Cush or Nubia
Osama Elnur
Kush - Nubia: the naming problem
Osama Abdel-Rahman Elnur
This paper attempts to discuss the different names given to Sudan in successive historical times. The ancient Egyptians used a number of names given to their country by the Kushite kings (the ancient Sudanese) themselves. For example, the name Ta Seti (Land of Arrows), which was initially used to refer to a specific region on the northern outskirts of Sudan. Then the name spread to include the entire country. The name Al-Wawat was also used to refer to the northern outskirts of Sudan, in addition to the use of the name Ta-Nahsi to refer to Sudan as a whole, and the word Nahsi to refer to all the peoples living to the south of Egypt. As for the Greeks, since the time of Homer, they have called the country “Ethiopia,” which means “burnt-shaped.” Greek writers established the northern borders of Ethiopia at Aswan, while its southern borders remained unknown to them. As for the name Nubia, which is also widely used in specialized writings to refer to Nilotic Ethiopia (Kush), it appears in a late period. The first mention of Nubia is found in the works of Arab writers. It is possible that these writers used the common Egyptian adjective at that time to refer to the area south of Aswan.
In the sixteenth century BC, and possibly earlier, the Kushite sheikhdoms to the south of Egypt began to coalesce and unite, a process that was destined, over the course of eight hundred years, not only to consolidate its grip on the entire Nile Valley from Butana in the south to the Mediterranean coast in the north, but also to enter into a marked competition with the Assyrian Empire for sovereignty over Syria and Palestine. It can be said that Kush appeared for the first time on the scene of international politics precisely under this The name since the end of the first half of the second millennium BC. The Napata and Meroe kings called their country Kush, as did Aspalta, Horseutef, and Nestasen. Although the name Kush was used by the Egyptians along with other names since the era of the Middle Kingdom, and from them the Assyrians and Persians used it in their blogs, and the country was even mentioned with this name in the Bible, in later times specialized writings, due to a tradition dating back to the Greeks and Romans initially and to Arab writers in the Middle Ages later, resorted to using the name Ethiopia or Nubia to refer to Kush. Hence, the writer believes that the name Nubia, which is currently used to denote the name of the country in the historical periods prior to the fifth century AD, does not match the actual historical reality. The writer believes that the name Nubia appears for the first time only in the Middle Ages, and was mostly derived from the Nuba tribes or Nobadis, about whom the first reference arrived in the third century AD. Thus, the use of the name Nubia instead of Kush does not match the historical reality, in addition to causing confusion regarding geographical borders, since the term “butna” was never included in the concept of Nubia. Therefore, applying the name Nubia to the times of the Kingdom of Meroe is completely incorrect. Even in the time of Al-Idrisi, when the name Nubia became understood in a broader sense, it included only northern Sudan up to the sixth cataract in the south along the Nile course, which meant excluding the desert on its banks and the irrigated island (Al-Butana).
