The magnificence of the archaeological ruins and the impressiveness of the pyramids are testimonial of the quality and of the importance of the Egyptian civilisation in the valley of the Nile.

The most import historical phase begins when the Egyptian Pharaohs conquered the whole Nubian territory leaving the funerary temples and playing an important role on the local culture.

Then after a silent period, we have information regarding the birth of a new reign called Kushitic with Napata as its capital (near the actual Karima).  With it the golden Nubian period begins; in 725 b.C. the Nubian king Piankhi conquered Egypt.  In this period the custom of building temples as mortuary monuments begins in Nubia after having been abandoned for several centuries in Egypt. The Nubian pyramids have no mortuary room inside, the real tomb is dug inside the rock below and is connected with the outside with an inclined tunnel with a small temple at its access.  Meroe was the most important centre in Sudan for a few centuries.  Towards the 4^th century a.C. the city undergoes a decline phase, when the Ethiopian Christian king of Axum, Ezana, invaded Meroe and with this it was put an end to long history of the Kushitic dynasty.