TO APPRECIATE the significance of this African kingdom, which once controlled important trade routes from central Africa to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and in the third century BC held sway over the Nile to within reach of Aswan, it is important to note that Egyptologists tend to regard Lower Nubia as Egyptian territory, virtually an extension of Egypt. This is not surprising, since it was their colony as far as the Second Cataract, where the powerful Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom constructed huge fortresses around 2000 BC. This frontier was later pushed further south when, in the New Kingdom (1567-1080 BC), Egypt controlled areas that Thutmose I claimed were "not known to my ancestors". Fine Pharaonic temples were built at Semna, Soleb and Sesibi, and Egyptian viceroys were appointed to govern all of Lower Nubia. For nearly 500 years it remained in the hands of high-ranking officials whose titles included "son of Kush". Egyptians were encouraged to take up residence in Nubia and Egypt's technological capabilities were introduced to the region. A change came in the status of Nubia and Kush following a period of decline in Egypt when it became an ecclesiastical state under the High Priest Hrihor in about 1000 BC. Liberated from Egyptian domination, the Kushites set up an independent kingdom at Napata below the Fourth Cataract. This was African in origin but Egyptian in tradition and religious belief. That is to say, there was a Pharaonic- style court with its assembly of officials, Pharaonic titles, and a temple to the Egyptian god Amun-Re near Gebel Barkal. There was confusion in Egypt following Hrihor's death. Libyans took over leadership and ruled Egypt for two centuries from 850 to 730 BC, and the Kushite King Piankhi, who came from the region of the Fourth Cataract, saw the decline in Egypt as a serious setback and one that he should rectify. He decided to liberate Egypt from Libyan rule. With a strong army, Piankhi marched northward. He did not regard himself as an invader because his people had long absorbed Egyptian culture. Rather, he saw himself as a true Pharaoh, bound to free a great Nilotic civilisation from the forces of barbarism. The Kushite Dynasty, the 25th, lasted from 750 to 656 BC, during which time temples were r 5 ebuilt and Egyptian traditions revitalised. How long the Kushite Dynasty would have lasted we do not know, because the Assyrians marched on Egypt, broke Kushite resistance, and the successors of the Pharaoh Taharqa (690-664 BC) were driven back to their own land. Egyptian residents at Napata died out and, not being replaced by other settlers, the Pharaonic gloss on the African community slowly disappeared. In about 600 BC the Kushite kings decided to move the royal residence up-river to Meroe (Shendi). The reason is uncertain. It may have been because of Pharaoh Psammetikhos II's attempt to recover Nubia about 593 BC, or the Persian King Cambyses' unsuccessful attempt to invade Nubia in 525 BC. It may have been because it was well- placed for trade from Africa. Whatever the reason, Meroe was situated in a fertile bend in the river where it was free from invasion and rich in iron ore and wood for iron smelting. Separated from all contact with Egypt, the use of the Egyptian language and the hieroglyphic script which the kings had used for their records was forgotten. A native language, the Meroitic, emerged. It was written in a new script (which has been partially deciphered but still not completely understood), and the Kushite or Sudanese civilisation of Meroe flourished for more than another 1,000 years. While Egypt succumbed to two Persian invasions, followed by the conquest of Alexander the Great, the African kingdom prospered and extended its influence. It controlled important trade routes from central Africa through Sudan to Egypt and the Red Sea, and, in the reign of Ptolemy IV between 222 and 205 BC, King Argamanic controlled the River Nile to within reach of Aswan. The African kingdom of Meroe could by now claim to being an empire, and relations between the Kushites and the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were good on the whole, largely because of their demand for exotic goods such as ivory, spices, animals and slaves from the south. The situation changed after the Roman conquest in 30 BC. Meroites came into conflict with the Roman authorities over control of the First Cataract region, and when a treaty was finally signed it turned all of Lower Nubia into a buffer zone. Despite this alliance, there is evidence of conflict between the proud and independent Meroites and the Roman garrisons. On one occasion the Meroites defeated Caesar's soldiers and actually occupied Aswan. In retaliation, however, the more powerful Roman army drove them back to their own land. Over time the location of Meroe was lost. Only at the turn of the 18th Century did James Bruce, a Scottish traveller, come across ruins which he tentatively identified as the lost city. British archaeologist John Garstang subsequently excavated the area for five years from 1909 and unearthed a large part of the royal district -- palaces, storerooms, shrines and other buildings as well as a temple of dedicated to Amun -- and published a map of the area in 1916. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I in 1914 put an end to excavations. After that Meroe
