Some European History from 2000-1500BC

Fresco of the "Saffron Gatherer" from
Akrotiri

This post will look at European history for the period from around 2000-1500BC. Due to the lack of sources we will have almost no written records to rely upon; none that we can read at least. As well as the lack of sources, the time period is too distant for ancient legends to be of much use, although there may be flickers of truth remembered in places. This means that to look at history for this place and time we have to rely primarily on the archaeological record. This is fine and useful, but like all methods of looking at history it has its flaws and caution must be used. The dates in particular must be treated with caution. Some of the issues with dating have been dealt with in the previous post on European history.

In the previous post, looking at European history for the period 3000-2000BC, we saw that megalithic architecture in Western Europe was gradually becoming less prevalent. Cultures that seem to be associated with Indo-European languages were spreading westwards from the lands north of the Black Sea. The Bronze Age spread across nearly the entire continent, except for the isolated northern fringes, with nearly all cultures having some familiarity with bronze-working.

Minoan snake goddess

In the century of 2000BC Newgrange, which is now the most famous megalithic site in Ireland, was abandoned. The nearby site of Knowth would see ritual use by other later cultures, but this is by and large the end of the era of great megalithic tombs in Ireland. Around this time the Bronze Age had come to Ireland and perhaps those who had brought the new technology had also brought new beliefs? Many stone circles now begin to appear in Ireland, and may be related to the shifts in belief, or the physical manifestations of these beliefs.

Further to the south in Ireland, in what is now the county of Laois, a ritual killing took place. A man was taken to a peat bog, where he was struck down with a sharp object, breaking his arm as he tried to parry the blow. After his death his back was broken in two with the sword and the man was buried in the bog. It would seem that he was a king who had failed to bring good harvests.

The role of kingship in Ireland was seen as a contract between the king and the gods, where the king would rule, but also bring the favour of the gods, in the form of good weather and harvests. Any king who failed this task would be sacrificed and a new king placed in his stead. This fusing of kingship, duty and sacrifice was held by a number of cultures in northern Europe. In this case, the body of the sacrificed man was preserved by the bog and was discovered in 2011. Many bodies are preserved across northern Europe in the bogs, but Cashel Man, as this man was known, is the oldest one whose flesh was preserved. His remains are a reminder of the sometimes brutal nature of our ancestors. I would hate to be responsible for plentiful harvests and good weather, in Ireland of all places.

Partially reconstructed palace of Knossos in Crete

In Finland large megalithic monuments known as Giant’s churches were built. The largest of these was built at Kastelli, measuring around 60x35 metres. Unlike the megalithic monuments of Atlantic coast of Europe, these appear to have been built by hunter-gatherers rather than Neolithic farmers.

In Greece, the Phylakopi culture came to an end on the Cycladic islands and the Middle Helladic began on mainland Greece. On the island of Crete, the first phases of the palace of Knossos began to be built, which would be the focal point of the first indisputable civilisation in Europe.

Around the century of the 1900’s BC new inhabitants may have arrived in the small island of Malta. Here their wooden wheeled carts began to erode ruts in the soft earth, and beneath it, the soft stone. One area of Malta is so rutted with these tracks that it is referred to as Clapham Junction, because the overlapping ruts look like a busy railway junction. The correct name for it in the Maltese language is Misraħ Għar il-Kbir and is near Siġġiewi.

Reconstruction of the tumulus at
Leubingen

Around the year 1942BC, in Leubingen in what is now Germany, a tumulus was built for a powerful member of the Unetice culture. We can be relatively certain of the year because an oaken beam in the tomb was tested using dendrochronology. The grave goods were impressive, with gold, bronze and stone items placed in the tomb. But the most impressive thing about the tomb was the size. The tumulus was roughly circular with a height of 8.5m and diameter of 34m, no small feat for the burial of one person. We know nothing of the person save that they must have been important. They may have been a tribal chieftain or king of unusual importance.

Around the century of the 1800’s BC, the Neolithic settlement of the Monte d’Accoddi in Sardinia, as new peoples and cultures began to inhabit the island and older beliefs were abandoned. It is unclear if there was a population transfer or if the islanders merely adopted the cultures of the mainland. It does not seem that the islanders began to speak Indo-European languages so it was probably more of a cultural shift.

Linear A writing from Crete

It was around this time that the Minoans began to develop the writing system known to us as Linear A. This was in addition to their previous writing system, known as Cretan Hieroglyphs. Neither of these has yet been translated satisfactorily and very few examples of the scripts survive. It probably does not represent a Greek language and it is likely that the language of the Minoans (or at least the Minoan scribes or elites) was not a Greek language. A number of the symbols are shared with a later script (Linear B) so, if we presume that Linear B copied Linear A and reused certain symbols for the same sounds we can make some educated guesses as to what it sounds like but so far the language has not been identified. Perhaps one day it will be translated, but so little remains that it may be an unsolvable problem.

Around the century of the 1700’s the Minoan culture in Crete was the most sophisticated in Europe. It was here that there were palaces and cities for the first time in Europe, discounting the anomalous and far earlier Cuceteni-Tripolye culture. Trade networks stretched across the eastern Mediterranean, connecting the Cycladic Islands and Greece to Crete and Crete to Egypt, Anatolia and the Levant. During this century however, a huge earthquake destroyed most of the palaces. The Minoans merely rebuilt on a scale even grander than before and this was the beginning of the golden age of the Minoans.

