Neighbors Along the Nile
1The Nile flows north out of Africa's interior to the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Egypt lay along the river's lower course in the north. Upstream to the south, past a series of rocky rapids called cataracts, lay Kush, in what is now Sudan. Kush had gold, ivory, ebony and cattle, and its archers were so skilled that Egyptians called part of the region "Ta-Seti," the land of the bow.
2Egyptians believed that their king, the pharaoh, was a link between the gods and the people, responsible for keeping ma'at, the order and balance of the world. They also believed that a person's spirit could live on after death if the body was preserved and the tomb was supplied. Kings were buried in pyramids or rock-cut tombs filled with food, furniture and tools.
3Egypt and Kush traded, fought and borrowed from each other for centuries. About 1500 BCE, Egypt's armies conquered Kush and ruled it for roughly 400 years. Many Kushite nobles learned Egyptian writing and worshiped Egyptian gods such as Amun. After Egypt weakened, Kush became independent again. About 728 BCE, the Kushite king Piye marched north and took control of Egypt. For more than 60 years, Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs over both lands, restoring old temples in Egypt and building new ones.
4Later, Kush's center moved south to the city of Meroë. There, Kushites kept building pyramids, but they also went their own way. They wrote their own language in a new script, Meroitic, that scholars still cannot fully understand. They honored Apedemak, a lion-headed god, alongside Amun. Workers at Meroë smelted iron ore into tools and weapons, leaving huge heaps of slag that can still be seen. Several queens, called kandakes, ruled Kush; one of them, Amanirenas, led its army against the Romans.
5For most people in both kingdoms, daily life followed the river. Each summer the Nile rose, covered the fields and then went down, leaving wet, dark soil behind. Farm families planted wheat, barley or sorghum in that soil and harvested in spring. They lived in mud-brick homes and ate bread, and many families in Kush counted their wealth in cattle.