Kush in the Wider World During the Kerma Period

Bibliographic Data

ID23600014
AuthorsBruce Williams (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, corresponding author), Bruce Beyer Williams (Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw)
Year2021
Pages178-200
Publication date2021-01-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueOxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190496272.013.62
OpenAlexW3127354164
ISBN9780190496272
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited6

The culture that emerged at Kerma in the mid-3rd millennium bce rapidly spread as far north as the Second Cataract and to the south where upstream it affected the contemporary culture of the Fourth Cataract. By the time of the Egyptian 6th Dynasty, ca. 2400 bce, the northern area was united under one ruler. After Egypt took control of Lower Nubia from a brief dynasty who styled themselves as pharaohs, Kush was a rival, subject to repeated campaigning, and the proximate cause of a huge fortification complex the Egyptians built at the Second Cataract. Sometime after 1750 bce Kush became supreme, first in northern Nubia, then the area of the Fourth Cataract, becoming a multi-ethnic empire. Kush allied with the Hyksos, then ruling northern Egypt, and led troops from as far as the Horn of Africa to campaign into Egypt. Resurgent Egypt gave priority to campaigns against Kush, subjugating it completely by or shortly after 1500 bce, but Kush had led the way toward political unity and pharaonic culture in Nubia that would endure.

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