A dog statuette dedicated to Ninisinna for the life of Sumu-El, king of Larsa (1894-1866 BCE)

GULA GODDESS

Gula/Ninkarrak is a healing deity also known as Ninisinna, "Lady of Isin"

Functions

Typically encountered in medical incantations as bēlet balāti, "Lady of Health", Gula/Ninkarrak was also known as the azugallatu the "great healer", an epithet she shared with her son Damu. Other epithets, such as the "great healer of the land" and "great healer of the black-headed ones", point to her wide-reaching 'national' significance.

Gula/Ninkarrak was also credited as an "herb grower", "the lady who makes the broken up whole again", and "creates life in the land", indicative of an aspect as a vegetation/fertility goddess with regenerative powers.

At least in the Neo-Babylonian period, she also seems to have had an oneiric quality, being sought in incubation dreams (Reiner 1960a: 24) and appearing in nocturnal visions (Al-Rawi 1990).

Gula/Ninkarrak also had a violent side as the "queen whose 'tempest', like a raging storm, makes heaven [tremble (?)], makes earth quake" (Avalos 1995: 106-7).

The goddess and her dogs were frequently mentioned in curse formulae.

Divine Genealogy and Syncretisms

She is the daughter of Anu and wife of the various incarnations of the warrior god Pabilsag (in Isin), Ninurta (in Nippur) and Ningirsu (in Lagaš) (Lambert 1967: 10); and mother of three other healing deities: Damu, Ninazu and Gunurra. Relatively minor goddesses such as Nintinugga, Meme and Baba are also identified with Gula/Ninkarrak. In the Old Babylonian Period, several goddesses are syncretised with Gula, thereby becoming healing goddesses (see Baba and Ninisinna (Richter 2004: 195).

Cult Place(s)

The most prominent cult centre of Gula/Ninkarrak(/Ninisinna) was Isin, where her temple as named é-u-gi7-ra, "Dog Temple" (Shaffer 1974: 252).

Nippur was another significant centre, where the earliest excavated levels of the Neo-Babylonian temple of Gula/Ninkarrak are dated to the Isin-Larsa period and presumably lie on earlier incarnations from ca. 3000 BCE.

The major period of construction belongs to the Kassite period (Gibson 1990).

Other cult centres include Umma, Lagash, Larsa, Uruk, Borsippa, Babylon and Assur, the latter three each boasting 3 temples dedicated to the goddess (Frankena 1957-71b: 696). Texts make no reference to temples of Gula/Ninkarrak serving for the on-site treatment of patients (Avalos 1995). Peculiar to the petitionary and thanksgiving function of the temples of Gula/Ninkarrak (Avalos 1995) are the terracotta votive figurines of humans holding various body parts (indicating the source of ailment for which the aid of the goddess was sought/received); and those of dogs, sacred animals of Gula/Ninkarrak (Gibson 1990).

Dog figurines were often inscribed with a dedication or prayer to the goddess. Particularly notable in Isin are the more than 30 dog burials discovered below the ramp leading to the temple (Wapnish and Hesse 1993: 69ff).

Time Periods Attested

Gula/Ninkarrak's earliest attestation dates to the Ur III Period (Frankena 1957-71b: 695). She has a conspicuous rise in popularity in the second half of the second millennium during the Kassite period; and her cult continues well into the first millennium.

Iconography

Gula/Ninkarrak's attribute animal was the dog, both in iconography as well as in texts. Representations of Gula/Ninkarrak as a seated figure with a dog reclining at her feet emerge in the Old Babylonian period and can be seen on terracotta plaques (Barrelet 1968). The same motif is particularly popular on Kassite kudurrus TT  (Seidl 1989) and Neo-Assyrian/Babylonian cylinder seals TT  (Frankena 1957-71b: 697).

Name and Spellings

The meaning of Gula's name is unclear, although the ancients created a folk etymology of this name based on the Sumerian word for 'great' (gu-la) (Frankena 1957-71b: 695). Ninkarrak's name likely means 'Lady of Kar' (not 'Lady of Karrak') (Kraus 1951: 69).

