Gebel Barkal

I organized my December 2019 trip to Sudan with ITC Sudan and stayed at their Nubian Rest Camp near the foot of Jebel Barkal and Meroe Camp overlooking the pyramid field. I stayed at Acropole Hotel in Khartoum at the beginning and end of my trip, and in between visited Jebel Barkal, a holy mountain surrounded by the ruins of two thirteenth century BCE temples and some of the most intact, yet lightly visited, pyramids in Sudan, erected between the third and first centuries BCE; Nuri in northern Sudan, a component of the Jebel Barkal WHS, where more than twenty ancient pyramids that served as a necropolis for Nubian kings and queens still stand near the Nile, and where visitors should be mindful of the presence of deadly, deathstalker scorpions (their real common name); Meroë, an ancient city along the eastern bank of the Nile and home to hundreds of Nubian pyramids; the Temple of Apedemak at Naqa, dating from the first century CE and one of the largest ruined sites in Sudan; and Musawarat es-Sufra, a large temple complex dating back to the third century BCE. My visit to Sudan was much easier than I expected, from procuring a visa (which only took a few days, far shorter than I had been led to believe), to travel (with empty roads and even emptier sites), to safety (I wandered by myself around Khartoum, the first African capital where no one offered to be my guide, told me they were from …

Gebel Barkal was Nubia's Holy Mountain. Its size and shape appealed so much to exploring Ancient Egyptians who came down the Nile, that they started building temples at its foot. It remained a sanctuary to the god Amun for centuries, from the Egyptian "colonization" to the time of the Black Pharaohs when the local Nubian rulers took control over South Egypt and moved their capital to Meroë.

Although the main Amun Temple looks to be well-excavated nowadays, I was amazed at the level of archaeological work still going on. Two teams were busy when I visited: an international group under the guidance of the Sudanese Ministry of Antiquities and an Italian-led group. The Italians were focusing on a building which is being excavated for the first time, although it lies right next to the Amun Temple and also directly at the foot of the mountain.

There were no other people around besides the archaeologists when we visited during the day, but some 50 locals and international tourists showed up later to watch the sunset from the top of the mountain. To me, the site's highlights include the still erect pillars topped with serpents symbolizing the goddess Hathor (see picture below), the hieroglyphs on the column fragments that have fallen down, the finely carved interior of the Temple of Mut, and the small pyramid field at the far end of the archaeological zone.

Some 10 km from Gebel Barkal, on the outskirts of a small village, lies El …

I visited jebel barkal and karima in 1988. At the time I was not aware of the temples and town which did not appear to have been excavated yet. However, the pyramids were easy to find and climbing up onto the jebel was easy. Children guided me around the jebel as there were no tourists nor kiosk. nothing really. However, two half buried panthers were discernable. At the time I thought they were sphinxes but National Geographic did an article indicating they were panthers. Being there in 1988 was a priceless experience and perhaps more intimate than visiting the archeological sites in Egypt. And getting to Karima was quite an adventure. There was no road and the train took an arduous 40 hours. Getting from Karima to Aswan took about 18 days.

For a range of historic and logistical reasons the “Egyptian” ruins of Sudan are considerably less known than those of Egypt proper. Books on Egyptian archaeology rarely give more than a few lines to the sites south of Abu Simbel. Whilst Meroe (only on Sudan’s tentative list) is my favourite Sudanese site the inscribed site of Jebel Barkal is well worth visiting. As at all Sudan’s sites you are likely to be the only tourists there (what a contrast to Egypt!) and the atmosphere is heightened by the encroaching desert sand – you could almost be a 19c explorer reaching the sites for the first time!

The UNESCO “site” of Jebel Barkal consists of 5 locations. The “main” one is the “table topped” mountain of Jebel Barkal itself which is only around 100 metres high but dominates the flat Nile valley for miles around. Even though it was for long periods outside their area of direct control it was believed by the Ancient Egyptians to be the home of the god Amun. This was possibly because of sandstone pillar at one end (photo) which could be regarded as looking like a “Uraeus” (the cobra symbol of kingship). At the base of this and symbolically cut into the mountain lies a cave containing a temple to Mut the bride of Amun. Inside is a statue of the dwarf god Bes the protector god who helped in childbirth and promoted fertility. Below the Jebel are the ruins of a Temple to Amun …