NAHARIN. The name frequently found in Egyptian texts for the Hurrian kingdom of Mitanni in north Syria. It is a West Semitic word meaning “river land.”
NAHR EL-KELB. The “Dog River” south of Byblos and 15 kilometers north of Beirut in Lebanon. Where the river enters the Mediterranean, it leaves only a narrow road, along which many ancient armies marched. The cliffs served as an ideal place for inscriptions, notably for Egypt, by Ramesses II, Esarhaddon, and Nebuchadnezzar.
NAKHTHORHEB (NECTANEBO II) (reigned 359/358–342/341 BC). Pharaoh of the 30th Dynasty. A grandson of Nakhtnebef, Nakhthorheb was serving as a military officer accompanying his uncle, the pharaoh Djedhor, on the Syrian campaign, when he was proclaimed pharaoh by his father, Tjahepimu, who had been left as regent in Egypt. Immediately, a rival claimant appeared in Mendes (perhaps a member of the family of Hakor of Dynasty 29). Nakhthorheb returned to Egypt, accompanied by Agesilaos, the King of Sparta, who was the leader of a Greek mercenary force, but the new pharaoh became besieged in a Delta town. The advice of Agesilaos led to the defeat of the rival claimant and ensured Nakhthorheb’s position.
In 351/50 BC, after an internal dynastic struggle, Artaxerxes III was sufficiently in control to lead an attack on Egypt. This failed, and as a result much of the Levant (and perhaps Asia Minor also) rebelled against Persian rule. However, in a second attempt in 343 BC, Egypt fell again to Persia and Nakhthorheb fled, reputedly to Nubia.
NAKHTNEBEF (NECTANEBO I) (reigned 379/378–362/361 BC). Pharaoh of the 30th Dynasty. Before his accession, Nakhtnebef was a general. A stela set up by the pharaoh at Hermopolis carries a veiled reference to a military coup. In 373 BC, Artaxerxes II sent an army commanded by Pharnabazos and an Athenian, Iphikrates (commander of Greek mercenaries), from Acre. Having failed to enter Egypt via Pelusion, they breached the Mendesian barrier. A dispute between the commanders gave Nakhtnebef the advantage and he was able to surround and besiege them. The Persians were then forced to retreat by the inundation.
NAPATA. Fortress, later town, in Upper Nubia in the region of Gebel Barkal near the foot of the Fourth Cataract. It is first referred to in the year 3 inscription of Amenhotep II, where it is stated the pharaoh had the body of an Asiatic prince hung from its walls as a warning to the Kushites. It is generally assumed that Napata is to be identified with the fortress of Sema-khasut, built by Thutmose III in the same region. To date, no archaeological remains can be associated with either. Napata was later used to designate the region that included the temples of Amun at Gebel Barkal, but most scholars have supposed that the townsite lay some distance away from the religious center, perhaps at Sanam Abu Dom. Napata was a major center of the kingdoms of Kush and Meroe. The town was one of the principal centers, and burial place, of the Kushite kings who conquered Egypt: Kashta, Piye, Shabaqo, Shebitqo, Taharqo, and Tanwetamani. Psamtik II might have sacked it during his campaign of 593 BC. After this, Meroe became the main royal residence, but the kings, such as Harsiyotef, were still crowned and buried at Napata until the death of Nastasen. The Roman emperor Augustus claims that Napata was destroyed during the campaign led by the prefect, Petronius (25 BC), although it seems unlikely that they advanced so far south.
NARMER (reigned c. 3100 BC). Narmer was the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty. The Narmer Palette, found at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen), shows the king wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt smiting a prisoner with a mace. A subscene shows two slain enemies and a rectangular fortification. On the obverse, the king, now wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and preceded by standard bearers, approaches two rows of decapitated enemies. At the bottom of the palette, a small scene depicts the king as a bull crushing another enemy, its head lowered at the buttressed wall of another fortified structure. The whole group of scenes is usually interpreted as evidence for the unification of the two parts of Egypt: Narmer is the first pharaoh to be depicted with the crowns of both Upper and Lower Egypt. He is usually equated with the pharaoh Meni (Greek, Menes), who stands at the beginning of the Egyptian king-lists as the founder of the state, and of the city of Memphis.
