Military of ancient Nubia
Nubia (.
The Kingdom of Kerma was the first great power in Nubia. Military organization centred on archery as the infantry was mostly equipped with swords, axes, clubs and shields. Weapons during this period were made of bronze. The people of Kerma also served as mercenaries in Ancient Egypt. The Kingdom of Kush, successor to Kerma, improved military organization and logistics in Nubia. Iron technology was introduced in Kush by the Assyrians after their conquest of Egypt. This allowed the manufacture of iron weapons such as swords, spears and armor in Nubia.
The role of the
Kerma
The Kerma culture was the first Nubian kingdom to unify much of the region. The Classic Kerma Culture, named for its royal capital at Kerma, was one of the earliest urban centers in the Nile region[5] Kerma culture was militaristic. This is attested by the many bronze
Kingdom of Kush
The
Wars of Kush
War against Assyria
Kushite Kings conquered Egypt and formed the
Imperial ambitions of the
In 679 BC, Sennacherib's successor, King
War against Roman legions
Meroitic forces fought numerous battles against Rome, many successful. A peace treaty was eventually negotiuated between Augustus and Kushite diplomats, with Rome ceding a buffer strip along the southern border and exempting the Kushites from paying any tribute.
The
The Kushites penetrated as far south as the Aswan area, defeating three Roman cohorts, conquering Syene, Elephantine and Philae, capturing thousands of Egyptians, and toppling bronze statutes of Augustus recently erected there. The head of one of these Augustian statutes was carried off to Meroe as a trophy, and buried under a temple threshold of the Kandake Amanirenas, to commemorate the Kushite victory, and symbolically tread on her enemies.[33][34][35] A year later, Rome dispatched troops under Gaius Petronius to confront the Kushites, with the Romans repulsing a poorly armed Meroitic force at Pselchis.[36] Strabo reports that Petronius continued to advance- taking Premnis and then the Kushite city of Napata.[37] Petronius deemed the roadless country unsuitable or too difficult for further operations. He pulled back to Premnis, strengthening its fortifications, and leaving a garrison in place.[38] These setbacks did not settle hostilities however, for a Kushite resurgence occurred just three years later under the queen or Kandake Amanirenas, with strong reinforcements of African troops from further south. Kushite pressure now once more advanced on Premnis. The Romans countered this initiative by sending more troops to reinforce the city.[39] Negotiations were held to end the conflict.[40]
The Meroitic diplomats were invited to confer with the Roman emperor Augustus himself on the Greek island of Samos where he was headquartered temporarily. The envoys of Meroe presented the Romans with a bundle of golden arrows and reputedly said: "The Candace sends you these arrows. If you want peace, they are a token of her friendship and warmth. If you want war, you are going to need them."[33] An entente between the two parties was beneficial to both. The Kushites were a regional power in their own right and resented paying tribute. The Romans sought a quiet southern border for their absolutely essential Egyptian grain supplies, without constant war commitments, and welcomed a friendly buffer state in a border region beset with raiding nomads. The Kushites too appear to have found nomads like the Blemmyes to be a problem, allowed Rome monitoring and staging outposts against them, and even conducted joint military operations with the Romans in later years against such mauraders.[41] The conditions were ripe for a deal. During negotiations, Augustus granted the Kushite envoys all they asked for, and also cancelled the tribute earlier demanded by Rome.[42] Premmis (Qasr Ibrim), and areas north of Qasr Ibrim in the southern portion of the "Thirty-Mile Strip"] were ceded to the Kushites, the Dodekaschoinos was established as a buffer zone, and Roman forces were pulled back to the old Greek Ptolemaic border at Maharraqa.[43] Roman emperor Augustus signed the treaty with the Kushites on Samos. The settlement bought Rome peace and quiet on its Egyptian frontier, and increased the prestige of Roman Emperor Augustus, demonstrating his skill and ability to broker peace without constant warfare, and do business with the distant Kushites, who a short time earlier had been fighting his troops. The respect accorded the emperor by the Kushite envoys as the treaty was signed also created a favorable impression with other foreign ambassadors present on Samos, including envoys from India, and strengthened Augustus' hand in upcoming negotiations with the powerful Parthians.[44] The settlement ushered in a period of peace between the two empires for around three centuries. Inscriptions erected by Queen Amanirenas on an ancient temple at Hamadab, south of Meroe, record the war and the favorable outcome from the Kushite perspective.[45] Along with his signature on the official treaty, Roman emperor Augustus marked the agreement by directing his administrators to collaborate with regional priests in the erection of a temple at Dendur, and inscriptions depict the emperor himself celebrating local deities.[46]
