The Kingdom of Kush: A proper introduction [Illustrated]

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

 

[Micfild]

Found it recently and decided to share.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Micfild

[The Nehusi]

 

Just curious if anyone here knows what the medium of exchange would have been in Nubia/Kush? I get the gist of international trade but as far as domestically, how did Nubians/Kushites trade amongst each other preferably in kerma/Napata/Meroe prior to Christianity? I know there's evidence of Egyptian coins being in circulation in lower Nubia but no evidence of home minted coins. With gold being in abundance, you would think that would be the medium of exchange but I've yet to find evidence to prove this theory. Does anyone have any clue? I just find that bartering might have been inconvenient , especially with how advanced Nubians/Kushites were. 

[Lion.Kanzen]

@Sundiata

[Sundiata]

On 22/11/2021 at 5:45 AM, The Nehusi said:

Just curious if anyone here knows what the medium of exchange would have been in Nubia/Kush? I get the gist of international trade but as far as domestically, how did Nubians/Kushites trade amongst each other preferably in kerma/Napata/Meroe prior to Christianity? I know there's evidence of Egyptian coins being in circulation in lower Nubia but no evidence of home minted coins. With gold being in abundance, you would think that would be the medium of exchange but I've yet to find evidence to prove this theory. Does anyone have any clue? I just find that bartering might have been inconvenient , especially with how advanced Nubians/Kushites were. 

They used something called "Deben", which is a weight unit used for anything from gold, silver and copper, to grains. Basically, specific weights of gold, silver, copper, grains and probably a bunch of other stuff had specific values. So they didn't need coin. And in a time when people had more time, barter isn't so bad anyway. It "democratizes" trade. Also, Kush just wasn't a monetary society but a theocratic one where loyal subjects would be "paid" in housing, rations and luxury goods, and tributes were levied on items like cattle, grain, gold and ivory. 

In the Stele of Nastasen, an in-game Hero, we actually find mention of their use of the Deben as a measure for gold, even long after the 25th Dynasty.     

Excerpt from the "Stela of Nastasen from Year 8. Second half of the 4th cent. BC. Berlin Agyptisches Museum 2268. Urk. III.2, 137-152"

"I had many levies go against the rebel country of Mayokue.

It resisted me, the rebel country, at the Sycomore-of-Sarsare

I caused fighting with it.

I caused a great slaughter.

I had its chief, Tamakheyta, seized.

I caused to be plundered all their women, all the domestic animals,

gold: 2000 deben-weight, long-horned oxen: 35,330 (head), livestock: 55,526

all that by which people are sustained."

 

Anyway, random addition to the post:

Some really nice Nubian music from Egyptian Nubians in Aswan, just north of the border with Lower Nubia. This would have also been the northern border of the Kushite state for much of 0AD's timeframe. A place where the lines between Kushite, Lower Nubian and Egyptian become so blurred it's difficult to tell them apart. 

 

[Sundiata]

Quick color adjustment to make the gold look more gold:

[The Nehusi]

On 28/11/2021 at 7:13 AM, Sundiata said:

They used something called "Deben", which is a weight unit used for anything from gold, silver and copper, to grains. Basically, specific weights of gold, silver, copper, grains and probably a bunch of other stuff had specific values. So they didn't need coin. And in a time when people had more time, barter isn't so bad anyway. It "democratizes" trade. Also, Kush just wasn't a monetary society but a theocratic one where loyal subjects would be "paid" in housing, rations and luxury goods, and tributes were levied on items like cattle, grain, gold and ivory. 

In the Stele of Nastasen, an in-game Hero, we actually find mention of their use of the Deben as a measure for gold, even long after the 25th Dynasty.     

Excerpt from the "Stela of Nastasen from Year 8. Second half of the 4th cent. BC. Berlin Agyptisches Museum 2268. Urk. III.2, 137-152"

"I had many levies go against the rebel country of Mayokue.

It resisted me, the rebel country, at the Sycomore-of-Sarsare

I caused fighting with it.

I caused a great slaughter.

I had its chief, Tamakheyta, seized.

I caused to be plundered all their women, all the domestic animals,

gold: 2000 deben-weight, long-horned oxen: 35,330 (head), livestock: 55,526

all that by which people are sustained."

 

Anyway, random addition to the post:

Some really nice Nubian music from Egyptian Nubians in Aswan, just north of the border with Lower Nubia. This would have also been the northern border of the Kushite state for much of 0AD's timeframe. A place where the lines between Kushite, Lower Nubian and Egyptian become so blurred it's difficult to tell them apart. 

