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---
title: "Gender as Frame of War in Ancient Nubia"
authors: ["urosmatic.md"]
abstract: "Gender research in the archaeology of the Sudan and Meroitic studies is still 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, battle representations, and images of enemies. The experiences of non-combatants in the context of war in ancient Nubia, such as women, children, and non-combating men, are rarely considered. The same is with 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 in representations of battle aftermath, feminization of enemies in royal texts, participation of royal women in war, and depictions of royal women smiting enemies. The sources for the study come from the Napatan and Meroitic periods (8th century BCE to 4th century CE). 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 ancient Sudanese society. 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."
keywords: ["ancient Nubia", "war", "violence", "gender", "women", "children"]
---
# Introduction
Gender studies in archaeology have moved a long way from the initial
criticism of androcentrism (criticism of androcentric and
heteronormative interpretations of the past, giving voices to ancient
women, recognizing different genders behind the archaeological record),
to viewing gender as a system or a result of performative practices.[^1]
These developments in gender archaeology are not necessarily the same in
all archaeological communities. In studies of ancient Sudan, gender
studies have been introduced first through research of prehistoric and
protohistoric societies[^2] and then through focus on Kushite royal
women and the concept of queenship.[^3] The topic has been broadened by
analyzing gender crossed with other aspects of identity, such as age,
resulting in an intersectional understanding of identity in ancient
Sudan.[^4] The focus in studies of ancient Sudan still seems to be
largely on men (implicitly or explicitly), although recently, overviews
on women, including non-royal women, have been published.[^5] Only few
authors focused on masculinity.[^6] However, studies of gender are still
far from being fully acknowledged in research on ancient Sudan. This is
demonstrated by the lack of an entry on gender in even the most recent
handbooks.[^7]
In recent years, gender archaeologies are tackling a wide variety of
different problems, offering equally varied approaches.[^8] Two related
topics which have lately attracted the attention of several scholars are
gendered violence and gender as a form of symbolic violence.[^9] Whereas
scholars of the first search for evidence of quite specific gender
patterns behind violent acts, scholars of the second argue that gender
itself is a form of violence, because gender brings different people
into asymmetrical relations of power in different domains. The idea that
gender can be a form of symbolic violence is inherited from sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu and philosopher Slavoj Žižek and has been only recently
applied to archaeology.[^10] These discussions remind us that it is
fruitful to think about gender from the point of view of violence, and
to think about violence from the point of view of gender.
War is typically a sphere of past social action about which
archaeologists and historians usually write from a male perspective and
with the sole focus on men. The participation of women and their
experiences are rarely addressed.[^11] War and violence in ancient Sudan
are fields still largely dominated by male authors.[^12] This
androcentric perspective rarely takes into account gender as a social
category, and tends to implicitly a focus only on combatant men. As a
result, we are left with numerous valuable contributions on Kushite
representations of war, enemies, weaponry etc. However, a gender
perspective is lacking in almost all of them. Until recently, the same
case was in Egyptology. However, some recent studies focusing on war in
ancient Egypt have shown the potential of implementing ideas and
concepts coming from gender studies.[^13] One of these concepts is the
frames of war. The concept of the frames of war was developed by
American philosopher Judith Butler, who demonstrated the way some
political forces frame violence in the modern media. Frames of war are
operations of power which seek to contain, convey, and determine what is
seen and what is real.[^14] They are the ways of selectively carving up
experience as essential to the conduct of war.[^15] Butler argues that,
by regulating perspective in addition to content, state authorities are
clearly interested in controlling the visual modes of participation in
war.[^16] The study of Butler on frames of war is essential for our
understanding of how the modern media creates the experience of war,
whether and where they find a place for non-combatants, and how victory
and defeat are presented. In this process, different genders are
represented as differently positioned, depending on other identity
categories such as age or status in an intersectional manner. According
to Butler, we should undertake "a critique of the schemes by which state
violence justifies itself."[^17]
In this paper, I will argue that gender was a frame of war that was also
observable in the textual and visual media of ancient Sudan during the
Napatan and Meroitic periods. I will first focus on non-combatants in
texts, by analysing the attestations of prisoners of war of differing
ages and genders. The lists of spoils of war demonstrate a structure
based on a hierarchy based on status, age, and gender intersectionality.
This is followed by an analysis of a currently unique representation of
women and children as prisoners of war found on the reliefs of Meroitic
temple M250 in Meroe. After this, I turn to the feminization of enemies
in Napatan and Merotic texts in order to demonstrate how gender was used
to structure hierarchy and to position the Kushite king as masculine and
his enemies as feminine. I argue that, in this way, gender framed both
relations in war and hierarchies within the society of ancient Sudan. I
also discuss evidence for the participation of Kushite royal women in
war, and stress that the sources at our disposal are providing us with
an outsider (Graeco-Roman) perspective, rather than a local perspective.
Finally, I discuss the specifics of scenes in which Meroitic royal women
are smiting enemies by comparing these to those from ancient Egypt. I
argue that the observed differences are related to a different
understanding of the relation between kingship and queenship in these
two societies.
