Nubian Artist, Sudan, Vessel in the Shape of a Bound Oryx, early seventh century BCE, travertine (Egyptian alabaster), 6 3/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Discovered in the tomb of a young woman, this ointment jar takes the shape of an oryx antelope with bound legs, ready for slaughter. The jar is thoughtfully designed. When not in use, the upturned neck prevented spilling and the bound legs stabilized the vessel. When in use, the legs served as a handle. Originally, the eyes were inlaid and the horns made of dark stone. The current wooden horns are modern reproductions.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Shawabties, 690–664 BCE, serpentinite, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

As was often the case when Napatan rulers took on Egyptian religious accoutrements, they far outstripped the Egyptians in scale. Some Napatan kings were buried with more than a thousand shawabties. The finest and largest groups of shawabties to survive from Nubia are those from the pyramids of kings Taharqa and Senkamanisken at Nuri.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Shawabty of King Taharqa, 690–664 BCE, green magnesite-containing rock, 14 3/16 × 5 5/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Shawabty of King Aspelta, 593–568 BCE, faience, 10 5/8 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Inscribed Steatite Ball, 743–712 BCE, steatite, 1 × 1 1/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This object features cartouches that read, “Khensa, may Amen give life and health.” Inscriptions between the cartouches read, “May Amen give all stability and prosperity, all life, all health and all joy.” King Piankhy, the first king of the 25th Dynasty, had at least three queens and perhaps as many as five or six. They are difficult to identify in the archaeological record, but based on her titles, scholars believe that his principal wife was Khensa, whose pyramid stood not far from his own. Inscriptions at other sites identify three additional wives, Tabiry, Pekereslo, and Abalo, the mother of Taharqa. The jewels from the tombs of royal women at El-Kurru are among the most exquisite objects to survive from Napatan times. Some of the jewelry may be Egyptian in origin, part of the wealth Piankhy brought back from his campaigns. Whether local or foreign, the artists used gold, silver, rock crystal, enamel, and semiprecious stones to achieve unique and stunning results. Some of the jewelry is too fragile to have been for use in life and must be funerary jewelry, while other pieces show signs of wear.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Hathor-Headed Crystal Pendant, 743–712 BCE, gold and rock crystal, 2 1/16 × 1 1/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Discovered in the richest of the royal women’s tombs at El-Kurru, this pendant is a masterpiece of metalwork. A vertical gold tube encased in a rock crystal sphere may have originally held a prayer written on papyrus or gold leaf. Atop the orb is the head of Hathor, a goddess who symbolized love and fertility. Although her head appears to be solid cast, it is made of multiple pieces of sheet gold shaped and seamlessly soldered together.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Amulet of a Cat, 743–712 BCE, dolomitic marble, 1 3/4 × 9/16 × 1 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 

This amulet of a seated cat, discovered in the tomb of Queen Tabiry, probably represents Bastet, a goddess of fertility and motherhood. It also exemplifies a longstanding tradition of assigning an animal form to deities.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Eye of Horus (Wedjat) Pectoral, 743–712 BCE, faience, 3 1/16 × 3 3/8 × 1/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The maker of this amulet combined several popular motifs to create an unusual pectoral filled with protective imagery. The eye of Horus was the most widespread amulet in Egypt and Nubia, believed to ward off illness and injury. In this case, a pair of winged serpents and a smaller eye fill the space between the eye and the eyebrow. Below are a winged scarab and a seated figure of the moon god, Thoth.

Large faience pectorals, often strung on beaded necklaces, were popular among royal women during the reign of King Piankhy (743–712 BCE). They demonstrate enormous variation and creativity, combining local imagery with Egyptian motifs. Deities such as the grotesque but benevolent Bes and Pataikos are favorites, intended to offer protection to the wearer. Winged goddesses and scarabs have solar connotations; other figures remain enigmatic.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Winged Goddess Pectoral, 743–712 BCE, faience, 3 9/16 × 2 3/8 × 9/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This nude, winged goddess wears a complex headdress featuring a lunar crescent, a solar disk, and tall plumes. The cobras on her upper arms wear the same type of headgear. Her identity is unknown, but this pectoral suggests that she is the lunar counterpart to the lioness deity seen elsewhere in this case.   

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Pectoral with Pataikos as a Cippus, 690–623 BCE, faience, 4 1/8 × 2 1/2 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

On this amulet, the protective deity Pataikos stands on a pair of crocodiles while grasping a plant and a serpent in his hands. Above him is a winged disk with a scarab in the center. This image of Pataikos’s domination of dangerous creatures was believed to bestow protective powers to the wearer.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Winged Scarab Pectoral, 743–712 BCE, faience, 2 13/16 × 10 13/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The scarab beetle was a symbol of rebirth and transformation. This openwork amulet depicts a four-winged scarab holding a rosette between its hind legs. Amulets of this type are among the most popular in the royal tombs of El-Kurru.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Bead Net for a Horse, 698–690 BCE, faience, 15 3/4 × 15 3/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Shabaka’s, one of Piankhy’s successors, horses were buried wearing nets of multicolored beads with amulets of the fertility goddess Hathor and cartouches bearing Shabaka’s name. Floral pendants would have jingled as the horses moved. The excavators were able to reconstruct part of one net based on the arrangement of beads found in the grave.

