A little known fact about Byzantine spirituality and culture is their long-term influence in the independent Christian kingdoms of the Nubian peoples located in the regions of present day Sudan. Byzantine spirituality and culture, not totally unknown in these regions from the establishment of the Empire, appear to have been embraced by the Nubians during the reign of Justinian and Theodora. This influence lasted one thousand years, until the Islamic assault on these kingdoms finally succeeded.
True to the Byzantine values of tolerance and diversity in unity and the inherent precedents for synthesis, one finds a remarkable fusion of spiritual, linguistic, administrative and aesthetic manifestations of Byzantine culture with the Nubian genius. Today this fusion remains most evident in the frescoes of the rock churches, many of whose treasures have been rescued by the effort of the Polish archaeological team that worked in Faras, and other sites in the Sudan in the middle of the twentieth century.
Below we are pleased to present to our readers the text of the now out-of-print 1954 pamphlet of the Sudan Antiquities Service, by P.L. Shinnie, entitled Medieval Nubia, which chronicles the history and the remaining archaeological and artistic evidence of this remarkable fusion of cultures, a fusion based on the common grounds of Christian faith and an adaptation of what was deemed good and useful to the Nubian peoples. One wonders if the sense of identity and cultural self-awareness witnessed by this fusion contributes in some part to the modern-day identity of the Christian peoples of southern Sudan who today are still struggling to maintain their faith, culture, and their independence.
The conversion of the Nubian peoples to Christianity in the sixth century A.D. began a period of cultural and political advance in the Sudan, and gave cohesion to the riverain kingdoms already existing before the arrival of the missionaries. Combining with the underlying native culture, new elements from the Mediterranean produced an intellectual and artistic activity, shown in the archaeological remains, which contradicts the impression of barbarism gained from reading the mainly hostile Arabic accounts of the country.
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reconstruction of Nubian church (after Mileham)
The period, which lasted in different areas for nearly 1,000 years, is a period of Sudan history little studied, and often dismissed as of little account. A study of the literary and archaeological remains, however, shows it to have been a time of flowering of artistic endeavour and of political power, with an important and interesting history which has left a permanent mark on the country, and helped to form the characteristic riverain culture of the northern Sudan.
During this time the kingdom of Nubia was a power and its kings treated as equals with those of Egypt and other countries of the Near East. Its chief legacy to modern times is in the Nubian language, spoken in various dialects from Silsileh in Egypt to Debba in the Sudan, and which, in spite of being surrounded for centuries by Arabic speech, has maintained its hold on the people and is still vigorous and cherished, although no longer written.
Its culture was predominantly that of a nation of riverain peasant cultivators, as are the modern Nubians, but it maintained contact with and influenced peoples in the desert to east and west. Pieces of the characteristic pottery of the kingdom of Dongola have been found in the Khor Nubt in the Red Sea Hills, and an inscription in Old Nubian has been found in the Abu Negila hills of northern Kordofan.
Where these people of Nubian speech came from may never be known with certainty, but the close resemblances between some of the languages of the Nuba hills, of Jebel Meidob, in the far west, and river Nubian suggests that they came from the west and south west. The inscription of the Axumite king Aezanes in the year A.D. 350 speaks of 'Noba' at Merod. This may well refer to Nubians, and if so, it is their first appearance in history.
In the year A.D. 297 the Roman Emperor Diocletian called in a people known as the Nobate from the oases of the western Egyptian desert, to defend the southern frontier of his Empire at Aswan from the raids of the Blemmyes, who arc probably the Beja of the Red Sea Hills.
These Noba and Nobatae settled along the river, and soon the original population had intermarried with them and adopted their language. The Blemmyes were defeated, as is known from the Greek inscription of Silko at Kalabsha which may be dated about A.D. 530. Here Silko, who calls himself 'Basiliskos' or kinglet of the Nobatae, describes fighting the Blemmyes from Ibrim to Shellal and extracting an oath of submission from them.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
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Maiestas Crucis, second half of the 10th century
Three Nubian kingdoms arose on the ruins of Meroitic power and are first known to history from the accounts of sixth century missionary activity given by the Syrian writer John of Ephesus. In the north, from the First to the Third Cataracts, was the kingdom of Nobatia, with its capital at Faras; south of it and stretching as far as the place known to Arab writers as El Abwab, 'the doors', thought to be near the modern village of Kabushia, was Makuria, with its capital at Old Dongola; and further south again, the kingdom of Alwah (or Alodia), whose capital, Soba, is close to Khartoum.
In the account of John of Ephesus, two missions set out from Constantinople in about the year A.D. 540, one representing the orthodox or Melkite party, and under the patronage of the Emperor Justinian, the other, supported by the Empress Theodora, was of the Monophysite theology, which had been declared heretical a hundred years before at the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451).
John's account shows that the monophysites were everywhere successful at the expense of their orthodox rivals, but, since he was himself a strong supporter of monophysitism, his account cannot be accepted as entirely unbiased, and there is some evidence to show that the orthodox missionaries had greater influence than John's account would suggest.
According to this account Theodora was able, by threatening the Duke of the Thebaid, the Byzantine governor of Upper Egypt, to have the orthodox mission held up while the monophysites, led by a priest named Julian, went ahead to Nubia, arriving there about A.D. 543. Julian remained in Nobatia for two years, having considerable success in converting the pagan Nubians. The general authenticity of John of Ephesus' account is borne out by the vividness of some of his descriptions, as when talking of the heat of summer he says:
" For he (Julian) used to say that, from nine o'clock until four in the afternoon he was obliged to take refuge in caverns, full of water, where he sat undressed and girt only in a linen garment, such as the people of the country wear. "
This must surely be a direct quotation from Julian and brings vividly to the minds of those who know it, the intense summer heat of the area between the First and Third Cataracts.
After Julian's return to Constantinople, Longinus was appointed to succeed him in charge of the Nubian mission, but it was not until about the year A.D. 569 that he arrived in Nubia. Earlier attempts had been forestalled by the orders of Justinian, and finally it was only by disguising himself "Aware that he was watched and would not be permitted to leave, he disguised himself and put a wig on his head, for he was very bald" that he was able to get away from Byzantium."
For the next ten years, except for a period of three years spent in Egypt, Longinus worked amongst the Nubians and in A.D. 580 went south, at the request of the king of Alwah, to spread the gospel amongst the people of that kingdom. The journey was hazardous and, owing to the hostility of the kingdom of Makuria, he was not able to go by the river route. The reason for this hostility may well be that the Maccuritae had been converted by the rival orthodox mission and were not willing to help in the spreading of what they considered heresy. As a result of this hostility Longinus had to go far to the east, and was entrusted to the king of the Beja for safe conduct. John of Ephesus says:
"But because of the wicked devices of him who dwells between us, I sent my saintly father to the king of the Blemmys that he might conduct him thither by routes further inland; but the Makaritaes heard also of this, and set people on the look-out in all the areas of his kingdom, both in the mountains and in the plains."
Arriving in Soba in this year, he seems to have had rapid success in converting the king and his followers.
Thus, by A.D. 580, Christianity had become the official religion of the northern Sudan. If our main literary sources are to be believed, Nobatia and Alwah were Monophysite and Makuria and the nomad Garamantes Melkite. But a study of the tombstones which have been found in considerable numbers, presents rather a different picture ; most of these tombstones are in Greek and the prayers for the deceased inscribed on them are those in use in the orthodox church. We also know that there was at one time a Melkite Bishop of Taifa, in Egyptian Nubia, so it may well be that the very partial story of John of Ephesus has overstated the Monophysite case and that there was a Melkite church in Nobatia as well as Makuria.