NASTASEN (reigned mid-later fourth century BC). King of Meroe. His reign marks the end of the Napatan period in the history of Nubia. It is difficult to place Nastasen precisely. He left a large granite stela in the temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal (Napata) dated to his eighth year. The scene, which decorates the upper part, is in a style typical of the 30th Dynasty and early Ptolemaic period in Egypt. The text, in Egyptian hieroglyphic, records various military activities, the first apparently shortly after Nastasen’s coronation at Napata. Nastasen confronted the army and ships of Kambasuden, somewhere in Lower Egypt. Earlier Egyptologists incorrectly identified Kambasuden with Cambyses and later with Khabbash. Neither is possible. The other actions are not dated and might have taken place in subsequent years. The army was sent against the “rebels” of Mekhindeqeñ(t) and captured its chief Iyoka. They also seized Laboden, chief of Rebala, and Ikalakaro, who was rich in gold and cattle (a total of 806,323 is claimed in the text). Other razzias were directed against territories named Irrasa, Makhsherekhti, Mayoka, Sarasara, and Tamakheyti. The only places named that can be confidently located are Maha (certainly Abu Simbel) and Mediye (probably Medja). Nastasen might have taken advantage of the troubled situation in Egypt during the period from the end of the 30th Dynasty and reconquest by Artaxerxes III (343 BC) to the satrapy of Ptolemy I (323 BC) to gain some control of Lower Nubia.
NAUKRATIS. Delta town of 26th Dynasty date. A Greek trading colony, supposedly founded in the reign of Ahmose II, although archaeological evidence indicates it could have been earlier, perhaps under Psamtik I. It was suggested that the Great Temenos in the southern part of the site, with the massive brick structure inside it, known as the Great Mound, might have been a military installation. This is similar in construction to other Late Period monuments, such as Tell Dafana (Daphnae), that had been identified as military installations. Recent research, however, proposes that the Great Mound is a temple complex of Ptolemaic date.
NAVY. The river was the main transport route in Egypt and the association of boats with military action is found in art works from the Pre-dynastic Period onward. Among the earliest such depictions are the scenes in the Painted Tomb 100 at Nekhen, on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, and the rock inscription of Djer at Gebel Sheikh Suleiman in Nubia. In these cases, the ships were used for moving troops. This was generally the case with internal conflict in Egypt throughout the dynastic period. However, fighting from ships also took place. This is less well documented, but certainly was significant in the attacks by Kamose and Ahmose on the Hyksos capital of Avaris and in Piye’s campaign though Middle Egypt. The record of Piye’s war describes the method of his assault on Memphis, using the masts of the ships as scaling ladders for mounting the city walls.
The development of Egyptian sea-going ships might have been stimulated by contacts with western Asia, which was the main source of the timber used in such large vessels. The term kebenet derives from the name of the port of Byblos, Egypt’s main Levantine trading partner. However, it is uncertain whether the vessel was an Asiatic type or whether the name alludes to the town as a source of timber. The Amarna Letters include one requesting the king of Alashiya (Cyprus) to build ships for the Egyptian navy.
Egyptian depictions of sea-going ships show little difference between cargo vessels and those used in war. The Egyptians used transport ships for taking the army to western Asia, thus avoiding the long march along the Ways of Horus. Scenes in the pyramid temple of Sahure at Abusir (Fifth Dynasty) show a sea-borne fleet being used to convey the army to Syria. The inscription of Weni (Sixth Dynasty) similarly refers to troops being taken to Palestine by ship. Several of the major campaigns of Thutmose III in northern Syria involved the army being taken by ship to one of the ports, Byblos or Sumur, which were developed as Egyptian bases. Farther south, Gaza and Joppa were important Egyptian-controlled ports.
