Pyramid of Queen Shanakdakhete

16.9391°N, 33.7496°E.

The pyramid of queen Shanakdakhete at Meroë, built for the first known woman to rule the Kushite kingdom in her own right, approximately 170–150 BCE. Original base approximately 11 metres per side; original height around 19 metres at the steep Meroitic slope. Shanakdakhete is the earliest Kushite ruler whose monumental inscriptions are written in Meroitic hieroglyphs rather than Egyptian — the script appears in its developed form for the first time in her reign, suggesting that the script was either created or formalised under her authority. Her reliefs at Naga depict her wearing the full pharaonic regalia and smiting captives in the iconographic role conventionally reserved for male kings. Excavated as part of the Meroë North Cemetery by George Reisner between 1920 and 1923.

A pyramid for the queen whose reign coincides with the emergence of the Meroitic writing system, ruling in her own right with the iconography of a male pharaoh, in a tradition of independent ruling queens that would define the Meroitic dynasty for the next three centuries.