Granite ram of Amun with King Taharqa-IMG 4396-black

Kawa, known as Patigga or Patinga during Greek and Roman times, is a town and archaeological site in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, located between the Third and Fourth Cataracts of the Nile on the east bank of the river, across from

Dongola Dongola (), also known as Urdu or New Dongola, is the capital of Northern State in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, a now deserted medieval city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank. Et ...

. In ancient times it was the site of several temples to the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

god

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

, built by the Egyptian rulers

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( , ; "Amun is satisfied"), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great and Hellenization, Hellenized as Amenophis III, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty. According to d ...

and

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of an ...

, and by

Taharqa Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo, Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-ú'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of Kush (present day Sudan) from 690 to 664 BC. ...

and other Kushite kings. Westerners became aware of the site in the late 19th century. Small digs were carried out in 1929 and 1930 and an extensive excavation began 22 November 1930.

Shrine of Taharqa

A temple of Amun-Re commissioned by

once existed at Kawa. A small shrine from within that temple, known as the Shrine of Taharqa, is in the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

. File:Shrine of the 25th dynasty pharaoh and Kushite King Taharqa Egypt 7th century BCE.jpg, The Shrine of Taharqa,

File:Shrine & Sphinx of Taharqa.jpg, Shrine and Sphinx of Taharqa. Taharqa appears between the legs of the Ram-Sphinx File:Ram-Sphinx of Amun-Ra.jpg, The Ram-Sphinx and Taharqa File:Taharqa relief.jpg, Relief of Taharqa on the shrine File:Sandstone wall of King Aspelta offering Ma'at (Truth) to ram-headed god Amun-Re accompanied by Anukis, Temple T at Kawa.jpg, Sandstone wall of King

Aspelta Aspelta was a ruler of the kingdom of Kush (c. 600 – c. 580 BCE). More is known about him and his reign than most of the rulers of Kush. He left several stelae carved with accounts of his reign. Family Aspelta was the son of Senkamanisken and Q ...

offering

Ma'at Maat or Maʽat (Egyptian: ''mꜣꜥt'' /ˈmuʀʕat/, Coptic: ⲙⲉⲓ) comprised the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also the goddess who personified these concepts, and regula ...

(Truth) to ram-headed god Amun-Re accompanied by Anukis, Temple T at Kawa

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References

Former populated places in Sudan Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt Archaeological sites in Sudan Nubians in Sudan Kushite cities {{sudan-geo-stub

Shrine of Taharqa

See also

References