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Description
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Gebel Barkal and the Sites of the Napatan Region
Period: Ancient Egypt, Third Intermediary Period, Dynasty XXV, Taharqa (690-664 B.C.)
Location: Gebel Barkal, Karima, Northern State, Sudan (جبل بركل, كريمة, الشمالية, جمهورية السودان)

Thoth - in the original Egyptian something closer to Djehuty - appears here on the walls of the inner sanctum of Temple B200 at Napata/Gebel Barkal, dedicated to Hathor. The ibis-headed god of law, order, writing, science, and magic, stands at the back of a procession of gods lead by Amun, welcoming Pharaoh Taharqa who offers his sacrifices to them. The wall reliefs still bear some of their original colour, but have suffered from centuries of soot deposited on the walls and ceiling, as the rock-cut temple was used as a shelter by local tribes for centuries. An Italian team is currently working to clean the walls.

In this painting, Toth wears the Atef crown, which combines the white crown of Upper Egypt with ostrich feathers, which may represent Ma'at, the divine order of the universe: it is mostly worn by Osiris as the ruler of the underworld, but not uncommon on the heads of Thoth or even Sobek. He holds the was-sceptre as a sign of his power. In later times, he was associated with Hermes, and became the head of a major mystic cult of Hermes Trismegistos (Hermes the Thrice-Great), which is known through the survival of its magical papyri.

The temple B200 dates to a time when the sanctuary at Gebel Barkal was a part of the capital of 25th-Dynasty Egypt. The mountain itself, a 100-meter tall, flat-topped rock, was considered to be the dwelling of the great god Amun: an isolated rocky needles was seen as an uraeus, causing New Kingdom pharaoh Tuthmosis III (1579-1424 B.C.) to create a sanctuary to Amun here. Besides the great temple to Amun and B200, dedicated to Hathor, there are another 11 temples, 3 palaces, and a Meroitic pyramid field nearby; not counting the more remote pyramid-graveyards of el-Kurru and Nuri.

Napata itself became the capital of the Kushite Kingdom in 656 B.C., when Taharqa's successor Tantamani lost control of Thebes and Upper Egypt to Psamtik I. It was sacked by Psamtik II in 592 B.C. under the rule of Aspelta, who transferred the capital to Meroe further South, though royal burials continued to occur at Napata. A further attack occurred in 23 B.C., when Roman troops under Petronius, the Prefect of Egypt, retaliated against the raids of Candace Amanirenes, and put Napata to the sack. The importance of the site was such, however, that the temples were always restored.

Description
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Gebel Barkal and the Sites of the Napatan Region
Period: Ancient Egypt, Third Intermediary Period, Dynasty XXV, Taharqa (690-664 B.C.)
Location: Gebel Barkal, Karima, Northern State, Sudan (جبل بركل, كريمة, الشمالية, جمهورية السودان)

Thoth - in the original Egyptian something closer to Djehuty - appears here on the walls of the inner sanctum of Temple B200 at Napata/Gebel Barkal, dedicated to Hathor. The ibis-headed god of law, order, writing, science, and magic, stands at the back of a procession of gods lead by Amun, welcoming Pharaoh Taharqa who offers his sacrifices to them. The wall reliefs still bear some of their original colour, but have suffered from centuries of soot deposited on the walls and ceiling, as the rock-cut temple was used as a shelter by local tribes for centuries. An Italian team is currently working to clean the walls.

In this painting, Toth wears the Atef crown, which combines the white crown of Upper Egypt with ostrich feathers, which may represent Ma'at, the divine order of the universe: it is mostly worn by Osiris as the ruler of the underworld, but not uncommon on the heads of Thoth or even Sobek. He holds the was-sceptre as a sign of his power. In later times, he was associated with Hermes, and became the head of a major mystic cult of Hermes Trismegistos (Hermes the Thrice-Great), which is known through the survival of its magical papyri.

The temple B200 dates to a time when the sanctuary at Gebel Barkal was a part of the capital of 25th-Dynasty Egypt. The mountain itself, a 100-meter tall, flat-topped rock, was considered to be the dwelling of the great god Amun: an isolated rocky needles was seen as an uraeus, causing New Kingdom pharaoh Tuthmosis III (1579-1424 B.C.) to create a sanctuary to Amun here. Besides the great temple to Amun and B200, dedicated to Hathor, there are another 11 temples, 3 palaces, and a Meroitic pyramid field nearby; not counting the more remote pyramid-graveyards of el-Kurru and Nuri.

Napata itself became the capital of the Kushite Kingdom in 656 B.C., when Taharqa's successor Tantamani lost control of Thebes and Upper Egypt to Psamtik I. It was sacked by Psamtik II in 592 B.C. under the rule of Aspelta, who transferred the capital to Meroe further South, though royal burials continued to occur at Napata. A further attack occurred in 23 B.C., when Roman troops under Petronius, the Prefect of Egypt, retaliated against the raids of Candace Amanirenes, and put Napata to the sack. The importance of the site was such, however, that the temples were always restored.