Cush-Meroe, Kemet-Egypt, Punt, Other Berberia, Azania & the Orientalization of the Roman Empire

Cush-Meroe, Kemet-Egypt,Punt, Other
Berberia,Azania & the Orientalization of the
Roman Empire: Common Origin, Migrations,
Ancestral Culture & Lands of Oromos,
Sudanese& Other Cushites
Contents
A. My speech in 5th Annual International Conference of the Network of Oromo
Studies
B. Historical Diagram of the Cushitic Presence in Eastern Africa
I. A-Group Culture
II. The Kingdom of Kerma
III. C-Group Culture
IV. Kemetian (Egyptian) Invasion of Cush (Sudan: Ethiopia)
V. Deep Spiritual-Religious Divisions among both, Kemetians (Egyptians) and
Cushites (Sudanese: Ethiopians)
VI. C-Group Culture Natives' Migration to the Red Sea Coast Lands
VII. The Cushitic Blehu/Brehem - Blemmyes - Bejas
VIII. Red Sea Coast Cushites: the Kingdom of Punt
IX. Queen Hatshepsut of Kemet (Egypt) and the 'Expedition to Punt'
X. Cush-Meroe: Ancestral Land of Oromos - Sidamas & Punt: Fatherland of Afars -
Somalis
XI. Afars-Somalis, Roman Egypt, China, the Trade between East and West, and the
'Periplus of the Red Sea'
XII. Afars-Somalis, 'Berberia', the 'Other Berberia', and the 'Periplus of the Red Sea'
XIII. Axumite Abyssinians: Semitic Yemenite Fugitives in Africa
XIV. Punt is Opone (Ras Hafun, Somalia): Impossible to locate it elsewhere
XV. The Cushites of the Horn (Punt - Opone) were never controlled by the impotent
king Zoscales of Axumite Abyssinia
XVI. Ancient Afars & Somalis: 'Other Berberia',Azania, andthe Yemenites Sabaeans
(Sheba) and Himyarites in the Horn
XVII. Meroe's Relations with Kemet/Egypt under the Ptolemies (305-30 BCE)
XVIII. The War between Meroe and Rome (25-23 BCE)
XIX. The Meroe Head: Bronze Head of Octavian Augustus Unearthed in the Capital
of Cush
XX. Jebel Qeili, Qore ('King') Shorkaror, and the Meroitic Victory over the Axumite
Abyssinians
XXI. Meroitic-Roman Relations (30 BCE-4th c. CE)and their Impact on Explorations
and Sciences
XXII. Universalization of the Mediterranean World: Meroe, Rome, Armenia, and
Mithraism - Meroitic Ethiopian Gladiators in front of Emperor Nero and King
Tiridates I
XXIII. Orientalization of the Roman Empire: Meroe, Rome, and Isidism - when
Egyptians, Meroitic Ethiopians & Berbers taught their Greek and Roman Pupils the
Supreme Spiritual Wisdom

XXIV. The Mysteries of Isis and Plutarch: when the Highest Priest of Greece became
a devotee and an enthusiast of the Kemetian-Egyptian and Cushitic-Ethiopian
Spirituality
XXV. Silk Roads and the Prevalence of Oriental Civilization in Greece, Rome and
Europe: Aramaean,Anatolian, Phoenician Spirituality, Gnostics, and the
Manichaeans of Alexandria
XXVI. Heliodorus, Aethiopica, and the Sublime Idealization of Meroe in Greco-
Roman Literature
XXVII. Blemmyes, Nubians, Axumites and the End of Meroe
XXVIII. The End of Meroe and the Rise of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia: Terminus-
post-quem and Terminus-ante-quem for the Early Migratory Wave
XXIX. Nobatia, Makuria, Axum,and the Christianization of Alodia (Alwa)
XXX. Jebel Moya, the First and the Second Migratory Waves, and the Transformation
of the Migrant Meroites and Alodians into Oromos
A. My speech in 5th Annual International Conference of
the Network of Oromo Studies
Honored to be invited, I participated in the 5th Annual International Conference of
the Network of Oromo Studies (NOS: http://networkoromostudies.com/);the event
was held electronically due to the present conditions last Saturday (27 February
2021). My speech ("Fake Nubia: a Colonial Forgery to deprive Cushitic Nations from
National Independence, Historical Identity and Cultural Heritage") concerned the
possible ramifications of the systematic but absolutely erroneous attribution of
Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) and Ancient Cushitic (Sudanese) monuments,
antiquities, archaeological sites and historical heritage to Nubians, who -although
present in both, Ancient Kemet (Egypt) and Ancient Cush (Sudan,i.e. the true,
historical Ethiopia)- did not constitute the driving force of the two great Ancient
African civilizations and never ruled either states. I described this dishonest and
disreputable attitude, attempt and endeavor as "Nubianization" of Northeast Africa.
In fact, undertaken by Western colonial academics, Orientalists, explorers and
historians, Nubianization is a distortive academic effort that involves
a) an enormous deal of confiscation of Cushitic monuments,
b) an unprecedented usurpation of ca. 5000 years of Cushitic History,
c) a systematic expropriation of historical past from today's Cushitic nations, and
d) a disastrous national division among the descendants of the Ancient Hamitic-
Cushitic nations of
i) Kemet (Masr-Egypt), and
ii) Cush (Arabic-speaking Sudanese and Oromos, Somalis, Afars, Sidama,Kaffa, etc).
The text of my speech and the associated notes and bibliography will soon be
published in one of my blogs, whereas the Network of Oromo Studies announced
that it will publish all the speeches of the distinguished contributors in a volume.
During the electronic event, which took place on the platform of Zoom, several
participants asked about various points or commented on the groundbreaking
speeches, thus contributing to several debates; as it was expected, all the speakers
interacted with one another,exchanging messages, opinions and viewpoints.

One of the participants sent me the following message, which includes mainly two
questions:
I am very interested in the Cushitic civilization. Do we have historical evidence and
dates when the Eastern Cushitic people moved to highland regions of the present
Oromia, Somalia and Northern Ethiopia and Kenya and Tanzania? Do we know
when these groups of languages differed from one another, e.g. Somali and Afaan
Oromo? Thank you!
What follows is my brief response, which was sent with a delay of few days. The text
is not written as a concise historical manual, but as a mere diagram with several
highlighted points. Links to Wikipedia entries are included only to offer access to
bibliography and further research – not for the contents.
B. Historical Diagram of the Cushitic Presence in
Eastern Africa
The earliest Cushitic presence in today's Egypt's South and Sudan's North goes back
to the 4th millennium BCE; there are evident links between the early cultures that
George A. Reisner defined as A-Group culture and B-Group culture, the latter being
now viewed as the period of decay of the former. Covering almost the entire 4th
millennium BCE (3800-3100 BCE), this early Hamitic-Cushitic culture is attested in
monuments unearthed in Kubaniyya, Aswan, Sayala,Toshka, Qustul, Buhen, and
other sites mainly between the first and the second cataracts of the Nile.
I. A-Group Culture
The rise of the First Dynasty of Kemet (Egypt) seems to bring an end to the local
Cushitic rulers of A-Group culture; this is not only deduced from the material record
and the archaeological data but also described in Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) texts
and legends pertaining to the rise of a unified (Upper and Lower) Hamitic Kemet.
Quite interestingly in this regard, the relief of Jebel Sheikh Suleiman testifies to an
early Kemetian expansion at the detriment of the A-Group culture Cushites, being
therefore one of the world's earlier representations of historical events.
https://oi.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/nubia/ancient-nubia-group-
3800%E2%80%933100-bc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Group_culture
The hypothesis of a "war between the Egyptians and the A-GroupNubian people" is
purely colonial French propaganda as there is not one single proof to possibly
identify the material record of A-Group culture as "Nubians". This is a lie. A-Group
culture people were Cushites, i.e. Hamites, and this means that they were totally
different from the Nilo-Saharan Nubians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relief_of_Gebel_Sheikh_Suleiman
https://www.academia.edu/15325978/Gebel_Sheikh_Suleiman_a_First_Dynasty_R
elief_after_all_
II. The Kingdom ofKerma
The next major phase of the Ancient Cushitic civilization is attested further in the
South, around today's Kerma in North Sudan; the Kerma kingdom (2500-1550 BCE)

was the earliest Cushitic royal structure. Although it is evident that the Cushitic
kingdom of Kerma had commercial relations with Early Dynastic Kemet/Egypt
(3150 -2690 BCE), the Old Kingdom of Kemet (2690-2181), and the Middle Kingdom
of Kemet (2055-1650 BCE), it seems that different concepts of spirituality and religion
prevailed in these two realms (Kemet/Egypt and Cush/Sudan),thus generating
rivalry, enmity and animosity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerma_culture
The Wikipedia entry " List of monarchs of Kerma" is an entire fallacy and its parts are
evidently self-contradictory: although it is initially stated that "the Kingdom of
Kerma existed as an independent state from around 2500 BCE to 1520 BCE", in the
following section, the forged and propagandistic entry includes (in the "Rulers of
Kerma") the fake, ahistorical and nonexistent"Makeda (queen, c. 1005–950 BCE)",
which is the product of the forged, racist and evil document "Kebra Negast" thatis a
bogus-historical diatribe compiled ca. 1200 CE – i.e. more than 2700 years after the
Kerma kingdom collapsed! It is necessary to underscore at this point that the forgers
of Kebra Negast did not have a clue about the Ancient Cushitic kingdom of Kerma.
In fact, the only few names of Cushitic rulers that we have during the period of
Kerma kingdom are due to references in Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) hieroglyphic
texts. Including the fake queen Makeda in the list is an act of malignant forgery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Kerma
III. C-Group Culture
Opposite to both, Kemet and Cush (A-Group culture and the Kerma kingdom), the
early culture that George A. Reisner defined as C-Group culture represents a
historical phase during which Hamitic invaders from the Sahara and the Atlas
regions of Northern-Northeastern Africa settled in the region as pastoralists and
intermingled with the local Kemetians and Cushites. They expanded from today's
Egypt's South down to the Dongola Reach in today's Sudan's North, being easily
identified through their distinct pottery. C-Group culture sites bear witness to a
historical continuity between 2400 BCE and 1600 BCE, but the disappearance of the
C-Group culture people, who consisted of both farmers and herders, remained a
mystery for long.
However, the outstanding diffusion of C-Group culture across lands east of the Nile
down to today's Eritrea's northernmost confines seems to offer a plausible
explanation. Contrarily to the Kerma kingdom's Cushites, who remained in the Nile
Valley after the Kemetian (Egyptian) invasion of Cush under Ahmose I (1549-1524),
Amenhotep I (1525-1504) and Thutmose I (1506-1493), C-Group culture natives seem
to have continued their migration, reaching the Red Sea coastlands of today's
southern Egypt and Sudan, settling there and advancing even further to the Horn
region.
https://oi.uchicago.edu/museum-exhibits/nubia/ancient-nubia-c-
group%E2%80%93pan-grave%E2%80%93kerma-2400%E2%80%931550-bc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Group_culture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongola_Reach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmose_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_I