Between the meeting place of the White and Blue Nile at Khartoum in the south, and the first waterfall at Aswan in the north, the Nile flows through a land we currently know as “Nubia.” From one distance to another, the flow of the Nile is disturbed by chains of granite rocks that early Arab writers called gondolas, but today it is common to call them waterfalls. The first waterfall near Aswan forms a natural border and at the same time a cultural barrier between Egypt and Sudan. Currently, the area between the first waterfall and Batn al-Hajar, directly south of it, is called Lower or Northern Nubia. Here the Nile River forms a narrow valley between towering rocky hills and cliffs made of red sandstone with small patches of arable land. Further south, in the part called Upper Nubia the landscape changes to large open spaces with Meroe land bordered by desert. Only in the area of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waterfalls does the Nile become narrow again, forming a landscape somewhat similar to the lower parts of Nubia. Emil Ludwig, in his book “The Nile: The Life of a River,” which was translated by Adel Zuaiter in his wonderful prose style, described the view of the sixth waterfall (Sablouga Waterfall): “And if I walked two or three stages from Khartoum, that is, a distance of ninety kilometers from the course of the subterranean river, I found the width of the Nile no more than seventy-five meters and I saw two columns of volcanic stone to indicate a narrow entrance; this is the entrance to the waterfall; geographers call it the sixth waterfall because they They counted the waterfalls, starting from Egypt, heading to the course of the upper river; and I found that we were forced to follow them, even though the river is described as human life is described, so it does not begin at its end.” Ludwig
The southernmost parts of Nubia, central Sudan, expand into the rain belt, making the population less dependent on the Nile and its annual floods. Here a grassy savannah prevails and acacia trees abound. Due to these geographical and climatic differences, the history of Nubia and central Sudan was different from the history of Egypt. While Egypt was ethnically and culturally homogeneous over thousands of years; The different parts of Nubia absorbed various ethnic groups at different times. Today, the southern border of the Nubian language-speaking ethnic groups is located near Al-Dabba, midway between the third and fourth waterfalls. However, in the Middle Ages, these groups extended along the Nile Valley from Aswan to the northern edges of the White and Blue Nile.
If we try to return to the issue of naming “Nubia,” it becomes clear that it does not match the actual historical reality in the period extending until the fifth century AD. Therefore, we see the need to stop to discuss this nomenclature and define the terms more precisely. In a text dating back to the era of Hyksos rule in Egypt, it was stated: “How can I verify my authority when there is a king ruling in Avaris and another in Kush, and I remain unable to act, as an Asian and a Kushite share the rule with me, and each of them owns a part in this Egypt?” These were the words of Kamose, the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt, before a crowd of his advisors in preparation for the liberation battle against the Hyksos. It seems that the aforementioned Kush was a powerful state that forced the Hyksos ruler in Avaris to seek its king, requesting support and support for him in his war with Kamose. The content of the letter of the ruler of Avaris addressed to the ruler of Kerma, which Kames decided to record in the inscription that tells about his exploits at Karnak: “I picked up a letter in the south of the oases while its bearer was ascending to the country of Kush, and I discovered that it was a letter from the king of Avaris in his own handwriting, in which he said: Auserrere-apep, the son of Ra, and his son Yahya, king of Kush. Why did you declare yourself king without informing me? Have you heard what Egypt did to me? The monarch The one who is responsible for it, Kames, launched attacks on my property, even though I did not treat him with hostility. He treated me exactly as he treated you. He chose two countries to wreak havoc on them: my country and your country. Come, do not be afraid. He is here right now, and no one is waiting for you in Egypt. Then the military operations stopped, literally. Kames returned to his capital, Thebes, to engrave the story of his exploits and heroism, without mentioning Nasr’s achievement. Is it not possible that he was content, at most, with securing the caravan route for himself, crossing the road between the Delta in the north and Kush in the south?
Thus, in the sixteenth century BC, and possibly at an earlier time, the Kushite sheikhdoms to the south of Egypt began to coalesce and unify O'Connor 1991, a process that was destined, over the course of eight hundred years, not only to consolidate its grip on the entire Nile Valley from Butana in the south to the Mediterranean coast in the north, but also to enter into a marked competition with the Assyrian Empire for sovereignty over Syria and Palestine, as we will show later (see Dynasty The twenty-fifth Kushite). See the Twenty-fifth Kushite Dynasty
Therefore, it can be said that Kush appeared for the first time on the scene of international politics, specifically under this name, since the end of the first half of the second millennium BC. The kings of Napata and Meroe gave their country the name Kush, which is what Aspalta, Horseutef, and Nestasen did. Although the name Kush was used by the Egyptians alongside other names since the era of the Middle Kingdom, and the Assyrians and Persians used it in their blogs, and the country was even mentioned with this name in the Bible, in later times specialized writings, due to a tradition dating back to the Greeks and Romans at the beginning and to Arab writers in the Middle Ages later, resorted to using the name Ethiopia or Nubia to refer to Kush. To what extent can the two labels be considered consistent with reality, and what is the meaning implicit in each of them?
