Small, steep-sided pyramids rising in the desert of Sudan are reminiscent of Egyptian ones. However, unlike the famous pyramids at Giza, they are distinguished by their small size and the absence of valuable artifacts.
The historic pyramids of Meroe at Al Bagraviya, 200 km north of the city of Khartoum in Sudan, are protected by security forces. Pyramid decoration ancient kingdom Kush is not of interest like Egyptian ones, but still architectural monuments are classified as objects World Heritage UNESCO.
The Pyramids of Meroe are located approximately 200 km north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Tourist access to sightseeing has been limited following sanctions imposed by former President Omar Al-Bashir during civil unrest. Adoption this decision created an obstacle to the development of the tourism industry in Sudan.
Sudan's steep-sided pyramids line a deserted hill, reminiscent of the ancient Nubian kingdom whose kings once held power in Egypt.
About 4,600 years ago, the city of Meroe was at the center of the political and religious life of the Kush (Nubian) Empire. The kings of the state were called “black pharaohs.” They adopted the tradition of their neighbors, Egypt, of burying rulers in pyramid tombs. The height of the Kushite pyramids is from 6 to 30 meters. They are inferior to the Egyptian ones in massiveness, but their number is almost three times the number of tombs Ancient Egypt. There are about 300 of them in total; for comparison, more than 90 were discovered in Egypt.
The pyramids of Meroe were built between 720 and 300 BC. The entrances to the tombs were usually located from the East - facing to the rising sun. The walls are painted with hieroglyphs, indicating the influence of the culture of ancient Egypt on the development of the kingdom of Kush.
Decorative elements of the stone pyramids of Nubia are borrowed from the cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome. This factor, according to UNESCO, makes them priceless relics of the ancient world.
Sudan's tourism industry was almost completely destroyed after the introduction of economic sanctions during civil war and the conflict in Darfur.
Abdel-Rahman Omar, director of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum, said that until the 19th century, gold tips were installed on the tops of the pyramids, torn off and removed by archaeologists.
For the restoration of monuments ancient architecture Qatari authorities promised to allocate $135 million to Sudan. To which Sudan replied that the flow of tourists per year is only 15,000 people.
It's hard to keep up with your neighbors, especially if your neighbor is Egypt. And since the pyramids symbolize Egypt, the Nubian pyramids south of Egypt are often seen as an attempt by the Nubians to keep up with the Egyptians, but an attempt that failed. However, the 223 pyramids of ancient Nubia practically double the number of pyramids in Egypt. They are small in size; Skeptics may argue that the Nubians took quantity, not quality. In the 20th century, British author Basil Davidson described Meroe, the site of many Nubian pyramids, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. Unfortunately, all the graves in Meroe were plundered, the most famous being the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini (1800-1870), who, in search of treasure in 1834, smashed the tops of 40 pyramids. Upon his return to Europe, Ferlini tried to sell the treasures from the pyramid of Queen Amanishakheto, which included exquisite gold amulets, signet rings and necklaces. Collectors did not imagine that such treasures could come from black Africa; they thought they were fakes. Indeed, these were beautiful jewels High Quality, often with traces of the influence of Greek art; buyers did not expect to find, deep in the heart of Africa, examples of art that were on par with Egyptian or ancient Greek. However, Ferlini found only one cache of gold, and it is not surprising that today in Sudan he is not very fond of being remembered.
There were three Kushite kingdoms: the first was called Kerma, as the capital of the same name, and existed from 2400 to 1500 BC. BC.; the second was Napata (1000–300 BC) and the third was Meroe (300 BC–300 AD). The Nubians were initially influenced by their northern neighbors, and eventually the Nubian tribes were able to conquer Egypt, with the king of Napata reigning as the pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty until the Assyrian conquest in 656 BC.
Although the Nubian kingdoms must have known about the pyramids that rose in the Nile Valley far to the north, it was not until their reign in Egypt that the royal sites of the kingdom of Napata and its successor Meroe directly in Nubia were associated with the construction of the pyramids. That the kings of Nubia saw Egyptian monuments is known from the records of Pharaoh Piye. After the conquest larger territory Egypt, Pi planned to go to Heliopolis to worship the sun god and celebrate his coronation as Pharaoh of Egypt, before returning to Napata.
The first rows of Nubian pyramids were built at the site of el-Kurru and included the tombs of King Kashta and his son Pi (Piankhi), along with Pi's successors Shabaka, Shabataka and Tanwetamani. Tanwetamani), and the pyramid of the 14 queens. The Pyramids of Napata are located in Nuri, on west bank Nile in Upper Nubia. This cemetery was the burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes. The oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of King Napata and 25th Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa.
But the most extensive and most famous site of the Nubian pyramids is Meroe, which lies between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, approximately 100 kilometers north of Khartoum. modern capital Sudan. More than forty kings and queens of the state of Meroe are buried in this pyramid field.
The pyramids of Nubia differ from Egyptian structures: they are built from stepped rows of horizontally placed stone blocks, their height ranges from six to thirty meters; They look pretty unimpressive. What makes them impressive is their quantity, which is also limited to a small area. It's a sad archaeological site - all the pyramids were looted in ancient times, but the wall reliefs preserved in the tombs show how royalty were mummified, covered in jewels and laid to rest in wooden boxes. The Nubian pyramids were definitely burial sites.
