100 Great African Kings and Queens ( Volume 1, Revised Enriched Edition )

By Pusch Commey

Africa’s astounding civilization is vividly brought to life in this Revised Enriched Version (REV) of ten illustrious African Kings and Queens.
The remarkable success of the first edition of 100 Great African Kings and Queens (Volume one), sparked a clarion call for a more in- depth version.
This version, spanning the same cast, from the magnificent Ethiopian Queen of Sheba to the richest man who ever lived, Emperor Mansa Musa of Mali, provides a more detailed and fascinating account of their awesome exploits.
Volume two of another 100 Great African Kings and Queens is not far behind; a beautiful and insightful collection to grace every bookshelf around the world.
Easy read, fact filled, amazing chronicle of African history. This book is remarkable – Real African Writers.
Ghanaian-Born, Pusch Commey, is an award- winning author of ten books, an Advocate (Lawyer) of the High Court of South Africa, and a former Associate Editor of the UK based New African Magazine. An expert on Africa, he has made several contributions about the continent on Radio and TV, as well as in Newspapers and Journals around the world. Pusch, as he is popularly known, lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and still finds time to square off in his favourite pastime- Chess.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pusch Commey
• Release date: Oct 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005191252

Pusch Commey

Ghanaian-born Pusch Komiete Commey is an award-winning Author, Advocate (Lawyer) of the High Court of South Africa, and a former Associate Editor of the UK- based New African Magazine. An expert on Africa and its histories, he has made several contributions to Radio, TV, and Newspapers around the world. Pusch, as he is popularly known, lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and still finds time to battle an AI in his favourite game – Chess.

Book preview

THE PHARAOH KHUFU

PYRAMID KING OF THE WORLD

The precision of the pyramids 4,500 years ago was equal to an optician’s work of the present day, but on a scale of acres.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO KEMET (ANCIENT EGYPT)

More than 7,000 years ago, people from Central Africa settled in the Nile Valley. They built the world’s greatest and most spectacular civilization. The evidence is everywhere. There are records on papyri, artefacts, coffin texts, pyramid texts, reliefs, sculptures, monuments, statues, mummies, stelae, sarcophagi, wood, leather, metal, scarabs, jewelry, sphinxes, and towering pyramids stretching all the way from central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. A good number of artefacts have been looted and sold to museums around the world. Huge stone structures, Tekhenu (Obelisks), which weigh many tons, were dug up from Africa, transported, and re-erected in foreign capitals.

Once known as Kemet – the land of black people – this civilization has been referred to as the two lands: Upper and Lower Kemet. The academic separation is marked by the first cataract on the Nile river, near the city of Aswan. The name Egypt, which has replaced Kemet in the English world, is derived from Aegyptus, a translation by the ancient Greeks of Hwt-Ka-Ptah, another name for Kemet. Ptah was one of the creator gods in Kemet, dating from 3150 BC. Greeks invaded and occupied Kemet from 332 BC to 30 BC, until they were flushed out by the Romans.The Nile, the world’s longest river (6,853 km), originates from the Kagera river in present-day Burundi, flowing from that upper ground to lower ground, joined by lakes and rivers all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. Hence the name Upper and Lower Egypt (Kemet).

Kemet is best known for its illustrious kings, known as pharaohs. These pharaohs ruled in dynasties, passing on leadership to family members. Over 30 different dynasties ruled Kemet, roughly divided into the following periods: the Predynastic and Protodynastic periods (c. 6000 BC – c. 3100 BC), the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100 BC – c. 2686 BC), the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC – 2181 BC), the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181BC – c. 2055 BC), the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 BC – 1650 BC), the Second Intermediate Period (c. 1650 BC – c. 1550 BC), the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC – 1069 BC), the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069 BC – c. 749 BC), the Late Period (c. 747 BC – 332 BC), and the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (332 BC – 393 AD). Scholars often do not agree on time frames since there are gaps in archaeological sources.

