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🇬🇧 El-Hassa

A royal Meroitic settlement from the 1st century AD, a day’s caravan journey from Meroe

Around Meroe, the capital, the Meroitic power concentrated its religious, royal, administrative, and economic buildings in towns such as Hamadab, Mouweis, Wad Ben Naga, and el-Hassa. This site, once located on the banks of the Nile, was noted by early European travelers: the Swiss explorer Burckhardt in 1814, and the Frenchmen Linant de Bellefonds and Cailliaud in 1822. Cailliaud specifically mentioned a statue of a “sphinx-ram,” indicating the presence of a temple dedicated to Amun.

Since 2000, a Franco-Sudanese mission has been conducting archaeological research to locate and excavate this temple. In 2016, after fourteen campaigns of excavation and documentation, the fragile remains were reburied to ensure their preservation.

Thanks to inscriptions on the bases of the ram statues, we know the name of the king (qore) who commissioned the temple: Neb-Maât-Rê Amanakhareqerema (circa 80–90 AD), as well as the Meroitic name of el-Hassa: Tabakha.

Overview of the el-Hassa site © Mission el-Hassa / G. Nogara

A temple to the god Amun and a ceremonial palace for the king

The temple at el-Hassa follows the typical layout of sanctuaries dedicated to the god Amun. Closely resembling that of Naga, it is designed as a Pharaonic temple accessed via a processional way (dromos), which begins with a monumental fire altar, continues past a kiosk, and is flanked by pairs of ram statues. The entrance is marked by a pylon adorned with flagpoles, leading into a series of progressively enclosed chambers culminating in the sanctuary. On the left side lies a partially open-air chapel, characteristic of rituals dedicated to Amun.

To the south, a narrow courtyard leads to a palace adjoining the temple, ritually linked to it. The palace features a classical square, single-storey design with a central skylight. Following ancient tradition, it likely hosted royal rituals associated with the cult of the god Amun. El-Hassa thus stands as a clear example of the integration of an Amun temple with a ceremonial palace.

El-Hassa © 2010 Mission el-Hassa / R.-P. Dissaux
El-Hassa © 2010 Mission el-Hassa / B.-N. Chagny
Plan of the religious complex at el-Hassa © Mission el-Hassa / G. Nogara

The discovered objects tell the story of the temple, its history and its rituals


In addition to the studies carried out on the architecture and the history of the temple’s construction and renovation in three major phases, the excavations unearthed a number of objects that provided additional information on the history of the sanctuary. Starting with an earthenware pectoral representing a “lunar” Amun, crowned with a moon (full and crescent) and holding out a moon headdress. The Neolithic green stone axe (5000 BC approx.) was used at the end of the temple’s life : it was found in place where a final ritual would potentially occur – on the floor of the sanctuary, not far from the terracotta milk libation table, carved with the hieroglyph “life” (that which the god grants in return for the offering). The bust of the goddess Isis breast-feeding her child Horus is from a statuette imported from Ptolemaic Egypt. The small bronze bust may have adorned the top of a processional cane; it could represent the Queen Mother, the famous Candace.

Faience pectoral, SNM HAS208 bis. Khartoum, Sudan National Museum © 2010 Musée du Louvre / G. Poncet
Neolithic green stone axe, SNM HAS206. Khartoum, Sudan National Museum © 2009 Musée du Louvre / Ch. Décamps
El-Hassa: objects as they were found © Mission el-Hassa / R.-P. Dissaux
Terracotta libation table, SNM HAS210. Khartoum, Sudan National Museum © Mission el-Hassa / R.-P. Dissaux
Bust of the goddess Isis breastfeeding Horus, SNM HAS150. Khartoum, Sudan National Museum © 2010 Musée du Louvre / Ch. Décamps
Bronze bust possibly depicting a candace, SNM 31689. Khartoum, Sudan National Museum © 2009 Musée du Louvre / Ch. Décamps

Ram statues of the god Amun

For the Napateans and Meroites, the ram was the earthly incarnation of the god Amun. Consequently, the processional routes leading to his temples were flanked by statues of the ram, depicted lying down and shielding the sovereign beneath its muzzle. The unusually asymmetrical dromos at el-Hassa featured three pairs of small statues in front of the kiosk and four pairs of larger statues between the kiosk and the temple, totaling fourteen statues. A fifteenth statue was located in the chapel behind the temple. Five of these have been recovered and are displayed here in their original positions atop bases matching those found on the dromos of Naga. The sixth is a replica of the “Soba ram,” a statue discovered in the 19th century in the capital of the Christian kingdom of Alodia (580–1500), south of Khartoum, now exhibited in the national museum. It is now known that this statue, transported some 200 km to Soba for reasons and at a date still unknown, originally came from the dromos of el-Hassa.

El-Hassa: plan of the temple with the rams © Mission el-Hassa

The inscriptions on the bases of the ram statues are identical each time, following a very ancient and consistent formula. The hieroglyphs are among the most beautiful and detailed known to us. They combine Pharaonic hieroglyphs—especially for the royal titles—with Meroitic hieroglyphs, as seen, for example, inside the second cartouche. This text provides three key historical details: the name of the king who commissioned the temple, the qore Neb-Maât-Rê Amanakhareqerema; the name of a form of the god Amun, likely the temple’s patron deity, Amun-Aritene; and the name of the ancient city buried beneath the sands, Tabakha. (Translation by Claude Rilly).

El-Hassa: inscription on the bases of the temple ram statues © Mission el-Hassa


O Amun-Aritene [… ] ! O Amun of Tabakha! Give life to the sovereign, beloved of Amun, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the ruler of the Two Lands: Neb-Maat-Ra; the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the ruler of the Two Lands: Amanakhareqerema. Endowed with eternal life.

