Nubian Geography

The Geography of Nubia

Geographical Limits The land of ancient Nubia was bounded on the north by the First Cataract of the Nile River, located just south of Elephantine, and on the far south by the Sixth Cataract, located north of modern hartum! "n certain periods, Nubia consisted of various ethnic tribal #roups or chiefdoms, while in other periods, it was #overned by lar#er and more politically complex $in#doms!

Nubia was the country that bordered ancient E#ypt on the south, and throu#h much of its history was politically dominated by the E#yptian state! %owever, in those periods from the &st 'ynasty onward (ca! )*+* ,C-, whenever E#ypt was unable to maintain her presence in Nubia (e!#!, because of her own internal difficulties-, the various Nubian cultures flourished and enjoyed their political and economic independence, often formulatin# $in#doms of #reat dynamism that were competitive with the E#yptian state! Political Frontiers "n the .iddle in#dom, E#ypt/s southernmost border was fixed at Semna, located south of the Second Cataract in an area of narrow #or#es and roc$y outcroppin#s, $nown in 0rabic as the ,atn el1 %ajjar , the 2,elly of Stones2 (about 34 $m! south of the modern E#yptian1Sudanese border-! 5ater in the New in#dom, E#ypt extended her southern border up to the Fourth Cataract, althou#h she exercised military authority further upriver, as far as modern ur#us (south of 0bu %amed-! The traditional ancient E#yptian name for Nubia was Ta1 Seti , 25and of the ,ow2 (as in 2bow and arrow2-! "ndeed, the E#yptians #ave that same name to their southernmost nome which bordered on Nubia, either because it was adjacent to that country, or else because that portion of southern 6pper E#ypt was ori#inally part of an earlier $in#dom of Nubia with the same name, and which would have existed before the unification of E#ypt!

The Divisions of Nubia For purposes of understandin# history and #eo#raphy, Nubia is divided into two #reat re#ions, 5ower Nubia and 6pper Nubia! 5ower Nubia is the northern re#ion extendin# nearly 7** $m! from the First Cataract to the area around Semna and the Second Cataract! Today, it corresponds to the area of southern E#ypt and the northern Sudan! 6pper Nubia, which is south of 5ower Nubia, extends upriver alon# the Nile to the Sixth Cataract and hartum! "t corresponds to what is today the central Sudan! The Nile River, flowin# throu#h this re#ion, is often called the .iddle Nile ! The Nile flows from south to north, i!e! from the Ethiopian %i#hlands and modern 6#anda to the .editerranean Sea! %owever, the #eo#raphy of 6pper Nubia is dominated by a #iant bend of the river between the Fifth and Fourth Cataracts, in which the Nile actually turns to the southwest for about 89* $m! before turnin# northward a#ain in its passa#e to the sea! The area where it flows northward out of the bend and throu#h to the Third Cataract is called the 'on#ola Reach , named after the Sudanese town of 'on#ola which dominates this part of the river! The #reat bend itself can be called the 'on#ola10bu %amed ,end of the Nile! This area, in which the water mi#ht be thou#ht of as reversin# direction, was hi#hly treacherous to ancient navi#ation because of the speed of the rushin# river here and the many roc$y protrusions extendin# for $ilometers alon# the river bed! %ence, this can be characteri:ed as an area of often intense white water! Nomenclature Archaeological Names vs. Political Names "n the study of Nubian history and archaeolo#y, specialists use two $inds of names to refer to the various ancient people and cultures they encounter; these are political names and archaeolo#ical names! <olitical names derive from ancient texts, and they reflect the actual names that the E#yptians, =ree$s, or Nubians themselves #ave to certain parts of Nubia or to the different Nubian peoples! 0rchaeolo#ical names are those names #iven to particular cultures or industries which are detectable by archaeolo#y but for which there are no associated ancient names! Thus, there is no way to $now what names the people of these cultures #ave themselves! %ere the archaeolo#ists provide these cultures with either arbitrary (and artificial- desi#nations , e!#!> 201=roup, ,1=roup2 and 2?1=roup,2 or they name them accordin# to the archaeolo#ical sites in which they were first discovered or which became their main centers, e!#!> 2 erma Culture2 (referrin# to the succession of Nubian cultures found at the city of erma-! Sometimes, the archaeolo#ical and arbitrary desi#nations are mixed, e!#!, the ?1=roup can also be referred to as the 2,allana Culture,2 since a main site for this culture is the cemetery of ,allana! Rarely, a political@textual name mi#ht combine with an archaeolo#ical desi#nation, e!#!, Nubadae1people can now be identified with the ?1=roup! Similarly, it has been su##ested (justifiably or not- that the C1=roup mi#ht be those people which the E#yptians named the Tjemehu (i!e!, 5ibyans of the central Sahara-! Egyptian Names of Nubia 0ll of the lands south and southeast of E#ypt (sometimes also includin# the northeast- the E#yptians called, Ta1netjer, 2=od/s 5and!2 Aithin this #reat re#ion, the E#yptians located the different countries and people of Nubia! From the Bld in#dom onward, in addition to Ta1Seti, the E#yptians applied the name Ta1 Nehesy as a #eneral desi#nation for Nubia (n!b!, nehesy means, 2nubian;2 <anehesy, 2the Nubian2 becomes a common personal name, developin# into the ,iblical name, <hineas-! 0t the same time, E#yptians #ave the name Aawat specifically to 5ower Nubia! This name derived from one of several Nubian chiefdoms which were located in this re#ion durin# the late Bld in#dom! 0 #eneric desi#nation of the desert nomads of Nubia was the term "untiu or "untiu1setiu , 2Nubian tribesmen (lit! /bowmen/-!2 The names which the E#yptians used to refer to the various parts of Nubia and its different