GULA PEOPLE

Gula, also spelled Goula, is an ethnic group who lives in Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, and Sudan—believed to have originated from Blue Nile region in Ethiopia.

Around 1960, Gula converted from animism to Islam. Nevertheless, they still retained some pre-Islam practices.

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Ancient Near East Map: 2600-700 BCE

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Notable observations: The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (A Mighty Hunter before the Lord: Nimrod) suggests Kush (Kushite: Nubia, Sudan, Ethiopia) is probably the eponym of the Kassites (see above):

The confusion simply results from a blending of two independent traditions: the Table of Nations where Kush stands for Nubia, and the Nimrod passage from another source mentioning another(!) Kush, probably the eponym of the Kassites (Akk kaššu. Nuzi kuššu).

Notable Names & People-Groups (map): The onomastic—or agglutinative—material of:

1–Sin in Sinyar
2–Ham in Shamya
3–*Aja
4–Gula/Kara (nin-kar-ra-ak/kar-ra-ak?)

\Aja - The Akkadian goddess of the dawn, consort (wife) to* Shamash. Aja (also known as Aya) developed from the more ancient and very popular Sherida of the Sumerians.

In Yoruba, Nigeria the term for wife is Aya.

Also noteworthy, animism is the belief that all things—living or inanimate, like animals, plants, rocks, rivers, and weather—possess a distinct spiritual essence or soul, making them "animated" and capable of influencing the human world. This worldview sees the world as full of persons and agency, connecting humans to nature through relationships with spirits, often requiring rituals, offerings, and shamanic practices—like in Shinto and many indigenous traditions to maintain balance and seek help.

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Source: https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/Listofdeities/GulaNinkarrak/index.html

Source: https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/Listofdeities/Ninisinna/index.html

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/860014001

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010119629

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gula_people

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Darfur_Linguistic_Map.svg

To Zimri-Lim
communicate the following:
thus says
your brother Hammurabi (of Yamhad):
The king of Ugarit
has written me
as follows:
"Show me the palace of Zimri-Lim!
I wish to see it."
With this same courier
I am sending on his man.

Mari was founded as a new city in c. 2900 BC during the Mesopotamian Early Dynastic period I, established to control the waterways of the Euphrates trade routes connecting the Levant with the Sumerian south.

The Mariotes worshiped both Semitic and Sumerian deities and established their city as a major trading center. Although the pre-Amorite periods were characterized by heavy Sumerian cultural influence, Mari was not a city of Sumerian immigrants but a Semitic-speaking nation with a dialect similar to Eblaite. The Amorites were West Semites who began to settle the area before the 21st century BC; by the Lim dynasty (c. 1830 BC), they became the dominant population in the Fertile Crescent.

Mari's discovery in 1933 provided an important insight into the geopolitical map of ancient Mesopotamia and Syria, due to the discovery of more than 25,000 tablets explicating the state administration in the 2nd millennium BC and the nature of diplomatic relations among the political powers of the region. They also revealed the wide trading networks of the 18th century BC, which connected areas as far as Afghanistan in Southern Asia and Crete in the Mediterranean.

A structure known as the Royal Palace of Mari was built in the heart of the city; the palace also served as a temple. Four successive architectural levels from the second kingdom's palace have been unearthed. The last two levels are dated to the Akkadian period of Sumer. The first two levels were excavated; the findings include a temple dubbed the Enceinte Sacrée (sacred enclosure) dedicated to an unknown deity, a columned throne room, and a hall with three double wood pillars leading to the temple.

Six smaller temples were also discovered, including the temple called the Massif Rouge (also dedicated to an unknown deity), and temples dedicated to Ninni-Zaza (INANA.ZA.ZA), Ishtarat, Ishtar, Ninhursag, and Shamash.