Archaeological guide to the site of el-Hassa

In 2023, the Louvre Museum and Khéops published a multilingual archaeological guide to the site of el-Hassa: El-Hassa. Un temple sous les sables

A concession of the French Section of the Sudan Antiquities Authority from 2002 to 2019, with funding from the Excavations Commission of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the el-Hassa/Damboya site is now a concession of the Musée du Louvre.

Bibliography

  • Lenoble P., Rondot V. — « À la redécouverte d’el-Hassa. Temple à Amon, palais royal et ville de l’empire méroïtique », Cahiers de recherche de l’Institut de papyrologie et d’égyptologie de Lille 23, 2003, p. 101-115.
  • Rondot V. — « Le qore Amanakhareqerem et son temple à Amon d’el-Hassa », dans V. Rondot, N. Dextreit (éd.), Kerma et Méroé. Cinq conférences d’archéologie soudanaise, Khartoum, 2006, p. 41-47.
  • Letourneux J.-P., Feneuille S. — « Chemical and physical analyses of facing mortars collected from various Meroitic sites », dans W. Godlewski, A. Łajtar (éd.), Between the Cataracts, Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Meroitic Studies, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean supplement series 2.2, Varsovie, 2010, p. 577-582.
  • Rondot V., Török L. — « La maison du dieu : le temple », dans M. Baud (dir.), Méroé, un empire sur le Nil, Paris, 2010, p. 227-233.
  • Rondot V. — « Le matériel cultuel du temple à Amon d’el-Hassa », dans M. Baud (dir.), Méroé, un empire sur le Nil, Paris, 2010, p. 236-239.
  • Bouchar M. — « Petrographic study of Meroitic mortars from an Amun temple (el-Hassa) », dans J. Vàlek, C. Groot, J.J. Hughes (éd.), Proceedings of the second Historic Mortars Conference and Rilem TC 203-Rhm Final Workshop, Bagneux, 2010, p. 55-64.
  • Rondot V. — « De la fonction des statues-cubes comme cale-porte », Revue d’égyptologie 62, 2011, p. 141-157.
  • Evina M., David R. — « Patrice Lenoble à el-Hassa. Étude de la céramique du temple à Amon 2000-2005 », dans V. Rondot, F. Alpi et F. Villeneuve (éd.), La pioche et la plume, Hommages archéologiques à Patrice Lenoble, Paris, 2011, p. 303-315.
  • Letourneux J.-P., Feneuille S. — « Mineralogical and microstructural analysis of mortars from Kushite archaeological sites », dans J. Vàlek, J.J. Hughes and C.J.W.P. Groot (éd.), Historic Mortars, Londres, 2012, p. 37-47.
  • Yellin J.W. — « Al-Hassa », dans M.M. Fisher et al. (éd.), Ancient Nubia. African Kingdoms on the Nile, Le Caire, 2012, p. 253-254.
  • Rondot V. — « El-Hassa : un temple à Amon dans l’île de Méroé au Ier siècle de notre ère », Comptes-rendus de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles lettres 2012-I, 2013, p. 167-182.
  • Feneuille S., Letourneux J.-P., Bouchar M. — « Archaeological information extracted from a comparative study of samples of mortar collected on various ancient monuments in the Nile Valley between the Third and the Sixth Cataracts », dans J. Anderson, D. Welsby (éd.), The Fourth Cataract and Beyond, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference for Nubian Studies, British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan 1, 2014, London, p. 827-832.
  • Feneuille S., Letourneux J.-P., Bouchar M. — Protocoles d’étude des mortiers anciens à l’usage des archéologues, Autun, 2016, p. 53-58.
  • Rilly C. — « De l’ombre à la lumière : le roi Amanakharéqérem », dans Histoire et civilisations du Soudan de la Préhistoire à nos jours, Études d’égyptologie 15, 2017, p. 286-291.
  • Rondot V., Claustre D. — « Nos premières sources sur le bélier de Soba REM 0001 : le Bourguignon Pierre Trémaux, Johannes Dümichen et le Vénitien Giovanni Miani », dans M. Honegger (éd.), Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchatel, 1st-6th September 2014, Orientalia Lovaniensa analecta 273, Leuven, 2018, p. 457-472.
  • Kuckertz J. — « Amanakhareqerema— a Meroitic King of the 1st Century AD », Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin e.v. 29, 2018, p. 119-144.
  • Rondot V., Nogara G. — « El-Hassa 2018 : en 100 apr. J.-C., un nouveau temple à Amon dans l’île de Méroé. Les acquis et les questions », Bulletin de la société française d’égyptologie, 201, 2019, p. 79-103.
  • Feneuille S. — « Renders of the Amun Temple Complex in el-Hassa: practices, pigments and painting methods », Sudan and Nubia, 24, 2020, p. 173-180.
  • Rondot V., Nogara G., Drici F. — « El-Hassa 2000-2020 », dans Cinquantenaire de la Sfdas, Paris, Soleb, 2021, p. 127-151.
  • Rondot V., Nogara G., Dissaux R.-P., Drici F. — El-Hassa Un temple sous les sables – A Temple beneath the Sands – Guide archéologique – Archaeological guide (français, anglais, arabe), Louvre/Éditions Khéops, 2022.

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  • 🇬🇧 [2010] SFDAS-NCAM mission to El-Hassa

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OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sfdas (4 novembre 2024). 🇬🇧 El-Hassa. SFDAS Khartoum. Consulté le 13 février 2026 à l’adresse https://sfdas.hypotheses.org/5632


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