Women in Ancient Nubia

When Taharqa was crowned king in Egypt, he sent for his mother (who lived in Napata), to be sure she was there for the ceremony. Her journey probably took over two months of difficult travel time.

Women were very important in Nubian society. Often, a king was chosen not because he was the son of the previous king but because he was the son of the king's mother or sister. In later times, it was not uncommon for a queen to rule by herself or as an equal with her son or husband.

	Statue of the princess Amenirdis, daughter of King Kashta (about 760-743 BCE), and sister of Kings Piankhy and Shabaqo. She was taken to Thebes in Egypt, probably about 740 BCE by Piankhy, and was officially married to the god Amun. As "the god's wife," she ruled Thebes for many years as a kind of living goddess and high priestess.
	Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

	Statue of a Kushite queen found at Jebel Barkal, Sudan. About 650-620 BCE.
	Courtesy of the Sudan National Museum, Khartoum.

	Amulet from the tomb of one of the queens of Dynasty 25, from El-Kurru, Sudan, about 730-700 BCE. The object is made from a sphere of rock crystal, which is pierced by a gold tube capped by a gold head of the goddess Hathor.
	Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.