King Piankhy recorded his victory over Egypt on a stele emphasizing his devotion to Amen-Ra, his sense of justice, his courage, and interestingly, his fondness for horses. He was deeply moved by the emaciated state of the horses, saying to the vanquished ruler, “How much more painful it is in my heart that my horses have been starved than at any other crime you have committed.” He then seized the horses, and buried them in the royal cemetery at El-Kurru, adorned with decorations of beads and precious metals—essentially “horse jewelry.” 

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Statue of King Senkamanisken, 643–623 BCE, granite gneiss, 58 3/16 × 19 3/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

In 1916, excavators at the temple of Gebel Barkal discovered a cache of royal statues that had been broken in antiquity and buried in a large pit. This statue portrays King Senkamanisken, a prolific builder at the site. He is depicted with a powerful physique, broad shoulders, muscular arms and legs, and a narrow waist characteristic of early Napatan sculpture—overall, a body type that looks back to Egyptian examples from thousands of years earlier. Senkamanisken’s garments and accessories identify him as a ruler, including a type of kilt worn only by royalty, a cap crown with double uraeus cobras, and necklaces adorned with a ram’s head representing Amen-Ra, the god most closely associated with Nubian kingship. The kilt, headdress, jewelry, and sandals were originally covered with gold leaf.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Relief of Men Playing Senet, 568–555 BCE, sandstone, 12 13/16 × 25 13/16 × 8 1/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Almost nothing remains of the chapels that once stood in front of the pyramids at Nuri. This block from the tomb of King Aramatelka is a rare survivor. The scene is adopted from Egyptian tombs of the Old Kingdom, two thousand years earlier. The figure on the left is playing the board game senet. The decoration is only a preliminary outline and would have been plastered and brightly painted.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Offering Table of King Aspelta, 593–568 BCE, porphyry, 34 5/8 × 25 13/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The upper part of this stele from the pyramid of Aspelta shows the king standing at the right with his arms raised in worship. Seated and facing him is the god of the afterlife, Osiris, who appears as a mummy wearing his distinctive tall, feathered crown and holding a crook and flail, symbols of kingship. Behind Osiris are his wife, Isis, and the canine-headed Anubis, who guided the dead to the afterlife. The text below them describes purification rituals and requests offerings for Aspelta’s eternal use.

The spouted offering table found in front of the stele echoes the requests for eternal food and drink that appear on the stela. The surface is decorated with images of bread loaves, trussed ducks, cuts of meat, fruits and vegetables, and a jar for liquid refreshment.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Heart Scarab of Queen Asata, 593–568 BCE, jasper, 4 5/16 × 2 3/4 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Nubians adopted the use of heart scarabs from Egypt but created examples that far exceed those of the Egyptians in size and quality, and their use was limited to the royal family. The scarabs bear an excerpt from the Book of the Dead, requesting that the heart testify favorably at the time of divine judgment, when it would be weighed against a feather and expected to balance perfectly.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Winged Isis Pectoral, 538–519 BCE, gold, 2 11/16 x 6 11/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Isis, wife of the funerary god Osiris, was believed to be a powerful, maternal protector of the dead. This pectoral of a winged, kneeling Isis was made to be sewn onto the mummy wrappings of King Amaninatakelebte, as the pierced tabs indicate. The exquisite treatment of the goddess’s feathers and beaded net dress attests to the work of a master goldsmith. In her outstretched hands, she holds two hieroglyphic symbols. In her left is a sail, symbolizing breath, and in her right is the ankh, the hieroglyph for life. The pectoral therefore conveys a message, “the breath of life,” which Isis would bestow upon Amaninatakelebte in the afterlife.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Ram’s Head Pendant, 542–538 BCE, gold, 1 7/16 × 7/8 × 13/16 inches, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Napatan kings wore distinctive jewelry, in particular necklaces and earrings bearing the head of a ram, the manifestation of the supreme deity Amen-Ra. The solar disk on his head refers to his role as a god of the sun, while the two crowned uraeus cobras on his forehead are symbols of kingship.

Nubian Artist, Sudan, Inscribed Beakers and Plaques, 623–593 BCE, Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

When the foundation for a tomb was laid, it involved a series of rituals, including one where the king placed gold and precious stones at each of the tomb’s four corners. These included sets of small tablets in a variety of materials, each inscribed with the king’s name. With them were sets of faience cups, each bearing the name of a deity and containing a natural substance thought to have spiritual properties, such as gum arabic or charcoal. Also buried were the remains of ritual meals: animal bones, a grindstone for grain, and pottery vessels. The foundation deposit ritual was intended to ensure the long-term stability of tombs, temples, and other religious structures.

The most elaborate foundation deposits were found at the pyramid tomb of King Anlamani. Accompanying valuable stones and metals at each corner were tablets and faience cups inscribed with text and filled with substances such as ore, resin, wood, charcoal, vegetables, and liquids for protection and balance.

Faience is a type of tin-glazed ceramic made by firing silica, quartz, alkaline salts, or lime. It is characterized by bright colors produced by metallic colorants.