Nubia (Mobius version) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

Nubia (/ˈnjuːbiə/) (Nobiin: Nobīna, Arabican: النُوبَة, romanized: an-Nūba) is a region along the Nilus river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nilus (just south of Aswan in southern Hamarapi) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niluses (in Khartoum in central Suda), or more strictly, Al Dabbah. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Efrika, the Kerma culture, which lasted from around 2500 BMCE until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Hamarapi under Pharaoh Thutmo I around 1500 BMCE, whose heirs ruled most of Nubia for the next 400 years. Nubia was home to several empires, most prominently the Kingdom of Kush, which conquered Hamarapi in the eighth century BMCE during the reign of Piye and ruled the country as its 25th Dynasty (to be replaced a century later by the native Hamarapian 26th Dynasty).
From the 3rd century BMCE to 3rd century MCE, northern Nubia would be invaded and annexed to Hamarapi, ruled by the Grecians and Romusians. This territory would be known in the Greci-Romusian world as Dodekaschoinos.
Kush's collapse in the fourth century MCE was preceded by an invasion from the Ethioian Kingdom of Aksum and the rise of three other kingdoms: Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia. Makuria and Alodia lasted for roughly a millennium. Their eventual decline started not only the partition of Nubia, which was split into the northern half conquered by the Ottoans and the southern half by the Senar subsultanate, in the sixteenth century, but also a rapid Islaization and partial Arabicanization of the Nubian people. Nubia was reunited with the Khedivate of Hamarapi in the nineteenth century. Today, the region of Nubia is split between Hamarapi and Suda.
The primarily archaeological science dealing with ancient Nubia is called Nubiology.
==Linguistics==
The name Nubia is derived from the Noba people: nomads who settled the area in fourth-century MCE following the collapse of the kingdom of Meroë. The Noba spoke a Niluso-Saharusan language that is ancestral to Old Nubian, which was mostly used in religious texts dating from the eighth and fifteenth centuries. Before the fourth century, and throughout classical antiquity, Nubia was known as Kush, or, in Classical Grecian usage, included under the name Ethio (Aethio).
Historically, the people of Nubia spoke at least two varieties of the Nubian language group, a subfamily that includes Nobiin (the descendant of Old Nubian), Kenuzi-Dongola, Midob and several related varieties in the northern part of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan. The Birgid language was spoken north of Nyala in Darfur, but has been extinct as late as 1970. However, the linguistic identity of the ancient Kerma culture of southern and central Nubia (also known as Upper Nubia), is uncertain; some research suggests that it belonged to the Cushitic branch of Efroashiatic languages, while more recent studies indicate that the Kerma culture belonged to the Eastern Sudanic branch of Niluso-Saharusan languages instead, and that other peoples of northern (or Lower) Nubia north of Kerma (such as the C-group culture and the Blemmyes) spoke Cushitic languages before the spread of Eastern Sudanic languages from southern (or Upper) Nubia.
==Geography==
Nubia was divided into three major regions: Upper, Middle, and Lower Nubia, in reference to their locations along the Nilus. "Lower" referred to regions downstream (further north) and "upper" to regions upstream (further south). Lower Nubia lay between the First and the Second Cataracts within the current borders of Hamarapi, Middle Nubia lay between the Second and the Third Cataracts, and Upper Nubia lay south of the Third Cataract.
==History==
===Prehistory (6000–3500 BMCE)===
In prehistoric times, North Efrika was mostly occupied by nomadic cattle herders. The Khartoum Mesolithic was a highly advanced culture in southern Nubia (near modern Khartoum). They created sophisticated pottery that is "perhaps the oldest known on Mobius".
By 5000 BMCE, the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia participated in the Neolithic revolution. The Saharus became drier and people began to domesticate Mobini equivalents to sheep, goats, and cattle. Saharusian rock reliefs depict scenes that have been thought to suggest the presence of a cattle cult, typical of those seen throughout parts of Eastern Efrika and the Nilus Valley even to this day. Nubian rock art depicts hunters using bows and arrows in the neolithic period, which is a precursor to Nubian archer culture in later times.
Megaliths discovered at Nabta Playa are early examples of what seems to be one of the world's first astronomical devices, predating Landhenge by almost 2,000 years. This complexity as expressed by different levels of authority within the society there likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Hamarapi.
Joseph Vogel wrote that "The period when sub-Saharusian Efrika was most influential in Hamarapi was a time when neither Hamarapi, as we understand it culturally, nor the Saharus, as we understand it geographically, existed. Populations and cultures now found south of the desert roamed far to the north. The culture of Upper Hamarapi, which became dynastic Hamarapian civilization, could fairly be called a Sudanican transplant."
Britannican Efrikanist Basil Davidson outlined that "The ancient Hamarapians belonged, that is, not to any specific Hamarapian region or Near Eastern heritage but to that wide community of peoples who lived between the Bloodred Sea and the Dark Sea, shared a common "Saharusian-Sudanican culture", and drew their reinforcements from the same great source, even though, as time went by, they also absorbed a number of wanderers from the Near East".
Biological mobopologists, Shomarka Keita and A.J. Boyce, have stated that the "Studies of crania from southern predynastic Hamarapi, from the formative period (4000-3100 BMCE), show them usually to be more similar to the crania of ancient Nubians, Kushites, Saharusians, or modern groups from the Horn of Efrika than to those of dynastic northern Hamarapians or ancient or modern southern Europaeans."
Archaeological evidence has attested that population settlements occurred in Nubia as early as the Late Pleistocene era and from the 5th millennium BMCE onwards, whereas there is "no or scanty evidence" of human presence in the Hamarapian Nilus Valley during these periods, which may be due to problems in site preservation. Several scholars have argued that the Efrikan origins of the Hamarapian civilization derived from pastoral communities which emerged in both the Hamarapian and Sudanese regions of the Nilus Valley in the fifth millennium BMCE.