Tomb of Oscar and Agda Montelius
in a replica dolmen grave in Sweden

This time period marks the beginnings of the Nordic Bronze Age, which is an archaeological term for the period 1700-500BC when bronze was the primary metal in use in Scandinavia. It’s rather a catch all term, but it is interesting in that the person who devised this categorisation (Oscar Montelius) was the first person to split up history into the classic Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age types. It is such a fundamental concept to our understanding of history that we sometimes overlook it. Oscar and his wife Agda are buried under a dolmen, reflecting their love of ancient history, in Norra begravningsplatsen in Sweden. Their tale lies outside this time period, but they helped shape our understanding of it and they deserved to be remembered.

The Nuragic culture in Sardinia began around this time. This would see large tower-like structures being created that would serve as dwellings and fortresses for the peoples who lived here. I will discuss them in greater detail in the next blog.

Around this time, the Beaker culture in Britain and Ireland finally changed into other cultural phases. In central Europe the Beaker culture had evolved into the Unetice culture about five centuries earlier. We must remember that these cultures are created by archaeologists to help systemise the artefacts that are discovered. The term Beaker culture would have been meaningless to any person who belonged to it. Doubtless they would have been shocked to realise that they were being categorised on the basis of their pots rather than tribal groupings. Those tribal groupings are practically invisible to archaeologists today, but the pots still remain.

Mold Cape

One of the greatest treasures of the Bronze in Britain dates from this time and is known as the Mold Cape, after the town of Mold in Wales where it was discovered. It is a ceremonial golden object that was probably meant to be worn over the shoulders by priests or kings. It is a very beautiful and surprisingly well-preserved object. The exact dating is a matter of conjecture, as gold is very hard to date, but it is probably around this time period, with a couple of centuries as a margin of error.

Around the century of the 1600’s BC the Neopalatial Period of the Minoan culture began. The Cretan palaces and cities had suffered from a large earthquake in the previous century, but they had rebuilt and thrived. The palaces may or may not have housed kings and queens but may have functioned as distribution centres. So the people of Crete would bring the produce of land and trade to the palaces where functionaries would redistribute it. As many of the palaces were not fortified and contained large storage areas it seems likely that they had some redistribution function. There is one room in the palace of Knossos, the largest of the palaces, which may have been a throne room. But it may have had a religious function either.

Phaistos Disc

The Minoans were trading with the whole eastern Mediterranean. Their buildings were multi-storey, covered in decorative frescoes and sustained by pillars that held up the large ceilings. They had developed two types of writing, Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A, which are the two earliest proven writing systems in Europe, although neither is translated. The Phaistos Disc is the best known example of the Cretan hieroglyph writing and dates from around this time. As the name suggests, it is disc shaped, with the hieroglyphs on both sides, arranged in a spiral pattern. Despite the beauty of this object it does not seem to have been very practical and it is probable that literacy was extremely limited in Minoan society.

Minoan religion seems to have involved worship of a mother goddess, perhaps similar to later Phrygian religion, but there were other gods as well. The most famous statuette of Minoan religion is one showing a bare-breasted goddess or priestess, with a flounced dress and snakes in both hands. The association of snakes and goddesses/priestesses would be carried over into later Greek religion, where the oracle at Delphi and the goddess Athena were both associated with snakes.

Fresco of bull-leaping

One ritual that is featured in their art was that of bull-leaping, where young men would vault across angry bulls while young women waited to catch them. This must have been a dangerous ritual and it is possible that the actual leapers of the bulls were slaves or foreign prisoners/hostages. If this was the case then this may be some foundation for the later myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The roofs of some Minoan buildings may have been decorated with bull horn decorations.

Another ritual item that the Minoans seem to have been interested in is the double-headed axe. This was seen as a type of good luck charm, a symbol that would protect the bearer. The walls of the palaces are decorated with them and a number of these were created as votive offerings.

Frescoes from Akrotiri

The Minoans do not seem to have been particularly warlike, in that few weapons have survived, and no artistic depictions of war. But there may be a good reason for this. Later Greek myths spoke of a powerful Cretan king, called Minos, after whom the later archaeologists named the civilisation. They believed that Minos was the first to establish control of the sea, which would mean that the Minoans may not have needed to focus on fortresses and armour, when they could sink the fleets of any invaders long before they reached the shores of Crete. Perhaps there were roaming fleets based at every island of the Cyclades. The Egyptians were not noted seafarers and the other powers of the eastern Mediterranean were their trade partners, so perhaps they felt no need for land-based armies?

The art of the Minoans was beautiful. They created large stone vessels to store liquids, which were elaborately decorated. They also created delicate murals on their walls, frescoes on the plaster surfaces. These would show boxers, bull vaulters, scenes of trade and sea-faring and a host of other pleasant images. Their architecture was most evident in their palaces, which were sprawling complexes. They had none of the elegant symmetry of later Greek architecture, but instead were impressive through their sheer scale. The palace of Knossos had a large road that stretched down to the nearby seaport and this was one of the first paved roads in Europe. The palace of Knossos also had a drainage system and plumbing, meaning that it rivalled the palaces of Egypt and Mesopotamia for comfort.

Fresco showing ships from Akrotiri

The palace and adjoining city complex of Knossos was estimated to have around 100,000 inhabitants during this century. This is merely an estimate, but it is likely that Crete was one of the most densely inhabited parts of the world at this time and that Knossos was one of the largest cities.

