Soon after the reign of this king several wars broke out between the kings of the Northern Kingdom, which extended from the Napata to Philæ, and the Southern Kingdom of the Sûdân, which extended from the Fourth Cataract to the Blue Nile. Of many of these wars we have no knowledge, but it is clear from the Annals of Heru-sa-ȧtef that the struggle for supremacy in the Sûdân at the time was a severe one. After Egypt had fallen under the rule of the Persians and Macedonians, the princes of Napata continued to be their own masters; but at a later period, probably whilst the Ptolemies were reigning over Egypt, they either moved their capital further south to a site on the fertile plain which is bounded by the Atbarâ and the Nile and the Blue Nile, and is commonly called the Island of Meroê, or were succeeded in their sovereignty by another branch of the same race as they themselves who were indigenous to the province. The princes of Meroë built temples with ante-chapels, pylons, courts, hypostyle halls, sanctuary chambers, etc., taking as their models the temples of Napata, which in turn were copied from the temples of Egypt, and they decorated them with basreliefs and scenes, and inscriptions, chiefly in the hieroglyphic character. Their buildings lack the beauty and finish of the temples of Egypt, but many of them must have been grand and impressive. In the third century B.C., one of the kings of

Northern Nubia called Arq-Amen was a great friend of

Ptolemy II, Ptolemy III, and Ptolemy IV, and his authority in the north appears to have extended to Philæ. The Ptolemies had no dominion over Nubia, but they carried on a brisk trade in the Eastern Sûdân by way of the Red Sea, and they had large numbers of elephants brought from there. The gold trade seems to have declined at this period, either because the mines were exhausted, or because the veins of quartz were so far below the surface that the working of them had become very difficult.

Probably about 200 B.C. the rulers of the Southern Kingdom succeeded in overcoming the kings of Napata, and the central power in the Egyptian Sûdân established its capital on the Island of Meroë. This region was, about this time, and for several generations later, ruled by Queens of Meroë, each of whom bore the title of "Candace." Strabo (XVII, 1, 54) speaks of the "officers of Candace," and Pliny says (VI, 30) that "a female, whose name was Candace, ruled over the district, that name having passed from queen to queen for many years." Lepsius thought that he had found the original

of the name "Candace " in

14448, one of the

names of Queen Åmen-ārit, who built Pyramid No. 1 of Group A at Meroë. The transcription of the signs in this cartouche is, however, KENTAHEBIT, which does not suit the theory; moreover, this queen is the only one who bears the name of "Kentäḥebit," and if it was the equivalent of "Candace," other queens must have been called by it.

In the first century B.C. the Northern Kingdom appears to have been ruled by nominees of the Queens of Meroë, and about 30 B.C. it seems that the Nubians made an attempt to assert a supremacy over Upper Egypt. The great queen who built temples at Nagaa and Wâd Bâ Nagaa also built a temple at 'Amârah, about 120 miles from Wâdî Ḥalfah, and this probably caused a dispute between herself and the Romans, who, on the death of Cleopatra, became masters of Egypt. "Candace sent a force to the north, seized Philæ, Elephantine, and Syene, and made all the people there slaves. In 24 B.C., Ælius Gallus invaded Nubia, destroyed the forces of Candace, laid waste the country, and captured her capital Napata. Candace was

obliged to send messengers to Rome to sue for peace and the restitution of her territories.

During the first three centuries of the Christian Era the Blemmyes of the Eastern Desert, and the Nobadae of the Western Desert, gave the Romans a great deal of trouble, and the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) was obliged to make them an annual payment to prevent them from harassing Roman dominions. In 453 these wild tribes made an agreement with the Romans to keep the peace for 100 years, and, on the whole, they observed their promise fairly well. Meanwhile Christians had been steadily making their way into Nubia from the first century onwards, and before 550 a native Christian king called Silko succeeded in defeating the Nobadae tribes and in making himself master of all Nubia. He made the town of Donkola his capital, and Christianity became the official religion of the country. The form of Christianity which he professed was that of the Egyptian Jacobites, who acknowledged the Patriarch of Alexandria as their head. The Liturgy used in the Nubian churches was in Greek, and the Scriptures were read in Greek, and the churches were decorated with frescoes containing figures of the Apostles and other saints, after the manner of the churches in Alexandria. Later the Nubian Christians adopted Byzantine methods of decoration, and as late as the 14th

century churches were in existence on the Island of Meroë which in form and internal ornamentation resembled the churches of Constantinople.

