Changes

[[File: RamessesII_smiting_Nubian.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Relief Depicting Egyptian King Ramesses II “Smiting” a Nubian Prisoner]]

Among ancient Egypt’s many neighbors were the Nubians, who inhabited the Nile Valley to the south of Egypt in what is today the nation-state of Sudan. Although the Egyptians and Nubians had many peaceful interactions over the course of several centuries, the political leaders of the two peoples had a more acrimonious and contentious relationship. When the Egyptian state was strong, Nubia was usually weak and vice versa. To the Nubians, Egypt was the source of high-culture and civilization that they admired and eventually replicated in many ways, while the Egyptians viewed the lands to their source as a source of resources to be exploited. Gold, ivory, and ebony were all commodities that the Egyptians took from Nubia and traded with other Near Eastern kingdoms as far away as Babylon and Assyria.