The advances were not merely confined to the island of Crete alone. The city of Akrotiri, on the island of Santorini, was another prominent city that was associated with Minoan culture. It may have been a Minoan city, an ally, subject or merely a trading partner, but its culture was very similar to the Minoan culture. Like Knossos it was adorned with frescoes, but did not seem to have a central palace.

On mainland Greece a warrior culture emerged that would begin to challenge the Minoans. It seems to have emerged in southern Greece, particularly in the Peloponnese. They were known to later archaeologists as the Mycenaeans. They probably had trade contacts with the Minoans at this point, but because of Minoan dominance of the seas, all of the Mycenaean settlements were at least partially inland. The main centre was around the Argolid region, where a cluster of fortified settlements were created on high hills: Mycenae, Argos and Tiryns. The burials were in shaft-graves and the grave goods included weapons and golden death-masks that were meant to show the individuals. The previous pottery styles used in mainland Greece have been referred to as Minyan Ware; suggesting that they were the pottery used by the Middle Helladic culture. This pottery style evolved into the Mycenaean pottery styles and the Mycenaean period is sometimes referred to as Late Helladic.

Nebra Sky Disk

Also from around this time period but in a very different part of Europe, was the Nebra Sky Disk. This is a small disk in bronze and gold that represents the night sky. It is one of the earliest representations of the night sky anywhere in the world, although astronomical observations were clearly known to other ancient peoples. It was found in a tumulus in Germany, near the town of Nebra, in the region of Saxony-Anhalt. Some have speculated that it was used for astronomical observations, but I’m not sure that this would have worked, unless there was some other apparatus connected with it that has not been found. It was probably connected with the Unetice culture, which had also created the Leubingen tumulus. Around this time the Unetice culture was coming to an end and was replaced by the Tumulus Culture.

In the century of the 1500’s BC the Tarxien Cemetery Phase came to an end on Malta. This was the final phase of megalithic temple building in Maltese prehistory. Even with this, it was typified more by dolmens and other types of smaller graves rather than the magnificent temples that had been built earlier in the Neolithic period.

Another death mask from
Mycenae

Much farther to the north, the Kiukainen culture, the last Stone Age culture in what is now Finland, came to an end. This culture merged into the Bronze Age. It is important to remember that the eastern Mediterranean and Near East were quite heavily urbanised compared to the majority of Europe. New cultural patterns and technologies would often come from there and would take time to reach distant parts of the continent such as Ireland or Finland.

The El Argar culture in what is now south-eastern Spain came to an end around this time. It had been an early Bronze Age culture that had occupied much of the same territory as the Los Millares culture. The El Argar culture was probably an evolution of sorts from the Los Millares but with Bronze technology. Very little is known about this culture, but it is important to remember that the Iberian Peninsula was experiencing urbanisation as well as the eastern Mediterranean, just at a slightly slower rate.

So-called Mask of Agamemnon

The Mycenaean culture began to flourish, with the citadels now becoming ever more fortified and the burials even more elaborate. One of the most iconic symbols of the Mycenaeans was created around this time. One of their kings was buried in a shaft-grave. This grave was later excavated by the controversial archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the year AD1876. When Schliemann saw the golden death mask that had been buried with the king he is said to have written "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon". This was dramatic indeed. There was, and is, some suspicion that the artefact is forged, as nothing quite like it was ever found again in Mycenaean graves. But it is quite likely that it is genuine, although it has nothing to do with Agamemnon. It is an extraordinary object and is currently on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

It is not clear on the exact date, but at some point between 1630-1500BC the volcano of Thera erupted in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. The eruption vaporised the centre of the island of Santorini and ejected it into the atmosphere. The city of Akrotiri was completely buried by ash in an early stage of the eruption and this shielded it from the full explosive power of the volcano when it erupted later with its full force. No human remains have been found at Akrotiri, suggesting that the people tried to evacuate. They may have been loaded on to ships or they may have tried to seek shelter in a different part of the island. I don’t know if they fully got away, but I hope that they did.

Boars' Tusk helmet from
Mycenaean culture

The violent eruption caused major localised earthquakes and landslides. The landslides subsequently triggered megatsunamis that would have swept through the eastern Mediterranean. The northern coast of Crete would have been particularly badly hit, including the port of Knossos. If any Minoan ships were beached there they would likely have been destroyed. Normal tsunamis have relatively small wave heights while at sea, so ships can pass unaffected over most tsunamis, providing they are in deep water. In the case of megatsunamis the wave height is high, as triggered by material falling into the ocean and thus acts like a ripple in a pool. Thus any ship caught by the wave was likely to have been sunk. It is likely that this event saw the destruction of the majority of the Minoan navy and trading fleet. Other seafarers would have been affected, but none worse than the Minoans.

The eruption at Thera was also close enough that the palaces and cities of Crete would have been affected with falling ash and earthquakes. At one point it was thought that this acted as the death knell of the Minoan civilisation, but it probably did not. The palaces themselves were functioning again almost immediately and the effect of the ash should not have destroyed the agriculture of the island. But the loss of their ships must have been devastating for a culture that was so closely tied to the sea. Perhaps this sudden loss of sea power was interpreted as a sign that the gods had turned against them. Perhaps it led to the nearby Mycenaean culture deciding to contest the mastery of the seas with the Minoans.

