Luo expansion into Egypt.

Koch (Kush, Cush, Quoch) was the original and powerful Itiyopian kingdom that first emerged in the Nile Valley in the modern Republic of the Sudan. The sovereigns of Koch extended Itiyopianu rule into the Lower Nile region, which later became known as Egypt. More specifically, it was the Thebban priest/kings from the Upper Nile Valley of Koch that established theocratic rule in ancient Egypt. The first king of Dynasty I, was Menya (Mena, or Menes). Speakers of Indo-European languages have difficulties in pronouncing African words with the consonant ‘ny’ as in Kenya or Nyerere. In the case of Menya, the letter the ‘y’ was omitted altogether so that Menya is spelt and read as Mena and quite often distorted as Mene. This distortion and the omission of the letter ‘y’ was pointed out by E.A. Wallis Budge (BOTD: xii). Thus the first king of Egypt was not Mena or Menes as has been depicted in many texts but Menya, the Thebban and originally, one of the Itiyopian priests (Dunjee Houston, 1985:69). Menya is a Luo name and a common one amongst the Acholi today. The name ‘Menya’ means ‘shines on me’. Amongst the Acholi, Menya is still remembered as a rich and powerful person, in the following proverb; “Tong gweno oloyo Menya”- translates as ‘Menya failed to get an egg’ (Okot P’Bitek, 1985:86). For such a powerful figure, nothing was beyond his reach. However, on one fateful day even an egg was not affordable. It was beyond Menya’s reach. Menya’s clan, the ‘Pa-Menya’ are today affiliates of the former Payira state of Acholi.

It was Menya who built one of the first temples in Egypt. One of the temples, ‘Ptah’ was so named in honour of the solar god. The solar god illuminates the world by the fire of its eyes. Thus it was the illuminary that ‘shines on him’. Coincidentally, Tah is also a Luo word meaning bright light or an illuminary. ‘Ptah’ means ‘of the illuminary’ or ‘of the light’. The prefix ‘P’ means ‘of’ as in Okot of Bitek above. A-gy-ptah or Ae-gy-ptah means ‘I am of the light’. Thus the name Egypt is not ‘Kemit’, but comes from the term ‘AEGYPTAH’ and was a construct of Menya, the first king. Menya went on and instituted the first dynastic and theocratic monarchy. Menya saw himself as the solar god that has descended amongst men.

He was succeeded by one ‘ Aha’. Interestingly, this is a familiar common Luo name. In the Luo language, this name is an expression, which means, ‘I have risen’. He was succeeded by ‘Djer’(H. Frankfort, 1948:xxiv). His name means ‘set back’. Meanwhile, ‘Dimu’, the last ruler of the first dynasty is the ancestor of the Shilluk. In acknowledging Dimu as the ancestors of the Shilluk, Fr. Crazzolara wrote, “Nyikango fled to Dhimmo (Collo spelling), who is said to have been a Reth, king, whose country was distinct from that of Dowaat ….” (Fr. Crazzolara, 1950, p.123). The second dynastic ruler ‘Nacca’ still carried a Luo common name and this trend continued. The Fifth dynastic ruler who assumed power around 2340 B. C. was ‘Tet-ka-Ra’. The word ‘Tet’ or ‘Teth’ is Luo meaning, ‘forge, design, mould, construct or create’. The name meant ‘the creation of or the hand work of ‘Ra’’. In the sixth dynasty, which ended in 2180 B. C, the first Pharaoh carried the name ‘Teti’ meaning ‘design and make’ in the Luo language. The 18th dynasty rulers included ‘Ahmose’, whose name translates in Luo as ‘I hail him/her’ and ‘Akhena-tuon’, meaning ‘I am the one and only bull’. He was succeeded by, the boy- king, ‘Tute-ankh-amunu’. The word ‘tute’ in Luo means, strive, endeavour or struggle. On the other hand, ‘ankh’ is the eternal life (Ben-Jochannan, 1972, p.362). Thus, the boy king who was likened to the life giver was urged, ‘struggle patiently like that the life giver’.

