Aryamani was a Nubia

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

n king

Titles

• Horus name: Kanakht Meryre ("Mighty Bull, beloved of Re")
• Prenomen: Usermaatre Setepenre ("Re is one whose equity is mighty, chosen one of Re")
• Nomen: Son of Amun Aryamani (Sa-en-Amun Iry-Amun) with epithet Meryamun ("Beloved of Amun")

Monuments and Inscriptions

He is attested by one stela found at Kawa

Kawa, Egypt

Kawa is a town in Sudan. Located in ancient Nubia between the Third and Fourth Cataracts of the Nile. Noteworthy archaeological discoveries include several Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt era steles .-References:...

. The stela provides a text in poor Egyptian language and is, therefore, for the most part, not fully understandable. However, it provides a Year 9 date from his reign. At Kawa, a second stela was also found dated to Year 24 of a king whose name is destroyed. On stylistical grounds, it has been assumed that this stela also belongs to Aryamani who, therefore, must have reigned in Nubia for at least 23 years.

The main stela, now in Copenhagen, shows the king at the top in front of Amun-Re, Mut

Mut

Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture. Alternative spellings are Maut and Mout. She was considered a primal deity, associated with the waters from which...

 and Khons. In the lower part there is the text, partly destroyed and therefore increasing the problems of understanding the poor Egyptian. The text starts with the year 3 and the partly lost titulary of the king. It follows a prayer to Amun-Re and in the remaining lines donations of the king to the god seems to be listed. They are arranged in an annal style, year 8 and year 9 of the king are also preserved. Furthermore there appears a year 21 but it remains doubtful whether it relates to Aryamani. The two fragments of the second stela relate to similar donations between year 9 and 23 of an unknown king. A year 24 can be reconstructed but its meaning or context is now lost. The text might be the follow-up of the first stela.

Date of Reign

The position and dating of the king is highly problematic. The style of Aryamani's stela, his throne and Horus names show Ramesside influences. Therefore, he was placed at the beginning of the third century BC when there were also Ramesside influences visible in Ptolemaic Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter invaded Egypt and declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to...

 and when Nubian kings, such as Aktisanes

Aktisanes

Aktisanes is a Nubian king who is mentioned by the Greek historian Hecataeus of Abdera. He is perhaps identical with Menmaatre-Setepenamun Gatisen known from Nubian sources.-Titles:*Horus name: Kanakht Merymaat...

 also copied Ramesside patterns. The poor Egyptian language seems to place him around or after Nastasen

Nastasen

Nastasen was a king of the North African Nubian civilisation of Kush . According to a stela from Dongola his mother was named Queen Pelkha and his father may have been King Harsiotef. His successor was Aryamani.-Monuments:...

. Laszlo Török maintains that

"the Ramessid-style names and the monuments of Aryamani and some other [Nubian] rulers with similar names (Aktisanes, Irike-Piye-qo, Sabrakamani) are to be dated to the end of the 4th and the first half of the 3rd century BC."

Other researchers, such as Robert Morkot

Robert Morkot

Robert George Morkot is a Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter, where he specialises in the external relations of Ancient Egypt, particularly the relations with Kush...

 regard the Ramesside style as an indication that the king ruled shortly after the Ramesside period. Morkot identifies him with Alara

Alara of Nubia

Alara was a King of Kush who is generally regarded as the founder of the Napatan royal dynasty by his 25th Dynasty Nubian successors and was the first recorded prince of Nubia. He unified all of Upper Nubia from Meroë to the Third Cataract and is possibly attested at the Temple of Amun at Kawa....

.

Burial

Aryamani is thought to have been buried at Jebel Barkal

Jebel Barkal

Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal is a very small mountain located some 400 km north of Khartoum, in Karima town in Northern State in Sudan, on a large bend of the Nile River, in the region called Nubia....

. Pyramid 11 or 14 may belong to this king.

Literature

• Laszlo Török, in: Fontes Historiae Nubiorum, Vol. II, Bergen 1996, 521-532, ISBN 8291626014