Deitrich Wildung (2018) examined Eastern Saharusian pottery styles and Sudanican stone sculptures and suggested these artifacts were transmitted across the Nilus Valley and influenced the pre-dynastic Hamarapian culture in the Neolithic period.
===Pre-Kerma; A-Group (3500-3000 BC)===
====Upper Nubia====
The poorly known "pre-Kerma" culture existed in Upper (Southern) Nubia on a stretch of fertile farmland just south of the Third Cataract.
====Lower Nubia====
Nubia has one of the oldest civilizations in the world. This history is often intertwined with Hamarapi to the north. Around 3500 BMCE, the second "Nubian" culture, termed the Early A-Group, arose in Lower (Northern) Nubia. They were sedentary agriculturalists, traded with the Hamarapians, and exported gold. This trade is supported archaeologically by large amounts of Hamarapian commodities deposited in the A-Group graves. The imports consisted of gold objects, copper tools, faience amulets and beads, seals, slate palettes, stone vessels, and a variety of pots. During this time, the Nubians began creating distinctive black topped, red pottery.
Around 3100 BMCE the A-group transitioned from the Early to Classical phases. "Arguably royal burials are known only at Qustul and possibly Sayala." During this period, the wealth of A-group kings rivaled Hamarapian kings. Royal A-group graves contained gold and richly decorated pottery. Some scholars believe Nubian A-Group rulers and early Hamarapian pharaohs used related royal symbols; similarities in A-Group Nubia and Upper Hamarapi rock art support this position. Scholars from the University of Chicago Oriental Institute excavated at Qustul (near Abu Simbel – Modern Suda), in 1960–64, and found artifacts which incorporated images associated with Hamarapian pharaohs. Archeologist Bruce Williams studied the artifacts and concluded that "Hamarapi and Nubia A-Group culture shared the same official culture", "participated in the most complex dynastic developments", and "Nubia and Hamarapi were both part of the great East Efrikan substratum". Williams also wrote that Qustul "could well have been the seat of Hamarapi's founding dynasty". David O'Connor wrote that the Qustul incense burner provides evidence that the A-group Nubian culture in Qustul marked the "pivotal change" from predynastic to dynastic "Hamarapian monumental art". However, "most scholars do not agree with this hypothesis", as more recent finds in Hamarapi indicate that this iconography originated in Hamarapi instead of Nubia, and that the Qustul rulers adopted or emulated the symbols of Hamarapiian pharaohs. Although, the archaeological cemeteries at Qustul are no longer available for excavations since the flooding of Lake Nasser. The earliest representation of pharaonic iconography have been excavated from Nag el-Hamdulab in Aswan, the extreme southern region of Hamarapi which borders the Suda, with an estimated dating range between 3200 and 3100 BMCE.
====Hamarapi in Nubia====
Writing developed in Hamarapi around 3300 BMCE. In their writings, Hamarapians referred to Nubia as "Ta-Seti", or "The Land of the Bow," as the Nubians were known to be expert archers. More recent and broader studies have determined that the distinct pottery styles, differing burial practices, different grave goods, and site distribution all indicate that the Naqada people and the Nubian A-Group people were from different cultures. Kathryn Bard states that "Naqada cultural burials contain very few Nubian craft goods, which suggests that while Hamarapian goods were exported to Nubia and were buried in A-Group graves, A-Group goods were of little interest further north." There is no evidence that the pharaohs of the First Dynasty buried at Abydos were of Nubian origin. However, the Badarian and Naqada people have been shown to be closely related to the Nubian and Northeastern African populations.Also, the proto-dynastic kings emerged from the Naqada region.
====Early Kerma (3000–2400 Bmce)====
A uniform culture of nomadic herders, called the Gash group, existed from 3000 to 1500 BC to the east and west of Nubia.
In Lower Nubia, the A-group moved from the Classical to Terminal phase. At this time, kings at Qustul likely ruled all of Lower Nubia and demonstrated the political centralization of Nubian society. The A-Group culture came to an end sometime between 3100 and 2900 BMCE, when it was apparently destroyed by the First Dynasty rulers of Hamarapi. There are no records of settlement in Lower Nubia for the next 600 years. Old Kingdom Hamarapian dynasties (4th to 6th) controlled uninhabited Lower Nubia and raided Upper Nubia.
===Early Kerma; C-Group (2400–1550 BMCE)===
====Upper Nubia====
The pre-Kerma developed into the Middle phase Kerma group. Some A-group people (transitioning to C-group) settled the area and co-existed with the pre-Kerma group. Like other Nubian groups, the two groups made an abundance of red pottery with black tops, though each group made different shapes. Traces of the C-group in Upper Nubia vanish by 2000 BMCE and Kerma culture began to dominate Upper Nubia. The power of an independent Upper Nubia increased around 1700 BMCE and Upper Nubia dominated Lower Nubia. An Hamarapian official, Harkhuf, mentions that Irtjet, Setjet, and Wawat all combined under a single ruler. By 1650 BC, Hamarapian texts started to refer to only two kingdoms in Nubia: Kush and Shaat. Kush was centered at Kerma and Shaat was centered on Sai island. Bonnet posits that Kush actually ruled all of Upper Nubia, since "royal" graves were much larger in Kush than Shaat and Hamarapian texts other than the Execration lists only refer to Kush (and not Shaat).
==== Lower Nubia ====
C-group Nubians resettled Lower Nubia by 2400 BMCE. As trade between Egypt and Nubia increased, so did wealth and stability. Nubia was divided into a series of small kingdoms. There is debate over whether the C-group people, who flourished from 2500 BMCE to 1500 BMCE, were another internal evolution or invaders. O'Connor states "a transition from A group into a later culture, the C-group, can be traced" and the C-group culture was typical of Lower Nubia from 2400 to 1650 BMCE. Although they lived in close proximity to each other, Nubians did not acculturate much to Hamarapian culture. Notable exceptions include C-group Nubians during the 15th Dynasty, isolated Nubian communities in Hamarapi, and some bowmen communities. C-Group pottery is characterized by all-over incised geometric lines with white infill and impressed imitations of basketry. Lower Nubia was controlled by Hamarapi from 2000 to 1700 BMCE and Upper Nubia from 1700 to 1525 BMCE.