CONTACT WITH ARABS
From this time on, knowledge of the history of the country is obtained almost exclusively from Arab sources, there being very little native information obtainable. The Arab conquest of Egypt in A.D. 640 had a profound effect on Nubia ; after only sixty years her contacts with Byzantium were broken and, though contact was maintained with Christian elements in Egypt, the Mediterranean content of religion and culture became weaker as time went on.
In view of the barrier imposed by an Islamic and Arabic speaking Egypt, it is remarkable how the Byzantine character of the art was maintained, and that Greek was still in use in A.D. 1181, the date on a tombstone of one Parthenius found at Faras, and the latest Greek inscription known from the Sudan.
The Arab conquerors of Egypt soon came into conflict with the Nubians, and their first raid was made in A.D. 641. These early attacks were only predatory raids and there was no intention of occupying the country ; the Nubians fought stoutly and gained a reputation amongst the Arabs as skilful archers, who specialized in blinding their opponents by shooting at their eyes; they were known to the Arabs as rumat al-hadaq, "pupil-smiters ". Soon after these first raids, a treaty known as the Baqt, from the Greek pakton, a pact, was concluded, by which the Nubians supplied annually four hundred slaves in return for foodstuffs and cloth.
In A.D. 652 Arab attacks recommenced and the Arab writer, Maqrizi, recounts that they penetrated as far as Old Dongola, where the principal church was destroyed, with stones thrown from catapults, and the king Kalidurut sued for peace. It is certain that it was no easy victory and an Arab poet wrote:
"My eyes ne'er saw another fight like Dongola, with rushing horses loaded down with coats of mail ".
In spite of this victory the Arabs had no wish to occupy the comparatively poor country of Nubia in face of the fierce resistance of its inhabitants, so different from that of the Copts in Egypt, who had helped the invaders against the hated Byzantine rulers.
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The Theotokos Hodegetria (ca. 707)
KINGDOM OF DONGOLA
At some date between A.D. 650 and A.D. 710 the two countries of Nobatia and Makuria became one. The conditions under which this unification came about, and its exact date, are obscure. If the king Merkurios, who has left an inscription in the temple at Taifa, which is in the territory of Nobatia, dated A.D. 710, is the same as the Merkurios king of Dongola, who is referred to as the " New Constantine ", then it would seem that Makuria had conquered the northern kingdom. But about this time also took place the complete winning of the country to the monophysite church, and it seems unlikely that a victory of Makuria, which had long championed the Melkite faith, would lead to the triumph of the rival church of the defeated country.
The victory of Monophysitism became inevitable after the Arab conquest of Egypt, when the Melkites were considered as supporters of the Bvzantine empire, whilst the nationalist (Coptic) church was favoured by the conquerors and, during a period of nearly a hundred years, from about A.D.637 to 731, there was no Melkite patriarch in Egypt. Consequently the Nublans were unable to get Melkite Bishops, and the Monophysites took advantage of this to assert their supremacy.
This unification was of importance for Nubia, as it enabled a stronger resistance to be made to Arab raids, and the ending of political and religious strife facilitated cultural development. Although now under one king, Nobatia, or Maris as it also seems to have been called, maintained its own identity and had a governor appointed by the king of Nubia, known to the Arabs as sahib el jebel, "Lord of the Mountain ", and to the Nubians by the Greek title of " Eparch ". A representation of one of these officials is to be seen in a painting in the church at Abd el Qadir, near Wadi Halfa.
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The Eparch and Christ, first half of the 12th century
The united kingdom under King Cyriacus was powerful enough to invade Egypt in the year A.D. 745 in defense of the Patriarch of Alexandria, who had been imprisoned. The Nubian army reached Cairo where an official called the eparch, presumably the eparch of Nobatia, was sent to treat with Abd el Melek ibn Musa, the governor of Egypt, who agreed to the release of the Patriarch. A contemporary document shows that as well as the title Eparch, other Byzantine titles, such as Domestikos, were still in use, and suggests that the Byzantine traditions introduced by the first missionaries were still living.
From A.D. 822-836 there was continual warfare with Egypt until, in the latter year, George, son of King Zakaria, was sent on an embassy to Baghdad to the Caliph Muatasim. The number of accounts of this embassy shows that it was considered an important event, and marked the arrival of Nubia as a Near Eastern power.
During the ninth century, there had been considerable Arab penetration into the area to the east of the river, the main purpose of which was to obtain the gold of the Red Sea Hills. Struggles with the Beja inhabitants of the area ensued, and in A.D. 831 a treaty was made by which the Beja were to pay tribute, the blood price for Muslims killed by them was fixed, they were permitted to enter Egypt but not to be armed, and they agreed not to destroy the mosques at Sinkat and Hagr, a place so far unidentified.
The existence of these mosques shows that Arab penetration must have achieved significant proportions, and suggests that there was now a permanent Muslim population at these places. This treaty did not last for long, and in A.D. 856 a new one was made after a Beja defeat. This reaffirmed the clauses of the earlier one, and added one by which the Beja undertook not to interfere with the Muslim gold miners.
We know the name of one of the Arab gold prospectors, Abu Abd el rahman el Omari, whose story is told by Maqrizi ; he established a virtually independent state in the hills and fought the Nubians in the area round Abu Hamed, where he needed access to the Nile for his water supplies.
By the middle of the tenth century, hostilities had again broken out with Egypt. The Nubians invaded that country and, benefiting from the state of disorder there, reached, in the year A.D. 962, as far as the town of Akhmim, and for a time controlled Upper Egypt, at least to the north of Edfu. The discovery there of Nubian documents in the monastery of St. Mercurios suggests that it had become a centre of Nubian culture.
This occupation of Upper Egypt continued for some while after the Fatimid conquest in A.D. 969, but relations between Nubia and Egypt were good, and the king of Nubia was regarded as protector of the patriarch of Alexandria. This period of the late tenth and eleventh centuries marks the height of Nubian power, but from then on the history is one of increasing Arab pressure and lessening Nubian strength, and control of Upper Egypt was lost.
It is probably from this period that the few known texts in the Nubian language come. They are unfortunately very few and are of little or no value from a historical point of view. They are, however, of great importance linguistically, and show that by at least the end of the tenth century Nubian had become a written language. This language, known as Old Nubian, is closely related to the modern Mahass dialect of Nubian, which is spoken from the Second Cataract to Abu Fatina at the Third Cataract, and thus covers very much the area of Nobatia.
It was written with the Coptic form of the Greek alphabet, using some, but not all, of the extra Coptic letters, and introducing three letters of its own, probably based on Meroitic signs, for sounds that did not exist in Coptic or Greek. Apart from odd graffiti and scratchings there are only seven known Old Nubian texts, and these are all but one of a religious nature. This may mean that by the end of the tenth century, Nubian had displaced Greek as the language of the church, but Greek still continued to be used for grave inscriptions till late in the twelfth century, and no grave stones inscribed in Nubian are known.
Coptic was also in use in the country, but was probably only used by Coptic refugees ; its use is rare, and it is only found on grave stones and on the walls of a hermit's grotto at Wizz near to Faras. Even on grave stones Coptic is much rarer than Greek, except at the monastery of Ghazali, where Coptic grave stones preponderate. It is likely that Ghazali was exceptional and was founded by a group of Coptic monks fleeing from persecution in Egypt.
With the end of Fatimid rule in A.D. 1171 peace with Egypt came to an end, and after capturing Aswan, the Nubians advanced into Upper Egypt. Saladin (Salah ed Din), the new ruler of Egypt, sent in army under the command of his brother Shams ed Din Turan Shah against them, defeated them and drove them back to lbrim, which was captured. The main church was turned into a mosque, and a garrison was left there for two years.
