The World

Alara oversaw a hybrid Egyptian–Kushite religion. Originally Kushites buried their dead beneath circular mounds at el-Kurru near their capital Kerma, accompanied by droves of relatives or servants, sacrificed by being buried alive. Then their kings started to build pyramids for their burials: 200 pyramids still stand in Sudan, almost double those of Egypt. Like a pharaoh, Alara called himself Son of Amun and married his sister. Alara’s brother Kashta succeeded him just as the instability in Egypt, particularly a conflict in Thebes between a king and his Amun priests, forced the latter to seek asylum in Napata, the new Kushite capital, where they encouraged Kashta to see himself as the legitimate guardian of Amun – and of Egypt.

In 760, Kashta raided Thebes where he forced the Egyptians to accept his daughter as God’s Wife of Amun and proclaimed himself King of the Two Lands. Kashta and his heirs claimed to be protectors of ancient gods, but the dynasty never presented themselves as Egyptian: in her statue at Karnak, Kashta’s daughter, Amenirdis, depicted as God’s Wife of Amun, is dressed like an Egyptian but her face in unmistakably Kushite.

Fifteen years later, Kashta’s son King Piye, invited by one of the Egyptian factions to intervene, advanced into Egypt, presenting himself as more Egyptian than the Egyptians, respectfully honouring Amun. Kings made obeisance to him in Thebes as pharaoh – as he boasted on Jebel Barkal. Married to a cousin, and to his own sister, Piye was content to leave his Egyptian vassals to rule on his behalf until challenged by the rulers of Memphis. In 729, he personally led the storming of Memphis. All the potentates of the delta submitted to him, promising to ‘open our treasuries and bring you the choice of our studs and the best of our horses’. He loved horseflesh more than jewels or women: ‘The king’s wives and daughters came to him and paid honour but His Majesty did not pay them attention. Instead he went off to the stables where he saw that the horses were hungry.’ In a city stinking of dead bodies, he could barely tolerate any cruelty to animals. ‘It’s more painful to me,’ he wrote on his pyramid in Napata, ‘that my horses should be hungry than every ill deed you have done.’ When he died, he was buried in his Napata pyramid with his favourite squadron of horses.

His brother Shabaka did not stay in Napata but marched north, enforcing direct rule and religious purity by burning one of his opponents alive, installing his son as high priest and female cousins as God’s Wives of Amun. House Alara now ruled all of modern Egypt and Sudan, at least 2,100 miles of the Nile – one of the largest African empires of world history. The royal archives at Nineveh show friendly contacts between Shabaka and Assyria, but the titans were bound to clash. Shabaka was unlikely to be threatened by the new Assyrian king, who was said to be a weakling. But first impressions can be deceptive.

His name was Sennacherib. When the news spread that Sennacherib was king, the entire Assyrian empire flickered into rebellion – and Hezekiah, king of Judah, asked for Shabaka’s help.

In 701, the pharaoh’s army of Kushites and Egyptians under Prince Taharqo, younger son of Piye, marched north across Sinai just as Sennacherib fought his way south-west towards Jerusalem. The two greatest families, one Asian, one African, were now to fight for the world.

AFRICA VERSUS ASIA: SHABAKA VERSUS SENNACHERIB

It was hard to be Sennacherib: his father was Sargon II, a triumphant warlord who had conquered Cyprus, Phoenicia and the rest of Israel, ethnically cleansing it and deporting 29,000 of its elite to Assyria, before turning to Urartu. In a spectacular exploit, Sargon had led his army into the mountains to destroy the kingdom before returning to the heartland to found his own new capital, Dur Sharrukin – Fort Sargon – where he declared himself King of the World. But predators can never rest. Now old, but drawn to one last campaign in Tabal (Türkiye) in 705, he was killed during an enemy raid on his camp, his sacred body lost.^*

Sennacherib must have loathed the old monster: he never praised or mentioned his father. But he possessed all the atrocious grandeur of his father and grandfather, lashing out at Babylon, independent-minded city state of the god Marduk, whose blessing the Assyrians could never quite ignore. Then Sennacherib hacked his way southwards, consuming Phoenicia and Judah, city by city.

As the King of the World approached Jerusalem, the House of David prayed for deliverance from God and for a relieving army from Egypt. The Kushite Prince Taharqo, aged twenty, raced towards Jerusalem.