A Cylindrical Conundrum

This article is from Ancient Egypt issue 143

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Perhaps the most intriguing of all discoveries made in the rich royal tombs of the Napatan rulers at Nuri in Sudan was a series of elaborately decorated gold cylinders. These mysterious objects came from the pyramids of both the kings and queens, first appearing in the tomb of King Senkamanisken (c.640-620 BC), and continuing up to the reign of King Nastasen (c.335-310 BC) near the end of the Napatan Period. Although most of these burials had been plundered, they still contained many treasures, including the gold cylinders, when they were excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition in 1916. Dows Dunham, who assisted George Reisner in his excavations at Nuri, would later publish the material and noted:

The objects referred to as cylinder-sheaths, found in a number of the Nuri tombs, are of unknown purpose, and have not been recorded elsewhere. They consist of two parts: (a) a cylindrical tube, closed at the base by a circular disc, and (b) a shorter cylindrical tube open at both ends, fitted with an internal sleeve which projects beyond its lower end and slides inside (a). The decoration of (a) usually features a winged female figure as its main motif, with decorative borders above and below. The decoration of (b) consists of friezes of uraei, ram’s heads, or sometimes hieroglyphs, cartouches, flowers and the like. The upper end of (b) is open.

These cylinders were painstakingly crafted in multiple stages involving soldering, gilding, and chasing, together with the addition of appliqués, decorative wires, and enamel inlay. All the surfaces of the cylinders were embellished with incised and inlaid decoration – even the bases. The upper part was usually decorated with chased, three-dimensional uraei, ram heads with sun discs, ‘lotus’ (lily) flowers, and papyrus umbels. The lower part featured images of winged goddesses and other deities, as well as the royal cartouche. Both the upper and lower parts were also sometimes decorated with the traditional block-border pattern inlaid with coloured paste, and the bases often with an engraved marguerite (flower design). While some were made of pure gold, most were made of gilded silver.

Cylinder finds

Most of the tombs contained one or two cylinders, but there were 15 in the pyramid of King Aspelta (c.600-580 BC). The decorative themes of Aspelta’s cylinders varied, but tended to feature goddesses such as Hathor, Mut, Isis, Tefnut, Anukis, and Satis. The cylinders were found grouped together on the floor of the burial chamber, and many had been smashed by fallen ceiling blocks, although this helped conceal the objects from looters. The cylinders given to Boston as a share of the finds were later conserved, although the ‘woody bits’ that were found inside during cleaning were not preserved or analysed. Dunham noted:

Owing to the crushed and corroded condition of the objects, it was necessary to clean them electrolytically before they could be adequately recorded. In the process much detail of the incised decoration, originally obscured, was clarified, but conversely some parts were too far corroded to be preserved through the cleaning process and were lost.

Fortunately the cylinders had been sketched in the field and Suzanne Chapman, who drew them for publication, was able to combine what had been recorded with what was visible after cleaning in her fairly complete rendering of the decoration.

What was their function?

While similar in form to much smaller gold cylinders found in the Tanis royal tombs, which were thought to have been fitted to the ends of wooden staffs that have since deteriorated, the Napatan ones were far too delicate to have served such a purpose. Many other suggestions have been advanced as to their use. Some have posited that they were document cases, but there is no contemporary parallel for this, and no fragments of papyri were found with them.

Another supposition was that they were used to hold palm fronds used in processions. However, given the size of the fronds compared to the cylinders this is unlikely, and there is no indication of them in scenes showing Nubians carrying palm fronds. It was even speculated that they served as some sort of electrical battery!

Conundrum solved

The latest suggestion by Amarillis Pompei (2019) that they were handles for sistra, is also unlikely for several reasons. First, no known sistra have been made in this way. A bronze sistrum inscribed for the Meroitic king Arnekhamani (235-218 BC) is similar in form to contemporary Egyptian sistra. Pompei has suggested that the upper parts of the cylinder-sistra were of wood that had possibly decayed, but no metal crossbars or cymbals that form part of the musical instrument were found with the cylinders. Alternatively, she has suggested that they were ritually broken and that the upper parts were deposited in the Temple of Amun at Gebel Barkal. However, while a number of object types were broken as part of Napatan funerary rites, all the parts were invariably deposited together.

None of these possible explanations has taken the archaeological evidence we have into account. What information might we glean from representations and burial customs? One scene in the Meroitic Lion Temple at Naqa depicts King Arnekhamani and his unnamed queen standing before the lion-headed god Apedemak. Each carries a bouquet of sorghum, which is held in a cylindrical container. Sorghum, a main staple of the Nubian diet, is frequently depicted as an offering. Actual examples of sorghum bouquets have been found at Qasr Ibrim. Given the importance of this cereal crop to ancient Nubia, it would seem plausible that these cylinders were intended to hold the inflorescences of sorghum as an offering both in tombs and temples, and their meaning is an expression of the unique identity of the kingdoms of ancient Sudan.

Peter Lacovara is Director of the Ancient Egyptian Archaeology and Heritage Fund. He was Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C Carlos Museum from 1998 to 2014, and previously was Assistant Curator in the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is also Visiting Research Scholar at the American University in Cairo. His archaeological fieldwork has included excavations in the Valley of the Kings, Malqata, Abydos, Hierakonpolis, and the Giza Plateau, and he is currently directing the work at the palace-city of Deir el-Ballas.

Further reading:
• D Dunham (1955) Royal Cemeteries of Kush – Vol. II: Nuri (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts).
• P Lacovara and Y Markowitz (2019) Nubian Gold (Cairo: AUC Press).
• A Pompei (2019) The Napatan Cylindrical Sheaths: a catalogue and analysis of precious objects from the Royal Cemetery of Nuri (Oxford: BAR Publishing).

All images: courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, unless otherwise stated