Excavated remains of the buried city of Akrotiri

The eruption of Thera and the destruction of Minoan cities there (there may have been other settlements other than Akrotiri that may have been more thoroughly destroyed or as yet undiscovered) may have been remembered by the Greeks. The Greeks have a number of different flood myths and it is possible that perhaps one of these, such as the myth of Dardanus, has some recollection of the tsunami. The most compelling parallel is the tale of Atlantis told by Plato in the Timaeus and the Critias dialogues. There are a number of similarities between the two cultures: the shape of the island, the preoccupation with bulls being two examples. While I find it very compelling to believe that Santorini is in fact Atlantis, I also remember that Plato was a man with a brilliant imagination. It is quite possible that the two islands are purely unrelated and that Plato invented the entire story.

So, this is where I will leave the reader. At the beginning of the period, there were parts of the continent that were only just entering the Bronze Age and there was no culture that could truly be said to be a civilisation (although the Minoans were certainly a proto-civilisation). At the end of the period, the knowledge of bronze-working had permeated every corner of the continent. Europe now had two fully-fledged civilisations in the Minoans and Mycenaeans. I will continue the story in the next blog.

Panorama of one edge of the crater of the volcano of Santorini, showing the full scale of the eruption size

Related Blog Posts:
Some European history from 4000-3000BC
Some European history from 3000-2000BC
Some European History from 2000-1500BC
Some European History from 1500-1000BC
Some European History from 1000-750BC
Some European History from 750-500BC

Some African History from 1500-1000BC

Bust of Nefertiti

This is a quick overview of African history from the year 1500BC to the year 1000BC. Due to the nature of the sources it will be rather focused on Egypt. This is unfortunate, but somewhat inevitable, as Egypt is the one of the best documented places in the world at this time.

Outside of Egypt there were sophisticated cultures in Nubia and Punt, although Nubia had been subjugated by the Egyptian state by the year 1500BC. The lower edge of the Sahara had seen the development of agriculture, although there is no record of extensive bronze metalworking from this period. This is to be expected as tin was very scarce in the ancient world and there were no easy trade routes past the Sahara at this time.

Further south of the equator humans still lived as hunter-gatherers, as their distant ancestors had done for millennia. This was more to do with the sophistication of their hunting techniques than anything else. Unlike other parts of the world they had not had the need to develop agriculture and their culture was perfectly adapted to its surroundings. However, if farming groups were to arrive in the area from outside, this would change the balance of the environment and tip the scales in favour of the agricultural groups. The Nok culture was beginning to thrive around this time, in what is now the country of Nigeria. Meanwhile the speakers of Bantu languages had already begun the process of expansion that would see their languages spread over most of sub-Saharan Africa.

Statue of Hatshepsut

In the century of the 1400’s BC the 18th Dynasty ruled Egypt. After overthrowing the foreign Hyksos and subduing the neighbouring regions, such as the region of Nubia and the oases of the western desert, the Pharaohs expanded their control into Palestine and made expeditions as far north as Syria. Egypt was now probably the wealthiest state on earth. It was secure against foreign invasions, was cohesively organised and had a tradition of literacy and administration stretching back for over a millennium and a half. This helped make Egypt one of the militarily strongest states on earth and also allowed them to create their most spectacular works of art, architecture and sculpture.

Hatshepsut became Pharaoh around the year 1478BC. It was not unheard of for there to be a woman ruling Egypt, but it was unusual. She ruled as regent for her nephew Thutmose III. She preserved the power of Egypt, commissioned impressive building projects, went on military campaigns and also sent expeditions to Punt, which was probably located in what is now northern Somalia. At one of her temples she left detailed descriptions of the expedition that she commissioned and these have been the most descriptive accounts of that fabled land that have come down to us. Her preserved body has since been discovered by modern archaeologists and it appears that she died of cancer caused by a skin lotion that the queen used. After Hatshepsut’s death, her monuments were defaced during the reign of her successor and her name was attempted to be removed from history. Fortunately this attempt did not succeed, but it is not clear why Thutmose III or others would want to remove Hatshepsut from the record.

Thutmose III, the strongest military leader of Egypt

When Thutmose III came to the throne he began the most ambitious series of campaigns ever undertaken by an Egyptian ruler. This involved crushing a rebellion in Nubia and a northern expedition that crossed the Euphrates River in Syria. The expedition across the Euphrates was an attempt to defeat the Mitanni, a Hurrian state ruled by an Indo-Iranian aristocracy famed for their prowess in chariotry. Thutmose III achieved great successes, but could not destroy the Mitanni. His most well-known achievement was in fighting the combined armies of the Canaanite princes at the Battle of Megiddo.  This probably took place around 1457BC and is the earliest battle for which there exists a near-contemporary description. It was a great victory for the Egyptians and the land of Canaan was incorporated into the Egyptian Empire. The reign of Thutmose III was the apex of Egyptian military power.

Then his majesty prevailed against them at the head of his army, and when they saw his majesty prevailing against them they fled headlong to Megiddo in fear, abandoning their horses and their chariots of gold and silver. The people hauled them up, pulling them by their clothing, into this city; the people of this city having closed it against them and lowered clothing to pull them up into this city.
Account of the Battle of Megiddo

The 18th Dynasty continued its rule into the century of the 1300’s BC. Egypt grew in power and strength but was never as militarily dominant as during the reign of Thutmose III. Other competitors arose who were able to contend with them. The Mitanni were beginning to decline, but the rising Hittite Empire proved a potent threat to the Egyptian domination of Syria. The Kassites ruled rich Babylonia and their Assyrian vassals in the north of Mesopotamia would later emerge as a great power. Each of these powerful states became engaged in a system of diplomacy that would come to characterise the late Bronze Age. The powers would correspond as equals, referring to each other as brothers and solving diplomatic disputes peacefully if they could. The subordinate rulers of minor cities would be referred to as sons and orders would be sent to them from the main rulers.

