The Kingdom of Kush: A proper introduction [Illustrated]

[Nescio]

28 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

That's because she's a Meroitic Period ruler and her Stela is written in the Meroitic language which is significantly different from the Late Egyptian used in the Nastasen and Harsiotef stelae. Not much to be done about that. I suspect she would have had an Egyptian style name as well, like her successors Amanitore and Natakamani, who used both Meroitic and Egyptian, but we don't have any inscriptions to show for it...

That makes sense.

Nonetheless, we should still aim to get the other three consistent.

I also had a look at the Kushite champions:

• Noble Cavalry: <SpecificName>Htr Ms’ n mh-ib</SpecificName>
• Meroitic War Elephant: <SpecificName>Abore ‘h3</SpecificName>
• Noble Archer: <SpecificName>Hry pdty</SpecificName>
• Napatan Temple Guard: <SpecificName>rs ‘Imn</SpecificName>
• Meroitic Temple Guard: <SpecificName>rs ‘Iprmk</SpecificName>

So shouldn't Arakamani have “Irk-k-Imn Hnm-ib-R” and Harsiotef have “Hr-sʒ-it.f sʒ-mri-Imn” (plus proper diacritics) as their respective specific name? And Nastasen?

[Sundiata]

2 minutes ago, Nescio said:

So shouldn't Arakamani have “Irk-k-Imn Hnm-ib-R” and Harsiotef have “Hr-sʒ-it.f sʒ-mri-Imn” (plus proper diacritics) as their respective specific name? And Nastasen?

Yeah, it's up to you. The transliteration is probably more readable than the diacritics for most people though, (I honestly can't read or write proper diacritics myself..)

For Nastasen:

[Nescio]

17 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

Yeah, it's up to you. The transliteration is probably more readable than the diacritics for most people though, (I honestly can't read or write proper diacritics myself..)

It seems most Kushites structures and units use transliterations that don't insert vowels, so it would be inconsistent to do something else for the heroes, don't you think?

I'm assuming the raised commas represent the voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/ and should thus be written as ʿ (ayin/ayn) and ʾ (aleph/hamza), not with single quotation marks ‘ and ’.

However, is that a ʒ (ezh), a 3 (three), or something else?

[Sundiata]

12 minutes ago, Nescio said:

I'm assuming the raised commas represent the voiced pharyngeal fricative /ʕ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/ and should thus be written as ʿ (ayin/ayn) and ʾ (aleph/hamza), not with single quotation marks ‘ and ’.

yes, probably...

 

12 minutes ago, Nescio said:

However, is that a ʒ (ezh), a 3 (three), or something else?

It's some kind of e

 

@Djedptahiuefankh did some good work here: 

But then he disappeared from the forum...  

 

Although he wrote the  as an "o", so I don't know... 

[Nescio]

13 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

yes, probably...

It's some kind of e

@Djedptahiuefankh did some good work here: 

But then he disappeared from the forum...  

Kushites wrote in Egyptian hieroglyphs, right?

25 minutes ago, Nescio said:

However, is that a ʒ (ezh), a 3 (three), or something else?

Found it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogh#In_Egyptology

[Nescio]

The game font can't handle hieroglyphs or specialist symbols, but does have the ayin and yogh:

[Nescio]

D2624

(Hopefully this one will have less trouble getting reviewed.)

 

[Nescio]

Also, kush_catafalque.xml has <SpecificName>Shanakdakheto</SpecificName>; do you happen to know the original transliteration?

[Sundiata]

7 minutes ago, Nescio said:

Shanakdakheto

That's the name of a Meroitic Period Queen. Her name was recorded in Meroitic Hieroglyphics (different from Egyptian Hieroglyphics).

(Rulling queens called themselves "sons" of the gods to emphasize that they were on a par with male rulers preceding and succeeding them)

 

[Stan`]

I can wait for it to be changed before committing D2624

[Nescio]

13 minutes ago, Stan` said:

I can wait for it to be changed before committing D2624

Go ahead, catafalques are a separate case (also for other civs).

[SDM]

Yesterday YouTube channel Hometeam History uploaded a video about the ancient history of Kush, mentioning its archers, decisive naval battle against Lower Egypt, fictional story of Macedonia avoiding Meroe, and Rome's inability to defeat them.

It's a fun short listen if you're interested in history. Every video feels a bit embellished as a non-historian (sources are listed in his Patreon apparently), but the voice is quite soothing. I listen to the videos during my workouts.

Edited June 5, 2020 by SDM

[Sundiata]

On 6/5/2020 at 2:59 AM, SDM said:

Yesterday YouTube channel Hometeam History uploaded a video about the ancient history of Kush, mentioning its archers, decisive naval battle against Lower Egypt, fictional story of Macedonia avoiding Meroe, and Rome's inability to defeat them.

