Kush

Kush was an ancient civilization in Africa. Civilizations are complex societies with organized communities and governments.

How did historians learn about the kingdoms of Kush?

For many centuries, historians knew little about the civilization of Kush. It was difficult to travel to the region, and as a result few European historians were able to study the remains left by the Kushite people. But in the early 1800s, a historian named Karl Lepsius traveled from Europe to the region of Kush in present-day Sudan. He recorded ancient Kushite ruins from all over the region, and then shared that information with other European historians.

Kush was divided into two regions: northern Kush and southern Kush. Each region had a different environment and different natural resources. Natural resources are things in nature that are useful to humans. Read the following passage about Kush's environment and resources.

The civilization of Kush began along the Nile River, which runs through the Sahara. The Sahara is one of the largest deserts in the world. Since the land was so dry, people in Kush relied on water from the Nile River. Southern Kush received more rainfall than northern Kush, allowing some forests to grow in the south.

Ancient Kush also had many natural resources. For example, gold mines existed throughout Kush. Gold was used to make jewelry and other beautiful objects that could be sold to people living in other regions. Southern Kush was also rich in iron, while northern Kush was rich in copper. People living in Kush used copper and iron to make tools and weapons.

Gold!

Like it is today, gold was valuable in the ancient world. Kush had many gold mines, and the kingdoms of Kush became wealthy by selling gold to the Egyptians. In exchange, the Kushites received goods such as grapes, olive oil, and lumber.

This golden ram's head is from a necklace that may have been worn by Kushite kings. The ram was a symbol for the god Amun, an important Kushite god.

After people in Kush started growing crops in 4000 BCE, more people began to settle into villages. When people settled into villages, many aspects of their lives changed.

Achy bones in early villages

One of the most common bone problems in early villages was arthritis (ahr-THRAI-tis). Arthritis is a painful swelling of the area between the bones in a person's body.

Arthritis was caused by bones rubbing together during the hard work that farmers had to do to grow grain. Although some farmers used animals to help them, their tools were still much harder to use than the farm technology that many people use today.

Around 2300 BCE, the first kingdom of Kush began to develop, called the Kerman Kingdom. It grew out of a city called Kerma. At that time, Kush did not have its own written language. So today, researchers study objects and buildings instead of written sources to learn about the Kerman Kingdom. Read the description of the largest monument in the Kerman Kingdom.

The Western Deffufa (duh-FOO-fuh) is one of the oldest monuments in Africa. It was built by the rulers of the Kerman Kingdom around 2000 BCE. When the Western Deffufa was built, it was one of the largest buildings in the region. Today, even though some of the building has crumbled away, it is still around 60 feet tall. That's about as tall as a six-story building!

Because the Western Deffufa was so large, it took many workers to build it. The rulers of the Kerman Kingdom used their powerful armies and wealth to force workers to build the Western Deffufa.

The Western Deffufa was made out of a common building material called mudbrick. Each brick had to be individually shaped and then baked in the sun. Then people needed to transport the bricks to the construction site and stack them up to make the walls of the building. This process took a lot of time. It also cost the Kerman rulers a lot of money to feed all of the workers.

What's a deffufa, anyway?

The word deffufa means "ancient ruin." There are actually several other deffufas near Kerma, but the Western Deffufa was the biggest and the most important.

Some archaeologists believe that the Western Deffufa was built for religious purposes. Its massive size and central location suggest it was probably the most important building in the Kerman Kingdom.

The Kerman Kingdom of Kush sometimes fought with the Egyptian Kingdom, its neighbor to the north. When their armies were strong enough, the kingdoms would invade each other's territories, sometimes taking land and people. However, the relationship between the two kingdoms was not always bad. Sometimes, the Kerman and Egyptian kingdoms also traded expensive goods with each other.

A giraffe in Paris

The kings of Kush gave exotic animals, such as giraffes, to the kings of Egypt as gifts. The tradition of giving exotic animals to foreign kings continued long after the kingdoms of Kush ended. For example, in the 1820s CE, a giraffe from the region of Kush was sent to the king of France.

The giraffe, named Zarafa, was transported down the Nile River, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. There, merchants put her on a large ship and sailed her to France. Finally, Zarafa and her caretakers walked over 500 miles to Paris!

After Thutmose conquered the Kerman Kingdom, many Egyptians moved to Kush. Read the passage describing one of the ways wealthy Kushites might have interacted with the Egyptians who controlled their city.

A wealthy Kushite family is preparing to host a dinner party for a few Egyptian military officers. The father of the Kushite family is a merchant. He hopes that he and his important guests can discuss ways to make the local trade routes safer. The father is worried that if he cannot get help from the Egyptians, his business will suffer.

The mother of the family is cooking a meal for the guests, using traditional Kushite cooking pottery and recipes she learned from her mother and grandmother. She hopes the dinner party guests will be impressed by her family's food.

When the food is ready, the father brings it out to the guests. He serves the food in the family's newest, most expensive pottery, which came from Egypt.

Kushite: something or someone from the civilization of Kush

Were all Kushites happy with Egyptian rule?

