Meroë

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At Meroë, in the Sudan, crumbling pyramids recall the vanished glories of the Kushite kings, who were buried inside them.
At Meroë, in the Sudan, crumbling pyramids recall the vanished glories of the Kushite kings, who were buried inside them.
 Meroë is northeast of Khartoum (center right)
Meroë is northeast of Khartoum (center right)

Meroë is the name of an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile 16.56° N 33.44° E about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, ca. 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site are a group of villages called Bagrawiyah. This city was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries. The Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë gave its name to the "Island of Meroë", which was the modern region of Butana, a region bounded by the Nile (from the Atbarah River to Khartoum), the Atbarah, Ethiopia, and the Blue Nile. The city of Meroë was on the edge of Butana and there were two other Meroitic cities in Butana, Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa. [1]

The site of the city of Meroë is marked by over two hundred pyramids in three groups, of which many are in ruins.

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[edit] History of Meroë

Meroë was the southern capital of the Kushite Kingdom or Napata / Meroitic Kingdom that spanned the period c.800 BC - c. AD 350. Excavations revealed evidence of important, high ranking Kushite burials, from the Napata Period (c.800 BC - c. 280 BC) in the vicinity of the settlement (Western cemetery) The culture of Meroë developed from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, which originmated in Kush.

The town's importance gradually increased from the beginning of the Meroitic Period, especially from the reign of Arrakkamani (c. 280 BC) when the royal burial ground was transferred to Meroë from Napata (Jebel Barkal), under threat from pro-Assyrian Sais in the lower Nile delta.

A famous episode in the history of Meroë is the coming of Alexander the Great with his forces. According to the legend, confronted with the the brilliant military formation of the army led by queen Candace of Meroë, he concluded it would be best to withdraw his forces.

The last period the Meroite city is marked by the victory stele of an unnamed king of Aksum (almost certainly Ezana) erected at the site of Meroë; from his description, in Greek, that he was "King of the Axumites and the Omerites," (i.e. of Aksum and Himyar) it is likely this king ruled sometime around 330. Two more inscriptions in Ge'ez script have been found on nearby pyramids; it is uncertain whether they are contemporary with the royal stele, or belong to a later date; Ge'ez inscriptions have been found as far north as Kawa, 100 km upstream of the third cataract.

Rome's capture of Egypt led to border clashes and expansion by both Meroë and Rome.[1] Meroë usually came off the better, even looting a head from a statue of the emperor Augustus and burying it under their temple steps [2], and so it settled down to a healthy trading relationship with Rome and the Mediterranean.

[edit] Civilization of Meroë

Meroë was the base of a flourishing kingdom whose wealth was due to strong iron industry, plus an international trade involving India and China. At the time, iron was one of the most researched metals worldwide, and Meroitic metalworkers were among the best in the world Meroë was also exporting textiles and jewelry. Textiles was based on cotton, and working on it reached its achievement in Nubia around 400BC. Furthermore, Nubia was very rich in gold. It is supposed that West African people and Bantu got Iron techniques from Meroë. At its peak, Meroitic rulers were even controlling Lake Chad's surroundings (Davidson, 1966).

The King of Meroë was an autocrat ruler who did not share its power, except with the Queen Mother, or Candace. However, the play of the latter remains obscure. The administration consisted of treasurers, seal barrers, heads of archives and chief scribes among others.

Culturally, Meroitic Nubians, trying to make their culture distinct from Egyptians', created a new alphabet consisting of 23 pictures. They also had new deities such as Lion-God Apedemak, but continued worshiping Amun, Egyptian Gods Horus, Thoth, Isis and Satis, although to a lesser extent.

Kushite marriages occurred between cousins much more frequently than in Egypt (Bianchi,1994).

[edit] Archaeology of Meroë

Plan of the North pyramid field at Meroë.
Plan of the North pyramid field at Meroë.

Modern archaeology in Sudan has been impossible because of the on-going civil war. In the 19th century, after the ruins at Meroë had been described by several European travellers, some treasure-hunting excavations were executed on a small scale in 1834 by Giuseppe Ferlini, who discovered (or professed to discover) various antiquities, chiefly in the form of jewelry, now in the museums of Berlin and Munich.

The ruins were examined more carefully in 1844 by Karl Richard Lepsius, who brought many plans, sketches and copies, besides actual antiquities, to Berlin. Further excavations were carried on by E. A. Wallis Budge in the years 1902 and 1905, the results of which are recorded in his work, The Egyptian Sudan: its History and Monuments (London, 1907). Troops were furnished by Sir Reginald Wingate, governor of the Sudan, who made paths to and between the pyramids, and sank shafts, etc.

It was found that the pyramids were regularly built over sepulchral chambers, containing the remains of bodies either burned or buried without being mummified. The most interesting objects found were the reliefs on the chapel walls, already described by Lepsius, and containing the names with representations of queens and some kings, with some chapters of the Book of the Dead; some stelae with inscriptions in the Meroitic language, and some vessels of metal and earthenware. The best of the reliefs were taken down stone by stone in 1905, and set up partly in the British Museum and partly in the museum at Khartoum.

In 1910, in consequence of a report by Archibald Sayce, excavations were commenced in the mounds of the town and the necropolis by J. Garstang on behalf of the University of Liverpool, and the ruins of a palace and several temples were discovered, built by the Meroite kings.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ In 23 BC the Roman governor of Egypt, Petronius, invaded Nubia in response to a Nubian attack on southern Egypt, pillaging the north of the region and sacking Napata (22 BC) before returning north.

[edit] References

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Bianchi, Steven.1994. The Nubians (Connecticut,USA: Millbrook Press)
  • Davidson, Basil .1966. Africa, History of A ContinentPg41-58. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
  • Shinnie, P. L. 1967. Meroe, a civilization of the Sudan (London/New York:Thames and Hudson, series "Ancient People and Places")

[edit] External links