KINGDOM OF NAPATA. For a description of that part of the Nile Valley which was ruled from Napata, see NumA, and for the city itself, see BARKAL and NAPATA. Already in the time of the old Empire the Egyptians had relations with their southern neighbors. From the forests of Nubia (Knst) they obtained a large proportion of their timber, and the city of Abu (Elephan tine) derived its name from the ivory which found its way to this place from the interior of Africa. King Unas (c. 3290-3260 u.c.) employed warriors belonging to six Nubian tribes in his war upon the Bedouins. The early pictorial represen tations of Nubian archers do not suggest. that they were negroes. A regular conquest of the country smith of Syene (see AssuAN), apparently was not undertaken until the Twelfth Dynasty (c. 2522-2323). The most powerful Nubian peo ple at this time was Kash or Kosh, the Hebrew Cush (q.v.). The ethnic relations of this peo ple cannot be determined with certainty. But it is probable that the stock was originally Hamitic, though in course of time it absorbed various NeeTitic tribes. TJsertesen III. (c. 2409 2372) established his frontier north of the second cataract, and built for its protection two forts at Semneh and liummeh on opposite sides of the river. Whether the 1Tyksos,kings ever held pos session of this territory is doubtful. At any rate, it had to be reorganized by Anilines (1575 1553), the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and his successors. Napata probably had been the capital of the independent kingdom, since it was made the residence of the viceroy, en titled 'Prince of Kosh,' who governed the new Egyptian province. In the time of llameses II. (1347-12S1) there may have been an unsuccess ful rebellion. The high priest of Ammon Ra in Thebes. Herihor. in the beginning of the eleventh century, proclaimed himself 'King of Upper and Lower Egypt.' This his successors in the pon tificate were not able to do, but seem to have recognized the Tanitic Dynasty. But a branch of the family established itself at Napata, prob ably at the end of that dynasty (c.1000). In the Twenty-second Dynasty (960-774) these kings threatened the border of Egypt. One of them, Pianchi 1., who seems to have reigned in Napata since 777, availed himself of die weakness of Egypt at the end of the reign of Uasarkeu III. (c.762-756) to make an invasion of Egypt. lle defeated twenty petty rulers and made a treaty with Tefnacht of Sais in ri.c. 756. After his death (746), Ka shta (e.746-734) and Pianchi (c.734-715) were apparently not capable of main taining any control of Egypt.. But the grandson of Pianchi 1.. Shabaka (715-703) united all Egypt with Ethiopia under one crown. This king cannot be identical with So, the ally of llosen of Israel. as has been supposed, Siwa or Si'm being in all probability a king of the North Arabian Sluzri. This successor, Shabataka (703 691), was dethroned by Taharka (691-664). In his time, Esarhaddon, of Assyria, invaded Egypt in 673 and again in 670, when 'Memphis was taken. On a stele found at Zenjerli in northern
Syria, Esarhaddcm's triumph over Taharka is represented. Taharka was driven hack into Ethiopia. Tannat Amen (664.663) tried in vain to reconquer Egypt, where, on the decline of the Assyrian power, Psammetich 1. (663-610) made himself ruler. During the reign of this Egyptian king, Herodotus states that a large number of dissatisfied soldiers emigrated into Ethiopia. The place where they settled can not be determined with certainty, though it has been suggested that the island of Meroii may have received many of them, and their number (240,000) has, no doubt, been exag gerated by Herodotus (ii. 30). An invasion of Ethiopia was probably made by Psamnietieh 11. (594-583), referred to in the Greek inscrip. tions of Abu Simbel. Napata was destroyed by Cambyses in 524. There is no positive evidence that this kingdom ever extended beyond NOM immediately south of Khartum, where Egyptian inscriptions have been found. A number of hiero glyphic inscriptions still remain undeciphered. They are probably written in the native lan guage of Bosh.
Kuccnosi OF AIEtta. On the capital of the new kingdom that gradually arose in the south after the fall of Napata, see ATERa, and for a descrip tion of territories that at one time or another formed a part of it, see SENNAR and KORDOFAN. The Adnemenian monarchs received tribute from kings who seem to have made Meroe their capi tal. Whether these kings were of the old line is uncertain. While the theocratic constitution de scribed by Greek writers no doubt had developed already in Napata. the subordination of the king to the priesthood seems to point to a new regime, in which the king was a mere tool in the hands of the clergy. The kings, -Antra. Harsiot, Nastasen, who reigned in the fifth and fourth centuries, conquered considerable territory south of Merofi in Sennar and Kordofan. and possibly in Abys sinia. While the suzerainty of the Ptolemies seems to have been recognized for religious rea sons, King Ergamenes, by putting to death the priests who had demanded that he should abdicate in the time of Ptolemy IV. Philopator (221-204). paved the way for independence. Ptolemy V. Epiphanes (204-131) was able to re sist his attack upon Egypt, but not to prevent his assertion of sovereignty in Ethiopia. Queen Candace seems to have extended her power in the north, and twenty-five provinces are said to have been tributary to her. But her invasion of Egypt was successfully resisted by Caius Petronius in n.e 24. Napata, that had been rebuilt, was de stroyed by the Romans. Another Queen Candace is mentioned in Acts viii. But gradually Meroe itself fell into ruins. To guard against invasion by the Blemmyans, a people akin to the Bugaitie. the modern Beja, Diocletian moved the Nobatte, negro tribes of the same stock as the population of Kordofan, from the oasis of Kharg,eh into the Nile valley. See Nunta.