peoples usually chan#ed dependin# upon the era and the particular tribal #roup in a #iven area! Elsewhere in the Bld in#dom, the names "rtjet , Catju , and aau were used for particular people and areas of the country! Ahile, previously, they were thou#ht to be in 5ower Nubia, 'avid B/Connor has recently made a stron# case for locatin# them in 6pper Nubia! The 5and of Dam , visited by %ar$huf, =overnor of Elephantine, in the late 3th 'ynasty, was apparently located around the Fifth or Sixth Cataracts! The 5and of <unt was a country located east of 6pper Nubia and borderin# on the Red Sea (i!e!, extendin# from the hi#hlands to the sea-! Since the Bld in#dom, the E#yptians often enjoyed a productive relationship with a Nubian tribal people from the land of .edja , named the .edjay (called the 2<an1=rave <eople2 by archaeolo#ists-! 0s fierce warriors, they were incorporated as mercenaries into the E#yptian army as early as the 3th 'ynasty! 5ater in the New in#dom, they were employed as the police force in E#ypt, and the word medjay became the ancient E#yptian term for 2policeman!2 From the .iddle in#dom onward, the E#yptians re#ularly used the name ush to refer to the powerful independent $in#dom based in 6pper Nubia, first at erma (until that was destroyed by the E#yptians in the sixteenth century ,C-, thereafter at Napata , then .eroe (pronounced 2meroway2-! ush is identified as the 5and of ush in the %oly ,ible! ush/s political dependency was the territory of Sha/at (in the re#ion of the "sle of Sai-! Bther names attested at this time (mostly in execration texts- are> "ryshe$, Tua, "mana/a and Ru$et ! "n the eastern mountains were 0wshe$ and Aebet1 sepat ! "n the early &4th 'ynasty, the E#yptians also used the name henet1hennefer to refer to ush, especially durin# the military campai#ns of 0hmose and Tuthmosis "! "t appears as a #eneral desi#nation of the area of 6pper Nubia between the Second and Fourth Cataracts, and desi#nates the re#ion for which the city of erma was the center or capital! The name "rem was applied in the &4th 'ynasty to the people who apparently lived in the southern reach of the 'on#ola ,end (i!e!, the old territory of Dam-! 5ater in the dynasty, the name aroy was applied to the vicinity of Napata! "n the 5ate <eriod and durin# the in#dom of .eroe , the name, "sland of .eroe , was #iven to the trian#ular stretch of land on the east ban$ of the Nile, south of the Fifth Cataract! This section, dominated by the city of .eroe, was bordered on the north by the 0tbara River, on the west by the Nile, and on the south by the ,lue Nile! The "sland of .eroe was the heartland of .eroitic civili:ation and the political and cultural center of the in#dom of .eroe from ca! +E* ,C to 0' )**!