Post by anansi on Oct 9, 2020 8:41:38 GMT -5
The Meroitic Empire: Trade and Cultural Influences in an Indian Ocean Context
The Meroitic Empire was a powerful Kushite state in the Middle Nile region of the Sudan, lasting from the fourth century BCE to the fourth century CE. In the early phase from the ninth century BCE, the seat of power was in the north at Napata. Influences from Egypt clearly dominated symbolic expressions of royal power in this early phase, but over time, elements linked to different cultural traditions occurred. Here, I explore the possibility that some of these new elements (e.g. the lion god Apedemak and elephant imagery) may be related to interactions across the Indian Ocean involving trade, migrations of craft specialists and the diffusion of ideas.
It is probable that, when the influence of India on Meroe at this period is realized, other traces will be recognized. (Arkell 1951, p. 36)
…the ways between Rome, Persia, India, and China were opened in this period to an ever increasing commerce, and to such a degree that nowhere in the hemisphere was there any longer the possibility of local mythological developments in isolation.
The exchange of ideas was multifarious. And yet, there was in each domain a local force (I have termed style or signature). (Campell 1979, p. 288)
…the ways between Rome, Persia, India, and China were opened in this period to an ever increasing commerce, and to such a degree that nowhere in the hemisphere was there any longer the possibility of local mythological developments in isolation.
The exchange of ideas was multifarious. And yet, there was in each domain a local force (I have termed style or signature). (Campell 1979, p. 288)
Introduction
Texts pertaining to early global history tend to focus on Eurasian, Indian, Chinese and Southeast Asian trade connections; African connections are given less consideration, although Edens and Kohl (1993) refer to Sudan and the Arabian Peninsula as being included in West Asian Bronze Age trade. During Pharaonic times, Sudan’s position in global trade was largely related to the flow of goods such as ivory and gold, as well as slaves that were channelled to Egypt. This position changed as politico-economic processes affected movements of goods over regions of global scale from the Roman Hellenistic world to South Asia. This became particularly important in the area and time I shall discuss here, namely, the Kushite kingdom of Meroe, which represents a later development of the Kushite kingdom of Napata.
A Global Perspective on the Rise of Meroe
Texts pertaining to early global history tend to focus on Eurasian, Indian, Chinese and Southeast Asian trade connections; African connections are given less consideration, although Edens and Kohl (1993) refer to Sudan and the Arabian Peninsula as being included in West Asian Bronze Age trade. During Pharaonic times, Sudan’s position in global trade was largely related to the flow of goods such as ivory and gold, as well as slaves that were channelled to Egypt. This position changed as politico-economic processes affected movements of goods over regions of global scale from the Roman Hellenistic world to South Asia. This became particularly important in the area and time I shall discuss here, namely, the Kushite kingdom of Meroe, which represents a later development of the Kushite kingdom of Napata.
A Global Perspective on the Rise of Meroe
In discussing trade in early empires, we should place acquisition of goods at a distance as Polanyi argued back in the 1950s (Polanyi 1957, p. 258).
The specificity of trade is enhanced in the natural course of things by the necessity of acquiring the imported goods with exported ones. For under nonmarket conditions imports and exports tend to fall under different regimes. The process through which goods are collected is mostly separate from, and relatively independent of, that by which the imported goods are repartitioned. (Polanyi 1957, p. 261)
Trade and politics were intimately intertwined in early states. Imported items were dominated by elite interests, and through the states’ institutions of redistribution, a mechanism for tying clients to the political centre was established. The centre’s need for the collection of goods for export was primarily based on the ability of its military/administrative apparatus to extract goods through tribute, taxation and raiding. Polanyi has argued that those who were engaged in trade were of two kinds: the ruling elite who depended on control over export and import, and those who carried out the hard work of transporting goods over large distances.
Trade in early states was thus largely a matter of intergovernmental relations and not so much commercial entrepreneurship. An important point is that in this kind of administrative system, trade is not only a matter of the flows of goods and political influence, but also involves the diffusion of ideas and knowledge brought about by migration of occupational specialists whose skills are in demand in faraway communities (Helms 1993; Killick 2009). Events in some parts of the ancient world system thus had repercussions in other parts, restructuring local production and international distribution as well as affecting the growth and decline of states in widely separated regions.
