The Empires of Egypt and Nubia

Collide

Synopsis: Two empires along the Nile, Egypt and Nubia, forged commercial, cultural, and political connections.

The Fight to Take Back Egypt

During Egypt’s Middle Kingdom period (about 2080 – 1640 B.C.E.), trade with Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley enriched Egypt.

After the prosperity of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt descended into war and violence. This was caused by a succession of weak pharaohs and power struggles among rival nobles.

The New Kingdom of Egypt

The weakened country fell to invaders who swept across the Isthmus of Suez in chariots, a weapon of war unknown to the Egyptians. These invaders, nomads called Hyksos, ruled Egypt from 1640 to 1570 B.C.

The Hyksos invasion shook the Egyptians’ confidence in the desert barriers that had protected their kingdom.

The Egyptians were forced to retreat south as the Hyksos took control of Lower Egypt. The Egyptians were forced to pay tribute to the Hyksos.

Around 1600 B.C.E., a series of warlike rulers began to restore Egypt’s power. Then they began some conquests of their own.

The Egyptians were sandwiched between two hostile enemies. They had the Hyksos to the north and the Nubians to the south.

Hyksos

Egyptians

Nubians

Nubia lay south of Egypt between the first cataract of the Nile and the division of the river into the Blue and White Niles. Despite several cataracts around which boats had to be carried, the lengthy Nile provided the best north-south trade route.

Several Nubian kingdoms (including Kush) served as a trade corridor. They linked Egypt and the Mediterranean world to the north with the interior of Africa to the south and to the Red Sea.

Along the river, foods and ideas flowed back and forth for centuries. The first Nubian kingdom, Kerma, arose shortly after 2000 B.C. Kerma’s kings were buried in chambers larger than those in any Egyptian pyramid.

Red and black Kerma pottery of great beauty fetched high prices from Egyptian nobles. Kerma prospered during Egypt’s Hyksos period.

The Egyptians pharaoh, Seqenenre Tao II (the Brave) decided to go after the Nubians first.

Once he defeated them, he would turn his sites on Lower Egypt and the Hyksos.

While fighting the Hyksos, Seqenenre Tao II was killed. His wife, Queen Ahhotep (ah HOH tehp) rallied the troops and maintained the pressure on the Hyksos to help drive them out of Egypt.

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One of Ahhotep’s sons, Kamose (KAH mohs), won a great victory over the hated Hyksos.

Kamose’s brother Ahmose drove the Hyksos completely out of Egypt and pursued them across the Sinai Peninsula into Canaan.

Dagger that bore the name of Ahmose I