What ancient kingdom built several temples to the Egyptian god Amun in what is now Sudan and South Sudan?
29014f1f237d3f037a4a077f4e9d2e8a
Kawa (Sudan) Kawa is a site in Sudan, located between the Third and Fourth Cataracts of the Nile on the east bank of the river, across from Dongola. In ancient times it was the site of several temples to the Egyptian god Amun, built by the Egyptian rulers Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun, and by Taharqa and other Kushite kings.
6ad294fa8b7964bc57160ecfaeaf7229
Kingdom of Kush The Kingdom of Kush or Kush ( ) was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, located at the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now Sudan and South Sudan.
5206b1e0e6e454b1bcfa0c2747a8b4b5
Alara of Nubia Alara was a King of Kush who is generally regarded as the founder of the Napatan royal dynasty by his 25th Dynasty Nubian successors and was the first recorded prince of Nubia. He unified all of Upper Nubia from Meroë to the Third Cataract and is possibly attested at the Temple of Amun at Kawa. Alara also established Napata as the religious capital of Nubia. Alara himself was not a 25th dynasty Nubian king since he never controlled any region of Egypt during his reign compared to his two immediate successors: Kashta and Piye respectively. Nubian literature credits him with a substantial reign since future Nubian kings requested that they might enjoy a reign as long as Alara's. His memory was also central to the myth of the origins of the Kushite kingdom which was embellished with new elements over time. Alara was a deeply revered figure in Nubian culture and the first Nubian king whose name has come down to scholars.
42dd3548c31269ff877fc366e7713fa9
Debeira Debeira is an archaeological site in Sudan situated on the eastern bank of the Nile some 20 kilometres north of Wadi Halfa.
4506de6cd9af7387c0d31c5f8277054b
Moab Moab ( ; Moabite: 𐤌𐤀𐤁 "mʾb"; <a href="Arabic%20language">Arabic</a>: مؤاب‎ ‎ "muʾāb"; ; <a href="Ancient%26nbsp%3BGreek">Ancient Greek</a>: Μωάβ "Mōáb"; <a href="Akkadian%20language">Assyrian</a> "Mu'aba", "Ma'ba", "Ma'ab"; <a href="Egyptian%20language">Egyptian</a> "Mu'ab") is the historical name for a mountainous tract of land in <a href="Jordan">Jordan</a>. The land lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by numerous archaeological findings, most notably the Mesha Stele, which describes the Moabite victory over an unnamed son of King Omri of Israel. The Moabite capital was Dibon. According to the Hebrew Bible, Moab was often in conflict with its Israelite neighbours to the west.
9dea1da487769489e97c9a997caa6726
Tabo (Nubia) Tabo is an archaeological mound site in Nubia, Sudan, in what was at one time the Kingdom of Kush. It is located at the southern end of the Argo Island in the Nile, just south of Kerma, approximately 40 km north of Dongola. It draws its name from a small village of the same, which is located near the ruins. Here at Tabo, there was a well preserved Amun temple. It is 75.6 m long and 31 m wide. The first pylon is 40 m wide, the second 35.5 m . Based on these measurements, it is one of the largest Nubian temples. There was a courtyard with columns and a portico below. The temple is now heavily damaged, with local residents using this shrine as a quarry; the temple's stone blocks can be found in many of the neighboring villages.
466151c08e69796d6cf808c3a26f7a9f
Temple of Derr The Temple of Derr or el-Derr is a "speos" or rock-cut Egyptian temple in Lower Nubia. It was built during the 19th Dynasty by Pharaoh Ramesses II. It is the only rock-cut temple in Nubia which was constructed by this pharaoh on the right (or east) bank of the Nile and used to stand at el-Derr. The temple's unique position "was probably because the river on its approach to the Korosko bend flows in an 'unnatural' southeasterly direction." The Derr structure was known in ancient times as 'The "Temple of Ri'amsese-meryamun" [Ramesses II] "in the Domain of Re" ' and was dedicated to the god Ra-Horakhty. Scholars disagree over its precise construction date: the French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal states that it was built in the thirteenth year of Ramesses II, presumably to coincide with his first royal jubilee. In contrast, John Baines and Jaromír Málek write that the temple of Derr "was built in the second half of the king's reign", likely because its "plan and decoration resembles the Great Temple of Abu Simbel (minus the colossal seated statues against the facade)." Abu Simbel was built between Year 24 and Year 31 of Ramesses' reign. According to Joyce Tyldesley, the Temple of Derr was built by Setau, who is known to have served as Ramesses' Viceroy of Kush or Nubia between Year 38 to 63 of this pharaoh's reign.