Egyptian action in Nubia exploited the Nile route, despite the difficulties for navigation posed by the cataracts. Rock drawings of Egyptian vessels are found in the region of the Second Cataract in the Predynastic Period, although there are no indications that these were used for military, rather than trading, purposes. At the beginning of the Old Kingdom, however, the Egyptians were taking their armies by boat into Nubia, as is shown by the Gebel Sheikh Suleiman inscription. The fleet was certainly important in the wars of Senusret I and Amenemhat I, which extended Egyptian rule over Lower Nubia. A rock inscription of Inyotefiqer tells how he sailed through Lower Nubia in his flagship “the Great Oar,” slaughtering the population, seizing the harvest, and cutting down the trees.
The pharaohs of the early 18th Dynasty also used the fleet in their Nubian campaigns. Ahmose son of Ebana tells how he was on the royal flagship taking Thutmose I in his attack on Kerma and of his bravery in the pharaoh’s presence when the ship was towed through the cataract.
Although there was fighting of sorts from ships, perhaps using archers in attacks on towns such as Avaris, the first predominantly naval battle recorded is that of Ramesses III against the Sea Peoples. This engagement is depicted in a series of large reliefs on the north external wall of the pharaoh’s temple at Medinet Habu. The ships used by Ramesses III’s navy do have some structural developments, such as long, low hulls with raised bulwarks to protect the rowers and a raised gangway so that the whole length of the ship could be used as a fighting platform by marines running its length. These could be Egyptian developments and are not necessarily a foreign influence. Some of the ships have prows with large figureheads in the form of a roaring lion’s head, but they are not early examples of battering rams: the construction of the ships is conventional, and they could not have withstood ramming.
There were certainly significant changes in naval warfare in the Late Period. This was the culmination of a period of considerable naval development and maritime expansion by the Phoenicians and Greeks, and Egypt was itself focused on its Mediterranean coast. During the Late Period, Egypt developed strong contacts with the Greek world, notably through the foundation of the trading center of Naukratis. The introduction of the Greek trireme has been attributed to the 26th Dynasty, although some authorities think that it was not used in Egypt until Ptolemaic times. The dispute centers on the terminology and meaning of kebenet-vessels. Nekau II reputedly engaged a Phoenician fleet to circumnavigate Africa and began the canal through the Wadi Tumilat connecting the Nile with the Red Sea.
The invasion of Egypt by Cambyses, the king of Persia, in 525 BC, included a large Phoenician fleet. In the later conflicts between Persia and the Greek city states, naval battles became common, the first taking place at the island of Salamis, near Athens. A much larger type of warship, the quinquereme, was now developed and became the characteristic vessel of the Hellenistic navy. The “Satrap Stela” of Ptolemy I records that the king brought ships from Phoenicia, but after 200 BC, none of Egypt’s warships were Phoenician built, or built of Phoenician wood, the region being under the control of the Seleukids. The timber Egypt used for ships now came mainly from its own possession, Cyprus.
Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II gained control of most of the east Mediterranean, making Egypt, for the first time, a major naval power. They acquired significant naval bases throughout the Aegean and along the Ionian and Asiatic coastline, and even on mainland Greece. Egypt’s naval hegemony came to an end late in the reign of Ptolemy II with considerable losses in the Second Syrian War and defeat at the battle of Kos (c. 255 BC). Another naval defeat, that of Marcus Antonius and Kleopatra VII at the battle of Aktion, led to the fall of Egypt to the Romans under Augustus. The presence at Aktion of the Ptolemaic fleet of quinqueremes is suggested to have been a contributory factor in the defeat.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR II (reigned 604–562 BC). King of Babylon. As crown prince, Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army to victory over the Egyptian forces of Nekau II, which had established themselves in Carchemish (605 BC) and gained a further victory over the retreating army near Hamath. His father, Nabopolassar, died during the campaign and Nebuchadnezzar had to return to Babylon to ensure his own succession. In the following decade, eight out his nine campaigns were in western Asia, to prevent Egypt regaining a position. In 601 BC, he took his army as far as the Egyptian frontier, where a battle at Migdol resulted in heavy losses for both sides. A peace treaty might have established the frontier between the two powers at the Brook-of-Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar ousted those Levantine rulers who had Egyptian support, captured Jerusalem, and deposed Jehoiachin (598/97 BC) without any Egyptian intervention. A fragment of an Aramaic letter, discovered at Saqqara, is from one of the Levantine princes seeking military aid from Egypt. Wahibre gained Nebuchadnezzar’s assistance in an attempt to restore him to his throne but was killed during the campaign.
NECHO. See NEKAU.
NECTANEBO I. See NAKHTNEBEF.
NECTANEBO II. See NAKHTHORHEB.
NEFAARUD I (reigned 399/398–394/393 BC). Pharaoh of the 29th Dynasty. In 396 BC, Agesilaos, king of Sparta sought an alliance, but this was refused. However, the following year, Nefaarud supplied the Spartan fleet, which was at Rhodes, with equipment for 100 triremes and 500,000 measures of corn. These fell into the hands of the Persian commander, Konon.
NEFRUSY. Town or fortress in Middle Egypt, near Khmunu (Hermopolis). The precise location of Nefrusy is uncertain, but it appears to have controlled access from the north or south to Khmunu. It figures twice in accounts of military activities in Middle Egypt. During the Second Intermediate Period, the Hyksos rulers of Avaris controlled the Nile Valley as far as the territory of Khmunu. The inscriptions of Kamose recounting his wars with the Hyksos begin with the Theban advance north into the region of Khmunu. Kamose states that he sent his Madjoy troops to besiege “Teti son of Pepi” and his Hyksos force within Nefrusy. Teti was presumably a local vassal (perhaps the ruler of Khmunu itself) of the Hyksos. In the late Libyan period, the pharaoh Nimlot ruled Khmunu as a vassal of the Kushite king, Piye. With the advance of Tefankht of Sau and his coalition army, Nimlot defected and had the walls of Nefrusy pulled down. This suggests that the town was a defensive one controlling access to Khmunu.
NEKAU I (reigned c. 676–664). Ruler of Sau in the western Delta. He is assumed to have been a descendant of the earlier Saite rulers, Tefnakht and Bakenranef, who opposed Kushite expansion into Egypt. Nekau might have been installed as an Assyrian vassal by Esarhaddon. The list of Egyptian rulers from the beginning of the reign of Assurbanipal calls him king of Sau and “Mimpi” (Memphis). He was usually an ally of the Assyrians but joined with Sharruludari and Pekrur in seeking help from Taharqo in their rebellion. Following their defeat, Nekau and the other Delta dynasts were taken to Nineveh, but unlike them (many of whom were executed), he was sent back to Sau, and his son Psamtik I set up as ruler of Athribis (Huthery-ib). Nekau was defeated, and probably killed, in battle with Taharqo’s successor, Tanwetamani.
NEKAU II (reigned 610–595 BC). Pharaoh of the 26th Dynasty, son of Psamtik I. Shortly after his accession, Nekau continued the campaign initiated by Psamtik I in western Asia. The biblical Book of Kings (2 Kings 23:29–35) records Nekau’s interference in the affairs of Judah and the immense power he was able to exert in western Asia. Leading his army to the aid of Ashur-uballit II, king of Assyria, Nekau killed Josiah of Judah en route at the battle of Megiddo (609 BC). Josiah was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, but three months later, Nekau replaced him with his brother Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt and Judah forced to pay tribute. The collapse of the Assyrian empire had created a power-vacuum in western Asia, and Nekau clearly tried to take advantage of this. In 606 BC, the Egyptian army besieged Kimuhu, near Carchemish; later the same year, the Babylonian forces were defeated at Quramati. The Egyptians were, however, defeated by the Babylonians, led by Crown Prince Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish in 605. He then defeated a second Egyptian army at Hamath.