It's a fun short listen if you're interested in history. Every video feels a bit embellished as a non-historian (sources are listed in his Patreon apparently), but the voice is quite soothing. I listen to the videos during my workouts.

Thanks for sharing! I actually saw it. Not too bad...

I agree, his videos are a little embellished. He tries though, but it's not quite up to academic standards. But I think they're decent intro's to relatively obscure chapters in African history. I occasionally see a video of his. 

There's an amazing piece of art shared in the video you linked, and I really love it!

I don't even know who made this  It almost looks like @Victor Rossi's work, but I didn't see anything on his artstation page, and reverse image searches turn up nothing? Was it commissioned specifically for the video?? Don't know. But it's on point!

I still have hundreds of references to post... I've fallen so hopelessly behind... 

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

 

[Stan`]

https://mobile.twitter.com/AlisonFisk/status/1302130523842777089

[Sundiata]

I still have so so much to post.... And not enough time, but here's a quick in between post: Kerma period Kushite boats / ships:

Considering how difficult it initially was to find quality period references for Kushite ships, it's nice to find the typical Nile Valley ships confidently appear in the Kushite record as early as the Kerma Period. 

Hippopotamus hunt:

 

Recorded murals from Kerma, Temple K XI, Eastern Cemetery, depicting a boat with 8 sets of oars, a bull and a donkey (drawing water from a well)

 

 

Temple K XI, Kerma Eastern Cemetery, fishing scene:

 

An interesting note is that the artistic style of these paintings is reminiscent of Pre-Dynastic Egyptian art-styles, but these Kerma examples post-date the Egyptian ones by almost 1,5 millennia, ruling out direct diffusion from Egypt. Possibly the style originated with some common artistic ancestors in the Sahara, where comparable scenes are known from the Neolithic, or perhaps now lost remnants of Pre-Dynastic styles were preserved long enough in Lower Nubia to influence later artistic developments in Kerma. It should also be noted that these were some of the oldest preserved murals from Kush, and older examples may not have survived, obscuring the evolution and true origins of the style. 

 

A fleet of ships depicted in a mural inside Temple K II, Kerma Eastern Cemetery:

 

I've already posted these temples (KII and K XI), I believe, but considering what a magnificent examples they are of Bronze Age monumental stone and brick architecture in the First Kingdom of Kush (aside from the famous Western Deffufa), I thought it would be nice to post them again. They have almost completely disappeared since Reisner's excavations (which levelled many of the sites) in the 1910's - 1920's, but the photographic record of these excavations still exists. Although virtually unknown, they are extremely valuable. This is where the murals of those boats and ships were recorded:

c. 1750 B.C. - 1480 B.C.

Temple K XI (note the group of people in the right upper corner for scale):

 

The interior wasn't just decorated with murals, but also featured ceiling blocks with faience inlays:

 

 

Kerma Temple K II:

 

Temple K II is where the 120 cm long faience lion inlays come from:

 

Location of the temples on the southern fringe of the Eastern Cemetery of Kerma:

 

 

 

[MrLux]

I gotta say guys and gals, your passion for history and your hard work of bringing sources and references is really what made me want to contribute to the game. Keep it up, love ya !

 

Also as an artist, those images are the best. Look at all those architectural details and the blue, love that blue. 

[Sundiata]

3 hours ago, MrLux said:

I gotta say guys and gals, your passion for history and your hard work of bringing sources and references is really what made me want to contribute to the game. Keep it up, love ya !

Thanks! 

We're just getting started...  

 

3 hours ago, MrLux said:

and the blue, love that blue. 

Ha, the faience is what gets a lot of Nubiologists... Everybody loves it. Faience can be anything from bluish to cyan to greenish. The cyan-greenish pieces are the most common. The technique of faience manufacture was one of the early developments that Kerma was famous for, and Kushites continued to be in love with faience all the way through the Napato-Meroitic Period as well. Some of the pieces could get pretty intricate. Most of them have since lost most of their shine and polish, but they would have been gleaming back in the day.

Kerma-Period scorpion (probably a symbol of royal authority all the way into the Meroitic period):

 

25th Dynasty, Napatan Ankh, from the Temple of Taharqa, Kawa:

 

Select Napatan examples:

 

Meroitic faience "Evil Eye box" from the cemetery at Dangeil:

 

They also imported/looted Egyptian blue faience articles since the Kerma Period, such as the Hippo and pottery shard (left and centre), as well as produce their own Kerma blue faience, like the inlay of a bound captive (right):

[Abdominin]

@Sundiata, it would have been dope if the Kushites had proper artillery. In one source, there was the description of a machine thrower of stones used in battle by the Kushites. Also, Kush did employ battle rams as seen in their siege if Hermiopolis. I want to understand why Kushite units lack war chariots when they did have. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Abdominin
A question begs in dire need to be replied.