There are a hundred years of silence after this event, until in 1272 the Nubians under a King David attacked the Arab town of Aidhab on the Red Sea coast. This was the last aggressive action of the now much weakened Nubian state, and its history from then on is a story of dynastic intrigue, with Egypt ever ready to take advantage of dissensions and place her nominee on the throne. To David succeeded another David, his son, but one Shekanda, a nephew of the late king, basing his claim to the throne on the traditional succession through sisters' sons, appealed for Egyptian help, and was by them placed on the throne in A.D. 1276. Some time before A.D. 1288 a king called Semamun came to the throne and for the next six years he alternated with an Egyptian nominee; when the Egyptian army retired Semamun seized the throne, when it advanced he fled.
The last Christian king of Dongola was Kudanbes, who in A.D. 1323 was defeated by Kanz ed Dawla; the Christian kingdom came to an end and the country thrown open to the Arabs became rapidly Islamized.
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St. Anna, mid 8th century
KINGDOM OF ALWAH
For the southern kingdom of Alwah, we have almost no historical information. It comes into history in the work of John of Ephesus already described, and is referred to in several medieval Arab writers from el Yaqubi in the late ninth century to Maqrizi. The most important account is that of Ibn Selim el Aswani, a tenth century writer, whose account has been transmitted by Maqrizi. He describes Soba, the capital, as having
"fine buildings, spacious houses, churches with much gold, and gardens. There is a quarter in it inhabited by Muslims . . . they have well bred horses and Arab camels. Their religion is Jacobite Christianity and their bishops come from the patriarch of Alexandria ... and their books are in Greek which they translate into their own language."
This description has formed the basis for all later ones from Abu Saleh in the thirteenth century to the Fung Chronicle in the nineteenth.
All these accounts describe Soba at the height of its prosperity, and we have no account of its decline and fall, which must coincide with the arrival of the Fung in the early sixteenth century. Local tradition and the Fung Chronicle are united in saying that Soba fell as a result of alliance between Amara Dunkas, king of the Fung, and Abdulla Gumaa, the local Arab leader.
When David Reubeni, a Jewish adventurer, passed through Soba in 1523 he found it largely in ruins, and the inhabitants living in wooden huts.
The excavations carried out from 1950-1952 showed Soba to have been a town of large mud brick buildings scarcely as fine as Aswani's description would suggest, with a simple and not very rich culture. Imported objects have enabled buildings of ninth and fifteenth century dates to be identified, but the lack of written records other than scratchings on pieces of pot prevents any detailed history being written.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Of the material remains of the civilisation of Christian Nubia the best known are the churches, the remaining of some sixty of which are still to be seen stretching from the Egyptian frontier to perhaps Jebel Segadi, close to Sennar, where the remains of a building which may have been a church have been discovered. These churches, nearly all of them small, are of the basilica type common in the Byzantine world. A typical plan is shown in FIG. 2, where it can be seen that the church is a rectangular building with north and south aisles divided off from the nave by a series of columns. At the east end there is a curved internal apse in front of which stood the altar. This area is known in the Coptic church as the haikal. The pulpit normally stood close to the most easterly pillar of the north aisle. At the west end of the church there is often a tower, or upper room, in the south corner and another room in the north corner. Doorways are in the north and south walls.
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FIG. 2. PLAN OF CHURCH AT FARAS
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Apse with the synthronon, Faras Cathedral
The great majority of these churches were built of sun dried bricks and consequently, they are still only found in a reasonable state of repair in the almost rainless areas of the north. A few larger and more important ones were built of stone, such as two at Faras, and the large monastic church at Ghazali.
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FIG. 3. CHURCH AT ABD QUADIR
The small church at Abd el Qadir, a plan and section of which is shown in FIG. 3, shows a slightly more elaborate plan, since additions were built on to the main structure to north and south. The mud brick churches are all simple and unpretentious village churches with little or no architectural refinement.
Decoration was restricted to paintings. Most of the interior wall, must originally have been covered with paintings of religious scenes, but only in a very few cases have these been preserved. The best preserved and the finest were those in the Rivergate Church at Faras (this church has decayed so badly since its excavation some 45 years ago that the paintings are hardly visible) and in the church at Abd el Qadir.
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FIG. 4. THE BISHOP OF FARAS
These paintings show very strong Byzantine characteristics, and are further evidence of the deeply rooted influence which the Byzantine church must originally have had in Nubia. The illustration shown here (FIG. 4) from the church at Faras is of a bishop, almost certainly the bishop of Faras, who may well have been the senior bishop of the Nubian church. He is shown in full vestments, which are very similar to those then in use in the Orthodox Church. An unusual feature is the series of what are apparently bells sewn round the hem of his cope.
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Bishop Petros (924-999) and St. Peter the Apostle
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Bishop Marianos (1005-1039) and Virgin with Child, after 1005
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FIG. 5. THE EPARCH OF NUBIA
The other illustration, (FIG. 5), from the church at Abd el Qadir, is of very great interest and importance. An inscription beside it shows that it is a representation of the Eparch of Nubia (see above, Kingdom of Dongola). He is seen holding a representation of the church, of which he was presumably the founder, in his hand. On his head he wears the two-horned headdress, which seems to have been an emblem of Nubian royalty. The double-headed eagles on his costume are again evidence of the persistence of Byzantine tradition.
There are many other paintings in this church, mostly of saints, but also of biblical scenes, and one of the nativity. The general impression of the paintings is one of simplicity and crudity, but there is no doubt of the vigour and enthusiasm of the painters.
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FIG. 6. ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS FROM FARAS
Architectural decoration is rare, except in the churches at Faras, which, by reason of its position as capital of Nobatia, had the resources to build in a grander style. FIG. 6 shows some details from the churches there. Again the Byzantine influence is very strong.
For domestic architecture we have as yet no evidence, except from Soba, where the excavated buildings are seen to have been of a simple type made of sun dried brick, similar to the modern houses of the area, except that the arch, now foreign to local building tradition, was in use. What the palace of the kings of Dongola was like must wait on excavation of that site.
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FIG. 7. DESIGNS ON POTS
Of other arts very little is known except for the pottery. The pottery is striking and beautiful, and vast quantities of it have been found at various sites in the north. Of the fine painted wares, two may be distinguished -- the Dongola ware of the north and the Soba ware of the south. The Dongola ware consists mostly of small bowls of a fine paste covered with a white, cream or buff slip. Many of these bowls have stamped designs of animals or Christian emblems in the centre. Many also have painted designs of conventional patterns, birds' heads and crosses, examples of which are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
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FIG. 8. DESIGNS ON POTS
It is not yet possible to establish a chronology for this pottery, or to trace its changing patterns and forms, but it seems likely that the best of it dates from the ninth and tenth centuries. This pottery is clearly derived from the fine painted ware of Meroe, and the designs on it are influenced by Coptic art. It is, however, very different from the normal run of Coptic pottery. It is finer and the patterns are more elaborate.
The fine painted ware of Soba presents something of a mystery. It is a fine ware with a black slip, painted after firing, with patterns of dots and rosettes in cream and red paint. It is not possible yet to give a date, but it seems likely that it is not later than the tenth century. Its origins are quite unknown. No pottery like it is known from the norther kingdom, from Egypt, or from any surrounding country, but the quality of the ware and the high artistic standard of the decoration show that a rich cultural tradition ties behind it.
Soba has also produced a pottery of clearly local tradition-large bowls covered with a black or red slip and highly burnished. This class of pottery has been found widely distributed over the Gezira, and along the Blue Nile, and as far north as the site of Gedu, just north of Kabushia.
