Meroë: the city of 200 pyramids on the Nile
For centuries the capital of the Kingdom of Kush, one of Africa's earliest and most advanced states, stood north of Khartoum.
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Shendi — About 200 kilometres north-east of Khartoum, on the east bank of the Nile near the villages of Bagrawiyah, stand the ruins of Meroë, a city that for centuries was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush.
Capital of Kush
Kush lasted from about 800 BC to about AD 350 and was one of the earliest and most advanced states in Africa. Its first capital was further north, at Napata. Around 590 BC the capital moved south to Meroë, which remained the centre of the kingdom until its decline in the 4th century AD.
The city gave its name to the "Island of Meroë", the Butana region bounded by the Nile, the Atbara and the Blue Nile. Other Meroitic cities in the area included Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa, and the spread of settlements across the region shows a state that organised farming and production over a wide area.
The pyramids
The site is marked by more than 200 pyramids in three groups. Many are now in ruins, but they keep the distinctive size and proportions of Nubian pyramids.
Meroë and the wider Kingdom of Kush are a reminder that some of the ancient world's great civilisations were built far up the Nile, in what is now Sudan.
Background: Wikipedia.