# Men, Women and Children as Prisoners of War
## Textual Evidence
The taking of prisoners of war is a well attested ancient war
practice.[^18] Enemies of different gender, age, and status were also
imprisoned in war in ancient Nubia. Although the practice surely must
have been older, the first textual attestations come from the reign of
Taharqa (690-664 BCE), and continue until the Meroitic period. The
mentioning of men, women, and children as prisoners of war is mostly
part of the lists of spoils of war. Since there is no place in this
paper to thoroughly analyze these lists and present them in a systematic
manner, I will concentrate only on prisoners of war, and especially on
women and children, since they are often entirely neglected.[^19]
The Kawa III stela of Taharqa informs us that the king provided the
temple of Amun with male and female servants, and the children of the
rulers (*wr.w*) of Tjehenu (Libyans).[^20] The Kawa VI (Khartoum SNM
2679, line 20-21) stela informs us that the temple of Amun in Kawa was
filled with, among other others, female servants, wives of the rulers of
Lower Egypt (*TꜢ-mḥw*), and the children of the rulers of every foreign
land.[^21] Taharqa's granite stela from Karnak (line 3) also mentions
children of rulers, and later (lines 11-13) refers to the settling of a
population with its cattle in villages. This possibly refers to the
settlement of the prisoners of war, among which were the above-mentioned
children.[^22]
On the Enthronement stela of Anlamani (late 7th century BCE) from Kawa
(Kawa VIII, lines 19-20, Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Æ.I.N. 1709)
it is stated that his soldiers gained control of all the women,
children, small cattle and property in the land Bulahau
(*b-w-rꜢ-h-Ꜣ-y-w*) and that the king appointed the captives as male and
female servants of the gods.[^23] This indicates that Anlamai, like
Taharqa, appointed at least some prisoners of war to the temples.[^24]
In the Annals of Harsiyotef (Cairo JE 48864, lines 68-70) from his
35th reginal year in the early 4th century BCE, the king states that
he gave booty (*ḥꜢḳ*) to Amun of Napata, 50 men, 50 women, together
making 100.[^25] The text (line 87-88) further states that the king
took, among others, male and female servants in the land of Metete.[^26]
Likewise, in the Annals of Nastasen (Stela Berlin ÄMP 2268, lines
44-46), from his 8th regal year in the last third of the 4th century
BCE, the king states that he gave a total of 110 men and women to Amun of
Napata.[^27] As noted by Jeremy Pope, there is no reason to impose here
an artificial distinction between a donation text and a record of
war.[^28] In fact, there is also no such division in ancient Egyptian
records of war, and the Kushite records of war bear many similarities to
those of ancient Egypt, especially when lists of spoils of war are
concerned. Nastasen also claims (lines 46-49) that he captured Ayonku,
the ruler connected to the rebels, and that he took all the women, all
the cattle, and much gold. The list mentions 2,236 women.[^29] Compared
to the number of men and women given to the temple of Amun at Napata,
this is a significantly larger number, which indicates that a majority
of the prisoners actually did not end up as property of the temple. We
can only speculate that they were distributed elsewhere, possibly even
among the soldiers. Nastasen also seized the ruler Luboden and all the
women in his possession (line 51).[^30] He also seized Abso, the ruler
of Mahae, and all their women (line 53).[^31] Nastasen went against the
rebellious land of Makhsherkharta and seized the ruler, as well as all
of that by which the ruler sustained people, and all the women (line
55).[^32] Finally, Nastasen seized Tamakheyta, the ruler of the
rebellious land Sarasarat, and caused the plundering of all their women
(line 58).[^33]
Common to all these Napatan and Meroitic texts written in Egyptian is
the order in which different prisoners of war are listed, which is
always the same. The enemy ruler is listed first, followed by the enemy
men, women, and children. No difference is made between male and female
children. This demonstrates an intersectional hierarchy based on status,
gender, and age. The enemy ruler was the most valued, then came enemy
men, women and children, in that same order. An interesting question is
if this intersectional hierarchy mirrors that of the ancient Sudanese
society, or if it was only imposed on its enemies. That male and female
prisoners of war together with children, including even those of the
foreign rulers, were donated to the temples, comes as no surprise. The
individual temples of Amun in Kush also functioned as centres of
territorial government and redistribution.[^34] Some lines in the Annals
of Nastasen refer to imprisoned women in a rhetorical manner, stating
rather generally that all women of the enemy were taken, instead of
providing a number like in earlier sources.
Currently, the textual evidence written in Merotic script is very
scarce, and our current understanding of the language is not on a level
which would allow a detailed reading of most of the preserved texts.
Nevertheless, several experts in Meroitic language and script have
recognized the mentioning of prisoners of war in the Hamadab Stela of
Amanirenas and Akinidad (British Museum 1650) from the late 1st
century BCE.[^35] According to the new reading of Claude Rilly, the
second (small) Hamadab stela (REM 1039) mentions Akinidad and the sites
where the Roman prefect Petronius fought against the Meroites, namely
Aswan (Meroitic "Sewane"), Qasr Ibrim (Meroitic "Pedeme"), and Napata
("Npte"). According to Rilly, the stela also mentions the beginning of
the war in its 3rd and 4th lines: "the Tmey have enslaved all the men,
all the women, all the girls and all the boys".[^36] Interestingly, if
Rilly´s reading is correct, this would mean that when Meroitic folk are
taken as prisoners by enemies, a gender differentiation is made even for
children and/or adolescents. The following discussion will focus on the
possible iconographic evidence of the conflict between Meroe and Rome.
## Iconographic Evidence
Unlike in ancient Egypt, ancient Nubian iconographic evidence for the
taking of prisoners of war is rather scarce when the bound prisoner
motif is excluded from the corpus. Even less attested are depictions of
women and children being imprisoned.
One rare instance of such a depiction is found in temple M250, located
about 1km to the east-southeast of the centre of the city of Meroe. John
Garstang first investigated the temple in 1910-1911 together with
Archibald H. Sayce. The temple M250 was investigated further by
Friedrich Hinkel from 1984 to 1985. He dated it to the late 1st
century BCE and early 1st century CE because of the royal cartouches of
Akinidad found on fallen blocks of the cella north wall.[^37] The
earliest temple on the site, which is northwest of M250, had probably
already been built in Aspelta's reign (the beginning of the 6th
century BCE) in the form of a cella on the top of a podium.[^38]
According to László Török, the temple was dedicated in its later form to
the cult of Re or, more precisely, to the unification of Amun with
Re.[^39] Hinkel interpreted it more carefully as a temple of Amun.[^40]
So far, the battle reliefs of M250 were analyzed by several authors. It
is Hinkel who published the temple and gave the most detailed
description and analysis of the relief blocks to-date.[^41] According to
Török, the decoration of the facades had a "historically" formulated
triumphal aspect.[^42]. Before the publication of the temple by Hinkel,
Steffen Wenig assigned them to the reign of Aspelta because his stela
was found on the site. Wenig related the reliefs to the ones from the
B500 temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal, not knowing at that time that they
predate M250.[^43] Inge Hofmann analysed the war reliefs in detail
regarding the weapons and equipment worn by the Meroites and emphasized
that the weapons they use are post-Napatan. Based on the kilts and hair
feathers worn by some of the enemies of Meroites in these scenes, she
concluded that they are southerners but that they cannot be identified
with any specific Sudanese tribe.[^44] This type of enemy wearing a kilt
and feathers is also found as a bound prisoner on the pylon of the tomb
chapel of Begrawiya North 6 (the tomb of Amanishakheto).[^45] It is also
depicted on the east wall painting from the small temple M292, better
known because of the head of a statue of Augustus which was buried in
front of its entrance, as well as a representation of the so called
Roman prisoner on the same wall painting.[^46] According to Florian Wöß,
this type of enemy can be classified as an Inner African Type. It is
most numerous among Meroitic depictions of enemies, and Wöß argues that
it could have therefore represented a real threat to the Meroites.[^47]
This conclusion corresponds well with the interpretation of the Meroitic
kingdom having a heartland in the Nile Valley, at Keraba, and perhaps
also the southland. The Meroitic kingdom was surrounded by various
neighbouring communities that could have made a real threat and were
only occasionally under Kushite control.[^48] As we have already seen,
numerous texts refer to conflicts with these communities outside the
realm of the Kushite kingdom.