[Sundiata]

1 hour ago, Abdominin said:

@Sundiata, it would have been dope if the Kushites had proper artillery. In one source, there was the description of a machine thrower of stones used in battle by the Kushites. Also, Kush did employ battle rams as seen in their siege if Hermiopolis.

This was discussed in more detail recently here:

The sources are a too ambiguous at the moment for stone throwers. It's possible they had them, but we really don't know for sure. They may have just been referring to slingers. I wouldn't be surprised if more comes to light in future archaeological excavations, or even possible future translations of Meroitic, but not quite yet. 

 

1 hour ago, Abdominin said:

I want to understand why Kushite units lack war chariots when they did have. 

Amanirenas will have a chariot in Alpha 24: https://code.wildfiregames.com/D2622

I'm not sure if Kushites will have a non-hero chariot unit. It would be historically accurate (same for axe-men). There was some discussion on it recently. Maybe @Nescio can tell us more on the current state of the roster? 

[Nescio]

45 minutes ago, Sundiata said:

I'm not sure if Kushites will have a non-hero chariot unit. It would be historically accurate (same for axe-men). There was some discussion on it recently. Maybe @Nescio can tell us more on the current state of the roster?

As you know I'd love to add citizen infantry axemen and champion chariot archers for the Kushites, as well as various Libyan chariots for Carthage and Persia, however, appropiate actors have to be created first before their templates can be enabled.

[Sundiata]

"Meroitic Archer from Sudan- I-II Century AD- Encounters with Rome":

 

"Warrior from Sudan- II Century AD- Encounters with Rome. II century AD":

 

"Enemies of Rome- Nomads. Nubia- Archer from the Blemmye Tribe IV Century AD":

 

Kerma Period noble archer:

[Abdominin]

@Sundiata @Nescio, is awesome to see such hard work in getting at least; a Kushite champion Chariot as well as the battle axe unit. It will be a great addition to the elephants as well as the seige tower. When is Alpha 24 update tho? Can't wait. 

 Also, in = Robert Morley's book of "Historical dictionary of ancient  Egyptian warfare." Rowman & Littlefield. Date=2003. Page 26. 

ISBN=0-8108-4862-7

The writer stated how many Egyptian relief point to a possibility that chariots were manufactured in Kush since they exported a lot as tribute or so to Egypt. How did they export so much like that? Will only make sense if they produced it themselves. I remember somewhere in the Bible, a reference was made about Kush " the one who fields thousands of chariots into battle" or so. I'll search for more sources. 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Abdominin

[Abdominin]

The Battering Ram was used in Kush and it was effective as well. In the Piankhi stelae, passage 838;

 

Then they fought against Tetehen, great in might. They found it filled with soldiers, with every valiant man of the Northland. Then the battering-ram was employed against it, its wall was overthrown, and a great slaughter was made among them. of unknown number; also the son of the chief of Me, Tefnakhte. Then they sent to his majesty concerning it, (but) his heart was not satisfied therewith.

 

The Piankhi Stela James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt: Historical Documents. (Chicago: 1906), Part IV 838

 

The Battering Ram really being added to Kushite infantry plus the chariots and co will really get Kush a Champaign in the bouquet. 

[Nescio]

Herodotus on the “Ethiopians” in Xerxes' army at the Hellespont in 480 BC:

Spoiler

65. Ἰνδοὶ δὲ εἵματα μὲν ἐνδεδυκότες ἀπὸ ξύλων πεποιημένα, τόξα δὲ καλάμινα εἶχον καὶ ὀιστοὺς καλαμίνους· ἐπὶ δὲ σίδηρος ἦν. ἐσταλμένοι μὲν δὴ ἦσαν οὕτω Ἰνδοί, προσετετάχατο δὲ συστρατευόμενοι Φαρναζάθρῃ τῷ Ἀρταβάτεω.

65. The Indians wore garments of tree-wool [i.e. cotton], and carried bows of reed [i.e. bamboo] and iron-tipped arrows of the same. Such was their equipment; they were appointed to march under the command of Pharnazathres son of Artabates.

[...]

