The Beja ብጃ Warriors of Kemet & Nubia

Beja/Ta-Seti Soldiers

The Beja በጃ (Ge’ez language:) are an ethnic group dwelling in parts of North Africa and the Horn of Africa. The Beja are the descendants of the Medjay soldier class originating in Ta-Seti as the archers called into service during the 12th Dynastic Period. Their Beja name is derived from the municipality founded by Amenemhat I called Amenemhat-It-jawy or Itjawy or Bedjawi or Bejawi (another modern name for Beja). Amenemhat I created an army from his mother's home town of Ta-Seti and the Beja are the descendants of those warriors-for-hire whose name is derived from the municipality Amenemhat I founded. 

During the times of Ancient Kemet the Beja were known as Ta-Seti and were fierce soldiers renowned for their skill as archers in the Kemetic Army. The Beja have also been named "Blemmyes" in Roman Times, "Bugas", in Axumite inscriptions in Ge'ez and, "Fuzzy Wuzzy"  because of their Afro hairstyles by Rudyard Kipling. 

Bowmen Archers of the Kemetic Army. Tomb of Meketre. Cairo Egyptian Museum

The Beja themselves name themselves after whatever land they reside upon and presently span from Sudan and Egypt into Eritrea and Ethiopia and even Yemen. They are traditionally pastoral but some are nomadic. Their language is Ta Bedawi / Bedawiye and although Cushitic is considered the origin of the Semitic Ge'ez language and those that derived from Ge'ez such as Tigre, Tigrinya, and Amharic. The Beja may also be a link to the Kushite expansion into Mesopotamia as it was Henry Rawlinson who deciphered cuneiform using Ta Bedawi not a Semitic language. It was Rawlinson who said the language of the Kushites spanned from West Africa through Western Asia to India. 

It is also important to note that ancient Greeks often referred to Babylonians as Ethiopians. So the link between African Semitic and Western Asian Semitic most likely involves the Beja and their Kushitic language influences. This migration of the Beja may explain why there is correlation between Western Asian and Horn of Africa languages to Kush-Kemetic languages. The Beja have adopted Arabic as well because they are Islamic. The interesting aspect about their internal naming system, since they do not refer to themselves as Beja, is that in and of itself is very ancient Egyptian way of self-identifying. Ancient Egyptians identified by the land (nomes/villages) they were from and not by any specific ethnic name.

The Bejas attach a high importance to their hair, and their prominent crown of "Fuzzy Hair" called a Tiffa in their language, has characterized them for many centuries and was first recorded on the ancient rock paintings in Kemet and seen throughout many of the Kemetic miniature tomb models.