This pancocojams post presents information about the connection between modern day Sudan (Northeast Africa) and historical Nubia (Kush), Ethiopia, and Egypt.
This post was inspired by the articles about Alaa Selah, the young Sudanese woman who was photographed April 8, 2019 leading a crowd in a protest chant. Those protests led to the ouster of Omar Al-Bashir on April 11, 2019. Al-Bashir had been the president of the Sudan for thirty years. Alaa Selah has been called a "Nubian queen". I want to document the reasons that she (and other Sudanese women protesters) have been given that referent.
The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who peacefully protest against dictatorships. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-expanded-uses-of-nubian-queen-and.html for a pancocojams post entitled "What "Nubian Queen" And "Nubian Princess" Mean In The USA & In Parts Of Africa".
In addition to the meaning of the referent "Nubian queen" as it pertains to women from historical Nubia (Kush), that 2017 post presents information about the contemporary African American meaning of "Nubian queen".
****
ARTICLE EXCERPTS
Excerpt #1
From https://www.britannica.com/place/Nubia
"Nubia, ancient region in northeastern Africa, extending approximately from the Nile River valley (near the first cataract in Upper Egypt) eastward to the shores of the Red Sea, southward to about Khartoum (in what is now Sudan), and westward to the Libyan Desert. Nubia is traditionally divided into two regions. The southern portion, which extended north to the southern end of the second cataract of the Nile was known as Upper Nubia; this was called Kush (Cush) under the 18th-dynasty pharaohs of ancient Egypt and was called Ethiopia by the ancient Greeks. Lower Nubia was the northern part of the region, located between the second and the first cataract of Aswān; this was called Wawat."
****
Excerpt #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Kush
"The Kingdom of Kush or Kush ... was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, located at the Sudanese and southern Egyptian Nile Valley.
The Kushite era of rule in Nubia was established after the Late Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Kush was centered at Napata (now modern Karima, Sudan) during its early phase. After Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the 8th century BC, the monarchs of Kush were also the pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, until they were expelled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire under the rule of Esarhaddon a century later.
During classical antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was located at Meroë. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Aethiopia. The Kingdom of Kush with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The seat was eventually captured and burnt to the ground by the Kingdom of Aksum. Afterwards the Nubians established the three, eventually Christianized, kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia.
Name
The native name of the Kingdom was recorded in Egyptian as k3š, likely pronounced /kuɫuʃ/ or /kuʔuʃ/ in Middle Egyptian when the term is first used for Nubia, based on the New Kingdom-era Akkadian transliteration as the genitive kūsi.[4][5][6]
It is also an ethnic term for the native population who initiated the kingdom of Kush. The term is also displayed in the names of Kushite persons,[7] such as King Kashta (a transcription of k3š-t3 "(one from) the land of Kush"). Geographically, Kush referred to the region south of the first cataract in general. Kush also was the home of the rulers of the 25th dynasty.[8]
The name Kush, since at least the time of Josephus, has been connected with the biblical character Cush, in the Hebrew Bible (Hebrew: כוש), son of Ham (Genesis 10:6). Ham had four sons named: Cush, Put, Canaan and Mizraim (Hebrew name for Egypt). According to the Bible, Nimrod, a son of Cush, was the founder and king of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar (Gen 10:10).[9] The Bible also makes reference to someone named Cush who is a Benjamite (Psalms 7:1, KJV).[10]"...
****
Excerpt #3:
From http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa86
"HISTORY OF THE SUDAN
Nubia: from 3000 BC
The region known in modern times as the Sudan (short for the Arabic bilad as-sudan, 'land of the blacks') has for much of its history been linked with or influenced by Egypt, its immediate neighbour to the north. But it also has a strong identity as the eastern end of the great trade route stretching along the open savannah south of the Sahara.
Soon after the uniting of the kingdoms of Egypt, in about 3100 BC, the pharaohs extend their control as far up the Nile as a boat can easily travel. This brings them to the first cataract (or rapid), in the region of modern Aswan.
Over the centuries the Egyptians push further south, past a succession of cataracts, first to raid and then to build fortified settlements among the people of these middle reaches of the Nile. By about 1500 BC the Egypt of the pharaohs extends as far up the river as the fourth cataract, in the region of the modern Merowe.
The area between the first and fourth cataracts is known to the Egyptians as Cush. To the Greeks, from Homer onwards, all the known people living south of Egypt are called Ethiopians (inhabiting the areas of modern Sudan and Ethiopia). Later again Sudan as far south as Khartoum becomes widely familiar under the Latin name Nubia. The whole region is rich in gold mines, and the name probably derives from the word for gold (nub in Mahasi, though this is only one among the many dialects of Nubia past and present).
During the most expansive period of dynastic Egypt, from the 16th century BC, it becomes conventional for pharaohs to build temples, monuments and proud boundary inscriptions in Cush (or Nubia).
Thutmose I, in about 1520 BC, penetrates further south than any of his predecessors and leaves an inscription some fifty miles upstream of Abu Hamad. In the north the most flamboyant statement of possession is the four colossal statues of Ramses II, carved in the sandstone cliff at Abu Simbel in about 1250 BC.
As in any outpost of a long-lasting empire, the ruling class in Cush adopts the customs and beliefs of their imperial masters. The first lasting Cushite dynasty, established at some time before the 8th century BC with its capital city at Napata (near modern Merowe), is entirely Egyptian in style. And the Cushite god by this time is Amen-Re.
Indeed Kashta, the king of Cush in the early 8th century, maintains a court so authentic in its Egyptian manner that his descendants, after conquering Egypt, are willingly accepted as a dynasty of pharaohs."...