IV. Kemetian (Egyptian)InvasionofCush (Sudan:Ethiopia)
The Kemetian (Egyptian) invasion of Cush at the end of the 16th c. is a major event in
the History of Eastern Africa from the Mediterranean to the East African coastlands
down to today's Tanzania.This great military exploit and the subsequent annexation
of Cush by Kemet (Egypt) were due to the Kemetian determination to punish the
Kerma Cushites for their cooperation with the Hyksos invaders of Kemet; the latter
were viewed by the Kemetians as the personification of the evil (Seth) and, after the
Hyksos rule was overthrown and the conquerors expelled out of Kemet to Asia
(from where they had arrived), all their names were deleted from every text and
inscription across the country.
As event with enormous repercussions, the Kemetian invasion of Cush generated a
great schism among the Cushites, namely between those who cooperated with the
Kemetians (Egyptians) and those who opposed them. This polarization was spiritual,
religious, theological and royal; it had no ethnic character or dimension. Kemetian
Pharaohs, like Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun, venerated Cush and built many
temples there, e.g. the temple of Amun at Kawa (near today's Dongola) which was
built and rebuilt several times. And all the Kemetian followers of Amun (i.e. the
main god of one of the Ancient Kemetian religions) considered Napata as the holy
place of Amun's birth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawa,_Sudan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun#Theology
http://www.jebelbarkal.org/frames/VisGuide.pdf
V. Deep Spiritual-ReligiousDivisionsamongboth, Kemetians
(Egyptians)and Cushites (Sudanese: Ethiopians)
However, the deep spiritual, religious, and theological division existed already
within Kemet (Egypt) and during the 18th (1549-1292 BCE),19th (1292-1189 BCE)
and 20th (1189-1077) dynasties, many pharaohs supported and promoted concepts,
ideas, faiths and cults that were diametrically opposed to those of their predecessors
or successors. Two totally opposite tendencies, one monotheistic and aniconic and
another polytheistic and idolatrous, divided both, Kemet and Cush, causing strives,
civil wars, priestly disputes, conflicting practices, and a vast social discord, as the
populations were spiritually-religiously divided and the followers of the opposite
spiritual-religious systems were fanaticized against one another. The developments
reached a culmination point during the reign of Akhenaten (1351-1334),but the rise
and fall of the Ancient Kemetian and Cushitic Monotheism (presently defined as
Atenism, after the name of Akhenaten's Only and Sole God Aten) predetermined the
historical evolution and the events that took place across the Valley of the Nile for
the next 1700 years until the late end of Meroe.
http://www.academia.edu/34439637/In_Ancient_Egypt_at_any_given_moment_th
ere_was_never_one_Egyptian_Religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atenism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra
All post-Akhenaten developments thattook later place in Kemet and Cush can be
properly interpreted only after the correct understanding of the initial clash, because
they constitute in reality posterior stages of the same division and the same clash:

1) the weakening of the internal front at the times of Ramses II (reign: 1279-1213
BCE),
2) the decadence of Kemet after the reign of Ramses III (1198-1167 BCE; and despite
his victories over the Sea Peoples),
3) the divisions of Kemet into two or three kingdoms, starting with the 21st dynasty
(1070-945 BCE),
4) the loosening of the Kemetian control over Cush and the subsequent secession of
the Napatan rulers,
5) the rise of the Kingdom of Cush (ca. 800-315 BCE; with capital at Napata),
6) its involvement in Kemet/Egypt under the form of the 25th (described by
Manetho as Cushitic, i.e. Ethiopian) dynasty (747-656 BCE),
7) the Assyrian conquest of Kemet (670-640),
8) the rise of the Berber princes and allies of Assyria as the 25th (described by
Manetho as Libyan) dynasty (664-525 BCE), and
9) all the later internal developments in Kemet
a) during the Iranian occupation (525-332 BCE),as well as
b) under the Ptolemies (305-30 BCE) and
c) throughout the Roman period; before and after the Christianization (30 CE – 642
CE).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Kush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alara_of_Kush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fifth_Dynasty_of_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manetho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_conquest_of_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Thebes
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1780&context=honorsth
eses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Dynasty_of_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Persian_Egypt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Egypt
The same can also be said about the Ancient History of Cush, after the successive
Kemetian (under the Berber Pharaoh Psamtek II in 591 BCE)and Iranian (under the
Achaemenid Shah Cambyses in 525 BCE) invasions and sacks of Napata,when
progressively the capital was transferred to Meroe ('Medewi' in Ancient Meroitic). At
the origin of all major historical developments, there was a continuous, spiritual,
religious and theological conflict between two opposite priesthoods.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psamtik_II
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ethiopia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mero%C3%AB
Wainwright, G. A. “The Date of the Rise of Meroë.” The Journal of Egyptian
Archaeology, vol. 38, 1952, pp.75–77. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3855497
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mero%C3%AB
Similarly, the development of Waaqeffannaa as a historical religion and its evident
monotheistic nature cannotbe fully understood in the absence of a comparative
study and without retracing Waaqeffannaa concepts,principles, considerations and
beliefs to the respective earlier elements of the ancient spiritual systems and religions

of Cush and Kemet. The rejection of 3rd–4th c. Christianity by Kemetians and
Meroitic Cushites was the result of their perception of the new faith as polytheistic
and fanatic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waaqeffanna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waaq
About the aforementioned periods and events, more analytical presentation can be
found in my series of articles that were published first in 2010 and later republished
(herewith in the correct order):
https://www.academia.edu/37181015/The_Common_Origins_of_Egypt_and_Ethio
pia_Sudan_Oromos_Arabic_Speaking_Sudanese_Nubians_I_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37181242/Hamitic_Kushitic_Origins_of_Egypt_and_Et
hiopia_Sudan_Oromos_Arabic_Speaking_Sudanese_Nubians_II_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37181454/Egyptian_Rule_over_Kush_Ethiopia_and_A
hmose_Nefertari_Foremother_of_Oromos_and_Sudanese_Part_III_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37190698/Egypt_Akhenaten_Aton_Monotheism_Origi
ns_of_Oromos_and_Sidamas_Kushitic_Ethiopian_Religions_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37197120/Napata_Egypt_Ruled_by_the_Forefathers_o
f_Arabic_speaking_Sudanese_and_Oromos_not_Amharas_Part_V_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37203586/From_Piankhi_to_Shabaka_Ancestors_to_Eg
yptians_Arabic_speaking_Sudanese_Oromos_Sidamas_Part_VI_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37204054/Sennacherib_of_Assyria_Defeats_Shebitqu_
of_Egypt_and_Kush_Ethiopia_Jews_and_Palestinian_Allies_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37204924/Taharqa_Routed_by_Assarhaddon_Memphi
s_Sacked_Kush_Ethiopia_Driven_from_Lower_Egypt_Part_VIII_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37211803/Taharqa_Egypt_Ethiopia_Ancient_Sudan_N
ubians_Assyria_and_Assurbanipal_Emperor_of_the_Universe_2010_
https://www.academia.edu/37214950/Kush_Ethiopia_Egypt_and_Nubia_from_Ta
nwetamani_to_Psamtek_II_The_Destruction_of_Napata_Part_X_2010_
VI. C-Group Culture Natives'Migration to the Red Sea Coast
Lands
The earliest traces of Hamitic-Cushitic presence alongside the African Red Sea coast
that date in historical times are related to the early expansion and the later migration
of the C-Group culture natives from the Nile Valley to the Red Sea coastlands around
1600-1550 BCE. This phenomenon led the Hamitic people of the coastlands to spread
further in the South always in search of natural resources and better climatological
conditions and to thus settle in regions located quite far from the Valley of the Nile. It
then created two distinct groups of Hamitic-Cushitic populations throughout Eastern
Africa:

a) the Hamitic-Cushitic populations of the Nile Valley from the Delta to the junction
of the Blue and White Nile (in today's Khartoum): these were the Kemetians of Egypt
(Masr) and the Cushites of Ethiopia (Sudan), and
b) the Hamitic-Cushitic populations of the Eastern African coastland.
There is major distinction between the two groups as regards their ethnic-linguistic
conditions of life; except the Hamitic-Cushitic populations, also early Nilo-Saharan
ethnic groups lived in parts of the Nile Valley, constituting of course a minority and
being in continuous contact with their lands of origin, which were located in parts of
the Eastern and the Western Desert. One of these early Nilo-Saharan ethnic groups
was the Nehesiu, who became later known in the Ancient Greek and Latin sources as
Nobadai, in Islamic sources as Nubiin, and in modern Western languages as
Nubians.
VII. The Cushitic Blehu/Brehem- Blemmyes- Bejas
However, there were also Cushitic groups that originated from various parts of the
Sahara desert and were in continuous interaction with the Valley of the Nile; the best
known among them were the Blehu (their name can also be vocalized as Brehem) of
the Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) hieroglyphic sources, who became known as
Blemmyes among Ancient Greeks and Romans and were the ancestors of today's
Beja.
At this point, I must add that, during the Antiquity down to the Roman times in
Egypt, the Cushitic Blehu/Brehem - Blemmyes - Beja lived west of the Nile and only
in the first centuries of the Christian era, the existing historical sources started
reporting them as dwellers of the Eastern Desert.
It is therefore clear that the ancestors of the Beja did not reach the region where they
have been dwelling over the past 1500 years in today's Eastern Sudan and the
surrounding regions prior to the collapse of Meroe (ca. 360-370 CE). For several
centuries, the Blemmyes created an explosive situation in the border region between
Roman Egypt and Meroe, also establishing a fully acknowledged kingdom that may
have also contributed to the weakening of the Meroitic royal stature.
VIII. Red Sea Coast Cushites: the Kingdom ofPunt
Contrarily to the ethno-linguistic conditions of life that prevailed in the Nile Valley
and the surrounding regions, across the Eastern African coastlands from today's
Egypt's Red Sea coast to the wider region around Daresalaam in Tanzania, the
Hamitic - Cushitic presence was overwhelming and unchallenged for at least a
millennium; apparently, the spread of small populations across vast and long coastal
lands generated numerous, impotent local authorities, thus triggering an obvious
lack of important centralized royal power. Certainly, we cannot know how far the
early C-Group culture natives advanced in the South, but we have good reasons to
believe that they settled as far as the area of the Horn and even beyond up to today's
Somali region of Ras Hafun. This was due to the fact that the area seems to have
already been known to the Ancient Kemetians (Egyptians) earlier, i.e. before the
approximate time of the C-Group culture people's arrival (around 1550-1500).
The Ancient Kemetians had two particularnames to describe that long coastal region
of Eastern Africa and/ora particular part of it: Punt. The first mentions of navigation

