Whenever you hear the word pyramids, you instantly think of Egypt, but history tells us that the Egyptians were actually not the owners of the greatest number of pyramids. It was actually the Nubians who had the largest collection of pyramids on their land.
The first group of pyramids that were built in the land of Nubia, which lies within present day Sudan, were comprised of fourteen pyramids built to include the tombs of King Kashta and his son Piye alongside his successors Shabaka, Shabataka and Tanwetamani. From that group, the Nubians kept on following in their neighbor’s footsteps.
Surprisingly, around 255 pyramids still stand in Sudan, which is double the number of Egyptian pyramids. Distributed around three sites, the pyramids serve as tombs to the kings and queens of the Nubian empire which was one of the strongest empires of that time.
The largest concentration of pyramids in Sudan is located in the site of Meroe, only about one hundred kilometers north of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where more than forty kings and queens rest. While the Nubian pyramids beat their Egyptian counter parts in numbers, they fall behind when it comes to size; the largest Nubian pyramids stand at heights that don’t exceed 50 m.
For more information about the Nubian pyramids and culture, watch this awesome BBC documentary about the lost kingdoms of Africa here.
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