Height: 17.500 cm
Width: 16.000 cm

EA 63585

Room 65: Sudan, Egypt & Nubia

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Sudan Past and Present: Early cultures to the Arrival of Christianity

Kingdom of Kush

The Egyptians withdrew from Sudan around 1070 BC and by the ninth century a second powerful Kushite dynasty had emerged there. Taking advantage of instability and political disunity in Egypt, the Kushite king Kashta extended his control to Thebes in Egypt by the mid-eighth century BC. His successor Piankhi (Piye) achieved complete control of the Egyptian Nile valley by around 716 BC. He and his three successors, Shabaqo, Taharqo and Tamwetamani, were acknowledged as the legitimate sovereigns of Egypt, forming the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Their capital was the important religious centre of Napata, near the Fourth Cataract of the Nile.

Kushite control of Egypt ended when Assyrian forces invaded between 674 and 663 BC, but Kush remained a major power in Sudan for over a thousand years. After 300 BC, the Kushite rulers were buried at Meroe in a fertile grassland region northeast of Khartoum. Meroe became the centre of a flourishing economy and developed commercial links with the Mediterranean world. Art and architecture displayed Egyptian influence, but archaeology also points to a growth of local traditions. A strong local element was apparent in religion, with Nubian deities such as the lion-headed Apedemak appearing alongside the Egyptian Amun, Osiris and Isis. The Kushite dynasty ended around AD 350.

Illustration: Aegis (broad collar and head) of Isis, from Kawa, late third century BC. The large eyes are typical of Kushite art and the piece bears a cartouche of the Kushite ruler Arnekhamani (235-218 BC).