MegalithFringe site
Meroë
Also known asMeroe · Ahramat Bagrawiya
Datedc. 2500–150 BCE*
Photo Dorieo · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Meroë (also Meroe; Arabic Ahramat Bagrawiya) is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile in Sudan, about 6 km (3.7 mi) north-east of the Kabushiya station, which is 35 km (22 mi) north-east of Shendi and about 200 km north-east of Khartoum. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries from around 590 BC until the kingdom's collapse in the 4th century AD.
The site is marked by more than two hundred pyramids in three groups, many of them in ruins, which have the distinctive size and proportions of Nubian pyramids.
Read on Wikipedia3 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
Sources disagree on the age of this site
Sources do not agree on how old this site is. Each claim is listed with where it comes from; the mainstream reading is marked.
Range across all claimsc. 2500–150 BCE*
EstimatedWhat this badge means
A reading of this site: what its style says, or a statement published about it.
- 250–150 BCEPublished sourceWikidata gives an inception of 200 BCE. It is shown as a 100-year window because a prehistoric date is never a single year (D-08).Source: wikidata.org
- 2500 BCEWikidata inceptionSource: wikidata.org
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Meroë
Meroë lay on the edge of the region of Butana, which was bounded by the Nile, the Atbarah and the Blue Nile.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Near the site is a group of villages called Bagrawiyah. Meroë lay on the edge of the region of Butana, which was bounded by the Nile, the Atbarah and the Blue Nile. Two other Meroitic cities, Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa, lay in Butana. According to partially deciphered Meroitic texts, the native name of the city was Medewi.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
The Kingdom of Kush spanned the period c. 800 BC – c. 350 AD. Its main capital was at first farther north, at Napata. King Aspelta moved the capital to Meroë, possibly c. 591 BC, just after the sack of Napata by the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik II. The location lay between the Fifth and Sixth Cataracts, on the fringe of the summer rainfall belt, in an area rich in iron ore and hardwood, and it gave access to trade routes to the Red Sea.
In the First Meroitic Period (542–315 BC) the seat of government and the royal palace were at Meroë, while the main temple of Amun remained at Napata. The earliest king of the period was Analmaye (542–538 BC) and the last was Nastasen (335–315 BC). From the reign of Arakamani (c. 280 BC) the royal burial ground was transferred to Meroë from Napata (Gebel Barkal). The royal burials formed the Pyramids of Meroë, which contain the remains of kings and queens from c. 300 BC to about 350 AD. In the Third Meroitic Period (270 BC – 1st century AD) the kings were buried in the North Cemetery and the queens in the West Cemetery.
In 23 BC the Roman governor of Egypt, Publius Petronius, invaded Nubia in response to a Nubian attack on southern Egypt, and sacked Napata in 22 BC. A peace treaty was signed in 22 BC between Rome and Meroë under Augustus and Amanirenas, respectively. A looted head from a statue of the emperor Augustus was buried under the steps of a temple in Meroë and is now in the British Museum. In the autumn of 61 AD a party sent by the emperor Nero reached the city of Meroë.
The kingdom began to fade as a power by the 1st or 2nd century AD. In 350 AD Meroë was destroyed by Axum, although archaeological evidence also points to an economic and political decline around 300, and some authorities dispute that the Axumites destroyed the Kingdom of Kush.
ArchaeologySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Excavations have revealed high-ranking Kushite burials of the Napatan Period (c. 800 – c. 280 BC) in the Western Cemetery near the settlement. Many artefacts were found in Meroitic tombs of the Third Meroitic Period. Metalworking is believed to have taken place at Meroë, possibly in bloomeries and blast furnaces. The description of the city as ‘the Birmingham of Africa’, attributed to Archibald Sayce, rests on a view of its iron production that is a matter of debate in modern scholarship.
FolkloreSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
Jewish oral tradition holds that Moses, in his younger years, led an Egyptian military expedition into Kush as far as the city of Meroë, which was then called Saba. This account is legend and is not supported by archaeological evidence cited here.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Other prehistoric stone monuments
The Atlas uses the heading "other" for stone monuments that fit none of its other types, and the same article serves for underground chambers that have no regional article. The records are varied. Many are ziggurats, Egyptian temples and pyramids, and Maya and Andean sites, which are treated in their own articles. What remains is a scatter of single sites in many countries whose descriptions do not allow a closer classification.
Several of these are underground. A hypogeum is literally an "underground" temple or tomb, often with niches for cremated remains or loculi for buried remains. An early example is found at the Minoan Bronze Age site of Knossos on Crete, a beehive-shaped vault cut into soft rock. The Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni in Paola, Malta, is the oldest example of a prehistoric hypogeum, with its earliest phase dated to 3600 to 3300 BCE. It is a complex of underground chambers, halls and passages covering about 500 square metres on three levels, partly carved to imitate temple architecture and containing extensive prehistoric art.
A rock-cut tomb is cut into an existing rock formation, usually a cliff or sloping rock face, and was a common burial form for the wealthy in several parts of the world. Famous clusters are in Egypt, Iran, Lycia in Turkey, Petra in Jordan and Sicily. Phrygian rock-cut tombs such as the Midas monument date to about 700 BCE, and Etruscan ones to about 500 BCE.