Of the manners and customs of the Nubians or Ethiopians classical writers do not speak very highly. Strabo (xvii, 2, § 2, ff.) says that they went naked for the most part; that they were nomadic shepherds of sheep, goats, and oxen, which were very small. They lived on millet and barley, from which also a drink was prepared, and made use of butter and fat instead of oil. They fought with bows and arrows, and some of their soldiers were armed with leather shields. They worshipped Hercules, Isis, and Pan (by which we may understand Amen-Rä, Mut, and Khensu), and believed in one god who was immortal, and in another who was mortal and without a name. It is clear, though, that Strabo often refers to tribes and peoples who lived south of Kharțûm, and that he treats them all as Ethiopians or Nubians.

2. Modern History of the Sûdân.—Soon after the conquest of Egypt by 'Amr ibn al 'Âşî in 640, the Muslims marched into Nubia, and having conquered the king of Donkola they fixed the Bakt or tribute which the country was to pay annually to the Arabs. A formal treaty was drawn up and signed by representatives of the Arabs and Nubians, and, on the whole, the latter observed it very well. In 878 the Nubians rebelled and were punished. In 956 the Muslims took Primis, and in 969 Gawhar invited the king of Nubia to turn Muḥammadan. In 1005 the Nubians overran Egypt. In 1173 Shams ad-Dawlah Tûrân Shâh invaded Nubia because the king refused to pay the tribute. He took Ibrîm, destroyed the city, and captured 700,000 prisoners. In 1275 the Muslims annexed the Sûdân. In 1287 the Muslims raided the country far to the south of Donkola. In 1365 the Nubian tribe of Kanz seized Aswân. About 150o the Fûng tribes finally destroyed the Christian kingdom of Alwa, and set up a king whose capital was at Sennaar. In 1517 Salîm captured Egypt, and sent troops by sea to Maṣawa' to occupy the Sûdân. The Fûngs, however, held their own and continued to be masters of the country. From Egypt numbers of Turkish and Bosnian troops entered Nubia via Aswân, and they took possession of the Nile Valley as far south as the Fourth Cataract. The rule of the Fûngs lasted from 1505 to the end of the XVIIIth century. In other parts of the Sûdân there reigned : 1. The 'Abdallât Shêkhs, i.e., 18 kings in about 230 years.