El-Kurru, approximately 13 kilometers south of Gebel Barkal, was excavated by G. Reisner in 1918-19. The site includes the already mentioned Pyankhi pyramid, which has a base length of about eight meters and a side slope of approximately 68 degrees - much steeper than 51 degrees Great Pyramid- although eight meters, of course, is a microscopic size compared to the immensity of the Great Pyramid. It was the largest pyramid ever built at Nuri and was unique among the pyramids of Nubia in that it was built in two stages. The first pyramid was enclosed in a “case” of smooth sandstone. Drawings and records from the early 19th century describe the top of the inner pyramid being cut away from the top of the collapsed outer pyramid. The outer pyramid was the first of a series of pyramids with stepped rows and straight, even corners. The angle of the sides was approximately 69 degrees. The wall tightly surrounded the pyramid, and Reisner could not find any trace of the temple.
Inside, Reisner found a staircase of 19 steps that led east to the burial chamber. Pyankha's body rested on a bed in the center of the room on a stone bench. The four corners of the bench were cut off to create “legs” so that the stock rested directly on the bench.
This is the final proof that these pyramids served as tombs, but it is in the Nuri pyramid that the most complex structure. King Taharqa was the first to build his pyramid in this place, and his pyramid-tomb was quite impressive by Nubian standards: 51.75 meters in area and about 40 - 50 meters in height. Entrance via the eastern staircase north of central axis pyramid emphasized the alignment of the original, smaller pyramid. Three steps led to a framed doorway that led into a tunnel that widened into a vestibule with a vaulted ceiling. Six massive pillars carved from natural rock divided the burial chamber into two side aisles and a central nave, each with a vaulted ceiling. The entire chamber was surrounded by a moat-like corridor, with steps leading down from the entrance hall doorway.
The Nuri pyramids are generally much larger than their counterparts in el-Kurri, reaching a height of twenty to thirty meters. The last king, who was buried at Nuri, died around 308 BC, before construction began at Meroe. The site remained a royal cemetery for 600 years, until 350 AD. As in Nuri, step pyramids were built on a pedestal, but now each triangular side was smoothed along the edges of the structure.
The age of the Nubian pyramids is much younger than the Egyptian examples. And this is precisely the intrigue of this architectural splash. But, perhaps unlike Egypt, it was directly related to the economy of Nubia. As Roman wealth declined, so did the demand for Meroe's luxury goods. At the same time trade route from Meroe along the Red Sea to Indian Ocean was lost due to the superiority of its neighbor, the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum. Around 350 AD, the army of the Aksumite king Ezana invaded the island of Meroe. By then the capital had already been abandoned and the area was in the hands of a people whom the Aksumite people called Noba.
Thus in 350 AD. The era of the Pyramids on the Nile is truly over. The Pyramid Wandering of the Nubian Kings seems to represent a method of unifying their nation with the Egyptians who immediately preceded it, around 600 BC. abandoned the construction of the pyramids.
Obviously the pyramids of Nubia were tombs, but does that mean they all were? The answer is no. As in Egypt, the pyramid tombs are only one aspect of a larger whole in which the kings of Nubia fanned the flames of ancient Egypt. The key again seems to lie in the involvement of the priests of Heliopolis, people who have generally been identified as the bearers of knowledge of the original Pyramid Age. We can state that the building of the pyramid was the specific prerogative of the clergy of Heliopolis; temples were the primary purview of the priests of Amon, who rose to the height of their influence on life in ancient Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms, when the capital moved to Thebes/Luxor. It seems that with the Nubian invasion - which was largely only possible due to the decline of Theban/Luxor power - the clergy of Heliopolis rose again.
Excavations at many of Napata's sanctuaries, especially Jebel Barkal, have shown that temples were built directly on the foundations of the destroyed New Kingdom temples of Amon. Around 1450 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III expanded his domain to Jebel Barkal and established this point as southern border of his empire. The city he founded was called Napata. The Egyptians remained in the area for about 300 years.
The temple at Jebel Barkal was first excavated in February-April 1916 by Georg Reisner and his Boston team and now in March-April 1987 by a new Boston team led by Timothy Kendall. In 1989, Kendall and his men re-surveyed the monument. They concluded that Napata's rulers had deliberately restored the religious sites left behind by the Egyptian pharaohs when they abandoned Nubia some three centuries earlier. The kings of Nubia used the “temples of the religion of Amon,” but converted them to suit the sun worship of Heliopolis. But they did not completely abandon the religion of Amun; after all, these Nubian temples were built according to strict Ammonite principles, and therefore incorporate the features of this cult.
Restoring old Egyptian places of worship, especially Jebel Barkal, the kings of Nubia presented themselves both in Nubia and especially in Thebes as the true successors of the New Kingdom pharaohs and direct heirs to their throne.
Taharqa not only created the most complex pyramid, he also transformed the Barkal site into a cultic stage for the celebration of the past, present and eternal monarchy, for endless worldwide repose. Why here? Due to the reverse flow of the Nile in this place, Taharqa’s grave, although located on the “western” bank, paradoxically lies in the east, welcoming the sunrise and the rebirth of the world. Jebel Barkal on the “eastern” bank lies, oddly enough, in the west, in the places of sunset and death.
An important question is why the pyramid area surrounds Jebel Barkal. The first explanation is purely economic: this place is ideal point crossing of the Nile and the trade route crossing the desert from Kawa to Meroe. The second explanation is of a religious nature. sacred mountain Barkal (Barkal on Arabic means “holy” and “pure”), 74 meters high, built of sandstone and has a flat top. From the west it looks like a royal Egyptian ureus, crowned with a white crown. For the ancient Egyptians, this area was clearly marked by God the Creator, who sculpted the mountain indicating its royal, sacred purpose. From the east the mountain resembles a snake with solar disk on the top.
