The political and economic centre of the empire was the Island of Meroe, a territory bounded by the Nile, the Blue Nile and the Atbara. The official culture was based on that of Pharaonic Egypt, but it was being penetrated more and more by local Meroitic elements, typified above all by the depiction of the king, queen and other members of the royal family. From out of the shadow of the god Amun came the local creator god Apedemak. In the economy, the breeding of cattle played a greater role, as did long-distance trade.
The glory of King Arqamani I. was exceeded in modern times by his expected sucessor, Amanislo, whose name – in the period reaading of Amonasro – was borrowed by the famous Egyptologist Auguste Mariette for the father of the Aithiopian princess Aida, when he was writing the libretto for Verdi´s opera.
A further signifiant ruler of the Meroitic kingdom was King Arnekhamani, a contemporary of Ptolemy IV. Philopator (ruled 221-205 BCE), who had the Lion Temple at Musawwarat es-Sufra built. Intensive relations with Ptolemaic Egypt continued during the reign of Arnekhamani´s son, King Arquamani II. Friendly relations with the northern neighbour were ended by an uprising that broke out in 206 BCE, and which received support from Meroe. For two decades a large part of Upper Egypt was administered by the last domestic pharaohs – Herwennefer and Ankhwennefer. The Meroitic troops were most involved in the conflict at the end of the uprising, when Theky gained control over Elephantine. They still held it in 187 BCE, a year before the uprising was put down. The planned campaign against the Meroitic kingdom did not in the end take place, but the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt strengthened their position in Lower Nubia.
The golden age of the Meroitic kingdom was the two centuries around the turn of the eras. At the beginning of the 1st century BCE the Meroitic rulers managed once again to take kontrol over Lower Nubia. In 31 BCE Cleopatra VII. And Mark Antony were defeated at the Battle of Actium. The romish prefect Aelius Gallus was given the task of conquering Arabia. While the prefect led a military campaign against Arabia, the Meroitic troops attacked Philae, Aswan and Elephantine, taking war booty back with them, including the head of a bronze statue of Octavian. Military retaliation against Meroe came under the third Roman prefekt, Petronius, who 25 BCE led Roman army against Meroe. According the Strabo, the Roman troops won Napata, but this is doubtful. The military conflict was settled by a peace agrement, Meroe was not required to pay tribute.
The queen Amanishakheto and her sucessors, roayl douple of Natakamani and Amanitore, under their rule the first positive impact of the peaceful coexistence of Meroe and Rome, based on intensive trade, was felt. Temples and other buildings were constructed all over the kingdom.
The causes of the gradual decline of the Meroitic kingdom are described by various authors in various ways. The internal crisis of the empire was probably hastened by an attack by the Aksumite king Ezana (ruled 330-360 CE), who at the beginning of his reign converted to Christianity. A new population groups labelled the Noba, penetrated from the west into the area controlled by the Meroitic kingdom, while from the east there came the Blemmyes, whose home was the Eastern Desert. These ethnic changes on the banks of the Nile would definitely have played a role in the social and political transformation that took place in the mid 4th century CE. The transition from centralised empire to political transformation that copied the natural borders on the central flow of the Nile is best seen in the chase of the form of the royal tomb. The succesors to the last rulers of the Meroe buried in pyramid were once again buried in monumental tumulus graves.
The treasure of the queen Amanishakheto
The queen Anamishekheto was buried in a pyramid in the northern cemetery in Meroe (Beg. N. 6). Her tomb was still well preserved at the beginning of the 19th century. During this time the pyramid was about 28 m high and consisted of 64 layers of stone. Part of the tomb is a chapel which connects directly to the pyramid. The facade was designed as an Egyptian temple with two pylons and central entrance. On both pylons the queen stand holding a group of prisoners, striking their shoulders with her lance.
A few years later the pyramid was almost completely destroyed. This ges back to the Italian Giuseppe Ferlini (1800-1870), who spoiler, among others, also this grave. He was a doctor servis as a surgeon in the Egyptian army that was occupying the Sudan. After resigning from his position he became an explorer and treasure hunter and got from Egyptian military governor the permission fot excavations. 1834 he went to Meroe, where his search for treasures resulted in destroying many pyramids and levelling the tomb of Amanishakheto. In her pyramid he found one cache of a treasure which after his preserved notes a larrge portion was unearthed wrapped in a piece of cloth in a large bronze bowl. Ferlini´s decsription indicates that the find was made in the burial chamber, in his report he claimed, however, that it was discovered in the upper part of the pyramid, in order to confuse any potential treasure hunter to come.
Ferlini published the first report of his work 1837. He tried to sell it to several European museums, but at this time nobody believed that such high quality jewelry could not made in Black Africa. Today the Museum of Berlin owns the most of jewelry of the queen Amanischaheto.
Book and the whole studies: Nubia, a land on the Crossroads of Cultures, Wad ben Naga 2014; Pavel Onderka, Vlastimil Vrtal et al.
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