in defense of his ally, Israel. This action earned him a place in the Bible (Isaias 37:9 & Kings 19:9).
Assyrian foreigners invades Egypt, 663 BC.
Nubia were building tremendous tumulus tombs for themselves filled with many precious objects including jewelry, pottery, and shawabtis. The number of pyramids in ancient Nubia were a total of 223, double the pyramids of its neighbor Egypt.
3800-2950 BCE: Nubian A-group civilization, parallel to the Naqada 2 and 3 pre-dynastic cultures of Egypt. Qustul in Nubia could well have been the seat of Egypt's founding dynasty. Located in today's southern Egypt and northern Sudan was most probably the oldest cultural complex in Africa. Known as Nubia, "The Land of Gold," to Egypt, the people of this land first called their civilization Ta-Seti, "Land of the Bow." Named so for its famous archers, Ta-Seti was a land of natural wealth, of gold mines, ebony, ivory and incense which she traded heavily with her neighbors.
The leadership of Thebes unifies Egypt.
Tombs and Temples are built.
Thebes and Memphis are centers of power.
Imperial age of conquest from Syria to the Sudan.
Ramses I, II and III were warrior Pharaohs.
After reign of Rameses II, prosperity threatened by incursions of 'Sea Peoples' in North.
Egypt declined after the 18th Dynasty.
Last ruler, Cleopatra VII, allied with Mark Anthony against Rome. Defeated at the Battle of Actium by Octavian. Egypt's authority and wealth was intact until the death of Cleopatra, at which time, Egypt was overpowered by Rome.
Queen Amanirenas (24 BC) presided over the kingdom of Meroë; Amanirenas and her son, Akinidad, led a fierce attack on a Roman fort at the Egyptian city Aswan.
Egypt falls into chaos. Egypt had fragmented into rival states. Napata became the center of the Nubian Kingdom from around 800 B.C. and lasted for over 400 years. In 747 B.C., the city of Thebes in southern Egypt was threatened by northerners, and the Egyptians called upon the Nubian king for protection. The Kushite king, Piye, marched north from the capital at Napata, rescued Thebes and reunified Egypt. Nubians started cultural revival.
Economic and political decline; weak Egyptian kings ruling from the delta.
Civil and workers' strikes. Royal tombs robbed.
Theban dynasty begins reunification process.
Rapid succession of rulers; country in decline
Powerful central government; expansion into Nubia (Sudan) Capital at Lisht, near Memphis
Reunification of Egypt by Theban rulers.
Pyramids and Sun Temples at Abu Sir and Saqqara; Pyramid Texts
Step Pyramid at Saqqara
Strong centralized government; pyramids at Dahshur and Giza
Alexander the Great occupies Egypt and founds the city of Alexandria, but never lived to see the city. He left Egypt in 331 B.C. and left Cleomenes of Naukratis in charge of the territory. This position was later claimed by Ptolemy. When Alexander died, Ptolemy's generals divided the kingdom.
By this time, the kingdom of Kush has been established to the south of Egypt.
The Hellenistic Ptolemaic Dynasty begins.
The Hyksos occupy Egypt from Syria and Palestine
Kerma first capital of Nubia. Nubia is the homeland of Africa's earliest black culture with a history which can be traced from 7000 B.C. onward through Nubian monuments temples, artifacts, as well as written records from Egypt, Italy and Rome. The "Ethiopians" According to Diodorus Siculus.
G. Mokhtar (editor), Ancient Civilizations of Africa Vo. II, General History of Africa, UNESCO, 1990
John Taylor, Egypt and Nubia, The British Museum, 1991.
Steffen Wenig (editor), Africa in Antiquity, 2 volumes, The Brooklyn Museum, 1978.
References:
The 30th Dynasty contains the last of the Egyptian-born Pharaohs.
Early to Middle Neolithic, as in Nabta Playa, Badari, Kadero, El-Kadada, and Shaheinab sites, pastoralism; domestic of the goat, some riverine agriculture, shell beads, groovers, flakes, borers, oared boats; elaboration of the "wavy-line" pottery with impressed dots and zig-zags. Bone for hooks and harpoons. Black and red polished bowls. Improved hunting of megafauna.