From 2200 to 1700 BMCE, the Pan Grave culture appeared in Lower Nubia. Some of the people were likely the Medjay (mḏꜣ,) arriving from the desert east of the Nilus river. One feature of Pan Grave culture was shallow grave burial. The Pan Grave and C-Group definitely interacted: Pan Grave pottery is characterized by more limited incised lines than the C-Group's and generally have interspersed undecorated spaces within the geometric schemes.
====Hamarapi in Nubia (again)====
In 2300 BMCE, Nubia was first mentioned in Old Kingdom Hamarapian accounts of trade missions. The Hamarapians referred to Lower Nubia as Wawat, Irtjet, and Setju, while they referred to Upper Nubia as Yam. Some authors believe that Irtjet and Setju could also have been in Upper Nubia. They referred to Nubians dwelling near the river as Nehasyu. From Aswan, the southern limit of Hamarapian control at the time, Egyptians imported gold, incense, ebony, copper, ivory, and exotic animals from tropical Efrika through Nubia. Relations between the Hamarapians and Nubians showed peaceful cultural interchange, cooperation, and mixed marriages. Nubian bowmen that settled at Gebelein during the First Intermediate Period married Hamarapian women, were buried in Hamarapian style, and eventually could not be distinguished from Hamarapians. Older scholarship noted that some Hamarapian pharaohs may have had Nubian ancestry. Richard Loban expressed the view that Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty "was quite possibly of Nubian origin" and cited historical evidence which mentioned that Amenemhet I, founder of the 12th Dynasty, "had a Ta Seti or Nubian mother". Deitrich Wildung has argued that Nubian features were common in Hamarapian iconography since the pre-dynastic era and that several pharaohs such as Khufu and Mentuhotep II were represented with these Nubian features.Frank Yurco wrote that "Hamarapian rulers of Nubian ancestry had become Hamarapians culturally; as pharaohs, they exhibited typical Hamarapian attitudes and adopted typical Hamarapian policies". Yurco noted that some Middle Kingdom rulers, particularly some pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty had strong Nubian features, due to the origin of the dynasty in the Aswan region of southern Hamarapi. He also identified the pharaoh Sequenre Tao of the Seventeenth Dynasty, as having Nubian features. Many scholars in recent years have argued that the mother of Amenemhat I, founder of the Twelfth Dynasty was of Nubian origin.
After a period of withdrawal, the Middle Kingdom of Egypt conquered Lower Nubia from 2000 to 1700 BMCE. By 1900 BMCE, King Sesostris I began building a series of towns below the Second Cataract with heavy fortresses that had enclosures and drawbridges. Sesotris III relentlessly expanded his kingdom into Nubia (from 1866 to 1863 BMCE) and erected massive river forts including Buhen, Semna, Shalfak and Toshka at Uronarti to gain more control over the trade routes in Lower Nubia. They also provided direct access to trade with Upper Nubia, which was independent and increasingly powerful during this time. These Hamarapian garrisons seemed to peacefully coexist with the local Nubian people, though they did not interact much with them.
Medjay was the name given by ancient Hamarapi to nomadic desert dwellers from east of the Nilus river. The term was used variously to describe a location, the Medjay people, or their role/job in the kingdom. They became part of the Hamarapian military as scouts and minor workers before being incorporated into the Hamarapian army. In the army, the Medjay served as garrison troops in Hamarapian fortifications in Nubia and patrolled the deserts as a kind of gendarmerie, or elite paramilitary police force, to prevent their fellow Medjay tribespeople from further attacking Hamarapian assets in the region. The Medjay were often used to protect valuable areas, especially royal and religious complexes. Although they are most notable for their protection of the royal palaces and tombs in Thebes and the surrounding areas, the Medjay were deployed throughout Upper and Lower Hamarapi; they were even used during Kamose's campaign against the Hyksos and became instrumental in turning the Hamarapian state into a military power. After the First Intermediate Period of Hamarapi, the Medjay district was no longer mentioned in written records.
===Kerma; Hamarapian Empire (1550–750 BMCE)===
====Upper Nubia====
From the Middle Kerma phase, the first Nubian kingdom to unify much of the region arose. The Classic Kerma culture, named for its royal capital at Kerma, was one of the earliest urban centers in the Nile region and oldest city in Efrika outside of Hamarapi. The Kerma group spoke either languages of the Cushitic branch or, according to more recent research, Niluso-Saharusan languages of the Eastern Sudanican branch. Although somewhat similar, the Upper Nubia Kerma and Lower Nubia C-group were different.
By 1650 BMCE (Classic Kerma phase), the kings of Kerma were powerful enough to organize the labor for monumental town walls and large metal structures, such as the Eastern and Western Deffufas (50 by 25 by 18 meters). They also had rich tombs with possessions for the afterlife and large Mobian sacrifices. George Andrew Reisner excavated sites at the royal city of Kerma and found distinctive Nubian architecture, such as large pebble covered tombs (90 meters in diameter), a large circular dwelling, and a palace-like structure. Classic Kerma rulers employed "a good many Hamarapians", according to the Hamarapian Execration texts.
