NUBIAN QUEENS
Ancient Sudan~ Nubia: History: Kush and Rome
In 30 BC, the Romans replaced the Ptolemies as Kush's northern neighbors. During the reign of Kushyte Queen Amanishekhato, Greek geographers reports and archeological evidence reveal a military clash that took place between Kush and the Romans contemporary with Augusts. The clash was a border conflict. The Romans have negotiated with Kushyte officials at Philae, and each side agreed that Aswan in Lower Nubia would be the border and that Kush,1 as Roman clients, was a tributary. However, Augustus was persuaded by Kushyte ambassadors to cancel the tribute imposed by the local Roman authorities in Egypt.
The Romans also wanted control over the Wadi Allaqi, a region southeast of Dodekaschoinos in Lower Nubia that is rich in gold.3 Soon, revolts broke at Thebes in anger of the Roman policy of excessive taxation.4 This revolt was obviously supported by Kush and it was also true that the revolts spread throughout Lower Nubia and Upper Egypt. Then, a strong Roman political conflict that occurred in Arabia encouraged Kush to take action.
Strabo, a Roman conservative geographer, who lived in first century AD, was the first to write on the bloody conflicts between Kush and the Romans under the leadership of General Aelius Petronius.5 However, since Strabo was Roman himself, and was a personal friend of Petronius, he greatly degraded the roll of Kushytes and patronized the Romans side of the conflict.
In 24 BC, at the reign of Queen Amanishekhato, Kushyte forces attacked the Roman territory at Aswan. From there, they continued all the way to Thebes and defeated the Roman garrison there. Strabo reported that the Kushyte Queen "enslaved the inhabitants, and threw down the statues of Caesar." (Strabo xvii.54). Recent archeological work uncovered a statue of Caesar at Meroe buried under the entrance floor of a temple at Meroe (currently in the British museum, London), and this confirms the authenticity of Strabo's story. (The Kushytes believed that stepping over an enemy's depiction, would ultimately mean reducing his dominance.6
According to Strabo, when Petronius - a Prefect of Egypt at the time - was informed about the Kushyte advancement he prepared a large army and marched south. The Roman forces clashed with the Kushyte armies near Thebes and forced them to retreat to Pselchis (Maharraqa), an Ethiopian (or Kushyte) city. Petronius, then, sent deputies to the Kushytes to convince them to stop the war and contest to Roman wishes.
Quoting Strabo, the Kushytes "desired three days for consideration"7 in order to make a final decision. However after the three days Kush did not respond and Petronius advanced with his armies and took the Kushyte city of Premnis (modern Karanog) south of Maharraqa, and from there he advanced all the way to Napata, the second Capital in Kush after Meroe. Petronius attacked and sacked Napata causing the son of the Kushyte Queen to flee. Strabo describes the defeat of the Nubians at Napata, stating that "He (Petronius) made prisoners of the inhabitants," and some "were publicly sold as loot, and thousands were sent to Caesar".
Bust of Augustus from Sudan
This was not the end of the war; the Queen attacked the occupying Roman garrison of Napata, in the words of Strabo, "with an army of many thousand men." The Nubians, however, lost the war. The Kushyte Queen then sent messengers to ask Petronius to allow them to speak to the King of Rome. In response, Petronius sent the Kushyte messengers to Caesar, who was in Syria at the time. The negotiations in Syria were successful; it is recorded by Strabo that the Caesar "even remitted the tribute which he had imposed (upon the Kushytes earlier). "Although not so clearly defined, the Kush-Rome border seemed to have been somewhere in the Dodecaschoenus area.8
Also, Stabo claims that kushytes lost fights to rome was debuked. Some scholars believe that Rome just wanted the conflicts to stop. See here:
Claims that the Kushytes "lost" are also questionable.
If Stabo is taken at his word, his word is open to query
for he was an avowed partisan of Roman commander Petronius.
Modern scholarship seems to show more of a stalemate
in the conflict- not a Kushyte loss with them running
to negotiate surrender. Rome seems to have wanted
to keep the border quiet and so negotiated as the
easiest way out.
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