Intertwined Tale of Egypt and Kush - Part 1/3

Egypt vs Kush

In popular culture, Egypt is the most prominent ancient civilization of north-east Africa. Still, it happens another agent was left out and it shouldn't be the case, for the impact it had made on the first. So, this is the anal time of Egypt and Nubia.

Indeed, there is no need to elaborate what is Egypt; people know. Still, what about that southern ancient kingdom, Kush? First, Kush was a denomination given by Egyptians. Its original meaning is unknown. The people living there were either Kushites or equally called Nehesyu (meaning southerners). While the ethnic difference wasn't that obvious, the lands immensely differed: Egypt had extremely fertile soils by the Nile while Kush was barren of it. Thence, the Kushites were forced into pastoralism and that wasn't the type of economy that brought a strong state. They were just unlucky people in a potential sorry plight before the growing might of the fat bully kid that was Egypt.

Unification

About 3100 BC, Egypt was under a large-scaled process of unification. While popular literature tells us a certain Narmer from Southern Egypt conquered the Northern Egypt all by himself, the complete picture is lost to us. He may have been a strong actor towards the unification, but not necessarily the sole. Some scholars even postulate the pictured defeated people resembled a bit to the people from the Palestine-Syria region. Whatever it actually occurred, Egypt progressed from fragmented kingdoms to a unified state under the command of a mighty man, the king (not yet called Pharaoh at that time).

The Early Kushites

Meanwhile, the Kushites were too busy to survive with their limited resources such as cattle and goats. Skirmishes must have happened, but the scale was insignificant to affect the political landscape. During the same time frame as Egypt unification, these nomadic people were designated as A-group. The archeologist (Reisner) was out of imagination that day and recited the alphabet instead. Sadly for the A-group Kushites, their peace was apparent. Egypt began looking outside its borders for more booties. She was in mode "Swiggity Swooty, I'm coming for that booty".

Gebel Sheikh Suleiman Inscription

This illustration is a copy of a rock art made during the predynastic period. While few elements stand out, we can infer these people by the boat seem to have fun swimming around. Oh wait. They ded. Sooo ded. Egypt commenced her onsets on Nubia/Kush. What indicates Egypt was the winner here is shown by the bird at the left. It is a falcon and represents Horus in his animal form. Horus, being a divine avatar of royalty, is sitting on a serekh, which is an abstract representation of the front face of the royal palace. Anyways, incursions continued, but none went to such degree than the following...

Sneferu going Snuff

It was during the 4th Dynasty of Egypt (about 2600-2400 BC) that the A-group archeological presence suddenly vanished. According to scholars, the one upon which the blames should go might be Sneferu, one of these pyramid-lover kings. The Palermo Stone (see illustration) lists kings of the Old Kingdom period with succinct description of their achievements. According to these records, it states Sneferu captured a gigantic booty of 7,000 Kushite prisoners with their 200,000 cattle. For a barren region such as Nubia, this was seemingly the entirety of the population. That might explains their sudden disappearance.

Reference: http://egypt-grammar.rutgers.edu/Artifacts/Palermo%20Stone.pdf

A, C, D, E, F, G,...

So, is it "La Fin" for these Kushites? For this particular nomadic group originally nicknamed A-group, they all so ded. No more. Wasteland in Nubia. In fact, given most populations living in Nubia were nomadic, a new one replaced the previous settlers and they were called C-group Kushites. Wait, no B-group? Pffft, ask Reisner himself.
Anyways, it appeared the new nomadic Kushites were more advanced and progressively organized themselves in proto-kingdoms, which are displayed on the map. For the moment being, Egypt calmed down and stopped rustling its jimmies. A certain governor named Harkhuf shows the opposite attitude taken during this period.

Harkhuf, the first Marco Polo of recorded history

The story of Harkhuf was written on the façade of his burial tomb. It narrates his three travels into the lands of Kush/Nubia. His goal being satisfying the kings Merenre I and son Pepy II. He made travels to the land of Yam to obtain exotic African goods. The most noteworthy anecdote was about this "deneg", i.e. dwarf. When Merenre I died and Pepy II took over the throne as child, he wished to have one of those dancing dwarves from Nubia. Scholars still rustle each other jimmies to interpret if that dwarf was in fact a pygmy, making of Harkhuf's travel from great to incredible for its time.

Reference: http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/harkhuf.htm

The long reign of Pepy II

The period called Old Kingdom started about 2700BC and ended gradually with Pepy II about 2200 BC. While the exact reasons are not stated in the archeological evidence, the results are known. The centralized royal power was weakened as evidenced by the paucity of artefacts related to Pepy II. With the death of Pepy II after an unusual long reign, a new era was heralded: The First Intermediary Period.

To be continued there: http://imgur.com/gallery/9Nhpm