Priestess, Queen, Goddess: The Divine Feminine in the Kingdom of Kush

Catalog description

The prominence of powerful goddesses (Hathor, Mut, and Isis), the reverence awarded to the queen mothers of Kush, and a series of sole-ruling queens (one of whom led her army in battle against the invading Romans), highlight the unusually high status of women in this ancient African society and serve as a fitting focus for the study of female power in the ancient world. This course will examine more closely the queens, priestesses, and mothers who formed an essential societal component in ancient Nubia and its complex systems of goddess worship, sacred sexualities, and family lineages, both royal and non-royal. Examining the rich funerary traditions and goods found in royal burials, and temple and tomb imagery, we will explore how ancient Africans of the Nile Valley understood female power and presence to be an essential enlivening element in maintaining Maat, the balance of male and female energies, in order to cultivate “divine right order” in the world and in the cosmos. In this six-week immersive seminar, we’ll examine the history of Kushite queens who served as powerful complements to their husband the king, as the central figure in the coronation ceremonies for their son as he assumed the kingship, and as rulers in their own right during a time when this level of power was unavailable to women anywhere else in the world. After surveying the earlier phases of the ancient African kingdom of Kush: Kerma (2600-1500 BCE) and Napata (900-300 BCE), we will focus on the last phase of the Kingdom of Kush – Meroe (300 BCE – 300 CE) where women truly came into their power