Meroë, the royal necropolis of the southern capital of the kingdom of Kush near Bejrawia . The steep-sided pyramids were built over the burial chambers of the rulers. During the blue evening light with the presence of a few stars, a single camel and rider stands in front of two of the pyramids at Meroë . The royal necropolis of the southern capital of the kingdom of Kush near Bejrawia. In 1834, these pyramids were infamously plundered by Italian explorers. -Robbie Shone
Meroë is an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site are a group of villages called Bagrawiyah. This city was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush for several centuries. The Kushitic Kingdom of Meroë gave its name to the Island of Meroë, which was the modern region of Butana, a region bounded by the Nile (from the Atbarah River to Khartoum), the Atbarah and the Blue Nile.
The city of Meroë was on the edge of Butana and there were two other Meroitic cities in Butana, Musawwarat es-Sufra and Naqa. The first of these sites was given the name Meroë by the Persian king,Cambyses, in honor of his sister who was called by that name. The city had originally borne the ancient appellation Saba, named after the country’s original founder. The presence of numerous Meroitic sites within the western Butana region and on the border of Butana proper is significant to the settlement of the core of the developed region. The orientation of these settlements exhibit the exercise of state power over subsistence production.
The Kingdom of Kush which housed the city of Meroë represents one of a series of early states located within the middle Nile. It is one of the earliest and most impressive states found south of the Sahara. Looking at the specificity of the surrounding early states within the middle Nile, ones understanding of Meroë in combination with the historical developments of other historic states may be enhanced through looking at the development of power relation characteristics within other Nile Valley states.
The site of the city of Meroë is marked by more than two hundred pyramids in three groups, of which many are in ruins. They have distinctive size and proportions of Nubian pyramids.