These shabtis were at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum, but Freer and NHM are both Smithsonian Museums Three Nubian Shabti, from Nuri, Sudan Two for Pharoah Taharqa, Granite and Calcite,640-664 BCE One for Pharoah Senkamanisken, Granite, 640-620 BCE All, loan from Boston Museum of Fine Arts

"The Nubian pharoahs not only ruled Egypt from Thebes, but also defended Egypt from an Assyrian invasion." Dr. Ossama {?}odel-Meguid, Director, The Nubian Museum, Aswan, Egypt, 1998 In 750 B.C.E., Nubia conquered a fragmented Egypt and built the largest empire yet along the Nile. Nubian kings, beginning with Piye, became the pharoahs of Egypt's 25th Dynasty. They sparked ancient Egypt's last great cultural renaissance, renovating temples and reviving earlier religious teachings. The 25th Dynasty came to an end around 660 B.C.E., when the Assyrians conquered Egypt and forced the Nubians south. There, they established an empire centered in the city of Meroe that flourished for 600 years."

Ushebti of Amenirdis I, a Nubian princess from the state of Kush