to and trade with Punt in Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) hieroglyphics appear in the
early times of the Middle Kingdom, so around 2000 BCE. Navigation from Kemet's
(Egypt's) Red Sea ports to Punt was frequent, as the marvelous land was described as
extremely rich in resources.
The exact location of Punt has long been debated among colonial Orientalists and
Western Egyptologists, who permanently seek to minimize the magnificence of the
Ancient Kemetian and Cushitic civilizations in order to maintain in 'validity' their
distorted, fallacious and racist dogma of Euro-centrism and Greco-centrism, by
magnifying the hypothetical 'achievements' of the White Ancient Greeks and
Romans. There have even been Egyptologists, who intentionally and idiotically tried
to 'locate' Punt somewhere around the eastern banks of Nile between the 5th and the
6th cataract (!), so practically speaking in the wider region where Meroe rose to
prominence during the last pre-Christian and the early Christian centuries.
The entire debate about the location of Punt may well have occurred in vain, because
it is quite possible that, for the Ancient Kemetians of the end of the 3rd millennium
BCE, Punt was located closer to Kemet (Egypt), i.e. somewhere in today's Eritrea's
coastland, and 500 years later, for the Kemetians of the New Kingdom (1549-1077
BCE), Punt may have been situated around the Horn Region and the Ras Hafun
peninsula in today's Somalia. The reason for the 're-location hypothesis' is the better
familiarization of the C-Group culture migrants with the wider region of Eastern
African coastlands; better exploring lands located further in the South,they resettled
repeatedly, 'taking' their toponym with them.
IX. Queen HatshepsutofKemet(Egypt)and the 'Expedition to
Punt'
The most analytical description of Ancient Punt that we have in Kemetian (Egyptian)
hieroglyphics is the legendary 'Expedition to Punt' by Queen Hatshepsut. This text
bears witness to the good, friendly commercial relations that Kemet had with the
kingdom of Punt. This narrative was inscribed on the southern (short), western
(long) and northern (short) walls of the second colonnade of Queen Hatshepsut's
mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari (Thebes West, in today's Luxor, Upper Egypt).
It was accompanied by numerous bas reliefs that portrayed the Egyptian fleet
Admiral Nehesy, the King Perehu of Punt, the Queen Eti, their donkey, and a great
number of anonymous Puntites (Somalis) and Kemetian sailors transporting goods
and storing them on vessels. The representation of numerous fish in the depicted sea
waters of the bas reliefs puts beyond any doubt the fact that the Expedition to Punt
(ca. 1480-1475 BCE) was not undertaken somewhere in the Nile Valley and close to
the later Cushitic capital Meroe, because the fish have been identified as part of the
well-known Red Sea and Indian Ocean sea-life (pisci-fauna).
The 'Expedition to Punt' consists in the founding text of Somali History; it is the
World History's first reference to a kingdom located in the tropical, equatorial zone.
Long before Iran, Turan, India and Europe, Somalia was instituted as a kingdom on
parity with Kemet (Egypt). The conversation between Perehu and Nehesy, as
presented within the 'Expedition to Punt' texts and bas reliefs, was direct and
without interpreters. This fact testifies to the common linguistic background and
enables modern scholarship to establish a link between the original phase of the

Somali and Afar languages with the languages of Ancient Kemet and Cush. The
conversation bears also witness to the identical spiritual, religious, cultural, and
royal background that Punt (Somalia) and Kemet (Egypt) had at the time. The
sanctity of Punt for the Ancient Kemetians is also underscored by the alternative
name that they used to denote the location: Ta Netser (i.e. the Land of Gods).
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tꜣ-nṯr
https://www.navy.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/IntSP_1_Ancient_Egypt
SP.pdf
https://landofpunt.wordpress.com/tag/ta-netjer/
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/plantexpl.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depiction_of_Hatshepsut%27s_birth_and_coronatio
n
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Punt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehsi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_history_of_Somalia
X. Cush-Meroe: Ancestral Land ofOromos - Sidamas& Punt:
FatherlandofAfars - Somalis
So, as you see, the original stages of the Somali and Oromo languages can be retraced
back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE; it is then that these groups of
languages differed from one another for the first time.
In this case, I categorize Afar (Qafaraf) and Somali (Af-Soomaali) as coastland
Cushitic languages and Oromo (Afaan Oromoo), Sidama (Sidaamu Afoo), and other
languages (Kambaata, Hadiyyisa, etc.) as inland Cushitic languages.
Of course, coastland Cushites and inland Cushites and Hamites (Kemetians) were in
continuous contact throughout the millennia, which is a situation that involves many
ups and downs in the communication and the relationship between the two groups
due to various historical developments in the inland and the coastland of Eastern
Africa.
XI. Afars-Somalis, Roman Egypt, China,the Trade between East
and West, and the 'Periplus of the Red Sea'
Late Antiquity historical sources testify to the common Cushitic identity that the
inhabitants of today's Sudan's Red Sea coastland and the populations of today's
Northern Somali coasts had; Late Antiquity is the historical period that starts with
the rise of the Achaemenid dynasty of Iran to prominence following the Iranian
conquest of Babylonia (539 BCE) and ends with the preaching of Islam by Prophet
Muhammad (622 CE). In contrast with the Oriental Antiquity (3300-539 BCE), during
the Late Antiquity, for ca. 1200 years, all major paragons of civilizations and imperial
states between the Atlantic and the Pacific interacted in many levels: commercial,
cultural, and spiritual.
Written by an Alexandrian Egyptian merchant andcaptain,the Periplus of the Red
Sea (also rendered as 'Periplus of the Erythraean Sea') is an Ancient Greek text that
dates back to the second half of the first century CE. It details the navigation
processes, the commercial products exported from and imported in each and every
important harbor, port of call and trade center between Roman Egypt and China

alongside the eastern African coastlands and the Asiatic coasts starting from Arsinoe
(Suez); furthermore, the text offers valuable information about the different
kingdoms and states, the indigenous societies, and the nations that lived at the time
in that part of the world.
To lesser extent, the author felt obliged to narrate 'recent' historical events (some of
which may have occurred 150 years before his time). In ca. 22 pages of modern text,
the anonymous author of this text describes all that mattered at those days for
Egyptian and other traders and navigators between the Roman Empire and all the
other empires and kingdoms of the world's southern, southeastern and eastern
confines.
Stories of globalisation: the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf from late prehistory to early
modernity: selected papers of Red Sea Project VII
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/13651981
XII. Afars-Somalis, 'Berberia', the 'Other Berberia', and the
'Periplusof the Red Sea'
The region of today's Eastern Sudan is named "Berberia" (or Barbaria) within the text
of the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' (paragraphs 2-3); Ptolemais Theron, an Egyptian
Prolemaic (305-30 BCE) colony was located there, in the area of today's Suakin.
Meroe is also mentioned, as the great capital ('metropolis') of the inland kingdom.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Periplus_of_the_Erythraean_Sea#Periplus
https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/Περίπλους_της_Ερυθράς_Θαλάσσης
The region of today's Eritrea is mentioned as part of the Semitic Axum kingdom of
Abyssinia (paragraphs 4-6); Adulis (near today's Massawa) was the sole Abyssinian
harbor in the African Red Sea coast. Beyond thatregion, the coastline of today's
Djibouti and Northern Somalia is called as the "Other Berberia" in the Periplus of the
Red Sea (paragraphs 7-12); this means that the entire coastal land up to the Horn of
Africa (Ras Asir; Somali: Raas Caseyr; Italian: Capo Guardafui) is described as the
continuation of the realm of the Berbers who inhabited the shore of today's Eastern
Sudan ("Berberia"), i.e. south of Berenice (Roman Egypt's southernmost port of call,
which is located near today's Ras Banas in Masr/Egypt) and north of Adulis.
This description lets us understand that, following the migration of the Ancient
Yemenite tribe of Abashat (Abyssinians) from Yemen to Eastern Africa some time in
the first half of the first millennium BCE, the territorial continuity of the Eastern
African coastland Cushitic populations was interrupted and Semitic Yemenite
populations, expelled or chased from Ancient Yemen (and most probably originating
from the Kingdom of the Sabaeans or Sheba), settled first in the region around
Massawa (in Adulis), and later expanded in the mountainous inland up to Yeha and
Axum, which became their capital.
XIII. Axumite Abyssinians: SemiticYemenite Fugitivesin Africa
The Abashat tribesmen (already mentioned in Pre-Christian Sabaean inscriptions
from Yemen) are the ancestors of the modern (Tigrinya-speaking, Tigre-speaking
and Amharic-speaking) Abyssinians. Their language and writing (Ge'ez) originate
from the Pre-Christian languages and writings of AncientYemen (Sabaean, Awsani,
Qatabani, Himyarite, and Hadhrami), which are all Semitic, but greatly differ from
Arabic. The fact that,although having emigrated from Yemen and focalized their

trade activities around Adulis, the early Abyssinians preferred to definitely settle
and erect their capital at a safe distance from their harbor in the mountainous inland
(Axum and all other major Abyssinian sites except Adulis) demonstrates clearly that
they were chased from and kicked out of Yemen, and that, afterthey settled in the
coastal land, they had the foresight to secure themselves behind the mountains that
offered them the chance to best prepare their defense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aksum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qohaito
(possibly 'Koloe' as per the Periplus of the Red Sra)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matara,_Eritrea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawulti-Melazo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeha
It was well known to these early Yemenite-Abyssinians that the Eastern African
coastland Cushitic populations had advanced further to the South and they had not
founded a major city, port or trade center in the region of today's Massawa. It was
also clear to them that the Nile Valley Cushites (either of Napata or Meroe) had
never expanded up to the mountainous region north of today's Lake Tana; this has in
fact been corroborated by Modern Archaeology, since no Cushitic or Meroitic
antiquities have ever been excavated in the region of mountains located beyond
today's Sudan's eastern borderlines.
This is very important for us to take into consideration, because those peripheries
never belonged to any Cushitic/Meroitic royal authority and never ever during the
Antiquity did Meroitic and Axumite territories overlapped prior to the Axumite
Abyssinian king Ezana's invasion and destruction of Meroe (ca. 360-370 CE). This
fact fully cancels the ahistorical and absurd propaganda of today's criminal
Abyssinian ruling class about the (distortedly popularized as 'Abyssinian') Ethiopian
(i.e. Ancient Sudanese, Cushitic) occupation of AncientKemet (Egypt), which is said
with reference to the 25th Cushitic ('Ethiopian' as per Manetho) dynasty. As a matter
of fact, no ancestor of today's Amhara or Tigray Abyssinians ruled Kemet (Egypt);
ancestors of today's Oromos, Sidamas and Arabic-speaking Sudanese did, because
they are the offspring of the Ancient Cush (Ethiopia) in today's Sudan.
Egyptologists and Sudan archaeologists have discussed for long the topic of the
southern and the eastern borders of the empires of Cush (Napata) and Meroe. The
two Cushitic empires traded with Egypt and the Mediterranean world and were
linked through desert routes across Sahara with Northwestern and Western Africa's
farthermost confines; but they did not have maritime vocation and they never
controlled today's Sudan's coastlands. Furthermore,it is known that neither Napata
nor Meroe extended their control beyond the region of Butana (Kessala, al-Gedaref,
Wad-Madani and Khartoum) in today's Sudan.
XIV. Puntis Opone (RasHafun, Somalia): Impossible to locate it
elsewhere
Written ca. 1550 years after the 'Expedition to Punt', the 'Periplus of the Red Sea'
mentions also Punt (paragraphs 13-15); this time we don't have references to a
kingdom but to a city and post of call, which was the very last region of the "Other
Berberia", and like all the rest it was self-ruled. The very name Punt of the Ancient

