The ‘Double Kingdom’ established by Kushite rulers in Egypt during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE has long generated interest, not least in challenging conventional perceptions of Pharaonic Egypt and its place in or out of Africa. Extending over more than 3,000 km of the Nile valley, huge uncertainties remain concerning its origins as well as the political and administrative structures around which it was constructed. With a still relatively indistinct archaeological footprint, many basic aspects of its social and economic character remain uncertain. Many historical narratives have, to date, also lacked adequate integration of the ‘Egyptian’ and ‘Nubian’ facies of this remarkable political phenomenon, while remaining dominated by a more Egyptological lens. Often such studies have been overly introspective and have failed to address fundamental historical questions of interest to wider audiences, including the readership of this journal.
Bringing to bear an impressive mastery of the sources and refreshingly open to anthropological and comparative approaches, Jeremy Pope's study is welcome in providing a close and careful analysis of varied sources, both historical and archaeological. Working towards a more coherent history of the ‘Double Kingdom’, explicitly embracing the varied and complex realities of its different regions from the central Sudan to Lower Egypt, and with a primary focus on the region of Taharqo (if ranging much more widely), this represents a considerable achievement. In each region, a range of key issues are raised, primary sources are interrogated, and some, often pervasive, misunderstandings challenged, helpfully unpacking intellectual baggage accumulated over a century or more. Each component provides new perspectives on some key feature of the ‘Double Kingdom’. With an eye toward the future of the Kushite state, in Chapter Two the place of Meroë in Twenty-Fifth Dynasty history is explored, whether as an ancestral seat or indeed annexed at its inception. Pope concludes that the Kushite state may only have asserted its control over this region late in the seventh century BCE. Allowing for more dynamic and complex histories of territorial expansion and incorporation would certainly fit well with cultural histories of this period and indeed the later Meroitic state, which was clearly deeply rooted in these more southerly regions.
Chapter Three explores the core territory of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty kings (the Dongola-Napata Reach of the modern Sudan) – the burial place of their royal ancestors, but also the home of a range of hereditary elites. As the same region had formed the core of the Kerma ‘kingdom’ of the second millennium BCE, and once provided a significant challenge to the Egyptian state, Pope's discussion should dispel any lingering misapprehensions that Kushite kingship looked for Egyptian inspiration. That a more complex understanding of its political organization, embedded in local idioms of power, must be sought is also clear. A further, particularly valuable, contribution is the detailed presentation of what was once one of the longest Kushite royal inscriptions, the ‘Sanam Historical Inscription’ of Taharqo, published in 1922, but since largely overlooked. Notwithstanding its fragmentary nature, it contains a wealth of new information amid its record of subject peoples and temple offerings. Amongst the latter the prominence of what Pope identifies as porridges/porridge-beers underscores yet another distinctively un-Egyptian form of Kushite practice.
Turning towards the north and the route to Egypt through Middle and Lower Nubia (between the First and Third Nile cataracts), Pope makes clear the paucity of evidence for any significant Twenty-Fifth administrative presence. Potential administrative links with Thebes are also shown to be illusory. That in fact Taharqo's presence in this lengthy stretch of the Nile is restricted to perhaps no more than four sites (Semna, Buhen, Qasr Ibrim, and Philae) is certainly consistent with the results of successive archaeological surveys of Nubia; the archaeological evidence leaves little doubt of a very sparse regional population in the Nubian corridor from the later second millennium BCE. A series of three graffiti relating to a ‘cattle road’ dating to Taharqo's 19th year shows that the arid Nubian corridor was, by this time, a region to be traversed, rather than colonized and administered.
The second part of the volume draws out the considerable diversity in Kushite accommodations with varied existing local elites in Egypt. In Upper Egypt intermarriage with Theban elites seems to have been a key strategy. In Middle Egypt, Kushite royal monuments are notably absent, despite royal pretensions amongst local rulers in Lower Egypt. The final chapter explores some alternative perspectives on the political organization of the ‘Double Kingdom’. Pope makes clear the inadequacy of Egyptological models of a tightly centralized bureaucratic state for understanding the Kushite state. The potential of loosely-framed, segmented state models – already suggested for the later Meroitic kingdom – is further examined. Future work in this vein clearly has much potential now that so much essential groundwork has been established in this impressive study. Its full and wide-ranging bibliography and three indices also provide valuable support for readers negotiating a number of distinct bodies of scholarship. It is to be hoped that the high cost of this volume will not overly restrict the readership of this major contribution to historical studies of this important early African state.