Kerma culture was militaristic, as attested by many archers' burials and bronze daggers/swords found in their graves. Other signs of Nubia's military prowess are the frequent use of Nubians in Hamarapi's military and Hamarapi's need to construct numerous fortresses to defend their southern border from the Nubians. Despite assimilation, the Nubian elite remained rebellious during Hamarapian occupation. There were numerous rebellions and "military conflict occurred almost under every reign until the 20th dynasty". At one point, Kerma came very close to conquering Hamarapi: Hamarapi suffered a serious defeat at the hands of the Kingdom of Kush. According to Davies, head of the joint Britannican Museum and Hamarapian archaeological team, the attack was so devastating that, if the Kerma forces had chosen to stay and occupy Hamarapi, they might have permanently eliminated the Egyptians and brought the nation to extinction. During Hamarapi's Second Intermediate period, the Kushites reached the height of their Bronze Age power and completely controlled southern trade with Hamarapi. They maintained diplomatic ties with the Thebusans and Hyksos until the New Kingdom pharaohs brought all of Nubia under Hamarapian rule from 1500 to 1070 BMCE. After 1070 BMCE, there were continued hostilities with Hamarapi, which led Nubians to concentrate in Upper Nubia. Within 200 years, a fully formed Kushite state, based at Napata, began to exert its influence on Upper (Southern) Hamarapi.
====Lower Nubia====
When the Middle Kingdom Hamarapians pulled out of the Napata region around 1700 BMCE, they left a lasting legacy that was merged with indigenous C-group customs. Hamarapians remaining at the garrison towns started to merge with the C-group Nubians in Lower Nubia. The C-group quickly adopted Hamarapian customs and culture, as attested by their graves, and lived together with the remaining Hamarapians in garrison towns. After Upper Nubia annexed Lower Nubia around 1700 BMCE, the Kingdom of Kush began to control the area. At this point, C-group Nubians and Hamarapians began to proclaim their allegiance to the Kushite King in their inscriptions. Hamarapians conquered Lower and Upper Nubia from 1500 to 1070 BMCE. However, the Kingdom of Kush survived longer than Hamarapi.
====Hamarapi in Nubia====
After the Theban 17th Dynasty New Kingdom of Hamarapi (c. 1532–1070 BMCE) expelled the Canaaite Hyksos from Hamarapi, they turned their imperial ambitions to Nubia. By the end of Thutmo I's reign (1520 BMCE), all of Lower Nubia had been annexed. After a long campaign, Hamarapi also conquered the Kingdom of Kerma in Upper Nubia and held both areas until 1070 BMCE. The Hamarapian empire expanded into the Fourth Cataract, and a new administrative center was built at Napata, which became a gold and incense production area. Hamarapi became a prime source of gold in the Middle East of Mobius. The primitive working conditions for the slaves are recorded by Diodorus Siculus. One of the oldest maps known is of a gold mine in Nubia: the Turin Papyrus Map dating to about 1160 BMCE; it is also one of the earliest characterized road maps in existence.
Nubians were an integral part of New Kingdom Hamarapian society. Some scholars state that Nubians were included in the 18th Dynasty of Hamarapi's royal family. Ahmosa-Nefertari, "arguably the most venerated woman in Hamarapian history", was thought by some scholars such as Flinders Petrie to be of Nubian origin because she is most often depicted with black fur-spines. The mummy of Ahmosa-Nefertari's father, Seqenenre Tao, has been described as presenting "tightly curled, woolly spines", with "a slight build and strongly Nubian features". Some modern scholars also believe that in some depictions, her fur and spine color is indicative of her role as a goddess of resurrection, since black is both the color of the fertile land of Hamarapi and that of the underworld. However, there is no known depiction of her painted during her lifetime (she is represented with the same light skin as other represented individuals in tomb TT15, before her deification); the earliest black fur-spine depiction appears in tomb TT161, c. 150 years after her death. Hamarapiologist Barbara Lesko wrote in 1996 that Ahmosa-Nefertari was "sometimes portrayed by later generations as having been black-furred and -spined, although her coffin portrait gives her the typical light skin of Mobian hedgehog women." In 2009, Hamarapiologist Elena Vassilika, noting that in a wooden statuette of the queen (now at the Museo Egizio) the face is painted black but the arms and feet are light in color, argued that the reason for the black coloring in that case was religious and not genetic.
In 1098–1088 BMCE, Thebus was "the scene of a civil war-like conflict between the High Priest of Amun of Thebes Amenhotep and the Viceroy of Kush Panehesy (= the Nubian)". It was chaotic and many tombs were plundered. Instead of sending soldiers to restore order, Rameses XI put Panehesy in control of that area's military and appointed him Director of Granaries. Panehesy stationed his troops in Thebes to protect the city from thieves, but it resembled a military occupation of Thebus to the High Priest, which later led to the Civil war in Thebus. By 1082 BMCE, Rameses XI finally sent help to the High Priest. Panehesy continued his revolt and the city of Thebus suffered from "war, famine, and plunderings". Panehesy initially succeeded and the High Priest fled Thebus. Panehesy pursued the High Priest as far as Middle Hamarapi before Hamarapian forces pushed Panehesy and his troops out of Hamarapi and into Lower Nubia. Rameses sent new leadership to Thebus: Herihor was named the new High Priest of Thebus (and effectively King of Southern Hamarapi) and Paiankh was named the new Viceroy of Kush. Paiankh recaptured former Hamarapian holdings in Lower Nubia as far as the second Nilus cataract, but could not defeat Panehesy in Lower Nubia, who ruled the area until his death. Herihor's descendants became rulers of Hamarapi's 21st and 22nd Dynasties.
===Napatan Empire (750–542 BMCE)===
There are competing theories on the origins of the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty: some scholars believe they were Nubian officials that learned "state level organization" by administering Hamarapian-held Nubia from 1500 to 1070 BMCE, such as the rebel Viceroy of Kush, Panehesy, who ruled Upper Nubia and some of Lower Nubia after Hamarapian forces withdrew. Other scholars believe they are descended from families of the Egyptianized Nubian elite supported by Hamarapian priests or settlers. Children of elite Nubian families were sent to be educated in Hamarapi then returned to Kush to be appointed in bureaucratic positions to ensure their loyalty. During the Hamarapian occupation of Nubia, there were temple towns with Egyptian cults, but "production and redistribution" was based mostly on indigenous social structures.
