Jebel Barkal, Karima, Sudan

This is the ancient holy mountain of Nubia, Kush, and all the other names for ancient Sudan. It was believed that the ancient God Amun-Ra made his home here. As such, it is a significant holy site with numerous temples and tombs in the immediate vicinity.
The 1st 2 pictures are of the mountain itself. Notice in the 2nd picture the natural pinnacle to the left. The ancients saw that as the cobra standing to protect Amun-Ra, as that was the cobra's role in the ancient mythology. That is also why there is a cobra depicted on the Egyptian crown, and there are 2 cobras on the Nubian crown
The 3rd picture is the broken altar of the Nubian pharaoh Piankhe. His cartouche is at the left end. He is the Nubian pharaoh who conquered Egypt and established the 25th dynasty. It is located in the temple to Amun-Ra, the principle temple here.
The 4th picture is the temple of Hathor that is excavated into the mountain. It is currently under restoration. The 2 columns are interesting in that they are shaped as the goddess Hathor.
The 5th picture is a small Sufi shrine built with blocks of sandstone recycled from the older structures. This is something that happened regularly.
The last picture is of Meroitic pyramids here. There were originally 40 of them at this site. There will be more posts about royal necropolises later. It turns out that there were more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt, more than 200, I'm told.Les mer