Herodotus says that it was
impossible to tell whether the influence of the Egyptians on the
Ethiopians was stronger than that of the Ethiopians on the
Egyptians.
What Herodotus and the Greeks referred to as Ethiopia was, in
fact, the kingdom of Kush. It was located up the Nile from Egypt.
As the Egyptian empire grew in strength and wealth, it strove to
expand its power over its neighbors. Egypt sent several military
expeditions south along the Nile to try to conquer the black people
of Kush. They failed and the Kushites, in turn, endeavored to
extend their power over Egypt. In 751 B.C., Kush invaded Egypt
and, shortly thereafter, conquered it. This occupation of Egypt
lasted for over a hundred years, until both the Kushites and the
Egyptians were defeated by an invading army from Assyria in 666
B.C. At that point, the Kushites returned to the safety of their
homeland.
The Kushites and the Egyptians had been defeated by a
superior technology. While they were fighting with weapons made
of copper and bronze, the Assyrians fought with iron. Methods of
smelting and working iron had been developed centuries before by
the Hittites who lived in Asia Minor.
Pages:
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32