The Egyptian Conquest of Kush

While the Hyskos kings ruled northern Egypt, one of them heard that an Egyptian prince in the south planned to rebel against him. The king then sent a messenger carrying a letter to the king of Kush, asking for help. The letter asked the king of Kush to attack Egypt from the south; the Hyksos king told him he would attack from the north at the same time. Then they would divide up Egypt between them. The Egyptian prince managed to capture the Hyksos messenger with his letter before he reached Kush, so the plan was spoiled. The prince and his sons eventually overthrew the Hyskos kings and reunited Egypt.

The Egyptians then invaded Kush, burned Kerma, and claimed Nubia as an Egyptian province. From about 1450 BCE until 1100 BCE, Egypt ruled Nubia. During this time, the Egyptians explored Nubia for gold and other raw materials. They shipped what they found to Egypt and presented it to the pharaoh in great pageants.

Detail of a wall painting from the tomb of a high Egyptian official, showing an Egyptian scribe recording deliveries of Nubian products shortly after Egypt's conquest of Nubia. Visible are ebony logs, ivory tusks, baskets of ostrich eggs and gold ingots, ostrich feathers, leopard skins, resins, tamarind nuts, aromatic herbs - even a green monkey. Reign of King Thutmose III (about 1479-1425 BCE).

Watercolor copy by Nina Davies, Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Detail of a wall painting from the tomb of Amenhotep-Huy, Viceroy of Kush, showing the arrival in Egypt of Nubians bringing the "tribute of Kush" during the reign of King Tutankhamen (about 1333-1323 BCE).

Photo: T. Kendall.

The rock cut temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, northern Nubia. The Egyptian kings erected such buildings in Nubia as temples to themselves and as monuments for eternity, to impress the Nubians with their overwhelming power.

Photo: T. Kendall.