The interaction of the grave and the mountain thus simultaneously represented in symbolic form the acts of creation, death and rebirth, and Jebel Barkal under Taharqa finally acquired the status of a permanent royal center in the Nile Valley. Here the eternal connection was carried out between Atum-Ra, the creator god, and Humanity, between the eternal king and the living king. Therefore we find in Nubia, in the pyramids and the very sites on which they were built, numerous symbolism with much more broad meaning, than just a funerary aspect - these places were directly connected with the kingship. And they also correspond to the “Pyramid Pattern”.
No related links foundEmpire of Death
"We found a large number of human bodies, lying prone as if they had been killed by an ax blow from behind, and others who were probably strangled. From the sight of their scattered bones we could imagine the terrible scene that took place here when the king's body was placed in the tomb. Terrible blows fell on the heads of the victims, and the killers dragged the bodies of men and women into the darkness,” wrote a British archaeologist who found the tomb of the ruler of Nubia, an ancient kingdom located next to Egypt. One by one, Walter Brian Emery excavated 180 tombs. It seemed that there would be no end to this... What do the excavations conceal? What kind of “culture of death” is this? And can it have followers in our time?
Egypt's southern neighbor is much less known. They stand, half-buried by sand, on the banks of the Nile; many of them are still waiting for their researcher. Not easy political history Sudan, combined with the lack of modern civilization and difficult-to-cultivate land, makes the country almost inaccessible to tourists and most explorers. Perhaps it is here that the romance of the era of great archaeological discoveries is still preserved, and the sands of the pyramidal necropolises hide new finds that will amaze the world.
In ancient Nubian times, three Kushite kingdoms were located here. The first, with its capital in the city of Kerma, lasted from 2400 to 1500 BC; the second (1000-300 BC) had Napata as its capital; the capital of the third was Meroe (300 BC-300 AD). All three kingdoms were under the strong influence of their northern neighbor. Periodically, they invaded Egypt, conquered it and even united with it - for example, the king of Napata ruled Egypt as the pharaoh of the XXV dynasty, and this reign ended only after the Assyrian conquest, which occurred in 656 BC.
Although the rulers of Nubia undoubtedly must have known about the pyramids that rose in the Nile Valley far to the north, their construction in Nubia itself began only during the period of domination of Egypt by the Nubian kings from Napata, and then by their successors from the Meroitic kingdom.
The fact that the Nubian kings definitely saw the pyramids is confirmed by the report of Pharaoh Piye. Having captured almost the entire territory of Egypt, the newly-crowned pharaoh headed to Heliopolis to worship the Sun God and celebrate his accession to the throne. And, of course, going down the Nile, he could not help but notice these majestic buildings. As the inscription goes on to say, at Heliopolis he “stood alone before the sanctuary. He broke the seals of the castles and opened the gates... I saw my father Ra in the sacred house of the Pyramidion, enjoyed the view of the Morning Boat of Ra and the Evening Boat of Amun.” Having accomplished all this, the pharaoh returned to Napata. After this, about two hundred pyramids were built in three regions of Nubia, which served as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata and Meroe. The first group of these pyramids was built in the town of El-Kurru. Here are the tombs of King Kashta and his son Piye, the heirs of Pyanhi pharaohs Shabaka, Shabataki and Tanuetemani, as well as the pyramids of 14 queens. All of them were built at Nuri, in Upper Nubia, on the west bank of the Nile. 21 rulers and 52 queens are buried in this necropolis.
The oldest and largest pyramid here belongs to the Napatan king and pharaoh of the XXV dynasty Taharqa. However, the largest and most famous complex of Nubian pyramids is located at Meroe, between the 5th and 6th cataracts of the Nile, approximately 100 km north of the modern capital of Sudan, Khartoum. During the Merovite kingdom, about forty kings and queens were buried in this “field of the pyramids.”
The Nubian pyramids are different from the Egyptian ones. In Nubia they are rough steps made of horizontally laid stone blocks and range in height from approximately six to 30 m. All of them, despite their significance and purpose of construction, are quite primitive. The only thing that is striking is the number of these pyramids and, so to speak, the “density of development.” They cannot cause anything but grief for archaeologists, since they were all plundered in ancient times. True, from the wall bas-reliefs one can judge that their royal inhabitants were mummified after death, decorated with a lot of jewelry and placed in wooden sarcophagi. Thus, it is possible with high probability assert that the Nubian pyramids definitely served as tombs for deceased rulers.
The Nubian pyramids south of Egypt are often seen as an attempt by the Nubians to keep up with the Egyptians, an attempt that failed. But the 223 pyramids of ancient Nubia double the number of pyramids in Egypt. They are small in size; Skeptics may argue that the Nubians took quantity, not quality. In the 20th century, British author Basil Davidson described Meroe, home to many Nubian pyramids, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world.
Unfortunately, all the graves in Meroe were plundered; the most famous was the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini, who, in search of treasure in 1834, smashed the tops of 40 pyramids. Upon his return to Europe, Ferlini tried to sell the treasures from Queen Amanishakheto's pyramid, which included exquisite gold amulets, signet rings and necklaces. Collectors did not imagine that such treasures could come from black Africa; they thought they were fakes. Indeed, they were fine jewels of high quality, often with traces of the influence of Greek art; buyers did not expect to find, deep in the heart of Africa, examples of art that were on par with Egyptian or ancient Greek. However, Ferlini found only one cache of gold, and it is not surprising that today in Sudan he is not very fond of being remembered.
