Famous Kushite Pharaohs and the Royal Cemeteries of Napatan Culture

Some of the most famous Kushite kings are Piye, Shabaka and Taharqa. Piye (also known as Piankhy), the founder of the Kushite 25th Dynasty, marched north around 720 BCE. He defeated Middle and Lower Egypt, and established Kushite rule all over Egypt. As a pharaoh with parallel Egyptian names, he revitalized the temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal, which had been built by the Egyptians during the New Kingdom. Shabaka, Piye's brother, associated himself with Ra, the sun god of Heliopolis. He also helped preserve the theology of Ptah, the divine craftsman-god of Memphis. The famous Shabaka stone, bearing an inscription detailing Memphite theological ideas, was part of a temple Shabaka built there to honor Ptah. Taharqa (or Taharqo) was a son of Piye and nephew of Shabaka. He was well-known in antiquity for defeating the Assyrians in the Near East (around 674 BCE). He is mentioned in the Bible, as ‘Tirhakah’. During his reign (690-664 BCE) Taharqa carried out an ambitious construction program, and was instrumental in the expansion of Amun-Ra’s cult in Nubia. In its zenith, the Kushite kingdom extended from Upper Nubia to the Mediterranean. Embracing Egyptian religious beliefs, symbols and practices permitted the Kushite kings to strengthen their legitimacy, but this was not just a political ploy. It was a natural continuation of the earlier fusion of Egyptian and Nubian cultural practices. The site of El-Kurru, where Piye and Shabaka were interred, is the earliest of the royal burial grounds (885-653 BCE). It accommodated both traditional Nubian-style tombs with tumuli and small pyramids. The latter appear to have been an evolution of Egyptian pyramids and Nubian mounds combined. Taharqa moved the royal cemetery from el-Kurru to the site of Nuri, 16 mi north. That cemetery was used from the 7th c. through the 4th c. BCE. It included at least twenty more pyramids, including Taharqa’s which stood 180 ft tall. In the late 4th c. (Late Napatan period) a new royal cemetery was established at Jebel Barkal near Nuri, and was used until the 3rd c. BCE. This site was seen as the primeval home of the ram-headed god Amun, of tremendous religious importance to both New Kingdom Egyptian and Kushite rulers. It has been suggested that the so called 'Kushite cap' (worn by many elites and kings in this phase, as with the Taharqa statue below) reflects the shape of Jebel Barkal due to importance of this site for Kushite ideology and identity.