143 One of the unresolved problems of Kushite studies is the succession pattern in the 25 th Kushite dynasty ruling in Egypt and their descendents, the rulers of the Kingdom of Napata. It is the purpose of this paper to address this problem anew. In the following paragraphs I will forward a review of the prevailing theories of succession in Kush. Then, I will argue that the succession pattern in Kush was patrilineal accor- ding to the right of primogeniture, i.e. the kingship passed from father to the eldest surviving son based on Egyptian religious beliefs and was not different from the practice in the Ancient Near East. 1 Theories 1. The patrilineal succession Basically, the Kingship in the Ancient Near East was regarded as hereditary through a patrilineal succes- sion line, normally (but not always), according to the right of primogeniture. This was the case in the majo- rity of Ancient Near Eastern Kingdoms: 2 Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Elam, 3 Hatti, 4 Ugarit, Canaan (according to the El-Amarna tablets), Phoenicia, Israel (although the kingdom of Israel suffered from many coups), Judah, Amon, 5 Moab, Edom, Philistia, 6 Egypt, etc. This pattern of succession was not seriously con- sidered in Nubian studies for the 25 th dynasty becau- se the written evidence does not directly suggest it. 2. The collateral (fratrilineal) succession According to the genealogical information from Kushite monuments, published by M. F. L. Mac- adam in 1949 and from an additional article written with D. Dunham during that same year, 7 it was postulated that the royal succession in Kush did not descend from father to the eldest son. It was sugge- sted that it was a different type of male-succession pattern passing from the elder brother to the youn- ger brother and then to the children of the elder bro- ther. Thus, Macadam reconstructed the royal dyna- sty of Kush as follows: • Alara (first known ruler by name) • Kashta (supposed to be a younger brother of Alara) • Piankhy (son of Kashta) • Shabako (younger brother of Piankhy) • Shebitku (son of Piankhy 8 and not son of Shabako as stated in Manetho 9 ) • Taharqa (younger son of Piankhy, brother of Shebitko) 10 Dan’el Kahn The Royal Succession in the 25 th Dynasty • • I would like to thank Tim Kendall, Eleonora Kormischeva, Angelika Lohwasser, Robert Morkot, Claude Rilly, László Török, Alexey Vinogradov, Janice Yellin, Michael Zach and Karola Zibelius-Chen for sending me offprints of their articles and for numerous insights, suggestions and references. 1 The different modes of succession in Africa are reviewed in R. Morkot, “Kingship and Kinship in the Empire of Kush”, in: St. Wenig (ed.), Akten der 7. Internationalen Tagung für meroitische Forschungen vom 14. bis 19. September 1992 in Gosen bei Berlin, (Meroitica 15, Wiesbaden 1999) 214- 217. I find it methodologically incorrect to compare the pat- terns of succession in the recent history of Africa with the pattern of succession in the first millennium B.C. 2 T. Ishida, The Royal Dynasties in Ancient Israel, Berlin – New-York, 1977, Ch. 2. 3 Y. B. Yusifov, “The Problem of the Order of Succession in Elam Again”, Acta antiqua 22 (1974) 321-331. Earlier scho- lars postulated that in Elam “the throne passed to brothers who in their turn married their sisters and sometimes their mothers, and all this gave the right to succeed to the throne”. 4 G. M. Beckman, “Inheritance and Royal succession among the Hittites” in: H. A. Hoffner Jr. and G. M. Beckman (eds.), Kaniššuwar, a Tribute to Hans G. Güterbock on his Seventy-Fifth Birthday, May 27, 1983 (Assyriological Studies 23, Chicago, Illinois 1986) 13-26. 5 F. M. Cross, “Notes on the Ammonite Inscription From Tell Sırn” BASOR 212 (1973) 12-15. 6 S. Gittin et al. “A Royal Dedicatory Inscription from Ekron”, IEJ 47 (1997) 9. 7 M. F. L. Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, I, London, 1949, 119-131; D. Dunham and M. F. L. Macadam, “Names and Relationships of the Royal Family of Napata”, JEA 35 (1949) 139-149. 8 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, 124 based on Kawa IV, 19 where Taharqa is mentioned as sn nsw “king’s brother”. 9 W. G. Waddell, Manetho, London, 1964, 166-9, Fragments 66, 67 a, b, l. 2. 10 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, 36 n. 90: Kawa VI, l. 24 translates rdi.f n.f sA.f snw.f “He (Amun) appointed for him his son, the like of him” scil. Amun’s son and peer. 2005 Varia