The first rows of Nubian pyramids were built at the site of el-Kurru and included the tombs of King Kasht and his son Pi, along with Pi's successors Shabaka, Shabataka and Tanwetamani, and the pyramids of 14 queens. The Pyramids of Napata are located at Nuri, on the west bank of the Nile in Upper Nubia. This cemetery was the burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes. The oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of King Napata and 25th Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa. But the largest and most famous site of the Nubian pyramids is Meroe, which lies between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, about 100 kilometers north of Khartoum, the modern capital of Sudan. More than forty kings and queens of the state of Meroe are buried in this pyramid field.
The pyramids of Nubia differ from the Egyptian structures: they are built from stepped rows of horizontally placed stone blocks, their height ranges from six to thirty meters; They look pretty unimpressive. What makes them impressive is their quantity, which is also limited to a small area. It's a sad archaeological site - all the pyramids were looted in ancient times, but the wall reliefs preserved in the tombs show how royalty were mummified, covered in jewels and laid to rest in wooden boxes. The Nubian pyramids were definitely burial sites.
In 350 AD The era of the Pyramids on the Nile is truly over. The Pyramid Wandering of the Nubian Kings seems to represent a method of unifying their nation with the Egyptians who immediately preceded it, around 600 BC. abandoned the construction of the pyramids. It is obvious that the pyramids of Nubia were tombs. As in Egypt, the pyramid tombs are only one aspect of a larger whole in which the kings of Nubia fanned the flames of ancient Egypt. The key again seems to lie in the involvement of the priests of Heliopolis, people who have generally been identified as the bearers of knowledge of the original Pyramid Age.
We can state that the building of the pyramid was the specific prerogative of the clergy of Heliopolis; temples were the primary purview of the priests of Amon, who rose to the height of their influence on life in ancient Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms, when the capital moved to Thebes/Luxor. It seems that with the Nubian invasion - which was largely only possible due to the decline of Theban/Luxor power - the clergy of Heliopolis rose again.
Excavations at many of Napata's sanctuaries, especially Jebel Barkal, have shown that temples were built directly on the foundations of the destroyed New Kingdom temples of Amon. Around 1450 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III expanded his domain to Jebel Barkal and established this point as the southern border of his empire.
The city he founded was called Napata. The Egyptians remained in the area for about 300 years. By restoring old Egyptian cult sites, especially Jebel Barkal, the kings of Nubia presented themselves both in Nubia and especially in Thebes as the true successors of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom and direct heirs to their throne. Taharqa not only created the most complex pyramid, he also transformed the Barkal site into a cultic stage for the celebration of the past, present and eternal monarchy, for endless worldwide repose.
Are there pyramids anywhere else outside of Egypt?There are pyramids in Nubia too, a country located south of Egypt. This is the Nile Valley, but a different country - present-day Sudan. In ancient Nubian times, three Kushite kingdoms were located here. The first, with its capital in the city of Kerma, lasted from 2400 to 1500 BC; the second (1000-300 BC) had Napata as its capital; the capital of the third was Meroe (300 BC-300 AD). All three kingdoms were under the strong influence of their northern neighbor. Periodically, they invaded Egypt, conquered it and even united with it - for example, the king of Napata ruled Egypt as the pharaoh of the XXV dynasty, and this reign ended only after the Assyrian conquest that occurred in 656 BC.
Although the rulers of Nubia undoubtedly must have known about the pyramids that rose in the Nile Valley far to the north, their construction in Nubia itself began only during the period of domination of Egypt by the Nubian kings from Napata, and then by their successors from the Meroitic kingdom. The fact that the Nubian kings definitely saw the pyramids is confirmed by the report of Pharaoh Pi 
Yeh. Having captured almost the entire territory of Egypt, the newly-crowned pharaoh headed to Heliopolis to worship the Sun God and celebrate his accession to the throne. And, of course, going down the Nile, he could not help but notice these majestic structures on the left bank. As the inscription goes on to say, at Heliopolis he “stood alone before the sanctuary. He broke the seals of the castles and opened the gates... I saw my father Ra in the sacred house of the Pyramidion, enjoyed the view of the Morning Boat of Ra and the Evening Boat of Amun.” Having accomplished all this, the pharaoh returned to Napata. After this, about two hundred pyramids were built in three regions of Nubia, which served as tombs for the kings and queens of Napata and Meroe. The first group of these pyramids was built in the town of El-Kurru. Here are the tombs of King Kashta and his son Piye, the heirs of Pyanhi pharaohs Shabaka, Shabataki and Tanuetemani, as well as the pyramids of 14 queens. All of them were built at Nuri, in Upper Nubia, on the west bank of the Nile. 21 rulers and 52 queens are buried in this necropolis. The oldest and largest pyramid here belongs to the Napatan king and pharaoh of the XXV dynasty Taharqa. However, the largest and most famous complex of Nubian pyramids is located at Meroe, between the 5th and 6th cataracts of the Nile, approximately 100 km north of the modern capital of Sudan, Khartoum. During the Merovite kingdom, about forty kings and queens were buried in this “field of the pyramids.”