The death of Nabopolassar and accession of Nebuchadnezzar II brought a brief respite for Egypt, while the new king consolidated his power in Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar launched his attack on Egypt in 601 BC. There was a battle close to the fortress of Migdol, but there were heavy casualties on both sides and the Babylonians withdrew. Nekau followed the Babylonian retreat and was able to recapture Gaza. Following the confrontation, Nekau dedicated his armor in the temple of Apollo at Didyma, on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor. It seems likely that Nekau had employed mercenaries from this region. The continued activity of the Babylonian armies in western Asia deterred Nekau from further campaigns.
In the later part of his reign, Nekau probably launched an expedition against Kush. A fragmentary inscription from Aswan refers to a fleet sailing into Nubia. One can only speculate that the Kushite kings had taken advantage of Nekau’s Asiatic ambitions to make advances into Lower Nubia, or even Upper Egypt. Apart from some follow-up campaigns by his successor Psamtik II, Nekau’s reign marks the final attempt by the 26th Dynasty pharaohs to rebuild Egypt’s old empire and influence in western Asia. Nekau’s considerable successes were finally frustrated by the military superiority of the Babylonians. Nekau is also supposed to have commissioned a Phoenician fleet to circumnavigate Africa. Further naval interests are shown by the cutting of the canal along the Wadi Tumilat to the Red Sea. The canal, which might not have been completed, added a further defense on the eastern border, with the fortress at Tell el-Maskhuta. The canal was enlarged by Darius I.
NEKHEB. Town on the east bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt, the archaeological site of el-Kab. It stands opposite Nekhen. It has massive defensive walls of mud brick, 540 meters by 570 meters and 12 meters thick. The walls have no corner towers or bastions and are built using the pan-bedding technique, to give stability. The date of the walls is uncertain and various dates have been proposed. They could have been an early Third Intermediate Period defense, marking Nekheb as the southern border of the territory of Thebes and paralleling Teudjoi in the north. It has also been suggested that the walls were built during the reign of Taharqo—as a defensive measure against the high Nile flood (the site stands within the flood plain)—or in the reign of Nekhthorheb. The tombs of the early 18th Dynasty carry the important autobiographical inscriptions of Ahmose son of Ebana and Ahmose-Pen-Nekhbet, who took part in the campaigns of Ahmose I against the Hyksos, and those of Amenhotep I and Thutmose I.
NEKHEN (HIERAKONPOLIS). Town on the west bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt, the modern archaeological site of Kom el-Ahmar. In the Predynastic Period, Nekhen was the seat of the earliest kings of Upper Egypt. Excavations here produced some important monuments of the period of the unification of Egypt, such as the mace of King “Scorpion” and the Narmer Palette, with its scenes of conquest. The Predynastic Painted Tomb 100 has some of the earliest scenes of conflict.
At the entrance to a wadi is a large rectangular defensive enclosure of the reign of Khasekhemwy. Similar to the Shunet el-Zebib at Abydos, it was thought by earlier archaeologists to be a fortress. The enclosure has outer and inner walls, originally plastered and painted white, 2.34 meters and 4.87 meters thick respectively. The walls, which were niched, survive to a height of 11.0 meters. It is now thought that the structure, like the Shunet el-Zebib, was a valley temple for a royal burial or cenotaph situated farther along the wadi. Nevertheless, just as the architecture of comparable New Kingdom temple enclosures (such as Medinet Habu) resembled contemporary military installations, the Khasekhemwy enclosure must be similar to early defensive structures.