No. Though many wealthy Kushites became friends with Egyptians, some Kushites suffered under Egyptian rule. One group that suffered was enslaved Kushites. Scholars believe the practice of trading enslaved people became more popular under Egyptian rule.

Chaos and collapse across the Mediterranean!

Egypt wasn't the only large empire that lost control of territory around 1200 BCE. At this time, several other civilizations around the Mediterranean also fell apart. Historians aren't totally sure what caused this to happen, but most agree that it involved several events:

• • The region was hit by a serious drought, or period of time where there wasn't enough rain.

  • Without enough water, crops died and there wasn't enough food to eat. People became desperate for food.

  • Some people began stealing from wealthy people to buy food.

  • Some people abandoned their cities and invaded other regions in search of food and a new life.

After gaining their independence from Egypt, powerful leaders in Kush were able to start a new kingdom in a city called Napata around 700 BCE. The events below happened during the first two kingdoms of Kush. These are the events in the correct order:

• Kushite leaders start a kingdom based in the city of Kerma.

• Egyptian rulers conquer the Kerman Kingdom.

• Fighting with neighboring groups weakens Egypt, causing it to lose control of Kush.

• Kush gains freedom from the Egyptian Empire. Kushite leaders start a new kingdom based in Napata.

Napata's religious importance

Napata, the capital city of the Napatan Kingdom, was originally built by the Egyptians near a mountain called Jebel Barkal. Egyptians and Kushites both believed that Jebel Barkal was home to a god named Amun. Kushite kings believed that Amun gave them the right to rule. So, they chose Napata to be their capital so they could be near Jebel Barkal.

Read the passage about the rulers of the Napatan Kingdom.

Over the years, Napatan kings in Kush grew powerful enough to attack Egypt. In 720 BCE, a Kushite king named Piye invaded Egypt. Piye died soon afterward, but his brother Shabaka became king of both Egypt and Kush.

Shabaka began calling himself Pharaoh, an ancient Egyptian word that refers to the king of Egypt. He also followed many of the same traditions as earlier Egyptian Pharaohs. For example, Shabaka built temples to Egyptian gods and took part in Egyptian religious ceremonies.

Shabaka's actions suggest that he wanted to be seen as the rightful ruler of Egypt.

Why did Piye invade Egypt?

The Napatan King Piye believed that the Kushite and Egyptian gods wanted him to rule Egypt. This is a summary of what Piye wrote after he conquered Egypt:

I have done more than my ancestors. I am a king, created by the gods. When I was born, I already looked like a king, and even powerful people were afraid of me. Before I was even born, my mother and father knew that I would rule. The gods love me. I am Piye.

The Napatan rulers of Kush became the rulers, or Pharaohs, of Egypt as well. These Kushite Pharaohs wanted to make Egypt more powerful and impressive than it had ever been. They restored old Egyptian temples. They also ordered new temples, monuments, and art to be made. Often, new art from the Kushite Pharaohs was influenced by older Egyptian art.

What is a sphinx?

A sphinx (pronounced SFINKS) is an imaginary creature with the head of a human and the body of an animal. Sphinxes were first popular in ancient Egyptian art, but they soon spread to other places.

The Kushite Pharaohs brought back the old Egyptian tradition of burying rulers in large tombs called

pyramids.

Read the text about ancient pyramids.

For many centuries, starting around 2600 BCE, ancient Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. Their pyramids were filled with objects that demonstrated each king's power and importance. However, by the time the Kushite Pharaohs took over Egypt, the pyramid tradition had been abandoned for about 500 years!

The Kushite Pharaohs revived the tradition. They wanted to show that they were just as powerful as the old Egyptian kings. The Kushite Pharaohs built their pyramids near their capital, Napata. The Kushite pyramids were smaller than the original Egyptian ones, but there were many more of them.

Ancient pyramids, modern money

Part of Kush is located in present-day Sudan. There, some people take pride in the country's ancient Kushite past. For example, one of Sudan's coins shows a Kushite pyramid.

The government of Sudan also works with archaeologists to excavate, or carefully dig up, objects from ancient Kush. The government hopes that people from all over the world will learn about the importance of the kingdoms of Kush.

One Kushite Pharaoh was named Taharqa (tuh-HAR-kuh). During Taharqa's rule of Egypt, Egypt was invaded by the Assyrians (uh-SEER-ee-ins). The Assyrians were from the nearby region of Mesopotamia. Read a text written by the Assyrian king.

O Taharqa, king of Egypt and Kush . . . I [killed many] of his men, and [I struck him] five times with the point of my [spear] . . . .Memphis, his royal city, . . . I captured [it], I destroyed [it] . . . .I burned [it] with fire. His goods, his horses, his cattle, his sheep, I carried off to Assyria . . . .Over all of Egypt I appointed new kings [and] governors.

Memphis: the capital of ancient Egypt at the time

Daniel D. Luckenbill, "The Senjirli Stele." In Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia. Copyright 1927 by the University of Chicago Press.

The Assyrian king

This stele, or tall stone monument, was created for the Assyrian king Esarhaddon after he defeated the Kushites. King Esarhaddon is the biggest person on the monument. Next to him are two kings he defeated. They are attached to ropes held by Esarhaddon. The smallest man in the image is the Kushite pharaoh, Taharqa!