🇬🇧 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 grouped its religious, royal, administrative and economic buildings in towns such as Hamadab, Mouweis, Wad Ben Naga and el-Hassa. This site, which once bordered the Nile, was seen by the first European travellers: the Swiss Burckhardt in 1814 and two Frenchmen, Linant de Bellefonds and Cailliaud in 1822. The latter mentioned the statue of a “sphinx-ram”, indicating the presence of a temple to Amun

Since 2000, a Franco-Sudanese mission has been carrying out archaeological research to find and excavate this temple. In 2016, after fourteen excavation and documentation campaigns, the remains, too fragile to remain on display, were reburied.

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

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

The temple at el-Hassa has the stereotypical layout of sanctuaries dedicated to the god Amun. Very similar to that of Naga, it is presented as a Pharaonic temple reached by a processional route (dromos) opened by a monumental fire altar, interrupted by a kiosk and flanked by pairs of ram statues. A pylon with flagpoles marks the entrance to the temple, followed by a succession of increasingly closed rooms leading to the sanctuary. On the left-hand side, there is a partly open-air chapel, typical of rituals dedicated to the god Amun.

To the south, a narrow courtyard leads to a palace attached to the temple and functioning ritually with it. Its square, single-storey plan with central skylight is also classical. It is likely that, according to an ancient tradition, royal rituals took place here, in connection with the cult of the god Amun. El-Hassa is a very clear example of the combination of a temple to Amun and a ceremonial palace.

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 provide 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 for a final ritual 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 may represent the Queen Mother, the famous Candace.

Ram statues of the god Amun

For the Napateans and Meroites, the ram was the animal in which the god Amun was incarnated on earth. This is why the processional routes from the temples to the god are flanked by statues of the animal, represented lying down and protecting the sovereign under its muzzle. The strangely asymmetrical dromos at el-Hassa had three pairs of small statues in front of the kiosk and four pairs of large statues between the kiosk and the temple, making a total of fourteen statues. A fifteenth statue was located in the chapel behind the temple. Five have been found: they are presented here in their original position and on bases that match the proportions of those on the dromos of Naga. The sixth is a copy of the “Soba ram”, a statue found in the 19th century in the capital of the Christian kingdom of Alodia (580-1500), south of Khartoum, and now on display in the national museum. We now know that this statue, transported 200 km to Soba at a date and for a reason that are still unknown, originated in the dromos of el-Hassa.

On the bases of the ram statues, the texts are the same each time, repeated identically according to a very ancient model. The hieroglyphs are among the most beautiful and detailed we know. They are a mixture of Pharaonic hieroglyphs, particularly for the royal titles, and Meroitic hieroglyphs, for example inside the second cartouche. This text gives us three key pieces of historical information: 1) the name of the king who built the temple: the qore Neb-Maât-Rê Amanakhareqerema; 2) the name of a form of the god Amun, which may have been that of the master of the temple: Amun-Aritene; and 3) the name of the ancient city hidden beneath the sands: Tabakha (translation by Claude Rilly).

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

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• 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.
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• 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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