Very little remains of small objects of artistic value in other materials. A series of glass vessels, probably of fourteenth century date, have been found at Soba, but they are almost certainly imported from Egypt, and it does not appear that glass was made in the Sudan during this period.
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FIG. 9. NUBIAN WRITING
There is some evidence to show that the art of writing was valued. FIG. 9 shows the beginning of a manuscript of the life of St. Minas. It is a specimen of a type of decorated manuscript which was probably common and a good example of Nubian handwriting of the period.
IMPORTANT DATES
About A.D. 530 Inscription of Silko at Kalabsha.
542-545 Mission of Julian to Nobatia.
567 Conversion of Makuria.
569-575 Mission of Longinus to Nubia.
579-580 Mission of Longinus to Alwah.
639 Arab invasion of Egypt.
641 Baqt.
651 Muslim attack on Dongola.
Between 650-710 Unification of Nobatia and Makuna. Victory of Monophysitism.
745 King Cyriacus invades Egypt.
831 Treaty between Egypt and the Beja.
856 New Treaty with the Beja.
956 Nubians attack Aswan and occupy Upper Egypt.
1172 Egyptians capture lbrim and leave a garrison.
1272 Nubians attack Aidhab.
1323 Kanz el Dawla replaces Kudanbes on throne.
About 1504 Defeat of Soba kingdom by the Fung.
FURTHER READING
The following list does not pretend to be a full bibliography. It is merely a list of books and articles in English, except for the two by Monneret de Villard, which the reader may find useful in filling in the sketchy outline given in this pamphlet.
The two most important books on Christian Nubia are both in Italian. They are:
Storia della Nubia Cristiana. This is a straightforward history.
La Nubia Medioevale. This book describes all the existing period. Both are by U. Monneret de Villard.
There is an excellent summary in English of "Storia della Nubia Cristiana" by O. G. S. Crawford in Antiquity, Vol. XXI, pp. 10-15. These two books are fundamental to the study of the period and in writing this pamphlet I have drawn heavily on them.
Other books and articles are:
L. P. KIRWAN: "A Contemporary Account of the Conversion of the Sudan to Christianity". Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. XX, pp. 289-95.
L. P. KIRWAN: "Notes on the Topography of the Christian Nubian Kingdoms". Journal of Egyptian Archeology, Vol. XXI. pp. 57-62.
J. W. CROWFOOT: "Christian Nubia". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. XII, pp. 141-50.
SOMERS CLARKE: Christian Antiquities in the Nile Valley.
G. S. MILEHAM: Churches in Lower Nubia.
G. S. TRIMINGHAM: Islam in the Sudan, though not primarily about this period, has useful information.
Rather more specialized , but of great interest for the study of the language are:
F. Ll. GRIFFITH: The Nubian Texts of the Christian Period.
F. Ll. GRIFFITH: "Christian Documents from Nubia ". Proc. Brit. Acad., XIV, 16.
Of Arabic writers the two most important are Maqrizi and Abu Saleh. The work of Abu Saleh "The Armenian" is available with English translation and Arabic text as "The Churches and Monasteries of Egypt and some Neighbouring Countries ". Edited and translated by B. T. A. Evetts, with notes by A. J. Butler.
That of Maqrizi, "El Mawaiz wa el Itibar fi dhikr el Khitat wa el Athar" exists in many editions the best of which is that of Wiet published by the Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale in Cairo.
For other examples of Byzantine influence in Medieval Nubia see Faras Gallery.
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Posts: 8675 | From: Tukuler al~Takruri as Ardo since OCT2014 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I've been saying this for a long time to people who "insist" that Christianity was brought to Africa "only" thru colonization. I've met several Ethiopians that will tell you that they were amongst the FIRST Christians in the world, long before Catholicism reached Europe.
Also one of the FIRST countries mentioned in the Bible is Ethiopia/Cush which was Nubia then.
They even claim to be in possession of the Ark of the Covenant.
Posts: 747 | From: Atlanta, GA USA | Registered: May 2004
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you are right to say some of this info is out of date,because we know now that the arabs lost the war,mot the nubians,and nubia was not a poor region.alwa was even richer and more powerful than makuria,but went some folks talk about nubia they only talk about upper and lower,but more so lower and do not mention southern nubia that much,in the middle ages.
Posts: 2688 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I HAVE read the website or post above,about nubia in the middle ages before and some of the info is out of date.we know now that the kingdom of alwa was not a simple culture,but a highly advanced one and had a very rich culture,and more so than meroe and we have more written records today.THE info is from the early 1950's and the author has put out recently more up to date info on nubia in the middle ages.
[This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 10 August 2004).]
posted
here is some up to date info on nubia in the middle ages.it's a lot,and there is more but i did not post them.you might want to copy and save to read later.SOME of the info. above from the first post from peter shinnie,medieval nubia from the 1950's is not correct and out of date,but he has new works that are up to date.type his name in the search engine for some of his new works and others.
Cross of Timotheos
From the cathedral at Qasr Ibrim, Egypt Late 14th century AD
Iron benedictional cross from the grave of Bishop Timotheos
Nubia was converted to Christianity by a missionary expedition sent by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. An incentive to the Nubian rulers was that they would receive the support of Byzantium against their enemies. But Christianity brought a major change: the Nubian rulers were no longer considered divine, and their control over religious matters was transferred to bishops of the Christian Church.Arab attempts to invade Nubia were unsuccessful and the country remained Christian long after Egypt was conquered in AD 641. Christianity in Nubia was strengthened by its affiliation with the Coptic Church in Egypt. Many Nubian bishops were appointed at Alexandria, where the Coptic patriarch had his seat. They controlled religious activity in Nubia from the major centres of Dongola, Faras and Qasr Ibrim. The cathedrals at these sites were decorated with paintings of saints, bishops and Biblical scenes and intricately carved columns and friezes.The majority of burials at this time were not elaborate and were without grave goods. Clerics were buried in their robes of office, sometimes with pottery vessels perhaps containing holy water. Bishop Timotheos appears to have been unusual in wearing his travelling clothes, without the usual finery. This iron benedictional cross accompanied him to the grave. He may have died on the journey to take office at Qasr Ibrim. In addition to his cross, Bishop Timotheos was buried with two scrolls, one in Coptic and the other in Arabic (both now in Cairo). These scrolls take the form of Timotheos' 'letter of appointment' by the Coptic patriarch to his new See, and can be dated to AD 1372.
Length: 54 cm
Museum Number: EA 71955
Museum Location: Room 65, Egypt & Africa, case 17.