Kemetian (Egyptian) hieroglyphic sources is rendered as Ὀπώνη - Opone in Ancient
Greek and Latin sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opone
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=o
pone-geo
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pwnt#Egyptian
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tꜣ-nṯr
This puts the entire matter of Punt's location beyond any doubt, because, contrarily
to the 'Expedition of Punt', the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' offers determinant practical
details and, more importantly, the distance of every port of call, trade center, and
harbor from the next, starting with Arsinoe (Suez).The unit of measurement is the
stadium (for links to the text, see above: unit XII). The entire text is composed in the
way paragraph13 is written:
"Beyond Tabae, after four hundred stadia, there is the village of Pano. And then,
after sailing four hundred stadia along a promontory, toward which place the
current also draws you, there is another market-town called Opone",…
The approximate length of the stadium is known and thus, with the help of the
anonymous author of the 'Periplus of the Red Sea', we are able to accurately locate
Berenice, Ptolemais Theron, Adulis, Avalites, Malao (today's Berbera) and all the
other ports of call until Opone and further beyond until Rhapta (today's Daresalaam
in Tanzania). Not one modern scholar disagreed with the identification of the exact
location of Opone in today's Hafun (Somali: Xaafuun; Arabic: ‫)حافون‬, near the cape
Ras Hafun (Somali: Ras Xaafuun, Arabic: ‫حـافـون‬ ‫)رأس‬.
Cape Ras Hafun is located at a distance of ca. 100 miles (160 km) south the Horn of
Africa, i.e. Cape Guardafui, which is known as Ras Asir in Somali (Raas Caseyr). Ras
Asir is also mentioned in the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' (paragraph 12) as 'Cape of
Spices' (Ancient Greek: Ἀκρωτήριον Ἀρωμάτων / Akroterion Aromaton); in modern
bibliography, it is also referred to as 'Aromata' (in the Nominative case; because
'Aromaton' is in the Genitive case, i.e. 'of the Spices'). There was actually a local trade
center at the Akroterion Aromaton,and this was the reason for which the location
was mentioned in that text (Ἀρωμάτων ἐμπόριον καὶ ἀκρωτήριον / Aromaton
Emporion kai Akroterion / the Market and Cape of Spices).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadion_(unit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Hafun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Guardafui
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardafui_Channel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbaria_(East_Africa)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_Filuk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heis_(town)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosylon
Punt and Opone are exactly the same word. For Punt, the basics are available here:
Sir Alan Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, Cambridge 1957: Pwnt / (Pwenet),p. 565, left
column, lower part (p. 601/683 of the PDF; here: https://www.coptica.ch/Gardiner-

EgyptianGrammar.pdf).The AncientKemetian (Egyptian) hieroglyphic writing
included also an alphabet, but all the letters were considered as consonants, and
therefore the vocalization of several words is not always accurate. Written with the
signs Q3, E34, N35, X1 (that all have phonetic value) and N25 (as ideogram), the
toponym Punt could have been pronounced by Ancient Kemetians (Egyptians) as
Punt, Pune, Puene, Punet, Puenet, Punet or Puen. Detailed information about these
hieroglyphic signs is available here: index of signs on p. 544-547 (or p. 580 to 583 out
of 683 of the PDF) and list of signs on p. 442-543 (or p. 478 to 579 out of 683 of the
PDF) in the aforementioned link.
In the Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) name,the final –t (sign X1) may have had no
phonetic value at all, being then a determinative only to indicate that the preceding
name was that of a place, i.e. a toponym. This is quite plausible, but in this case the
correct pronunciation would be Puene, Puen or Pune.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinative
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs#Determinatives
Similarly, in the Ancient Greek name of this location, the final –e (-η), which is one of
the typical endings of Ancient Greek toponyms, may have only been added as a form
of Hellenization of the Ancient Somali place name for the needs of the author's Greek
readership in Alexandria. Furthermore,the Ancient Greek writing of the toponym
Opone with omega (in the second syllable: Ω, ω) testifies to the existence of a long
vowel (omega already means 'great o'), which have been pronounced as –u (-ou/-w).
The only remaining slight phonetic difference between Punt and Opone appears to
be the initial Greek vowel O-. In Phonology, this may well be a typical phenomenon
of epenthesis, i.e. addition of one sound to a word. More specifically, as it happens at
the beginning of the word, it can be categorized as prothesis; furthermore, it can be
described as anaptyxis, because it involves a vowel (O-).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epenthesis#Beginning_of_word
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epenthesis#Anaptyxis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prothesis_(linguistics)#Semitic_languages
XV. The Cushites of the Horn (Punt- Opone)were never
controlled by the impotentking Zoscalesof Axumite Abyssinia
The identification of the Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) toponym,which has hitherto
been only conventionally known as 'Punt', with the Ancient Greek appellation of the
same place ('Opone'), and the recognition of the exact location of Punt/Opone thanks
to the topographical details included in the 'Periplus of the Red Sea' irrevocably
cancel every attempt to locate Punt elsewhere or to link it in any manner with
territories related to Axum and Abyssinia.
This puts an end to the extraordinarily fallacious Abyssinian state propaganda and
to several Zionist, anti-African pseudo-historians' publications and speeches in
which they pretend the opposite in order to promote their racist theories and various
historical distortions. In this regard, any maps that may have been posted online,
which show the land of Punt as connected in any sense with either Axumite
Abyssinia or Cushitic Ethiopia (in today's Sudan), are totally irrelevant and
absolutely fake.

The 'Periplus of the Red Sea' makes it clear that the kingdom of Axumite Abyssinia
never reached up to Avalites (Assab in Eritrea). In paragraph 3 of the text, King
Zoscales of Axum is said to control the lands after the Call-Eaters, who were located
south of the territories of the Berbers and beyond Ptolemais Theron (Suakin in
Sudan's coastland), somewhere in the area of Tokar (‫)طوكر‬, i.e. close to Sudan's
borderline with Eritrea. And in paragraph 5, we learn that Zoscales' rule reached up
to the borders of the 'Other Berberia'. Avalites (Assab) is then mentioned as the first
trade center and port of call of the Other Berberia; there cannotbe any doubt about
the location of Avalites. The author of the text states: "to this place the voyage from
Arabia to the far-side coast is the shortest" (as 'far-side coast' the text's anonymous
author means the Other Berberia). This concludes the case about the area of the
Axumite kingdom: it covered maximum ca. 50-75% of today's Eritrea's territory and
few more lands in the inland.
Even in Adulis, which was the only port of call of the Axumite kingdom, a great part
of the trade mentioned used to take place in order to cover the needs of the Cushitic
populations of the adjacent regions. I will herewith present the details given in the
6th paragraphof the text as regards the commercial activities in the port of Adulis in
order to compare the products imported for the Cushites with the products imported
for the king of Axum; this will help us better illuminate the trade realities of those
days, which were proportional to the financial potentialities of the Cushites and the
meager needs of the Axumite king.
Adulis imports for the Cushites were the following:
There are imported into these places, undressed cloth made in Egypt for the Berbers;
robes from Arsinoe; cloaks of poor quality dyed in colors; double-fringed linen
mantles; many articles of flint glass,and others of murrhine, made in Diospolis; and
brass, which is used for ornament and in cut pieces instead of coin; sheets of soft
copper, used for cooking-utensils and cut up for bracelets and anklets for the women;
iron, which is made into spears used against the elephants and other wild beasts,
and in their wars. Besides these, small axes are imported, and adzes and swords;
copper drinking-cups, round and large; a little coin for those coming to the market;
wine of Laodicea and Italy, not much; olive oil, not much;
{I note that Wilfred H. Schoff's translation (Longmans, Green, and Co.fourth avenue
& 30th street, New York, London, Bombay and Calcutta 1912) is quite confusing for
the non-specialist reader because he does not offer immediate geographical notes;
Arsinoe is today's Suez; Diospolis is Thebes of Egypt, today's Luxor; and Laodicea is
today's Lattakiyeh in Syria's coastland.}
Adulis imports for the king Zoscales of Axumite Abyssinia were the following:
for the king, gold and silver plate made after the fashion of the country, and for
clothing, military cloaks, and thin coats of skin, of no great value. Likewise from the
district of Ariaca across this sea, there are imported Indian iron, and steel, and
Indian cotton cloth; the broad cloth called monachê and that called sagimtogênê,
and girdles, and coats of skin and mallow-colored cloth, and a few muslins, and
colored lac.
Through the description, it becomes clear that the Cushites ('Berbers' as per the text)
imported items that were necessary for tribal societies in their struggle with Africa's
wildlife, whereas Axum imported products necessary for the limited Axumite

stratocracy. Having a decentralized structure with no centripetal royal authority, the
Cushites lived evidently a better life, as they were reportedly importing several
articles of flint glass, olive oil, and wine.
Since the text mentions the Cushitic presence ('Berberia') around Ptolemais Theron
(Suakin) and also from Avalites (Assab) further on alongside Northern Somalia's
coastline (the 'Other Berberia') up to the Horn of Africa and beyond, also detailing
imports in and exports from each port of call and trade center, the average reader
may eventually come up with the following question:
- Why products destined for the Cushites were also imported in Adulis, which was
the only Axumite harbor?
The response is simple: the text helps us understand that several regions of the
Axumite kingdom were also inhabited by Cushites whose presence on some nearby
islands (easily identifiable with Dahlak islands) is also mentioned in the Periplus of
the Red Sea. In other words, Eritrean regions like today's Keren, Agordat and
Teseney (west of Massawa) or Meder, Shali and Ti'yo (east of Massawa) and Tigray
regions like Adigrat and Mekelle (currently occupied by gangster Abiy Ahmed's
army) were inhabited by Cushites over whom Zoscales' authority was merely
nominal.
This also explains the text's references (paragraph4) to the ivory trade from lands
beyond the Nile (meaning the Blue Nile); the trade was evidently in the hands of
Cushitic tribesmen, who inhabited the inland and preferred to pass their trade
through Axum (called 'Auxumites' in the test), instead of transporting it through
Meroe and Ptolemais Theron, where they would certainly pay heavier taxes to the
Qore (King).
The specific excerpt reads (paragraph4):
Opposite Mountain Island, on the mainland twenty stadia from shore, lies Adulis, a
fair-sized village, from which there is a three-days' journey to Coloe, an inland town
and the first market for ivory. From that place to the city of the people called
Auxumites there is a five days' journey more; to that place all the ivory is brought
from the country beyond the Nile through the district called Cyeneum,and thence to
Adulis.
Apparently, Cyeneum (Κυήνειον) was located in the area between today's Gedaref,
Kessala (in Sudan) and Teseney (or Tessenei, in Eritrea) and its place on the way
from the 'country beyond the Nile' to Axum was important. We can therefore
suppose that the distances beyond Axum were considerably greater than those
mentioned in the text between the capital of Abyssinia and Adulis on the coastland
(Axum-Coloe/Qohaito:5 days - Coloe/Qohaito-Adulis: 3 days). Although ethnically
related to the Qore (King) of Meroe, the Cushitic tribesmen preferred to deal with the
Abyssinian king of Axum and thus extract greater profit for themselves. However,
there is no mention of Axumite military presence beyond the aforementioned
transportation route thattravelers needed 8 days in total to cross.
XVI. AncientAfars & Somalis: 'Other Berberia', Azania, and the
YemenitesSabaeans(Sheba)and Himyaritesin the Horn