Nubian pyramids different from the Egyptian ones. In Nubia they are rough steps made of horizontally laid stone blocks and range in height from approximately six to 30 m. All of them, despite their significance and purpose of construction, are quite primitive. The only thing that is striking is the number of these pyramids and, so to speak, the “density of development.” They cannot cause anything but grief for archaeologists, since they were all plundered in ancient times. True, from the wall bas-reliefs one can judge that their royal inhabitants were mummified after death, decorated with a lot of jewelry and placed in wooden sarcophagi. Thus, it can be said with high probability that the Nubian pyramids definitely served as tombs for deceased rulers. 
Story
The Nubian pyramids south of Egypt are often seen as an attempt by the Nubians to keep up with the Egyptians, an attempt that failed. But the 223 pyramids of ancient Nubia double the number of pyramids in Egypt. They are small in size; Skeptics may argue that the Nubians took quantity, not quality. In the 20th century, British author Basil Davidson described Meroe, home to many Nubian pyramids, one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. Unfortunately, all the graves in Meroe were plundered; the most famous was the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini, who, in search of treasure in 1834, smashed the tops of 40 pyramids. Upon his return to Europe, Ferlini tried to sell the treasures from Queen Amanishakheto's pyramid, which included exquisite gold amulets, signet rings and necklaces. Collectors did not imagine that such treasures could come from black Africa; they thought they were fakes. Indeed, they were fine jewels of high quality, often with traces of the influence of Greek art; buyers did not expect to find, deep in the heart of Africa, examples of art that were on par with Egyptian or ancient Greek. However, Ferlini found only one cache of gold, and it is not surprising that today in Sudan he is not very fond of being remembered. 
There were three Kushite kingdoms: the first was called Kerma, as the capital of the same name, and existed from 2400 to 1500 BC. BC.; the second was Napata (1000-300 BC) and the third was Meroe (300 BC - 300 AD). The Nubians were initially influenced by their northern neighbors, and eventually the Nubian tribes were able to conquer Egypt, with the king of Napata reigning as the pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty until the Assyrian conquest in 656 BC. Although the Nubian kingdoms must have known about the pyramids that rose in the Nile Valley far to the north, it was not until their reign in Egypt that the royal sites of the kingdom of Napata and its successor Meroe directly in Nubia were associated with the construction of the pyramids. The fact that the kings of Nubia saw Egyptian monuments is known from the records of Pharaoh Pi. After conquering most of Egypt, Pi planned to travel to Heliopolis to worship the sun god and celebrate his coronation as Pharaoh of Egypt before returning to Napata.
The first rows of Nubian pyramids were built at the site of el-Kurru and included the tombs of King Kasht and his son Pi, along with Pi's successors Shabaka, Shabataka and Tanwetamani, and the pyramids of 14 queens. The Pyramids of Napata are located at Nuri, on the west bank of the Nile in Upper Nubia. This cemetery was the burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes. The oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of King Napata and 25th Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa. But the largest and most famous site of the Nubian pyramids is Meroe, which lies between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, about 100 kilometers north of Khartoum, the modern capital of Sudan. More than forty kings and queens of the state of Meroe are buried in this pyramid field.
Pyramids of Nubia differ from Egyptian structures: they are built from stepped rows of horizontally placed stone blocks, their height ranges from six to thirty meters; They look pretty unimpressive. What makes them impressive is their quantity, which is also limited to a small area. It's a sad archaeological site - all the pyramids were looted in ancient times, but the wall reliefs preserved in the tombs show how royalty were mummified, covered in jewels and laid to rest in wooden boxes. The Nubian pyramids were definitely burial sites. 
El Kurru
approximately 13 kilometers south of Jebel Barkal was excavated by G. Reisner in 1918-19. The site includes the already mentioned Pyanghi Pyramid, which has a base length of about eight meters and a side slope of approximately 68 degrees - much steeper than the 51 degrees of the Great Pyramid - although eight meters is of course microscopic compared to the bulk of the Great Pyramid. It was the largest pyramid ever built at Nuri and was unique among the pyramids of Nubia in that it was built in two stages. The first pyramid was enclosed in a “case” of smooth sandstone. Drawings and records from the early 19th century describe the top of the inner pyramid being cut away from the top of the collapsed outer pyramid. The outer pyramid was the first of a series of pyramids with stepped rows and straight, even corners. The angle of the sides was approximately 69 degrees. The wall tightly surrounded the pyramid, and 
Reisner was unable to find any trace of the temple. Inside, Reisner found a staircase of 19 steps that led east to the burial chamber. Pyankha's body rested on a bed in the center of the room on a stone bench. The four corners of the bench were cut off to create “legs” so that the stock rested directly on the bench.
This is the final evidence that these pyramids served as tombs, but it is the Nuri pyramid that has the most complex structure built. King Taharqa was the first to build his pyramid in this place, and his pyramid-tomb was quite impressive by Nubian standards: 51.75 meters in area and about 40 - 50 meters in height. The entrance along the eastern staircase north of the pyramid's central axis emphasized the alignment of the original, smaller pyramid. Three steps led to a framed doorway that led into a tunnel that widened into a vestibule with a vaulted ceiling. Six massive pillars carved from natural rock divided the burial chamber into two side aisles and a central nave, each with a vaulted ceiling. The entire chamber was surrounded by a moat-like corridor, with steps leading down from the entrance hall doorway. The age of the Nubian pyramids is much younger than the Egyptian examples. And this is precisely the intrigue of this architectural splash. But, perhaps unlike Egypt, it was directly related to the economy of Nubia. As Roman wealth declined, so did the demand for Meroe's luxury goods. At the same time, the trade route from Meroe along the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean was lost due to the dominance of its neighbor, the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum. Around 350 AD, the army of the Aksumite king Ezana invaded the island of Meroe. By that time, the capital had already been abandoned, and the area was in the hands of the people whom the Aksumite people called the Noba. 
