Prior to the discovery of artifacts affirming the existence of an organized monarchical government in ancient Nubia in Africa, distorted historical facts …rather historical tales have ascribed antediluvian civilization to several ancient kingdoms scattered around the world.
Reason for this distortion of fact is partly due to a lack of good historical records and arguably due to a propagandist movement aimed at denying the major role Africa played in the acquisition of civilization.
The monarchic system of the ancient Nubian kingdom is evidenced to precede the rise of the earliest Egyptian kings by several generations and in fact the oldest recognizable monarchy in human history.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANCIENT NUBIA:
The history and origin of Nubia, was for a long time largely unknown until artifacts showing the Nubian culture were first discovered in 1907 by Egyptologist George A. Reisner
Nubia consisted of two major regions along the Nile River, from Aswan to Khartoum. Upper Nubia which extended north to the southern end of the second cataract of the Nile, was called Kush under the 18th-dynasty pharaohs of ancient Egypt and is now known as modern-day central Sudan. Lower Nubia sat between the First and Second Cataracts and is modern-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
The Nubians were known to be expert archers, which made the Egyptians refer to them as “Ta-Seti” which means “The Land of the Bow”.
Nubia influenced the early civilization of ancient Africa and its existence can be traced from at least 2500 BC upwards. Several empires emanated from ancient Nubia, prominently the kingdom of Kush.
Evidence of life in ancient Nubia consists of things such as rock carvings, jewelry and stone structures. The stone structure, popularly known as megalith, is that of Nabta Playa, a ceremonial arrangement of large stones that date back to somewhere between 6500 and 4500 BCE.
Not much is known about the site and the people that built it. howbeit, historians and archaeologists consider Nabta Playa and other large megalithic monuments in the region as proof that ancient Nubia was fertile and inhabited. And the early Nubians expressed a level of social hierarchy and religious belief system.
The Nubian people engaged in trade and agriculture on a large scale. Their trading activities made some of the rich and powerful. Archaeological evidence attests to this, a large number of Egyptian commodities was excavated.
Nubia was first mentioned in the old Egypt’s account of trade missions sometimes in 2300BC. It was recorded that the Egyptians imported incense jewelry, gold, copper and exotic animals from other parts of Africa through Nubia.
Nubia The Oldest Recorded Monarchy:
Archaeological evidence recognizes the Nubian monarchy as the oldest in human history because it precedes the earliest Egyptian kings. The existence of rule by kings signifies a more progressive form of political organization in which many chiefdoms are united under a more powerful personality (king).
Earlier, it was assumed that Nubia was a typical Stone Age society, made up of scattered tribal clans and chiefdoms however archaeological evidence exposed the strong political structure of Nubia and interestingly, the various symbols of Nubian royalty that have been found are the same as those associated, in later times, with Egyptian kings.
The new findings suggest that the ancient Nubians may have reached this stage of political development as long ago as 3300 B.C., several generations before the earliest documented Egyptian king. It is suggested that the first king of Ta-Seti may have ruled about 5900BC.
This discovery is founded upon the study and examination of artifacts excavated from ancient tombs. The artifacts include hundreds of fragments of pottery, jewelry, stone vessels, and ceremonial objects such as incense burners, they were initially recovered from the Qustul cemetery by Keith C. Seele, a professor at the University of Chicago. The cemetery, which is made up of 33 tombs that were heavily plundered in ancient times, was on the Nile near the recent boundary between Egypt and Sudan.
Dr. Williams, a research associate explained that the quantity and quality of the painted pottery and the jewelry indicated that the Nubians were wealthy people. However, the picture on a stone incense burner affirmed that it was the tomb of a king.
In his words “On the incense burner, which was broken and had to be pieced together, was a depiction of a palace facade, a crowned king sitting on a throne in a boat, a royal standard before the king and, hovering above the king, the falcon god Horus”. These images are generally associated with the monarchy in subsequent Egyptian tradition.
Although the part of the incense burner bearing the body of the king is missing, scholars, however, agree that the presence of a crown in a form well known from dynastic Egypt and the god Horus are sufficient evidence that the complete image was that of a king.
Some of the Nubian artifacts had some engraved symbols resembling those of Egyptian hieroglyphics though they were not readable. This, however, suggests that they influenced ancient African literacy and civilization.
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