@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ title: "Gender as Frame of War in Ancient Nubia"
authors: ["urosmatic.md"]
abstract: Gender research in Sudan archaeology and Meroitic studies is a nascent field. Studies of gender are especially lacking in investigations concerning war and violence, which are usually written from an androcentric perspective, and often focus solely on soldiers, army, weaponry, and images of battles and enemies. The experiences of non-combatants in the context of war in ancient Nubia are rarely considered; nor is the gender background of war. This paper deals with gender structure in the lists of spoils of war, women and children as prisoners of war, feminization of enemies in royal texts, participation of royal women in war, and depictions of royal women smiting enemies. In gender as a frame of war, Kushite kings were represented as masculine and their enemies as feminine. This binary opposition has also been observed in ancient Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian sources, and was clearly a shared vocabulary of the great powers of the second and first millennium BCE. Such a frame of war was based on a gender disposition of men as active and strong, and women as passive and weak. It “naturalized” Kushite domination over their enemies just as it “naturalized” male domination in Kush. However, the participation of Meroitic queens in conflicts and their depictions smiting enemies shows how the visual vocabulary of violence can be utilized even by some women, in their own expressions of power.
As this volume is being published, there is war in the Sudan again.
On April 2023, armed conflict started between rival factions of the military regime in the country.
The population is trapped on the battlefield between the military leaders at war with each other.
We are deeply concerned for the people of the Sudan - among them are friends and colleagues.
The escalation of the conflict has caused significant civilian casualties, and more than a million have bceome refugees.
The context that the volume is published under is grim, and the arpiration of our research is now to raise awareness of how destructive was is for the people and their means of living.
We can only hope for the rapid restoration of peace and a peaceful transition to democracy for the country.
War has been a recurring form of violent interaction between communities
in the Sudan since the Stone Age, and many chronological divisions in
the history of the country are set at events such as wars, battles,
@ -13,7 +21,7 @@ conquests, and peace treaties. Still, warfare has often been an
overlooked topic among researchers working in Sudan and Nubia. An
explanation is possibly that periods of stability or evolving complexity
are usually longer than episodes of war, which occur during relatively
short timespans at irregular intervals. Another reason may be that
short timespans at irregular intervals. Another reason may be that
contemporary Sudan has been a violent place, and this has possibly made
war in the country a sensitive topic and restrained researchers from
making warfare their research object.
@ -43,7 +51,7 @@ persistence brings hope for a civilian government and democratic state
in Sudan.
War has deep roots in Sudan. An Upper Paleolithic cemetery at Jebel
Sahaba in the far north of the country is often quoted as the earliest
Sahaba in the far north of the country is often referred to as the earliest
evidence of war in world history.[^2] Around 25 victims at Jebel Sahaba
exhibited injuries from attacks with bows and arrows.[^3] The
extremities of the earliest war and the violent conflicts in modern
