Sai (island) in the context of "Spolia"

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⭐ Core Definition: Sai (island)

Saï is a large island in the Nile River in Nubia between the second and third cataracts, in the country of Sudan. It is 12 km long and 5.5 km wide. Saï was intermittently occupied by the Egyptians during the New Kingdom. In the Makurian period it was the center of a bishopric, while in the second half of the 16th century the Ottomans founded a fortress on the island.

The northeast portion of the island contains a New Kingdom of Egypt temple and numerous mills associated with ancient gold production. Nearby is an Ottoman Empire fort composed of sandstone quarried along the river banks, and spolia bearing the cartouche of Amenhotep IV, amongst other 18th Dynasty rulers. Numerous round tombs are close by.

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Sai (island) in the context of Kerma culture

The Kingdom of Kerma or the Kerma culture was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia" (in parts of present-day northern and central Sudan), and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of a number of Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. The Kerma civilization was an ethnic melting pot, with origins tied to a complex web of cultures native to both the Sahara, and, farther south, parts of Central Africa. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700 to 1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Around 1500 BC, it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. By the eleventh century BC, the more-Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt.

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