Kashta was an 8th century BC king of the
Kush
Kush or Cush may refer to:
Bible
* Cush (Bible), two people and one or more places in the Hebrew Bible
Places
* Kush (mountain), a mountain near Kalat, Pakistan Balochistan
* Kush (satrapy), a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire
* Hindu Kush, a ...
ite Dynasty in ancient
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
and the successor of
Alara ''Alara'' may refer to:
People
* Alara of Ilara-Mokin, the king of Ilara-Mokin land in Nigeria
* Alara of Nubia, a king of Kush
* Āḷāra Kālāma, a hermit saint, a teacher of yogic meditation and teacher of Gautama Buddha
* Luis Alberto Fernán ...
. His nomen ''k3š-t3'' (transcribed as Kashta, possibly pronounced /kuʔʃi-taʔ/) "of the land of Kush" is often translated directly as "The Kushite". He was succeeded by
Piye
Piye (once transliterated as Pankhy or Piankhi; d. 714 BC) was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan ...
, who would go on to conquer
ancient Egypt and establish the
Twenty-Fifth Dynasty there.
Family
Kashta is thought to be a brother of his predecessor Alara.
Both Alara and Kashta were thought to have married their sisters. These theories date back to the work of Dunham and Macadam, but Morkot points out that there is no clear evidence to support these assumptions.
Kashta's only known wife was
Pebatjma
Pebatjma (or Pebatma) was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of King Kashta.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240 She is mentioned on a ...
. Several children and possible children are recorded:
* King
Piye
Piye (once transliterated as Pankhy or Piankhi; d. 714 BC) was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan ...
- Thought to be a son of Kashta. Possibly a son of Pebatjma
* King
Shabaka
Neferkare Shabaka, or Shabako ( Egyptian: 𓆷𓃞𓂓 ''šꜣ bꜣ kꜣ'', Assyrian: ''Sha-ba-ku-u'') was the third Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who reigned from 705 to 690 BC.F. Payraudeau, Retour sur la succession ...
- Mentioned as a brother of Amenirdis I, and hence a son of Kashta and Pebatjma.
[Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240]
* Queen
Khensa
Khensa (Khenensaiuw) was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240
Khensa is named as a King's Wife and King's Sister t ...
- Wife of Piye, thought to be a daughter of Kashta
and possibly Pebatjma.
* Queen
Peksater
Peksater (PekersloAngelika Lohwasser: ''Die königlichen Frauen im antiken Reich von Kusch: 25. Dynastie bis zur Zeit des Nastasen'', Wiesbaden 2001, , p. 175) was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilt ...
(or Pekareslo) - She was married to Piye and was buried in
Abydos. She may have died while accompanying Piye on a campaign to Egypt.
[Morkot, Robert G., The Black Pharaohs: Egypt's Nubian Rulers, The Rubicon Press, 2000, ] Laming and Macadam suggest she was an adopted daughter of Pebatjma.
[Dows Dunham and M. F. Laming Macadam, Names and Relationships of the Royal Family of Napata, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 35 (Dec., 1949), pp. 139-149]
JSTOR
/ref>
* God's Wife of Amun
God's Wife of Amun ( Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twent ...
Amenirdis I
Amenirdis I (throne name: ''Hatneferumut'') was a God's Wife of Amun during the 25th Dynasty of ancient Egypt., p.238 Originating from the Kingdom of Kush, she was the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma, and was later adopted by Shepen ...
. A statue of Amenirdis mentions she is the daughter of Kashta and Pebatjma.
* Neferukakashta - Thought to be a daughter of Kashta and possibly Pebatjma.
Kushite rule of Upper Egypt under Kashta
While Kashta ruled Nubia from Napata
Napata (Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic ''Napa''; grc, Νάπατα and Ναπάται) was a city of ancient Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from the right side of the river at the ...
, which is 400 km north of Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, the modern capital of Sudan, he also exercised a strong degree of control over Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
by managing to install his daughter, Amenirdis I, as the presumptive God's Wife of Amun in Thebes in line to succeed the serving Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, Osorkon III
Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was Pharaoh of Egypt in the 8th Century BC. He is the same person as the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B, son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Karomama II. Prince Osorkon B is best att ...
