The pyramids of Meroe are around forty steep-sided royal pyramids built as tombs for the kings, queens and nobility of the Kingdom of Kush, clustered in groups near the ancient city of Meroe on the east bank of the Nile in present day Sudan. Built between roughly 300 BC and 300 AD, after the Kushite royal cemetery shifted south from Napata, they are smaller and steeper than the pyramids of Egypt that inspired them, typically rising in narrow steps to between six and thirty meters, and most are fronted by a small offering chapel decorated with relief carvings. Meroe served as the capital of Kush for several centuries during this period, and the site preserves the largest concentration of pyramids anywhere in the world, outnumbering those of Egypt. Many of the pyramids lost their capstones in the 1830s when the Italian treasure hunter Giuseppe Ferlini demolished dozens of them searching for gold, and the site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011.
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In Style
Over 200 steep-sided Kushite pyramids at the Nubian capital, distinct from and later than Egyptian pyramids.
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