Transcript First Age of Empires

The Empires of
Egypt and Nubia
Collide
Synopsis: Two empires along the Nile, Egypt and
Nubia, forged commercial, cultural, and political
connections.
The Fight to Take
Back Egypt
During Egypt’s Middle Kingdom period (about 2080 –
1640 B.C.E.), trade with Mesopotamia and the Indus
Valley enriched Egypt.
After the prosperity of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt descended
into war and violence. This was caused by a succession of weak
pharaohs and power struggles among rival nobles.
The weakened country fell to invaders who swept across the Isthmus of
Suez in chariots, a weapon of war unknown to the Egyptians. These
invaders, nomads called Hyksos, ruled Egypt from 1640 to 1570 B.C.
The New Kingdom of
Egypt
The Hyksos invasion
shook the Egyptians’
confidence in the
desert barriers that
had protected their
kingdom.
The Egyptians were
forced to retreat south
as the Hyksos took
control of Lower Egypt.
The Egyptians were
forced to pay tribute to
the Hyksos.
Around
1600 B.C.E.,
a series of
warlike
rulers
began to
restore
Egypt’s
power.
Then they
began some
conquests
of their
own.
The Egyptians
were
sandwiched
between two
hostile enemies.
They had the
Hyksos to the
north and the
Nubians to the
south.
Hyksos
Egyptians
Nubians

Nubia lay south of
Egypt between the
first cataract of
the Nile and the
division of the
river into the Blue
and White Niles.
Despite several
cataracts around
which boats had to
be carried, the
lengthy Nile
provided the best
north-south trade
route.

Several Nubian kingdoms (including
Kush) served as a trade corridor.
They linked Egypt and the
Mediterranean world to the north
with the interior of Africa to the
south and to the Red Sea.
Along the river, foods and ideas flowed back and forth
for centuries. The first Nubian kingdom, Kerma, arose
shortly after 2000 B.C. Kerma’s kings were buried in
chambers larger than those in any Egyptian pyramid.

Red and black Kerma pottery of great beauty
fetched high prices from Egyptian nobles. Kerma
prospered during Egypt’s Hyksos period.
The Egyptians pharaoh, Seqenenre Tao II (the Brave) decided
to go after the Nubians first.

Once he defeated them, he would turn his sites on Lower
Egypt and the Hyksos.
While fighting the Hyksos, Seqenenre Tao II was killed. His
wife, Queen Ahhotep (ah HOH tehp) rallied the troops and
maintained the pressure on the Hyksos to help drive them out
of Egypt.
One of
Ahhotep’s sons,
Kamose (KAH
mohs), won a
great victory
over the hated
Hyksos.

Kamose’s brother
Ahmose drove the
Hyksos completely
out of Egypt and
pursued them across
the Sinai Peninsula
into Canaan.

Dagger that bore the name of Ahmose I