SocietyNorth Africa

Kush and Meroë

751 BCE – 350

Nubian kings conquer Egypt and build more pyramids than the Egyptians

In depth

The twenty-fifth dynasty saw itself as restoring Egyptian tradition rather than conquering it, and built and repaired temples on a large scale. Meroë later became an iron-producing centre of continental importance. Meroitic script can be read phonetically, but the language remains ununderstood — another of the world's unsolved decipherments.

For children

From Sudan, King Piye marched north and conquered all of Egypt. For a century Nubian pharaohs ruled the country. Later the kingdom of Meroë built over two hundred pyramids — more than exist in Egypt — and developed an alphabet of its own.

Connects to

Kerma in Nubia2,501 BCE – 1,501 BCE
Egypt unified3,101 BCE
Aksum100 – 940
The Iron Age1,201 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org