s the Ku*censored*e custom of regicide. In Meroe as well as other Ku*censored*e kingdoms, the killing of the king was an accepted custom. The religious belief is that the King's physical well being was directly tied to the gods and to the fertility of the lands. Monges, in her book, further contends that: since the king was responsible for Maat[term a number of positive qualities, i.e. righteousness and truth] and since the fertility of the land was necessary for balance and order, the decreased vitality of the king would affect the production of the land. This suggests an underlying reason for the ritual killing of the king(109)This was an accepted custom for ages until the belief system was challenged by King of Ethiopia Ergamenes during the "reign of the second Ptolemy." Ergamenes was educated in Greece, and, therefore, did not have the true understanding of Ku*censored*e custom as his predecessors. Two belief systems clashed. Eragmenes was the "first to have the courage to disdain the command" because of his Greek training, consequently, he puts "the priests to the sword, and after abolishing this custom ordered affairs after his own will." This occurrence serves as concrete example of how religion can become extremely dangerous when one, in power, disrupts the common belief system of a homogeneous society. Monges, in her book, further contemplates the Ergamenes situation: The ritual killing of the king was being practiced by these African people. It isapparent that the culture was not fully understood by these outsiders. Didorus[Greek historian who records the account] writes that prior to Ergamenes, the ritual killing of the king was "accepted by the simple mind of a creature shaped by old and ineffective customs." The Greek mind separated the material and the spiritual.(113)Precisely, the Greek mind in Ergamenes did not allow him to simply give up his wealth for something spiritual that he could not see. In the case...
