About | thekingdomofkush

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The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient African kingdom situated on the Nile River, to the south of Egypt. It was from about 2000 BCE to 350 CE ago with the capital is Meroe. Living near the Nile River so their life was depends on the river (followed by Maria, Luisa, Lin from their prezi).The Nile River gives them a big source of water and food to support their daily life [1]. They also relied on the Nile River to flood and enrich the soil with nutrients [2] According to History Alive page 74, the Kingdom of Kush located near the Nile river so it somehow affected the environment. They got hot in the warm, dry environment [2] . In the past,the people had ways to adapt the environment. The Kushites wore lighter clothes to reduce the heat of the sun [2].They also wore black eyeliner to block the sun and also so they wouldn't get eye infection [3]. According to History Alive page 75, enivronmental factors in ancient Egypt and Kush greatly favored settlement near the Nile river. The Nile River is a big source of fresh water for the Kushities (History Alive page 75). Also, they relied on the Nile River to flood and enrich the soil with nutrients [2] The kingdom of Kush , and its capital MEROE , would last for more than a thousand years. Eventually, however, (200 AD) they were overshadowed by the ancient Ethiopian kingdom based in the city of AXUM . In 400 AD, MEROE was attacked and destroyed. [3]

Starting about 8,000BC, all of Northern Africa was more desert-like place, because it was getting drier. Because of the climate, people had to migrate to Nile River Valley which this wonderful land got foods and water for them.

The economics of Kush was very developed.

Kush's resources was another big part in Kush's economics. Kush had excellent and valuable resources such as gold, pottery, iron tools, slaves, and ivory. The resources were the biggest part of Kush's trading system, which helped them to become a wealthy and strong society.

Economy

There were classes, stages and estates. There were three classes. The top was the ruling class, Pharaoh, which ruled the whole society. The second was the middle class such as vizier, priests, nobles, scribes, soldiers, and craftsmen. the third class was peasants and slaves. The ruling class was the most respectful class to everybody, for people thought they could talk the Gods. Women were respected at this time and were treated fairly. There weren’t much divorces, but women had the right to divorce, buy and sell lands, and inherited property. Also, there were important inventions that impact us now such as Math and Science.

Society

Government

Kushite (https://tackk.com/4pruwd)

The government of Kush was a fair monarchy. The government was ruled by kings and queens [4] . The king didn’t make laws but he did enforce them. The Priests are the one who made the laws. Kush rose to have a great governing system, keeping Kush alive for over 4000 years. The Kush government supportive of equality, maintained an excellent military, and maintained longevity. Equality was brought to a level never seen before in the Kush empire. Kush kings didn’t have absolute power like other monarchies. The king’s mother was the second most important figure in the government. Providing smooth transitions of power after one rule’s reign ended. Women were treated with the same level of respect, or more than with men. So, line of succession was unlike most, women inherited the throne. Male and Female were also equal under the law, they had the right to buy and sell land, and could marry and divorce. The most unequally and unfair in Kush’s government were slaves. The most important in each government is an army. Military power was one of the Kush’s best strong point, defending the kingdom from invaders and conquering other lands. Kush was skilled in defensive strategies, especially archery, as it was being regular invaded for its natural wealth [5].

Religion

Religion played an important role. Their God reliefs were the form of animals such as the sacred of cat Babastis. Later, gods were half human-half animal creatures, usually a human with the head of some animals.

Religion was crucial. Kush people had reliefs like Egyptians such as they built pyramids, and worshipped Egyptian Gods. Their Gods reliefs were animal formations. Later on, Gods were more likely half man and half animal. People thought that priests were spiritual and noble, for they could communicate to Gods.

Bull figurines. C-Group. Originally courtesy of the Ernstvon Sieglin-Expedition and the Leipzig Ax, gyptisches Museum. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

Language

Meroitic was used as language in Kush, more commonly used in Sudan and Meroe. According to Wikipedia, Meroitic Language, it existed from 300 BCE to 400 CE. Meroitic alphabet had 23 characters, 4 vowels, 15 consonants, and 4 syllabus signs. Ancient Sudan splited into 2 forms of writing: Meroitic Cursive and Meroitic Hieroglyphic.

To write in the cursive, people wrote on stylus and used stylus pen. The alphabet was involved the Nubian and was similar to the Ancient Egyptian alphabet.

And for Meroitic hieroglyphic was written for royal and religious documents, people carved on stone.

Culture

Meroitic alphabet (Wikipedia)

The kingdom of Kush at the Ancient Egypt times had a lot of amazing cultures, especially architecture. According to The Kingdom of Kush, the architecture was evolved under the 25th Dynastic. It contained a lot of famous and numerous buildings. For example is the Nubian pyramids and the temples. Nubian pyramids and temples were built by Kushite pharaohs [6], which were approximately 800 years after the pyramids of Ancient Egypt were built [7]. They were smaller than the Ancient Egypt ones, but still contained a great number of pyramids. There were 223 pyramids were built for Kings and Queens and constructed on three main sites: El Kurru, Nuri, and Meroe. The first ones were built in El-Kurru. They were made of sandstone [6]. Some of them were tombs for King Kashta, his son Piye and the rest were 14 pyramids for the queens [8]. Their heights were between 10m to 30m. The pyramids in Nuri were placed in the west of the Nile in Upper Nubia, which contained 21 kings and 52 the total of queens and princes. The height of king pyramids were approximately from 39.5m to 65m. And the queens’ were from 9m to 17m.

Pyramids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Kush)

Pyramids of Meroe (from ShareWonders)

The last site of pyramids was Meroe, where 40 generations of Nubian royalty were buried. And also where the most famous pyramid was located. A curator from the British Museum, Derek Welsby said that: “So far, we've excavated six made out of stone and 10 made out of mud brick.” The largest pyramid in Nuri was measured for 10.6m in length and 14m in height [9].

For the temples in Kush, there are 13 temples and three palaces were found. The pharaohs built the temples with red fired-bricks and stone [10]. They were built for Mut, Hathor, and Bes – the gods of Kush [6].