Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS
Aidan Dodson’s Lives and Afterlives series continues with the often-neglected Twenty-fifth Dynasty: the Kushite kings who ruled Egypt for nearly a hundred years (c.755-656 BC). Nubia and Egypt were intimately linked throughout most of pharaonic history, although the relationship was one of unbalanced power, with the land of the ‘vile Kush’ seen as territory to be conquered and plundered by the Egyptians for most of this period. Egyptian control reached a peak during the New Kingdom, but when rival centres of power began to tear the Egyptian state apart, it was the Kushite kings who marched north to restore order and prosperity.
Sadly, the study of this period has been contaminated by the racist attitudes of early scholars who could not accept that people of ‘African’ descent were capable of such achievements. Dodson addresses these issues (see also his article here), his aim being to ‘follow the evidence’ in reconstructing the history of the dynasty, beginning with post-imperial Nubia (Kush after the withdrawal of Egyptian power) and the situation in Egypt before the arrival of the Kushite kings. However, the main focus is on the six Kushite pharaohs who ruled the ‘United Kingdom of Egypt and Kush’: Kashta, Pi(ankh)y, Shabataka, Shabaka, Taharqa, and Tanutamun. Following the recent debates on the order of succession for these kings, which is discussed in the text, Dodson adopts the revised version of events, with Shabataka reigning before Shabaka. He details the reigns of each king, their building work at Luxor and elsewhere, and their ongoing efforts to curb the powers of the Egyptian nomarchs in the north. This takes place against the backdrop of the rising threat of Assyrian domination and the altercations played out in the Levant, with Biblical and Assyrian texts interrogated in addition to Egyptian sources.
The second half of the book focuses on the ‘afterlives’ of the pharaohs. Dodson explores events in Egypt and Nubia following the collapse of the dynasty, the funerary monuments of the Kushite royals, and perceptions of the Kushites in modern times (including mention of the nonsensical idea that the Kushite pharaohs founded the Olmec civilisation in Mexico). More recent reassessments are covered, including the succession debate and the role of the Egypto-Nubian army in the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s withdrawal from Jerusalem in 701 BC.
The book, as with all of the titles in the series, is beautifully presented in large format, illustrated with many high-quality photographs, and has a comprehensive bibliography for the more academic reader. A well-written account of a fascinating period of ancient history, it will appeal equally to specialists and general readers.
The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt: Their lives and afterlives
Aidan Dodson
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO PRESS, 2023
ISBN 978-1-6490-3163-1
Hardback, £29.95
You can win a copy of Aidan’s book The Nubian Pharaohs of Egypt in our photo competition page (here)