****
Excerpt #4
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandake
"Kandake, kadake or kentake, often Latinised as Candace (Ancient Greek: Κανδάκη), was the Meroitic language term for "queen" or possibly "royal woman". Contemporary Greek and Roman sources treat it as a title. Several ruling queens of the ancient Kingdom of Kush, with its capital at Meroë, bore the title, although it may have been a general title for women of the royal family. It is often taken to mean "queen-mother" or "mother of the reigning king", but although this was the common status of ruling kandakes, the term itself did not have this specific meaning. The name Candace is derived from the way the word is used in the New Testament (Acts 8:27).[1][2][3]
Archaeological sources
Bas-reliefs dated to about 170 B.C. reveal the kentake Shanakdakheto, dressed in armor and wielding a spear in battle. She did not rule as queen regent or queen mother, but as a fully independent ruler. Her husband was her consort. In bas-reliefs found in the ruins of building projects she commissioned, Shanakdakheto is portrayed both alone as well as with her husband and son, who would inherit the throne by her death.
[...]
Biblical usage
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, a treasury official of "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians", returning from a trip to Jerusalem, met with Philip the Evangelist:
Then the Angel of the Lord said to Philip, Start out and go south to the road that leads down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: And behold, a man of Ethiopia, an Eunuch of great authority under Candace, Queen of Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship.[7]
The queen concerned may have been Amantitere (AD 22–41)."....
****
Excerpt #5
From https://globalnews.ca/news/5157192/sudan-protests-women-alaa-salah/
How one woman became the symbol of Sudanese protests
By Maham Abedi, April 11, 2019 4:51 pm
"A young Sudanese woman is being hailed as the symbol of Sudan’s political movement after a powerful photograph of her chanting at a rally was shared across the world.
Her name is Alaa Salah.
In the photo, which was taken by Lana Haroun on Monday, the 22-year-old is standing atop a platform and leading a chant at a protest in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
Protesters were demanding at the rally that the 30-year rule of president Omar al-Bashir come to an end, and that’s what happened on Thursday.
Sudan’s military overthrew al-Bashir after months of bloody street protests over his repressive rule. But pro-democracy demonstrators were left angry and disappointed when the defense minister announced the armed forces will govern the country for the next two years.
[...]
The [Sudanese] protests, which have involved a mix of young activists, students, professional-employee unions and opposition parties, initially began last December [2018] over the deteriorating economy but quickly turned into demands for the president’s ouster.
The involvement of youth and especially young women in the protests has been praised online.
According to BBC News estimates, roughly 70 per cent of protesters in Sudan who helped bring down al-Bashir’s 30-year rule were women.
[...]
Women taking part in the protests are being called “Kandaka,” which was the title given to queens in ancient Sudan.
The queens were known to be powerful and successful in their own right, some ruled alone while others were considered equals to the king."...
-snip-
I added italics to highlight this sentence.
****
Excerpt #6
From https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-04-10/heres-story-behind-iconic-image-sudanese-woman-white
Here's the story behind the iconic image of the Sudanese woman in white
By Shirin Jaafari, April 10, 2019 · 3:15 PM EDT
[...]
"Hind Makki
@HindMakki
Sudanese everywhere are referring to female protestors as "Kandaka," which is the title given to the Nubian queens of ancient Sudan whose gift to their descendents is a legacy of empowered women who fight hard for their country and their rights. ✊🏾
8,334
3:57 PM - Apr 8, 2019"....
-snip-
This is part of a twitter thread by Hind Makki,"a Sudanese American interfaith and racism educator in Chicago."
****
Excerpt #7:
From https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/10/alaa-salah-sudanese-woman-talks-about-protest-photo-that-went-viral 'I was raised to love our home': Sudan's singing protester speaks out
"The young woman in a photo that has come to symbolise the protest movement in Sudan has been identified as Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old architecture student in Khartoum.
Salah told the Guardian she was happy that the image, taken on Monday evening at a demonstration in the Sudanese capital, had been viewed so widely.
“I’m very glad that my photo let people around the world know about the revolution in Sudan … Since the beginning of the uprising I have been going out every day and participating in the demonstrations because my parents raised me to love our home,” Salah said.
The current wave of protests against the 30-year rule of Omar al-Bashir started in December but intensified at the weekend when huge crowds gathered at a crossroads in front of a heavily guarded military complex in the centre of Khartoum.
[...]
“The day they took the photo, I went to 10 different gatherings and read a revolutionary poem. It makes people very enthusiastic. In the beginning I found a group of about six women and I started singing, and they started singing with me, then the gathering became really big.
“I have practiced presenting at the university; I don’t have an issue with speaking in front of people and at big gatherings.”
A line in the poem she read - “The bullet doesn’t kill. What kills is the silence of people” – is popular with protesters, and was chanted by demonstrators in January 2018 and during unrest in September 2013.
[...]
Salah’s mother is a fashion designer working with the traditional Sudanese toub – the dress she was wearing in the photographs – and her father owns a construction company.
The garment has become a symbol of the female protesters, and Salah said she had narrowly escaped arrest when she wore the toub at an earlier demonstration.
“The toub has a kind of power and it reminds us of the Kandakas,” Salah said.
Kandakas were queens of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, which ruled much of what is now modern-day Sudan more than 3,000 years ago.
Some commentators have raised concerns that the reference represents only one of Sudan’s many ethnic and tribal communities and that while the history of the Nubians is particularly popular with the Sudanese diaspora it excludes many of the country’s communities."...
-snip-
I added italics to highlight this sentence.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