In 350 AD The era of the Pyramids on the Nile is truly over. The Pyramid Wandering of the Nubian Kings seems to represent a method of unifying their nation with the Egyptians who immediately preceded it, around 600 BC. abandoned the construction of the pyramids. It is obvious that the pyramids of Nubia were tombs. As in Egypt, the pyramid tombs are only one aspect of a larger whole in which the kings of Nubia fanned the flames of ancient Egypt. The key again seems to lie in the involvement of the priests of Heliopolis, people who have generally been identified as the bearers of knowledge of the original Pyramid Age. We can state that the building of the pyramid was the specific prerogative of the clergy of Heliopolis; temples were the primary purview of the priests of Amon, who rose to the height of their influence on life in ancient Egypt during the Middle and New Kingdoms, when the capital moved to Thebes/Luxor. It seems that with the Nubian invasion - which was largely only possible due to the decline of Theban/Luxor power - the clergy of Heliopolis rose again. 
Excavations at many of Napata's sanctuaries, especially Jebel Barkal, have shown that temples were built directly on the foundations of the destroyed New Kingdom temples of Amon. Around 1450 BC, the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III expanded his domain to Jebel Barkal and established this point as the southern border of his empire. The city he founded was called Napata. The Egyptians remained in the area for about 300 years. By restoring old Egyptian cult sites, especially Jebel Barkal, the kings of Nubia presented themselves both in Nubia and especially in Thebes as the true successors of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom and direct heirs to their throne. Taharqa not only created the most complex pyramid, he also transformed the Barkal site into a cultic stage for the celebration of the past, present and eternal monarchy, for endless worldwide repose. Why here? Due to the reverse flow of the Nile in this place, Taharqa’s grave, although located on the “western” bank, paradoxically lies in the east, welcoming the sunrise and the rebirth of the world. Jebel Barkal on the “eastern” bank lies, oddly enough, in the west, in the places of sunset and death.
An important question is why the pyramid area surrounds Jebel Barkal. The first explanation is purely economic: this place is the ideal crossing point of the Nile and the trade route crossing the desert from Kawa to Meroe. The second explanation is of a religious nature. The sacred Mount Barkal, 74 meters high, is made of sandstone and has a flat top. From the west it looks like a royal Egyptian ureus, crowned with a white crown. For the ancient Egyptians, this site was clearly marked by the Creator God, who sculpted the mountain indicating its royal, sacred purpose. From the east, the mountain resembles a snake with a solar disk on top. The interaction of the grave and the mountain thus simultaneously represented in symbolic form the acts of creation, death and rebirth, and Jebel Barkal under Taharqa finally acquired the status of a permanent royal center in the Nile Valley. Here the eternal connection was carried out between Atum-Ra, the creator god, and Humanity, between the eternal king and the living king. Therefore, we find in Nubia, in the pyramids and the very sites on which they were built, numerous symbolism with a much broader meaning than just the funerary aspect - these places were directly associated with the kingship. And they also correspond to the “Pyramid Pattern”.
September 28th, 2016
We all know about the famous and great pyramids of the Giza Valley. But it turns out there are also numerous, but less publicized pyramids.
Meroe is a prominent tourist attraction in Sudan and has a lot to offer tourists. About 200 pyramids are located in ancient place burial places of the kings of the kingdom of Kush. These structures are much smaller than the Egyptian Pyramids, but their number is amazing. They were created from sandstone blocks with a steeper slope than Egyptian structures. Unfortunately, treasure hunters destroyed many of the pyramids of Meroe in the 19th century.
Let's find out more about them...
The history of Nubia, the vast region in the Nile Valley that today occupies modern Sudan, is almost always a story of rivalry with its more ancient and powerful neighbor to the north, Egypt. IN different time on the territory of Nubia there were three Kushite kingdoms: the most ancient, Kerma, appeared in 2600 BC, lasting until 1520 BC; the second was the kingdom of Napata (from 1000 to 300 BC) and the third, most famous, was Meroe (300 BC to 300 AD).
The desire of the Nubians to become more powerful than Egypt at all costs led to the fact that King Kashta, the ruler of Napata, in 770 BC. conquered most of Egypt's territory, but only his son, Pharaoh Pi, managed to truly rule the conquered lands.
This period in the history of Nubia and Egypt is known as the reign of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, which ended with the arrival of the Assyrians in 656 BC. It was then that the first Nubian pyramids were built at the el-Kurru site, and King Kashta became the first ruler to be buried inside a pyramid in eight hundred years. From his tomb the construction of 223 Nubian pyramids began, stretching over several centuries.
In addition to King Kasht and his son Pi, several of their successors and fourteen queens were buried in the pyramids of el-Kurru. In the capital of the kingdom of Napata, the city of Nuri, ancient builders erected the largest pyramid - the tomb of Pharaoh Taharq. By Nubian standards, its size was huge: almost 52 square meters. meters at the base and more than 40 meters in height. In total, 21 kings, 52 princes and queens found their final refuge in the Nuri pyramids. Their bodies were placed in massive granite sarcophagi, some weighing more than fifteen tons.