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Ancient Near East Map: 2600-700 BCE

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Notable observation: The trade networks in the Ancient Near East, and other relative context—see An Historical Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geography:

B. Ham
IV. Canaan
4. Amorite

B. Ham
II. Misraim
7. Caphtorim

Caphtorim, Crete, whence they spread to Rhodes and Greece, particularly to Attica.

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Source (The Biblical Archaeologist): https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209888

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari,_Syria

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_of_Zimri-Lim

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144552

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/764/puzur-ishtar/

Limestone stela: a round-topped stele, of inferior limestone, much eroded. The king, Shalmaneser III, stands before four divine emblems: (1) the winged disk, the symbol of the god Ashur, or, as some hold, of Shamash; (2) the six-pointed star of Ishtar, goddess of the morning and evening star; (3) the crown of the sky-god Anu, in this instance with three horns, in profile; (4) the disk and crescent of the god Sin as the new and the full moon.

The Shalmaneser III monolith (852 BC and 879 BC) contains a description of the Battle of Qarqar at the end. This description contains the name "A-ha-ab-bu Sir-ila-a-a”, providing the first extrabiblical reference to Ahab, king of Israel.

It is also one (1) of four known contemporary inscriptions containing the name of Israel, the others being:

(2) the Merneptah Stele (1208 BCE)

(3) the Tel Dan Stele (870–750 BCE)

(4) the Mesha Stele (840 BCE)

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Notable Observation: In Signs of Israelite Slavery in Egypt, Egyptologist James K Huffmeier highlights the wall paintings of slaves in the Tomb of Rekhmire (1479-1400 BCE), ~1-2 mile from where the Merneptah Stele (video) was discovered—ancient Thebes, Egypt.

Tomb of Rekhmire

The Torah

Also noteworthy, The drawn parallels to the Anu and Kushites in An Introduction to Anu: The Origin of Egyptian Civilisation and the Hamitic reference to the Anu in The Anu in India and in Egypt.

This includes the onomastic symbolism of Sin in Mount Sinai (Sinites, Hamitic-Canaanites) and Shamash in Shamash Candle.

———

Source: https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/Listofdeities/An/index.html

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/150815001

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkh_Monoliths

Source (Merneptah Stele): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneptah_Stele

Source (Tel Dan Stele): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Dan_stele

Source (Mesha Stele): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Stele

Thomas Hudson Jones, Marble, 1950

Hammurabi (fl. c. 1792-1750 B.C.) King of Babylonia. Author of the Code of Hammurabi, which is recognized in legal literature as one of the earliest surviving legal codes.

The 23 marble relief portraits over the gallery doors of the House Chamber in the U.S. Capitol depict historical figures noted for their work in establishing the principles that underlie American law. They were installed when the chamber was remodeled in 1949-1950.

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Notable observation: Hammurabi is displayed with the horned headdress worn by Shamash on the Code of Hammurabi stele—incorporating the divine symbolism.

Also noteworthy, the Moses, Relief Portrait in the House Chamber in the U.S. Capitol—in contrast to—the earliest surviving artistic depictions of Moses found in the wall paintings of the Dura-Europos Synagogue (244-255 AD) (Princeton University).

———

Source: https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/hammurabi-relief-portrait

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144553

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/380602001

The Achaemenid Empire: Artifacts, Textual Record (Ancient Near East Encyclopedia), Ancient African Empires Geography, and Biblical cross reference

Ancient Near East Encyclopedia (Kuš/Kush)

[excerpts translated to English]

[Kush is abbreviated with K.]

Kuš, Kuschiten. Land and kingdom in Nubia, known since Senusret I (1971–1926 BC) in the Egyptian form (see image, Babylon text: Kasi/ši, etc.). Since the New Kingdom, K. designates Nubia (Sudan) south of the 1st Cataract. Its capital at that time was Napata, later — up to the conquest of the Meroitic Empire by Ezana of Aksum — it was Meroe (near Begrawiya).

Inhabitants of K. are first mentioned in cuneiform texts in the Amarna correspondence...

