While the Hyksos ruled the north of Egypt, another power was rising in the south. Beyond the Second Cataract forts, the kingdom of Kush, centered at Kerma near the Third Cataract, had grown into one of the strongest states in Africa.
Key idea
A kingdom with its own culture
- The city: Kerma had a huge mud-brick temple, the Western Deffufa, still standing about 18 m high, with houses, workshops and a palace around it.
- Royal tombs: its kings were buried under great round mounds, some about 90 m across, with rich goods.
- Craft: Kerma potters made thin, polished black-topped beakers of remarkable quality.
- Excavation: George Reisner dug there in 1913–16; since the 1970s Charles Bonnet and colleagues have studied the city.
Why it works
The alliance
In the Theban war, King Kamose of Thebes set up stelae at Karnak. One tells how his men caught a messenger on the desert road carrying a letter from the Hyksos king Apepi to the new ruler of Kush, asking him to attack Thebes from the south while the Hyksos held the north. Thebes was caught between two allies. An inscription in a tomb at Elkab also tells of a raid by Kush and its allies deep into Upper Egypt.
Worked example: Why an alliance?
- Thebes lay between the Hyksos in the north and Kush in the south.
- An attack from both sides would split Theban forces.
- So the two powers had a shared interest in keeping Thebes weak.
Answer: To trap Thebes between them.
Early in the New Kingdom, Egypt struck back: Thutmose I campaigned far into Kush and broke the power of Kerma. Later Kushite kingdoms, at Napata and Meroë, carried on Nubia's own history.
Common mistake