Amun of Napata and Apedemak of Meroe Mohamed Ahmed Mahmoud Senousy1 Abstract: This topic is analyzing the concept of Nubian belief which was inspired by the ancient Egyptian ideology of religion, from the existence of Amun of Nubia with his scenery with the Nubian royalty of Napata; Amun who resides in his pure mountain with his artistic and symbolic reflections. Apedemak the lion appeared in another part of the Nubian kingdom in the land of Meroe, reflecting with his different forms, the symbolic religious concepts of the Meroitic ideology of life.
ملخص هذا الموضوع هو تحليل لمفهوم االعتقاد الدينى النوبي الذي كان مستوحى من األيديولوجية المصرية وهو الذي، من وجود أمون فى النوبة ومشاهده مع الملوك النوبيون فى نباتا وانعكاساته الفنية الرمزية،القديمة بأشكاله، فهو الذى ظهر في جزء آخر من المملكة النوبية في أرض مروي، أما أبيدماك األسد.يقبع في جبله .المختلفة ومفاهيمه الدينية الرمزية الفكرية للحياة Keywords: Gebel Barkal, Apedemak, Meroe, Napata, Amun of Thebes, Musawwarat Es-Safra
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Cultural programs director, Digital Bridges organization, in front of el-Amal lap, from the television street, Luxor / E-mail:
[email protected] / Cell phone: 002.0106.567.4889
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Plan. 1: The main sites of the Middle Nile.
Fig. 1: Statue of god Amun, Bronze, Provenance not known, 26th dynasty, Munich- Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst (ÄS 6978).
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Fig. 2: Statue of a ram from Gebel Barkal (originally from Soleb), New Kingdom- time of Amonhotep III, Ägyptisches Museum- Berlin.
Fig. 3: Head of a ram, Kerma culture, 1650-1570 B.C., Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Fig. 4: Drawing of a relief from the great temple of Abu-Simbel (God Amun in the sacred Mountain).
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Fig. 5: Drawing of a damaged relief in temple B 300 at Gebel Barkal, showing King Taharqa and his wife before Amun and Mut inside Gebel Barkal as viewed from the west, where the uraeus crowned with a sun disk.
Fig. 6.A: South corner of Gebel Barkal as viewed from the east side.
Fig. 6.B: The great serpent of the god, Gebel Barkal Mountain.
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Fig. 7: Silhouette of Gebel Barkal reveals its form as a Kushite crown cap with Uraeus.
Fig. 8: Divine shrine, stuccoed and painted sandstone, from Gebel Barkal, Meroitic period, 2nd century B.C. or later, Boston Museum of Fine Arts (21.3234).
Fig. 9: Example of the Meroitic Hieroglyphic writing.
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Fig. 10: The judgment court of Osiris, from Meroe, the South wall of pyramid Beg. 16.
Fig. 11: Detailed of a large stela showing King Tanyidamani in bold relief, between two representations of god Amun, 110-90 B.C., Boston (23.736).
Fig. 12: Sandstone statuette of a lion, from Meroe, Meroitic period, 1st century A.D.
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Fig. 13: Statue of god Amun, Granite, from Gebel Barkal, Meroitic period, 3rd to 1st century B.C., Khartoum National Museum (1844).
Fig. 14: The Nubian lion-god Apedemak.
Fig. 15: The Apedemak temple at the Great Enclosure of Musawwarat Es-Safra, Meroitic period, 235-218 B.C.
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Fig. 16: Stela of queen Amanishakheto with the three cheek marks in front of goddess Amesemi, Sandstone, Meroitic period, late 1st century A.D.
Fig. 17: Goddess Amesemi, Sandstone, Stela of queen Amanishakheto, the lion temple at Naqa, Meroitic period, 1st century A.D.
Fig. 18. A-B: Kandake Amanitore from the rear outside wall of the lion temple at Naqa, Meroitic period, early 1st century B.C.
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Fig. 19: King Natakamani holding the palm branch in front of Apedemak on the outside back wall of the lion temple at Naqa.
Fig. 20: The Meroitic Proportions, relief from the pyramid chapel of Queen Nahirqa- Beg.10.
Fig. 21: A lion-headed serpent rising from the calyx of a flower, from the south side of the south tower of the Apedemak temple at Naqa, the early 1st century A.D.
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Fig. 22: The Meroitic royal Family in front of God Apedemak (Natakamani, Amanitore and Shorkaror) wearing the uraei with lion's heads of the double uraei.
Fig. 23.A-B: God Apedemak is shown with four arms and three heads on the outside back wall of the lion temple at Naqa, Meroitic period, 1st century A.D.
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Fig. 24: God Apedemak from the lion temple at Naqa.
Fig. 25: Elephant and animals depictions on the columns of the central temple at Musawwarat Es-Safra, Meroitic period, 3rd century B.C.
Fig. 26: Goddess of water Mami-Wata (Water Nymph), from Volta region of Ghanna, represents an African-Indian tradition.
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