2. The Kings of Fâ-Zôglî, i.e., 17 kings in 215 years. 3. The Kings of Shendî, i.e., 16 kings in 215 years. 4. The Sulțâns of Dâr Fûr, i.e., 26 Sulțâns in 420 years (A.D. 14451865). The Sûdân was invaded in 1820 by Muḥammad 'Alî, who wished to recruit his army from its tribes, and to collect a revenue from it; he had heard that there was much gold in the country, and he determined to get possession of it. He decided to form an army of Sûdânî men, and the raids which he made to obtain men laid the foundation of one of the most hideous phases of the slave trade. The army he sent was under the command of his son Ismâ‘îl, and its success was decisive. Ismâ'il occupied Berber and Shendî, and then advanced to Sennaar. In 1821 Ismâ'îl ascended the Blue Nile, plundering the tribes as he went, and his brother Ibrâhîm led a force up the White Nile. Dâr Fûr and Kordôfân were annexed by the Daftardar Muḥammad, the son-in-law of Muḥammad ‘Alî, and he perpetrated terrible atrocities. On the east the Egyptian force reached Tomat on the Atbarâ, and in the south as far as the Dinka country. When Ismâ 'îl returned to Shendî he and his nobles were invited to dinner by Nimr the Mekḥ, or governor, and when all were merry, the palace was set on fire, and the Egyptians were burned to death. Muḥammad 'Alî promptly sent a third expedition into the Sûdân, and punished the people for the death of his son, and a terrible massacre took place at Shendî. In 1822 the modern town of Kharṭum was founded. In 1834 Khurshîd Pâshâ conquered the Abyssinians at the Battle of Sennaar, and thus the whole of the Sûdân was "Egyptianized." Muḥammad 'Ali was disappointed with the Sûdân, because it did not yield gold enough for his needs, and the chief results of his invasion were the destruction of the ivory trade, caravans ceased to exist as business concerns, and the slave trade flourished as it had never done before. In 1841 a serious revolt at Kassala was quelled by Muḥammad 'Ali's troops, and the Sûdân was divided into the provinces of Fâ-Zôgli, Sennaar, Kharṭum, Taka (Kassala), Berber, Donkola, and Kordôfân. Sa'id Pâshâ visited the Sûdân in 1856, and carried out a number of valuable reforms; above all he reduced taxation on irrigation, and abolished the collection of taxes by soldiers. He was in favour of evacuating the Sûdân, and only gave up the idea at the earnest entreaties of the shêkhs. In 1865 another revolt broke out at Kassala, and when it was suppressed by Mazhar

Pâshâ the Sûdânî soldiers who had garrisoned the town were sent to Egypt. In 1870 the copper mines of Ḥufrât anNahâs, in the Baḥr al-Ghazâl, were seized for the Government by Helale, a native of Dâr Fûr. Between 1869 and 1873 Sir Samuel Baker led an expedition to the Upper Nile intending to suppress the slave trade, and to bring the countries south of Gondokoro under the rule of Egypt, to introduce navigation on the great Equatorial Lakes, and to foster trade and to open up new trade routes. He succeeded in establishing a number of fortified posts, and prepared the way for Egyptian rule; he was the first Englishman to fill a high post in the service of the Khedive. In 1874 Munzinger Bey annexed Senhît, on the Abyssinian frontier. In 1874 Colonel Gordon was appointed Governor of the Equatorial Province, and in the following year Zubêr Pâshâ began the conquest of Dâr Fûr, and Harar, in Abyssinia, was annexed to Egypt. In 1876 war broke out between the Egyptians and Abyssinians; the latter were victorious, and made prisoner Hasan Pâshâ, the Khedive's In 1877 Colonel Gordon was made Governor-General of the Sûdân, and he suppressed a revolt in the Dâr Fûr province, and another in the Bahr al-Ghazâl. The latter revolt was headed by Sulêmân, the son of Zubêr Pâshâ, and he was captured by Gessi Pâshâ, who had him shot; Zubêr laid his death at Gordon's door, and a very large proportion of the troubles which fell upon the Sûdân subsequently were stirred up by him because of his hatred for Gordon personally, and for the power which he represented.

.son.

In 1881 Muḥammad Aḥmad, better known as the Mahdî, declared himself. At the time the Sûdân, under the rule of Egypt, was a tract of country about 1,650 miles long and 1,400 miles wide. It extended from Aswân to the Equator, and from Dâr Fûr to the Red Sea. In 1884 General Gordon was sent to arrange for the evacuation of the Sûdân, and to suppress the slave trade; on his way up to Kharțûm he declared his mission, and by so doing practically sealed his own fate. He was besieged in Kharțûm in April of the same year, and in August Great Britain determined to send a relief expedition. "A forlorn hope of British soldiers is led "the longest and the hardest way round to the goal, along "the line of greatest resistance: but struggles manfully and "heroically against heavy odds, until it really is too late '! "Khartûm succumbs, and English chivalry loses its noblest "representative."

General Gordon was murdered on