HistoryThe Fall of MeroeThe golden age of Kush ended around 350 CE Grand building projects disappeared and large pyramids and temples seized to be established1. The scarce archeological evidence suggests that after the fourth century CE, the kingdom of Kush had experienced extensive nomadic invasions from the surrounding deserts. In addition, the Kushite state used to endure some small-scale conflicts with the kingdom of Axum (modern-day Ethiopia) to the southeast of Nubia2.
Unfortunately, the Meroitic inscriptions found at the temple of Kalabsha, dating to this period, use a language that is still a mystery to us up to this moment. Nonetheless, minor signs such as a three word phrase in the inscriptions are thought to refer to a certain king "Kharamazeye"3. Translation of the inscription reveals a prayer that Kharamazeye be made "monarch (and) commander of Great Napata."4. The inscription of Silko, "King of the Noubades and all the Aithiopians"5, written in Greek, together with other unclear inscriptions provide evidence of the continuity of the Kushite centralized rule up to the time. Another inscription by Azena, in the fourth century CE, narrates his campaign against the desert tribes of "Blemmyes"(known today as Beja), known to the ancient Egyptians as the Medjay-Nubians. The inscription tells that the Blemmyes has rebelled against king Azena6. Thus, it is conclusive that from the third century CE and on, there were extensive immigration movements and settlements of tribes that inhabited the deserts (i.e., -west and east to the Nile valley). As these hostile desert tribes settlers competed with the Kushites over the Nile resources. They also created an unstable southern territory for Roman Egypt. The kingdom of Kush, nevertheless, continued to hold itself until the mid-sixth century CE7.
The last known Kushite king to be buried under a Pyramid was Pharaoh Yesbokheamani (although Teqerideamani is the last Nubian king for whom there is absolute chronology), who lived in the third century CE8. Since the first century CE the common scale of the Meroitic pyramids began to gradually reduce in size. The latest pyramid has been dated back to around mid the fourth century CE9. In a later period, the Kushites abandoned building pyramids altogether and returned to their old way of tumuli burials, which are found throughout Nubia (i.e. from Aniba in Lower Nubia to Sururab el Hobagi south of Khartoum)10. These late tumuli structures are thought to be for Kushite rulers. This change of funerary architecture represents the upstart of cultural transformations that permanently changed the future society of the North Sudan.
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