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a ruler:

Awawa
(1850 BCE)

Nedjeh
(1650 BCE)

Alara
(790 BCE - 760 BCE)

Kashta
(760 BCE - 747 BCE)

Piankhy
(747 BCE - 716 BCE)

Amenirdis
(740 BCE)

Shabaqo
(716 BCE - 702 BCE)

Shebitqo
(702 BCE - 690 BCE)

Taharqa
(690 BCE - 664 BCE)

Tanwetamani
(664 BCE - 653 BCE)

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The rulers of ancient Nubia ("Kush") are not as well known as those of Egypt.

Very few of the names of the Nubian kings who lived before 1,550 BCE (Before Common Era, the same as BC) are known. This is because the Nubians then did not use writing. The two or three surviving kings' names from this period exist only because the Egyptians chose to write them down for us.

From about 1,550 to 1,100 BCE, there were no native Nubian kings. The pharaohs of Egypt were the kings of Nubia.

About 1,100 BC, the Egyptian kings withdrew from Nubia, and native kings again took over the country. But since they did not use writing either, we know neither their names nor anything about them until about 780 BCE. It was at this time that the kings began using Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Later, about 200 BCE, they began using their own kind of writing, called Meroitic. Thus, after about 780 BCE, we know most of the names of the Nubian rulers until the end of the kingdom of Kush, about 350 CE (Common Era, the same as AD). Altogether there were about eighty rulers.

Unfortunately, of all these rulers, only a few left long inscriptions that we can read. (We still cannot read most of the inscriptions after about 200 BCE, since we have not learned to read Meroitic.) Most of the rulers are known only by their names written on their pyramids. Others are known from statues or monuments. A few are known from buildings they erected. The most famous Nubian rulers were those five kings who ruled Egypt between about 740 and 660 BCE.

Select a king or queen of Nubia from the menu on the left to learn more about the best known rulers of ancient Nubia!