lived Twenty-Fift h Dynasty of Egypt. During this period
Kushite artists blended Egyptian art styles into their own.
When large buildings were constructed, sculptors created
large reliefs (carvings with fi gures projecting out from a fl at
background) depicting gods the way the Egyptians did, with
human bodies and animal heads, wearing Egyptian-style
black wigs but Kushite clothing. Some reliefs portray kings
wielding swords and others show prisoners taken in war.
Th e Kushite carvings of people are notably chunkier than
Egyptian carvings, with heavier legs and broader shoulders,
resulting in a style infl uenced by Egypt but uniquely be-
longing to Kush. In the 700s and 600s b.c.e. Kushite bronze
statues were exceptionally sophisticated, portraying people
realistically. Small sculptures still have color on them, show-
ing that they were painted realistically.
In 663 b.c.e. Kush was forced out of Egypt by an invasion
into Egypt from Assyria. In 593 b.c.e. Egypt invaded Kush,
sacking Napata. Th e kings of Kush moved their capital south
to the city of Meroë, and there they reigned from about 590
b.c.e. to 350 c.e.; Nubian art fl ourished. Meroë is located on
the Nile River south of where the Atbara River fl ows into the
Ni le and lies on an ancient nor t h-to-sout h trade route. It is fa-
mous for its more than 60 steep pyramids marking the tombs
of Meroite kings. Many of them were 50 to 100 feet in height
when new, though ones built in the last 200 years of the king-
dom were about 13 feet in height.
Although the royal tombs were looted by grave robbers,
the robbers occasionally missed spectacular golden jewelry.
Some bracelets feature inlaid glass in abstract designs or in
depictions of a four-winged goddess. Egyptian infl uence can
be seen in the clothing of some of the fi gures and in beads
shaped like scarab beetles. Rings are elaborate, sometimes
wide enough to cover two or three upper knuckles. Small fi g-
ures of animals may have represented gods meant to protect
the dead, and snakes were probably symbols of the Meroite
kings and queens.
Meroite sculptors had contact with Greek and Roman
sculptors as well as Egyptian ones, and they incorporated
Greek and Roman styles into their own, creating freestand-
ing sculptures in sandstone. A bust of the deceased from a
Meroite tomb from 100 to 200 c.e., in the Sudan National
Museum in Khartoum, shows the mixture of infl uences and
its unique result, with hair tied down in rows, a Greek-like
pose, and an Egyptian-like nose but with slitlike eyes that are
African in style, as well as an overall composition of features
identifying the fi gure as a Meroite and no one else. Another
example is the Venus of Meroë from the 100s to 200s c.e. She
is missing most of her legs but still is almost a yard in length.
She shows the infl uence of Roman sculpture in her body pro-
portions and gives the appearance of soft plumpness. She was
painted a reddish brown.
AXUM
To the southeast of Kush, in the highlands of Ethiopia, a
nation arose out of the mixing of Sabeans from southwest
Arabia and local Africans in about 500 b.c.e., and they
spoke and wrote in the Sabean language. Th e city of Axum
was built on trade, shipping African goods off to the Near
East and the rest of Asia and importing goods from the Near
East and southern Asia. It was a major trading center by the
dawn of the Christian era; by 350 c.e. it was capital of a
kingdom that included Yemen and Meroë. When the nation
converted to Christianity at about that time, Christian im-
ages infl uenced its art.
Stone sculptures from as early as 1500 b.c.e. have been
found in the area of the city of Axum. One of a lion, in the
National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, is covered
with Sabean inscriptions, indicating that Axum had a long
cultural history before its emergence as an empire in East
Africa. By the 400s b.c.e. Axum was producing sculptures
in stone in its own national style: Human figures were
stiff, with stylized faces rather than portraits of individual
people, and altars were marked by the symbols of the gods
they served.
Th e most impressive of Axum’s sculpture began to be
carved in the 300s c.e. Th ese were stelae, or large upright
stones carved with images, the tallest of which was 108 feet
high; the tallest still standing is 22 feet high. More than 200
stelae have been found. Th ey were carved to look like tall
buildings, with doors at their bases and upper stories with
windows and columns. From a distance they appear to be
actual buildings. Th ey were built to mark tombs. An older
tomb built to resemble a house stands near some of the stelae,
and it is possible they evolved out of earlier, smaller imitation
houses. Th e stelae show some infl uence from Arabian and In-
dian sculpture. Other works from the 300s to 500s c.e. are
Christian symbols such as silver crosses.WEST AFRICA
Westward across Africa from Nubia and Axum, in Nigeria
at a tin mine at the village of Nok, stone tools and pieces
of ceramic sculptures were found in 1928: a human head, a
monkey’s head, and a foot. Apparently, the tools and sculp-
tures had been washed into a gully by rain, and the sculptures
had been broken apart in the process. Th e heads showed signs
of having been broken off from larger sculptures. In 1943
more ceramic heads were found, mostly by accident. In the
late 1950s these sculptures were identifi ed as being from one
culture located near the Niger River in a 60,000-square-mile
area. Th is culture was dubbed Nok, aft er the village where its
artifacts were fi rst found.
Exactly when the Nok culture fl ourished is uncertain,
with its beginning being placed either in the 700s b.c.e. or the
500s b.c.e. It seems to have ended in the 200s c.e. Th e origins
of Nok culture are likewise uncertain. Some historians be-
lieve the Nok were infl uenced by people from the Sahara, ei-
ther nomads or possibly Romans. Others suggest a movement
westward of the arts and skills of Kush, especially during the
period when Meroë was the capital of Kush. It is possible that
the Nok people developed their art on their own.art: Africa 91