Basa (variation: Jabal Basa) is a village in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. It lies northeast of

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

Butana The Butana (Arabic: البطانة, ''Buṭāna''), historically called the Island of Meroë, is the region between the Atbarah River, Atbara and the Nile in the Sudan. South of Khartoum it is bordered by the Blue Nile and in the east by Lake T ...

, upstream of Wadi Hawa, near

Meroë Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: ; and ; ) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east of the Kabushiya station near Shendi, Sudan, approximately 200 km north-east of Khartoum. Near the site is ...

and the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

. Near Basa is a completely decayed temple which was excavated in 1907. It was built by Amanikhabale and probably dedicated to Apedemak, the

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

-headed warrior god worshiped in

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

by Meroitic peoples. Some fallen lion sculptures, each weighing two tons, were found by

Francis Llewellyn Griffith Francis Llewellyn Griffith (27 May 1862 – 14 March 1934) was an eminent British Egyptologist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life and education F. Ll. Griffith was born in Brighton on 27 May 1862 where his father, Rev. Dr. ...

. In 1970, five of the lion sculptures were recovered and placed at the entrance of the National Museum of Sudan, as were two stone frog sculptures. Griffith also excavated a limestone sundial which dates to Roman times. Abdel Rahman Ali Mohammad and Julie R. Anderson, ''Highlights from the Sudan National Museum'', The Sudan National Museum 2013, p.80-82

References

* Hinkel, F. W. (1978). ''Auszug aus Nubien'' ("Extract from Nubia"). Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. (in German) {{coord, 16.699778, 33.983411, display=title Populated places in River Nile State Archaeological sites in Sudan Nubian architecture in Sudan Kingdom of Kush Populated places established in the 1st century