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BARON REZNIK/AISLE SEAT PLEASE

HOLY MOUNTAIN. The Cushite kings adopted many elements of Egyptian culture, including the hieroglyphic script, artistic styles, and religion. When the New Kingdom pharaohs, who ruled from Thebes, founded the city of Napata in c. 1450 BC, they also established a temple to the Theban god Amun-Re at a striking site known today as Jebel Barkal. Later Napatan kings developed this area into an ever-growing monumental complex of sanctuaries built around and inside the isolated sandstone mountain. In the 680s, King Taharqa built a temple there dedicated to Mut, the divine consort of Amun-Re. Recently restored reliefs inside the temple show Taharqa (at right) making an offering to the ram-headed god Amun, who is followed by the goddess Mut.