Hinkel has already concluded that the north wall of M250 depicts women
and children taken by the Meroites in their raid of the First Cataract,
as reported by Strabo in *Geography* (17. I. 54),[^49] and that the
south wall depicts a conflict with some southern population that the
Meroites encountered in Lower Nubia.[^50] However, if Meroe is
understood as the centre of the axis, then the enemies depicted on the
south wall are unlikely to depict Lower Nubians. We know that during the
last decades of the 1st century BCE, Lower Nubia was not hostile to
Meroe, and that, rather the contrary, it rebelled against Rome. Gaius
Cornelius Gallus reports in his trilingual stela from Philae erected in
29 BCE that he placed a local tyrant to govern Triakontaschoinos (Lower
Nubia), which became part of the province of Egypt and established a
personal patron/client relationship with the king of Meroe.[^51] This
arrangement obliged inhabitants of Triakontaschoinos to pay taxes.[^52]
Roman emperor Augustus then ordered Lucius Aelius Gallus, the second
prefect of Egypt, to prepare a military expedition against province
Arabia Felix. Aelius Gallus regrouped the forces stationed in Egypt and
took *c*. 8000 of the 16.800 men in three legions and 5500 of the
auxiliary forces. The expedition was carried out in 26-25 BCE and ended
with Roman defeat. The inhabitants of Triakontaschoinos received the
news of Aelius Gallus' failure in Arabia and revolted in the summer of
25 BCE. The aim of the revolt was to end the previously established
status of Triakontaschoinos and the obligation of paying tax to Rome.
Concurrently with this revolt, there were local rebellions against the
pressure of taxation in Upper Egypt.[^53] The rebels might also have
received help from the king of Meroe. Meroe probably tried to use the
opportunity presented by the revolt in Triakontaschoinos and Upper Egypt
to establish the northern frontier in the region of the First
Cataract.[^54] Therefore, it is unlikely that the southern enemy
depicted on the walls of temple M250 represents Lower Nubians. They were
not hostile to Meroe at the time before the building of the temple M250
under Akinidad. On the contrary, they were its allies in war with Rome.
Regarding the representations of women and children as prisoners of war,
Török found parallels in New Kingdom Egyptian (ca. 1550-1070 BCE)
reliefs,[^55] whereas Hinkel found parallels both in New Kingdom
Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian reliefs (ca. 911-609 BCE).[^56] One must,
however, stress that in the case of the New Kingdom Egyptian reliefs,
the parallels are both thematic and iconographic, whereas in the case of
Neo-Assyrian reliefs, the parallels are strictly general and thematic
(e.g. imprisonment). In this paper, I will focus more closely on the
thematic and iconographic parallels from New Kingdom Egypt and Nubia,
considering the fact that general thematic parallels (e.g. imprisonment)
are found in many cultures and are not particularly helpful in better
understanding the decorative program of M250.
Women and children are found both on the south and the north wall of the
temple M250. The blocks with representations of women and children are
part of the preserved *in situ* lowest register of the north wall. Its
preserved height is *c*. 110cm above the crepidoma.[^57] Its register
depicts an east-west oriented procession of armed men, horse riders, and
chariots who join a battle. After the battle scene, the same register
continues with the procession of armed men, with nude women and children
in front of them (Figure 1).
![Relief blocks from the north wall of M250](../static/images/matic/fig1.jpg "Relief blocks from the north wall of M250")
**~~Figure 1. Relief blocks from the north wall of M250 in the sequence east-west (redrawn after [Hinkel, *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*: 140--141, Abb. 39, 40, 41, 42).~~**
The women and children are preceded by men with oval shields and cattle
in front of them, after which comes one more group of nude women and
children. They are approached by oppositely-oriented men, probably in a
battle. After them, the register continues in an east-west orientation
towards a columned building, which is presumably a representation of a
temple.[^58] Behind this columned building in the continuation of the
register. There is a break here, after which comes poorly preserved
representations of round huts and trees.[^59] Only the lower parts of
the figures of women and children are preserved on the north wall, so it
is hard to say more about them. However, the women and children seem to
be nude. The gender of the children cannot be identified because the
representations were later damaged in the genital area. There are two
groups and in-between them there are cattle. The groups are flanked by
men who lead them forward.
The south wall blocks with representations of women and children are not
found *in situ,* but rather in the vicinity of the south wall. Some of
them can be joined, and some of these joints present evidence for at
least two registers. In one case, the upper register of the two depicts
both women and children as prisoners of war, while the lower register
depicts ship-fragments 198, 322, 323, 319 and 190.[^60] The figures in
the two registers are differently oriented. Additionally, one more boat
representation with a head of a ram possibly indicates a relation to
Amun (fragments 113 and 106).[^61] It is oriented in the same direction
as the previous boat. On the blocks of the south wall, both men and
women are depicted as prisoners of war next to children (Figure 2).
![Relief blocks (fragments 943+185+180 and 222) of the south wall of M250](../static/images/matic/fig2.jpg "Relief blocks (fragments 943+185+180 and 222) of the south wall of M250")
**~~Figure 2. Relief blocks (fragments 943+185+180 and 222) of the south wall of M250 with fragmented depictions of imprisoned women and children, line drawing (redrawn after [Hinkel, *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 2b*: C11).~~**
Unlike the women from the north wall, the women from the south wall are
half-dressed. The breasts depicted on some of them (fragments 188, 214,
136, 943, 185, 222, 199, 847, 849, 811) indicate their gender, while the
gender of some of the children figures is depicted via smaller breasts
(fragment 236). Some of the women from the south wall are carrying
baskets with children on their backs, held with the help of a tumpline
(fragment 943, 849). In New Kingdom Egyptian iconography, this is a
characteristic of Nubian women when depicted with children in tribute
scenes.[^62] Women are depicted with children either next to them, held
in their arms, raised high in the air (fragments 210, 849), or in
between them (fragments 185, 189, 230, 175). Both men and women on the
south wall have ropes tied around their necks, with several people in a
row being tied on the same rope (fragments 136, 943, 189, 34, 102, 39,
408, 847, 844, 849, 811).
![Empty oval name rings on the northern part of the pylon of M250](../static/images/matic/fig3.jpg "Empty oval name rings on the northern part of the pylon of M250")
**~~Figure 3. Empty oval name rings on the northern part of the pylon of M250 (redrawn after HINKEL, Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1: 139; Abb. 37b).~~**
Hinkel related the construction of the M250 temple to the treaty that
the Meroites negotiated with Augustus on Samos in 21/20 BCE. He relates
the taking of women and children as prisoners on the north wall to the
sacking of Philae, Elephantine, and Syene by the Meroites,[^63] as
reported by Strabo in Geography, 17. I. 54.[^64] The context of the war
reliefs on the northern wall of the temple indeed indicates a northern
conflict. It is interesting that the oval name rings for the toponyms or
ethnonyms of the defeated enemies are left blank on the northern part of
the temple pylon (Figure 3),[^65] and were only filled in with Meroitic
hieroglyphs on the south part of the temple pylon, remaining
unidentified with great certainty so far.[^66] In the light of Strabo's
Geography 17. I. 54, in which he writes that when told that they should
go to Augustus, the Meroites answered they do not know who that
was,[^67] one has to consider that the Roman dominated world beyond the
province of Egypt was unknown or insufficiently known to the Meroites.