0705935e13a790869bad040379a2b576
Mirgissa Mirgissa (originally Iken) was a settlement in Northern state, Sudan. Situated at the 2nd cataract, it contained one of the largest fortresses in Nubia. In the time of Thutmose II, 250 to 450 people inhabited the area. The site was first explored by the English geologist Sir Henry George Lyons in 1892, and was excavated by the French Egyptologist Jean Vercoutter from 1962 to 1969. In addition to the fort, excavations uncovered the remains of two cities, one of which was fortified, a northern enclosure, two cemeteries, a boat slide, and a port. Construction of the Aswan High Dam caused the disappearance of Mirgissa, which now lies under the waters of Lake Nubia.
12ca09c75912a8dba054d23c76efe9c6
Amarna Period The Amarna Period was an era of Egyptian history during the latter half of the Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the Aten') in what is now Amarna. It was marked by the reign of Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten (1353–1336 BC) in order to reflect the dramatic change of Egypt's polytheistic religion into one where the sun disc Aten was worshipped over all other gods. Aten was not solely worshipped (the religion was not monotheistic), but the other gods were worshipped to a significantly lesser degree. The Egyptian pantheon of the equality of all gods and goddesses was restored under Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhamun.
512ae259068c26999ae2f65272bb59ce
Taqali Taqali (also spelled Tegali) was a state in the Nuba Hills, in modern-day central Sudan. Unlike the surrounding Kordofan, the uplands of the hills were quite moist and suitable to agriculture and a dense population. The state was centred upon the Taqali Massif the highest part of the hills in the northeast of the region. It early history is unclear. Oral traditions state it was founded many centuries ago at the same time as the Kingdom of Sennar came into being. Some scholars doubts these tales and believes that the state did not come into being until the late eighteenth century (between 1750 and 1780), and that the early rulers on the king list are semi-mythological.
e2da706b56bf6d00a0f407ffb19b4ebf
Karnak king list The Karnak king list, a list of early Egyptian kings engraved in stone, was located in the southwest corner of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, in the middle of the Precinct of Amun-Re, in the Karnak Temple Complex, in modern Luxor, Egypt. Composed during the reign of Thutmose III, it listed sixty-one kings beginning with Sneferu from Egypt's Old Kingdom. Only the names of thirty-nine kings are still legible, and one is not written in a cartouche (a border used normally to surround the name of a king).
392c0db89651a5097bcd8db42f861d58
Temple of Kalabsha The Temple of Kalabsha (also Temple of Mandulis) is an Ancient Egyptian temple that was originally located at Bab al-Kalabsha (Gate of Kalabsha), approximately 50 km south of Aswan. The temple was situated on the west bank of the Nile River, in Nubia, and was originally built around 30 BC during the early Roman era. While the temple was constructed in Augustus's reign, it was never finished. The temple was a tribute to Mandulis (Merul), a Lower Nubian sun god. It was constructed over an earlier sanctuary of Amenhotep II. The temple is 76 m long and 22 m wide in dimension. While the structure dates to the Roman period, it features many fine reliefs such as "a fine carving of Horus emerging from reeds on the inner curtain wall" of the temple. From Kalabsha's "sanctuary chambers, a staircase leads up to the roof of the temple" where one can see a splendid view of the temple itself and the sacred lake. Several historical records were inscribed on the temple walls of Kalabsha such as "a long inscription carved by the Roman Governor Aurelius Besarion in AD 250, forbidding pigs in the temple" as well as an inscription of "the Nubian king Silko, carved during the 5th century and recording his victory over the Blemmyes and a picture of him dressed as a Roman soldier on horseback." Silko was the Christian king of the Nubian kingdom of Nobatia.
