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| Into the smoking heat of the Nubian sun |
ANSON SAT next to the driver, thrown around
in the cabin of the Land Cruiser, as they approached an isolated butte rising
in the shimmer of the desert.
Here the great Nubian kingdom of Napata once
flourished at a place where the River Nile, slithering like a snake on a
scorched belly across the largest desert on earth, loses its way. Stunned by
the smoking heat of the Nubian sun, it twists back on itself, flowing in the
wrong direction for 270 kilometres - back towards the heart of Africa, before
winding its way into Egypt.
And here, too, the design of pyramids
changes direction. Unlike those of Egypt, they were smaller, clustered together
and tapered, with steep-sides inclined at seventy degrees, as if stretched in a
heat haze, or as if viewed through the eyes of a Modigliani.
Gemma, in the back seat, commented:
“I suppose with such an influential
neighbour as Egypt, Nubia was bound to become a mirror society instead of a
stand-alone civilisation.”
The Nubian driver growled.
“Let me tell you something. Nubia not only
stood alone. One of our great Nubian kings, Taharka, formed an alliance with
ancient Israel and defended Jerusalem from a siege by the Assyrians, driving
them away. He is even mentioned by name in the Old Testament.”
Anson added: “The Nubian Taharka may have
done more than save Israel’s bacon. He may have rescued the entire Jewish
culture and religion. The Assyrians under Sennacherib were intent on destroying
Jerusalem and deporting its people. Consider this. The Old Testament had yet to
be written and they were still wrestling with the concept of Yawveh. Where
would the Abrahamic faiths Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - be, if the
Nubians hadn’t stood by Jerusalem? It was a turning point for the Western world
and the Middle East.”