This explains the empty oval name rings on the northern part of the
temple pylon. Except for the generic *Arome* referring to Rome[^68] and
*Tmey* referring to the north,[^69] we do not know of any other Roman
toponyms from Meroe so far, and it is likely that in the first century
BCE and first century CE, the Meroites indeed did not know of any others.
If the reliefs on the northern walls of the temple depict a Meroitic
raid on the First Cataract sites, then we have to take into account that
they imprisoned the local population, consisting also of women and
children, and not only of men. These women and children could also have
been local and not necessary incomers after the Roman taking of Egypt.
The iconographic evidence from M250 corresponds well with the textual
attestations for the taking of prisoners of war of different ages and
genders and allocating them to temples of Amun. Interestingly, just like
in ancient Egyptian iconography of the New Kingdom, there is an absence
of violence against women and children.[^70]
# Feminization of Enemies in Texts
The feminization of enemies is a common cross-cultural motif of war
discourses, both textual and visual. As anthropologist Marilyn Strathern
argued, "relations between political enemies stand for relations between
men and women".[^71] Numerous examples are known for this from ancient
Egypt and Neo-Assyria, and these are extensively dealt with elsewhere.
[^72] Here, the focus will be on the feminization of enemies in Kushite
war discourse.
One attestation for the feminization of enemies, with, to the best of my
knowledge, no parallels, is found on the Triumphal Stela of Piye
(Piankhi) (Cairo JE 48862, 47086-47089, lines 149-150), the founder of
the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled between 744-714 BCE: "Now these
kings and counts of Lower Egypt came to behold His Majesty's beauty,
their legs being the legs of women." *js gr nn \<n\> nswt ḥꜢ(tj)w-ꜥ nw
TꜢ-mḥw jj r mꜢꜢ nfrw ḥm=f rdwj=sn m rdwj ḥm.wt.*[^73] Nicolas-Christophe
Grimal has translated this part of the text in a way that suggests that
the legs of the kings and counts of Lower Egypt trembled like those of
women.[^74] One has to stress that the adjective *tremblant* (French
trembling) is not written in the text, but is rather assumed by Grimal.
On the other hand, Hans Goedicke translates the text so that instead of
legs, he interprets it as knees.[^75] According to Robert K. Ritner,
this means that they were trembling in fear,[^76] and similarly,
according to Amr el Hawary, this could indicate that the enemies of Piye
had their legs bent at the knees from fear.[^77] However, David O'Connor
and Stephen Quirke understand the text as a metaphor for the femininity
of Piye's enemies, because the legs of women are smooth skinned.[^78]
Yet, although both men and women shaved in Egypt and Nubia, we cannot
assume that body hair removal was restricted only to women. Later in the
text, it is stated that three of these kings and counts stayed outside
the palace "because of their legs" (*r rdwj=sn*), and only one entered.
el Hawary postulates that this could be related to the previous
comparison with the legs of women.[^79] Another case is possibly alluded
to later in the same text, when it is stated "You return having
conquered Lower Egypt; making bulls into women" (*jw=k jy.tw ḥꜢq.n=k
T3-mḥw jr=k kꜢ.w m ḥm.wt*).[^80] Bearing in mind that in the
Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy (X, 20), an Egyptian text of the Ptolemaic
period (305-30 BCE), bulls are contrasted to the vulvas which should
receive them,[^81] we can argue that, in both cases, bulls stand for
men, or at least masculinity, in both the human and animal world. It is
interesting that on the Triumphal stela of Piye, women of the palace of
the Lower Egyptian king Nimlot did pay homage to Piye "after the manner
of women" (*m* *ḫt* *ḥmwt*).[^82] Maybe this indicates that there was
also a manner in which men are supposed to pay homage to the king, and
that the defeated kings and counts of Lower Egypt failed to do this, or
at least the text wants us to believe that. The failed masculinity of
Nimlot in the text of the stela was extensively studied most recently by
Mattias Karlsson. Next to the motives already mentioned, additional
arguments are rich and complex. Piye is representing ideal masculinity
contrasted with failed masculinity of Nimlot. This can be observed both
in the text and in the iconography of the stela. For example, Nimlot is
holding a sistrum, a musical instrument usually linked to women (e.g.,
priestesses of Hathor), and he stands behind his wife and usually the
men are frontal figures. His wife speaks for him and appears as the head
of his household.[^83] To these arguments, one can also add the fact
that the silhouette of the defeated Egyptian princes in proskynesis
differs in shape from usual representations of men. Their bodies seem to
be curvier as in Kushite depictions of women.
There are other attestations of the feminization of enemies in texts
composed for the Kushite kings. In the Annals of Harsiyotef (Cairo JE
48864, line 89), we are informed about his conflicts with the Mededet
people in his 6th regnal year. After taking spoils of war, the ruler
of Mededet was sent to Harsiyotef, saying: "You are my god. I am your
servant. I am a woman. Come to me" (*ntk p(Ꜣ)=j* *nṯr* *jnk p(Ꜣ)=k bꜢk*
*jnk* *sḥmt* *my j-r=j*).[^84] In this attestation, we have a direct
speech of the enemy, who, according to the text, identifies himself with
a woman. Of course, we are safe to assume that these words were put in
his mouth by the composer of the text of the stela. El Hawary has
already made a connection between the passage from the annals of
Harsiyotef and this passage from the Triumphal stela of Piye, describing
the homage to Piye in a womanly manner. Interestingly, no such
attestations, as far as I am aware, are known from Egyptian
sources.[^85]
# Meroitic Non-royal and Royal Women in War
In Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE), Agatharchides reports how the
Ethiopians employed women in war: "They also arm their women, defining
for them a military age. It is customary for most of these women to have
a bronze ring through one of their lips".[^86] This is repeated by
Strabo in first century CE.[^87]
The conflict between Meroe and Rome was mentioned in the discussion of
the iconography of temple M250. One interesting aspect of this conflict
is the Roman perspective on the rulership of Meroe. Strabo mentions the
participation of a Meroitic queen in war against Rome, describing Queen
*Kandake* as "a manly woman who had lost one of her eyes".[^88] We
should be careful with crediting such descriptions much value. Not only
did Strabo confuse a Meroitic royal title that probably indicated a
mother of a king,[^89] but there is also a tendency among Graeco-Roman
authors to depict foreign women as masculine, thus creating an inverted
image to gender expectations in their own society. Such inversions could
have served the purpose of shocking their audience and enhancing the
otherness of the foreign lands and peoples. This is evidently an example
of ideological gender inversion used as a sign of barbarism, especially
towards foreign women, in the works of Strabo.[^90]
Still, that the soldiers in the Roman army knew of a woman that was
referred to by her subjects simply as *kandake* is also demonstrated by
a ballista ball (British Museum EA 71839) with a carbon-ink inscription
KANAΞH/Kandaxe from Qasr Ibrim. On the ball, the second and third lines
of text can be understood as a personal message for the queen: "Just
right for you Kandaxe!".[^91] Clearly, it is questionable if the ones
who actually found themselves in Nubia during the conflict with Meroe
knew the name of the enemy ruler. It is also possible that they knew,
but referred to her as everyone else.