Nekhen was defended by Menthuhotep II during the troubles that led to the reunification of Egypt at the end of the First Intermediate Period. There is no later evidence for a military role for the town.
NIMLOT (fl. 720 BC). Local ruler of Khmunu (Hermopolis), who assumed full pharaonic style. He was an ally of the Kushite king and ruler of Upper Egypt, Piye, but changed his allegiance when Tefnakht, ruler of Sau, advanced with his army into Middle Egypt. Nimlot had the walls of an outlying town, Nefrusy, pulled down to show Tefnakht that he was not hostile to him. Nimlot was later besieged within Khmunu by Piye and his army. After his capitulation, Nimlot was chastised for the treatment of his horses during the siege. It is unclear whether this is the same Nimlot who is referred to in the Assyrian list of the rulers of Egypt in 667 as “Lamintu” of Khmunu. Most Egyptologists have assumed that he was a successor (perhaps grandson) of Piye’s ally.
NINE BOWS. The “Nine Bows” signified the traditional enemies of Egypt. In Egyptian, three is the plural, and nine is a usual way of indicating plurality. The enemies were peoples of Nubia, Libya, the deserts, and western Asia. The nine bows were used as a motif on the pharaoh’s footstool so that he could sit with his enemies beneath his feet. The motif also appears painted onto the floors, across which the pharaoh might walk, and on his sandals. The bows could be rendered in human form as the actual enemies, with their arms bound behind their backs.
NIY. Locality in Syria, probably in the northern part of the Orontes Valley. A very damaged text refers to Upper Retenu, Niy, and elephants. This can probably be ascribed to the reign of Thutmose I and was perhaps associated with the pharaoh’s expedition to Naharin. It was a precursor of Thutmose III’s expedition of year 33 when that pharaoh also hunted elephants in Niy, an event also recorded by Amenemhab.
NOTITIA DIGNITATUM. A Roman record of all of the civil and military offices of the empire as they were in 395 AD, preserved in four later copies. The surviving versions are more detailed for the western than the eastern empire. The Notitia contains details of the units commanded by the generals and the forts. It thus provides a valuable source for the military in Egypt in the later Roman Empire. There were major units (Legions) at some of the key strategic points, such as Memphis, Babylon, and Koptos. It shows an increase in troops stationed in Lower Egypt, perhaps against invasion from the east (Rhinocolura, Pelusion, Busiris, Naithu). The units in southern Upper Egypt were clearly a defense against the Blemmyes. They were placed at Philae (First Cataract), Aswan and Abu (Elephantine), Silsila, and Kom Ombo. Alae (cavalry units) were stationed in both Kharga Oasis and Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert. Units were stationed throughout Upper Egypt (e.g., Thebes, Hermonthis [Armant], Abydos), Middle Egypt (Speos Artemidos, Thmou, Kusas), and the Fayum (Narmouthis, Arsinoe, Dionysias). See also Army, Roman period.
NUBIA. The region immediately to the south of Egypt, stretching from the First to the Fourth Cataracts. It is divided into two parts, Lower Nubia being the region from the First to Second Cataracts and Upper Nubia from the Second to Fourth. Numerous names are employed for the whole region and its parts, reflecting internal political changes throughout the 3,000 years of relations. Egyptian military action in Nubia is first documented in the First Dynasty, in the reign of Djer. Other campaigns followed in the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom, which appear to have forced the small settled population to take up a nomadic lifestyle in the surrounding regions. A major campaign is known from the reign of Sneferu, but this might have been directed south of the Second Cataract. The evidence from the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties shows that a settled population had returned to Lower Nubia and that there were three principal “chiefdoms” there. These are named in texts as: Wawat, Irtjet, and Satju. Another Nubian “chiefdom” was Yam, which lay south of the Second Cataract, but its exact location is still disputed.
