Nastasen was a king of Kush who ruled the

Kingdom of Kush The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian language, Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Akkadian language, Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX Χους or Αἰθιοπία; ''Ecōš''; ''Kūš''), also known as the Kushite Empire, or simply Kush, was an an ...

from 335 to 315/310 BCE. According to a

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

from

Dongola Dongola (), also known as Urdu or New Dongola, is the capital of Northern State in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, a now deserted medieval city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank. Et ...

, his mother was named Queen Pelkha and his father may have been King Harsiotef. His successor was Aryamani.

Biography

Nastasen is known from three types of objects. There is a stela with a long historical inscription, a silver handle of a mirror, and several '' shabti''-figures. The mirror handle and the ''shabti'' were found in a pyramid at

Nuri Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile River, Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, Sudan, Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal. History Nuri is the second of three Napatan bur ...

(Nu. 15), which was obviously his burial place. He was the last Kushite king to be buried in the royal cemetery at

Napata Napata
(2020). (Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic language, Meroitic ''Napa''; and Ναπάται) was a city of ...

. The granite stela was found at New Dongola and is now in the

Egyptian Museum of Berlin The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of Berlin () is home to one of the world's most important collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts, including the Nefertiti Bust. Since 1855, the collection is a part of the Neues Museum on Berlin's ...

(Inv. no. 2268). Originally, it was most likely placed in the Amun temple of Jebel Barkal. In the upper part appear the pictures and name of his mother, Pelkha, and his wife, Sekhmakh, next to the king. During his reign, Nastasen defeated an invasion of Kush from

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

. Nastasen's monument calls the leader of this invasion Kambasuten, a likely local variation of Khabbash. Khabbash was a local ruler of Upper Egypt who had campaigned against the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

around 338 BC. His invasion of Kush was a failure, and Nastasen claimed to have taken many fine boats and other war prizes during his victory. King-Nastasen-Queen-Pelka-Queen-Sakhmakh

King-Nastasen-Queen-Pelka-Queen-Sakhmakh

Tomb excavation

The tomb of Nastasen is among several in Nuri that are slated for excavation by archaeologist Pearce Paul Creasman and his Nuri Archaeological Expedition using underwater archaeological methods. That is necessary because of rising ground waters in what was the 4th cataract Nubian region. These tombs are under the pyramids and have flooded. Excavation reports of his tomb indicate that it was undisturbed by grave robbers. Explorer Josh Gates participated in a dive with Professor Creasman, which was featured in a May 2023 episode of '' Expedition Unknown'' (season 11, episodes 1 & 2 which aired May 24th & 31st). Among the finds uncovered on the dives were gold leaf, and a bone fragment in a gold toe cap, assumed to be from Nastasen.

Sources

* * Török, László, in: ''Fontes Historiae Nubiorum'', II, Bergen 1996, 467-501,

References

4th-century BC monarchs of Kush {{Africa-royal-stub