Cush

Cush (kŭsh, kŏsh) [key]. 1 Asian nation, perhaps the same as one of similar name in E Mesopotamia. Gen. 10.8; 1 Chron. 1.10. 2 Ancient kingdom of Nubia, in the present Sudan, which flourished from the 11th cent. B.C. to the 4th cent. A.D. The rulers of Cush overran Upper Egypt (mid-8th cent. B.C.) as far as Thebes. Piankhi conquered the rest of Egypt (Lower Egypt) from Tefnakhte. Taharka was defeated in the Delta by the Assyrians, and the Cushites lost control of Egypt. The Cushite capital was transferred from Napata to Meroë; Meroë was a prosperous state until the 4th cent. A.D., when it fell to the Ethiopians and was abandoned. There is a theory that the people of Meroë moved westward and introduced ironcasting techniques to the Lake Chad area.

See A. J. Arkell, A History of the Sudan to A.D. 1821 (1955, repr. 1974).

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