Meriotic Kushiite in 28mm

[DBS]

I always wonder where some of the army list compilers get their information from, Jim, seeing that the rest of us struggle to find "stuff".

1) I suspect a tendency to take Romano-Greek authors at face value - given we have few alternative sources, then perfectly understandable, but perhaps ought to be qualified in some way, if only for intellectual honesty;

2) A tendency to assume similarities with other cultures extends to military similarities;

3) Dare I say it, a tendency in some cases to go with hypotheses, however shaky, to have something different and distinctive...

Personally, I suspect the Kushite forces were reasonably well organised, and even if most were not necessarily regular in an administrative sense, at least had a warrior ethos for some troops, given the prevalence of weapons and archery thumb rings in male graves. (Yes, the latter might be for hunting, but burying a chap with a ring actually on his thumb suggests to me something more, a token of status or profession.)  Their single biggest problem was probably that their armament and tactics were likely optimised for dealing with desert raiders and policing, not taking on Assyrians in the early period, or Romans in the latter.  A bit like Britons versus Romans - the latter might not be better soldiers individually, but they are accustomed to campaigns and pitched battles, and armed/trained accordingly, whilst the former are accustomed to cattle rustling, duffing up the neighbours for slaves, and drunken duelling after an over exuberant feast.

[Duncan Head]

I always wonder where some of the army list compilers get their information from, Jim, seeing that the rest of us struggle to find "stuff".

In the case of the DBM/MM list:
Strabo, Heliodorus' Aethiopica, Welsby's Kingdom of Kush, Adams' Nubia: Corridor to Africa, Shinnie's Meroe: A Civilization Of The Sudan. Some useful artwork in Nicolle's Osprey Desert Frontier, but I'm not actually sure if there was anything new in there that affected the list that I hadn't seen elsewhere.

[Jim Webster]

Thanks for the feedback chaps, useful and interesting.

I always wonder where some of the army list compilers get their information from, Jim, seeing that the rest of us struggle to find "stuff".

There does seem to be a change in the Kushite culture and approach following the rule of Ergamenes (probably different spellings in different articles) when he reduced the power of the priesthood. After that it seems that queens became more common in terms of rulers.

Low quality border garrisons (half-soldiers / half-farmers) seems to match what other empires did, but as David suggests probably didn't form a large part of a field army.

Duncan has given you some more sources

Quoting the wiki which quotes Dio Sic

"He went with his army to the place difficult to get to, or fortress, when was formally the temple of gold of the Ethiopians, and caused all the priests to be massacred, and instituted himself a new religion"

It mentions Fontes Historiae Nubiorum. Textual sources for the history of the Middle Nile Region between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD .


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216645410_Fontes_Historiae_Nubiorum_Textual_sources_for_the_history_of_the_Middle_Nile_Region_between_the_Eighth_Century_BC_and_the_Sixth_Century_AD_Vol_I_From_the_Eighth_to_the_Mid-Fifth_Century_BC/link/589addc892851c8bb6823772/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

I'm trying to download it but it's nearly 200mbps and my connection keeps breaking down as I try
Might be worth somebody else having a go

Jim

[DBS]

Thanks to Jim - there are actually four volumes, each linked below:

Eighth to Mid Fifth Century BC

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216645410_Fontes_Historiae_Nubiorum_Textual_sources_for_the_history_of_the_Middle_Nile_Region_between_the_Eighth_Century_BC_and_the_Sixth_Century_AD_Vol_I_From_the_Eighth_to_the_Mid-Fifth_Century_BC?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7InBhZ2UiOiJzY2llbnRpZmljQ29udHJpYnV0aW9ucyIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

Mid Fifth to First Century BC
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216645445_Fontes_Historiae_Nubiorum_Textual_sources_for_the_history_of_the_Middle_Nile_Region_between_the_Eighth_Century_BC_and_the_Sixth_Century_AD_Vol_II_From_the_Mid-Fifth_to_the_First_Century_BC?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7InBhZ2UiOiJzY2llbnRpZmljQ29udHJpYnV0aW9ucyIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

First to Sixth Century AD
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216645470_Fontes_Historiae_Nubiorum_Textual_sources_for_the_history_of_the_Middle_Nile_Region_between_the_Eighth_Century_BC_and_the_Sixth_Century_AD_Vol_III_From_the_First_to_the_Sixth_Century_AD?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7InBhZ2UiOiJzY2llbnRpZmljQ29udHJpYnV0aW9ucyIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

Corrigenda and Indices
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216645477_Fontes_Historiae_Nubiorum_Textual_sources_for_the_history_of_the_Middle_Nile_Region_between_the_Eighth_Century_BC_and_the_Sixth_Century_AD_Vol_IV_Corrigenda_and_Indices?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7InBhZ2UiOiJzY2llbnRpZmljQ29udHJpYnV0aW9ucyIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

[Jim Webster]

Yes I've now got them, all I have to do is read them. 

[dwkay57]

I have to say I'm really impressed by the amount of reading you guys are carrying out. I've barely had time to turn the first few pages of a book about a dead man riding east which arrived at Christmas (the book not the rider you understand).

[Jim Webster]

I have to say I'm really impressed by the amount of reading you guys are carrying out. I've barely had time to turn the first few pages of a book about a dead man riding east which arrived at Christmas (the book not the rider you understand).

But you paint an amazing number of figures and produce fine wargames accounts so that may explain some of where the time goes 

[CarlL]

An inspiring book, albeit not going to answer the initial question raised, is "Sudan Ancient Treasures, an exhibition of recent discoveries from the Sudan National Museum" ed. by Derek A. Welsby & Julie R. Anderson, published by the British Museum Press, 2004.

It ranges from the palaeolithic & mesolithic to  medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. I wonder what has survived of this, the Sudan National museum, and its collection through the current and recent civil wars.

CarlL

[dwkay57]

I don't think my wife sees it in quite the same positive way young Jim.

[Imperial Dave]

  

[Jim Webster]

I don't think my wife sees it in quite the same positive way young Jim.

Apparently wargamers make good second husbands 

[Imperial Dave]

 

[DBS]

As an aside, having been rereading Welsby after many years, I was struck by a passing comment he made on the Kushite royal tombs. Most of these were topped by pyramids. Some of the pyramids had lime plaster rendering over their surfaces. So far, so good. But there is apparently evidence that at least some of these rendered pyramids were then painted red and yellow and given a band of stars around their lower levels.

A sobering reminder that our concepts of ancient appearance, based on what survives now, can be quite askew...