Toronto Reference Library Blog

Come hear ROM Egyptologist Gayle Gibson discuss the development of Nubian burial customs and architecture in the ancient African land of Kush.

Pyramids of Kush
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tue Feb 01, 2011
Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium
Toronto Reference Library

South of Egypt is the land of Nubia, ancient Kush, whose inhabitants had their own unique civilization. Over 200 pyramids are preserved from ancient Nubia. Nubian pyramids derive from Egyptian prototypes, but have their own unique features and are generally smaller and steeper than their Egyptian counterparts.

The first Nubian pyramids are from the site of el-Kurru. After the New Kingdom, Egypt declined and was actually conquered by the Nubians, who ruled in Egypt as the 25th Dynasty. The famous 25th Dynasty King Taharqa was buried in a Pyramid tomb at Nuri. Even after they were defeated by the Assyrians and driven out of Egypt, the Nubian Dynasty continued to rule in their homeland for centuries.

 
 
Their capital was further south between the Fifth and Sixth cataracts of the Nile at the site of Meroe, which contains the largest collection of Nubian pyramids. All the Meroe pyramids had been plundered; the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini (1800-1870) smashed off the tops of some 40 of the Meroe pyramids searching for treasure in the 1820s .

Toronto Reference Library  also has a host of excellent books on the Nubian Kingdom.

If you're looking for somthing to take home, why not try one of these?

  Belzoni, Giovanni Battista Travels in Egypt and Nubia (2007)

Burstein, Stanley Mayer. Ancient African civilizations : Kush and Axum (1998)

And be sure to join us throughout February for our celebration of Black History Month.

Come hear ROM Egyptologist Gayle Gibson discuss the development of Nubian burial customs and architecture in the ancient African land of Kush.

Pyramids of Kush
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Tue Feb 01, 2011
Elizabeth Beeton Auditorium
Toronto Reference Library

South of Egypt is the land of Nubia, ancient Kush, whose inhabitants had their own unique civilization. Over 200 pyramids are preserved from ancient Nubia. Nubian pyramids derive from Egyptian prototypes, but have their own unique features and are generally smaller and steeper than their Egyptian counterparts.

The first Nubian pyramids are from the site of el-Kurru. After the New Kingdom, Egypt declined and was actually conquered by the Nubians, who ruled in Egypt as the 25th Dynasty. The famous 25th Dynasty King Taharqa was buried in a Pyramid tomb at Nuri. Even after they were defeated by the Assyrians and driven out of Egypt, the Nubian Dynasty continued to rule in their homeland for centuries.

 
 
Their capital was further south between the Fifth and Sixth cataracts of the Nile at the site of Meroe, which contains the largest collection of Nubian pyramids. All the Meroe pyramids had been plundered; the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini (1800-1870) smashed off the tops of some 40 of the Meroe pyramids searching for treasure in the 1820s .

Toronto Reference Library  also has a host of excellent books on the Nubian Kingdom.

If you're looking for somthing to take home, why not try one of these?

  Belzoni, Giovanni Battista Travels in Egypt and Nubia (2007)

Burstein, Stanley Mayer. Ancient African civilizations : Kush and Axum (1998)

And be sure to join us throughout February for our celebration of Black History Month.