They were the rulers whose reign supposedly defied belief, warriors from neighbouring Nubia who conquered Egypt and held it for nearly a hundred years. Their existence was denied by the racism of early archaeologists, convinced that black African culture could never have challenged Egypt’s supremacy.
Now, Dr Vivian Davies, keeper of Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum, claims that a recently discovered set of hieroglyphs from a tomb at El Kab prove that in 800 BC, Egypt was under the rule of ‘black Pharaohs’ from the neighbouring Kingdom of Kush (modern-day Sudan).
As the British Museum prepares an international exhibition that supports his assertion, The Black Pharoahs (Tuesday 1st October, 7.50pm) accompanies Dr Davies as he unearths more clues about Egypt’s long-forgotten rulers and their great civilisation.
