Pyramids Of Meroe - Alternative View

Pyramids Of Meroe - Alternative View
Pyramids Of Meroe - Alternative View

Video: Pyramids Of Meroe - Alternative View

Video: Pyramids Of Meroe - Alternative View
Video: Sudan's forgotten pyramids - BBC News 2024, March
Anonim

The Egyptian pyramids are far from the only pyramids on the African continent. Not as famous as the pyramids of Giza, there are structures in Sudan, in the ancient city of Meroe, the capital of the kingdom of Kush or the kingdom of Meroit.

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This kingdom was very prosperous, and was based on the extraction of iron ore and trade with India and China. Meroe became its capital around the 3rd century BC. and remained so until the decline of the state in the III century A. D.

It was during this period that the pyramids-mausoleums were erected here. Today there are about two hundred pyramids of Meroe, many of which, unfortunately, lie in ruins.

The Meroe Pyramids are referred to as the Nubian pyramids due to their characteristic features and construction time.

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Such pyramids in the territory of modern Sudan were built in three periods of time, starting from 2600 BC. (500 years after the construction of the last pyramids in the Nile Valley) and until the fall of Meroe in the 3rd century AD. These are narrow, not wider than 8 meters, pointed structures from 6 to 30 meters high. Probably, it was these pyramids that inspired the Roman praetor Gaius Julius Cestius, who erected in his honor a tomb in his native Rome, called the pyramid of Cestius.

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