Further Reading -some info in this book is not correct.IN the book it says that nubia's queen lost the war or battle against rome and that is not true.below J.H. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia (London, The British Museum Press, 1991), p. 66, fig. 85
J.M. Plumley, The scrolls of Bishop Timotheos: two documents from medieval Nubia (London, Egypt Exploration Society, 1975)
Medieval Christian Kingdoms When the Sudan was once more brought into the orbit of the Mediterranean world by the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 6th century, the middle course of the Nile was divided into three kingdoms: Nobatia, with its capital at Pachoras (modern Faras); Maqurrah, with its capital at Dunqulah (Old Dongola); and the kingdom of'Alwah in the south, with its capital at Subah (Soba) near what is now Khartoum.Between 543 and 575 these three kingdoms were converted to Christianity by the work of Julian, a missionary who proselytized among the Nobatia (543-545),and his successor Longinus, who between 569 and 575 consolidated the work of Julian in Nobatia and even carried Christianity to 'Alwah in the south. The new religion appears to have been adopted with considerable enthusiasm. Christian churches sprang up along the Nile, and ancient temples were refurbished to accommodate Christian worshipers. After the retirement of Longinus, however, the Sudan once again receded into a period about which little is known, and it did not reemerge into the stream of recorded history until the coming of the Arabs in the middle of the 7th century. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in AD 632, the Arabs erupted from the desert steppes of Arabia and overran the lands to the east and west. Egypt was invaded in 639, and small groups of Arab raiders penetrated up the Nile and pillaged along the frontier of the kingdom of Maqurrah, which by the 7th century had absorbed the state of Nobatia. Raid and counter raid between the Arabs and the Nubians followed until a well-equipped Arab expedition under 'Abd Allah ibnSa'd ibn Abi Sarh was sent south to punish the Nubians. The Arabs marched as faras Dunqulah, laid siege to the town, and destroyed the Christian cathedral. They suffered heavy casualties, however, so that when the king of Maqurrah sought an armistice, 'Abd Allah ibn Sa'd agreed to peace, happy to extricate his battered forces from a precarious position. Arab-Nubian relations were subsequently regularized by an annual exchange of gifts, by trade relations, and by the mutual understanding that no Muslims were to settle in Nubia and no Nubians were to take up residence in Egypt. With but few interruptions this peaceful, commercial relationship lasted for nearly six centuries, its very success undoubtedly the result of the mutual advantage that both the Arabs and the Nubians derived from it. The Arabs had a stable frontier; they appear to have had no designs to occupy the Sudan and were probably discouraged from doing so by the arid plains south of Aswan.Peace on the frontier was their object, and this the treaty guaranteed.In return, the kingdom of Maqurrah gained another 600 years of life. Islamic encroachments When non-Arab Muslims acquired control of the Nile delta, friction arose in Upper Egypt. In the 9th century the Turkish Tulunid rulers of Egypt, wishing to rid themselves of the unruly nomadic Arab tribes in their domain, encouraged them to migrate southward. Lured by the prospects of gold in the Nubian Desert, the nomads pressed into Nubia, raiding and pillaging along borders, but the heart land of Maqurrah remained free from direct hostilities until the Mamluks established their control over Egypt (1250). In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, the Mamluk sultans sent regular military expeditions against Maqurrah, as much to rid Egypt of uncontrollable Arab Bedouins as to capture Nubia. The Mamluks never succeeded in actually occupying Maqurrah, but they devastated the country,draining its political and economic vitality and plunging it into chaos and depression. By the 15th century Dunqulah was no longer strong enough to with stand Arab encroachment, and the country was open to Arab immigration.Once the Arab nomads, particularly the Juhaynah people, learned that the land beyond the Aswan reach could support their herds and that no political authority had the power to turn them back, they began to migrate southward, intermarrying with the Nubians and introducing Arabic Muslim culture to the Christian inhabitants.The Arabs, who inherited through the male line, soon acquired control from the Nubians, who inherited through the female line, intermarriage resulting in Nubian inheritances passing from Nubian women to their half-Arab sons, but the Arabs replaced political authority in Maqurrah only with their own nomadic institutions.From Dunqulah the Juhaynah and others wandered east and west of the Nile with their herds; in the south the kingdom of 'Alwah stood as the last indigenous Christian barrier to Arab occupation of the Sudan. 'Alwah extended from Kabushiyah as far south as Sennar (Sannar). Beyond, from the Ethiopian escarpment to the White Nile, lived peoples about which little is known. 'Alwah appears to have been much more prosperous and stronger than Maqurrah. It preserved the ironworking techniques of Kush, and its capital at Subah possessed many impressive buildings, churches, and gardens. Christianity remained the state religion, but 'Alwah's long isolation from the Christian world had probably resulted in bizarre and syncretistic accretions to liturgy and ritual. 'Alwah was able to maintain its integrity so long as the Arabs failed to combine against it,but the continuous and corrosive raids of the Bedouins throughout the 15th century clearly weakened its power to resist. Thus, when an Arab confederation led by 'Abd Allah Jamma' was at last brought together to assault the Christian kingdom, 'Alwah collapsed (c. 1500). Subah and the Blue Nile region were abandoned, left to the Funj, who suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to establish their authority from Sennar to the main Nile.
THE above was taken from a website,and some other comments had some errors.one error above is that it says that the arabs attack alwa but it was the funj as well.the funj were southern nubians and other africans.
Derek A. Welsby, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. London: The British Museum Press, 2002. Pp. 296. ISBN 0-7141-1947-4. £29.99.
Reviewed by Peter C. Nadig, RWTH-Aachen (cvr@rwth-aachen.de) Word count: 2338 words
There has been a renewed interest in the ancient cultures of Sudan in recent years.1 A very informative and well received introduction to this subject was published in 1996 by Derek A. Welsby, an experienced field archaeologist who has been excavating in the Sudan for the past two decades. He is Assistant Keeper in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, where he is in charge of the Sudanese collections. In his The Kingdom of Kush,2 he outlines the history and culture of the Napatan and Meroitic empires. The early rulers of these people even controlled Egypt and therefore formed the XXVth dynasty (ca. 747-656 BC). These kingdoms dated from the eighth century BC to the fourth century AD. Now W. has produced a sequel about the subsequent history and archaeology of medieval of Nubia until the 16th century. In the introduction (pp. 7-14) W. explains the term Nubia and the Nubians. The latter occupied the area that once stretched from the north of Aswan to ed-Debba beyond the Third Cataract. Medieval Nubia basically consisted of three kingdoms: Makuria, Alwa and Nobadia, the last becoming a part of Makuria not later than the eight century. After an interesting summary of how the Arab authors viewed this region, the author gives a description of the geography and environment and then proceeds to the relevant sources, ranging from archaeological finds (graffiti and inscriptions) to Roman, Byzantine, and Arab writers to modern explorers, and to questions of chronology (cf. table 1, p. 13 from the ninth century BC till the early sixteenth century).
Chapter 2 deals with "The emergence of the Nubian kingdoms" (pp. 14-30) after the end of the Kushite state. The people mentioned in Greek, Roman, Aksumite, Byzantine, and Arab sources as Nubae, Nobades, Nobates, Annoubades, Noba, Nouba, and Red Noba may loosely refer to the same people, sub-groups or different peoples altogether. W. concludes that the Nubians may largely have come originally from the Gezira, the land between the White and Blue Nile, and infiltrated the Kushite state, thus weakening it and eventually bringing its end. He also points to the problems posed by numerous sources for northern Nubia since almost none of the literary, epigraphic, and textual material can be precisely dated. In contrast, the early development of the southern kingdoms of Makuria and Alwa cannot fully be explained due to a total lack of sources. This is exacerbated by the fluid situation of the border region between Egypt and Lower Nubia and also the loose nature of the tribal confederacies of the Blemmyes, who controlled the eastern deserts. In this case one part of them might have been aligned with Rome while other parts of their people might have been at war. The following subchapters cover the relationship of the Blemmyes and the Nobadae and their ties with Rome, the upcoming Nubian hegemony, and the kingdoms in the sixth century. Very helpful are the three maps that depict the territory of Nobadia (later the Makurian province of Maris), Makuria and Alwa.
The arrival and impact of Christianity is the theme of chapter three (pp. 31-67). W. starts with the literary evidence from the accounts of numerous church historians. According to them Melkite (= Chalcedonian = orthodox) and Monophysite (= anti-Chalcedonian) missionaries were sent to Nubia by Justinian (= Melkite) and Theodora (= Monophysite). Therefore two creeds were originally established in the Middle Nile region, yet archaeologically they are difficult to distinguish. An extensive treatment is given of the funerary culture in those kingdoms ranging from Kushite to Christian burial. Interesting is an example from Esebi of Pagan-Christian tumulus and Christian mastaba tombs side by side (pp. 39 f. + fig. 13), which may indicate the respect of the later Christian population for their pagan ancestors. Additional sections deal with Pagan Nubian and Christian Nubian graves, tomb monuments, respect for the dead, tombstones, and popular religion, pagan traditions and magic.