Akhenaten, the Heretic Pharaoh

Around the year 1351BC Amenhotep IV came to power. He was an anomalous character who changed his name to Akhenaten, moved the capital to the city now known as Amarna and tried to reform the Egyptian art and religion. He is known sometimes as the Heretic Pharaoh. His main reforms were the replacement of Amun, who was the patron god of Thebes, with Aten, who was portrayed as the sun-disk. This may have been because the priests of Amun were too powerful, but some have thought of Akhenaten as the first monotheist. This is possible, but probably projects too many of our modern concepts onto Akhenaten.

He also changed Egyptian art. With the exception of the much earlier Senusret III and his son, Egyptian art followed very rigid conventions. The art of Amarna showed the royal family in an almost realistic fashion. The king was shown with a prominent paunch and strange facial features. However, this unusual style also allowed great beauty and the most famous Egyptian bust, the famed bust of Nefertiti, was from around this time.

While the new revolution was ambitious, it was also a failure and its failure doomed the 18th Dynasty. When Akhenaten died there was no clear ruler and a number of short-lived rulers took power, possibly including Nefertiti herself. The capital of Amarna was abandoned and its abandonment was a boon for later archaeologists as the palace archives, with the correspondence of the Bronze Age rulers was left intact. This archive is known as the Amarna Letters.

Art from the Amarna Period

Rib-addi (King of Byblos) spoke to his lord, the King of Lands (Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt): May the Mistress of Gubla (Byblos) grant power to my lord. At the feet of my lord, my sun, I fall down seven times and seven times. Let the king, my lord, know that Gubla, your handmaid from ancient times, is well.
Letter from Rib-Addi, king of Byblos, to his overlord Akhenaten, imploring him for help against his foes: From the Amarna Letters:

One of the later rulers was the rather weak and pathetic boy-king Tutankhamun, who seems to have been persuaded to reverse all the changes of his father. Tutankhamun would not have been remembered by history but his sheer unimportance guaranteed the survival of his fame in modern times. His tomb was overlooked by grave robbers (who seem to have been disturbed in the robbery of it) and was neglected until it was excavated by Howard Carter in 1915. It was the most spectacular tomb ever discovered in Egypt, or possibly anywhere in the world. The riches found within are some of the greatest treasures known to man and give an idea of the power and riches of the 18th Dynasty. Even the most minor king of their dynasty was buried with unimaginable quantities of wealth.

Horemheb, a commoner who became
Pharaoh and erased the memory
of Akhenaten

Now when his majesty appeared as king, the temples of the gods and goddesses from Elephantine down to the marshes of the Delta [had... and] or fallen into neglect. Their shrines had become desolate, had become mounds overgrown with weeds. Their sanctuaries were as if they had never been. Their halls were a footpath. The land was topsy-turvy and the gods turned their backs upon this land.
Edict of Restoration (of the temples of Amun) by Tutankhamun, reversing the policies of Akhenaten

After Tutankhamun’s death, a highly-ranked noble called Ay took the throne before being deposed by a general named Horemheb. Under Horemheb’s rule the memories of the rule of Akhenaten were erased and the Heretic Pharaoh would only be dimly remembered by later Egyptian scribes. Horemheb died without heir, so another general took the throne, ruling Egypt as Ramesses I and founding the 19th Dynasty in 1292.

In 1279 the third Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty came to power. He was Ramesses II and was the greatest builder of all the Pharaohs. He had a tendency to appropriate the works of others to himself ,but even so he was a great builder. He built a new capital at Pi-Ramesses on one of the branches of the Nile Delta. He commissioned gigantic statues and temples. While the New Kingdom Pharaohs no longer built pyramids, the works of Ramesses were smaller but more ornate. One of the colossal statues of the king weighed 83 tonnes.

Colossal statue of Ramesses II

Ramesses II fought many wars to re-establish the Egyptian Empire, which was threatened by Hittite expansion in Syria. The two sides fought a number of battles, including a stalemate at Kadesh. The Hittites ambushed the Egyptian forces with a neat piece of trickery, but the arrival of Egyptian reinforcements forced the victorious Hittites to withdraw. After a number of years of fighting the Hittites and the Egyptians made peace with each other, which is recorded by what is the oldest peace treaty yet discovered. Eventually Ramesses II died around the year 1213BC, old and full of years, having lived until his nineties.

There shall be no hostilities between them, forever. The great chief of Kheta (King of the Hittites) shall not pass over into the land of Egypt, forever, to take anything therefrom. Ramses-Meriamon (Ramesses III), the great ruler of Egypt, shall not pass over into the land of Kheta (Hittite territory), to take anything therefrom, forever.
Part of the treaty (Egyptian version) between the Hittites and Egyptians after the Battle of Kadesh

Treaty of Kadesh (Hittite Version)

While the Egyptian medicine of the time was unable to save Ramesses II from his death, which was probably from an abscess in the jaw, it was nevertheless advanced. The Brugsch Papyrus dates from around this time and contains a synopsis of much of Egyptian medicine. A lot of what is written is wrong, but most medicine up until the 1800’s AD was based on bad guesswork. The interesting thing is that the Egyptians tried to have a systematic view of medicine and the Greeks would later be enthusiastic learners from the Egyptians.

