Pyramids Of Meroe Research Paper

Pyramids of Meroe

When thinking of pyramids our minds quickly go to the country of Egypt. We have learned about Egyptian pyramids in school, seen their pictures in books, and they are frequently featured in various movie projects. These pyramids, as famous as they may be, are not the only pyramids in the world. There happens to be just as many located in Egypt’s southern neighbor, Sudan.

Sudan is actually the pyramid capital of the world. It has anywhere from 200 to 255 known pyramids, more than double compared to Egypt’s 138 (independent). They were not built by wandering Egyptians, instead it was the Kushites who erected them. Kushites are members of an ancient civilization, called the Kingdom of Kush, that ruled along the Nile River from

1070 BC to 350 AD (sciencealert). About 2000 years ago the Kush capital was moved to the city of Meroe, which was ruled by Nubian kings (huffpost). This location is populated with most of the region’s pyramids, about 200 in all.
These magnificent man made structures were crafted during the peak of Egyptian and Meroitic civilization, circa 2600 BC and circa 300 BC, respectively. Like the Egyptians, Kushites built pyramids as burial tombs. This form of burial was reserved for royalty in order for their souls to reach the heavens (sciencealert). Both Egyptians and Kushites buried their kings and queens with gold, jewelry, and pottery (slate).
Although they were built with the same intentions in mind, structurally they were quite different. The pyramids of Meroe are much smaller than their Egyptian counterparts. They stand at roughly 20 to 98 feet tall while Egyptian pyramids are about 450 feet tall (sciencealert). In Meroe they were built in what is known as the Nubian style, meaning they had much steeper slopes and smaller bases (huffpost).
Seeing Egypt’s pyramids so frequently in pop culture made many believe that this location was the only source of these magnificent structures, now we know that to be false. Sudan is littered in pyramids and although they are not well known and small in size, their significance should be recognized.

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