As is known, the first mention of Ethiopia is found in Homer. There is agreement that this name is derived from two Greek words: etho, meaning to burn, and ops, meaning appearance or form, meaning that its meaning becomes the one with the burned form. In this sense, Ethiopia was mentioned in Homer, meaning that it was a name given to the country based on the criterion of skin color, just like the Arabic name for the country as Sudan, which is an anthropological criterion. As for Pliny the Elder, he linked the naming of Ethiopia to the legendary hero Aethops, son of the god Zeus, and this indicates that Pliny preserved in his interpretation the relationship of the naming to fire, because careful research can reveal a relationship in terms of connotation and meaning between the sun, eternal fire, and people with dark skin.
Ancient treatments of the concept of Ethiopia included India and Kush, and also included Africa and other regions where Negroes or Berbers lived. But it is known that the Greeks’ first contact with people with dark skin was through their meeting with the Cushites, which led to the naming of Ethiopia as Kush. However, later, as in the third book of Herodotus, a distinction was made between two or three Ethiopians. If the northern borders of Ethiopia were located at Aswan for most Greek writers, then its southern borders remained unknown to them. Strabo says in his book Geography, “We can name neither the borders of Ethiopia nor the borders of Libya nor even the actual borders of the regions bordering Egypt.” From Strabo's account of Cambyses' campaign to Meroe, from Herodotus's description, and from the works of Ptolemy and other works of Hellenistic historians and geographers, the Kingdom of Meroe, in addition to the regions farthest to its south, were all included under the name of Nilotic Ethiopia. From here, it may be said that Nilotic Ethiopia is identical with Kush, even though the Greeks and Romans included in the name areas located to the south, such as Adulis and Axum, but that was at a late time when relations with the Kingdom of Meroe weakened.
Regarding scholars of ancient Egyptian studies, until recently they referred to Ethiopia as the region located south of present-day Lower Nubia. However, this created a kind of confusion, as we find many contemporary historical writings (especially Egyptian) translating Ethiopia as Abyssinian. Thus, we find that many Egyptian books on the history of ancient Egypt talk about the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (Kushite or Ethiopian), describing it as Ethiopian. The confusion also extends to the concept of Ethiopian, which may include anyone with dark skin in any country located between northwest Africa and India, which was the world known to the Greeks and Romans at the time. Currently, the name Ethiopia is called Abyssinia (present-day Abyssinia), and it is believed that the name Abyssinia came with this pronunciation from the European pronunciation of the name Abyssinia, or Habesh, or Habeshat, which is the name of an Arab tribe that arrived in the region from Yemen in the sixth century, and the Abyssinians (Abyssinians) call themselves Ethiopians. The issue of adhering to this name is still ambiguous. This is often linked to an ancient tradition that is difficult to identify with confidence. It is only known that the monks, mostly Syrian, who translated the Bible into the Geyuz language identified Kush with Babesinya and translated Kush with Ethiopia. As for the Arab writers, they carefully distinguished between Nubia (Kush) and Abyssinia... This is how Al-Idrisi wrote, “The merchants of this region, Abyssinia, and Egypt.”
As for the name Nubia, which is also widely used in specialized writings to refer to Nilotic Ethiopia (Kush), it appears at a later period. In an excerpt from Eratsfen that says it is taken from Strabo, the name of the Nubians is mentioned for the first time. “A part of the left side of the Nile in Libya is inhabited by the large Nubawian tribe extending from Meroe to the bend of the Nile. The Nubawians are not subject to the Ethiopians, but are divided into several groups.” "Kingdoms." However, this statement of Eratsfen contradicts what Strabo himself said: “In the other parts towards the south (meaning Egypt) the Troglodytes, the Blemians, the Nubians, and the Megabari live. The Ethiopians live to the south of Aswan, and these are Marahil.”