Elsewhere in Africa, the site of Luxmanda, in what is now the country of Tanzania, was occupied. This was a settlement by the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic culture, which was probably a Cushitic-speaking culture that had used cattle and stone tools from the upper Nile regions to expand southwards.

Similarly the Elmenteitan culture flourished around this time in what is now the country of Kenya. This was another stone tool using agricultural group that had moved south to displace and absorb the hunter-gatherers who had been in the region before them.

Temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel
This was later moved to protect it from the rising
waters of the Aswan Dam

After the long reign of Ramesses II a number of short lived monarchs ruled Egypt until finally Twosret took the throne around the year 1191BC. She was ruler for only a few years before a civil war occurred, either against her or after her death, and Setnakhte took the throne, founding the 20th Dynasty in Egypt. By this time there were serious problems in the Bronze Age world of the Near East. The Mycenaean kingdoms were facing threats, the Hittites in Anatolia were being wiped out by the famine and external attacks and the whole eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean had to deal with attacks by pirate groups known as the Sea Peoples.

This collapse was faced head on by Ramesses III who defeated the Sea Peoples in two battles, one in Canaan and another on the Nile, which is known as the Battle of the Delta. These battles are said to have saved Egypt from invasion, but it seems as if Egypt only barely held on. The empire in Syria and Palestine was lost. The kingdoms with whom Egypt traded, such as the Hittites and the Mycenaeans had been swept away by the turmoil of the age. Ramesses III continued campaigning, but in many ways he was the last of the great rulers of the New Kingdom.

Medinet Habu Temple of Ramesses III
showing him defeating the enemies of Egypt

I have the river-mouths prepared like a strong wall, with warships, galleys and coasters fully equipped, for they were manned completely from bow to stern with valiant warriors carrying their weapons. The troops consisted of every picked man of Egypt.
Ramesses III inscription at the temple of Medinet Habu, describing the Battle of the Delta

Ramesses III was assassinated by one of his sons, Pentawer, acting upon the advice of his mother Tiye, around the year 1155BC. There are court documents dealing with the assassins and archaeologists have found the mummy of Ramesses III, showing a deep throat wound that would have been fatal. The mummy does not seem to match the descriptions given in the court, but there may be a modern misunderstanding of what exactly happened.

The great criminal, Pebekkamen, formerly chief of the chamber. He was brought in because of his collusion with Tiy and the women of the harem. He made common cause with them, and began bringing out their words to their mothers and their brothers who were there, saying: "Stir up the people! Incite enemies to hostility against their lord." He was placed before the great nobles of the court of examination; they examined his crimes; they found that he had committed them. His crimes seized him; the nobles who examined him brought his judgment upon him.
Section of the Turin Papyrus describing the trials of the assassins of Ramesses III

Each of the Pharaohs of the 20th Dynasty who followed Ramesses III would also take the name Ramesses. There would be a Ramesses IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and XI; none of whom managed to restore Egypt to greatness.

Relief showing Ramesses II slaying enemies at Kadesh

Around this time a piece of literature called the Story of Wenamun was written. It was set in the time of the later rulers of the 20th Dynasty, but is probably not a straightforward account of a real journey. It tells the tale of a priest named Wenamun who travels to Byblos in Lebanon to ask for cedar wood from the king of Byblos. Wenamun requests the wood for free, as had been the custom in earlier times, but the king of Byblos refuses and the Egyptian has to send back to Egypt for payment. The text is incomplete as it breaks off at the point of the text when Wenamun reaches Cyprus. It does serve as a literary reminder of the diminishing power of Egypt at this time, as Byblos had once been part of their empire, but was no longer. This is especially poignant considering that the king of Byblos had been one of the most subservient vassals recorded in the Amarna Letters correspondence two centuries earlier.

He said to me: "If the ruler of Egypt were the owner of my property, and I were also his servant, he would not send silver and gold, saying: 'Do the command of Amon.' It was not the payment of (tribute?) which they exacted of my father. As for me, I am myself neither thy servant nor am I the servant of him that sent thee.
Extract from the Tale of Wenamun where the king of Byblos refuses to give cedar logs for free to the Egyptians

Relief showing a house in Punt, from a temple inscription
commemorating the expedition Hatshepsut sent to Punt. 

Around the year 1077BC a new Pharaoh named Smendes came to the throne and founded the 21st Dynasty. This is referred to by modern scholars as the end of the New Kingdom and the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period. The rulers of the 21st Dynasty reigned from Tanis and some spectacular grave goods survive from this period. But this is not because they were wealthy. It was because the Pharaohs themselves were sponsoring the robbing of the graves of their predecessors.

Around the year 1000 the kingdom of Kush had once again broken free of Egypt. We know very little of their rulers or politics at this time but they seem to have been free once more as Egypt became weaker. In Libya, with the power of the Egyptians waning, the local tribes seem to have become independent and to have taken control of the oases, as well as having more and more influence in the Delta region of Lower Egypt.

Further south in Africa, it seems likely that speakers of the eastern Bantu languages had reached what is now Uganda by around this time. These dates should be treated as extremely approximate, as they are based on linguistic reconstructions.

