Gold Treasure from Meroë

This gold treasure is from the north of present-day Sudan. There, 200 kilometres north of the capital Khartoum, lie the ruins of Meroë. From 350 B.C. to 300 A.D., its kings and queens ruled over an extensive realm, linking Egypt and Africa. The royal burial ground of Meroë is a vast field of pyramids. The items of jewellery on display here were among the objects found in one of the pyramids.

The pyramid in which the gold treasure was found in 1834 was that of Queen Amanishakheto, who ruled just before the turn of the millennium and was a contemporary of Cleopatra and the Emperor Augustus. The gold treasure is now divided between Berlin and Munich. The signet rings, shield rings, armlets and necklaces are a mixture, in motif and style, of ancient Egyptian, Hellenistic and indigenous Meroitic elements.