During these periods, non-Africans invaded this highly advanced civilization and benefited immensely from its knowledge in all areas of life, among others: governance, economics, spiritual traditions, architecture, construction, medicine, art, mathematics, science, literature, writing, and even the use of speech. The series of invasions began with the Hyksos from Western Asia in c. 1650 BC. Then came the Assyrians from the Middle East in c. 670 BC, followed by the Persians (Iran) in c. 525 BC, the Greeks in 332 BC, and the Romans in 30 BC who incorporated Lower Egypt as a Roman Province.

The history of Kemet also intersects with Jewish history and religion. The origins of Judaism and its creation story begin c. 1800 BC. In 24 BC, female pharaohs from Upper Egypt known as the Kandake successfully campaigned against the Romans in lower Egypt and expelled Jews from an island town on the Nile river called Elephantine, which had been settled by the Jews since 400 BC. On the other hand, one of the most celebrated pharaohs of the whole of Kemet and beyond, Taharqa from Upper Egypt (aka, Tirhakah, Taharqo – 690 BC – 664 BC) is also recorded in 2 Kings 19:9 of the Christian Bible as having saved the Jews from an Assyrian attack in Judea.

Nubia or Upper Egypt was also called the Kingdom of Ta-Seti. Archaeologists have found a dynasty of between nine and eleven pharaohs of Ta-Seti who ruled before Lower Egypt’s first pharaohs. Lower Egypt is Upper Egypt’s younger sister.

During most of Kemet’s existence, one of the most powerful gods was Amen (alternatively Amen-Ra, Amun, Amun-Ra, Ammon, Ammon Ra, and Amon). Amen was fused with Ra, the previous pre-eminent Sun God of Kemet. Amen-Ra was the supreme deity, the invisible one, and creator god based in Waset (Thebes) during the 11th dynasty, c. 2100 BC. Amen is first mentioned in the pyramid texts (c. 2400 – 2300 BC) as the God of Thebes, along with his consort Amaunet. A number of eminent pharaohs built or refurbished massive temples of Amen along the whole of the Nile valley. They still stand as monuments today in many ancient towns. At the temple complex of Karnak, near Thebes (original African name, Waset), in Upper Egypt, the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Amen alone can easily accommodate several European cathedrals and has 134 columns spread over 56,000 square feet (5,000 square meters).

With the rise of Islam, Arabs/Muslims invaded and occupied North Africa from 642 AD. There have been name changes of places and monuments, as well as religious conversions of the original inhabitants to Islam, just as the Romans had done with Christianity. The Roman Empire adopted Christianity as a state religion in 313 AD, beginning with the edict of Milan and the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. During this period, some religious icons of Kemet were deliberately destroyed. Nevertheless, both religions adapted and co-opted various aspects of Kemet’s religious and spiritual traditions. After conquering Lower Egypt, the Romans renamed Jupiter, their supreme being, Amen. The Greeks also did so earlier with Zeus-Amen. Amen is referenced in parts of the Bible such as Revelations 3:14, where he is described as ... the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Amen is also the last word in the Bible, in Revelations 22:21. He ends the prayers of major religions.

The Ankh, Kemet’s key of life, dates from 3150 BC and is a cross with a loop at the top. The symbol is a hieroglyph for life or breath of life. The Africans believed that one’s earthly journey was only part of an eternal life. It was famously carried by the Pharaohs into the afterlife. The Christian cross is an adaptation of the symbol of the Ankh.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KHUFU

The first recorded pyramid is that of the Pharaoh Djoser, built at the Saqqara necropolis (cemetery) near the city of Memphis, in southern Egypt. It was constructed around 2630 BC – 2611 BC (during the third dynasty) for the burial of Djoser. The step pyramid was said to have been designed by Imhotep, the world’s first multi-genius; he was the first doctor/father of medicine, architect, high priest of the Sun god Ra, and chancellor to Djoser. However, the biggest and most famous pyramid is that of the Pharaoh Khufu, built c. 2560 BC at Giza.

Khufu (full name: Khnum Khufu), known to the ancient Greeks as Cheops, was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613 BC – 2494 BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king, and ruled from 2589 BC – 3566 BC. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Khnum Khufu means The God Khnum protect me.

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