However, the most big number pyramids concentrated on the territory of Central Sudan, in Meroe, which today is considered one of the largest archaeological sites. More than forty queens and kings rested here, and each royal tomb was covered with a separate pyramid.
The historical region in the middle reaches of the Nile - from Aswan in the north to the Sudanese city of Dabba in the south - is commonly called Nubia. This name most likely comes from the ancient Egyptian word “nubu”, which means “gold”. The low rocky mountains adjacent to the Nile really abound in gold-bearing quartz, from which they learned to extract the precious metal in ancient times.
For the ancient Egyptians, Nubia with its narrow coastal valley was a kind of “gateway to Africa.” When the Egyptian state experienced periods of prosperity, the pharaohs captured Nubia; when Egypt weakened, the Nubians rebelled and regained independence. In the 8th-7th centuries BC, the Nubians themselves even formed the 25th dynasty of rulers of Egypt and ruled the country for half a century.
Excavations in the Mussawarat el-Sufra valley helped scientists lift the veil of secrecy over history ancient state Meroe - once vast and powerful. Many discoveries were made here, in particular, the pyramids of the rulers of Kush were excavated and explored, although they were robbed already in time immemorial; found complex underground passages which led to the tombs of the queens...
The English historian B. Davidson described this city, little studied even today: “In Meroe and the surrounding areas, the ruins of palaces and temples have been preserved, representing the product of a civilization that flourished more than 2000 years ago. And around the ruins, still preserving their former grandeur, lie the burial mounds of those who created these palaces and temples... Walls of red basalt, dotted with mysterious writings; fragments of bas-reliefs made of white alabaster that once adorned magnificent fortresses and temples; shards of painted pottery, stones that have not yet lost their bright patterns - all these are traces of a great civilization. Here and there, sadly abandoned granite statues of Amun-Ra stand... and the desert wind blows clouds of brown-yellow sand over them.”
The first centuries in the history of Kush were associated with Egyptian rule: royal house, aristocrats and priests largely adopted Egyptian customs and fashions, although, according to I. Mozheiko, these foreign traditions hardly penetrated deeply into Cushitic society. Not only was it ethnically different from Egypt, but the occupations of its population were different: the Nubians were not connected to the river, like the Egyptians to the Nile, most of their territory was a savannah, where they raised cattle.
Around 800 BC, the weak pharaohs of the XXII Egyptian dynasty were forced to grant independence to Kush. The capital of the state was the city of Napata - the center of the cult of the god Amun, whom the Kushites depicted in the form of a ram. After some time, the Kushite kings themselves began to move north, and they also fought in the southern nomes of Egypt. Row conquests began King Piankhi, who showed himself to be a skilled commander: he found weak spots in defense of the enemy, he entered into alliances with the nomarchs who were at war with each other, not forgetting to honor the Egyptian priests.
Having won Egyptian pharaoh, Kushite king and founded the XXV, “Ethiopian” dynasty. However, their rule in Egypt was soon interrupted by the Assyrians, armed with iron spears and swords, against which the bronze and stone weapons of the Egyptians and Kushites were powerless. However, the Assyrians did not pursue them up the Nile, and thus the Cushites retained their independence.
For a millennium and a half, the yellow sands of the desert hid the ruins of the city of Meroe, the capital of the mysterious Nubian “kingdom of Meroe.” The Greeks and Romans learned about this city in the 1st millennium BC, when Meroe became the capital of Nubia instead of Napata, located to the north. However, to the questions: “Why was the capital moved? When exactly did this happen and what is the previous history of the city itself? - ancient historians do not give an answer. Only crumbs of information about Meroe were brought to us by the works of Roman and Greek writers. It is known, for example, that the territory of the city of Meroe was called the “island of Meroe,” which was shaped like a shield. On maps it was depicted as a round piece of land, surrounded on all sides by tributaries of the Nile.
Embassies were sent from Meroe to Rome several times, but envoys and merchants reported to the Romans only fragmentary information about their distant homeland. It is also known that Emperor Nero in the 1st century sent his officers to Nubia, who managed to penetrate “beyond Meroe.” Data received by intelligence officers famous geographer and the natural scientist Pliny the Elder reproduced in his work “ Natural history" In it, he, in particular, reports on the mysterious queens ruling Nubia with the “hereditary name” of Kandaka; about the temple located in the city, dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Amun. With obvious surprise, Pliny notes the small size of the city, and then follows a very remarkable phrase: “However, this island, when the Ethiopians achieved statehood, enjoyed great fame; they say that he could field 250,000 soldiers and gave shelter to four thousand artists."
The first European to discover the ruins of Meroe was Frédéric Caillot, who published illustrations of the ruins in 1821. Karl Lepsius explored the ruins in more detail in 1844, bringing a detailed plan and some ancient finds to Berlin. Excavations and restoration of the ruins of Meroe continue to this day.
Back in 1822, in the place where Meroe was supposed to be located, scientists discovered ruins big city. But it was difficult to say with complete confidence that this was Meroe, since not a single ancient author indicated the exact boundaries of this kingdom. Only a century later it was possible to establish that Meroe, mentioned by ancient authors, was located on the right bank of the main channel of the Nile - in the territory that is limited from the southwest by the blue Nile, and from the northeast by the Atbara River. True, this territory is not round in shape (as was thought in ancient times), but square.
In the early 1920s, archaeologists explored only the royal tombs and temples, and only in the middle of the 20th century did systematic and systematic excavations begin on the territory of Meroe. For centuries, sand hid the history of the ancient kingdom, but it also preserved it for us.