The relationship of the Nubians and their neighbors from the seventh to the early thirteenth century comprise chapter four (pp. 68-82). It deals with the Arab invasions following the rise of Islam and the subsequent conquest of Egypt. The first intrusion occurred in 641 or 642 when the Emir Amru b. El-As sent an army of 20,000 men into Makuria. The Nubian resistance was so massive that the Muslims gained very little by their expedition and had to sign a peace treaty (baqt) according to some Arab writers. The peace did not last, however, and after a second campaign in 652 another treaty between the Muslims in Egypt and Nubia was concluded which marked the independence of Makuria. The subsequent conflicts with the Tulunids and Ayyubids, as well as the Nubian (= Makurian) relations with the Christian Kingdoms of Alwa and Ethiopia, are also summarized here. A very interesting subchapter concerns the army of the Nubians (pp. 78-82) and its weaponry. The sources on this topic are sparse and the author basically has to draw his conclusions from archaeological finds in some tombs.
The treaty of 652 established a peace between Islamic Egypt and Nubia which remained nearly unbroken till the Ayyubid aggression in the twelfth century. These peaceful centuries mark "The heyday of the Nubian kingdoms" (chapter 5, pp. 83-111). This period brought considerable prosperity and a rich Christian culture for the people from the First Cataract down to Soba East. This chapter introduces the relevant aspects of the society. After outlining the topography and borders W. gives a detailed description of royalty and regalia, as well as the administrative structures (king, kinglets, eparch and other officials). The royal succession was matrilineal. It was normally the kings nephew (= his sister's son) who inherited the throne. If this was not possible, the king's son, other members of the royal family or even outsiders could become king. Another extensive portion is devoted to the church -- the second most important state institution -- with sections on the history of Melkite and Monophysite Christianity, the church's role in the administration, monasticism, and anchorites. W. further explains that it is difficult to establish the fate of the Kushite population. The only certain fact is that the Nubian culture was homogenous when Christianity arrived along the Middle Nile. After the emergence of Islam in Egypt the racial and cultural composition was gradually altered, when Muslim communities settled along the river south of Aswan and as far as the kingdom of Alwa. The chapter continues with summaries on longevity and disease, coiffure (as found on buried bodies and wall paintings), and pastimes.
The relevant settlements in Nubia are presented in the sixth chapter (pp. 112-136). After discussing the state of archaeological research W. introduces the metropolises Faras, Old Dongola and Soba East, and the other major centers Qasr Ibrim and Jebel Adda, before he goes on to lower ranking settlements in Nobadia and in the Makurian Province of Maris (Arminna West, Debeira West, Abdullah Nirqi, Meinarti, Serra West, and Hambukol). Special attention is given to fortified sites in the early and late medieval period.
The longest section of this book (chapter seven, pp. 137-182) concerns the architecture of Nubia. The preservation of medieval monuments has been upset by the building of the Aswan high dam. The state of preservation also depends on differing climates: in the dry north buildings were protected by wind-blown sand while in the southern areas that are affected by seasonal rainfall many more buildings were erected in red brick, which can easily be reused for new constructions, but they fared much worse in those rainy parts, however. W. makes it clear that given these factors, the discussion on architecture must basically be focussed on Nobadia and Makuria, while there is little to include from Alwa. Since the impressive fortresses have been already dealt with in the previous chapter, W. can elaborate here on the church architecture at great length. He begins with the impact of Christianity, which demanded a different solution for a place of worship than the old Egyptian-Nubian religion. Unlike the temple, which as the house of the god had normally been entered by the priesthood only, the church was a public building largely occupied by the congregation. Here only a small sanctuary at the western end marked the area preserved for the priest. After a general introdution about the specifics W. comments on the various types of churches: converted temples, the development of freestanding churches, and the churches in Upper Nubia, Makuria and Alwa. Further attention is given to different functional church types such as community churches, cathedrals, monastic churches, memorial churches, double cathedrals and churches, chapels, and baptisteries. Also mentioned are palatial buildings, monasteries, and domestic architecture, followed by a detailed analysis of building construction itself. W. includes numerous illustrative floor plans.
The next main chapter (pp. 183-215) is about the various aspects of the Nubian economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and trade. The author provides an extra section on the literary and archaeological sources for the trade of medieval Nubia with the outside world. It is interesting to note that nearly all literary references on this topic come from Egyptian Byzantine or Islamic sources. On the other hand there is very little if any evidence about Nubian trade with Southern Sudan, Kordofan, Darfur, and the Ethiopian highlands.
Chapter nine (pp. 216-241) is a very informative section about "Art, language and literacy". W. points out the marked contrast of Nubian art in the medieval period with the preceding Kushite era. There is an almost total absence of sculpture in the round while decorative relief sculpture is rare and narrative figurative reliefs are totally absent. But commemorative art found its expression in wall painting. After a brief outline of the question regarding continuity of artistic expression a lengthy discussion on the various elements of architectural sculpture is added (bases, columns, capitals, lintels, arches, jambs, balustrades, screens, window grills, friezes, tombstones, mosaics). An extensive section analyses the wall paintings, which are first mentioned by Abu Salih in the twelfth century. Descriptions by early travelers, drawings, and photographs become extremely useful in this field as many paintings have been destroyed even in modern times -- "sometimes by the overzealous activities of archaeologists, particularly in the case of converted temples" (p. 224) as W. states. A drawing made in 1818-19 of St. Peter (p. 225; figure 92) in the converted temple of Wadi-es Sebua serves to illustrate this point. A lengthy summary on pottery decorations covers the portable objects of art. This chapter closes with an introduction to the languages of Nubia, where Greek, Coptic, and a written form known as Old Nubian were used for inscriptions. Prompted by settlers from the north, Arabic was the latest language to arrive in the region.
Chapter ten (pp. 242-255) chronicles the decline and collapse of the Nubian kingdoms. After a brief summary of the relevant authors for the late thirteenth century W. gives a table (pp. 242 f.) of the relations between Makurians and Muslims from 1265 to 1365. A more detailed account follows in various subsections. Following a Muslim invasion in 1276 the Christian king Shekanda was installed on the Makurian throne in Old Dongola. This marked the first major Muslim influx in the region, since the invaders demanded from the Makurians the choice of converting to Islam, paying the infidel-tax (jiza) or being killed. The people chose the second option and their kings became the representative of the Sultan. By 1323 Kanz ed-Dawla became the first Muslim ruler of Makuria. Old Dongola was abandoned in 1365-6 as the capital of northern Nubia and the court moved to Daw (probably Jebel Adda some 55 km south of Qasr Ibrim). W. discusses the possibility of Daw being the capital of the ephemeral kingdom of Dotawo, which is only mentioned in some contemporary documents and inscriptions, and concludes this chapter with summaries on the disappearance of Dotawo and the little known fate of Alwa. A brief postscript (pp. 256-258) outlines the aspects of continuity. So some religious site retained their sanctity in the Muslim period. While only a few churches were converted to mosques, cemeteries remained in use; some Christian tombs were even attributed to Muslim saints. The most significant heritage from medieval Nubia, however, is the language. Its still widely spoken though no longer written.
An appendix lists all the known Blemmyan and Nubian kings. It is apparent that in many instances exact dates are not known or sometimes simply estimated. Numerous endnotes with references to sources and literature, a very helpful glossary (pp. 274-276) and an extensive bibliography enrich this study. Like The Kingdom of Kush many of the photos are by author himself or have been contributed by his colleagues. A section of color plates is in the center of the book. The various tables, maps, and drawings cannot be commented on here in detail.