0aeba5cace0ac7567cd18901fc73934c
Dotawo Dotawo (Old Nubian: "Lower Dau" or "Daw") was a kingdom that might have existed in the Beja Region of Lower Nubia (Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt) in the Middle Ages. It has long been known that a kingdom by this name is mentioned as existing during the collapse of the Kingdom of Makuria in the thirteenth century. It was reported to be one of the last surviving Christian states in the region.
4c67724047d4083fb4e69261d843b620
History of Sudan The history of Sudan includes both the territory that is today part of the Republic of the Sudan as well as a larger region known by the term "Sudan". The term is derived from Arabic: بلاد السودان‎ ‎ "bilād as-sūdān" "land of the black people", and can be used more loosely of West and Central Africa in general, especially the Sahel.
780381e222af93ebeb19a888b165961c
Imatong State Imatong State is one of the 28 states of South Sudan. It is located in the Equatoria region and it borders Yei River to the southwest, Jubek to the west, Terekeka and Jonglei to the northwest, Boma to the northeast, Namorunyang to the east, and Uganda to the south.
a8468680753b5ee2e929086a3c66b3c5
Helwan Helwan (Arabic: حلوان‎ ‎ "Ḥelwān ", ] , Coptic: ϩⲁⲗⲟⲩⲁⲛ "Halouan"), is a city in Egypt and part of Greater Cairo, on the bank of the Nile, opposite the ruins of Memphis. Originally a southern suburb of Cairo, it served as the capital of the now defunct Helwan Governorate from April 2008 to April 2011, after which it was re-incorporated into the Cairo Governorate. The "kism" of Helwan had a population of 643,327 at the 2006 population census.
62086fea3403fcf06481b82085f947bc
Namorunyang State Namorunyang State is one of the 28 states of South Sudan. It is located in the Equatoria region and it borders Imatong to the west, Boma to the north, and Ethiopia to the east.
77e9dec24e740cedc44c36714adf5011
Alodia Alodia, also referred to as Alwa or Aloa, was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is now Sudan. Its capital was Soba, located near the confluence of the Blue and White Nile. Compared to its two contemporary Nubian kingdoms to the north, Nobatia and Makuria, Alodia is still rather poorly understood. This is mostly due to the scarcity of written sources, as well as the limited amount of fieldwork undertaken in its territory, with the only noteworthy exception being the capital itself. These deficits become especially visible when attempting to reconstruct its political history, which, despite its existence of almost 1,000 years, is virtually unknown.
acc6b6521cc5f8ff63f40840dcdde897
Dendera Temple complex Dendera Temple complex (Ancient Egyptian: "Iunet" or "Tantere"; the 19th-century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni, was Tentyra) is located about 2.5 km south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth Nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos.
50557231ce5191ef030ad5596d348b5f
Precinct of Amun-Re The Precinct of Amun-Re, located near Luxor, Egypt, is one of the four main temple enclosures that make up the immense Karnak Temple Complex. The precinct is by far the largest of these and the only one that is open to the general public. The temple complex is dedicated to the principal god of the Theban Triad, Amun, in the form of Amun-Re.
3dfc7c8e146a3a14c335ef2c81529454
Pyramid of Neferefre The Pyramid of Neferefre, also known as the Pyramid of Raneferef, is an unfinished Egyptian pyramid from the 5th Dynasty, located in the necropolis of Abusir, Egypt. After the early death of Pharaoh Neferefre, the unfinished building was reconstructed into a geometric mastaba, becoming the burial place of the deceased king. Despite the demolition of the actual pyramid, the complex was augmented through extensive construction of temples by Raneferef's successors.
ed181ba9115ebfc7603590dca7517774
Kerma culture The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BCE to 1500 BCE in ancient Nubia, located in Upper Egypt and northern Sudan. The polity seems to have been one of a number of Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BCE, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Around 1500 BCE, it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. By the eleventh century BCE, the more-Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt.