Role of Women in Nubia

Nubia is an area of scholarship that was largely overlooked in favor of its splendid neighbor, Egypt. Past finds in the area were attributed to Egypt; current excavation of the area is impossible because of Egypt's construction of the High Aswan Dam. However, renewed interest in Africa- brought on largely by Afrocentric scholars such as Cheikn Anta Diop - has resulted in a proliferation of scholarly work on ancient Nubia.

Much of the scholarly work up to this point is dealing with the massive archeological digs that occurred just prior to the building of the High Aswan Dam. As a result of this work, the amount of available information on Nubia has increased immeasurably. Evidence has emerged that shows a people who, after decades of colonization by the Egyptians, rose above and established themselves as a force to be dealt with in Africa. Nubians developed a culture and people distinctly different from the Egyptians.

After preliminary investigation into the area of ancient Nubia, a striking contrast emerged. The Nubians has an unusually high number of ruling queens, especially during the golden age of the Meroitic Kingdom (1). Although ruling queens, in themselves, may not be unusual, the portrayal of Nubian queen is exceptional. A panel on display at the exhibit "Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa" showed the queen smiting her enemies. This type of representation has no equivalent in either Egyptian or Western Art (2). This unusual find has led to research in the role of the women in Nubian society, both past and present. The result has been a surprising contrast between the docile Nubian woman of today and the warrior queen of ancient times.

A History of Nubia*
In modern day Africa, Nubia would be a five-hundred mile long stretch of land along the Nile river that is one-third in modern day Egypt and two- thirds in the modern day Sudan (3). The kingdom of Ancient Nubia began a bit before the first cataract and extended past the sixth cataract to Khartoum (4). As with the Egyptians, the fertile Nile valley gave rise to the civilization of Nubia.

The first Nubian age spanned from 3100 to 1000 B.C. This Bronze Age contained three cultures:

A-Group, C-Group, and the Kerma culture (5). The latter of the three, Kerma, existed in the Upper Nile. These people developed a strong trading culture that traded to both Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean (6). During this period, the Egyptians called this area "Kush." Kush was the general term for Upper Nubia and was considered to be a province of Nubia (7). The A-Group and C-Group cultures are those that existed in the Lower Nile. For most of the early part of their history, these cultures were dominated by Egypt.

The period of 1550 B.C. to 1100 B.C. marked the colonization of Nubia by Egypt. By the Eighteenth Dynasty, Egypt had control over Lower and Upper Nubia, while Southern Nubia remained independent (8). The Egyptians began to call "Lower Nubia the land of Wawat and Upper *Note: For the purposes of this paper, Nubia refers to the entire region between the first and fifth cataracts. Therefore, any reference to Kush, considered to be a Nubian province, would be considered part of Nubia in general. Nubia the land of Kush" (9). This colonization resulted in the disappearance of a particular Nubian C-Group; these peoples began to adopt Egyptian culture in favor of their own (10). This colonization was especially bitter as it occurred during the reign of Tutankhamen who was the son of a Nubian woman (11).

Soon after the Twentieth Dynasty in Egypt, the Egyptians lost control over Nubia and the land was plunged into a dark age. Around 900 B.C., evidence of a Nubian monarchy begins to emerge. Since this monarchy begins in Upper Nubia, it was often known as the Kingdom of Kush (12). These early rulers were buried in tumulus - a distinctly Nubian tradition. This ceremony has led many to believe that the Kushite Kings were of Nubian ancestry (13). By 770 B.C., these kings were extending their rule to the North. In Nubian history, the period is commonly called the Napatan Period (named for the royal capital of the time). Soon, Nubians "paid back the insult by subjugating the 'all powerful' nation" of Egypt to Nubian control. (14). The Kings now wore the crown of the double cobra - signifying the unity of both Egypt and Nubia (15).

After 295 B.C., a shift in royal capitals from Napatan to Meroe is made for unknown reasons. Some scholars hypothesize that the Kingdom of Kush wished to gain control over Egyptian trade. The problem of determining the reason for the move is made all the more difficult by the beginning of the use of a distinctly Nubian language. This language is based upon the heiroglyphs of the Egyptians, but since no version of it is spoken today and there has not been an effective translation of the language, much of what is written in this Meroitic language remains a mystery. During this time (around 23 B.C.) Egypt fell into Roman control. The Romans attempted to make Nubia pay tribute to them. This led to the first confrontation between Nubia and the Romans. The Meroitic Period proved to be one of tremendous resistance to the forces acting on Africa at the time. Much of this resistance came at the hands of the number of ruling queens during the period. However, by the middle of the fourth century A.D., the Meroitic Period collapsed (16). Two reasons are generally attributed to this: First, that Nomads of the desert made travel overland difficult, and Second, that the rise of the Axumite Kingdom of Abyssinia cause a collapse of the Kushite economy. In any case, the Meroitic empire was no longer in existence by A.D. 320 (17).

Soon after, the X-Group Period began in Nubia. This period was brusquely ended in 540 A.D. with the onslaught of Christianity. Missionary activities continued in the area until approximately A.D. 1550. After this time, the Nubian empire was completely dismantled. The Nubian people were left scattered throughout the fertile Nile valley; two-thirds within Egypt, one-third within the Sudan. With the construction of the High Dam at Aswan in the early 1960's, these peoples were displaced and moved elsewhere in Egypt (18). Although a systematic archeological investigation of the area was conducted, some of the questions that swirl around the kingdom of Nubia are forever lost as Nubia again becomes subject to Egyptian control.