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Sudan
Index
Egypt's succeeding dynasty failed to reassert control over
Cush. In 590 B.C., however, an Egyptian army sacked Napata,
compelling the Cushite court to move to a more secure location at
Meroe near the sixth cataract. For several centuries thereafter,
the Meroitic kingdom developed independently of Egypt, which
passed successively under Persian, Greek, and, finally, Roman
domination. During the height of its power in the second and
third centuries B.C., Meroe extended over a region from the third
cataract in the north to Sawba, near present-day Khartoum, in the
south.
The pharaonic tradition persisted among a line of rulers at
Meroe, who raised stelae to record the achievements of their
reigns and erected pyramids to contain their tombs. These objects
and the ruins of palaces, temples, and baths at Meroe attest to a
centralized political system that employed artisans' skills and
commanded the labor of a large work force. A well-managed
irrigation system allowed the area to support a higher population
density than was possible during later periods. By the first
century B.C., the use of hieroglyphs gave way to a Meroitic
script that adapted the Egyptian writing system to an indigenous,
Nubian-related language spoken later by the region's people.
Meroe's succession system was not necessarily hereditary; the
matriarchal royal family member deemed most worthy often became
king. The queen mother's role in the selection process was
crucial to a smooth succession. The crown appears to have passed
from brother to brother (or sister) and only when no siblings
remained from father to son.
Although Napata remained Meroe's religious center, northern
Cush eventually fell into disorder as it came under pressure from
the Blemmyes, predatory nomads from east of the Nile. However,
the Nile continued to give the region access to the Mediterranean
world. Additionally, Meroe maintained contact with Arab and
Indian traders along the Red Sea coast and incorporated
Hellenistic and Hindu cultural influences into its daily life.
Inconclusive evidence suggests that metallurgical technology may
have been transmitted westward across the savanna belt to West
Africa from Meroe's iron smelteries.
Relations between Meroe and Egypt were not always peaceful.
In 23 B.C., in response to Meroe's incursions into Upper Egypt, a
Roman army moved south and razed Napata. The Roman commander
quickly abandoned the area, however, as too poor to warrant
colonization.
In the second century A.D., the Nobatae occupied the Nile's
west bank in northern Cush. They are believed to have been one of
several well-armed bands of horse- and camel-borne warriors who
sold protection to the Meroitic population; eventually they
intermarried and established themselves among the Meroitic people
as a military aristocracy. Until nearly the fifth century, Rome
subsidized the Nobatae and used Meroe as a buffer between Egypt
and the Blemmyes. Meanwhile, the old Meroitic kingdom contracted
because of the expansion of Axum, a powerful Abyssinian state in
modern Ethiopia to the east. About A.D. 350, an Axumite army
captured and destroyed Meroe city, ending the kingdom's
independent existence.
Data as of June 1991
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