69. Ἀράβιοι δὲ ζειρὰς ὑπεζωσμένοι ἦσαν, τόξα δέ παλίντονα εἶχον πρὸς δεξιά, μακρά. Αἰθίοπες δὲ παρδαλέας τε καὶ λεοντέας ἐναμμένοι, τόξα δὲ εἶχον ἐκ φοίνικος σπάθης πεποιημένα, μακρά, τετραπηχέων οὐκ ἐλάσσω, ἐπὶ δὲ καλαμίνους ὀιστοὺς μικρούς· ἀντὶ δὲ σιδήρου ἐπῆν λίθος ὀξὺς πεποιημένος, τῷ καὶ τὰς σφρηγῖδας γλύφουσι· πρὸς δὲ αἰχμὰς εἶχον, ἐπὶ δὲ κέρας δορκάδος ἐπῆν ὀξὺ πεποιημένον τρόπον λόγχης· εἶχον δὲ καὶ ῥόπαλα τυλωτά. τοῦ δὲ σώματος τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ ἐξηλείφοντο γύψῳ ἰόντες ἐς μάχην, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο ἥμισυ μίλτῳ. Ἀραβίων δὲ καὶ Αἰθιόπων τῶν ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου οἰκημένων ἦρχε Ἀρσάμης ὁ Δαρείου καὶ Ἀρτυστώνης τῆς Κύρου θυγατρός, τὴν μάλιστα στέρξας τῶν γυναικῶν Δαρεῖος εἰκὼ χρυσέην σφυρήλατον ἐποιήσατο.

69. The Arabians wore mantles girded up, and carried at their right side long bows curving backwards. The Ethiopians were wrapt in skins of leopards and lions, and carried bows made of palm-wood strips, full four cubits long, and short arrows therewith, pointed not with iron but with a sharpened stone, that stone wherewith seals are carved; moreover they had spears pointed with a gazelle’s horn sharpened to the likeness of a lance, and studded clubs withal. When they went into battle they painted half their bodies with gypsum [i.e. white] and the other half with vermilion [i.e. red]. The Arabians, and the Ethiopians who dwell above Egypt, had for commander Arsames son of Darius and Artystone daughter of Cyrus, whom Darius loved best of his wives, and had an image made of her of hammered gold.

70. Τῶν μὲν δὴ ὑπὲρ Αἰγύπτου Αἰθιόπων καὶ Ἀραβίων ἦρχε Ἀρσάμης, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολέων Αἰθίοπες (διξοὶ γὰρ δὴ ἐστρατεύοντο) προσετετάχατο τοῖσι Ἰνδοῖσι, διαλλάσσοντες εἶδος μὲν οὐδὲν τοῖσι ἑτέροισι, φωνὴν δὲ καὶ τρίχωμα μοῦνον· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ ἡλίου Αἰθίοπες ἰθύτριχες εἰσί, οἱ δ᾿ ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης οὐλότατον τρίχωμα ἔχουσι πάντων ἀνθρώπων. οὗτοι δὲ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἀσίης Αἰθίοπες τὰ μὲν πλέω κατά περ Ἰνδοὶ ἐσεσάχατο, προμετωπίδια δὲ ἵππων εἶχον ἐπὶ τῇσι κεφαλῇσι σύν τε τοῖσι ὠσὶ ἐκδεδαρμένα καὶ τῇ λοφιῇ· καὶ ἀντὶ μὲν λόφου ἡ λοφιὴ κατέχρα, τὰ δὲ ὦτα τῶν ἵππων ὀρθὰ πεπηγότα εἶχον· προβλήματα δὲ ἀντ᾿ ἀσπίδων ἐποιεῦντο γεράνων δοράς.

70. The Ethiopians above Egypt and the Arabians had Arsames for commander, and the Ethiopians of the east (for there were two kinds of them in the army) served with the Indians; they differed nothing in appearance from the others, but only in speech and hair; for the Ethiopians from the east are straight-haired, but they of Libya have of all men the woolliest hair. These Ethiopians of Asia were for the most part armed like the Indians; but they wore on their heads the skins of horses’ foreheads, stripped from the head with ears and mane; the mane served them for a crest, and they wore the horses’ ears stiff and upright; for shields they had bucklers of cranes’ skin.

71. Λίβυες δὲ σκευὴν μὲν σκυτίνην ἤισαν ἔχοντες, ἀκοντίοισι δὲ ἐπικαύτοισι χρεώμενοι, ἄρχοντα δὲ παρείχοντο Μασσάγην τὸν Ὀαρίζου.

71. The Libyans came in leathern garments, using javelins of charred wood. Their commander was Massages son of Oarizus.

— Herodotus Histories VII.65, 69–71 (text and translation A. D. Godley 1922)

Now it is unclear how far Persian influence extended and Herodotus is not always known as the most reliable author, nonetheless, the suggestion that the “Ethiopians above Egypt” didn't have iron weapons at the time (5th C BC) is fascinating, and consistent with the finds from an article discussed earlier:

Brook Abdu, Robert Gordon “Iron artifacts from the land of Kush” Journal of Archaeological Science 31 (2004) 979–998 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2003.12.011

which dates “Early Meroitic” iron artefacts to 3rd C BC onwards.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Nescio
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