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DESIGN PICS INC / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

CUSHITE PYRAMIDS. For much of its ancient history, the land of Cush in modern-day northern Sudan was controlled and exploited by Egypt. In the eighth century BC, however, the Cushite kings based at Napata grew powerful and conquered their northern neighbor, establishing Egypt’s 25th Dynasty. According to the Bible, the Cushite king Taharqa even came to the aid of King Hezekiah of Judah in his confrontation with the mighty Assyrian Empire in 701. The Napatan royal cemetery in Nuri (shown here), established by Taharqa, projects the might and aspirations of this Nubian dynasty in monumental tombs fashioned as pyramids.