The 8th century BC was a period of instability and division in Egypt. The glorious Ramses dynasty was over. After centuries of Egyptian rule, Nubia gained its independence and became home to the kingdom of Kush – a kingdom deeply influenced by pharaonic ideology, art and religion. Its capital, Napata, was located near the ‘Pure Mountain’ of Jebel Barkal, in the region of the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, at the heart of modern Sudan.
The rulers of the region reunified the Two Lands, namely Egypt and the kingdom of Kush. King Piankhy set out from Napata to conquer the northern valley around 720 BC; his successors founded the 25th (Kushite) Dynasty in Egypt, and reigned until 655 BC over a vast kingdom stretching from the Nile Delta to the confluence of the White and Blue Niles.
The exhibition highlights the major role played by this kingdom – the gateway to Africa in ancient times. It recounts the epic tale of the conquest of the valley, the reign of its most famous king, Taharqa – who is mentioned in the Bible and who covered the valley with temples to the glory of Amon – and finally, it narrates the defeat of Tanutamun, the last pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty, at the hands of the Assyrians.
Despite the loss of much of their land, the Kushite rulers maintained their influence in Sudan, where they founded the Kingdom of Napata, succeeded by the Meroitic Empire in about 300 BC.
The 25th Dynasty produced a wealth of original art, reviving Egyptian artistic creativity after the splendours of the New Kingdom. This exhibition is an opportunity to show visitors spectacular objects, some of which were excavated in recent years: stelae and monumental granite statues, bronze and gold statuettes, amulets, etc.
Finally, one of the exhibition’s original features is a display of replicas of the statues of Dukki Gel (found in 2003), as they would have looked when first created by the Kushite sculptors.
Curators: Vincent Rondot, Director of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre, assisted by Faïza Drici and Nadia Licitra, missionned and Hélène Guichard, curator in Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre.
This exhibition at the Louvre features a large number of hieroglyphs – a means of commemorating the bicentenary of their deciphering by Champollion in 1822. By referencing the Louvre’s archaeological campaign in Sudan – which focused for 10 years on the site of Muweis, before moving some 30 kilometres northwards to El-Hassa, not far from the pyramids of Meroe – Pharaoh of the Two Lands also follows on from the exhibition Meroe, an Empire on the Nile, held at the Louvre in 2010.
Exhibition catalogue
PHARAOH OF THE TWO LANDS. The African story of the kings of Napata.
Under the direction of Vincent Rondot, with Faïza Drici. Coedition : Louvre éditions/ El Viso.
448 pages, near 400 illustrations. Price: 39 € TTC.
Album of the exhibition
48 pages, 50 illustrations. Prix : 8 € TTC
Publication
LINANT DE BELLEFONDS
Coedition : Louvre éditions / Mare&Martin.
552 pages, 400 illustrations. Price : 85€ TTC
The rulers of the region reunified the Two Lands, namely Egypt and the kingdom of Kush. King Piankhy set out from Napata to conquer the northern valley around 720 BC; his successors founded the 25th (Kushite) Dynasty in Egypt, and reigned until 655 BC over a vast kingdom stretching from the Nile Delta to the confluence of the White and Blue Niles.
The exhibition highlights the major role played by this kingdom – the gateway to Africa in ancient times. It recounts the epic tale of the conquest of the valley, the reign of its most famous king, Taharqa – who is mentioned in the Bible and who covered the valley with temples to the glory of Amon – and finally, it narrates the defeat of Tanutamun, the last pharaoh of the 25th Dynasty, at the hands of the Assyrians.
Despite the loss of much of their land, the Kushite rulers maintained their influence in Sudan, where they founded the Kingdom of Napata, succeeded by the Meroitic Empire in about 300 BC.
The 25th Dynasty produced a wealth of original art, reviving Egyptian artistic creativity after the splendours of the New Kingdom. This exhibition is an opportunity to show visitors spectacular objects, some of which were excavated in recent years: stelae and monumental granite statues, bronze and gold statuettes, amulets, etc.
Finally, one of the exhibition’s original features is a display of replicas of the statues of Dukki Gel (found in 2003), as they would have looked when first created by the Kushite sculptors.
Curators: Vincent Rondot, Director of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre, assisted by Faïza Drici and Nadia Licitra, missionned and Hélène Guichard, curator in Department of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre.
This exhibition at the Louvre features a large number of hieroglyphs – a means of commemorating the bicentenary of their deciphering by Champollion in 1822. By referencing the Louvre’s archaeological campaign in Sudan – which focused for 10 years on the site of Muweis, before moving some 30 kilometres northwards to El-Hassa, not far from the pyramids of Meroe – Pharaoh of the Two Lands also follows on from the exhibition Meroe, an Empire on the Nile, held at the Louvre in 2010.
Exhibition catalogue
PHARAOH OF THE TWO LANDS. The African story of the kings of Napata.
Under the direction of Vincent Rondot, with Faïza Drici. Coedition : Louvre éditions/ El Viso.
448 pages, near 400 illustrations. Price: 39 € TTC.
Album of the exhibition
48 pages, 50 illustrations. Prix : 8 € TTC
Publication
LINANT DE BELLEFONDS
Coedition : Louvre éditions / Mare&Martin.
552 pages, 400 illustrations. Price : 85€ TTC