Welsby has written a very thorough and fascinating book, and he can be congratulated for drawing this poorly known topic to the attention of a wider audience. He shows profound expertise in bringing the various complex literary and archaeological sources together. His familiarity with the various classical and medieval authors is a highlight. The same can be said about his insights on archaeological matters. His study also makes known how much information has been lost with the passage of time or might perhaps be retrieved by future research (i.e. excavations).
There are some minimal objections which might perhaps be considered for a paperback edition -- which seems likely -- as was the case with The Kingdom of Kush. The section on p. 232 on portable works of art and manuscript illustrations is very brief and without any photographs. Some sample pictures of manuscripts or icons would be helpful. Even though the book is richly illustrated one might wish for more pictures alongside the text. The bibliography would also benefit if the ancient and medieval writers were listed separately after the abbreviations. Still, The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia is a very valuable book for the general reader as well as the scholar.
1. This is made evident f.e. by the splendid exhibition which toured several countries beginning in 1996; Cf. D. Wildung (Ed.) Sudan. Antike Königreiche am Nil. Katalogbuch zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung in München, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse. Berlin: Wasmuth, 1996; and (English) Sudan: Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile. Paris: Flammarion, 1997). 2. Derek A. Welsby, The Kingdom of Kush. The Napatan and Meroitic Empires. London: The British Museum Press, 1996, 2002 (pb.).
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RESEARCH PAPER
FOOD AND COOKING IN EARLY CHRISTIAN NUBIA by Magistra Rosemounde of Mercia
This paper is accompanied by actual foods, which the judges are invited to share with me at lunch at Kingdom Arts & Sciences Faire. I am also entering two of the foods in the Cooking competition. I believe the paper would stand up well on its own, but if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then the quality of cooking research is too. I realize that this is a little different, but I hope the judges will indulge me.
All of my entries in this year's faire are things that would have been found at a village wedding in Nubia around 1000 C.E. This research paper, and the food items, represent what might have been served at a wedding feast.
The food items laid out here would have been typical of a banquet meal in a village on the banks of the Nile. During the early Christian period of Nubia, around 550--1000 C.E., the waters of the Nile were considerably higher than they are today, and desertification in the area had not yet begun. As a result, there was considerable amount of arable land for both growing crops and keeping herd animals.
The numerous villages located along the river's banks had churches, taverns, public latrines, and frequently industrial buildings such as potteries, smithies, and tanneries, as well as private dwellings, but the local economies were based mostly on small scale farming. Irrigation was accomplished with bucket lifts and water wheels as it had been in ancient times and still is today. Monasteries with enterprises, frequently wineries, were often found nearby. The people were well to do by standards of the day, and were described as such by traders and other visitors to the area.
There were a variety of foods available from what was produced locally, from caravans that passed through, and from the small boats that plied trade up and down the river between villages. Many spices were easily available, and herbs were plentiful. Food and wine were imported from Egypt as part of the "Baqt" treaty, which was in force from 700--1100 C.E. Beer was made in each village.
The foods here constitute a special occasion meal. This would have been more food and more variety than was typical in an every day repast. Some of the spices are imported, and a subtlety is included. In this way I hope to show the variety of dishes that were available in Nubian riparian culture on one table.
The dishes here are:
Lamb and Okra Stew Barley Porridge Pickled Palm Hearts Roasted Yams Flat Bread--Kizra Beer--Booza Subtlety of Date Loaf Crocodile Coffee with Cloves Condiments: Salt and Sugar
All of the ingredients are documented in the area and time period of early medieval Nubia. No actual recipes survive, however, so I came up with these by using recipes from the Roman period of ancient Egypt (the Ptolemy Dynasty), of which Nubia was a part, and modern recipes from Nubian Egypt and the Sudan as well as Ethiopia. Ethiopia was raided on a regular basis by Nubian armies, and the border was rather flexible as a result. Also, much of Ethiopia is still Christian, whereas modern Nubians have adopted Islam and its dietary restrictions. The recipes are individually documented and discussed in the pages that follow.
Brown lamb in oil, add okra. Cook 3 minutes and remove from heat. Saute celery, onion, salt, pepper and cumin. Cook 3 minutes and add coriander and 1 1/2 cups water. Simmer 10 minutes. Add meat and okra and enough water to just cover. Cover pot and simmer 1 hour. Serves 4-6.
The Nubians exported wool cloth, and flocks of sheep were kept for both wool and meat. Okra is indigenous to East Africa and the ancient word for it is found in Egyptian hieroglyphs, as are those for onion and celery. Salt was mined throughout the Nile valley and was also produced through evaporation along the Red Sea. Cumin and coriander both date back to the Egyptian empire, as does pepper, which was imported from India. The most common cooking oil from vegetable sources was sesame oil, as sesame is indigenous to Nubia. Cooking with meat fat was also done.
1 cup quick cooking pearl barley 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (not coconut cream), canned or fresh water to make 2 cups of liquid
Heat liquid to nearly boiling, add barley. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed. This dish is only slightly sweet.
Barley is probably the earliest grain to be cultivated in the Nile valley. Many varieties have been grown from Egyptian times to the present. Coconut palms grow in the area today, but are not native. The time of introduction is unknown, but it is believed that Islamic peoples were responsible for their cultivation in the area, and the introduction was sometime between the seventh and sixteenth centuries. Coconuts would have been imported from India if they had not been introduced by this period.
1 can palm hearts, sliced 1 medium onion, sliced .......................... 1 cup red wine 1 cup red wine vinegar 8 whole cloves 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. whole peppercorns 1 thin slice ginger root
Mix vinaigrette in a glass jar or crock, add vegetables. Pickle for 1-2 days. Drain and serve.
Onions were common from ancient times throughout the Nile valley. Palm hearts are a celery like vegetable that is the interior of the sprouting top of the palm tree. Any type of palm will have a "heart." Date palms are indigenous to the area and grow everywhere. Every part of the tree was used by the Nubians. The dates and sprouts were eaten. The sap can be tapped and drunk, or even made into wine. Wine was also made from the dates. The fronds were used extensively in making baskets, mats and sandals, and the wood was harvested after the tree was dead to make useful household objects. The date palm had a symbolic significance to the people as well, and dates were considered both a symbol of fertility and as an auspicious gift to the spirit world.
Medieval Nubia was a grape producing culture, so both red wine and its vinegar were available. Cloves and ginger are locally grown spices, and pepper was imported from India. Salt was mined in the region.
Wrap yams in foil (or wet palm fronds). Roast at 350' for 1 hour (or bury in hot coals for the same amount of time).
Yams are indigenous to Western and central Africa. Although they were not found in ancient Egypt, they may well have travelled with the Nobotae tribe from central Africa into Nubia. They grow everywhere in Africa today where there is enough water to sustain them. They are a staple food in the Western and central regions.
Salt was mined in the area. Butter from cows milk was well known among these herding people.
1 cup unbleached wheat flour 1/4 tsp. salt water to make a thin batter
Kizra is the modern Arabic word for the flat tortilla like bread still made by Nubians and Sudanese. They have special griddles for making these, which seem to be a necessity to getting them right. If you want to try this yourself, try the directions below. I have substituted here, store bought large flour tortillas.
Mix the ingredients and ladle 1/4 cup over a hot, lightly greased, large, circular iron griddle. When it has cooked all the way through, remove from griddle, and make another.
This is a very ancient bread, predating the use of leavening agents. It was referred to by the Egyptians as wafer bread or ta. It was made from wheat or barley.