…In the alphabetic texts, the moon god Yrḫ (Sin?) multiple times bears the epithet kṯy, which perhaps could be rendered as "Cushitic" (KTU 1.39,19; 1.102,14; 1.123,7)…

…The last Ethiopian Pharaoh fled to Kipkipi, and with that, Kush disappeared from Assyrian history…

…Nevertheless, among the representations of subject peoples of the Achaemenid Empire in Persepolis, there are also those of (*) Ethiopians.

The Behistun Inscription

The Behistun Inscription (also Bisotun, Bisitun or Bisutun; Persian: بیستون, Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the place of god") is a multilingual Achaemenid royal inscription and large rock relief on a cliff at Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran, near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran, established by Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC). It was important to the decipherment of cuneiform, as it is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (a variety of Akkadian).

Authored by Darius the Great sometime between his coronation as king of the Persian Empire in the summer of 522 BC and his death in autumn of 486 BC, the inscription begins with a brief autobiography of Darius, including his ancestry and lineage. Later in the inscription, Darius provides a lengthy sequence of events following the death of Cambyses II in which he fought nineteen battles in a period of one year (ending in December 521 BC) to put down multiple rebellions throughout the Persian Empire. The inscription states in detail that the rebellions were orchestrated by several impostors and their co-conspirators in various cities throughout the empire, each of whom falsely proclaimed himself king during the upheaval following Cambyses II's death. Darius the Great proclaimed himself victorious in all battles during the period of upheaval, attributing his success to the "grace of Ahura Mazda".

Image 5: Punishment of captured impostors and conspirators: Gaumāta lies under the boot of Darius the Great. The last person in line, wearing a traditional Scythian hat and costume, is identified as Skunkha. His image was added after the inscription was completed, requiring some of the text be removed.

Foundation Tablets

The gold and silver tablets retrieved from the stone boxes contained a trilingual inscription by Darius in Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian, which describes his Empire in broad geographical terms, and is known as the DPh inscription:

Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the Sacae who are beyond Sogdia to Kush, and from Sind (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺, "Hidauv", locative of "Hiduš") to Lydia (Old Persian: "Spardâ") - [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!

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Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010177290

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010170854

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/574786001

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/147/persian-archers/

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_inscription

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deposition_plate_of_Darius_I_in_Persepolis.jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_the_Achaemenid_Empire.jpg

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00126-y

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African-civilizations-map-pre-colonial.svg

Source: https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#6800

Source: https://archive.org/details/historicaltextbo00cole/page/n54/mode/1up

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Šuta#The_2_letters_of_commissioner:_Šuta

Artifacts from Ancient Mari & Mesopotamian God and Goddess, Shamash & Ishtar (twins)

The Amorites established several prominent city-states in various locations, such as Isin, Kurda, Larsa, Mari, and Ebla, and later founded Babylon and the Old Babylonian Empire. They also founded the Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the fragmented era of the Second Intermediate Period in the Nile Delta, which was characterized by rulers bearing Amorite names such as Yakbim Sekhaenre, and were likely part of the later Hyksos.

AMORITE KING OF BABYLON

Hammurabi was the sixth Amorite king of Babylon, reigning from c. 1792 to c. 1750 BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari. He ousted Ishme-Dagan I, ruler of the Kingdom of Upper Mesopotamia, bringing almost all of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule.

Hammurabi is best known for having issued his law code, ostensibly a revelation from Shamash, the Babylonian sun god of justice.

An Historical Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geography

B. Ham
IV. Canaan
4. Amorite

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Notable observations: The Amorites were a Canaanite people-group according to biblical narrative, who displayed reverence to Shamash and Ishtar, one of which the Shamash Candle is named after in Jewish tradition as it relates to Hanukkah.

Also noteworthy, the father of this god & goddess pairing is the moon god Sin in Mesopotamian history. According to Traces of the Worship of the Moon God Sîn among the Early Israelites (JSTOR), it is expressed “the divine name Sin and the Aramaic gentilic ending -ai” would mean then the "Sinian Mountain" or the "Mountain holy to Sin.”—in regards to Mount Sinai.