The description of the Cushitic populations of the Other Berberia within the Periplus
of the Red Sea is quite striking; the Egyptian captains and the Aramaean traders of
those days may have encountered hard partners andpushy sellers in those coasts. At
the end of paragraph 7,the Cushites of Avalites are described as "more unruly than
the rest". In paragraph 9,the Cushites of Mundu (near today's Heis/Xiis or Maydh)
are called as "harder to deal with". The absence of central royal power and the self-
administration of each and every port of call of the Other Berberia are underscored at
the end of paragraph 14, which recapitulates the basic navigational schedules from
Egypt to the Horn region up to Opone. The local rulers are then called 'tyrants'; this
word had at the time a different connotation, totally distinct from the one it had had
400-500 years earlier in Ancient Greece and fully unrelated to its modern meaning. It
essentially denoted a local chief, who was acclaimed by the elite of the natives but
deprived of hereditary power. The rulers of the cities-states of the Other Berberia
were merchants and administration chiefs very similar to the well-documented
'mukarrib' of Ancient Yemen; at the same time, they were also pious persons with
elementary priestly tasks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukarrib
However, beyond Opone (Hafun, near Ras Hafun), the unruly and indomitable
Cushites of the Other Berberia did not find any counterpart. Although according to
all the historical sources and the archaeological material record the populations
living further in the South were evidently of Cushitic origin too, the land from
Opone down to Rhapta (today's Daresalaam) formed a different socio-administrative
entity. It was called Azania; covering more than 3000 km of coastlands, Azania
constituted a Cushitic land administered as colony by the Ancient Yemenites. Capital
and major port of call - trade center of Azania was Rhapta, which was linked not
only to Alexandria, the trade centers of the Persian Gulf, and the ports of call of the
Indus River Delta, but also with the ports of call and trade centers in the Deccan
(today's India's southern half), Sri Lanka, Indochina-Indonesia (called 'Chryse', i.e.
'Golden'), and China.
In the subsequent paragraphs (15-18),the text gives ample information about the
Sabaean-Himyarite colonization of Azania and the early intermarriages that the
Ancient Yemenites arranged with the indigenous Cushitic Somalis, also learning
their language. The intermarriages seem to have been an old custom perhaps initially
introduced by the Qatabani Yemenites, who were the first great navigators and the
premier maritime power of the Indian Ocean during the 5th – 2nd c. BCE. The
alliance of Sheba and Himyar at the end of the 2nd c. BCE put an end to Qataban, but
it seems that the allied Sabaeans and Himyarites inherited the already established
colonial infrastructure in Azania and continued the same practices, thus becoming
acceptable partners for the local Somalis. The text describes in detail the situation,
putting beyond any doubt the fact that the supreme ruler of the East African lands
south of Opone at the time was the Himyarite King Charibael, whose palace was
located at Zafar ('Maphar' in the Periplus of the Red Sea) in today's Yemen.
The text reads (paragraphs 16-18):
Two days' sail beyond, there lies the very last market-town of the continent of
Azania, which is called Rhapta; which has its name from the sewed boats (rhaptôn
ploiariôn) already mentioned; in which there is ivory in great quantity, and tortoise-
shell. Along this coast live men of piratical habits, very great in stature, and under
separate chiefs for each place. The Mapharitic chief governs it under some ancient

right that subjects it to the sovereignty of the state that is become firstin Arabia.
And the people of Muza now hold it under his authority, and send thither many
large ships, using Arab captains and agents, who are familiar with the natives and
intermarry with them, and who know the whole coast and understand the language.
There are imported into these markets the lances made at Muza especially for this
trade, and hatchets and daggers and awls, and various kinds of glass; and at some
places a little wine, and wheat, not for trade, but to serve for getting the good-will
of the savages*1 . There are exported from these places a great quantity of ivory, but
inferior to that of Adulis, and rhinoceros-horn and tortoise-shell (which is in best
demand after that from India), and a little palm-oil.
And these markets of Azania are the very last of the continent that stretches down
on the right hand from Berenice; for beyond these places the unexplored ocean curves
around toward the west, and running along by the regions to the south of Aethiopia
and Libya and Africa, it mingles with the western sea.
*1 I must note at this point that the translation ('of the savages') in the middle of the
paragraph 17 is erroneous, because the text mentions the 'Berbers' (Barbars), like in
any other part (between paragraphs 2 and 17), as an ethnic name for the Eastern
African coastland Cushites (and not as 'barbarians'). This mistake at this point is also
bizarre, if we take into consideration that the English translator and scholar Wilfred
Harvey Schoff (1874–1932) did not translate it mistakenly in other parts of his
translation. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qataban
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charibael
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zafar,_Yemen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himyarite_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaeans
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaean_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatabanian_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Arabian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Harvey_Schoff
The Yemenite (Sabaean-Himyarite) colonization of part of Eastern African coastlands
proves that in the wider region of Eastern Africa and Arabian Peninsula,the only
major imperial power that existed was the overseas empire of Sheba-Himyar, which
had inherited the Qatabani thalassocracy. Compared to the Sabaeans-Himyarites,
Axum was a pale, lackluster entity that lacked both, the continental radiation and
riparian expansion of Meroe and the maritime prowess and colonial experience of
Ancient Yemen. In other words, it was a second class power.
The tight and absolute Yemenite control of the maritime trade between the
Mediterranean basin and the expanse of sea around the Earth's southern-
southeastern confines caused actually the Roman military reaction, involving a land
attack and a maritime expedition against Yemen,which is widely documented (by
Strabo, Dio Cassius, and Pliny the Elder) and also mentioned in the Periplus of the
Red Sea (in paragraph 26).The event took place immediately after the Roman
invasion and occupation of Egypt (30 BCE); Emperor Octavian Augustus dispatched
Aelius Gallus to attack the Sabaean-Himyarite kingdom, which had caused economic

troubles to the Romans by heavily taxing all Oriental products passing from Aden
and by preventing straight navigation from the Red Sea's Egyptian harbors to the
coastlands of Deccan (which is also known as Coast of Malabar). About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Romans_in_Arabia#Gallus's_expedi
tion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelius_Gallus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabia_Felix
https://nabataea.net/explore/travel_and_trade/trade-on-the-red-sea/
The differentiation among the Eastern African coastland Cushites in terms of
governance (self-rule for the Other Berberia, Sabaean-Himyarite colony for Azania)
and social-behavioral system (unruly and hard to deal with for the Other Berbers;
urbane and friendly for the Azanians) does not denote an early linguistic-ethnic
differentiation into the first stages of Afar and Somali languages and nations. This
development must have happened after the arrival of Islam in Africa. However, even
today both languages retain ample Ancient Cushitic vocabulary that was written in
Meroitic hieroglyphic and cursive writing before 2000 years. The Somali word 'boqor'
(king) is identical to the title of the Cushitic kings of Meroe: 'Qore'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_aristocratic_and_court_titles#Kings_or_Rule
rs
XVII. Meroe'sRelationswith Kemet/Egyptunderthe Ptolemies
(305-30 BCE)
As Meroe (today's Bagrawiyah) was located very far from Kemet (Egypt), there was
never a chance for attackers coming from the North (be they Kemetians/Egyptians,
Iranians, Macedonians or Romans) to reach the new Cushitic capital thatrose to
prominence in the 5th and the 4th c. BCE. Alexanderthe Great never advanced
beyond Niwt, i.e. 'the city par excellence', as the Ancient Kemetians named their own
capital, Thebes of Egypt (today's Luxor). The Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies
was fully assimilated into the Ancient Kemetian (Egyptian) imperial administration
and expressed strictly Egyptian interests in the wider chessboard between the
Atlantic and the Indian Oceans.
In general, the relations between Ptolemaic Kemet and Meroe were good, because
with the relocation of the Cushitic capital beyond the confluence of Atbarah with the
(United) Nile, every foreign attack from the North was predestined to doom long
before reaching the whereabouts of Meroe. In fact, the capital of the Meroites was
located at a distance of 1400-1500 km south of the Kemetian - Meroitic border during
the times of Ptolemaic - Roman Kemet. Taking into consideration the lack of due
training and the physical limits of northern empires' armies when crossing the
desert, one can understand why all significant Ptolemaic or Roman expeditions in
the South stopped in the area of today's borders between Masr (Egypt) and Sudan.
The advance of Ptolemy II (ca. 275 BCE) ended essentially in a compromise, i.e. the
establishment of Dodekaschoenus (also written as Dodekaschoinos) and
Triakontaschoenus (also written as Triakontaschoinos), namely two land zones
alongside the Nile, which both started in the First Cataract (immediately south of
Syene / Aswan) and extended southwards, the first being the northern partof the
second. As per the agreement, Dodekaschoenus would be integral part of Kemet and
only Kemetian army was allowed to move there, whereas in Triakontaschoenus

