An excavation in northern Sudan suggests there were limits to the military might of the Roman Empire 鈥� even if the Romans weren鈥檛 prepared to admit them. The imperial forces claimed they destroyed an ancient city controlled by their enemies, but it turns out they didn鈥檛.
Following the downfall and death of Cleopatra in 30 BC, Egypt became a province of the emerging Roman Empire. But Roman Egypt was relatively weak to begin with, and its southern borders were attacked by forces from Kush, a kingdom that controlled what is now northern Sudan.
When Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, learned of this, he demanded that his armies in Egypt respond with a military show of force. Ancient records copied and passed down through the ages indicate the campaign was a success: according to a chronicler named Strabo, the Romans pushed deep into the Kingdom of Kush before , an important Kushite city, in 23 BC.
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Or did they? Napata is now part of an archaeological site being investigated by researchers through the , and recently the team excavated remains from the final centuries BC. 鈥淚t should have encompassed the supposed destruction,鈥� says at the University of Michigan, co-director of JBAP. But there were no signs of any catastrophic damage, such as abandoned weapons strewn across the site or evidence that buildings had been looted and torched.
鈥淭here is no burning even in what would have been the most impressive building on the site 鈥� the Temple to Amun of Napata,鈥� says JBAP member at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, Sudan. The research has yet to be published, but is .
It is unclear why Napata escaped destruction, says JBAP member and independent researcher . 鈥淭he Roman and Kushite armies were both in the field, so I wouldn鈥檛 think of Napata as having been well defended,鈥� he says. But the Romans would have had to march across several hundred kilometres of desert to reach Napata. It鈥檚 possible they decided it wasn鈥檛 worth the effort, and simply pretended they had destroyed the city, says Skuldb酶l.
鈥淲e should not necessarily expect accounts of what was achieved by the Roman expedition to match the reality on the ground,鈥� says at the University of Leicester, UK, who wasn鈥檛 involved in the excavation. 鈥淚 think the claim of total destruction was probably highly exaggerated for the benefit of a Roman audience.鈥�
Making such a claim was risky, says Emberling, but perhaps the Romans in Egypt felt confident that Emperor Augustus, thousands of kilometres away in Rome, would never learn the truth.
A few years later, however, the Kushites 鈥� led by Queen Amanirenas 鈥� threatened southern Egypt again. This time the Romans opted for peace, signing a treaty that was highly favourable to the Kushites. 鈥淭hey got all they could have wanted,鈥� says Emberling.
Queen Amanirenas deserves to be more widely recognised for her role in helping the Kushites stand up to the powerful Roman Empire, says JBAP member at the University of Michigan. However, we still know little about her. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 even have any images of her,鈥� says Bradshaw.
But we may learn more from ongoing efforts to decipher the Kushite writing system, known as . One of the longest Meroitic inscriptions refers to Amanirenas and seems to concern the fight against the Romans. 鈥淲e may eventually get the Kushite perspective on the episode,鈥� says Bradshaw.