# Meroitic Queens and Enemies: Iconographic Evidence
The smiting of an enemy scene originates from ancient Egyptian
iconography, with its earliest known evidence found in tomb 100 in
Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt, dated to the Naqada IIC period, around
3500 BCE. In Egypt, the motif has remained in the decoration of temple
pylons, private and royal stelae, and small finds for more than 3500
years. Its latest known appearance is found on temple reliefs from the
Roman period, where emperors Domitian, Titus, and Trajan are depicted
smiting. Kushite kings are also depicted smiting enemies, and the motif
was adopted from ancient Egyptian art.[^92]
What differentiates the use of this motif in ancient Nubia during the
Meroitic period from its use both in the contemporary Roman province of
Egypt and in earlier periods of Nubian history is the fact that certain
queens are depicted smiting male enemies in Meroitic iconography. Some
ancient Egyptian queens are also depicted smiting enemies. However,
these enemies are always female when the figure who is delivering the
blow is depicted as a woman.[^93] This is because a king is never
depicted delivering harm to foreign women and children, at least in the
New Kingdom. The king always defeats the supposedly stronger enemy.[^94]
Although the inclusion of queen Nefertiti smiting female enemies
alongside scenes of Akhenaten smiting male enemies probably indicates
the elevation of her status during the period of his rule,[^95]
Nefertiti is nevertheless not the dominant figure in such depictions.
The dominant figure remains the smiting king because of the gender of
the enemies he smites. Male enemies were considered more dangerous than
female. When a female ruler like Hatshepsut (ca. 1479-1458 BCE) of the
18th Dynasty is depicted smiting or trampling male enemies, she
herself is depicted as a king -- a man -- and her identity is indicated
by the accompanying text containing her name and royal titles.[^96]
![Amanishakheto spearing enemies](../static/images/matic/fig4.jpg "Amanishakheto spearing enemies")
**~~Figure 4. Amanishakheto spearing enemies, pylon, pyramid Begrawiya North 6, line drawing ([Chapman & [Dunham. *Decorated Chapels of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 17).~~**
The Meroitic case is interesting precisely because certain royal women
can be depicted smiting and spearing male enemies. Amanishakheto (1st
century CE) is depicted spearing enemies on the pylon of her pyramid
Begrawiya North 6 in Meroe, both to the left and right of the pylon
entrance (Figure 4). On the left she holds a bow, an arrow, and a rope
in her left hand, and a spear in her right hand. The rope in her left
hand extends to the necks of the enemies, to which they are tied. Seven
enemies are depicted with rope tied around their necks and with their
arms tied behind their backs. On the right, Amanishakheto holds a rope
in her left hand, to which four enemies are bound around their necks.
Their arms are also bound behind their backs. In her right hand, she
holds a spear with which she spears the enemies.[^97] On her stela from
Naqa, she is depicted before the enthroned Lion God above a group of
bound enemies.[^98]
![Shanakdakheto sitting on a throne with bound enemies underneath](../static/images/matic/fig5.jpg "Shanakdakheto sitting on a throne with bound enemies underneath")
**~~Figure 5. Shanakdakheto sitting on a throne with bound enemies underneath, north wall, pyramid Begrawiya North 11, line drawing ([Chapman & [Dunham. *Decorated Chapels of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 7A).~~**
Bound enemies are additionally depicted under the throne of the queen on
the north wall of pyramid Begrawiya North 11 attributed to
Shanakdakheto, ca. 170-125 BCE (Figure 5).[^99] Nine bows, the
traditional symbol for enemies originating from ancient Egypt, are
depicted under the throne of Amanitore, of the 1st century CE (Figure
6), just as they are depicted under the throne of Natakamani in the
pyramid Begrawiya North 1 of queen Amanitore.[^100]
![Amanitore sitting on a throne with the nine bows underneath](../static/images/matic/fig6.jpg "Amanitore sitting on a throne with the nine bows underneath")
**~~Figure 6. Amanitore sitting on a throne with the nine bows underneath, south wall, pyramid Begrawiya North 1, line drawing ([Chapman & [Dunham. *Decorated Chapels of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 18B).~~**
![Natakamani and Amanitore smiting enemies](../static/images/matic/fig7.jpg "Natakamani and Amanitore smiting enemies")
**~~Figure 7. Natakamani and Amanitore smiting enemies, pylon of the temple of Naqa, line drawing ([Lepsius, *Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien* 10, B1. 56).~~**
Amanitore is depicted smiting enemies on the pylon of the Lion Temple in
Naqa.[^101] There, she is paired with Natakamani, who is also depicted
smiting enemies (Figure 7). Natalia Pomerantseva interpreted this as
"hero worshiping of the woman-image" adding that "it is impossible to
imagine the frail Egyptian woman's figure in the part of chastisement of
enemies".[^102] Yet, as we have seen, some Egyptian royal women are
depicted in violent acts such as the smiting and trampling of female
enemies, and the reason they are not depicted doing the same to male
enemies is status related. If they would be depicted as women smiting or
trampling male enemies, this would elevate their status to the one of
kings. Clearly, attention was paid to avoid this. In the case of the
Meroitic queens, the gender of the enemy was not an issue. Jacke
Phillips has also emphasized that the smiting of the enemies by Merotic
queens is among the corpus of scenes which were formerly restricted to
kings, but did not take the argument further. The reason for the
creation of these scenes can be seen in the specific status of royal
women in Meroitic ideology.[^103] However, we also have to bear in mind
that, considering the number of known Napatan and Meroitic royal women,
the smiting scenes of Amanishakheto and Amanitore in the 1st century
BCECE are an exception rather than rule. Interestingly, the smiting and
trampling scenes of Tiye and Nefertiti are also an exception rather than
the rule, and this exception in ancient Egyptian iconography has so far
been explained as a consequence of the increasing importance of royal
women both in politics and religion.[^104] We can certainly say
Amanishakheto and Amanitore also lived in exceptional times, during and
after the conflict of Meroe with Rome. It is possible that in these
times certain exceptional women rose to unparalleled positions.[^105]
# Conclusion
Gender as a frame of war has structured both Napatan and Meroitic texts,
from lists of the spoils of war to texts dealing with military
campaigns. In the first case, this is observable in the order that
different categories of prisoners of war are listed, namely enemy rulers
(men), then enemy men, women, and children. This same structure for
prisoners of wars is found with only slight differences in ancient
Egyptian spoils of war examples,[^106] which is hardly a coincidence.
