Cherry on the cake or, rather, cobra on the mountain. This place, classified on the UNESCO World Heritage List, was the most sacred of ancient Nuba (jebel Barkal means "Sacred Mountain" in Arabic) and it still breathes an enchanting atmosphere of eternity. Admittedly, the glorious remains of Napata are no longer enough to fully evoke the golden age of this city, which was the Nubia religious-religious centre for several centuries (it probably maintained its status as religious capital in the méroïtique period). But one can understand, between mountains and Nile, why Nubian and Egyptians were fascinated by this site, dominated by what they took for the symbol of the power of the pharaohs of the Two Kingdoms, a big rock spur pretending to watch the Nile river like a built cobra. Uraeus was indeed the female cobra intended to protect majestic dynasties, a dynasties that each representative wore on his crown-cap. First Europeans had initially thought, aided by the descendants of the Koushites who became Muslims, that the piton had been cut in statue by a pharaoh or god. But if we now know that the name of Taharqa was at the top on one of its walls (the inscription was, on the one hand, decorated with a gold plate to make it visible from the ground), the piton of jebel Barkal probably always had that shape. The representation of the jebel was found in the temple of Abu Simbel. The peak remains impressive. As to emphasize its mystical character, it is positioned to be lit by the sun almost all day.Today, outside the mountain itself, there is still little evidence of this distant past. Ruins and foundations of palaces and temples, in the arc of circle around Jebel Barkal side Nile, are the most visible, especially from the top of the mountain. Once down, let's take a walk in the nearby museum for an overview.

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Pictures and images Le Djebel Barkal جبل بركل

Pyramides de la nécropole royale sur le site de Djebel Barkal. Tom Pepeira - Iconotec
Djebel Barkal. Marc GOUTALIER
Pyramides du Djebel Barkal. Marc GOUTALIER

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