jjares reviewed The Kingdom of Kush: A Captivating Guide to an Ancient African Kingdom in Nubia That Once Ruled Egypt on + 3262 more book reviews
Before reading about ancient African dynasties and kingdoms, I thought there were only Egyptians and Carthaginians in Africa in early times. However, the continent was busy with flourishing city-states and trade across various tribes and kingdoms. It was fascinating to see how the non-violent change of rulers from Egyptian to Kush was proved. Archeologists proved it by showing that the Kush absorbed the burial practices of the Egyptians and made them their own.
Until reading some of these Captivating History books, I always thought using elephants for battle was a rare thing. This book talks about Egypt losing its supply of war elephants because they were cut off from the Indian subcontinent. After the conquest by Alexander the Great, the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt sought a new source of these fearsome beasts. These animals roamed freely in the southernmost regions of Kush and Ptolemy planned to get Egyptian experts to capture and train them and return them to Egypt. They must have been terrifying in battle.
We often see gold ornaments and clothing adorning the Egyptians. I was surprised to learn that the Kush mines were a great source of the gold and provided much of it to the Egyptian royalty and funerary rites. Another surprise was the adaptation of the Hellenistic arts and intellectual pursuits by the Kush dynasty.
Throughout the history outlined in this book, tremendous amounts of energy were expended to legitimize rulers. When the Kush turned from Egypt tradition and created their own Meroitic Dynasty, they had to legitimize it through a new deity. Their warrior king was depicted as a lion and human.
Sometimes, this story was as holey as Swiss cheese. "There is not much evidence to attest to...." was more prevalent than I care to recount. There was so much supposition that I became disenchanted at times. I understand that this company is trying to share as much history as they can; they do a tremendous amount of research (that is obvious). I'd just prefer to read more of proven history and less conjecture.
Until reading some of these Captivating History books, I always thought using elephants for battle was a rare thing. This book talks about Egypt losing its supply of war elephants because they were cut off from the Indian subcontinent. After the conquest by Alexander the Great, the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt sought a new source of these fearsome beasts. These animals roamed freely in the southernmost regions of Kush and Ptolemy planned to get Egyptian experts to capture and train them and return them to Egypt. They must have been terrifying in battle.
We often see gold ornaments and clothing adorning the Egyptians. I was surprised to learn that the Kush mines were a great source of the gold and provided much of it to the Egyptian royalty and funerary rites. Another surprise was the adaptation of the Hellenistic arts and intellectual pursuits by the Kush dynasty.
Throughout the history outlined in this book, tremendous amounts of energy were expended to legitimize rulers. When the Kush turned from Egypt tradition and created their own Meroitic Dynasty, they had to legitimize it through a new deity. Their warrior king was depicted as a lion and human.
Sometimes, this story was as holey as Swiss cheese. "There is not much evidence to attest to...." was more prevalent than I care to recount. There was so much supposition that I became disenchanted at times. I understand that this company is trying to share as much history as they can; they do a tremendous amount of research (that is obvious). I'd just prefer to read more of proven history and less conjecture.