Kemetian and Meroitic soldiers would patrol together, while the land would be
placed under condominium. The two names (written in Latin and Romanized Greek
as per above) denote respectively two lands that are twelve schoeni (or schoinoi)
long and thirty schoeni long. One schoenus (or schoinos) was a measurement unit to
calculate the length; as unit of measurement, it was of Ancient Kemetian origin,
being named i͗trw (iteru). The Ancient Greeks accepted this unit as equal to 40 stadia.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nwt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_II_Philadelphus#Invasion_of_Nubia_(c._27
5_BC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_II_Philadelphus#Colonisation_of_the_Red
_Sea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemais_Theron
https://www.ancient.eu/Dodekaschoinos/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triakontaschoinos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoenus
The good relations between the Ptolemies and the Qore (King) and Kandake (Queen)
of Meroe were reflected in Ancient Greek and Latin texts, and Diodorus Siculus'
reference to 'Ergamenes' (identified with Qore Arakamani) reveals exactly the
spiritual-religious divisions that I mentioned earlier, when I stated that they
characterized the entire History of pre-Christian Kemet (Egypt) and Cush (Ethiopia)
{in unit V. Deep Spiritual-Religious Divisions among both, Kemetians (Egyptians)
and Cushites (Sudanese: Ethiopians)}. Reigning at the times of Ptolemy II, Ptolemy
III and Ptolemy IV (during the 3rd c. BCE), Ergamenes is said to have clashed with
part of the Meroitic priesthood and to have eliminated their spiritual control over the
Meroitic nation. There can be several interpretations of this excerpt, but at this point,
I only include the original Greek text and an English translation:
Greek text
Κατὰ μὲν οὖν τοὺς ἐπάνω χρόνους ὑπήκουον οἱ βασιλεῖς τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, οὐχ ὅπλοις
οὐδὲ βίᾳ κρατηθέντες, ἀλλ´ ὑπ´ αὐτῆς τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας τοὺς λογισμοὺς
κατισχυόμενοι· κατὰ δὲ τὸν δεύτερον Πτολεμαῖον ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Αἰθιόπων
Ἐργαμένης, μετεσχηκὼς Ἑλληνικῆς ἀγωγῆς καὶ φιλοσοφήσας, πρῶτος ἐθάρρησε
καταφρονῆσαι τοῦ προστάγματος. Λαβὼν γὰρ φρόνημα τῆς βασιλείας ἄξιον
παρῆλθε μετὰ {τῶν} στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὸ ἄβατον, οὗ συνέβαινεν εἶναι τὸν χρυσοῦν
ναὸν τῶν Αἰθιόπων, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἱερεῖς ἀπέσφαξε, τὸ δὲ ἔθος τοῦτο καταλύσας
διωρθώσατο πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν.
http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/diodore/livre3a.htm
English translation
Thus, during the earlier times, the kings were subject to the priests, not by force of
arms or due to violence, but because of the influence that the superstitions had over
their minds. But, during the reign of Ptolemy II, Ergamenes, king of the Ethiopians,
who had been educated after the Greek rules and was instructed in philosophy, was
the first to attempt to breach the order. Since he had acquired a stature worthy of a
king, he entered into the holy of holies, accompanied by soldiers; this happened to be
in the golden temple of the Ethiopians. There, he slaughtered all the priests and he
abolished that tradition, ruling afterwards the country as it pleased him.
About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergamenes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arakamani
Good relations between Ptolemaic Kemet and Meroe continued during the reigns of
the kings Arqamani and Adikhalamani and the Queen (Kandake) Shanakdakhete in
the 2nd c. BCE. However, both states faced many challenges in regions adjacent to
their borders because of many unruly elements and following raids or rebellions of
either ethnic/tribal or religious order. In the 2nd half of the 1st c. BCE, Kandake
Amanirenas became the Meroitic counterpart of the Kemetian Queen Hatshepsut,
who had ruled ca. 1450 years earlier: she ruled Meroe as Qore and Kandake
(Meroitic: Kdwe). She is correctly identified as the warrior 'Kandake' of Strabo's
narratives. Due to the scarcity of the Meroitic sources, we do not know the real
reasons and the motives that made her start the war against the Roman province of
Egypt.
Whereas for almost 300 years the Ptolemies, despite their Macedonian origin, ruled
Kemet (Egypt) from Alexandria as real Kemetian Pharaohs, the Roman occupation of
Egypt was rather reminiscent of the Achaemenid Iranian annexation of the Valley of
the Nile, which was completed 500 years earlier by Cambyses and Darius the Great.
Kemet was again ruled from a capital located several thousands of kilometers far
from the Nile. However, there was an enormous difference between the role that
Kemet had as satrapy of Iran and the position that Egypt had as province of the
Roman Empire. Africa's northeastern cornerwas far more important for the Iranians
than for the Romans. This was due to the totally different nature of the two empires:
Imperial Iran constituted the universal-imperial unification of all the lands between
Eastern Europe - Eastern Mediterranean - Eastern Africa and Northern India - China
- Siberia. Rome embodied the military-practical integration of all coastal lands
around the Mediterranean into one centralized authority that startedlooking as a
Western copy of an Oriental Empire but still had very low and very poor imperial
theoretical and spiritual standards.
Within the Achaemenid Empire, the satrapy of Mudraya (Egypt) had a key
geostrategic position, because it offered an alternative route of transportation
between the Mediterranean satrapies of the Empire and its central province and
capital (Fars & Parsa/Persepolis). But within the Roman Empire, Egypt was merely a
marginal periphery. This development affected Meroe greatly. Although it is
certainly inaccurate to state that there was a Roman lack of interest (or ability) to
secure the southern boundary of the province 'Egypt', it is pertinent to stress that this
task was not the main priority of the imperial defense system. For the Romans, the
most important border to defend was that located north of the Italian Peninsula in
Central Europe opposite the Germans.
Certainly, there were Roman legions everywhere to defend all borders, but regional
developments did not affect Rome directly. At the same time, unruly elements,
notably the Blemmyes (Βλέμυες/Bejas), the Nubai (Νοῦβαι/Nubians), the
Troglodytae, the Megabaroi, and other Cushitic and Nilo-Saharan ethnic groups of
the desert started demonstrating a mobility that was far more embarrassing for
Meroe than for Rome. These movements, which may have involved raids, looting or
even sacrilege, must have probably driven Kandake Amanirenas inside the Roman
territories in pursuit of a definite victory over the ethnic groups that threatened the

safety of the northern provinces of Meroe and the security of the southern confines of
Roman Egypt. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arqamani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adikhalamani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanirenas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Kush
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Persian_Egypt
https://www.academia.edu/43492808/Darius_the_Greats_Suez_Inscriptions_Birth_
Certificate_of_the_Silk_Roads
http://www.ancientsudan.org/dailylife_01_diet.htm#
XVIII. The War between Meroeand Rome (25-23BCE)
The only noteworthy war between Meroe and the Roman Empire is questionably
and poorly documented; the reason for this is the fact that Strabo's narrative
(Geographica, XVII, 1:53-54) reflects a deeply partial, pro-Roman stance. Strabo was a
close friend of Aelius Gallus, who was dispatched against the Sabaeans and the
Himyarites in Yemen little time before the Meroitic attack against and occupation of
Egypt's southernmost city (Syene/Aswan), premier trade center (Elephantine Island
in Aswan), and supreme sanctuary (Isis Temple at the Island of Philae, 5km south of
Aswan) at 25 BCE.
Greek text:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0197
%3Abook%3D17%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D54
English translation:
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/17A3*.html
In Strabo's text, Kandake Amanirenas is mentioned as a 'masculine' queen and a
'one-eyed woman' whose army attacked "because they realized that partof the
Egypt-based Roman forces was dispatched under Aelius Gallus" to wage war against
Yemen. This assumption, invented only to morally disparage the Meroites' attitude,
discredits the entire reference. Such a Machiavellian attempt would perhaps be
possible if there had been ceaseless wars between the Ptolemies and Meroe, which
was not the case.
Strabo's description of the Meroitic attack against Roman Egypt as an opportunistic
affair does not correspond to any data coming from all sources available about the
Meroitic-Kemetian relations over the previous centuries; even more so, because we
don't have any other information about Meroitic incursions in Roman Egypt's
southernmost confines after Octavian invaded Alexandria (30 BCE). It is not my
intention to analyze Strabo's ca. 700-word excerpt here,but I mentioned its
untrustworthiness because an enormous deal of colonial forgery has been invented
and fabricated upon this excerpt. This academic forgery was then diffused
worldwide with target to disparage the Kingdom of Meroe, minimize the importance
of Africa's greatest kingdom of that time, and depict it as subordinated to Rome –
which was never the case.
While narrating Gaius Petronius' military campaign and counterattack (24-23 BCE),
Strabo mentions three locations south of Aswan, namely Pselchis (Ψέλχις), Primnis
(Πρῆμνις), and Napata (Νάπατα). Located at 120 km south of Aswan, Pselchis (Pa
Serqet in Ancient Kemetian) is the modern site of el-Dakka where the temple of Thot

was built (successfully transported to a new site during the International Campaign
to Save the Monuments of Nubia, which was undertaken by UNESCO during the
period 1954-1978). Pselchis is not far from Hiera Sykaminos (modern al-Maharraqa,
140 km south of Aswan) where the temple of Isis and Sarapis was located (being
similarly transported to a new location). The Roman Emperor Octavian rebuilt and
extended both temples in the first decades of his reign. Hiera Sykaminos marked the
end of Dodecaschoenus in the Ptolemaic-Roman times.
Located at 200 km south of Aswan, Premnis (or Primis) is the modern site of Qasr
Ibrim, an extraordinarily important location thatwas continually occupied over the
past 2700 years. Qasr Ibrim, as it was atop of a hill overlooking the Nile during the
all the historical periods, became an island after the erection of Aswan High Dam
and the rise of the artificial lake waters. Among the incredible treasure of artifacts
and monuments that have been excavated there, several remains bear witness to the
Roman presence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Dakka
https://www.trismegistos.org/geo/georef_list.php?tm=1949
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Maharraqa
https://www.trismegistos.org/place/846
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qasr_Ibrim
https://www.trismegistos.org/geo/detail.php?tm=1916
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/232575138.pdf
https://www.nino-leiden.nl/publication/qasr-ibrim-between-egypt-and-africa
https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/173
http://www.sudarchrs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SARS_SN10-Wilkins-
Rose_opt.pdf
The third location that Strabo mentions in this excerpt is Napata, the old capital of
Cush, which was not anymore the center of the Meroitic kingdom at the end of the
1st c. BCE. There is only one reason for which the biased, pro-Roman,Anatolian
author (Strabo originated from Amaseia / Amasya,an important city of the Pontus
kingdom in today's Central-Northern Turkey) mentioned Napata. He pretended that
Gaius Petronius reached there and even sacked the city! This is highly unlikely; the
distance between Premnis (apparently the Roman prefect's farther point of advance)
and Napata (today's Karima in Sudan, near the Nile's Fourth Cataract)is more than
850 km alongside the Nile!
First, it is absolutely impossible that the Roman prefect of Egypt managed to lead his
army so deeply in Cush, due to the extreme climatological conditions that they may
have encountered there. Only the Berber Pharaoh Psamtek (Psammetichus) II (of the
26th -'Libyan' as per Manetho- dynasty) managed to sack Napata (591 BCE), but
evidently his Kemetian (Egyptian) and mercenary soldiers were better acquainted
with the local climate. Also, the Iranian Achaemenid Shah Cambyses (530-522 BCE)
advanced and occupied sizeable portions of Cush, after invading Kemet (Egypt) in
525 BCE. Archaeological evidence from Buhen (in the area of the Nile's Second
Cataract, in Northern Sudan, close to today's Egyptian-Sudanese border) and other
sites makes it sure that the Iranians controlled that region, which is located more
than 100 km south of Premnis (Primis/Qasr Ibrim).
Second, Strabo's mention of Cambyses' campaign and his comparison of the two
campaigns, namely the Iranian and the Roman (under Gaius Petronius), prove that

his narrative was rather propagandistic,as he tried only to present the Roman
advance as more important an exploit than the Iranian invasion of Cush 500 years
earlier. In fact, Strabo did not need to mention Cambyses at all; even worse, Strabo's
fictional identification of the place whereby natural phenomena destroyed
Cambyses' army (if this event ever occurred) is proven as totally misplaced, because
of the extant archaeological evidence. The Iranians had advanced further in the
South. This is Strabo's excerpt:
From Pselchis he (:Gaius Petronius) went to Premnis, a fortified city,after passing
through the sand-dunes, where the army of Cambyses was overwhelmed when a
wind-storm struck them; and having made an attack, he took the fortress at the first
onset.
Immediately after that point, Strabo states that Gaius Petronius "attacked and
captured Napata" ('Nabata')! This is typical Roman self-eulogy, untrustworthy
rodomontade, and hyperbolic description elaborated as a means of state propaganda.
Third, it is totally unthinkable that the Romans reached Napata without Strabo also
mentioning several other sites much larger than Pselchis and Premnis. Major
Meroitic sites existed on the long way down to Napata. It is impossible that there
were no battles, no assaults on fortresses, no looting of palaces, and no mention of
captives. This most troublesome point makes us conclude that Strabo's narrative
about a Roman sack of Napata is totally imaginary. To be possibly credible, Strabo
had to mention either a few fights or some cases pillage or both in the area of the
Third Cataract, let's say in Tabo or Kawa (Gematon). Actually, Strabo's extraordinary
pretensions are refuted by the orderly and wealthy reign that Amanirenas' successor,
Kandake Amanishakheto seems to have had, as she built many great monuments
throughout her empire. Such activity could not have been possibly undertaken, had
the Meroitic kingdom undergone such an extraordinary destruction.
Fourth, Strabo makes one more mistake, pretending that Napata was 'still' the capital
of Cush. Already centuries earlier, the capital had been transferred to Meroe, as I
have already said. Quite lamentably, many modern Western scholars took this text
seriously and in doing so, they committed many other mistakes on the basis of
successive erroneous assumptions.
Fifth, comparatively with Strabo's description of the military expedition of Aelius
Gallus against the kingdoms of Yemen (Geographica, XVI, 4:23; English translation:
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16D*.html), the
description of the war against Meroe makes it look far more successful than the
attack against Aden. Furthermore, there are no excerpts involving self-criticism or
error analysis, contrarily to Strabo's comments and remarks about Aelius Gallus'
stratagems and maneuvers. This probably suggests that in reality, although Aelius
Gallus was exposed to many diverse adversities, he managed at the end to sack
Aden ('Eudaimon Arabia' / 'Arabia Felix'), and this is what Strabo explicitly states;
quite contrarily, Gaius Petronius did not manage to destroy any major palatial and
urban center of Meroe. Consequently, Strabo's narrative was intentionally written in
order to present the two military campaigns in a balanced manner, and that's why he
expressed some criticism about the most successful of the two campaigns (namely
that of Aelius Gallus) whereas he added an enormous lie in favor of the less
successful one (i.e. that of Gaius Petronius).

