Egypt’s complex, changing relationship with Nubia

Egypt’s relationship with its southern neighbor, Nubia, has been marked by great complexity. The two kingdoms oscillated between violent agitation and mutual cooperation.

The Middle Kingdom

During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt and Nubia sustained extended periods of peaceful coexistence.

Stone weights discovered from the ruins of an Egyptian fortress at the site of Uronarti. Each piece features the hieroglyphic symbol for “gold” and appropriately measure the amount of gold brought to the fortress by the Nubians. Egyptian Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, 1971–1550 B.C.E. - Museum of Fine Arts Boston 

Egypt engaged in flourishing trade with the Nubians. The pharaohs of Egypt established a network of fortresses that functioned as trading posts along the Second Cataract to facilitate commercial exchange between Egypt and the gold rich region of Upper Nubia.

The Semna Dispatches tracked commercial activity and other happenings in and around the fortress. They contain reports on papyri of the arrivals of various groups of Nubians coming to trade with Egyptians stationed at a fortress at Semna. Egyptian Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, 1971–1786 B.C.E. - The British Museum

The New Kingdom

While trade was a significant aspect of their relationship, conquest and expansion existed. The New Kingdom was characterized by a series of successful campaigns against Nubia, resulting in the assertion of Egyptian control over the region.

Statue of Sennuwy. Sennuwy was the wife of a powerful provincial governor, Djefaihapi of Asyut. Her statue, along with a sculpture of Djefaihapi were discovered at Kerma in Nubia, where they had been buried in the royal tumulus of a Nubian king who lived generations after Sennuwy's death. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, 1971–1926 B.C.E - Museum of Fine Arts Boston

The statue of Sennuwy illuminates a different aspect of the relationship between Egypt and Nubia. The sculpture dates back to the 12th Dynasty but is relevant for its discovery in a Kerman tumulus that dates from the Second Intermediate Period (the era following the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and preceding the New Kingdom). The Kermans displayed a clear interest in associating themselves with the culture of Egypt and used these Egyptian cultural elements within distinctively Kerman contexts.

Temple of Ramses II. The exterior of the temple features four seated colossi of Ramses II flanking the entrance. The interior is decorated with reliefs, some of which depict Ramses II foreign campaigns and are symbolic of the Egyptian king’s role abroad.

The New Kingdom pharaohs commissioned several stone temples in Nubia, including Ramses II rock-cut temple at Abu Simbel. The construction of temples of this sort in Nubia was an active effort by New Kingdom pharaohs to maintain ideological control over the region though the cults of Egyptian gods.  

The Third Intermediate Period

Victory Stele of Piye, 725 B.C.E. The Victory Stele of Piye reflects the shifting power dynamic between Egypt and Nubia: the victorious Kushite ruler Piye, in the divine presence of the gods Amun and Mut, is depicted receiving tribute from the defeated Egyptians. Piye was erased from the stele, likely during the 26th Dynasty, when the Egyptians re-asserted control over Egypt. 

By the Third Intermediate Period, following the weakening of pharaonic control over Egypt and political fragmentation, Egypt lost its traditional dominance over Nubia. Centuries later, an independent dynasty under Kushite rule rose to prominence in Nubia, eventually coming to exercise political domination over both Nubia and Egypt. 

Conflict and commercial activity stimulated intense cultural syncretism—Nubian cultural elements were visible in Egyptian material culture, while Egyptian artistic and architectural influence was also apparent in Nubia. 

The Sphinx of Taharqa is reflective of the cultural syncretism that resulted from the establishment of Kushite dominion over Egypt. The portrayal of the lion in the sphinx is done in the typical Egyptian manner, while the double uraeus cobra on the headdress is a common Nubian symbol of kingship. On the chest of the sphinx is a cartouche, within which Tahraqa’s name is written. - Jean-Pierre Dalbéra/flickr

These artifacts, which come from different periods of Egyptian history, and shed light on different elements of the nature of Egypt and Nubia’s relationship.

Works Cited:

Bard, Kathryn. An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

Emberling, Geoff. “Exhibiting Ancient Africa at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: ‘Ancient

Nubia Now’ and Its Audiences.” American Journal of Archaeology 124, no. 3 (July

2020): 511–19. https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.124.3.0511.

Galpaz-Feller, Pnina. “The Stela of King Piye: A Brief Consideration of ‘Clean’ and ‘Unclean’

in Ancient Egypt and the Bible.” Revue Biblique (1946-) 102, no. 4 (1995): 506.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44089254.

Kraemer, Bryan, and Kate Liszka. “Evidence for Administration of the Nubian Fortresses in the Late Middle Kingdom: The Semna Dispatches.” Journal of Egyptian History 9, no. 1

(June 15, 2016): 1–65. https://doi.org/10.1163/18741665-12340026.

Petruso, Karl. “Early Weights and Weighing in Egypt and the Indus Valley.” M Bulletin (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) 79 (1981): 44–51. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4171634.