Kush was a Nubian kingdom. It is a region that extended from the first to the fifth cataract of the Nile River. Kush was important to Egypt for three reasons. Egyptians traded gold, ivory, ostrich feathers, and ebony with Kush. Egyptians also received Nubian granite for temples, tombs, and obelisks. And during the Middle Kingdom, many police and soldiers from Kush served in Egypt's army. Kush was considered part of the Egyptian empire since the Middle Kingdom.Kushites worshipped Egyptian gods, believed in the afterlife, and learned Egyptian crafts and Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. They were required to pay annual tributes to Egyptian rulers.Egypt was in decline during the end of the New Kingdom. Kashta, the Hushite ruler, decided to break away from Egypt. By 750 B.C. Upper Egypt and its capital, Thebes, had been conquered. Kashta's son, Piankhy or Piye, went on to conquer Memphis and the rest of Lower Egypt. Kush lost control of Egypt in 654 B.C. to Assyria, and by A.D. 350 Kush was conquered by the neighboring kingdom of Axum. |