What is noteworthy is that in the two cases of Eratsfen and Strabo, the Nubians are placed facing the Ethiopians, that is, the Kushites. The information known to Pliny about the Nopaeans, which he took from Agatharchides, agrees with that of Strabo. Thus, it can be said that the Nubians occupied the area west of the Nile up to the great bend of the Nile at Al-Dabbah, an area that currently corresponds to the territory of the Danglas who speak the Nubian language (the Dangla dialect). Currently, the name Nuba is given to the inhabitants of the mountains of South Kordofan, who represent a mixture of ethnic groups, dominated by Negroes, and who speak different languages. In the middle of the third century AD, according to what was recorded by Ptolemy, the Nobai occupied the western bank of the Nile and its islands. Most likely, what Ptolemy means is an area extending from Kordofan to present-day Lower Nubia. From references mentioned by Procopius, we know that Emperor Diocletian was summoned in the year 292 AD. The Nobadians who, according to Procopius, live in the Kharga Oasis in order to defend Egypt's southern borders, and make them live in the Dodekascheonian (the twelfth province of Roman Egypt). However, Procopius's references raised a degree of skepticism among researchers who pointed out that the Nobadians were mentioned for the first time in a papyrus dating back to the reign of Feodosia II 425-450 AD. This was in the form of Anubadian. Monier de Villard describes the Noubadians as a small group of Berbers of Libyan origins who settled in Nubia and lost their original language. However, there are many objections to such a hypothesis. Based on the language data, both Tselaars and Hilson put forward an opinion that says that the Nobadians came from Kordofan, and the main part of the Nuba tribes, of which the Nobadians constitute a branch, settled there until the fourth century AD, when they invaded the capital Meroe and penetrated south into the Jazira region. Then Tsellars and Hilson identify these people with the Blue Nuba whom the text of Ezana referred to, but Arkell believes that the Nobadians (Nobatians) is a name derived from the geographical name “Napata”, which Pliny called Napata.
Arkell believes that the name Nuba represents a tribal name, just like other names in present-day Sudan: Alberti, Alberta, Borgo, etc. It originated from the Nubian word, which means “slaves,” and it is also considered possible that the ancient Egyptian word Nebo, which refers to gold, is related to the name of the Nuba, from whom the Egyptians obtained gold for the first time, and then they considered those who brought it to them slaves. However, this hypothesis faces many objections for three reasons: Firstly, the Egyptians had become acquainted with gold long before the era of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Since the era of the Early Kingdom, texts have mentioned the word “Nebo” (Kaplony 1963). Secondly, the naming of the country or its inhabitants as Nubia in Egyptian documents does not come across at all. As we indicated, the first time the name was mentioned dates back to the third century BC. Note that this was mentioned in the works of the Greek writer. Third, the written Meroitic language itself, as Arkell himself acknowledges (1961), was not Nubian; Therefore, it is unlikely that the name dates back to the Middle Kingdom era. The argument that could support his hypothesis - that they are the direct descendants of the people of the third group - is also rejected. 1963 KaplonyArkell1961
There are other attempts to explain the origin of the country's name "Nubia." This is done by linking the word to the Egyptian verb “nabd”, which means “to plait” “to braid” Erman and Grapow, which appears for the first time only in the modern Egyptian language (in Coptic Noybet). In the Obelisk of Thutmose I from the second year of his reign, which talks about the king’s victories, it was stated that “he united (literally plural) the borders on both sides, and none of those with braided hair remained” Urkunden. In those same lines they were called Nehsi, and their leader was called "the leader of Stew," that is, as the Egyptians called the inhabitants of Kush. As tempting as such an interpretation may be, it is better to wait for evidence to prove that we are facing a coincidental pronunciation. The Egyptians rarely used this term in relation to their southern neighbours, and the designation “Nubia”, as we have indicated, appears much later.