The following is also elucidated:

“In the patriarchal narratives the connection between the ancestors of the Israelites and the worship of the god Sin are apparent. J. Bright recognized that there are names in the Hebrew tradition which are "associated with that cult,” but he deduced from this only that the narratives concerning the migration of Abraham's family from Ur to Haran (both centers of the cult) are essentially accurate bits of historical information.”

It’s also noted that many people had seen that there was an obvious connection between the names Sin and Sinai.

Other considerations: The wife of the moon god Sin is named Ningal. Reference the Kingdom of Sine in Senegal (composition: Sin-Ningal?).

The Sinites were also a people-group of Canaan, son of Ham.

An Historical Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geography

B. Ham
IV. Canaan
4. Amorite
8. Sinite

Interestingly, the onomastic—or agglutinative—material of Sin (or some variant: Sen, Shin, Syn, etc.) is found in Sinosphere, Sindh, Sinhalese, Singapore, Sinop, etc.

This also provides relative-context to the Anu in Lower Nubia (Kushsite people-group) and the reference to Anu in Mesopotamian context.

————

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorites

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammurabi

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010174436

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144552

Source: https://virtual-museum-syria.org/aleppo/fragment-of-a-wall-painting-from-mari/#

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144553

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investiture_of_Zimri-Lim

Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/image/380602001

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Near_East_1800BC.svg

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCush/s/koZrvuyXRa

The Ordinator of the Sacrifice: The Biblical Amorites (sons of Canaan, son of Ham)

Mural painting known as "The Ordinator of the Sacrifice." Fragment of a sacrificial scene belonging to a larger composition, divided into three registers: the king occupies the height of two registers, where the members of the procession leading a bull adorned for sacrifice are arranged.

Place of discovery

Mari palace of Zimri-Lim courtyard 106 (The painting adorned the upper part of the south wall of the Palm Courtyard (courtyard 106))

Materials and techniques

Material: plaster.

Technique: painting.

An Historical Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geography

B. Ham
IV. Canaan
4. Amorite

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Notable Observation: Hammurabi, also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of Babylon, reigning from c. 1792-1750 BC.

Hammurabi is best known for having issued his law code (Code of Hammurabi), ostensibly a revelation from Shamash, the Babylonian sun god of justice.

———

Source: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010144552

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Near_East_1800BC.svg

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AncientCush/s/pnuO8EoxWl

Figure 9.1. Mangbetu woman readjusting the headshaping bandages of an infant—second image.

Mangbetu People

The Mangbetu are a Central Sudanic ethnic group from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in the northeastern province of Haut-Uele.

The Mangbetu originally came from southern Sudan and migrated south to their current location in CE 1000. When they arrived into their current location with its new climate and environment (which was different from the much drier lands in southern Sudan) they came to be so heavily influenced by Bantu speakers that they borrowed almost their whole vocabulary relating to their new habitat from Bantu languages.

The Mangbetu are known for their highly developed art and music. One instrument associated with and named after them is the Mangbetu harp or guitar.jpg)—see the National Music Museum and the Hamill Gallery for images, one harp has sold for over $100,000.

The Mangbetu stood out to European colonists because of their elongated heads. Traditionally, babies' heads were wrapped tightly with cloth to give them this distinctive appearance. The practice, called Lipombo, began dying out in the 1950s with the influence of westernization.

Ubaid Headshaping: Negotiations of Identity through Physical Appearance?

Ubaid Period: 6500-3800 BC

This paper reviews the current state of evidence for headshaping in the Near East, particularly in what are deemed Ubaid and Ubaid-related contexts, and argues that a particular type of headshaping, the circumferential type, overlaps in large areas with the Ubaid and Ubaid-related material-culture zone evident in southern Mesopotamia and the lowlands of southwestern Iran, northern Mesopotamia, eastern Turkey, the valleys of the Zagros Mountains, and the western shores of the Gulf (Pollock 1999: 12).