Christian Nubia
The
- The absolutely unambiguous evidence and unanimous agreement of the early Muslim sources is that the Arabs abrupt stop was caused solely and exclusively by the superb military resistance of the Christian Nubians. .. the Nubian Dam. The array of those early sources includes the two most important chronicles of early Islam, al-Tabari (d. 926) and al-Yaqubi (d. 905); the two best extant books on the Muslim conquests, al-Baladhuri (d. 892) and Ibn al-A tham al-Kufi (d. 926); the most central encyclopedic work of al-Masudi (d.956); and the two best early sources dedicated specifically to Egypt, Ibn Abd al-Hakim (d. 871) and al-Kindi (961).. All of the above-cited sources attribute Nubian success to their superb archery.. To this central factor should be added the combination of the Nubians' military prowess and Christian zeal; their acquaintance of the terrain; the narrowness of the front line that they had to defend; and, quite possibly, the series of cataracts situated at their back, and other natural obstacles.. The Nubians fought the Muslims very fiercely. When they encountered them they showered them with arrows, until all of them were wounded and they withdrew with many wounds and gouged eyes. Therefore they were called "the marksmen of the eye." [47]
Another historian notes:
- The awe and respect that the Muslims had for their Nubian adversaries are reflected in the fact that even a rather late Umayyad caliph, Umar b Abd al- Aziz (Umar II 717-720), is said to have ratified the Nubian-Muslim treaty out of fear for the safety of the Muslims (he ratified the peace treaty out of consideration for the Muslims and out of [a desire] to spare their lives..[48]
The Nubians constituted an "African front" that barred Islam's spread, along with others in Central Asia, India and the Anatolian/Mediterranean zone. Whereas the Islamic military expansion began with swift conquests across Byzantium, Central Asia, the Maghreb and Spain, such quick triumphs foundered at the Sudanic barrier.[49] Internal divisions, along with infiltration by nomads were to weaken the "Nubian dam" however, and eventually it gave way to Muslim expansion from Egypt and elsewhere in the region.[47]
Weapons and organization
Infantry and Cavalry
Projectiles
- "So from the battlements as though on the walls of a citadel, the archers kept up with a continual discharge of well aimed shafts, so dense that the Persians had the sensation of a cloud descending upon them, especially when the Kushites made their enemies’ eyes the targets…so unerring was their aim that those who they pierced with their shafts rushed about wildly in the throngs with the arrows projecting from their eyes like double flutes."[50]
Two crossbow darts have been discovered at Qasr Ibrim.[52] One simple wooden
Siege weapons
During the siege of
Then they fought against "The Peak, Chest of victories"...Then a battering ram was employed against it, so that its walls were demolished and a great slaughter made among them in incalculable numbers, including the son of the Chief of the Ma, Tefnakht....
Melee weapons
The Meroitic infantry attacking Rome consisted of shields of rawhide,
A weapon characteristic of the Nobadians was a type of short sword.[64] It has a straight hollow-ground blade which was sharpened only on one edge and was therefore not designed to thrust, but to hack.[65] Apart from said swords, there were also lances, some of them with large blades, as well as halberds. The large-bladed lances and the halberds could have possibly been only ceremonial.[66]
Other war equipment
The forces of Kerma wore no armor. However,
Not much is known about the naval forces of the various Nubian kingdoms. Most sources of Naval conflicts come from
See also
References
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- ^ Ancient Nubia: A-Group 3800–3100 BC
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- ^ Shaw 2000, p. 190.
