Government-(Logan) Grade: B
Two empires developed along the Nile River, the Egyptians and the Kush. Kush was heavily influenced by Egyptian cultural diffusion, which was greatly effective on the Kush governing bodies. Nevertheless Kush rose to have a great governing system, keeping Kush alive for over 4000 years. The Kush government was supportive of equality, maintained an excellent military, and maintained longevity.

Equality was brought to a level never seen before in the Kush empire. Kush kings did not have absolute power like other monarchies. Instead kings were responsible for maintaining the law while religious priests interpreted the law. Woman were treated with the same level of respect, if not more, than men. The mother of the king was the second most important figure in the government, providing smooth transitions of power after one ruler's reign ended. Both genders were equal under the law, had the right to buy and sell land, and could marry and divorce. Kings were not selected by royal birth, instead a member of the royal family was elected by other nobility, and were generally succeeded by their queens. However the Kush did have slaves, which were treated unequally and unfairly.

Military power was one of the Kush's greatest strong points, defending the kingdom from invaders and conquering other lands. Kush was skilled in defensive strategies, especially archery, as it was being regularly invaded for its natural wealth. Under king Piye the Kush army was able to completely control Egypt, becoming its 25th dynasty. However the Kush were overthrown by native Egyptians, and became an independent state. After failed attempts to regain control of Egypt the capital, Napata, was destroyed by Egyptians and moved to Meroe. The military continued to defend Kush until its fall over 1000 years later.

From 3800 BC to 1400 BC the Kush remained a strong, independent empire. Consent between the governed and the rulers reached a high point that its neighbor, Egypt, never did. Life for the common villager was good, as leadership imposed by village leaders was suggesting, not controlling. Therefore Kush had little to no rebellions, and only had to worry about outside threats. Kush maintained a good basis of trading with other countries, and was a key source or iron and incense. The Kush's identity, though originally very Egyptian based, even to the point where rulers were called pharaohs, became very unique after the move to Meroe. There is no definite cause of the fall of the Kush, but lack of resources that led to inability to defend from invasion is a common theory.

Overall the Kush had an organized, equalitive, and long lasting government system. However the destruction of Napata, their use of slaves, albeit they were used in most african empires, and their lack of recorded standardization efforts place the government just above average, wtih a B.

Religion-(Alyssa Mihalik) Grade:B
The people of the kush kingdom were very little influenced by their Egyptian presence in the upper part of Nubia, but they were greatly influenced by the Africans south of them. Which were very polytheistic and Pharohonic. When the kush had to cope with things in their lives they went to temples to worship to Ra; but their main god "Ra"had  many lesser gods like Anubis, he had the job of seeing if a person had good karma in their past life determining whether they go to heaven or hell. Religion is a great way to unite people, the Kush received it from missionaries, they would come and go and bring stories with them from the bible. Since the Kush believed in karma, to honor and provide things the past(dead) will need in the next life they used mummification. Which is: To give a soul use of its body in the afterlife. The Kush would preserve the body by wrapping it in cloth the placed in a tomb that then goes in a pyramid. Also the Kush had a very unique layout or structure of their pyramids; they had flat tops.
Grade: B-......I'm giving their religion an B- because its good to be unique, their pyramids were very original. I also gave them the grade I did because the Kush did not unite by themselves, they had help from missionaries in a way, and they adopted their religion mostly from the Africans; they did not create their own.

Economy: Me(Alyssa), Logan, Haley and Brooke. Grade:

The Kush were the leading producers in iron and other metals. It became the iron capital of the time and was also known as the land of gold. The goods produced on a large scale were iron products, ivory, incense, and gold.

The Kush used the ports on the Red Sea, Nile river, and the Mediterranean Sea. They traded iron, gold, and more exotic goods like incense and ebony to Egypt. They also traded beer and wood to Central Africa places.The Kush had a good system of trade because of where it was located. Since it was right on the Nile River it made the system of trade very easy. Another reason it had and advanced level of trade was because the Kush was the trading center between Egypt and Central Africa.

 
Art and Agriculture-(Jocilyn) Grade: B

The Kush Kingdom was a very sophisticated and well put together society.. The Kushities developed they’re own language by inheriting it from the Egyptians They were very creative in the way they thought every idea through. It was easy to tell that the Kush Kingdom was advanced in the way they thought which helped them be so successful. Some of these achievements were Iron Tools for Mining, Stone temples such as the Lion Temple and Solid Pyramids. Some of the advancements in art include Narrative Tomb wall paintings, Extremely Unique eggshell thin pottery with unique patterns and stoick granite and bronze god statues. The Kush Kingdom had very creative FJ5minds, which helped them advance as a society. They were ten steps in front of everyone else.

 

Technology-(brooke) Grade: D

I gave the Kush a D in technology because all their technology came from the Egyptians. All they created by themselves was a rake to help with farming and a water system for the Nile river.Both these helped them get their jobs like farming done more efficiently.The water system helped raise and lower the water to help irrigate the farms. As well as the trenches they dug to store water and other needs in them. Other then the rake and the water system all the other technology advances that they had came from Egypt and they way of life that the Egyptians had. They used the Egyptians idea for gold processing and they got the idea of iron making from the west Egypt area. So i believe that the Kush didn't do very well with technology considering they go it all from Egypt.

Society-(Haley R.) Grade:B
I gave the Kush society a B because of how equal they were. They were more equal than any empire and it was very unseen and unlikely for this type of equality at the time. The men and women were equal in the Kush. Sometimes the women were more important than the men or higher in power. Most of the men and women would work together a lot of times farming.
In the Kush there were social classes. The highest being kings, then the mother of the king, then women and men, and lastly slaves. I assume that social movement would be allowed because of the equality of all people in the Kush empire. The leadership positions in the Kush you could move up to because they were very non strict like the village leader. If you did not want to take on the role of village leader you didn't have to but if you wanted to you could.
The reason I did not give the Kush society an A is because of the slaves. They were treated very badly and with no respect at all. I think that if there were no slaves in the Kush empire it would be almost pefect because of how equal everybody else was. Other than that this empire was great because of the unheard of equality.

 

 

 

 Overall-(Logan) Grade: B

I gave the Kush/Nubian empire a B as its overall grade. Though Kush had a long lasting government, well based trade system, advanced arts and archeticture, and a uniting religion; it also had its flaws. The Kush were too heavily influenced by Egypt to have a truely unique identity. They were copiers, like Japan. Technology made minute advancments among the Kush and provided no significant contributions to the world. However its strong points outweigh its weak points, giving Kush a slightly above average empire, with a B.