Th utmose’s words, “Th en this army of His Majesty arrived at
wretched Kush.... Th is army of His Majesty overthrew those
barbarians.... Th ey were placed under the feet of the Good
God.... Th e land was made a subject of His Majesty.”
At this point, “wretched Kush” became a full-fl edged
Egyptian colony. Large numbers of Egyptians moved to
Nubia, occupying the forts and building walled towns, resi-
dences, temples, and workshops. Egyptians in Nubia included
not only soldiers but also artisans, priests, settlers, and a
small army of overseers, mayors, and other civic offi cials. Ar-
chaeologists have discovered hundreds of ordinary tombs (as
opposed to the lavish tombs of pharaohs and other high of-
fi cials), suggesting that there was a mass movement of settlers
into Nubia. At this point, too, the old forts below the second
cataract became of less importance. Th ey continued to be oc-
cupied but largely for the purpose of assisting trade.
Over hundreds of miles above the second cataract large
administrative centers grew around new fortifi cations that
had been built. Quickly, these administrative centers outgrew
the forts that protected them. Spilling out around them were
towns and residential areas inhabited by Egyptians who had
migrated to Nubia. Egypt undertook a massive building pro-
gram, constructing temples as symbols of its imperial power,
including one temple built on a site sacred to Nubians at the
Nubian capital of Napata, the southernmost extent of Egyp-
tian colonization. Ramses II (r. 1194–1163 b.c.e.), in particu-
lar, littered Nubia with temples built for his own glorifi cation.
Ruling over Nubia and the southernmost nome of Upper
Egypt was a viceroy who was given the title “King’s Son of
Kush.” Th is viceroy was responsible for collecting taxes and
tribute and overseeing the activities of the thousands of Egyp-
tians who had moved to Nubia.
Egyptian migration into Nubia changed the economic
life of the Kush. Previously, the country had been inhab-
ited primarily by herders and farmers; many of the people
were nomadic. Th e presence of large numbers of Egyptians,
though, turned Nubia into a productive colony. Land own-
ership was in the hands of Egyptian offi cials and, particu-
larly, the Egyptian temples. Tribute paid from working the
land was used to supports a large class of Egyptian priests
and their servants, artisans, miners, farmers, administrators,
shipbuilders, and craft smen. Prospectors from Egypt scoured
the desert areas to the east of the Nile in search of gold, and
their success led to the construction of numerous mines and
mining settlements, all populated by Egyptians looking for
gold to fi nance Egypt’s military campaigns.
Th e colonization of Nubia was complete. Nubia was es-
sentially absorbed into Egypt, annexed to it and part of the
state. Under the infl uence of massive Egyptian immigration,
the Nubians became almost entirely Egyptian in their reli-
gion, economy, and general outlook. No longer were they the
“miserable” or “wretched” Kush. Although the highest gov-
ernmental positions remained closed to them, many achieved
relatively high positions in the bureaucracy. Th ey adopted
Egyptian customs and ways, and even their tombs were vir-
tually indistinguishable from those of the Egyptians—no mi-
nor matter given the Egyptian emphasis on the aft erlife and
the importance of tombs and funerary goods in easing pas-
sage into the aft erlife.THIRD INTERMEDIATE, LATE, AND
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD
Th e fi rst millennium b.c.e. was aff ected by foreign kings and
dynasties. Th e Twenty-second Dynasty was of Libyan origin,
and the Twenty-fi ft h Dynasty was Nubian. Shortly before the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty the Assyrians ruled much of Egypt. Th e
Persian army overwhelmed Egypt twice: during the Twenty-
seventh and Th irty-fi rst Dynasties. Alexander the Great came
to Egypt, and one of his offi cers became Ptolemy I and estab-
lished the Ptolemaic Dynasty (304–30 b.c.e.) before the Ro-
mans ruled the land. All these events are barely recorded in
Egyptian records or texts but were described by Greek histo-
rians. Egypt was Egypt again with a strong Egyptian society,
temple-building projects, literature, administration, trade,
and foreigners in the role of pharaoh, but all with a more mul-
ticultural infl uence. One example of Egypt’s multiculturalism
was the island Elephantine near Aswān in Upper Egypt. El-
ephantine was settled from Early Dynastic times on and had a
Jewish colony during the fi ft h century b.c.e. Th ese Jewish sol-
diers and their families rapidly abandoned their own cultural
markers and were no longer recognizable from archaeological
material but only from Aramaic documents. Aramaic was the
universal language of the Near East at this time. Th is com-
munity intermarried but retained its distinctiveness. Greek
settlements from this time also have been found; the most fa-
mous was Naukratis in the western delta.
Again, the diffi culty is defi ning an “Egyptian.” While
these movements of people had more to do with migration
into the country rather than within the country, the abil-
ity of Egypt to absorb foreign cultures and peoples suggests
that populations could become Egyptian, thus blurring the
lines between movement of Egyptians and movement of for-
eign communities within the country that became largely
Egyptianized.EXILE
Th e other side of migration—going into exile—is described
in the “Tale of Sinuhe.” Sinuhe, who fl ees in panic aft er the
death of the king (which he hears about during a campaign in
Libya), details his long journey from southern Libya, across
the Nile, and past the fortresses to Asia, where he remains in
temporary exile in the vicinity of Coele-Syria or the north Jor-
dan valley, in Egypt called Retjenu. It has been suggested that
he fl eees because he is implicated in a court conspiracy, but
this has not been established. Living there, he is befriended
by Palestinians and marries a daughter of the chief of Up-
per Retjenu—the area of his exile. He settles in the territory
belonging to the tribe in the manner of a Bedouin sheikh.
Only homesickness and the desire for an Egyptian burial give
him the desire to go back to Egypt and praise the new king,migration and population movements: Egypt 697