Meroe, pyramids of the Royal Cemetery
Sudan is the third largest country in Africa. It is a federal presidential representative democratic republic with a legal system based on Islamic law, since Islam is the predominant religion. The River Nile divides the country into eastern and western halves. Sudan was home to numerous ancient civilizations, such as the Kingdom of Kush, Kerma, Nobatia, Alodia, Makuria, Meroe and others, most of which flourished along the Nile. During the pre-dynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were identical, simultaneously evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 BC. Because of its proximity to Egypt, the Sudan participated in the wider history of the Near East inasmuch as it was Christianized by the 6th century, and Islamized in the 15th. Sudan is rarely visited by foreigners; yet it offers a wealth of historical treasures and extraordinary landscapes. Not to forget its amazingly welcoming people. The area of Meroe was occupied by the Kushites from around the fall of the 25th Dynasty in Egypt and has been the residence of the king. The 100 pyramids of the Royal Cemetery of Meroe stand alone on a sandy ridge lile a row of broken teeth. Kings and queens were burried there from the 8th century BC until the fall of the Kushite rule in the 4th century AD. While clearly Egyptian in inspiration, the pyramids are quite unlike those at Giza, the most notable difference being the size and pitch: the largest pyramid in Meroe is just under 30m high with an angle approaching 70°. Most of the pyramids have been decapitated by treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini who passed through in 1834. He was convinced that the pyramids contained great riches and struck gold on his first attempt. In the pyramid of Queen Amanishakheto, he found a hoard of gold jewellery in a chamber near the tomb's apex (which is higly unusual as grave goods were usually burried in the tomb chamber beneath the pyramid). Thus inspired, Ferlini laboured on with his destruction only to come up blank. The gold,
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Meroe, Sudan
Photo credit: © François-Olivier Dommergues / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: africa, arab, archeology, archéologie, beautiful, british, desert, desertic, embargo, empire, historical, history, islam, islamic, isolated, meroe, muslim, necropolis, oil, pyramides, pyramids, remote, remoteness, republic, soudan, sudan, ésert
