Cush

Cush (kŭsh, ksh).

1 Asian nation, perhaps the same as one of similar name in E Mesopotamia. Gen. 10.8; 1 Chron. 1.10.

2 Ancient kingdom of Nubia, in the present Sudan, which flourished from the 11th cent. B.C. to the 4th cent. A.D. The rulers of Cush overran Upper Egypt (mid-8th cent. B.C.) as far as Thebes. Piankhi conquered the rest of Egypt (Lower Egypt) from Tefnakhte. Taharka was defeated in the Delta by the Assyrians, and the Cushites lost control of Egypt. The Cushite capital was transferred from Napata to Meroë; Meroë was a prosperous state until the 4th cent. A.D., when it fell to the Ethiopians and was abandoned. There is a theory that the people of Meroë moved westward and introduced ironcasting techniques to the Lake Chad area.

Bibliography

See A. J. Arkell, A History of the Sudan to A.D. 1821 (1955, repr. 1974).

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Cush

 or Kush

Ancient country, Nubia region of the Nile River valley. In the 2nd millennium BC it was subject to Egypt. In the 8th century BC Cushite King Piye invaded and conquered Egypt. It was ruled from 719 BC by Piye's brother Shabaka, who also invaded Egypt and set up the 25th dynasty; he subsequently made Memphis his capital. In the mid-7th century BC the Cushite kingdom's capital was transferred to Meroë, where the Cushites ruled for another 1,000 years.