Diodorus Siculus on the Election of Rulers of Meroë
A.K.Vinogradov
According to Diodorus' account of the election of kings in Meroë the priests used to choose first "the best of their number" and then one of those became the ruler of the country. Hence one might conclude that the kings in Meroë belonged to the order of priests, but this assumption has not been confirmed by any data in other sources, either local or Greek and Roman. Thus it becomes necessary either to try and explain away this contradictory piece of information or to ignore altogether the data of the Bibliotheca Historica. The author choses the first way and subjects Diodorus' words to a minute examination, two points, inparticular, seeming worthy of attention.
First it is the remark that the priests start with selecting τούς άρίστους. The attribute generally understood to mean "the best" denotes, in fact, a somewhat different quality. Though άρίστος was really used as the superlative of the adjective άγαδός "good", it was but one of the four forms differing each in shades of meaning. The form άρίστος is believed to refer to a particular kind of "goodness", namely "valour", and denote "the highest in valour, the most valorous". But valour is a virtue hardly requisite for priests. To whom then does the appellation apply? Among whom were the candidates to the throne selected?
The text (and this is second point) has έξ αύτων traditionally translated as "of themselves" or "among themselves, out of their own number" and it is just this rendering that makes scholars doubt the veracity of Diodorus. The author believes that due to the indiscriminate use of reflexive and attributive pronouns in later Greek, in general, and in that of Diodorus, in particular, the form αύτων might stand for αύτων, so very similar to the former and serving as attribute to the implied noun "Ethiopians" used in preceding sentence of Diodorus' story.
These conjectures accepted, the sentence in question would mean, "The priests select among them (i.e. Ethiopians) the most valorous", this agreeing well with (a) the data of other antique writers who mention that in the election of Ethiopian kings the stature, strength and military prowess of the candidates were taken into consideration, and (b) the information contained in the local sources (e.g. Aspelta's Accession Stela or The Great Inscription of Aman-nete-yerike) from which we learn about the participation of the army in the inthronisation of the king considered after the election to be the head commander of the army.
I.S.Katznelson
The note deals with the divergent transcriptions of the founder of the XXV-th Dynasty's name appearing in the special literature of recent time and the arguments adduced in support of the new reading of the name (R.Parker, J.Leclant, J.von Beckerat, K.-H.Prisese and others). The author's conclusion is that until new materials have been brought up and answers given to a number of questions he has set, the earlier reading (Piankhy) should be adhered to.
G.S.Kiselev
The author investigates certain problems of history of the Central Sudan and adjoining regions in the second half of the first millennium B.C. to the first half of the fist millennium A.D. The problems refer to the place of Zaghava nomads in the ethnic, social and political development of that historico-cultural zone. The data of Arabic sources have been used to inquire into determination of the Zaghava identity (the trustworthiness of identifying them with the modern Zaghava in Waddai), the chronological estimate of their historical activity in the region, the geographical features of the area inhabited by them, and their historic fates. The article includes the description of Zaghava's occupations and an attempt to define the level of their social and economic development.
The Election of the King in Kush (according to the data of Harsiotef's and Nastasen's Stelae)
E.Ye.Kormysheva
The article contains an investigation of Harsiotef's and Nastasen's stelae in the light of information they provide about the peculiar process of king's election in Kush at the time of those two kings. Analysis of the text of both the stelae (which describes the ritual of king's election) as compared with the stelae of preceding kings has enabled the author to conclude that the custom of chosing the king from among several brothers had been abrogated by that time. One of the arguments in proof of this has been provided by a new reading of the term .... in Nastasen's stela where ... is considered to be the superlative form of the adjective and the whole is translated as "the most excellent king".
An attempt has been made to reconstruct the ritual of the king's election and the customary rites of his travel to Napata, special attention being accorded to the oracle's function. The author proposes a new reading of the collocation rmt sdr rendered as "bodyguards" (instead of the former translation "noblemen") and of the collocation rmt htp (?) rendered as "men offering up a ritual sacrifice" (instead of the former translation "peasantry"). The role of the mother-queen has been taken notice of and it has been suggested that she might have undergone the rite of coronation too.
The author has made a generak inference, that the changes occuring in the institution of regal power led to its centralisation, while the influence of the queen-mother and the priests distinguished the position of the king in Kush from that of the pharaoh in Egypt with his despotic rule. The changes elucidated, were brought about by the natural development of Kush government system and this independent state's power getting fortified in southern regions.