The internal problems of Egypt during the First Intermediate Period allowed the Nubian states to develop without external interference. During this period there is considerable evidence for Nubian mercenaries being employed by the local rulers of Egypt. A particularly large body of evidence for them comes from Gebelein, in southern Upper Egypt. By the early Middle Kingdom, the Upper Nubian principalities of Kush and Shaat (Sai) had emerged, and Lower Nubia was perhaps united under one ruler who assumed a pharaonic style.
The first of a new series of Egyptian campaigns in Nubia was led by the ruler of Thebes, Menthuhotep II, who might also have established some of the fortresses that became important in the 12th Dynasty. The first rulers of the 12th Dynasty, Amenemhat I and Senusret I, campaigned extensively in Nubia, reducing the whole territory as far as the Second Cataract. They protected their new southern border with fortresses at Askut, Buhen, Kumma, Mirgissa, Semna, Shalfak, and Uronarti, and others at the strategic points of Aniba and Quban farther north. In the 13th Dynasty, Egypt again fragmented, and control of Lower Nubia was lost to the Kushite kingdom of Kerma. Some of the fortresses suffered damage by fire. The Kerma kings established garrisons in some of the fortresses and there is evidence that there were Egyptian commanders working for the Kushites.
At the end of the Second Intermediate Period, it was again the princes of Thebes who moved to reunite Egypt. Before attacking the Hyksos in the Delta, they set about securing control of Lower Nubia. It is possible that Tao II led a campaign, but there is clearer evidence from the reigns of Kamose and Ahmose I. The autobiographical inscription of Ahmose son of Ebana records the defeat of Aata, who might have been a local ruler in Lower Nubia. Ahmose I led his army south of the Second Cataract, defeated the ruler of Shaat, and established a new fortress on the island of Sai. Further military actions by Thutmose I established firm Egyptian control over Lower Nubia and destroyed Kerma. These were followed up in the joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, but Upper Nubia south of the Third Cataract retained its independence until the sole reign of Thutmose III, who established his new border at the Fourth Cataract.
There were few major military actions in Nubia in the later 18th Dynasty. The indications are that the campaigns of the reigns of Akhenaten, Amenhotep II, Amenhotep III, and Thutmose IV were directed against the peoples of the Eastern Desert, rather than the Nile Valley. Further campaigns are known from the reign of Tutankhamun, recorded by reliefs in the chapel at Gebel Silsila and the Memphite tomb of Horemheb.
In the New Kingdom, the whole of Nubia as far as the Fourth Cataract was brought under Egyptian control and placed under the authority of the viceroy of Kush, and the Overseer of Bowmen of Kush, and divided into two provinces, Wawat and Kush. In addition, there were many other principalities, some of them within the viceregal domain and others outside. Of these, the most significant were Irem and Miu. The location of both is uncertain, but current opinion suggests that they lay outside the Egyptian-controlled provinces of the Nile Valley, probably in the Berber-Shendi Reach of the river.
Egyptian control of Nubia appears to have remained fairly stable throughout most of the later New Kingdom. Military actions in the reigns of Sety I and his successor, Ramesses II, were directed against Irem. The reign of Merenptah saw a rebellion in Lower Nubia, apparently timed to coincide with an invasion by Libyans. Irem was again the principal threat in the reign of Ramesses III. The Egyptians abandoned Upper Nubia in the late 20th Dynasty, redrawing their border at the Second Cataract. In the reign of Ramesses XI, part of the army from Nubia was active in Thebes and Upper Egypt. This was followed by military conflict between the viceroy, Panehesy, and the general and controller of Upper Egypt, Paiankh, in Lower Nubia. The general historical circumstances, and the allegiances of the protagonists, remain obscure but are best characterized as civil war. The hill of Qasr Ibrim might have been fortified during this period. By the end of the civil war, and the death of Ramesses XI, Egypt appears to have lost control of the whole of Nubia.