In the spring of 1960, a German archaeological expedition worked in the hot sands of the Nubian Desert. When scientists led by Professor F. Hinze arrived in the Mussawarat el-Sufra valley, they saw that only the tops of columns and stone blocks scattered in disorder were sticking out among the sea of sand. However, already during test excavations, scientists discovered the ruins of temples, tombs and some other structures.
Then work began in the “Temple of the Lions,” which was named so because of the statue of the sacred lion located in it. Here, archaeologists discovered cartouches depicting King Arnekamani, whom they consider the founder of the “Temple of Lions.” A large number of inscriptions, drawings and relief images that decorated the stone blocks from which this ancient temple was made have also been preserved. No wonder the name of the valley is translated as “Place decorated with images.”
The “Temple of Lions” in Meroe, dedicated to the lion-headed god of war and fertility Apedemak, according to F. Hinze, was destroyed by some sudden catastrophe, so during its reconstruction scientists had to fit multi-ton stone blocks one to another. When the work was completed, a magnificent rectangular structure appeared before them, almost completely covered with relief images and inscriptions. On one of the reliefs, the god Apedemak is depicted with a bow in his hand, leading a captive on a rope.
Particularly impressive are the grandiose reliefs up to 15 meters long, depicting the king and the crown prince in front of the god Apedemak, as well as the statues of lions that once greeted everyone entering the temple. In terms of their artistic execution, these reliefs and statues are in no way inferior to Egyptian or Babylonian-Assyrian ones, so Pliny’s words about “four thousand artists” were apparently not far from reality. Inside the Temple of the Lions, a lot of sheet gold was found, which, according to scientists, covered the internal columns of the temple.
30 kilometers from Meroe lie the majestic ruins of the palace of one of the rulers of Kush. German archaeologists also examined the “khafir” - a round reservoir for collecting rainwater. This gigantic cistern, with a diameter of about 250 and a depth of up to 10 meters, could provide water for at least 300,000 people. "Hafir" was lined with stone and surrounded by a fortress wall. Scientists have suggested that it was located inside a fortified shelter so that in the event of a long siege such a precious supply of water could be preserved. While exploring the area around the “khafir”, German archaeologists also discovered a water supply network - canals and stone underground pipes. The remains of an irrigation system show that around the palace there were cultivated fields, and green trees provided shade and coolness to the stone terraces.
Some scientists believe that Meroe became the capital of the Kushite kingdom back in the 4th century BC. However, I. Mozheiko suggested that this happened only at the turn of our era, based on the fact that by this time the tombs of the queen goddesses began to be built in Meroe , not in Napata. He believes that perhaps one of the reasons for the transfer of the capital was the desert, which was moving closer and closer to Napata.
However, there are other versions on this matter. For example, since the time of Pliny, it was believed that in Nubia during its heyday the Egyptian religion dominated and the priests of the god Amun enjoyed special influence. The oracles of this god in Napata were even called the “highest state authority”, since it depended on them final decision many government issues.
Inscriptions and reliefs from the "Temple of the Lions", built between 235 and 221 BC, showed that Meroe's heyday was associated with the cult of the god Apedemak. In relation to him, all other gods, even Egyptian ones, occupied a subordinate position. Thus, behind the “rivalry” between the gods Amun and Apedemak, very real social relationships were hidden. Therefore, scientists have suggested that the movement of the Kushite capital from Napata to Meroe is associated with the struggle against the priests of the god Amun, and a sign of this struggle was the exaltation of the cult of the national god Apedemak.
Evidence of the close relationship between ancient cultures - the great Egypt and the Meroitic kingdom - was discovered in the north of Sudan. In the dry Nubian Desert, archaeologists have unearthed 35 pyramids built approximately two thousand years ago.
Since 2009, specialists from the French Section of the Directorate on Antiquities of Sudan have been studying the unusual necropolis of the ancient African civilization of Kush, Egypt's southern neighbor.
Less is known about the history of the country of Kush or the Meroitic kingdom than about the homeland of the great pyramids, but historians have no doubt: Egypt had a tremendous influence on the culture of the Kushites.
The necropolis, discovered at a site called Sedeinga, is a group of small pyramid tombs located unusually close to each other. Archaeologists were surprised when, according to the results of excavations in 2011, on an area of 500 square meters 13 stone buildings were found.
“The density of the pyramids is explained by for a long time existence of the cemetery: the construction process lasted hundreds of years and, when there was very little space left, burials began to take place in the voids between the structures,” says anthropologist Vincent Francigny from the American Museum of Natural History.
It is curious that the size of the tombs is not the same. Thus, the width of the base of the largest is 7 meters, and the smallest, presumably intended for a child, is only 75 centimeters.
A tablet was found at one of the graves. The inscription in the Meroitic language on the tablet contains an appeal to Osiris and his wife and sister Isis on behalf of a certain woman named Aba-la with a request to give her water and bread.
In general, the influence of Egypt is also observed in the nature of the construction of the tombs: they represent a kind of synthesis Egyptian pyramids and presumably local method construction of mounds - tumuli.
Moreover, in one of the pyramids the inner circular masonry is made entirely of brick. Only one similar structure had previously been discovered among the Kushites.
As for the external decorative decoration of the pyramids, it has practically not been preserved. Experts say that the tombs were covered with facing stone, and the tops were decorated with images of a solar globe, birds and lotus flowers.
By the time archaeologists reached the pyramids, many burial chambers had been looted, leaving up to today the only treasure is human remains.