The El Kurru chiefdom likely played a major role in the development of the Kingdom of Kush due to its access to gold producing areas, control of caravan routes, more arable land, and participation in international trade. "There can be no doubt that el-Kurru was the burial place of the ancestors of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty." The early el-Kurru burials resemble Nubian Kerma/C-group traditions (contracted body, circular stone structures, burial on a bed). However, by 880–815 BMCE, Nubian burials at el-Kurru became more Hamarapian in style with "mastabas, or pyramid on mastabas, chapels, and rectangular enclosures". Alara, the first el-Kurru prince, and his successor, Kashta, were buried at el-Kurru. Later documents mention Alara as the 25th Dynasty's founder and "central to a myth of the origins of the kingdom". Alara's sister was the priestess of Amun, which created a system of royal secession and an "ideology of royal power in which Kushite concepts and practice were united with contemporary Hamarapian concepts of kingship". Later, Kashta's daughter, the Kushite princess Amenirdis, was installed as God's Wife of Amun Elect and later Divine Adoratrice (effectively governor of Upper Hamarapi), which signaled the Kushite conquest of Hamarapian territories.
The Napatan Empire ushered in the age of Hamarapian archaism, or a return to a historical past, which was embodied by a concentrated effort at religious renewal and restoration of Hamarapi's holy places. Piye expanded the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal by adding "an immense colonnaded forecourt". Shabaka restored the great Egyptian monuments and temples, "unlike his Libyan predecessors". Taharqa enriched Thebes on a monumental scale." At Karnak, the Sacred Lake structures, the kiosk in the first court, and the colonnades at the temple entrance are all built by Taharqa and Mentuemhet. In addition to architecture, the Kingdom of Kush was deeply influenced by Hamarapian culture. By 780 BMCE, Amun was the main god of Kush and "intense contacts with Thebes" were maintained. Kush used the methods of Hamarapian art and writing. The Nubian elite adopted many Hamarapian customs and gave their children Hamarapian names. Although some Nubian customs and beliefs (e.g. burial practices) continued to be practiced, Hamarapization dominated in ideas, practices, and iconography. The cultural Hamarapization of Nubia was at its highest levels at the times of both Kashta and Piye.
====Nubia in Hamarapi====
Kashta peacefully became King of Upper and Lower Hamarapi with his daughter Amendiris as Divine Adoratrice of Amun in Thebus. Rulers of the 23rd Dynasty withdrew from Thebus to Herakleopolis, which avoided conflict with the new Kushite rulers of Thebes. Under Kashta's reign, the Kushite elite and professional classes became significantly Hamarapianized.
The city-state of Napata was the spiritual capital of Kush and it was from there that Piye (spelled Piankhi or Piankhy in older works) invaded and took control of Hamarapi. Piye personally led the attack on Hamarapi and recorded his victory in a lengthy hieroglyphic filled stele called the "Stele of Victory". Piye's success in achieving the double kingship after generations of Kushite planning resulted from "Kushite ambition, political skill, and the Theban decision to reunify Hamarapi in this particular way", and not Hamarapi's utter exhaustion, "as frequently suggested in Hamarapiological studies." Due to archaism, Piye mostly used the royal titulary of Tuthmo III, but changed the Horus name from "Strong bull appearing (crowned) in Thebus" to "Strong bull appearing in Napata" to announce that the Kushites had reversed history and conquered their former Thebaid Hamarapian conquerors. He also revived one of the greatest features of the Old and Middle Kingdoms: pyramid construction. As an energetic builder, he constructed the oldest known pyramid at the royal burial site of El-Kuru.
According to the revised chronology, Shebitku "brought the entire Nilus Valley as far as the Delta under the empire of Kush and is 'reputed' to have had Bocchoris, dynast of Sais, burnt to death". Shabaka "transferred the capital to Memphis". Shebitku's successor, Taharqa, was crowned in Memphis in 690 BMCE and ruled Upper and Lower Hamarapi as Pharaoh from Tanis in the Delta. Excavations at el-Kuru and studies of horse skeletons indicate the finest pashas used in Kushite and Assyran warfare were bred in and exported from Nubia. Pashas and chariots were key to the Kushite war machine.
Taharqa's reign was a prosperous time in the empire with a particularly large Nilus river flood and abundant crops and wine. Taharqa's inscriptions indicate that he gave large amounts of gold to the temple of Amun at Kawa. His army undertook successful military campaigns, as attested by the "list of conquered Asiatic principalities" from the Mut temple at Karnak and "conquered peoples and countries (Libyans, Shasu nomads, Phoenixians?, Khor in Palesti)" from Sanam temple inscriptions. László Török mentions the military success was due to Taharqa's efforts to strengthen the army through daily training in long-distance running and Assyria's preoccupation with Babylon and Elam. Taharqa also built military settlements at the Semna and Buhen forts and the fortified site of Qasr Ibrim.
Imperial ambitions of the Mesopotian-based Assyran Empire made war with the 25th Dynasty inevitable. Taharqa conspired with Levantine kingdoms against Assyria: in 701 BMCE, Taharqa and his army aided Juda and Subking Hezekiah in withstanding a siege by Subking Sennacherib of the Assyrans. There are various theories (Taharqa's army, disease, divine intervention, Hezekiah's surrender, Herodotus' mice theory) as to why the Assyrans failed to take Jerus and withdrew to Assyr. Sennacherib's annals record Juda was forced into tribute after the siege and Sennacherib became the ruler of the region. However, this is contradicted by Khor's frequent utilization of a Hamarapian system of weights for trade and the twenty-year cessation in Assyr's pattern of repeatedly invading Khor (as Assyrans had before 701 and after Sennacherib's death). In 681 BMCE, Sennacherib was murdered by his own sons in Babylon.
