Slavery in Ancient Kingdoms of Sudan

Abstract

Both inexperienced and expert researchers alike find accessing particulars of the Meroe civilization to be a difficult endeavor; experts such as P. L. Shinnie confirmed this difficulty, stating,

The discovery of palaces, temples, and cemeteries provides important artistic and historical information, but tells little of the life of the people, of their homes, their agriculture, or their social organization; we can only guess at this from the scattered remains that have come to us from the past.

If we do not know how the Meroitic state was organized, nor how its kings and queens maintained their rule, we do know that it was a monarchical state, and we can assume that, as in Egypt, the king was regarded as divine.²