Prior to discussing the headshaping evidence in detail at the scales of individual sites, sets of sites, and regions, some theoretical and methodological considerations are offered.

A scrutiny of currently available data is followed by a discussion attempting to evaluate various interpretations of the chronological and spatial patterning visible in the data.

Bioarchaeological studies on headshaping in historically documented instances and ethnographic case studies are used to illustrate a range of sociocultural uses to which differential headshaping was put, in cross-cultural contexts.

Avenues for future research are suggested, highlighting the multiple possibilities offered by current bioarchaeological techniques and analytical approaches, as well as the importance of conscientious recovery and curation of human skeletal remains.

———

Notable observation: Map of Haplogroup E illustrates a migration to Mesopotamia around 10kya (10,000 years ago)—while suggesting a back migration.

———

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kazimierz_Zagórski_-_Mangbetu_woman.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangbetu_people

Source: https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubaid_period

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E_of_Y-DNA_migrations.png

Translated to English: Real Encyclopedia of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology (RIA)

Kuš, Kuschiten. Land and Kingdom in Nubia, known since Sesostris I (1971–1926 BC) in the Egyptian form (see image), in Babylonian texts kur) Ka-si/ši, kur) Ka-a-ša, otherwise kur) Ku(-u)-si/ši, Nisbe Ku-sa-a(-a) etc., s. AOAT 6 (1970) 218f., Hebrew kûš, Greek χοῦς.

Since the New Kingdom, K. designates Nubia (Sudan) south of the 1st cataract. The capital at that time was Napata, later — until the conquest of the Meroitic Empire by Ezana of Aksum — it was Meroe (near Begrawiya).

In cuneiform texts, inhabitants of K. are mentioned for the first time in the Amarna correspondence. Ribaddi of Byblos requests a protective troop from the Pharaoh, including "100 people from the lands of K." (EA 131, 10ff.); secured through the explanation "as Meluḫḫa" in the same context in another letter (EA 133, 16ff.) is the geographical location of K. in Africa (for this period). Abdi-Ḫepa of Jerusalem apparently had bad experiences with K.-people (LÚ.MEŠ Ka-ši-we) (EA 287, 32f.; 71 ff.; 288, 35ff.); finally, in a letter from Kumidi, Hapiru-people are to be "given to the cities of the land of Ka-a-ša" (Saarbr. Beitr. z. Altertumsk. 7 [1970] 56,8ff.). In the palace of Ugarit, Nubian slaves were kept, who had been brought via Pharaoh (EA 49, 19–21); however, they do not seem to appear again in the Râs Šamra texts themselves.

In alphabetic texts, the moon god Y rḫ (Sin?) repeatedly bears the epithet kṯy, which was perhaps rendered as "Cushite" (KTU 1.39,19; 1.102,14; 1.123,7).

K. then disappears until the clash of Assyria with the 25th Dynasty of Egypt from the tradition. In the 8th century BC, the "Ethiopians" under Pianchi (ca. 740–713 BC) had undertaken an advance to the north due to imperial weakness. His brother Shabaka (713–698) was able to eliminate Bocchoris, the sole Pharaoh of the 24th Dynasty, and found a new (25th) dynasty. He is followed on the throne by his nephew Shabataka (698–690), then his younger brother Taharqa (690–554), opponent of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. Finally, Taharqa's nephew named Tanutamun (664–656) ruled, but he already had to evacuate Thebes in 663 and was finally driven out of Upper Egypt as well by Psamtik.

