Amanikhabale | |||||
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King of Kush | |||||
![]() Damaged portrait of the king buried in Beg. N 2, possibly Amanikhabale | |||||
Reign | First half of the first century CE (?) | ||||
Predecessor | Nawidemak | ||||
Successor | Natakamani and Amanitore (?) | ||||
Burial | Pyramid Beg. N 2 at Meroë (?) | ||||
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Amanikhabale (also transliterated Astabarqaman) was a King of Kush who probably ruled in the first half of the 1st century CE.[1] Amanikhabale is known from inscriptions from Kawa, Basa, and Naqa, as well as a broken stela from Meroë.[1] The quality and scale of the monuments on which Amanikhabale's inscriptions have been found, as well as their geographical distribution, indicates that he had a prosperous reign.[2]
George Andrew Reisner suggested that Amanikhabale was buried in Pyramid 2 at the North cemetery (Beg. N 2) at Meroe (Bagrawiyah),[3] largely supported by scholars since.[2] Amanikhabale's name is known from a fragment of a table found in Beg. N 3, which can be fitted together with fragments in Beg. N 2 and Beg. N 4. The table designates his mother as the queen regnant Nawidemak.[2] This further supports Beg. N 2 as his burial since it has close palaeographic similarities with Nawidemak's tomb, Bar. 6.[2]