isaac Samuel Profile picture
Jan 4, 2022 19 tweets 16 min read Read on X
"The Meroitic empire, Queen Amanirenas and the Candaces of Kush: power and gender in an ancient African state"
On the enigma of Meroe ...

references thread with screenshots

isaacsamuel.substack.com/p/the-meroitic…
1- list of monarchs of kush
2- Meroe as a city of violent contest and capital of the Napatan-era kings
3- the emergence of the meroitic dynasty
4-the emergence of the meroitic script and the circumstances that brought Kush's first female sovereign to power
5- the origin of the Kushite title Candace
6- burials of elite women in the neolithic era of nubia
7- the meroitic language of the people of ancient kush from the kerma-era to the meroitic era
8- names of the rulers of Kerma
9-on the kerman queen consort in 17th dynasty Egypt (and the photo of the coffin i used)
10- Queen katimala's inscription, description of scene

(this paper is free online academia.edu/19069000/The_I… )
11- see paper i linked above ☝️🏾
12- the position of royal women of Kush during the napatan era
13-the politics behind the queen mothers' prominence in ancient egypt
14- kush using Egyptian symbols to integrate the latter into its realm
15- piye's inscription is the longest document in ancient Egypt
16- on kush's succession system being bilateral not matrilineal
17- Nastasen tracing his lineage from Alara, 400 years earlier than him
18- the photos of queen Amanimalolo (napatan era)
19-on Ergamenes identity as Arkamaniqo and the emergence of the meroitic dynasty, see 3 above
20- the kushite election iconography at Musawwarat
21- the gods of Musawwarat
22- oscillation of lower nubia between kush and Ptolemaic egypt
23
-Ptolemies take lower nubia in 274BC
-Kushites retake it in 207BC, temple construction, ptolemies retake it in 186BC
-Kushites retake it in 100BC until the roman invasion of 30BC
24- on the kushite temples in lower nubia, see the 3rd screenshot above
25- war between rome and kush plus peace treaty
26- Queen Amanirenas' inscription of war with rome
27- Queen Amanishakheto inscription depicting a bound roman prisoner with a grecian helmet (#triviaxt)
28-
paintings of the roman captives of Queen Amanirenas of Kush from the "Augustus temple" (M 292) at Meroe (1st cent. BC-1st cent AD)

these paintings haven't received much attention from classists & nubiologists
one of the oldest depictions europeans in African art

#randomxt
the book i took them from is free online (for reading)

Studies in ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Sudan : essays in honor of Dows Dunham on the occasion of his 90th birthday, June 1, 1980
by Charles C. Van Siclen
archive.org/details/studie…
29- on whether it was Queen Amanirenas or Queen Amanitore that buried Augustus' head
30-prosperity after the war with rome
31- see 28 above
32- see 27 above
33- prince Akinidad depictions with queen Amanishakheto
34- Kush's princes "electing" the Queens of meroe
prince akinidad as "queen maker" of the Queens Amanirenas and Amanishakheto and prince Etaretey for Queen Nawidemak
35- on prince Etretey legitimizing Queen Nawidemak's reign
36- "male attributes" of the first four Queens of Kush
37- feminine depictions of the Queens of Kush
38- james bruce on the funj royal wives
39- on egyptian female sovereignty and depictions of egyptian queens as androgynous
40- Queen Shanakdakheto and the invention of the meroitic script
41- why the meroitic script was invented
42- Amanirenas compares with piye's military accomplishments and piety
43- dynastic struggles that favored the enthronement of three queens in close succession
44, 45- comparing Queen katimala and king piye leading their armies from the front with Queen Amanirenas doing the same in her war with rome
46- why later Queens of kush didn't require a legitmizing male figure

47- on Queen Njinga's challenges to her legitimacy based on her gender and the dynasty she established in which 50% were women


48- Benins' Iyoba office
49-Kano's queen mother offices
-50
this one is a good book about female sovereignty in europe which in many ways compares to female sovereignty in Africa

The Rise of Female Kings in Europe, 1300-1800 By William Monter
books.google.com/books/about/Th…

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More from @rhaplord

Nov 3
Acemoglu in Kongo: a critique of 'Why Nations Fail' and its wilful ignorance of African history.

africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-…
There aren’t many African Nobel laureates, nor does research on African societies show up in the selection committees of Stockholm.

It was therefore a refreshing change when AJR whose work includes research on Africa, won the 2024 Nobel Prize.
africanhistoryextra.com/p/acemoglu-in-…
The trio argue that the type of institutions established by European colonialists resulted in the poorer parts of the world before the 1500s becoming some of the richest economies of today, and the reverse for wealthy regions of the pre-1500s
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Aug 11
"A General History of Iron Technology in Africa ca. 2000BC-1900AD."

africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-general-hi…
The smelting and working of iron is arguably the best known among the pre-colonial technologies of Africa, and the continent is home to some of the world's oldest sites of ironworking.
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The production, control, and distribution of Iron was pivotal in the rise and fall of African states, the expansion of trade and cultural exchanges, and the growth of military systems which ensured Africa’s autonomy until the close of the 19th century.
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Jun 26
"A muslim kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands: the history of Ifat and Adal ca. 1285-1520."
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During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most powerful dynasties, whose history significantly shaped the region's social landscape.
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while the history of the Solomonids has been sufficiently explored in many works of African history, their biggest political rivals, known as the Walasma dynasty of Ifat, are less known despite their contribution to the region’s cultural heritage.
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Read 24 tweets
Mar 31
my article:

"Anti-slavery laws and Abolitionist thought in pre-colonial Africa"

the view from Benin, Kongo, Songhai, and Ethiopia.

africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery…
In 1516, the King of Benin imposed a ban on the exportation of slaves from his kingdom, an embargo that was enforced for over two centuries during the height of the Atlantic slave trade
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A lot has been written about the European abolitionist movement in the 19th century, but there's relatively less literature outlining the gradual process in which anti-slavery laws evolved between the Middle Ages and the early modern period.
africanhistoryextra.com/p/anti-slavery…
Read 12 tweets
Mar 26
The sheer complexity and diversity of Africa should make it the last place for generalists to write about,

but that has never stopped them,
because even the laziest, most essentialist research is rewarded by their audiences
Take the popular theory of 'wealth in people' as a means of accumulation in pre-colonial societies of west-central Africa

which, to oversimplify, means that 'people' (people/followers/labour) had more value over 'things' (Land, tradable goods etc)
Wealth, Land and Property in Angola By Mariana P. Candido pg 48-49.    This is a good summary of all these scholars who have written about the wealth-in-people theory and their general arguments
Image
In many cases, the theory is usually explained and interpreted to mean;

Labor was scarce = had value = focus of state control = wealth was only accumulated by acquiring followers, dependants, and slaves

Land was abundant= no value = no state control = communally owned
Read 9 tweets
Feb 21
icymi

"The colonial myth of 'Sub-Saharan Africa' in medieval Islamic geography: the view from Egypt and Bornu."
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial…
The historicity of the term sub-Saharan Africa is the most persistent misconception in discourses on Africa's past
Proponents of its use claim that it is derived from a historical reality, reflected in the nature of the interaction between Africa's regions
africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-colonial…
However, a closer analysis of the intellectual and cultural exchanges between Egypt and Bornu shows that the separation of Africa was never a historical reality, but is instead a more recent colonial construct with a fabricated history.
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Read 28 tweets

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