's daughter. This development was "the key moment in the process of the extension of Kushite power over Egyptian territories" under Kashta's rule since it officially legitimized the Kushite takeover of the Thebaid
The Thebaid or Thebais ( grc-gre, Θηβαΐς, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan.
Pharaonic history
The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximity to ...
region. The Hungarian Kushite scholar, László Török, notes that there were probably already Kushite garrisons stationed in Thebes itself during Kashta's reign both to protect this king's authority over Upper Egypt and to thwart a possible future invasion of this region from Lower Egypt.
Török observes that Kashta's appearance as King of Upper and Lower Egypt and peaceful takeover of Upper Egypt is suggested both "by the fact that the descendants of Osorkon III, Takelot III and Rudamun continued to enjoy a high social status in Thebes in the second half of the 8th and in the first half of the 7th century" CEas is shown by their burials in this city as well as the joint activity between the Divine Adoratrice Shepenupet I and the god's Wife of Amun Elect Amenirdis I, Kashta's daughter. A stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...
from Kashta's reign has been found in Elephantine (modern day Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
)--at the local temple dedicated to the god Khnum
Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...
—which attests to his control of this region. It bears his royal name or prenomen: Nimaatre. Egyptologists today believe that either he or more likely Piye was the Year 12 Nubian king mentioned in a well-known inscription at Wadi Gasus which associates the Adopted god's Adoratice of Amun, Amenirdis, Kashta's daughter together with Year 19 of the serving God's Wife of Amun, Shepenupet. Kashta's reign length is unknown. Some sources credit Kashta as the founder of the 25th dynasty
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of t ...
since he was the first Kushite king known to have expanded his kingdom's influence into Upper Egypt. Under Kashta's reign, the native Kushite population of his kingdom, situated between the third and fourth Cataracts of the Nile, became rapidly 'Egyptianized' and adopted Egyptian traditions, religion and culture.[Britannica, p.817] Kashta's successor was Piye.
Burial
The pyramids of el-Kurru
El-Kurru was the first of the three royal cemeteries used by the Kushite royals of Napata, also referred to as Egypt's 25th Dynasty, and is home to some of the royal Nubian Pyramids. It is located between the 3rd and 4th cataracts of the Nile ...
contain the tombs of Kashta and several of his successors. The highest part of the cemetery contains 4 tumulus tombs (Tum.1,2,4 and 5). To the east of the tumulus tombs we find a row of at least eight pyramids. One of them partially intrudes on a tumulus tomb (Tum.19). The southernmost of this row of pyramids belong to Kashta (presumably to) his wife Pebatjma. Before this row is another row of pyramids which includes those of Piye, Shabaka and Tanutamani.
To the south of the (presumed) pyramid of Pebatjma one has to cross the southern wadi to reach the southern pyramids. These are the pyramids of the Queens: Naparaye (K.3), Khensa
Khensa (Khenensaiuw) was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240
Khensa is named as a King's Wife and King's Sister t ...
(K.4), Qalhata
Qalhata was a Nubian queen dated to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240
Qalhata was a daughter of King Piye and a queen consort to her bro ...
(K.5), and Arty
Arty may refer to:
People
* Arty (Queen), 8th century BC wife of Pharaoh Shebitku
* Arty (musician) (born 1989), Russian record producer and DJ born Artem Stolyarov
* Arty Ash, stage name of British actor Arthur Richard Dodge (1895–1954)
* A n ...
(K.6).[D. M. Dixon, ''The Origin of the Kingdom of Kush (Napata-Meroë)'', The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 50 (Dec., 1964), pp. 121-132]
File:Statue CG42198 Legrain.jpg, Sitting statue of the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Amenardis I, daughter of pharaoh Kashta and queen Pebatjma. Cairo Museum (CG 42198)
Egyptian - Situla Bearing the names of Kashta and Amenirdis - Walters 543077 - Detail A.jpg, Egyptian - Situla Bearing the names of Kashta and Amenirdis
Scarab Inscribed With the Cartouches of Kashta and Amenirdis MET EG124.jpg, Scarab Inscribed With the Cartouches of Kashta and Amenirdis MET EG124
References
{{end
8th-century BC monarchs of Kush
Egyptian people of Nubian descent
8th century BC in Egypt