Kingship

Napatan and Meroitic

Kushite states had survived for over a thousand years without being conquered by either Egypt, the kingdoms that conquered Egypt (e.g., Persia and Rome), or the desert nomadic fighters who throughout history threatened the stability of the kingdom. That is a solid indicator of the efficient system of centralized government that the Kushite Kingdom had adopted.

Shabits of Kushite kings

Temple relief of Kushite king Shabako offering libations to the gods. Source: Wildung, Dietrich. Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile.

The Napatan-Meroitic era is characterized by continuity in the ruling system, as opposed to Egypt, which experienced long periods of civil wars and rivalries for power.The pharaohs, then, were believed to be god representatives on earth and their duty was to apply Maat (i.e., keeping order and justice). Unlike the Egyptians, evidence shows that the Napatan Pharaohs were not always succeeded by their direct sons but by other family members such as brothers or sons of brothers.

Nubia followed a specific procedure to select the particular in time pharaoh from among other royal members. The selection procedure was normally performed by high priests, who were supposed to have consulted the god Amon over on the issue. The answer of the God to the priests, as to who should be the king, was considered final. The selected pharaoh was then anointed at the temple of Amon at Napata by the high priests. Then the new pharaoh visited the main temples at Nubia for ordaining other religious rites related to the coronation ceremony.

According to many writings by Greek and Roman Geographers contemporary with the Meroitic kingdom, If the high priests decided that the pharaoh failed to rule according to Maat, they could order the pharaoh to suicide. According to Greek writer, Agatharcides of Cnidus in the second century BC, the Meroitic king, Ergamenes (also known as Arkamani-qo) ordered all the high priests to be slaughtered because they sent him a letter to suicide ¹. Thus this would also prove that Nubian pharaohs did not practice absolute powers as Egyptian pharaohs did.

Some unique laws existed in Nubia that were applied by the government. Most unique of these laws was that Nubian authority did not apply the death penalty on its subjects. However those who committed crimes were sent to work in gold mining. Herodotus writing in the fourth century BC, wrote of the Nubian conquest of Egypt, "– whenever any Egyptian committed any transgression, he"-(Sabaco pharaoh of Nubia)-" would never put him to death, but he gave sentence upon each man according to the greatness of his wrong doing, appointing them to work at throwing embankment before that city whence each man came committed wrong."(Herodotus ii. 137)².

• ^{1 Diodorus Scicilius, trans. C.H. Olfather, Loeb Library, 1979.}
• ^{2 Herodotus, and Donald Lateiner. The Histories, Trans. G. C. Macaulay (Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004).}