And finally, the far to the west, the Canary Islands were probably settled by this time. Perhaps this settlement was by a group of people known as the Guanches, who were later known in classical antiquity. Perhaps the settlement was by an entirely different group of people who were wiped out by later groups arriving on the islands.

Funerary mask of Tutankhamun

Thus the period draws to a close. This time saw the expansion of agriculture in Africa, both from the Bantu speakers but also the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic culture in eastern Africa. Punt saw the last of the great Egyptian expeditions and the land of Punt fades from view after this time. Nubia had been subjugated at the beginning of the period but had broken free by the end of it. Egypt had seen some of its greatest rulers and most iconic individuals from this time, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Ramesses II and Ramesses III. After this great flourishing of their land, Egypt settled into a period of decline.

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Some African History from 2000-1500BC

Statue of Thutmose I

This is a quick overview of African history from the year 2000BC to the year 1500BC. Due to the nature of the sources it will be rather focused on Egypt. This is unfortunate, but somewhat inevitable, as Egypt is the one of the best documented places in the world at this time.

Outside of Egypt there were sophisticated cultures in Nubia and Punt. The lower edge of the Sahara had seen the development of agriculture, although there is no record of extensive bronze metalworking from this period. This is to be expected as tin was very scarce in the ancient world and there were no easy trade routes past the Sahara at this time.

Further south of the equator humans still lived as hunter-gatherers, as their distant ancestors had done for millennia. This was more to do with the sophistication of their hunting techniques than anything else. Unlike other parts of the world they had not had the need to develop agriculture and their culture was perfectly adapted to its surroundings. However, if farming groups were to arrive in the area from outside, this would change the balance of the environment and tip the scales in favour of the agricultural groups. Near the Niger Delta agriculture was being developed by speakers of what are now known as Proto-Bantu languages. This group would eventually expand and change the linguistic makeup of the continent when it began to expand.

Ruins of the city of Kerma, in present-day Sudan

In Egypt the 11th Dynasty was founded by Mentuhotep II. This is held to be the beginning of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, after the relative chaos of the First Intermediate Period. The 11th Dynasty was centred on the southern city of Thebes. The new dynasty brought stability and prosperity to Egypt. Mentuhotep II led armies south into the lands that they now referred to as Kush. He also sent trading missions to the Land of Punt, probably in what is now northern Somalia. These missions would continue intermittently for the next two hundred years.

The “Kushite” kingdom was probably the large polity to the south of Egypt. This was centred on the city of Kerma. The culture of the region at this time is also referred to as the Kerma culture, but their rulers are barely known in comparison to the Pharaohs to the north.

Further to the south, a Neolithic culture referred to as the Savannah Pastoral Neolithic Culture flourished in Kenya and Tanzania. They may have been influenced by settlers from the Nile Valley further to the north. It is suspected that these peoples may have spoken Cushitic languages and that their economy was focused on pastoral cattle farming.

Cave paintings from the Brandberg Mountain region
in Namibia

Far to the south, in the lands that are now Namibia, a series of cave paintings were created by the local hunter-gatherers. The dating of these is extremely hard to identify precisely and the paintings were created over a period of millennia anyway. But it seemed important to mention them and this date is probably approximately correct for them.

It was after supper, when night had fallen, and I had spent an hour of happiness. I was asleep upon my bed, having become weary, and my heart had begun to follow sleep. When weapons of my counsel were wielded, I had become like a snake of the necropolis. As I came to, I awoke to fighting, and found that it was an attack of the bodyguard. If I had quickly taken weapons in my hand, I would have made the wretches retreat with a charge! But there is none mighty in the night, none who can fight alone;
Instructions of Amenemhat

Ruined pyramid of Amenemhat

During the 1900’s BC the 11th Dynasty ended in Egypt and the 12th Dynasty began, probably with a palace coup. During this century Egyptian culture and technology blossomed. Literary works such as the Instructions of Amenemhat were written around this time. The Instructions of Amenemhat was written as if the dead Pharaoh Amenemhat was counselling his son in a dream. Amenemhat had been murdered in a conspiracy and wanted to prevent his son from the same fate.

Also around this time in Egypt, glass was invented. This was coloured glass, used for decorations, but the clear glass that we normally associate with glass was not invented until later. It was still a major technological leap for humanity.

In the 1800’s BC the literary trends of Egypt continued, with texts such as the Eloquent Peasant, the Admonitions of Ipuwer, and the Berlin Papyrus 6619 all dating from around this period.

Would that there were an end of men, without conception, without birth! Then would the land be quiet from noise and tumult be no more.
Admonitions of Ipuwer, c1800’s BC

The Eloquent Peasant was a light-hearted tale of a scheming official who deprived a peasant of his property using a trick. The peasant appealed for justice and eventually receives it, but only after being made to wait, while the court enjoy listening to his pleas. The Admonitions of Ipuwer is a darker piece of royal propaganda. It gives a terrifying description of a world descending into chaos while the righteous suffer. We are missing the end of the poem, but it is likely that the coming of a king to end the suffering would have been prophesied, thus glorifying the Pharaoh who commissioned it. The Berlin Papyrus 6619 was a mathematical treatise that demonstrated knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem.

Papyrus fragment showing
Tale of Sinuhe

But the glory of Egyptian literature is the Tale of Sinuhe. This is the story of Sinuhe, an Egyptian courtier who, upon hearing a dangerous conversation, flees Egypt. He finds his way to Canaan where he builds a new life and becomes a great man in the local lands. But his heart misses Egypt and finally a decree arrives from the Pharaoh, allowing Sinuhe to return home. His newfound greatness cannot overcome his longing for Egypt and he returns to be welcomed back to his native land, where a tomb was prepared for him so that he could face the afterlife with his head held high.

