The Talk

Meroë, a remote kingdom south of Egypt; a ‘land shadowing with wings’; ruled by formidable queens called Kandake; beyond were remoter regions where snakes strangled elephants, ants ate gold, people were ruled by a dog … Meroë appeared in Greek and Roman encyclopaedias, novels, and histories from Herodotus, through Diodorus and Pliny, to Heliodorus and the Alexander Romance. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that eunuch chamberlain of the Kandake was converted by St Philip. What was the reality of his fabled kingdom?

In 1772, on his return from Lake Tana, James Bruce noted ancient remains that he identified as the site of Meroë: nobody believed his travels. Later travellers were forced to turn back hundreds of miles to the north. In 1822 George Waddington and Barnard Hanbury, following Ismail Pasha’s Egyptian army south, managed to get as far as Gebel Barkal and the Fourth Cataract. Shortly after, Frédéric Cailliaud, Louis Linant de Bellefonds and others finally reached Meroë: only for European scholars to explore the classical myth.

The Speaker

Robert Morkot is an Ancient Historian educated at University College London and the Humboldt-University Berlin. His main area of expertise is the Ancient History of the Nile Valley and North-East Africa from Libya to Sudan but also works on the History of Archaeology and reception of Antiquity. He is the Chair of ASTENE.

How to Join

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