Egyptian Rule and the Rise of Napata

Thutmose I and Thutmose III extended Egyptian control over Nubia as far as the Fourth Cataract at Kurgus, roughly between 1500 and 1450 BCE, organizing the territory as a province under a "Viceroy of Kush." Nubian fortresses in Lower Nubia were reused and expanded as Egyptian administrative centers, and monumental temples were built across the region, including those Amenhotep III dedicated to the god Amun at Soleb and Sedeinga and the great rock-cut temples Ramesses II raised at Abu Simbel in the thirteenth century BCE as propaganda proclaiming Egyptian dominance over Nubia. The cult of Amun became firmly established in Nubia during this period, and Napata, near the Sacred Mountain of Gebel Barkal, became an Egyptian religious center dedicated to the god, while Egypt intensively exploited Nubia's gold mines in the Eastern Desert throughout this era.