesting that Cambyses presence was remembered at this site for centuries.
During the reign of Darius II, Kush sent ivory to Susa as tribute and &A NHsy is listed as
Persias southernmost province (Yoyotte 1974; Briant 2002: 172176). The mention in the
book of Esther (1:1) of the limits of Xerxes Empire, which stretched from India to Kush,
and the mustering of Kushite troops into Xerxes army against the Greeks in 480 BC
(Herodotus, Histories VII, 69) both corroborate this information (Morkot 1991c). The
archaeological remains from Dorginarti support the evidence that Lower Nubia was in
Persian hands, as absolutely no information on Persian presence in Lower Nubia after this
period is known (Heidorn 1991). Persia was expelled from Egypt no later than 398 BC.
According to the Kawa inscriptions of the Kushite king Irike-Amanote, traditionally
dated to the end of the 5th century BC onwards, the king had trouble with the nomadic
Rhrs and Mdd tribes in the vicinity of Meroe and further north (FHN II: 401, 407). After
subduing his enemies, the Kushite king set out from Meroe on a coronation journey, or
victory journey, and stopped at the main religious centres of Amun at Napata, Kawa
and Pnubs (Kerma). He did not go further north, which suggests that he did not control
the area of Lower Nubia. Unfortunately, our historical sources for the rest of the
5th century BC, as well as the scope of my paper, end here.
25
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