Cult of beauty - Minerva

most of the royal family from the 25 th
dynasty were buried, there are exceptional
wall paintings found in two well
preserved tombs. One is attributed to
Tanwetamani, while the other depicts
the journey of Queen Qalhata, daughter
of Piye, into the afterlife (Fig 6). At
the Jebel Barkal site there are about 20
pyramids (Fig 1), whilst upstream at
Nuri there is another important complex
where Taharqo was buried (Fig 8).
The royal pyramids at Meroe, about
200km to the north-east of Khartoum,
have become a major tourist attraction
(Figs 7, 10). They differ from those at
Giza in many ways: they are smaller,
were constructed more recently,
and while the pyramids of the Old
Kingdom have an inclination of up to
52°, the Meroitic pyramids can be as
much as 81°. The Sudanese pyramids
are also usually located on the east
bank, rather than on the west bank,
of the Nile (with the important exception
of Nuri), and are oriented between
north-east and south.
It is the construction of the pyramids
in Sudan that differs most from
their older Egyptian counterparts.
Sudanese pyramids have an outer shell
of just one or two blocks of stone filled
with rubble. The burial chambers were
cut into the bedrock at the base of the
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Fig 7. Two of the
restored pyramids
at Meroe.
Fig 8. Pyramids at Nuri
– Taharqo was the
first king to build his
tomb here.
Fig 9. Kiosk and Lion
Temple at Naqa.
Fig 10. Erosion and
wind damage show
the weak construction
of the Meroe pyramids
– loose filling with just
one or two rows of
outer blocks.
Fig 11. Procession of
gods from the south
wall of the Lion
Temple at Naqa.
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pyramid, accessed by a staircase leading
down to them. The pyramid was
built over the chamber after the burial.
A chapel was located to the east, and
sometimes a pylon and temenos wall
(Fig 10).
The Italian Guiseppe Ferlini (1800–
70), who discovered the famous ‘Gold
of Meroe’ treasure in 1834 in one of the
burial chambers, is generally cited as
the main destroyer of the Meroe pyramids.
However, there is evidence that
Ferlini might have deliberately written
that he found treasure in the top of
the pyramid to deflect future treasureseekers
from excavating the chambers.
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In the remote area of Musawwarat
es-Sufra, located almost 30km from
the Nile, the Great Enclosure is an
intriguing site comprising a complex
group of buildings, constructed
on terraces and approached by ramps
(Fig 14). It was the presence of the
ramps, together with numerous reliefs
and graffiti of elephants (Fig 12), that
lead one archaeologist to suggest that
elephants were trained at the site for
military and ceremonial purposes.
However, the ramps are rather narrow
and such a possibility has now been
largely discounted. It is still unknown
if the complex was a royal palace, acted
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Minerva May/June 2011