The Pyramids And Temples of the Napatans

"One theory is that these are the tombs of bad kings who were told to commit suicide by the priest" explained Rasheed. It was the least plausible theory for a group of remarkably intact pyramids, but the most intriguing. Perhaps the philosophy could be applied to modern day politics. 'The gods are displeased with your foreign policy. Here's the poison, Prime Minister, you know what to do.'

The desert had done its magic once again and we'd travelled forward in time, to a period between 800 and 300BC when the second Kushite empire had its capital (until 591BC) and royal necropolis at Napata. The city, which no longer exists, was located a short distance from Jebel Barkal, an isolated flat-topped, red sandstone mountain that rises 200 metres from the desert floor and can be seen for miles around. Meaning 'holy mountain', Jebel Barkal has a freestanding pinnacle at one end that, with an incredibly vivid imagination or lots of illegal booze, resembles a rearing cobra head, the symbol of Pharaohs. The mountain was believed to be the home of the Egyptian god, Amun, and the ruins of a large temple dedicated to him lie at the base. Leading up to the entrance are a couple of granite rams, the only remaining pair of the herd that once lined an avenue that led down to a pier on the Nile. They looked a little lost amongst the acres of sand. Their bodies and heads are badly misshapen through erosion, and in a few years you could imagine them disappearing altogether.

Alter Table

The mountain has always been a special place, perhaps because it is one of the few features in this flat, empty land. The Amun temple is the oldest evidence of worship there, having been built in the 15th century BC by the Egyptian King, Thutmose III, the grandson of the Pharaoh who destroyed Kerma.  The complex was added to by later Pharaohs until their power waned. Then, centuries later, its ownership by the Kushites (who resurrected the worship of Amun) gave legitimacy to their claim to be the true representatives of Egyptian traditions. The Kushites took to their adopted role with zeal and their king Kashta captured Thebes (Egypt's then capital), proclaimed himself Pharaoh and established the 25th dynasty that ruled over both countries for nearly a century. During their rule, the temple was expanded  to its final size of 150m long, making it the biggest Kushite temple ever.

The ruins of a couple of smaller temples are beside it, including the Temple of Mut (Amun's misses) that goes back into the mountain itself. Little remains outside except for some foundations and two columns, with the cow-eared face of the goddess Hathor carved on the capitals. However, inside the mountain are two chambers covered in paintings and hieroglyphics. Our torchlight picked up the still vivid colours despite being part obliterated by mildew and the smut of fires from later residents.

On the opposite side of Jebel Barkal are the pyramids. Only around 20 survive. Some are just piles of rubble but a group of five are nearly intact and stand up to 13m tall, like giant chunks of Toblerone. Unfortunately the tombs underneath have been badly destroyed, so nothing is known about their original occupants. 

The Nubian Pharohs

Jebel Barkal's pyramid site is thought to be the last of three royal necropoli of the Napatan kings. The second is only a short drive away at Nuri. There we saw over 50 royal pyramids, several of which are still in good condition. And there wasn't another tourist in sight - a lovely feature of Sudanese historical sites. The oldest and biggest pyramid (29m square at the base) belonged to King Taharqa, the greatest of the black Pharaohs of the 25th Dynasty who expanded his empire to the edges of Libya and Palestine. We had seen his statue in the National Museum, the museum at Kerma (along with six of the other seven black Pharaohs) and a damaged one abandoned by the fields of granite boulders near Tombos. Unfortunately his pyramid is one of the more dilapidated ones. However, the UAE have recently donated funds for further excavation and restoration work, so who knows what the site might look like in ten years.





From Nuri we headed to the oldest Napatan royal necropolis at El Kurru. This site has hundreds of tombs, many of kings and queens, but very little else above ground. The pyramids have almost disappeared - they have crumbled away or been recycled for building materials - and it's hard to imagine its former glory. Two of the tombs are open to the public, and if you're happy to wait in the blistering midday sun for half an hour while the guardian finishes his breakfast (like we did), then you can see inside. It was worth the wait. The paintings and colours were as good as some of those we'd seen in Egypt's Valley Of The Kings. One of the paintings was of King Kanwetamani (Taharqa's successor) having his heart weighed in front of a heavenly judge. If it was lighter than a feather then he'd been a good king. Sure enough, the next optimistic painting showed the heart floating away, allowing him to pass on to the afterlife. Just as well. If he hadn't been good, he may have had a priest knocking on his door with a bottle of poison!