Things to see and do Nile Province ولاية نهر النيل

Entry 20 SDG. We must maginer what Frédéric Cailliaud had to feel about these pyramids, almost 200 years ago! At that time, they were in better condition and still had their summit. Let's say at the outset that the site of Merowe is Exceptional and that it retains a colourful environment and environment different from those that can be found in Egypt. The grey (very) gray stone and the orange (very) orange orange highlight its singular character. However, these pyramids, which were originally more than 200 copies in the region, do not have the dimensions of their great Egyptian sisters. They are different. More pentues, filled with embankment (the burial chamber is underneath and not in), and with a chapel adorned with tower towers, east oriented and is supposed to lead, via a false door, to the last resting place of the deceased, or the deceased. Because the candaces, these mythical queens of Merowe, were also entitled to their personal pyramid. The dead, in Egyptian fashion, were represented in the form of the Bâ bird, which had their head.

By visiting the various chapels, don't miss to observe the little marvels of bas-reliefs inspired by the Book of the Dead. As, for example, the only Sudanese representation of the soul, where the heart of the sovereign is placed on the balance and compared with the pen of Mâat, under the gaze of Anubis and Osiris… If you are passionate (and you have time) know that there is a pyramid whose height of angle has the hieroglyphic name d'Amun, another with, on an exterior wall of its chapel, a model of the angle used by architects to build these buildings, and one with the representation of a grape cluster and a jar, some of which bad languages say it was a boss to draw rich queens!!

Pyramids, there are many styles. First in stairs, in the south, they become smooth to the north. Archaeologists have reconstituted some of them in anastylose, giving a good idea, with their cream colour foam coating, what to look like the site originally. It should be noted that there are historically several necropolises in the region. The oldest (and the oldest), which probably dates from the beginning of the kingdom of Merowe, towards the th century BC, is located more west of the main site, near the Nile and above all the former royal city (see below). You will also notice, on the main site, several more remote pyramids in the southeast. Those that are aligned along the ridge, these pyramids that are seen by far from the road, are the most "recent" and in better condition.

The last thing about summits. The elements are not solely responsible for their disappearance! In 1834, Giuseppe Ferlini, an Italian fighter fighter, had the idea of ététer the pyramids with dynamite, believing that he would find thousand riches there. After he had massacred many, to the point that many seem to be about to collapse, one confirmed his hopes. That of Queen Amanishakheto, now known for her "treasure".

The site is more than 500 m from the road. Temple merchants sell souvenirs but you won't find any groceries. So think about bringing water and food. Sands will certainly invite you to climb on their camels (sorry, we don't know "dromadairiers"). An original experience on an extraordinary site! But that will not be free. Get ready to negotiate if you are interested.

For photos, if you are on the site at the sunrise, think of climbing one of the hills to the east to get a remarkable overview. In the evening, the orange light is simply magic.

Entrance 20 SDG. To the west of the road (there is a sign), the ruins of the royal complex on the banks of the Nile must have been the center of the capital. It is now overgrown with acacia trees, and it is difficult to imagine its importance at the time of its heyday, when it probably housed more than 20,000 inhabitants. Apart from a few archaeological tells, there remain the remains of a temple of Amun (still identified by ram statues at the entrance), the bases of a temple of the Lion (a little outside the city, as it should be), but above all the more substantial remains of royal baths. Could these baths be the "fountains of youth" to which, according to Herodotus, the Meroians owed their supposed longevity?

Excavations on the site have brought to light a bronze head of the Roman emperor Augustus. It originally came from Egypt where, in 23 BC, the Romans were battling a Nubian revolt in the south, where they wanted to establish themselves. The Roman troops confronted those of Meroe and even razed the city of Napata, the former Kushite capital. In revenge, the head of a statue of Augustus was taken from Egypt and brought back to Meroe, where it was placed under the step of a palace door: thus Augustus was symbolically "trampled"!

Although the entrance is not free, it is interesting to visit a site that lives in the shadow of the postcard pyramids. Note that the ghaffir keeps the key of the baths.

Admire an Egyptian-inspired temple and a Roman-Roman amphitheatre with an arid savannah decor is not banal… This all the more so since neither the Egyptians nor the Greeks or the Romans built these buildings. It was the charm of the Méroïtique civilization that had been able to combine a large number of cultural influences.

The two buildings are behind barbed wire. The presence of many animals due to the close of the well may not be foreign.

The booth, whose utility remains discussed, is characterized by Egyptian lintels, interspersed with uraeus, corinthians capitals and Roman arches. Lions are visible on the top of the windows inside. Because the whole place is dedicated to the lion, the lion god Apademak. The temple behind the entrance tower shows a well-known scene of the egyptologists. The sovereign and his triumphant wife, about to decapitate a group of enemies at their mercy. It is King Natakamani and Queen Amanitore, observed by Horus, the eagle, and especially the god-creator Amun, to which their names refer (Aman-, -Amani). Lions devour prisoners at their feet… On the side of the tower, the asks master is represented with an emerging snake from a lotus. The bas-reliefs surrounding the temple are superb. On the west side, a strange Apademak with three heads and four arms surprise at the center of the scene. The inspiration seems frankly Indian… But how? By approaching, it is also noted that both hands of the sides of the underside are represented with the thumb and the related index, in the same way as those… from the Buddha. Inside the wall on the left, we end up breaking the Egyptian canons by representing a three-quarters deity, with a beard sealed! This is undoubtedly a Greek or Persian god…

But where one thinks of being in the middle of nowhere in Africa, what emotion to feel the presence etched in the stone of the culture of distant countries… This may already be the globalization old sauce!

In the east of the grand hall, you can see the temple of the Lion, dedicated to the god Apademak, with the lion head. It is a purely local deity that does not exist in Egypt. Although the whole is inspired by Egyptian culture, you can be able to note the details that highlight the bas-reliefs. First of all, elephant procession, frequently represented animals. The presence of griffins, as can be observed in the ruins of Persepolis in Iran, the heir country of the great Persian Empire of the ancient world. Also, the proportions of characters are different from those of their Egyptian counterparts, especially nubiennes queens. They are distinguished by their stéatopygie, that is, their generous butt, a symbol of fertility and beauty, particularly in Africa. Outside on the west wall, you will see here too, as in the grand enclosure, that the bas-reliefs have not been finished. Why? Mystery…

The temple was rebuilt in the 1960 s from the stone blocks surrounding the temple. The reconstituted ceiling is probably identical to the one that was there two thousand years ago.

For the entire site, do not forget the 20 regulatory guinées to give to the ghaffir, the guardian of the site, which will open the door of the temple.