Meroë Sudan

The kingdom of Cush, or Kush, of which Piye (formerly called Piankhi) is now ruler, has emerged out of the Egyptianized population of the Sudan near Mount Barkal, between the third and fourth Nile cataracts, and has acquired control of Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt.

Ardent worshipers of Amon, the Kushites consider the Libyanized Lower Egyptians cultural degenerates, but they feel a strong affinity for the Thebans, who are also worshipers of Amon.

Kushite pharaoh Piankhi, having won control of Lower Egypt during his reign, dies in 721.

His son Shabaka succeeds him.

The Nubian dynasty, expelled from Egypt by the Assyrians, retreats upstream to Meroe in the Sudan, straddling strategic caravan routes that connect the Nile to the Red Sea.

The Kushites, expelled from Egypt, establish their capital at Meroe in 656 BCE.

Tantamani dies in 653 BCE and is succeeded by Atlanersa, a son of Taharqa.

He is buried in the family cemetery at El-Kurru.

Egypt's succeeding dynasty fails to reassert control over Kush.

An Egyptian army sacks Napata in 590 BCE, however, compelling the Kushite court to move to a more secure location at Meroë near the sixth cataract.

The Meroitic kingdom will for several centuries hereafter develop independently of Egypt, which will pass successively under Persian, Greek, and, finally, Roman domination.

Meroë, during the height of its power in the third and second centuries BCE, extends over a region from the third cataract in the north to Sawba, near present-day Khartoum, in the south.

The pharaonic tradition persists among a line of rulers at Meroë, who raise stelae to record the achievements of their reigns and erect pyramids to contain their tombs.

These objects and the ruins of palaces, temples, and baths at Meroë attest to a centralized political system that employs artisans' skills and commands the labor of a large work force.

A well-managed irrigation system allows the area to support a higher population density than will be  possible during later periods.

The use of hieroglyphs gives way by the first century BCE to a Meroitic script that adapts the Egyptian writing system to an indigenous, Nubian-related language spoken later by the region's people.

Meroë's succession system is not necessarily hereditary; the matriarchal royal family member deemed most worthy often becomes king.

The queen mother's role in the selection process is crucial to a smooth succession.

The crown appears to have passed from brother to brother (or sister) and only when no siblings remained from father to son.

Napata remains Meroë's religious center, but northern Kush eventually falls into disorder as it comes under pressure from the Blemmyes, predatory nomads from east of the Nile.

However, the Nile continues to give the region access to the Mediterranean world.

Additionally, Meroë maintains contact with Arab and Indian traders along the Red Sea coast and incorporates Hellenistic and Hindu cultural influences into its daily life.

Inconclusive evidence suggests that metallurgical technology may have been transmitted westward across the savanna belt to West Africa from Meroë's iron smelteries.

Relations between Meroë and Egypt are not always peaceful.

A Roman army moves south in response to Meroë's incursions into Upper Egypt in 23 BCE and razes Napata.

The Roman commander quickly abandons the area, however, as too poor to warrant colonization.

The Nobatae, who occupy the Nile's west bank in northern Kush in the second century CE, are believed to have been one of several well-armed bands of horse- and camel-borne warriors who sell protection to the Meroitic population; eventually they will intermarry and establish themselves among the Meroitic people as a military aristocracy.

Rome will subsidize the Nobatae and use Meroe as a buffer between Egypt and the Blemmyes until nearly the fifth century.