Following the end of the 20th Dynasty is a period for which the archaeological evidence and historical reconstructions have become a subject of deep controversy. It is likely that there was a violent process of state formation. Some hint of the events is found in the inscription of Karimala at Semna. This alludes to rebellion against a Kushite king and civil war. The result was the emergence of a powerful, and apparently unified, state covering (eventually) the whole of the region from the Third Cataract into the central Sudanese savannah around Meroe. This kingdom conquered Egypt in the reigns of Kashta (c. 750–736 BC) and Piye (c. 736–712 BC) and ruled there until 656 BC (the 25th Dynasty). The last two decades saw the invasions of Egypt by the armies of Assyria (in the reigns of Taharqo and Tanwetamani). There were Egyptian invasions of Nubia in the reigns of Nekau II, Psamtik II, and, perhaps, Cambyses. The Meroitic king Harsiyotef and Nastasen took their armies to Lower Nubia and as far as Aswan.
The Kushite kingdom continued until the fourth century AD. In the Ptolemaic period, the region between Aswan and the Second Cataract was more intensively cultivated and settlements increased. The northern part, from Aswan to Maharraqa, was administered by Egypt with the name Dodekaschoinos. For a period, this was extended even farther south, as the Triakontaschoinos, but was regained by Meroe. Following the fall of Egypt to the Romans under Augustus there was conflict between Meroe and the armies of the Roman prefect, first Cornelius Gallus then Petronius. Once a peace treaty between the two states was agreed, a period of prosperity began that lasted for the first two centuries of Roman rule in Egypt. The major Meroitic center in Lower Nubia was at Faras where the viceroy resided. Later, tensions increased with the appearance in the Nile Valley of the Blemmyes. These are revealed in the increased number of units in southern Upper Egypt in the Notitia Dignitatum and conflict in the reign of the emperor Aurelian. Shortly after, the emperor Diocletian was forced to redraw the frontier at the First Cataract.
Nubia was at all times occupied by black peoples, generally referred to today as Kushites (to distinguish them from the modern Nubian-language speakers). In Egyptian texts, they can appear as Nehesyu and Iuntiu-Setiu, and more specifically according to their location, such as the Madjoy (peoples of the Eastern Desert). There were several documented movements of population into the Nile Valley (and probably many that are undocumented), notably those of the Noba and the Blemmyes.
NUKHASSE (NUKHASHSHE). Region of north Syria, east of the Orontes, between Aleppo and Qatna. It was significant in the Late Bronze Age, the Egyptian New Kingdom. The territory stood on the margins of Egyptian influence in north Syria. It was originally subject to the king of Aleppo but became a vassal of the kingdom of Mitanni.
The Annals of Thutmose III record the pharaoh’s campaign against Mitanni in his year 33 and the following year’s attack on Nukhasse. The Amarna Letters (EA 51) indicate that Thutmose III (or possibly, although less likely, Thutmose IV) set up an Egyptian vassal king in Nukhasse. The military expedition of year 7 of Amenhotep II crossed the Orontes, and although there was no pitched battle, the pharaoh ordered the deportation of 15,070 people of Nukhasse. In the reign of Tushratta of Mitanni, a dispute arose with the vassal king Sarrupsi, who then allegedly sought help from Suppiluliuma, King of the Hittites, who sent an army. There was a battle in which both Mitanni and the Hittites claimed victory, but the result was that Nukhasse became a Hittite vassal. However, Tushratta was able to send booty of a captured chariot to Amenhotep III, recorded in the Amarna Letters (EA 17). Other letters in the Amarna archive are from other kings of Nukhasse: Addu-nirari, Akizzi of Qatna, and Akiteship of Niy, who sought to become vassals of Egypt.
There was pressure on the coastal town of Ugarit, which then sought help from the Hittites. In response, Suppiluliuma and his armies invaded Nukhasse. The result was a Hittite claim on territories in north Syria and, ultimately, war with Egypt. Following the breakup of the Hittite Empire, the Nukhasse lands become part of what are known as the “Neo-Hittite” kingdoms.