“Upon their assumption of the Egyptian throne in 750 BC, the Nubian pharaohs of Egypt’s Twenty-Fifth Dynasty appear to be more Egyptian than the Egyptians they conquered. Just 300 years earlier, these same people were the leaders of “Wretched Kush,” subjects of Egypt’s New Kingdom Empire (ca. 1500–1070 BC). Nubian kings adopted Egyptian regalia, worshiped Egyptian deities, and were buried under pyramids inscribed with Egyptian texts, their bodies mummified and furnished with Egyptian grave goods (see Figure 13.6; Morkot 2000; Edwards 2004; Bonnet and Valbelle 2006). They also consciously deployed the ancient Egyptian ideology of ethnic self–other in order to legitimate their claim as rightful kings, restorers of order after a period of fragmentation under multiple dynasties of Libyan descent. In his account of the final conquest and consolidation of Nubian control over Egypt, King Piankhi highlights his Egyptian-ness by stressing his piety, seeking the approval of Egypt’s many gods in temples on his journey north, and protecting them from looting by his armies.”

It sounds like the Nubians (and rightfully so) always knew their connection to Kemet and wanted to restore order.