The Kushite state of Meroe rose in a situation of turmoil in the world systems of Eurasia and North Africa. After the decline of the great empires in about 1000 BCE, fundamental cultural developments (the so-called axial breakthroughs) occurred within smaller rival states in various regions, frequently those on the fringes of the great empires: Greece in Europe, Jewish kingdoms in the Middle East, and various chiefdoms in South Asia and China (Jaspers 1957; Eisenstadt 2009; Bellah 2011). A characteristic feature of these breakthroughs is the tension between political power and intellectual innovators (Confucius, Buddha, Israel’s prophets, Greek philosophers and authors, etc.). Different written languages were standardized, and competing ideas about the position of humans in the cosmic and social order were formulated. In this period of political reorganization and contesting ideological thoughts, important cross-civilizational contacts were maintained through trade, migration and the diffusion of ideas and symbols. The rise and growth of the Meroitic kingdom were heavily influenced by events taking place in global politics at the time and held a strategic position in relation to Indian Ocean trading. There has been a reluctance of many Nubiologists to consider the possibility that Meroe did not act independently outside Africa but required Egypt to serve as intermediary for those relations. Peake (2010) has called this an Egyptocentric attitude. Meroitic Kush interacted directly with international rulers. There are records of Meroitic embassies sent to Rome (Shinnie 1967, p. 23), as well as Constantinople (Peake 2010). Likewise, there is some evidence of the presence of Roman embassies in the vicinity of Meroe (Burstein quoted in Pope 2008, p. 9).
The specificity of trade is enhanced in the natural course of things by the necessity of acquiring the imported goods with exported ones. For under nonmarket conditions imports and exports tend to fall under different regimes. The process through which goods are collected is mostly separate from, and relatively independent of, that by which the imported goods are repartitioned. (Polanyi 1957, p. 261)
Trade and politics were intimately intertwined in early states. Imported items were dominated by elite interests, and through the states’ institutions of redistribution, a mechanism for tying clients to the political centre was established. The centre’s need for the collection of goods for export was primarily based on the ability of its military/administrative apparatus to extract goods through tribute, taxation and raiding. Polanyi has argued that those who were engaged in trade were of two kinds: the ruling elite who depended on control over export and import, and those who carried out the hard work of transporting goods over large distances.
Trade in early states was thus largely a matter of intergovernmental relations and not so much commercial entrepreneurship. An important point is that in this kind of administrative system, trade is not only a matter of the flows of goods and political influence, but also involves the diffusion of ideas and knowledge brought about by migration of occupational specialists whose skills are in demand in faraway communities (Helms 1993; Killick 2009). Events in some parts of the ancient world system thus had repercussions in other parts, restructuring local production and international distribution as well as affecting the growth and decline of states in widely separated regions.
The Kushite state of Meroe rose in a situation of turmoil in the world systems of Eurasia and North Africa. After the decline of the great empires in about 1000 BCE, fundamental cultural developments (the so-called axial breakthroughs) occurred within smaller rival states in various regions, frequently those on the fringes of the great empires: Greece in Europe, Jewish kingdoms in the Middle East, and various chiefdoms in South Asia and China (Jaspers 1957; Eisenstadt 2009; Bellah 2011). A characteristic feature of these breakthroughs is the tension between political power and intellectual innovators (Confucius, Buddha, Israel’s prophets, Greek philosophers and authors, etc.). Different written languages were standardized, and competing ideas about the position of humans in the cosmic and social order were formulated. In this period of political reorganization and contesting ideological thoughts, important cross-civilizational contacts were maintained through trade, migration and the diffusion of ideas and symbols. The rise and growth of the Meroitic kingdom were heavily influenced by events taking place in global politics at the time and held a strategic position in relation to Indian Ocean trading. There has been a reluctance of many Nubiologists to consider the possibility that Meroe did not act independently outside Africa but required Egypt to serve as intermediary for those relations. Peake (2010) has called this an Egyptocentric attitude. Meroitic Kush interacted directly with international rulers. There are records of Meroitic embassies sent to Rome (Shinnie 1967, p. 23), as well as Constantinople (Peake 2010). Likewise, there is some evidence of the presence of Roman embassies in the vicinity of Meroe (Burstein quoted in Pope 2008, p. 9).
