UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

The empire of Kush: Napata and Meroe
Kush 7 and is reputed to have had Bocchoris, dynast of Sais, who resisted
him, burnt to death; the compilers of the lists of the kings of Egypt regard
him as the founder of the twenty-fifth dynasty. The Weltpolitik of the
Middle East drew the Kushites towards Asia where Assyrian pressure
was beginning to make itself felt; the appeals from princes and cities of
Syria-Palestine and in particular from Jerusalem 8 become urgent. But to
begin with, Shabaka seems to have preserved good relations with Assyria.
In the Sudan and Egypt, he launched a policy of monument building which
was expanded under his successors, the two sons of Peye, first Shabataka
(—700 to —690), and then the glorious Taharqa ( — 690 to —664).'
King Taharqa: the struggle against the Assyrians
Taharqa's name is found on numerous monuments throughout the whole
length of the valley. He built his sanctuaries at the foot of the holy
mountain of Gebel Barkal, a kind of sandstone table formation which
dominates the large fertile basin of Napata. His name is to be seen at
several other places in Nubia such as Kawa. In the Theban region he
erected colonnades on the four main faces of the Temple of Karnak and
constructed in them large numbers of small chapels where the cults of
Amon and Osiris were associated. We have evidence of his presence at
Memphis and in the Delta. Abandoning the traditional necropolis of El-
Kurru, Taharqa built at Nuri what appears to be a cenotaph comparable to
the Abydos Osireion; I ° a tomb inscribed with some of his styles and titles has
been discovered at Sedeinga. I ' Several firmlystriding statues of exceptional
quality show us how he looked; the beautifully sculpted granite was
embellished with gold ornamentation. The face is heavy, with a fleshy nose,
a wide thick-lipped mouth and a short, strong chin enhancing the extraordinary
power of the face. Various texts, in particular a number of large
stelae discovered by Griffith at Kawa, throw more light on the king's
policy: shrine building, sumptuous offerings of plate, sanctuary equipment,
and precious materials and endowments and personnel. The sixth year of
the reign is particularly celebrated, when a high flood of the Nile waters
7. The Egyptians and the Nubians gave this political organization the name 'Kush',
which had been traditionally used for the region of the Middle Nile since the Middle
Kingdom. As this name is found in the Bible, English-speaking authors use the adjective
'Kushite', whereas in the French historiographical tradition the corresponding dynasty, the
twenty-fifth of Egypt, is called the 'Ethiopian' dynasty (cf. note 2 above). We shall avoid
any reference to Ethiopia here in order to do away with any risk of confusion with present-day
Ethiopia.
8. H. von Zeissl, pp. 21-6.
9. J. Leclant, 1965b, index, p. 407.
10. D. Dunham and O. Bates, 1955, Vol. II, pp. 6-16.
11. Tomb W T i, Sedeinga: M. S. Giorgini, pp. 116-23.
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