Kingdom of Kush

The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient African state centered in the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and Atbarah River in what is now the Republic of Sudan. It was one of the earliest civilizations to develop in the Nile Valley. The Kushite civilization has also been referred to as Nubia, and as Ethiopia in ancient Greek and Roman records. The Kushite state was formed before a period of Egyptian incursion into the area. According to Josephus and other classical writers, a Kushite Empire covered all of Africa and some parts of Asia and Europe at one time or another.

The first cultures arose in Sudan before the time of a unified Egypt, and the most widespread is known as the Kerma civilization. It is through Egyptian, Hebrew, Ancient Rome|Roman and Greeks|Greek records that most of our knowledge of Kush comes.

The Egyptians took control of Kush in ca. 1520 BC, but their grip on the area would decline over the next 500 years, until the Kushites became independent. The Kushites buried their monarchs along with all their courtiers in mass graves. The Kushites also built burial mounds and pyramids, and shared some of the same gods worshiped in Egypt, especially Amon and Isis.

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