Napata and Meroe
The Kushite Empire grew from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century CE. Napata and Meroe were its most important cities. It’s not clear what the word “Napata” meant exactly, but it probably meant a place rather than a single spot.
There is some evidence of human habitation there during the Kerma Period, but the earliest building remnants are those of a small temple that Ramesses II (1279–1213 BCE) completed after Horemheb (1323–1295 BCE) or Seti I (1294–1279 BCE) had begun construction. Epigraphic evidence, on the other hand, shows that Thutmose III (1479–1425 BCE) built a castle with a shrine to Amun inside it.
According to records, Amenhotep II (1427–1400 BCE) killed seven prisoners as a sacrifice when he got back from a successful war in southwest Asia. One of the bodies was hung on the walls of Napata. For the Egyptians, Napata became a very important holy site. On the right bank of the Nile, there is a mountain called Jebel Barkal that jumps out. It is a steep cliff that is over 100 meters high and has an 80-meter-high peak that sticks out.
For the Egyptians, this mountain was the home of their state god, Amun, in the south. They called it “Pure Mountain.” When the Kushites made Jebel Barkal their state god, they worshiped it just as much. In the eighth century BCE, they started building at the base of the mountain, and it grew into the biggest holy complex in their huge lands.
Alara (around 785–760 BCE) or Kashta (around 760–747 BCE) may have built the first Kushite temple. Piye, who lived from about 747 to 716 BCE, fixed up and added on to the New Kingdom temple of Amun. When it was finished, it was the biggest building in the realm. Taharqo (69–664 BCE), who constructed or rebuilt the Temple of Mut, is one of the most interesting structures.
The sanctuary room was carved out of the rock face of the cliff and decorated with reliefs. One of the reliefs shows Taharqo giving gifts to Amun, who is shown sitting on a throne inside the “Pure Mountain.” Across the river and a few kilometers downriver, at Sanam Abu Dom, there was another big temple to Amun. It was connected to a palace and had a huge complex of stores.
Twelve kilometers downstream at el-Kurru, the first Kushite kings were buried. Most rulers from that time until the late fourth century BCE were buried at Nuri, which is a little upstream of Barkal but on the opposite bank. That’s where Taharqo decided to be buried.
A direct path across the desert from Napata led to Meroe, which is on the left bank of the Nile. A number of circular timber huts from the tenth century BCE are the earliest signs of people living there. The Kushite invasion of Egypt two hundred years later was the first time that Meroe’s status was written down.
There was a big cemetery on a plateau spur that stuck out four kilometers east of the settlement. Many of the graves were clearly those of rich and important people. The ways these people were buried and the things that were buried with them show that they were slaves of the kings of Kush.
At this point in time, Meroe was a significant and wealthy hub of Kushite society, even though it had some regional traits. As early as the late seventh century BCE, Kushite kings were seen in the city, but for many more centuries after that, they were buried at Napata.
In the middle of the third and second centuries BCE, a thick stone wall with towers that stuck out was built around the city’s center. The person who dug it up called it the Royal City. There were temples, palaces, and what are called “Roman baths” inside. These were locations where people could go to escape the water, and they were most likely used for festivals the king held at the start of the yearly flood.
On the east side of the Royal City, a new Temple of Amun was built. The temple of Amun here was the second biggest in the kingdom, after the one at Napata. It was likely built to replace the temple of the god at Meroe, which had been built on the site of the Royal City.
At this time, Meroe might have been on an island, but if it was, the eastern channel stopped flowing by the start of the Christian era. After that, a path with churches on either side was built up to the Amun temple. In other parts of the city, most of the homes were made of mud bricks. Over the ages, one building on top of the other was added until they formed a mound about ten meters high.
On the eastern side of the city, big piles of slag are a clear sign of ironworking history. From the late fourth century BCE on, most Kushite kings were buried at Meroe. This made Meroe the most important city in the Kushites. No one knows why the royal burial place was moved from Napata.
It does not mean that the cult of Amun at Napata was given up, because it continued to grow. A large palace made by King Natakamani (c. 1–20 CE), who also worked in the Meroe region, shows that people have been building at Napata for hundreds of years.
At Napata, right next to Jebel Barkal, there are two small pyramid graves. The first group dates back to about 315–270 BCE, and the second group dates back to about 90–50 BCE. Some of them are Kushite kings who really did rule the whole country.
In 593 BCE, the Egyptian king Psammetik II’s forces may have destroyed Napata. The same thing might have happened in 24 BCE with a Petronius-led Roman army. The last people to leave the site probably did so when the Kushite state fell apart in the fourth century.
At that time, the Aksumites from Ethiopia may have lived in Meroe for a short time. Like Napata, Meroe doesn’t seem to have lived through the fall of the Kushite state, even though there are many bodies in the area that happen to be from a little later.
Also Read: The Kerma Kingdom: Kerma Culture Origins