Last, irrespective of what Strabo narrated in his Geographica, the aftermath of both
military campaigns shows the reality in a revelatory manner; the excerptends with
the negotiations between Candace and Gaius Petronius. The conciliation took a most
honorable form for the Candace and the Meroitic royals around her.The prefect of
Egypt treated them as superior and suggested that they meet Octavian Augustus in
person. Consequently, the Meroitic delegation crossed Kemet (Egypt) and sailed
from Alexandria to Samos Island where the Roman Emperor was at the time. The
specific excerpt's English translation reads:
Meantime Candacê marched against the garrison with many thousands of men, but
Petronius set out to its assistance and arrived at the fortress first;and when he had
made the place thoroughly secure by sundry devices, ambassadors came,but he bade
them go to Caesar; and when they asserted that they did not know who Caesar was
or where they should have to go to find him, he gave them escorts;and they went to
Samos, since Caesar was there and intended to proceed to Syria from there, after
despatching Tiberius to Armenia. And when the ambassadors had obtained
everything they pled for, he even remitted the tributes which he had imposed.
About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buhen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambyses_II#Conquest_of_Egypt_and_its_surroun
dings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabo_(Nubia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawa,_Sudan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_relations_with_Nubia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Gaius_Petronius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Petronius#/media/File:Ancient_Egypt_map-
la.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mero%C3%AB#Conflict_with_Rome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanirenas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanishakheto
The Meroitic-Roman treaty was respected from both sides, and this means that
Octavian Augustus had far greaterforesight and cooler mind than Strabo. There are
several reasons that support the interpretation/reconstruction attempt as per which
the early Meroitic incursions (prior to the Roman military expedition) were due to
the vital Meroitic need to put unruly ethnic groups under control and to ensure
security in the Triakontaschoinos and the Dodekaschoinos.Most probably, some
groups of Blemmyes or Nubians, initiating a raid from the Roman Egyptian territory,
had attacked somewhere within the Meroitic territory at a moment the Roman army
was unable to react and, to avoid the Meroitic reprisals, they ran back and scattered
within the Roman Egyptian territory (Dodekaschoinos), thus dragging the Meroitic
regiments deep inside Kemet (Egypt) and up to Aswan. Apparently, Octavian
understood the reasons for this act.
Then, in the Anatolian Island of Samos, Octavian Augustus and the Meroitic
delegation came to agreement that involved several measures of peacekeeping across
the troublesome region of their borders between the First and the Second Cataracts,
which was located far from their respective capitals, while being exposed to
indomitable ethnic groups of the desert. Rome paid due respect and solved all
problems that existed across the Dodekaschoinos. The centuries old Ptolemaic
agreement, which stipulated that the local income should be entirely donated to the
Isis Temple at the Island of Philae, remained fully valid. It seems that both, Nubians

and Blemmyes, preferred the local sacerdotal power and recognized it as supreme
authority for them.
Octavian Augustus cared much about appeasing the Nubians and the Blemmyes. He
therefore ordered the reparation-reconstruction of several ancient temples across the
Dodekaschoinos. The temple of the Nubian god Merul (Mandulis in Ancient Greek
and Latin) in Talmis (Kalabsha) was reconstructed and expanded; on the temple's
wall Octavian was majestically depicted as Pharaoh making offerings. Also the
temples of Dakka and Maharraqa were extensively rebuilt, the entire Egypt as
province re-organized, the trade routes safely guarded, the temple renovation
projects completed, and the Ptolemaic taxation system reinstated.
XIX. The Meroe Head:BronzeHead of Octavian Augustus
Unearthedin the Capital of Cush
A particularity in this regard is a statue's head that was excavated in Meroe and
seems to bear the typical facial traits of Octavian Augustus. When John Garstang, the
excavator, dispatched the larger-than-life-size head to England (1910-1911), there
was still a doubt whether the monument depicted Germanicus (Octavian's great-
nephew); however, several scholars identified it -correctly- with Octavian.Various
historians and archaeologists offered several, rather erroneous interpretation
schemes about that monument with the typical traits of the Roman Emperor, the
expressive eyes, and the black colour. Most of the opinions expressed suggest that
the 'Meroe Head' was looted by the advancing Meroitic armies from some place in
the Dodekaschoinos or Aswan. To support this opinion, they referred to Strabo's
excerpts about the Meroitic invasion of Aswan, notably the following: "and by an
unexpected onset took Syenê and Elephantinê and Philae, and enslaved the
inhabitants, and also pulled down the statues of Caesar (: name used as title by
Octavian)".
However, this statement does not involve any reference about looting and
transporting cut heads of statues across vast distances (from Aswan to Meroe: ca.
1700 km) for no real purpose, since the Meroitic attack against Roman Egypt's
southern regions was not undertaken against Octavian Augustus personally.
One idiotic, racist and homosexual author, namely Neil MacGregor (included in The
Independent's 2007 list of "most influential gay people"!?!), wrote in his otherwise
useless and nonsensical "A History of the World in 100 Objects" (Penguin Books,
2013) thatstatues were erected "to remind the empire's largely illiterate population of
the emperor's power". This ignorant and pathetic person (former director of the
British Museum) failed to understand that in Ancient Kemet (Egypt) and Cush
(Ethiopia: Sudan) the conceptof illiteracy never existed due precisely to the
hieroglyphics.
Quite contrarily to the aforementioned, unsubstantiated theories and farfetched
suggestions, it is far easier to understand that the entire statue (of which only the
head was found) was created in Meroe by the Meroitic royal and sacerdotal
authorities in honor of the new ally of the Meroitic Kingdom, after the Samos
negotiations and the ensuing treaty. It can be argued that the statue and the head
were made locally, based on a mould that the Meroitic delegation got from
Octavian's courtiers and subordinates in Samos.

The exquisite artwork was found underneath a stairway that was leading to an altar
of victory. It is part of premeditated scheme, racist thinking, Orientalist bias, and
Western mind sickness to interpret the location of the unearthed remarkable finding
as deliberately chosen in order to disparage the 'enemy'. This miserable attitude
never characterized the AncientKemetian and Cushitic nations and empires; it
consists in mere projection of perverse Western mentality onto the study topic. In
other words, colonial historians and Western archaeologists thought that the Ancient
Meroites were as vindictive, choleric and barbarian as the Modern Europeans and
Americans.
Precisely because the Meroe Head was found close to a mound under the staircase
leading to a temple, one can deduce that the bronze statue (or bust?) of the Roman
Emperor and ally of Meroe was honorifically placed in front of a temple and then,
during the destruction of Meroe, which followed the raid of the Axumite King Ezana
(ca. 360-370 CE), it was broken and fallen down to the position where it was found
during the excavations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mero%C3%AB_Head
XX. JebelQeili, Qore ('King') Shorkaror, andthe Meroitic
Victory overthe Axumite Abyssinians
Jebel Qeili, which is located at around 150 km east-southeast of Khartoum (and 40
km southwest of El Murabba remains of Meroitic temple), is until now undeniably
the southernmost Meroitic site. Dating back to the time of Qore ('King' in Meroitic
language) Shorkaror (approximately 20-30 CE), the rupestral monument features an
inscription and a victory relief of the Meroitic ruler, who is depicted as stepping over
defeated Axumite Abyssinians, while presenting captives to and receiving blessings
from the sun-god. Portraying the sun-god almost like the Iranian god Mithras with
emanating rays, the Meroitic artists of the early 1st Christian century bore witness to
a remarkable Mithraic influence across the wider region of Eastern Africa,as the
artistic form is distinct and unique. And while Shorkaror is rewarded by Mithras
with a handful of sorghum, defeated Axumites are represented as falling from
mountainous cliffs, which suggests that the battle took place in the mountains east of
today's Kessala in Sudan, being therefore a punitive action over the Axumite
Abyssinians from the part of the Meroites.
The astounding relief serves also as another hint at internal religious divisions
among the Cushites of Meroe, because no relief of a sun-god has been preserved in
any other monument excavated across the vast area of the Kingdom of Meroe. It
seems that in Meroe there was one sacerdotal religion evidently documented on
hitherto preserved temples and another, different, royal religion of which the only
monument saved down to our days is the magnificent Jebel Qeili rock relief.
Apparently, Shorkarorwas undertaking military campaigns, accompanied by priests
and artists, who obeyed him, and not the sacerdotal colleges that controlled the
temples of Meroe. This makes the above mentioned narrative of Diodorus Siculus
about King Ergamenes (Arakamani) of Meroe even more credible (see unit XVII).
The most plausible interpretation of the reasons of this early Meroitic-Axumite
Abyssinian war is the use of trade routes nearby Meroe's southern-southeastern-
eastern frontiers, from beyond the Nile through the mountains and Axum to Adulis,