However, the first mention of Nubia is found in the works of Arab writers. It is possible that these writers used the common Egyptian adjective at that time to refer to the area south of Aswan. As we indicated, since the beginning of the Hellenistic era, if not earlier, the Nuba lived in the Dongola region, and since the third century AD, the Nobadians...that is, if the Nuba and the Nobadians were two different groups. The writer Ibn Salim al-Aswany, part of whose book was preserved in the “Al-Khatt al-Maqriziyyah,” indicated that in his time, the area located on the course of the Nile between its great bend at the fifth cataract and Egypt was called Nubia. Thus, Al-Aswany, not Al-Idrisi, as some thought, was the first among the Arab geographers to use the name Nubia and precisely define the regions included in its composition. Maqrizi plans
Therefore, it may be emphasized that the name Nubia appears for the first time only in the Middle Ages, and was derived mostly from the Nuba tribes or Nobadis, about whom the first reference arrived in the third century AD. Thus, the use of the name Nubia instead of Kush does not match the historical reality, in addition to causing confusion regarding geographical borders, since the term “butna” was never included in the concept of Nubia. Therefore, applying the name Nubia to the times of the Kingdom of Meroe is completely incorrect. Even in the time of Al-Idrisi, when the name Nubia became understood in a broader sense, it included only northern Sudan up to the sixth cataract in the south along the Nile course, which meant excluding the desert on its banks and the island of Meroe (Al-Butana).
Since 1946, Dunham suggested returning to using the name Kush to refer to Nilotic Ethiopia, in order to eliminate misunderstanding and confusion. The peoples of the Middle East took the name from the Egyptians, as we indicated. In the letters of Tell el-Amarna, the name Kashi, Kasha, and in cases of Kush are mentioned. The Assyrians called the Kingdom of Kush, against which they fought a fierce war, “Mantu Kushi,” and it was mentioned in the Bible as “Kash.” In the inscriptions of the Axumite king Ezana, a distinction was made between the Kasu and the Nuba. It is possible that Ezana refers to the settled population of Al-Butana. With the end of the Meroitic Kingdom, the name Kush began to disappear and was no longer used except in Kordofan and Darfur. Despite this, we find an insistence in contemporary writings on using the names Ethiopia and Nubia as an alternative to Kush. These are two names that European writers have known since ancient times from the works of Greek and Roman writers and Arab writers.
It is worth noting that the ancient Egyptians used a number of names that the Kushite kings themselves gave to their country. For example, the name “Ta Seti” (Land of Arrows), which was initially used to denote a specific region on the northern outskirts of Kush. Then the name spread to include the entire country. The name "Al-Wawat" was also used to refer to the northern outskirts of Kush, in addition to the use of the name "Ta-Nahsi" to refer to Kush as a whole, and the word "Nahsi" was used to refer to all the peoples living to the south of Egypt.
Emil Ludwig, The Nile is the Life of a River, translated by Adel Zuaiter, Egyptian General Book Authority, Cairo 1979.
Regarding the use of the sheikhdom “model” in studies of ancient Sudanese history, one can refer to O’Connor’s research:= For use
David O’Connor 1991, ‘Early States along the Nubian Nile’, in: W.Davies (ed.), Egypt and Africa: Nubia from Prehistort to Islam, London, pp.145-165.
Kaplony P. 1963, Die Inschriften der agyptischen Fruhzeit, Bd. II, Wiesbaden: 679.
Arkell A.J. 1961, A History of the Sudan from the Earliest Times to 1821, 2nd Ed., London: 177, footnote 3.
Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache,… herausgegeben von A.Erman und H.Grapow, Bd II: 246. Berlin.
‘Urkunden des ägyptischen Altertums’, herausg. Von G.Steindorff, IV. K.Sethe, Urkunden der 18 Dynastie, Liefer. 1-16, Leipzig 1906-1916: 84, lines 6-7.
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