Kush / Nubia: Political History

Kingdom of Kush (All Facts)

• When Egypt was weak, it asserted its independence

• When Egypt was strong, it accepted its dependency

• However, throughout the centuries, it was never effectively colonized by Egypt

  • Never lost its sense of national and cultural identity in that time

• Its rulers, upon conquering Egypt, tried to be more Egyptian than the Egyptians themselves

• Its capital, at Napata, took on all the pretensions of Egyptian fashions

• It fell to the Kingdom of Axum (Ethiopia)

Piankhy / Piye (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Defeated the Egyptian army at the Battle of Memphis

  • Gathered an armada of small boats and assaulted Memphis from the Nile River

• Became Pharaoh

Kashta (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Brother of Piankhy / Piye

• Re-asserted Kushite independence from Egypt

• Expanded Kush, having occupied Thebes and Upper Egypt

Natasen (All Facts)

• Last Kushite King to be buried at Napata

Aspelta (All Facts)

• King of Kush

• Moved the capital from Napata to Meroe around 591 BC in response to an invasion by Psamtek II and the Egyptians, after they had sacked Napata

  • From his rule onwards, kings were buried at Meroe instead of Napata

Arkamani / Ergamenes (All Facts)

• King of Kush at Meroe

• Fostered friendly relations with the Ptolemaic pharaohs at Alexandria down the Nile River

0s CE - Natakamani of Meroe (All Facts)

• Rebuilt his country and re-established its economic prosperity in the wake of its destruction by Rome

  • He restored Kush after the Roman invasion of Napata in 23 BCE

• Adopted the technology of the Romans and began a program of reconstruction that made Kush stronger and wealthier than when Rome had invaded it 

• Used the revenues of his country’s gold and iron mines to 

  • Renovate Kush’s cities

  • Secure trade routes

  • Reestablish law and order

• Built more than any other Kushite ruler, including having built Temples and Palaces at

  • Amara

  • Meroe

  • Naqa

• Built the shrine of Jebel Barkal near Napata

• He traded as far east as India, via the kingdom of Axum

• He shared power with (Queen Mother) Candace Amanitere

Nobatia (All Facts)

• Successor Kingdom of Nubia that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 543

Alodia (All Facts)

• Successor Kingdom of Nubia that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 550

Mukurra / Dongola (All Facts) 

• Successor Kingdom of Nubia that splintered off in 540 CE

• Nubian Kingdom which was converted to Christianity by Coptic missionaries from Egypt in 569

Kingdom of Makuria (All Facts)

• Medieval Nubian Kingdom led by

  • Kyriakos

Kyriakos (All Facts)

• King of Makuria

• He sent an army of Nubians from Makuria to Egypt, which picked up Christian Axumite (Ethiopian) recruits on their way there, invaded Egypt and occupied Cairo, and released Michael, the Patriarch of Alexandria, from captivity, after he had been imprisoned by Caliph Marwan II of the Umayyad Caliphate for revolting against him