And I was clad in soft linen, and anointed with fine oil; by night I lay upon a bed. I gave up the sand to them that dwell therein, and oil of wood to him who smears himself with it.
The Tale of Sinuhe, written c1800’s BC

During this time, the powerful ruler Senusret III ruled Egypt. He expanded the Middle Kingdom to the height of its power and engaged in campaigns in Libya and against the Kushites to the south. He also became involved in the politics of Canaan. His campaigns would go on to become legendary and his name would live on as the legendary Sesostris, who was said to have been a great Egyptian conqueror who subjugated lands near and far.

The unusual face of Senusret III

Senusret III completed huge building projects, including a canal that allowed passage of the First Cataract of the Nile. He also began work to create the Great Canal that would allow the Faiyum Depression to act as a storage area for the waters of the Nile. This gigantic project was eventually finished by his son. Strangely, the statues of Sesostris III seem to show the face of a ruler who is saddened, lonely and bitter, which is most unusual for the statues of a Pharaoh.

Eventually, late in the century, the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty, Queen Sobekneferu, passed away, possibly in a coup and the 13th Dynasty came to power. The chronology of this dynasty is not well known at all and even the names of the rulers and the order in which they ruled are uncertain. Egypt appears to have begun to decline at this point.

In the century of the 1700’s BC the 13th Dynasty reigned in Thebes, in Upper Egypt. In the later years of the century the 14th Dynasty began to rule concurrently at Avaris, in Lower Egypt. These Pharaohs may have had connections with the kingdom of Kush and with the city-states of Canaan and Syria. With two competing dynasties Egypt was disunited and weak.

Statue of an Asiatic man from Avaris

While Egypt was weak, the Kingdom of Kerma, as Nubia/Kush is known at this point, was strong. This time seems to have been the zenith of the power of the rulers of Kerma.

In the century of the 1600’s BC foreign invaders from Syria, known as the Hyksos, took Avaris and founded the 15th Dynasty of Egypt. The Hyksos may have been responsible for the introduction of horses into the continent of Africa, and their horse drawn chariots may have been the secret to their success. Another dynasty, known as the 16th Dynasty, ruled in Thebes, but was subordinate to the Hyksos in Avaris. A third, even smaller, dynasty ruled a tiny buffer state between Avaris and Thebes and are known as the Abydos Dynasty. The Kingdom of Kerma took advantage of this to attack the southern frontiers of Egypt.

Far to the south and west of Egypt, in the region now known as Nigeria, the Nok Culture arose. At this point they were a Neolithic culture and their great cultural flourishing would not occur for many centuries but they were nevertheless laying the foundations for their later prosperity at around this time.

Mummified body of Ahmose
Founder of the 18th Dynasty and the
New Kingdom

In the century of the 1500’s BC the 17th Dynasty of Egypt, based at Thebes, finally cast out the Hyksos, who had invaded Egypt in the previous century and founded what we refer to as the New Kingdom. This ended the Second Intermediate Period and would bring Egypt to its greatest period of strength. Ahmose I, who had finally expelled the Hyksos, founded a new dynasty, known as the 18th Dynasty. Ahmose was to construct the last pyramid built by native Egyptian rulers. Under the son and grandson of Ahmose I (Amenhotep I and Thutmose I) the Kingdom of Kerma was conquered by Egypt and Egyptian power now stretched far south along the Nile, far to the west across the oases of the Sahara and as far north as the Euphrates River, to which the Egyptian Pharaohs would occasionally campaign.

In a very different type of expansion, the speakers of Bantu languages seem to have begun to spread outwards. These speakers had probably been close to the mouth of Niger River. Perhaps the technologies and organisation of the Nok Culture aided this expansion. But we know from analysing linguistic drift that around this time the language speakers split into two groupings; East and West. The western Bantu speakers went along the Atlantic coast, towards the Congo Valley, while the eastern Bantu speakers went inland to the south-east towards central Africa and the lakes.

Some have speculated that the Nok culture had discovered iron-smelting at this point and that this fuelled both the rise of the Nok culture and the Bantu expansion. This is perhaps plausible, but it is not likely, as this would probably have led to a much faster expansion at this stage. Only Egypt and Kerma were known to be using bronze at this stage of African history, so iron weapons and tools would have been a great advantage indeed against the stone tool users elsewhere.

Pottery from Kerma

Thus the period draws to a close, with the chaos of the Egyptian Second Intermediate Period at an end and the beginnings of the New Kingdom. The Kingdom of Kerma was destroyed around this time by the resurgent Egyptians. Meanwhile in western Africa, the Nok culture was beginning to grow and the Bantu speakers were beginning to spread east and west, along the coasts, towards the lakes and into the equatorial forests.

This is of course only the barest of outlines, a mere historical sketch. There is so much more that could be said but I have tried to give a map that others can use to search for further detail and discover more of the history of Egypt, of Sudan, of Nigeria and of Africa as a whole.

Related Blog Posts:
Some African History from 4000-3000BC
Some African History from 3000-2000BC
Some African History from 2000-1500BC
Some African History from 1500-1000BC
Some African History from 1000-750BC
Some African History from 750-500BC