The general rule for these records is that the type tells you how a monument was made, not who made it or when. Dating is taken from the source for each site where a source gives one, and otherwise left as a broad range.
When visiting, read the site's own description first, since the Atlas can offer only a general frame.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megalith, Wikipedia: Hypogeum, Wikipedia: Rock-cut tomb, Wikipedia: Stele · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 800 BCE
The Kingdom of Kush spanned the period c. 800 BC – c. 350 AD.
Source - 591 BCE
King Aspelta moved the capital to Meroë, considerably farther south than Napata, possibly c. 591 BC, just after the sack of Napata by Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik II.
Source - 400 BCE
Their textiles were based on cotton and working on this product reached its highest achievement in Nubia around 400 BC.
Source - 300 BCE
The Meroitic language was spoken in Meroë and the Sudan during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BC).
Source - 300 BCE
It was developed in the Napatan Period (c. 700 – 300 BC), and first appears in the 2nd century BC.
Source - 260 BCE
The first king of the period is Arakamani (270–260 BC), the last ruler is Queen Amanitore (mid/late 1st century AD) Many artifacts were found in Meroitic tombs from around this time. Rome's conquest of Egypt led to border skirmishes and incursions by Meroë beyond the Roman borders.
Source - 170 BCE
The earliest inscription in Meroitic writing dates from between 180 and 170 BC.
Source - 23 BCE
In 23 BC, in response to a Nubian attack on southern Egypt, the Roman governor of Egypt, Publius Petronius, invaded Nubia to end the Meroitic raids.
Source - 22 BCE
Roman forces later reclaimed some of the statues, and others were returned following the peace treaty signed in 22 BC between Rome and Meroë under Augustus and Amanirenas, respectively.
Source - 61 CE
The next recorded contact between Rome and Meroë was in the autumn of 61 AD.
Source - 350 CE
In 350 AD Meroë was destroyed by Axum.
Source - 400 CE
It became extinct around 400 AD.
Source - 1821
The site of Meroë was brought to the knowledge of Europeans in 1821 by the French mineralogist Frédéric Cailliaud (1787–1869), who published an illustrated in-folio describing the ruins.
Source - 1905
The best of the reliefs were taken down stone by stone in 1905, and set up partly in the British Museum and partly in the museum at Khartoum.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
250–150 BCEHow this date was established: Stated by the sourceWikidata gives an inception of 200 BCE. It is shown as a 100-year window because a prehistoric date is never a single year (D-08).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Mainstream position
- Meroë is identified as the Kushite capital beside the Nile, with royal cemeteries, palaces, and more than two hundred pyramids.Source: Mainstream position
- Location
- On the east bank of the Nile in SudanSource: Location
- Capital period
- Around 590 BC until the 4th century ADSource: Capital period
- Pyramids
- More than two hundred in three groupsSource: Pyramids
- Meroitic name
- MedewiSource: Meroitic name
- Western Cemetery
- Contains important high-ranking Kushite burials from the Napatan PeriodSource: Western Cemetery
- Aksumite destruction
- Meroë was destroyed by Axum in 350 ADSource: Aksumite destruction
- Inception
- 2nd millennium BCESource: Inception
- Culture
- Ancient EgyptSource: Culture
Alternative claims
Alternative claims about this site, kept in their own block and labelled with where they stand.
Moses led an Egyptian military expedition to Meroë, then called Saba, and subdued the city after a siege in which ibises were released to kill serpents.
Where it stands
Sudan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 16°56′07″ N, 33°45′03″ EFor a GPS or map app: 16.93514, 33.75075
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q5780wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Mortero de granito. Periodo meroítico.jpgDorieoCC BY-SA 4.0
- Barren landscape (34599477395).jpgHans Birger NilsenCC BY-SA 2.0
- Meröe sand dunes (1) (34437338832).jpgHans Birger NilsenCC BY-SA 2.0
- Meröe southern group pyramids (1) (34586525630).jpgHans Birger NilsenCC BY-SA 2.0
- Meroe, Sudan (31445487781).jpgNina R from AfricaCC BY 2.0
- Meroe, Sudan (31414454552).jpgNina R from AfricaCC BY 2.0
- Meroe Bäder1.JPGTrackHDCC BY 3.0
- Meroe Westfriedhof.JPGTrackHDCC BY 3.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tradition
Jewish oral tradition avers that Moses, in his younger years, had led an Egyptian military expedition into Sudan (Kush), as far as the city of Meroë, which was then called Saba.
Jewish oral tradition avers that Moses, in his younger years, had led an Egyptian military expedition into Sudan (Kush), as far as the city of Meroë, which was then called Saba. The city was built near the confluence of two great rivers and was encircled by a formidable wall, and governed by a renegade king. To ensure the safety of his men who traversed that desert country, Moses had invented a stratagem whereby the Egyptian army would carry along with them baskets of sedge, each containing an ibis, only to be released when they approached the enemy's country. The purpose of the birds was to kill the deadly serpents that lay all about that country. Having successfully laid siege to the city, the city was eventually subdued by the betrayal of the king's daughter, who had agreed to deliver the city to Moses on condition that he would consummate a marriage with her, under the solemn assurance of an oath.
Source - Tested: not supported
Moses led an Egyptian military expedition to Meroë, then called Saba, and subdued the city after a siege in which ibises were released to kill serpents.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Meroë" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): MeroëCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q5780CC0