The Kingdom of Kush: The Napatan and Meroitic Empires - Softcover

Welsby, D. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1558761829 ISBN 13: 9781558761827

Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1996

Synopsis

Accessible and interesting study of Egypt's neighbours to the south over 3,000 years from the A Group to the arrival of Christianity in the Sixth Century AD. KMT Magazine says of this book; "of the several book treatments of these cultures appearing in the 1980s, the present volume is easily the most accesssible and concise. reading it one has the sensation of encountering a wholly alien, yet thoroughly fascinating civilsation for the first time. Afrocentrists take note".

About this title

About the Author:

Derek A. Welsby is currently an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, British Museum, with special responsibility for the Sudanese collection.

Review:

...a reliable, up-to-date guide....Welsby's book presents the archaeological evidence extensively in illustrations and plates. Welsby's early and concluding chapters (1-3, 9) trace the rise, greatness, and "fall" of the Kushite kingdom in great detail and with frequent reference to points of scholarly disagreement. The book's middle chapters (5-8) treat a variety of topics: "Religion and Funerary Ritual", "Architecture", "Urban and Rural Settlement", "The Economy", and "The Arts and the Art of Writing". They rely heavily on architectural remains and plans and on artefacts excavated in temples, palaces, towns, and cemeteries.Kushite pyramids and tombs (and their grave goods), inscribed stelae, statues, reliefs, skeletons, and pots [and] such objects of daily life as clothing, musical instruments, toys, and cosmetics.

[Welsby's] aim...is to "provide a balanced account of the history of the Kingdom of Kush and the lifestyle of its inhabitants throughout its thousand-ye! ar history". In this The Kingdom of Kush admirably succeeds....it is hard not to agree with the author that "[s]tudying the Kingdom of Kush is like a detective story" full of "intriguing problems"... -- Classical Bulletin 75, no. 2 - 1999

About this edition

• Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1558761829
• ISBN 13: 9781558761827
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240