 

Thank you so much!

 

[SDM]

Sundiata, the Blue and Gold look gorgeous together.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 10/12/2021 at 9:48 AM, Sundiata said:

Quick color adjustment to make the gold look more gold:

Why isn't this an in game main menu bg?

[Stan`]

Resolution not being a power of two maybe, or image being too small?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

59 minutes ago, Stan` said:

Resolution not being a power of two maybe, or image being too small?

I think the original size is quite large.

[Genava55]

I just learned that there was a temple of Isis at Carthage since the 3rd century BC: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43606763

Also, Isis on a Punic sarcophagus: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/5285/priestess-of-isis-on-a-carthaginian-sarcophagus-li/

Edited December 30, 2021 by Genava55

[CovenantKillerJ]

Did the Kushites worship the rest of the Egyptian pantheon? Or just their chief god Amun, and their own Apedemak?

[Gurken Khan]

@CovenantKillerJ

Quote

In the beginning, the religion of Kush appears to have differed little from that of pharaonic Egypt. The principal state deity was Amun, whose cult was celebrated at the great state temples of Napata and Meroe, and at many other places. Other Egyptian deities who are depicted in Kushite temple reliefs include the moon god Khonsu, the ibis-headed Thoth, and the goddesses Isis, Hathor, and Mut. The ram-headed Khum, god of cataracts, was especially venerated in the cataract region of northern Kush. Horus, who in Egypt symbolized the pharaonic authority, was another deity especially popular in the north.

In Kush as in Egypt, mortuary ritual was associated with the Osirian family of deities: Osiris, his sister-wife Isis, and Nephthys, the sister of Isis. The jackal-headed Anubis also played an important part in mortuary ritual. In later centuries the cult of Isis became especially highly developed, and was no longer primarily a mortuary cult. Isis became the chief tutelary of the most northerly district of Kush (later known as Lower Nubia), but there were also Isis temples at Meroe and elsewhere in the south.

In the Meroitic period (c. 350 bce–350 ce) the Kushite pantheon came to include a number of deities who were apparently not of Egyptian origin. The most important of them was Apedemak, a lion-headed male god who was a special tutelary of the ruling family. He was a god of victory and also of agricultural fertility. There were temples of Apedemak at Meroe and at several other towns in the southern part of Kush, but his cult seems to have been little developed in the more northerly districts, which were far from the seats of royal authority. Two other possibly indigenous deities were Arensnuphis and Sebiumeker, who are sometimes depicted as guardians standing on either side of temple doors. There was, in addition, an enigmatic goddess with distinctly negroid features, whose name has not been recovered.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kushite-religion

[CovenantKillerJ]

Cheers

[CovenantKillerJ]

So I've heard that the Kushites are planned to have an entire remodel at some point. Does that include the their architecture and units? And what sources point to the historical inaccuracies?

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

1 hour ago, CovenantKillerJ said:

So I've heard that the Kushites are planned to have an entire remodel at some point. Does that include the their architecture and units? And what sources point to the historical inaccuracies?

Where have you heard this?

[CovenantKillerJ]

I think I heard it from Stan or LordGood? can't remember what discussion/topic

[Stan`]

There was some discussions about them having inaccurate roof tops, because the round roofs were only attested in one of the references.

There was also a debate on whether the balcony made sense on the menu, and of course replacing the roofs of the buildings there.

The debate was about how advanced the buildings might have been at the time, as some people considered only the greeks were able to build such big buildings.

It was never solved.

[CovenantKillerJ]

Ah, okay. Cheers for the context!

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

3 hours ago, Stan` said:

The debate was about how advanced the buildings might have been at the time, as some people considered only the greeks were able to build such big buildings.

A bit of ethnocentrism probably 

[Andrettin]

I'm a bit confused by the difference between Nubian and Noba. In the game, the Kush have Nubian units which they can recruit in their Civic Center. From what I understand, Nubian there is equated with Kushite? And then the Noba are a separate people altogether who rose to prominence later. Is that correct?

[Charles R Sabo]

You have ignorantly stated that the Neo-Assyrian Empire ended and was then ruled under King Cyrus of Persia, when history clearly conveys that the Neo-Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar had defeated and ruled over the Assyrians; the Babylonians fell to King Cyrus and the Medo/Persian Empire in 539 B.C. How can anyone take your words seriously, when you twisted history so badly???

[Gurken Khan]

Bot? Psycho? Nice entry.

Otherwise: anything particular you're referring to in this 41 pages thread?