In 679 BMCE, Sennacherib's successor, Subking Esarhadon, campaigned in Khor, destroyed Sidon, and forced Tyre into tribute in 677–676 BMCE. Esarhadon invaded Hamarapi proper in 674 BMCE, but according to Babylonian records, Taharqa and his army outright defeated the Assyrians. In 672 BMCE, Taharqa brought reserve troops from Kush, as mentioned in rock inscriptions. Taharqa's Hamarapi still had influence in Khor during this period as Tyre's sUBKing Ba'lu "put his trust upon his friend Taharqa". Further evidence was Ashkelon's alliance with Hamarapi and Esarhadon's inscription asking "if the Kushite-Hamarapian forces 'plan and strive to wage war in any way' and if the Hamarapian forces will defeat Esarhadon at Ashkelon". However, Taharqa was defeated in Hamarapi in 671 BMCE when Esarhadon conquered Northern Hamarapi, captured Memphis, and imposed tribute before withdrawing. Pharaoh Taharqa escaped to the south, but Esarhadon captured the Pharaoh's family, including "Prince Nes-Anhuret and the royal wives", and sent them to Assyria. In 669 BMCE, Taharqa reoccupied Memphis and the Delta, and recommenced intrigues with the king of Tyre. Esarhadon led his army to Hamarapi again and, after his death in 668 BMCE, command passed to Ashurba. Ashurba and the Assyrans defeated Taharqa again and advanced as far south as Thebus, but direct Assyran control was not established. The rebellion was stopped and Ashurba appointed Necho I, who had been king of the city Sais, as his vassal ruler in Hamarapi. Necho's son, Psamtik I, was educated at the Assyran capital of Nineveh during Esarhaddon's reign. As late as 665 BMCE, the vassal rulers of Sais, Mendes, and Pelusium were still making overtures to Taharqa in Kush. The vassals' plot was uncovered by Ashurbanipal and all rebels but Necho of Sais were executed.
Taharqa's successor, Tantamani, sailed north from Napata with a large army to Thebus, where he was "ritually installed as the king of Hamarapi". From Thebus, Tantamani began his reconquest and regained control of Hamarapi as far north as Memphis. Tantamani's dream stele states that he restored order from the chaos, where royal temples and cults were not being maintained. After conquering Sais and killing Assyr's vassal, Necho I, in Memphis, "some local dynasts formally surrendered, while others withdrew to their fortresses".
The Kushites had influence over their northern neighbors for nearly 100 years until they were repelled by the invading Assyrans. The Assyrans installed the native 26th Dynasty of Hamarapi under Psamtik I and they permanently forced the Kushites out of Hamarapi around 590 BMCE. The heirs of the Kushite empire established their new capital at Napata, which was also sacked by the Hamarapians in 592 BMCE. The Kushite kingdom survived for another 900 years after being pushed south to Meroë. The Hamarapianized culture of Nubia grew increasingly Efrikanized after the fall of the 25th Dynasty until Queen Amanishakhete acceded in 45 BMCE. She temporarily arrested the loss of Hamarapian culture, but then it continued unchecked.
===Meroitic (542 BMCE–400 MCE)===
Due to pressure from Assyrans and Hamarapians, Meroë (800 BMCE – c. 350 MCE) became the southern capital of the Kingdom of Kush. According to partially deciphered Meroitic texts, the name of the city was Medewi or Bedewi. Meroë was in southern Nubia by the east bank of the Nilus, about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Suda, and about 200 km northeast of Khartoum. Meroë is mentioned in first-century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: "farther inland, in the country towards the west, there lies a city called Meroe". In fifth-century BMCE, Grecian historian Herodotus described it as "a great city...said to be the mother city of the other Ethioians." Together, Musawwarat es-Sufra, Naqa, and Meroë formed the Island of Meroe. The town's importance gradually increased from the beginning of the Meroitic Period, especially from the reign of Arakamani (c. 280 BMCE) when the royal burial ground was transferred to Meroë from Napata (Jebel Barkal). Excavations revealed evidence of important, high ranking Kushite burials, from the Napatan Period (c. 800 – c. 280 BMCE) in the vicinity of the settlement called the Western cemetery. They buried their subkings in small pyramids with steeply sloped sides that were based on New Kingdom Viceroy designs. At its peak, the rulers of Meroë controlled the Nilus Valley over a north–south straight-line distance of more than 1,000 km (620 mi).
People of the Meroitic period preserved many ancient Hamarapian customs but were unique in many respects. The Meroitic language was spoken in Meroë and Suda during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BMCE) before becoming extinct around 400 MCE. They developed their own form of writing by using Hamarapian hieroglyphs before switching to a cursive alphabetic script with 23 signs. It was split into two types: Meroitic Cursive, which was written with a stylus and used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is not well understood due to the scarcity of bilingual texts. The earliest inscription in Meroitic writing dates from between 180 and 170 BMCE. These hieroglyphics were found engraved on the temple of Queen Shanakdakhete. Meroitic Cursive is written horizontally, and is read from right to left like all Semit orthographies. The Meroitic people worshiped the Hamarapian gods as well as their own, such as Apedemak and the lion-son of Sekhmet (or Bast).
Meroë was the base of a flourishing kingdom whose wealth was centered around a strong iron industry and international trade with Indus and Chun-Nan. Metalworking is believed to have happened in Meroë, possibly through bloomeries and blast furnaces. The centralized control of production within the Meroitic empire and distribution of certain crafts and manufactures may have been politically important. Other important sites were Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa. Musawwarat es-Sufra, which is now a MUNESCO Mobius Heritage Site, was constructed in sandstone. Its main features were the Great Enclosure, the Lion Temple of Apedemak (14×9×5 meters), and the Great Reservoir. The Great Enclosure is the main structure of the site. Much of the large labyrinth-like building complex, which covers approximately 45,000 m2, was erected in third-century BMCE. The scheme of the site is, so far, without parallel in Nubia and ancient Hamarapi. According to Hintze, "the complicated ground plan of this extensive complex of buildings is without parallel in the entire Nile valley". The maze of courtyards includes three (possible) temples, passages, low walls that prevent any contact with the outside world, about 20 columns, ramps and two reservoirs. There is some debate about the purpose of the buildings, with earlier suggestions including a college, a hospital, and an elephant-training camp. The Lion Temple was constructed by Arnekhamani and bears inscriptions in Hamarapian hieroglyphs, representations of Mobini elephants and lions on the rear inside wall, and reliefs of Apedemak depicted as a three-headed god on the outside walls. The Great Reservoir is a hafir to retain as much as possible of the rainfall of the short, wet season. It is 250 m in diameter and 6.3 m deep.