- ^ Steindorff & Seele 1957, p. 28.
- ^ Elshazly, Hesham. "Kerma and the royal cache".
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- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 141–144.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 127, 129–130, 139–152.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 119.
- ISBN 0-14-012523-X.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 155–156.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 152–153.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 155.
- ^ Aubin 2002, pp. x, 158–161.
- ^ Ephʿal 2005, p. 99.
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- ^ Mark 2009.
- ^ a b O'Grady, Selina (2012). And Man Created God: A History of the World at the time of Jesus. pp. 79–88. See also Strabo, Geographia, Book XVII, Chaps 1 -3. Translated from Greek by W. Falconer (1903)
- ^ a b O'Grady 2012, pp. 79–88.
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- ^ Strabo, Geographica
- ^ Derek A. Welsby. 1998. The Kingdom of Kush: The Napatan and Meroitic Empires.
- ^ Strabo, Geographia, Book XVII, Chaps 1 -3
- ^ Robert B. Jackson. 2002. At Empire's Edge: Exploring Rome's Egyptian Frontier. p. 140-156
- ^ Fluehr-Lobban, RHodes et al. (2004) Race and identity in the Nile Valley: ancient and modern perspectives. p 55
- ^ Richard Lobban 2004. Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia, 2004. p70-78
- ^ Jackson, At Empire's Edge, p 149
- ^ Jackson, At Empire's Edge p. 149
- ^ Raoul McLaughlin, 2014. The ROman Empire and the Indian Ocean. p61-72
- ^ McLaughlin, The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean 61-72
- ^ Robert Bianchi, 2004. Daily Life of the Nubians, p. 262
- ^ a b c David Ayalon (2000) The Spread of Islam and the Nubian Dam. pp. 17-28. in Hagai Erlikh, I. Gershoni. 2003. The Nile: Histories, Cultures, Myths. 2000.
- ^ "Views from Arab scholars and Merchants" Jay Spaulding and Nehemia Levtzion, IN Medieval West Africa: Views From Arab Scholars and Merchants, 2003.
- ^ Ayalon, The Nubian Dam.
- ^ a b c d e Jim Hamm. 2000. The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Volume 3, pp. 138-152
- ^ a b David Nicolle, Angus McBride. 1991. Rome's Enemies 5: The Desert Frontier. p. 11-15
- ^ Adams 2013, p. 138.
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 84.
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 77.
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 78.
- ^ Zielinski 2015, p. 801.
- ^ Zielinski 2015, p. 795.
- ^ Zielinski 2015, p. 798.
- ^ Zielinski 2015, p. 798-899.
- ^ Zielinski 2015, p. 794.
- ^ a b "Siege warfare in ancient Egypt". Tour Egypt. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ISBN 978-97-74-24600-5.
- ^ The Literature Of Ancient Egypt (in Arabic). pp. 374ff.
- ^ a b c Williams 1991, p. 87.
- ^ a b c Welsby 2002, p. 80.
- ^ Welsby 2002, p. 79.
- ^ Robert Morkot. Historical dictionary of ancient Egyptian warfare. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 26, xlvi
- ^ Welsby 2002, p. 80-81.
- ^ Hubert & Edwards 2010, p. 87.
- ^ UNESCO Nomination document p.43.
- ^ Plumley 1966.
- ^ Török, László (1998). "276. Yesebokheamani; 277. Meroitic Dedication of Yesebokheamani". In Tormod Eide; Tomas Hägg; Richard Holton Pierce; László Török (eds.). Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD. Vol III: From the First to the Sixth Century AD. Bergen: Institutt for klassisk filologi. pp. 1049–1051.
- ^ The Literature Of Ancient Egypt (in Arabic). pp. 380ff.
- ^ The Literature Of Ancient Egypt (in Arabic). pp. 372ff.
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- ISBN 978-01-90-22907-8.
- ^ Fage & Oliver 1975, p. 225.
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