Where is kush

Some have opined that the Garden of Eden was there, based on the rivers mentioned in Genesis. Kush was just one of several empires within Nubia, which was an elongated eggplant shaped region, which may or may not have extended south into what is now Ethiopia.

According to Livius. Taharqa possibly Tirhakah, 2 Kings and Isaiah was the Kushite king who solidly established the 8th century BCE empire, then running from central Sudan north to modern Israel. He was said to be the king though it may have been Shabako who sent an army to Hezekiah of Judah to resist the Assyrians under Sennacherib. There may have been two separate battles : it is disputed, but either way the Kushite army was both powerful and helpful.

Now, to Ethiopia, also formerly called Abyssinia. Learn more about the rise of cities with these resources. Ancient Egyptians during the third and fourth dynasties perfected the construction of pyramids as burial chambers for their kings. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Background Info Fast Facts Vocabulary. The legendary Kingdom of Kush , with its series of capital s in what is now northern Sudan, helped define the political and cultural landscape of northeastern Africa for more than a thousand years.

What was the Kingdom of Kush? Kush was a part of Nubia , loosely described as the region between the Cataracts of the Nile. The Cataracts of the Nile are a series of six whitewater rapids that have been used as key waypoint s for thousands of years. The first cataract roughly corresponds to the modern area of Aswan, Egypt, while the sixth lies more than 1, kilometers miles south, north of Khartoum, Sudan.

Ancient Nubian cultures were sophisticated and cosmopolitan , as the region served as a major trading center for goods from the African interior, Arabian desert, and Mediterranean basin.

From sub-Saharan Africa , Nubian communities traded gold, ivory, ebony , and animal pelt s. Sometimes, merchants traded the animals themselves. African animals such as monkeys, elephants, antelopes, and giraffes were exported to private zoos across the Mediterranean and the Near East. From Arabia, Egypt, the Maghreb , and the Mediterranean basin, Nubians imported products such as olive oil, incense , timber mostly acacia and cedar , and bronze.

The hazard ous Cataracts of the Nile made sailing long distances along the Nile nearly impossible, so many goods from the Levant had to be imported from the Nubian east, through ports on the Red Sea. The Kingdom of Kush is probably the most famous civilization to emerge from Nubia. It is sometimes considered Kushite, and sometimes pre-Kushite. The Kerma kingdom controlled the Nile Valley between the first and fourth cataracts, making its territory as extensive as its powerful neighbor to the north, Egypt.

Kerma culture seems to have been primarily rural , as the city of Kerma only had about 2, residents. Nubians of this period practiced agriculture , hunted and fished, raised livestock such as cattle and sheep, and labored in workshops that produced ceramic and metal goods. The artifact s most associated with Kerma culture are probably deffufa s, huge mud-brick structures used as temple s or funerary chapel s.

The mud-brick construction material kept the interior of deffufas cool in the hot Nubian sun, while tall colonnade s allowed for greater air circulation. The walls of the deffufas were tiled and decorated with elaborate paintings, and some were lined in gold leaf. From its capital in Napata, Kushite civilization shared many cultural connections with Egypt during this time. For example, ceremonies and ritual s honoring the Egyptian sun-god Amun were held at the Kushite mountain Jebel Barkal, where Amun was believed to reside.

Records also indicate marriages between Egyptian and Kushite royal families. Despite these affinities, Egypt and Kush maintained discrete cultural identities. In Egyptian art, Kushites are depicted with darker skin and a cropped hairstyle. Kushites depicted themselves wearing animal-skin cloak s, patterned fabrics, and large earrings. During Classical antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was at Meroe.

In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Ethiopia. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. By the 1st century AD, the Kushite capital had been captured by the Beja Dynasty, who tried to revive the empire. The Kushite capital was eventually captured and burnt to the ground by the Kingdom of Axum.

It is also an ethnic term for the native population who initiated the kingdom of Kush. Geographically, Kush referred to the region south of the first cataract in general. Kush also was the home of the rulers of the 25th dynasty. However, following Friedrich Delitzsch Wo lag das Paradies? Origins Mentuhotep II 21st century BC founder of the Middle Kingdom is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and 31st years of his reign.

This is the earliest Egyptian reference to Kush; the Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom. With the disintegration of the New Kingdom around BC, Kush became an independent kingdom centered at Napata in modern central Sudan.

The Kushites buried their monarchs along with all their courtiers in mass graves. They would dig a pit and put stones around them in a circle. Kushites also built burial mounds and pyramids, and shared some of the same gods worshiped in Egypt, especially Ammon and Isis. With the worshiping of these gods the Kushites began to take some of the names of the gods as their throne names.

The Kush rulers were regarded as guardians of the state religion and were responsible for maintaining the houses of the gods.

Some scholars believe the economy in the Kingdom of Kush was a redistributive system. The state would collect taxes in the form of surplus produce and would redistribute to the people. Others believe that most of the society worked on the land and required nothing from the state and did not contribute to the state.

Northern Kush seemed to be more productive and wealthier than the Southern area. Sheshonq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions.

In , King Sheshonq made Memphis his northern capital. However, Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis and Kushites threatened from the south.

Piye attempted to regain a foothold for Egypt in the Near East that had been lost five centuries before during the period of the Middle Assyrian Empire and Hittite Empire. The 25th dynasty was based at Napata, in Nubia, which is now The Sudan. Alara is universally regarded as the founder of the 25th Kushite dynasty by his successors.

The power of the 25th Dynasty reached a climax under the pharaohs Piye and Taharqa. The Nile valley empire was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom.

The 25th dynasty ushered in a renaissance period for Ancient Egypt. Religion, the arts, and architecture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New Kingdom forms. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal, etc.

It was during the 25th dynasty that the Nile valley saw the first widespread construction of pyramids many in modern Sudan since the Middle Kingdom. Taharqa was the son of Piye and the first seventeen years of his reign were very prosperous for Kush. During this period Writing was introduced to Kush Nubia , in the form of the Egyptian influenced Meroitic script circa — BC, although it appears to have been wholly confined to the Royal Court and Major Temples.

By BC war between the two Empires became inevitable. Taharqa enjoyed some minor initial success in his attempts to regain influence in the Near East. He aided King Hezekiah from attack by Sennacherib and the Assyrians 2 Kings ;Isaiah , however disease among the besieging Assyrian army appears to have been the main cause of failure to take Jerusalem rather than any military setback, and Assyrian records indicate Hezekiah was forced to pay tribute regardless.

Between and BC the Assyrians, tiring of Egyptian meddling in their empire, began their invasion of Egypt under King Esarhaddon, the successor of Sennacherib. The Assyrians, whose armies had been the best in the world since the 14th century BC, conquered this vast territory with surprising speed. Taharqa was driven from power by Esarhaddon, and fled to his Nubian homeland. However, the native Egyptian vassal rulers installed by Esarhaddon as puppets were unable to effectively retain full control for long without Assyrian aid.

Esarhaddon prepared to return to Egypt and once more eject Taharqa, however he fell ill and died in his capital Nineveh, before he left Assyria. His successor, Ashurbanipal, sent a Turtanu general with a small but well trained army which once more defeated Taharqa and ejected him from Egypt, and he was forced to flee back to his homeland in Nubia, where he died two years later.