by Cushitic tribes ('Berbers' as per the 'Periplus of the Red Sea') inhabiting lands out
of control of either the Qore of Meroe or the Negus of Axum. I discussed the issue
above, in the last five paragraphs of the unit XV (The Cushites of the Horn (Punt -
Opone) were never controlled by the impotent king Zoscales of Axumite Abyssinia).
Apparently, King Shorkaror of Meroe did not want the wealth of the elephant- and
rhinoceros-trade to go to other royal treasurers, arrested some Cushitic tradesmen,
the king of Axum was asked to intervene, and finally the Meroites vanquished the
Axumite Abyssinian army. About:
https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Qeili
Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and
Paintings (by Bertha Porter & Rosalind L. B. Moss; vol. VII: Nubia, the Deserts, and
Outside Egypt)
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a2bc/a869a6a79dd194c56a6e3af523a504549d45.pd
f
Richard A. Lobban, Jr., Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia
(Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004. Pp. ix+511 - ISBN 0-8108-4784-1), entry 'Jebel
Qeili'; https://books.google.ru/books?id=5-
z4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=%22jebel+qeili%22+Shorkaror&source
=bl&ots=gYMC5lgdkn&sig=ACfU3U1gF0V4MzLu33XjoCBX_jhxqk4R2A&hl=en&sa
=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOlrLFy6DvAhUwzIUKHW96BOYQ6AEwEnoECDkQAw#v=on
epage&q=%22jebel%20qeili%22%20Shorkaror&f=false
It is to be noted that Qore Shorkaror was the son of Natakamani and Kandake (or
Candace, i.e. Queen) Amanitore and that, during and/or after his reign, Kandake
Amanitaraqide's chief eunuch may have undertaken a royal travel in the Roman
Empire's southeastern provinces, notably Egypt and Palestine, being then the
'Ethiopian' (: Meroitic) eunuch mentioned in the New Testament as subordinate of
the Candace (Acts 8:27-40).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorkaror
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandake
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natakamani
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitaraqide
https://www.academia.edu/3049911/_The_Queen_Mother_in_the_Kingdom_of_K
ush_Status_Power_and_Cultic_Role_
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10963-015-9089-1.pdf
https://www.sag-online.de/wp-
content/uploads/2019/06/Sakamoto2016_SobaAndMeroiticSouthernFrontier_MittS
AG27.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/25600850/Archaeological_survey_in_the_Blue_Nile_ar
ea_Central_Sudan_Prospecci%C3%B3n_arqueol%C3%B3gica_en_el_%C3%A1rea_de
l_Nilo_Azul_Sud%C3%A1n_Central
https://journals.openedition.org/ethnoecologie/4429
https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02926829/document
XXI. Meroitic-Roman Relations(30 BCE-4th c. CE) and their
Impact on Explorationsand Sciences
All the successors of Octavian (Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero) pursued the
same policy in Egypt and maintained good relations with Meroe. Dozens of Ancient
Kemetian (Egyptian) temples hitherto preserved in Egypt were rebuilt or extended in

the first centuries of the Christian era; they were majestically decorated with reliefs
that bore the names of the Roman Emperors written in hieroglyphics from Octavian
Augustus down to the late 3rd - early 4th c. CE Tetrarchy (Diocletian,Maximian,
Galerius, Maximinus Daia).
https://pharaoh.se/roman-emperors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_pharaoh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Egypt
The good relations between Rome and Meroe have been documented on many
occasions, notably the travels of the Meroitic Kandake's eunuch in provinces of the
Roman Empire (Egypt and Palestine) as reported within the New Testament (Acts
8:27-40).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_eunuch
Qore Amanitenmemide, who reigned in the middle of the 1st c. CE, must have been
the Meroitic king, who helped the Roman mission sent by Emperor Nero advance
further to the South, proceed through territories of several indigenous chieftains, and
explore the sources of the Nile. Apparently, the Meroites did indeed dispatch a small
detachment with the necessary provisions and letters of introduction to the various
kings and tribal chieftains of the regions around the White Nile in today's South
Sudan. Few Roman sources detail rather briefly this groundbreaking attempt: Pliny
the Elder (23-79 CE) in his monumental Naturalis Historia (VI.XXXV, p. 181-187:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161229101439/http://www.masseiana.org/pliny.h
tm#BOOK%20VI) and Seneca the Younger (4 BCE-65 CE) in his Naturales
Quaestiones (VI.8.3-5). About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturales_quaestiones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitenmemide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero%27s_exploration_of_the_Nile_river
Pliny's brief description mentions a Roman motif other than exploration;personal
friend of Emperor Vespasian (69-79),Pliny wrote that the exploratory expedition was
undertaken as preparatory step in view of a forthcoming conquest of Meroe. This is
however quite unlikely, because it is more probable that at an early investigatory
step, the Romans wanted to first discover what lies beyond Meroe and the entire
kingdom of Ethiopia and what the reason of Meroe's extraordinary wealth was. This
would eventually weigh at a later stage, and only then a military survey would be
undertaken. However, Pliny's excerpt is valuable, because he offers numerous names
of ethnic groups and tribes that lived around and beyond Meroe, and also several
toponyms. Seneca's detailed and characteristic description helps us understand that
the Romans, accompanied by the Meroites, reached the vast region of marshes that is
known as Sudd in today's South Sudan (ca. 60000 km2) and the Murchison Falls in
Uganda that they considered as the sources of the Nile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudd
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison_Falls
I herewith include the original Latin text (excerpt from Seneca's Naturales
Quaestiones) and an English translation:
Original Latin text

[8,3] Nescis autem interopiniones, quibus enarratur Nili aestiua inundatio, et hanc
esse, a terra illum erumpere et augeri non supernis aquis sed ex intimo redditis? Ego
quidem centuriones duos, quos Nero Caesar, ut aliarum uirtutum ita ueritatis in
primis amantissimus, ad inuestigandum caput Nili miserat, audiui narrantes
longum illos iter peregisse,cum a rege Aethiopiae instructi auxilio commendatique
proximis regibus penetrassent ad ulteriorem.[8,4] Inde, ut quidam aiebant,
peruenimus ad immensas paludes, quarum exitum nec incolae nouerant nec sperare
quisquam potest: ita implicatae aquis herbae sunt et aquae nec pediti eluctabiles nec
nauigio, quod nisi paruum et unius capax limosa et obsita palus non fert. Ibi, inquit,
uidimus duas petras, ex quibus ingens uis fluminis excidebat.[8,5] Sed siue caput illa
siue accessio est Nili, siue tunc nascitur siue in terras ex priore recepta cursu redit,
nonne tu credis illam, quicquid est, ex magno terrarum lacu ascendere? Habeant enim
oportet pluribus locis sparsum umorem etin uno coactum, ut eructare tanto impetu
possint.
https://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Quaestiones_Naturales/Liber_VI
English translation
And don't you know that among the explanations given of the occurrence of the
inundation of the Nile in summer, one is that it bursts forth from the ground, and is
swollen not by rain from above but by water given out from within the earth? I have
myself heard from their own lips the story told by the two non-commissioned
officers sent to investigate the sources of the Nile by our good Emperor Nero, a
monarch devoted to virtue in every form, but especially solicitous for the interests of
truth. The King of Ethiopia had supplied them with assistance and furnished letters
of introduction to the neighbouring kings, and so they had penetrated into the heart
of Africa and accomplished a long journey. "We came indeed," I give their own
words, "to huge marshes,the limit of which even the natives did not know, and no
one else could hope to know; so completely was the river entangled with vegetable
growth, so impassable the waters by foot, or even by boat, since the muddy
overgrown marsh would bear only a small boat containing one person. There," my in
formants went on," we saw with our eyes two rocks from which an immense
quantity of water issued." Now whether that is the real source or only an addition
to the river; whether it rises there or merely returns to the surface after its previous
course underground; don t you think that, whatever it is, that water comes up from a
great lake in the earth? The earth must contain moisture scattered in numerous
places and collected at depth in order to be able to belch it out with such violence.
http://naturalesquaestiones.blogspot.com/2009/08/book-vi-tr-john-clarke.html
Contrarily to what happened in other regions, notably Central and Western Africa,
the existence of the vast, developed and powerful Kingdom of Meroe in Eastern
Africa was a permanent stumbling block that prohibited every thought about an
eventual Roman expansion to the South. In other African regions, Roman legions
advanced far in the South, penetrating Sahara and reaching the first regions of Sub-
Saharan Africa. More specifically, Roman military expeditions reached the regions of
River Senegal and River Niger in Western Africa and Lake Chad in Central Africa.
However, in Eastern Africa, after the aforementioned events that took place in the
first decade of Roman rule in Egypt, there was never Roman military presence or
expedition south of the Dodekaschoinos in the Valley of the Nile.
When it comes to the Red Sea basin, Roman military presence extended up to
Berenice in the southern confines of Egypt's coast; still Berenice was located far more
in the South than Leuke Kome (today's al-Wajh in Saudi Arabia / ‫)الوجه‬, which was

the southernmost Roman outpost (and former Aramaean Nabataean port of call) on
the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Up to the middle of the 3rd c. CE, we can
also assume that there was Roman military presence in Ptolemais Theron (today's
Suakin), continuing the trade with Meroe, which the Ptolemies had initiated,
founding this colony. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Wajh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuke_Kome
The good, peaceful and stable relations between Meroe and the Roman Empire did
not only guarantee the increased trade volume and the feasibility of the explorations
undertaken, but also ended up with improved knowledge of natural phenomena,
expanded familiarity with other nations andremote locations, enhanced registration
of data, and unprecedented diffusion of particulars and intelligence. In the 2nd c. CE
no other man expressed this reality better than one of the greatest Africans of all
times: Ptolemy the Geographer (Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαῖος; Claudius Ptolemaeus - ca.
100-170 CE).Known to have authored some of the ancient world's most ingenious
works in Geography, Astronomy, Astrology, Optics, Music and several other fields,
he formulated the millennia long Babylonian and Egyptian spiritual and scientific
supremacy in an unmatched manner,merging transcendental perception and
material detail. Egyptian of royal Ptolemaic origin, Ptolemy honored his country's
spiritual tradition by bearing the name of the last indigenous dynasty; as Roman
citizen, he honored the Claudia gens by bearing the name of the Roman Emperor
(Claudius, 41-54 CE),who granted Roman citizenship to one of his ancestors.
Particularly Ptolemy's Geography is a 'must' for all Eastern, Northeastern, Northern
and Northwestern Africans, African pupils, students, scholars, identity theoreticians,
anti-colonial activists, Hamitic & Cushitic traditionalists, and liberation fighters. This
monumental work (Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις - GeographikiHyphigisis - Geographical
Guidance) constitutes a geographical dictionary and directory that contains names of
locations (cities, villages, mountains, lake, bays, etc.), as well as their respective
geographical coordinates, while also including names of ethnic groups and tribes.
The text contains all locations and related data then known aboutEurope, Africa and
Asia; it starts with Ireland, covers most of Europe, deals with Africa, continues with
Asia up to China, and finally ends with India and South Asia. Africa is presented in
Ptolemy's fourth book and Ethiopia (i.e. Sudan) "underEgypt" is discussed in ch. 7.
In some cases, the data that Ptolemy offers demonstrate historical continuity for two
millennia. It is certainly a difficult reading for the non-specialist, as it is practically
speaking a catalogue of names with coordinates and few extra sentences. However,
the reward will be enormous for a Modern Kaffa in today's Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia),
when he will see that Ptolemy the Geographer, writing before 1870 years, knew the
coordinates of Mount Kaffa. Ptolemy offers an incredibly high number of scholarly
valuable points, as it helps also as reconfirmation or corroboration of other textual
references.
Crosschecking points mentioned in other historical texts with info included in
Prolemy's Geography, scholars and specialists can reconfirm projections and
interpretations. I will herewith offer an example: when studying the Periplus of the
Red Sea, one learns that the African coast from Assab (Avalites) to Somalia's Ras
Hafun (Opone) was named 'the Other Berberia' before 2000 years, and that the coast
beyond Opone down to Rhapta (Daresalaam) was called 'Azania'. This difference is

Cush-Meroe, Kemet-Egypt, Punt, Other Berberia, Azania & the Orientalization of the Roman Empire

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