Since the earlier Napatan texts were written in Egyptian, their
structure, at least when lists of spoils of war are concerned, could
have been based on an Egyptian pattern. This then continued into the
Meroitic period. In the second case, namely the texts dealing with
military campaigns, the working of gender as a frame of war is
observable in the discursive feminization of enemies in Napatan texts.
Just like in ancient Egyptian and Neo-Assyrian texts,[^107] enemies are
discursively framed as women, or as being feminine. This is in fact a
metaphor found in many cultures in which strength is associated with men
and weakness is associated with women. Rather than just framing the
power relations between the Kushite kings and their enemies, such
metaphors strengthen the gender structure of the society itself,
privileging the men and masculinity. By discursively taking away
masculinity from the enemies, these texts are framing them as
subordinate and thus legitimizing the subordination of women to men.
Unfortunately, the present state of knowledge of the Meroitic language
does not allow us to investigate possible feminizations of enemies in
the Hamadab stelae written in Meroitic. It would indeed be interesting
to know if the same metaphors are used.
The reports of Graeco-Roman writers such as Agatharchides in Diodorus
Siculus and Strabo could have been a misunderstanding of Meroitic royal
ideology and the figure of *kandake*. We should, however, not entirely
exclude the possibility that women could have participated in war,
although we do not have any explicit ancient Nubian textual attestations
for this. We also do not have any burials attributed to "warrior women"
or "warrior queens," based on the placement of weapons as grave goods in
graves of women.[^108] Even if such burials were to be found, one would
have to be cautious in assigning military activity to women (or men)
simply because of the associated weapons. Muscular stress markers or
potential traces of trauma on the skeletons would be more indicative,
however both could also be found in burials without such associated
weapons. Nevertheless, one should not exclude the possibility that
Meroitic queens made military decisions, just like, for example, the
17th Dynasty queen Ahmose or the 18th Dynasty queen Hatshepsut in
Egypt,[^109] though they probably did not fight in war. The depictions
of Meroitic queens smiting enemies should be seen in the context of
royal ideology. Unlike Egyptian queens, who are depicted as women
smiting enemies only when these enemies are also women, both Meroitic
kings and certain Meroitic queens are shown smiting and spearing enemy
men. There is no difference in the gender of the enemy, and therefore no
hierarchy. This can be explained with an elevated status of queenship in
Kush in comparison to ancient Egypt. Unlike in Egypt, where a ruling
woman like Hatshepsut had to be depicted as a man when smiting enemies,
a ruling woman in Meroe could be depicted as a woman smiting male
enemies.
Clearly, gender was one of the frames of war in ancient Nubia, with a
tradition spanning several centuries and possibly even having ancient
Egyptian roots, at least when the structure of the spoils of war lists
and some metaphors for enemies are concerned. However, as I have shown,
there are certain expressions without parallels in ancient Egyptian
texts which testify to an independent but equally male-privileging
discourse.
# Acknowledgments
I would like to express my enormous gratitude to Jacqueline M. Huwyler,
M.A. (University of Basel) for proofreading the English of my paper. I
am also grateful to Angelika Lohwasser and Henriette Hafsaas for their
help in acquiring some of the references.
# Abbreviations
FHN I-III
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Napatan-Meroitic Civilization*. Handbook of Oriental Studies 31. Leiden
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Török, László. *The Image of the Ordered World in Ancient
Nubian Art. The Construction of the Kushite Mind, 800 BC-300 AD*.
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Török, László. "Sacred Landscape, Historical Identity and
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Studies 1998. Proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the International
Society of Nubian Studies. August 21-26, 1998, Boston, Massachusetts*,
edited by T. Kendall. Boston: Department of African-American Studies
Northeastern University, 2004: pp. 14--23.
Török, László. *Between the Two Worlds: The Frontier
Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt 3700 BC-500 AD*. Probleme der
Ägyptologie 29. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009.
Williamson, Jacquelyn, "Alone before the God: Gender,
Status, and Nefertiti's Image" *Journal of the American Research Center
in Egypt* 51 (2015): pp. 179--192.
Wilkins, Alan., Barnard, Hans &
Rose, J. Pamela. "Roman Artillery Balls from Qasr Ibrim,
Egypt" *Sudan and Nubia* 10 (2006): pp. 64--78.
Wenig, Steffen (ed.). *Africa in Antiquity. The Arts of
Ancient Nubia and the Sudan. I. The Essays. II. The Catalogue*. New
York: Brooklyn Museum, 1978.
Wöß, Florian. "The Representations of Captives and Enemies
in Meroitic Art." In *The Kushite World. Proceedings of the 11th
International Conference for Meroitic Studies, Vienna, 1-4 September
2008*. Beiträre zur Sudanforschung 8, edited by Michael H. Zach. Vienna:
Verein der. Förderer der Sudanforschung, 2015: pp. 585--600.
Zach, Michael H. "A Remark on the 'Akinidad' Stela REM
1003 (British Museum EA 1650)." Sudan and Nubia 21 (2007): pp. 148--150.
Žižek, Slavoj. *Violence. Six Sideways Reflections*. New
York: Picador, 2008.
[^1]: For criticism of androcentrism, see Conkey &
Spector, "Archaeology and the Study of Gender." 514;
for criticism of heteronormative interpretations of the past, see
Dowson, "Why Queer Archaeology? An Introduction,"
161165; for giving voices to ancient women and recognizing
different genders behind the archaeological record, see
Gilchrist, *Gender and Archaeology*;
Sørensen, *Gender Archaeology*;
Díaz-Andreu, "Gender identity," 1--42, for viewing
gender as a system, see Conkey & Spector, "Archaeology
and the Study of Gender," 4--16, for gender as a result of
performative practice, see Perry & Joyce, "Providing
a Past for Bodies that Matter: Judith Butler\'s Impact on the
Archaeology of Gender." The literature in gender archaeology is vast
and these are only some frequently quoted studies.
[^2]: Haaland & Haaland, "Who Speaks the Goddess's
Language?"; Haaland, "Emergence of sedentism";
Nordström, "Gender and Social Structure in the Nuba
A-group."