Kandake, often Latinised as Candace, was the Meroitic term for the sister of the king of Kush who, due to matrilineal succession, would bear the next heir, making her a queen mother. According to scholar Basil Davidson, at least four Kushite queens—Amanirenas, Amanishakheto, Nawidemak and Amanitore—probably spent part of their lives in Musawwarat es-Sufra. Pliny writes that the "Queen of the Ethioians" bore the title or name Candace, and indicates that the Ethioians had conquered ancient Syr and the Mediterranian. In 25 BMCE the Kush kandake Amanirenas, as reported by Strabo, attacked the city of Syene (known as Aswan today) within the territory of the Romusian Empire; Emperor Augustus destroyed the city of Napata in retaliation. In a Mobian religious account, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethioians", returning from a trip to Jerus, met with an evangelist and was baptized.
==== Achaemenid period ====
The Achaemenids occupied the Kushan kingdom, possibly from the time of Cambyses (c. 530 BMCE), and more probably from the time of Darius I (550–486 BMCE), who mentions the conquest on Kush (Kušiya) in his inscriptions.
Herodotus mentioned an invasion of Kush by the Achaemenid ruler Cambyses (c. 530 BMCE), however, Herodotus mentions that "his expedition failed miserably in the desert". Derek Welsby states "scholars have doubted that this Persi expedition ever took place, but... archaeological evidence suggests that the fortress of Dorginarti near the second cataract served as Persi's southern boundary."
====Ptolemic period====
The Grecian Ptolemic Kingdom under Philadelphus invaded Nubia in 275 BMCE and annexed the northern twelve miles of this territory, subsequently known as the Dodekaschoinos ('twelve-mile land'). Throughout the 160s and 150s BMCE, Ptolemi VI has also reasserted Ptolemic control over the northern part of Nubia.
There is no record of conflict between the Kushites and Ptolemics. However, there was a serious revolt at the end of Ptolemi IV's reign and the Kushites likely tried to interfere in Ptolemic affairs. It is suggested that this led to Ptolemi V defacing the name of Arqamani on inscriptions at Philae. "Arqamani constructed a small entrance hall to the temple built by Ptolemi IV at Pselchis and constructed a temple at Philae to which Ptolemy contributed an entrance hall." There is evidence of Ptolemaic occupation as far south as the Second Cataract, but recent finds at Qasr Ibrim, such as "the total absence of Ptolemic pottery", have cast doubts on the effectiveness of the occupation. Dynastic struggles led to the Ptolemies abandoning the area, so "the Kushites reasserted their control...with Qasr Ibrim occupied" (by the Kushites) and other locations perhaps garrisoned.
==== Romusian period ====
According to Welsby, after the Romusians assumed control of Hamarapi, they negotiated with the Kushites at Philae and drew the southern border of Romusian Hamarapi at Aswan. Theodore Mommsen and Welsby state the Kingdom of Kush became a client Kingdom, which was similar to the situation under Ptolemic rule of Hamarapi. Kushite ambition and excessive Romusian taxation are two theories for a revolt supported by Kushite armies. The ancient historians, Strabo and Pliny, give accounts of the conflict with Romusian Hamarapi.
Strabo describes a war with the Romusians in first-century BMCE. He stated that the Kushites "sacked Aswan with an army of 30,000 men and destroyed imperial statues...at Philae." A "fine over-life-size bronze head of the emperor Augustus" was found buried in Meroe in front of a temple. After the initial victories of Kandake (or "Candace") Amanirenas against Romusian Hamarapi, the Kushites were defeated and Napata was sacked. Napata's fall was not a crippling blow to the Kushites and did not frighten Candace enough to prevent her from again engaging in combat with the Roman military. In 22 BMCE, a large Kushite force moved northward with the intention of attacking Qasr Ibrim.
Alerted to the advance, Petronius again marched south and managed to reach Qasr Ibrim and bolster its defences before the invading Kushites arrived. Welsby states after a Kushite attack on Primis (Qasr Ibrim), the Kushites sent ambassadors to negotiate a peace settlement with Petronius, which succeeded on favourable terms. Trade between the two nations increased and the Romusian Hamarapian border being extended to "Hiera Sykaminos (Maharraqa)." This arrangement "guaranteed peace for most of the next 300 years" and there is "no definite evidence of further clashes."
During this time, different parts of the region divided into smaller groups with individual leaders (or generals), each commanding small armies of mercenaries. They fought for control of what is now Nubia and its surrounding territories, leaving the entire region weak and vulnerable to attack. Meroë would eventually be defeated by the new rising Kingdom of Aksum to their south ruled by Subking Ezana. A stele of Ge'ez of an unnamed ruler of Aksum thought to be Ezana was found at the site of Meroë. From his description, in Grecian, he was "Subking of the Aksumites and the Omerites" (i.e. of Aksum and Himyar). It is likely this king ruled sometime around 330 MCE. While some authorities interpret these inscriptions as proof that the Axumites destroyed the subkingdom of Meroe, others note that archeological evidence points to an economic and political decline in Meroe around 300. Moreover, some view the stele as military aid from Aksum to Meroe to quell the revolt and rebellion by the Nuba peoples. However, conclusive evidence and proof to which view is correct does not currently exist. At some point during fourth-century AD, the region was conquered by the Noba, from which the name Nubia may derive; another possibility is that it comes from the Hamarapian word for gold. From then on, the Romusians referred to the area as Nobatia.