In the late period 750 BC Kabaka or ‘Pi-ankh’ reasserted Itiyopian rule over Egypt. Do these titles have any significance amongst the Luos? According to Kabaka Mutesa, the king who ruled the Buganda kingdom at the dawn of British colonialism in Uganda, ‘Kabaka’ the king’s title means “the glorious messenger of Baka”10. As for the meaning of ‘Baka’, P’Bitek provided a useful explanation he wrote, “ I swear in the name of Baka, the Jok of Patiko Chiefdom, that I shall speak the truth, without hiding anything from you, or tell a lie, but all the truth as I know it” (P’Bitek, 1989, p.69). Okeca Ladwong, an Acholi native from Patiko and the main character in P’Bitek’s satirical novel ‘White Teeth’, was swearing in a British court in colonial Uganda. Patiko was a pre-colonial Acholi State in Northern Uganda that was destroyed by Turko-Egyptian and British colonialism, and Baka was the State Deity. The point here is that through Luo migration and relocation, the use of the titles ‘Baka’ of the Koch ruler continued in the post Meroitic States in the Great Lakes region. Meanwhile, ‘Pi-ankh’s influence in the Great Lakes region and Central Africa is seen in the recognition of the supreme being amongst the Bantus. For example in the Luo founded Bunyoro- Kitara kingdom, the supreme- being became known as ‘Ru-hanga’. Today, the existence of common names such as ‘Lu-anga’, and ‘Mu-anga’ are a direct outcome of the influence of the ancient ruler of Koch in the great Lakes region.

In the Nile Valley the magnificent seats of government such as Thebbes and temples at Karnak and Luxor still carry Luo names. For example, in the first place the word Thebbe or Tebbe is Acholi for ‘seat of government’. For example Rwot (King) Olya of the Atyak city state of Acholi described his headquarters as his “Tebbe” (Lacito Okech, 1953:87). Meanwhile, Karnak is a distortion of Luo word ‘Ka-naka’ which means, ‘the place of the everlasting’. Luxor on the other hand comes from the Luo word ‘Lu-kwor’ meaning, ‘the living’. As lower Egypt increasingly came under foreign domination, the people of Lukwor (Luxor) retreated to Koch, at Te-Kidi, the grand capital, where Onyango-ku- Odongo (1976), noted, “Here the people of Lukwor prospered and made progress in many fields” (Ku Odongo, 1976, p.80). The last indigenous Egyptian Pharaoh was Amacic (Harmachis or Amasis) who was put to death by Cambysis in 525 BC. Amasis is still remembered in Acholi today and was a hate figure, having participated in the destruction of ‘Tekidi’, the grand capital Koch. He was derided as a traitor for colluding with foreigners and more so for his inability to stand firm, in the face of flagrant aggression by Cyrus and his son Cambysis. Cyrus had wanted the service of an Egyptian Oculist (Herodotus, 1954:203). However, the expert selected was resentful and in revenge, suggested to Cambysis to demand Amacic’s daughter for a wife. Amacic’s humiliation has been captured in an Acholi ‘folk tale’ and a song passed down to me, and which in part says,

“Got Amacic yee! Got Amacic ni immii dako, Got Amacic! Man rwot ma ocwala got Amacic ni imii dako got Amacic!”11

“Oh Amacic the mountain, please provide a bride. Amacic the mountain I am the king’s messenger sent to collect the bride!” (My translation).

Amasis’ humiliation by Cambyses is well documented in Herodotus’ ‘The Histories’. Through sheer coincidence, the story was passed onto the writer, as a ‘folk tale’ by Safira Anek, a native of the former Acholi State of Alero, who trace their origin to Egypt. Fr. Crazzolara (1950) gave a brief account of the origin of the Alero peoples and noted, “Owiny, Labongo, Opiir were the three men that came fro Misri (Egypt) (Crazzolara, 1950, p.256). Safira’s narrative further shows that oral tradition remains relevant particularly if backed by written sources. Without doubt, the demise of Amacic sparked a frantic migration from Egypt down to the Sudan and later to the great Lakes region and beyond.