[^3]: Lohwasser. *Die königlichen Frauen*;
Lohwasser. "Queenship in Kush: Status, role and
ideology of royal women", 61--76; Lohwasser. "The Role
and Status of Royal Women in Kush" 61--72.
[^4]: Lohwasser. "Gibt es mehr als zwei Geschlechter? Zum
Verhältnis von Gender und Alter", 33--41.
[^5]: Phillips. "Women in Ancient Nubia" 280--298; The
necessity of studying gender, rather than focusing solely on women
has also been emphasized recently, Lohwasser &
Philipps, "Women in Ancient Kush", 1015--1032.
[^6]: Hafsaas-Tsakos, "Edges of bronze and expressions of
masculinity"; Karlsson, "Gender and Kushite State
Ideology".
[^7]: The contributions in the volume are entirely devoid of gender
perspectives, Raue. *Handbook of Ancient Nubia*. For
example, the new *Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia* has an entry on
women in ancient Kush, but no entry on gender. Other contributions
are entirely devoid of gender perspectives.
[^8]: Among these are the questions of ability and disability, gender
and intersectionality, and masculinity. Danielsson &
Thedéen. *To Tender Gender*.
[^9]: Jensen & Matić. "Introduction: Why do
we need archaeologies of gender and violence, and why now?" 1--23.
[^10]: Bourdieu. *Masculine Domination*, 1--2; Bourdieu.
"Symbolic Violence" 339--342; Žižek. *Violence. Six
Sideways Reflections,* 1--2; For the application of these concepts
in archaeology and Egyptology, see Jensen &
Matić. "Introduction: Why do we need archaeologies of
gender and violence, and why now?" 1--23; Matić.
"Traditionally Unharmed? Women and Children in NK Battle Scenes."
245--260; Matić. *Body and Frames of War*, 139--148;
Matić, *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^11]: For example, see, Kuhrt. "Women and War." 1--25.
[^12]: Matić "Die \'\'römische\'\' Feinde in der
meroitischen Kunst." 251--262; Spalinger. *The
Persistence of Memory in Kush*. Spalinger, *Leadership
under fire,* 201--242; Wöß. "The Representations of
Captives and Enemies in Meroitic Art." 585--600.
[^13]: Matić. "Her striking but cold beauty: Gender and
violence in depictions of Queen Nefertiti smiting the enemies."
103--121; Matić. "Traditionally Unharmed? Women and
Children in NK Battle Scenes." 245--260; Matić. *Body
and Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt*, 139--148; Matić. *Violence
and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^14]: Butler. *Frames of War*, 1--10.
[^15]: Butler. *Frames of War*, 26.
[^16]: Butler. *Frames of War*, 65.
[^17]: Butler. *The Force of Non-Violence*, 6.
[^18]: Matić. "The best of the booty of His Majesty:
Evidence for foreign child labor in New Kingdom Egypt." 53--63;
Matić. "Begehrte Beute. Fremde Frauen als Raubgut im
Alten Ägypten." 15--18.
[^19]: The author is currently working on a comprehensive study of the
ancient Egyptian and Nubian lists of spoils of war from the Egyptian
Early Dynastic to Nubian Meroitic period, Matić,
"Pharaonic Plunder Economy".
[^20]: Macadam. *The Temples of Kawa I. Text,* 9;
Macadam. *The Temples of Kawa I. Plates*, Pls. 5-6;
FHN I, 175.
[^21]: Macadam. *The Temples of Kawa I*. *Text*, 36;
Macadam. *The Temples of Kawa I.* *Plates*, Pls.
11--12; FHN I, 173.
[^22]: Redford. "Taharqa in Western Asia and Libya." 190.
[^23]: Macadam. *The Temples of Kawa I. Plates*, Pl. 15;
FHN I, 222.
[^24]: For appointing prisoners of war to temples and temple workshops
in New Kingdom Egypt see, Matić. "The best of the
booty of His Majesty: Evidence for foreign child labor in New
Kingdom Egypt." 53--63.
[^25]: FHN II, 447.
[^26]: FHN II, 449.
[^27]: FHN II, 487; Peust. *Das Napatanische*, 40.
[^28]: Pope. *The Double Kingdom under Taharqo*, 105.
[^29]: FHN II, 488.
[^30]: FHN II, 489.
[^31]: FHN II; 489--490.
[^32]: FHN II, 490.
[^33]: FHN II, 491.
[^34]: Török. "Sacred Landscape, Historical Identity and
Memory." 161; For the same practice in ancient Egypt, at least until
the New Kingdom, see Matić. "The best of the booty of
His Majesty: Evidence for foreign child labor in New Kingdom Egypt."
53--63.
[^35]: FHN II; 722-723; The connection to the conflict with Rome has
been challenged since, Zach. "A Remark on the
'Akinidad' Stela REM 1003 (British Museum EA 1650)." 148.
[^36]: Rilly. "New Advances in the Understanding of Royal
Meroitic Inscriptions."; Rilly. "Meroitische Texte aus
Naga."; Rilly. "Fragments of the Meroitic Report of
the War Between Rome and Meroe."
[^37]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 209;
see also Török. *Meroe City*, 104.
[^38]: Török. *Meroe City*, 104.
[^39]: Török. *The Kingdom of Kush*, 401;
Török. *The Image of the Ordered World*, 219--220.
[^40]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 262.
[^41]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*;
Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 2b*.
[^42]: He adds that the archaizing iconography and style of the war
reliefs of the south and north walls of M250 were based on 25th
dynasty Kushite monuments, and supposes that this archaizing
iconography was mediated by the early temple at the site, which was
built during Aspelta's reign, and whose reliefs could have been
copied on M250, Török. *The Image of the Ordered
World*, 213. The 25th dynasty connections are seen, for example, in
the motif of spearing the enemy using a lance by piercing the enemy
almost horizontally from above-fragments 809, 876, 828, 808, 857,
836, 916, 917, 928, Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe
250*. I. 2b. This motif is known from the Amun temple at Gebel
Barkal B500, from the reign of Piye, Spalinger. "Notes
on the military in Egypt during the XXVth Dynasty." 48, Figs. 3 and
4.
[^43]: Wenig. *Africa in Antiquity*, 59--60.
[^44]: Hofmann. "Notizen zu den Kampfszenen am sogenannten
Sonnentempel von Meroe." 519--521.
[^45]: Chapman & Dunham. *Decorated Chapels of the
Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 17.
[^46]: Shinnie & Bradley. "The Murals from
the Augustus Temple, Meroe." 168, Fig. 1; Matić. "Der
Kopf einer Augustus-Statue aus Meroe". 70, Abb. 7.
[^47]: Wöß. "The Representations of Captives and Enemies
in Meroitic Art." 589.