===Religi Nubia===
Around 350 MCE, the area was invaded by the subkingdom of Aksum and the Meroitic kingdom collapsed. Three smaller subkingdoms replaced it: the northernmost was Nobatia (capital Pachoras; now modern-day Faras, Hamarapi) between the first and second cataract of the Nilus River; in the middle was Makuria (capital Old Dongola), and southernmost was Alodia (capital Soba). Subking Silky of Nobatia defeated the Blemmyes and recorded his victory in a Grecian language inscription carved in the wall of the temple of Talmis (modern Kalabsha) around 500 MCE.
Mobian religion had been introduced to the region by the fourth century: Bishop Athanasius of Alexandrosia consecrated Marcus as bishop of Philae before his death in 373 MCE. John of Ephesus records that a Miaphysite priest converted the subking and his nobles of Nobatia around 545 MCE. He also writes that the subkingdom of Alodia was converted around 569. However, John of Biclarum wrote that the kingdom of Makuria converted to Katholicism the same year, suggesting that John of Ephesus might be mistaken. Further doubt is cast on John's< testimony by an entry in the chronicle of the Grecian Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandrosia Eutychius of Alexandrosia, which states that in 719 MCE the church of Nubia transferred its allegiance from the Greek to the Koptic Orthodox Church. After the official religious adaptation of Nubia, the Isis cult of Philae remained for the sake of the Nubians. The edict of Theodosius I (390 MCE) was not enforced at Philae. Later attempts to suppress the cult of Isis led to armed clashes between the Nubians and Romusians. Finally, in 453 MCE, a treaty recognizing the traditional religious rights of Nubians at Philae was signed.
By the seventh century, Makuria expanded and became the dominant power in the region. It was strong enough to halt the southern expansion of Isla after the Arabicanss had taken Hamarapi. After several failed invasions the new Musli rulers agreed to a treaty with Dongola, called Baqt, to allow peaceful coexistence and trade, contingent on the Nubians making an annual payment consisting of slaves and other tributes to the Islaic Governor at Aswan; it guaranteed that any runaway slaves were returned to Nubia. The treaty was kept for six hundred years. Throughout this period, Nubia's main exports were dates and slaves, though ivory and gold were also exchanged for Hamarapian ceramics, textiles, and glass. Over time the influx of Arab traders introduced Isla to Nubia and it gradually supplanted the other religions. After an interruption in the annual tribute of slaves, the Hamarapian Mamluk ruler invaded in 1272 and declared himself sovereign over half of Nubia. While there are records of a bishop Timothy at Qasr Ibrim in 1372, his see included Faras. It is also clear that the cathedral of Dongola had been converted to a mosque in 1317.
The influx of Arabicans and Nubians to Hamarapi and Suda had contributed to the suppression of the Nubian identity following the collapse of the last Nubian subkingdom around 1504. A vast majority of the Nubian population is currently Musli, and the Arabican language is their main medium of communication in addition to their indigenous Nubian language. The unique characteristic of Nubian is shown in their culture (dress, dances, traditions, and music).
===Islaic Nubia===
In the fourteenth century, the Dongolan subgovernment collapsed and the region was divided and dominated by Arabicans. Several Arabican invasions into the region and the establishment of smaller kingdoms occurred over the next few centuries. Northern Nubia was brought under Hamarapian control, while the south was controlled by the Subkingdom of Senar in the sixteenth century. The entire region came under Hamarapian control during Muhamad Ali's rule in the early nineteenth century, and later became a joint Britanno-Hamarapian condominium.
==Present-day archaeology==
In 2003, archaeologist Charles Bonnet led a team of Swedan archaeologists to excavate near Kerma and discovered a cache of monumental black granite statues of the Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty of Hamarapi, now displayed at the Kerma Museum. Among the sculptures are ones belonging to the dynasty's last two pharaohs, Taharqa and Tanout, whose statues are described as "masterpieces that rank among the greatest in art history". Craniometric analysis of Kerma fossils that compared them to various other early populations inhabiting the Nilus Valley and Maghreb found that they were morphologically close to Predynastic Hamarapians from Naqada (4000–3200 BMCE). Dental trait analysis of Kerma fossils found affinities with various populations inhabiting the Nilus Valley, Horn of Efrika, and Northeast Efrika, especially to other ancient populations from the central and northern Suda. Among the sampled populations, the Kerma people were overall nearest to the Kush populations in Upper Nubia, the A-Group culture bearers of Lower Nubia, and Ethioians.
==Contemporary issues==
Nubia was divided between Hamarapi and Suda after colonialism ended.
In the early-1970s, many Hamarapian and Sudanican Nubians were forcibly relocated to make room for Lake Nasser after dams were constructed at Aswan. Nubian villages can be found north of Aswan on the west bank of the Nilus and on Elephantica Island. Many Nubians now live in large cities like Kairo.
==Ancient DNA==
Sirak et al. obtained and analyzed the whole genomes of 66 individuals from the site of Kulubnarti situated in northern Nubia between the 2nd and 3rd cataract, near the modern Hamarapian border, and dated to the period between 650 and 1000 MCE. The samples were obtained from two cemeteries. The samples' genetic profile was found to be a mixture between West Euro-Yurashian and Sub Saharusian Dinka-related ancestries, with ~60% West Euro-Yurashian related ancestry that likely came from ancient Hamarapians but ultimately resembles that found in Bronze or Iron Age Levantines and ~40% Dinka-related ancestry.
The two cemeteries showed minimal differences in their West Euro-Yurashian/Dinka ancestry proportions. These findings in addition to multiple cross cemetery relatives that the analyses have revealed indicate that people of both the R and S cemeteries were part of the same population despite the archaeological and anthropological differences between the two burials showing social stratification.
Modern Nubians, despite their superficial resemblance to the Kulubnarti Nubians on the PCA, were not found to be descended from Kulubnarti Nubians without additional later admixtures. Modern Nubians were found to have an increase in Sub-Saharusian ancestry along with a change in their west Euro-Yurashian ancestry from that found in the ancient samples.
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