User:Mhotep/sandbox/Doukki Gel

 'Doukki Gel' , which in a Nubian dialect means "red hill", is an important archaeological site in Sudan which houses the ruins of two ancient cities of Ancient Nubia : An Egyptian city founded by the pharaohs of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty which covers a city contemporary with that of Kerma, neighboring, just 700 meters away.

The Egyptian city of Pnub, founded by the pharaohs of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty, was occupied from 1450 BCE to 400 BCE. The Egyptian city which stood near the ancient Kerma from the New Kingdom with an enormous fortress whose necessity, here, is a reflection of the imperative necessity of the Egyptian power to impose itself and to drain all the wealth he demanded. Seat of a cult to the god Amon, it remained an important city throughout the history of the kingdom of Kush, which regained its independence following the fall of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty. This city covers, probably voluntarily, another, erased that archaeologists have resurfaced.

This city which was covered by the Egyptian city was contemporary with the ancient Kerma. It turns out to have a unique architecture, the circular pattern of which is available in multiple variations. This city is contemporary with the city of Kerma, capital of the eponymous kingdom, which develops and controls from the third millennium BC all of Lower Nubia south of Egypt and will long represent a threat for the pharaonic power, in particular because of the proximity of the gold deposits of the eastern desert (or Arabian desert). The Kerma site turned out to be next to another site to which the toponym "Doukki Gel" was attributed by archaeologists. This last site retains the trace of buildings of circular appearance which greatly intrigued the discoverers.

Doukki Gel: an exceptional site
“The remains of Doukki Gel have given rise to systematic research for more than twenty years (around 2017). Since February 23, 2013, the two sites have been the subject of Swiss-Franco-Sudanese cooperation. "

Seven hundred meters from the site of Kerma, archaeologists, under the direction of the archaeologist specializing in Sudan, Charles Bonnet, discovered the site of Doukki Gel. These excavations revealed the presence of palatial buildings and shrines which have oval or circular plans. This seems to indicate that the primitive site displayed all its grandeur, its richness and its sacred character. This set is protected by a very powerful system of fortifications. These buildings are dated around 1800 BCE, that is to say well before the Egyptian occupation of the kingdom of Kerma. This would be immediately after the first war that had been waged against the Nubians by Sesostris I, of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. This pharaoh had conquered up to the area of ​​the second cataract. Under Amenemhat II the Kushites came to pay tribute to this sovereign, but this probably did not last long. New preparations for a military campaign are undoubtedly initiated by the father of Sesostris III, Sesostris II. This installation would perhaps be contemporary with a league which rose up against the pharaohs at that time, just before the expeditions of Sesostris III (r. 1872-1854). His army descended to Semna, well beyond the second cataract, which will mark the border with the construction of 7 fortresses.

As this type of circular shape has no relation to either the Egyptian architecture or the Nubian architecture of Kerma, it could be one of those peoples who united with Kerma to fight like Egyptian hegemony. , and from elsewhere, from neighboring Africa.

Kerma royal capital of Kush
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Pnubs holy city of Amun
One kilometer north of Kerma, the Egyptians then built a new city and founded a new religious center dedicated to the god Amon of Pnubs, one of the forms of the god in Nubia whose cult spread to Napata. This Egyptian establishment in the heart of Nubia is characteristic of the policy of taking control of the region. A powerful mud brick enclosure is built to house the temple of the god and the granaries in which are kept foodstuffs offered as an offering or from land allocated for the maintenance of the cult.

The city that stretches all around then saw the rhythm of the Egyptian reigns of the 18th Egyptian Dynasty. The temple itself is thus subjected to the vagaries of Egyptian history, enlarged and embellished by the Thutmosides, reworked and transformed into a temple of the disc by Akhenaton, then again consecrated to the god Amon under the Ramessides.

With the end of the New Kingdom the region freed itself from Pharaonic rule. Initially managed by the royal son of Kush, it found itself at the beginning of the Third Intermediate Period under the control of several local principalities, strongly Egyptianized.

The revival comes, this time, from Napata where a powerful monarchy has been formed. Claiming to be of the great god Amon, it absorbs into its orbit all the principalities which divide the territory. The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt will come out of it and Doukki Gel will become an important worship center of this new kingdom, which reigns for half a century over the entire valley of the Sudanese and Egyptian Nile.

Pnubs is then part of a group of holy cities that the monarchs of Kush visit on the occasion of their coronation. The temple, enlarged and embellished, is adorned with colossi bearing the effigy of the various rulers who covet the throne of Horus.

This empire will end in the second half of 7th century with the conquest of Egypt by the Assyrians s. The kingdom which retains Napata as its capital then regains its original borders and, around -591, the pharaoh  saïte  Psammeticus | II sends a military expedition, reducing their ambitions to nothing. on Egypt. The meeting of the two armies takes place near Pnoubs and the Nubian troops suffer a crushing defeat.

On this occasion, Pnubs is taken and the royal statues are stripped of their ornaments, beheaded then overturned and broken.

Egyptian troops retreat, leaving behind a devastated country. The kings of Napata then take back the land conquered shortly after and restore the sacked cities. Pnub regains its role as a holy city throughout the Meroitic period that will follow and its reconstructed temple is once again enlarged.

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 * Nubia
 * Kingdom of Kush