[^48]: Lohwasser. "Kush and her Neighbours beyond the Nile
Valley In The Fourth Cataract and Beyond." 131.
[^49]: FHN III, 831; Jones. *Strabo. The Geography Vol.
VIII*, 139.
[^50]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*,
189--190.
[^51]: Minas-Nerpel & Pfeiffer.
"Establishing Roman Rule in Egypt: The Trilingual Stela of C.
Cornelius Gallus from Philae." 285--288.
[^52]: Kormysheva. "Political relations between the Roman
Empire." 306; Török. *Between the Two Worlds*,
434--436.
[^53]: Jameson. "Chronology of the Campaigns of Aelius
Gallus and C. Petronius." 77; Török. *Between the Two
Worlds*, 441.
[^54]: Török. *The Kingdom of Kush*, 449;
Török. *Between the Two Worlds*, 441.
[^55]: Török. *Meroe City*, 185.
[^56]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 142.
[^57]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 139.
[^58]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*,
140--141, 257, Abb. 39, 40, 41, 42; Abb. 95.
[^59]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 140.
257; Abb. 38, Abb. 95.
[^60]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250*. I. 2b, C10.
[^61]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250*. I. 2b, C10.
[^62]: For example, in tribute scenes from the tombs of Useramun-TT 131,
Rekhmire-TT 100, Horemhab-TT 78 but also the Beit el-Wali temple of
Ramesses II, Matić. "Children on the move: ms.w wr.w
in the New Kingdom procession scenes." 378--379, Fig. 12.
[^63]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*, 189.
[^64]: FHN III, 831; Jones. *Strabo. The Geography Vol.
VIII*, 139.
[^65]: Hinkel. *Der Tempelkomplex Meroe 250. I. 1*,
138--139, Abb. 37b.
[^66]: Török. *The Image of the Ordered World,* 220;
Breyer. *Einführung in die Meroitistik*, 67.
[^67]: FHN III, 831; Jones. *Strabo. The Geography Vol.
VIII*, 139.
[^68]: Rilly & De Voogt. *The Meroitic
Language and Writing System*, 185
[^69]: Rilly. "Meroitische Texte aus Naga." 190;
Matić "Die \'\'römische\'\' Feinde in der meroitischen
Kunst." 258.
[^70]: Matić. "Traditionally Unharmed? Women and Children
in NK Battle Scenes." 245--260; Matić. *Body and
Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt*, 139--148.
[^71]: Strathern. *Before and After Gender*, 21.
[^72]: Matić. *Body and Frames of War*, 139--148;
Matić. *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^73]: Grimal. *La Stèle Triomphale,* 177; FHN I, 111.
[^74]: Grimal. *La Stèle Triomphale*, 176.
[^75]: Goedicke. *Pi(ankhy) in Egypt*, 172.
[^76]: Ritner. *The Libyan Anarchy*, 492.
[^77]: el Hawary. *Wortschöpfung*, 243.
[^78]: O'Connor & Quirke. "Introduction:
Mapping the Unknown in Ancient Egypt." 18.
[^79]: el Hawary. *Wortschöpfung*, 281.
[^80]: Ritner. *The Libyan Anarchy*. 477, 490.
[^81]: Dieleman, "Fear of Women?" 14.
[^82]: FHN I, 84.
[^83]: Karlsson. "Gender and Kushite State Ideology".
[^84]: FHN II, 450.
[^85]: Matić. *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^86]: FHN II, 653.
[^87]: FHN III, 816.
[^88]: FHN III, 831; Jones. *Strabo. The Geography Vol.
VII*I, 139.
[^89]: Lohwasser. "The Role and Status of Royal Women in
Kush" 64; Lohwasser & Philipps, "Women
in Ancient Kush", 1021.
[^90]: McCoskey. "Gender at the crossroads of empire".
61--68.
[^91]: Wilkins, Barnard &
Rose. "Roman Artillery Balls from Qasr Ibrim, Egypt."
71, 75, Pl. 8, 4F.
[^92]: Hall. *The Pharaoh Smites His Enemy*, 44.
[^93]: Queen Tiye (ca. 1398-1338 BCE) of the 18th Dynasty is depicted
trampling over enemies in the guise of a female sphinx. Queen
Nefertiti (ca. 1370-? BCE) of the same dynasty is depicted both
smiting enemies and trampling over them in the guise of a sphinx. I
argued that we can observe a clear gender structure behind such
images, and that the status of queens smiting enemies is lower than
the status of the king smiting male enemies, Matić.
"Her striking but cold beauty: Gender and violence in depictions of
Queen Nefertiti smiting the enemies." 103--121.
[^94]: Matić. "Her striking but cold beauty: Gender and
violence in depictions of Queen Nefertiti smiting the enemies."
103--121; Matić. "Traditionally Unharmed? Women and
Children in NK Battle Scenes." 245--260; Matić. *Body
and Frames of War in New Kingdom Egypt*, 139--148.
[^95]: Williamson. "Alone before the God: Gender, Status,
and Nefertiti's Image." 179--192.
[^96]: Matić. *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^97]: Chapman & Dunham. *Decorated Chapels
of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 17.
[^98]: Rilly. "Meroitische Texte aus Naga." Abb. 218.
[^99]: Chapman & Dunham. *Decorated Chapels
of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pl. 7A.
[^100]: Chapman & Dunham. *Decorated Chapels
of the Meroitic Pyramids at Meroë and Barkal*, Pls. 18B. and 18D.
[^101]: Gamer-Wallert. *Der Löwentempel von Naqa in der
Butana (Sudan) III*, Bl. 1-2.
[^102]: Pomerantseva. "The View on Meroitic Kings and
Queens as it is Reflected in their Iconography." 625.
[^103]: Phillips. "Women in Ancient Nubia" 292.
[^104]: Matić. "Her striking but cold beauty: Gender and
violence in depictions of Queen Nefertiti smiting the enemies."
116--117.
[^105]: For exceptionality and the possible divinization of Amanirenas
(1st century AD) see Zach. "A Remark on the 'Akinidad'
Stela REM 1003 (British Museum EA 1650)." 149.
[^106]: Matić, "Pharaonic Plunder Economy".
[^107]: Matić. *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*.
[^108]: For weapons in female burials of the Kerma period interpreted as
symbols of status, see, Hafsaas-Tsakos, "Edges of
bronze and expressions of masculinity." 89. Henriette
Hafsaas-Tsakos has in personal communication informed
me that she considers investigating this topic further and maybe
revising her conclusions.
[^109]: For the military activities of Ahmose and Hatshepsut see,
Matić. *Violence and Gender in Ancient Egypt*;
Taterka. "Military expeditions of King Hatshepsut."
90--106.