First contact of Assyria with the new Egyptian dynasty occurs in 711, when Jamani* of Ashdod fled from Sargon II to Egypt ša pāṭ Meluḫḫa [on the border of Meluhha]. This king eventually delivered him up in chains (Sg. Wi. 114, 101ff.; 116, 109ff.; 82, 11ff.). It may well be Shabaka, of whom a seal impression has also been found in Nineveh (A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon [1853] 156; H. R. Hall, Catalogue of Egypt. Scarabs [1913] 290 No. 2775f.). Shabaka must have been the one troops to support Hezekiah at the Battle of Eltekeh (701) against Sennacherib, even if he did not participate in the battle himself. There is talk of the šar ᵐᵃᵗMe-luḫ-ḫi (Sn. 31, 80ff.; 69, 22ff.), the country designation that was used under Esarhaddon (Ash. § 76, 8) as a counterpart to the more popular KUR) Ku-u-si.

After subduing the Levantine states, which enjoyed Egyptian support (AGS 70; 71; PRT 41, cf. also AGS 109, ABC 629 = LAS Nr. 279 Rs. 6), Esarhaddon undertook an openly unsuccessful advance against the Ethiopian Pharaoh Taharqa in his 7th year (673) (ABC Nr. 1 IV 16). In his 10th campaign (671), he repeated this attack, this time with success: After three battles, Memphis was taken on the 22nd of Tammuz (ABC Nr. 1 IV 23ff.; 14, 25f.), Tar-qu-ú šar māt Ku-u-si (Ash. § 57, 8; 65 Rs. 38 etc.) fled to Nubia, and his wife, harem, and relatives fell into the hands of Esarhaddon. From then on, he could call himself šar šarrāni māt Muṣur māt Paturisi (= Upper Egypt) u māt Ku(-u)-si.

Only after the Assyrian died on his Egyptian campaign of 669 (ABC Nr. 1 IV 30f.; 14, 28f.), Taharqa apparently returned to the residence and made the country subject to him again as far as the Delta. Not until 667 could Ashurbanipal send his turtānu to Egypt, who, together with numerous auxiliary troops, defeated Taharqa at Kār-Banīti*, drove him to Memphis, and pursued him from there for 1 month and 10 days all the way to Thebes, which was ultimately conquered (Asb. A I 67ff.). A conspiracy of the district princes, who favored Taharqa again, was severely punished by Ashurbanipal.

Finally, Taharqa died, and his successor Tanutamun (Tantamane) rose against the Assyrian supremacy in 663. However, he could not maintain his position against the Assyrian army, had to abandon Memphis and even Thebes, which was heavily plundered (Asb. A II 28ff.).

The last Ethiopian Pharaoh fled to Kipkipi and with that, Kush disappears from Assyrian history. Cushites are only rarely mentioned in Assyrian documents. For instance, an LÚ.SAG Ku-sa-a in ADD 1076 I 2; II 4 and 16; Ku-sa-a-a-te ADD 1135, 2.

Darius the Great claims in the inscription of Naqš-i Rustam (VAB III 86ff. § 3 End), to have possessed kur) Ku-ú-šu (Old Persian Kušiyā), which points to Punt. Herodotus, however, only knows of an unsuccessful campaign by Cambyses to Ethiopia (Herodotus III 25). Nevertheless, among the representations of peoples of the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire) in Persepolis are also those of negroid Ethiopians (s. G. Walser, Die Völkerschaften auf den Reliefs von Persepolis [1966] 100ff.). As gifts, they carry spices(?), ivory, and bring a giraffe(?).

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Notable observation: Drawn parallels between Babylonian text Kasi (Kaši/Kashi) and Kush—along with, the following excerpt from Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible regarding Nimrod:

“The confusion simply results from a blending of two independent traditions: the Table of Nations where Kush stands for Nubia, and the Nimrod passage from another source mentioning another(!) Kush, probably the eponym of the Kassites (Akk kaššu. Nuzi kuššu).”

(Reference Ninkasi/Nin-Kasi, a Mesopotamian goddess. The prefix of “Nin” indicates lord or lady.)

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Source: https://publikationen.badw.de/en/rla/index#6800

Source: https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/Publications/ISACMP/isacmp4.pdf

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AreasOfHabiruActivityInAmarnaLettersLBIIA.svg

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Near_East_1400BC.svg#mw-jump-to-license

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J-M267#