The method for brewing beer in Nubia was, and still is, a process that I chose not to replicate because the results would be far too disgusting to drink. But I'll let you judge for yourself. Here's the recipe:
Knead ground wheat or barley with water and yeast. Let it rise briefly and lightly bake into thick loaves. Wet some wheat with water and let it stand until it sprouts, then crush it up. (This is the malting process.) Crumble the loaves of bread and mix in the malt. Add some old booza to this. Cover with water in a vat and let it ferment for a day or two. Drink.
The oldest known recipe is found on a Sumerian cuneiform tablet, and it is for beer. In ancient Egypt it was the drink of the people. "Bread and beer" was a common greeting. They eventually developed ways of refining it, and some was even pasteurized. Those with a more refined palate drank haq, a very alcoholic red barley ale. Egyptian beer was frequently flavored with dates, but hops were unknown. The separation of yeast was also developed by the ancient Egyptians, and the profession of "yeast-maker" is listed in the records of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Nubian booza, as the name indicates, may have given us the expression "booze."
1 lb. green Ethiopian coffee beans 1 tsp. whole cloves water
Put the coffee beans in a cast iron skillet and roast over medium-high heat, stirring very frequently for 1 1/2--2 hours. Add the cloves and continue to roast for another 1/2 hour. Remove from heat. Grind very fine. Boil 1-2 Tab. in a small metal pot with 1 cup of water until reduced by almost half. Makes two servings. In the alternative, make as you would regular espresso in a espresso pot or machine.
The word coffee is from the Turkish qahweh. The Egyptians called it bon or ban. Coffee originated in Ethiopia, and began to be exported at the turn of the Common Era. Ethiopian warriors carried balls of finely ground, roasted coffee beans mixed with fat to give them an extra boost of energy when needed. Since the Nubians and Ethiopians traded (well actually the Nubians raided Ethiopian territory, took slaves, and looted), there is no doubt that coffee made an early entrance into Nubia. The method for preparation above is the method still used to prepare coffee in the Sudan. Cloves are a native spice to Nubia.
1 cup whole milk 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted peanuts 1 cup grated, unsweetened coconut 2 packages of dates, chopped fine
Cook milk, butter and sugar until soft ball stage. Add dates. Cook, stirring, until it leaves the side of the pan. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts and coconut. Beat until firm. Pour onto a damp cloth and form into a loaf. Let cool slightly and mould as desired. Slice to serve when completely cool.
Nubians kept various milk giving animals such as goats, sheep, cattle, and domesticated antelope. Cane sugar became available in the 6th century C.E., and cane production began in some areas shortly thereafter. Date sugar was produced long before that. Coconuts, even if not native to the area at this time, would have been available through import from India. Modern peanuts, which grow throughout Africa today, were introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century and were native to South America. However, a similar type of ground nut was found in Egypt during Greek and Roman times. This is the Voandzeia Subterranea. It has been virtually supplanted by the peanut today.
Dates, as already mentioned, played an important role in Nubian culture. Their significance as a fertility symbol would have been fitting at a wedding feast. The crocodile was a common figure found in Nubian art work of the period. Both pottery and houses were decorated with smiling crocs. In ancient times, the crocodile was considered a symbol of good luck, a tradition that was carried on despite the adoption of Christianity, so it too would have had its place at a wedding.
There is no documentation of subtleties as they were known in Europe being done in Nubia. However, the Nubians were great believers in symbols. They painted their houses, pottery, and many household items with geometric designs and zoomorphs. At a wedding most of the proceedings function on a symbolic level, and the foods are of special significance. Dates and crocodiles both held important positions in the symbolic life of the Nubians. Dates were believed to be pleasing to the "spirits" as well as symbolic of fertility. The crocodile was often used to represent the spirit world, so putting them together in this way might have been done. The design for the crocodile here was taken from a design on Nubian pottery of the same period.
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CHRISTIAN NUBIA(THERE WERE 4 or 5 CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS,BUT THE MOST POWERFUL WERE MAKURIA IN UPPER NUBIA AND ALWA IN SOUTHERN NUBIA IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SUDAN,but alwa was or became the most powerful,or powerful in the end.IN early modern times there might have been another nubian kingdom in the north and there is the funj who where basic nubian in culture and were confederation of nubians and other africans and there were more clear later nubian kingdoms in early modern times up to 1898 . The old nubian script is coming or has come back for nubians in recent times.i just wanted to update that info for the post above.
CHRISTIAN nubia was more advanced than the meroitic and richer but had less greater independent achievements,but morals were more developed,government as well and a greater use of steel to protect the kingdoms from outsiders and widespread building and new great buildings as well, and new art. most of the info below is from the book-THE DESTRUCTION OF BLACK CIVILIZATION,BY CHANCELLOR WILLIAMS.BOOKS LIKE HIS TENDS TO BE MORE CORRECT,BUT MANY STILL HAVE OR MIGHT HAVE SOME ERRORS,BUT THE INFO BELOW IS CORRECT. A new nubian script was created,using greek with some meriotic letters but it was in nubian,and other scripts were used as well.IT WAS a richer region than in the past and more folks could read and write and the standard of living was higher, and there were drainage and CENTRAL water systems,PUBLIC LATRINES, and more developed math,science,medicine, widespread use of steel and terrace farming that was irrigated by water wheels constructed for high places,wide avenues lined with palm trees,public baths, countless craft industries,huge farms with extensive pastures where camels,horses,oxen,cows,sheep,goats and pigs could be seen grazing lazily,magnificent stone and brick palaces,temples,churches,cathedrals, government buildings and the massive brickmaking industry had led to homes of brick and stone in cities,towns,and villiages-brick houses,and larger houses for the great common people.There were some OTHER things as well,but not mention here.THAT GLASS WAS MADE IS CERTAIN,BUT THE EXTENT OF THIS ENTERPRISE IS INDICATED BY THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS,BUT this was awhile ago,look up new books for recent findings of glass and other things.
[This message has been edited by kenndo (edited 10 August 2004).]
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ARKAMANI Sudan Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology
Archaeology and History: Their Contribution to our Understanding of Medieval Nubia
Derek A. Welsby
The Geographical and Chronological Limits
From the Meroitic Empire to the Medieval Kingdoms
Continuity or Change: History versus Archaeology
Archaeological and Historical Chronologies
Scientific Dating Techniques to the Rescue?
Archaeology versus History, a Case Study
The Suitability of Archaeological Data for our Understanding of the Past
The Archaeology Study of the Nubian Kingdoms Today
The Archaeological Study of the Medieval Nubian Kingdoms, the Future
Acknowledgements
References
This paper continues the survey of archaeology's contribution to the history of Nubia and concentrates on the "Christian" period.
The Geographical and Chronological Limits
The various definitions of Nubia are well known to the assembled audience. Although in the north the border of Nubia can be seen to coincide with the border of the northernmost of the three kingdoms which flourished in the "Christian" period, the southern limit of my survey must extend far to the south of what would usually be termed Nubia. It must extend to the southern border of the Kingdom of Alwa, but we are still very unsure where that actually lay. It was almost certainly over 300 km to the south of Khartoum as the presence of a church at Jebel Saqadi Crawford and Addison,1951 associated with a few sherds of typically Alwan pottery of types recovered from the site of the capital of the kingdom at Soba, indicates. It may, however, lay further south still. In the north, Nubia extends little beyond the banks of the Nile and it is rarely more than a few kilometres wide. In Southern Nubia, where the greater annual rainfall makes nomadic and even sedentary occupation away from the river possible, the eastern and western limits of the Nubian cultural zone, the limits of control particularly of the King residing at Soba, and the limits of the Nubia I wish to discuss here, are very imprecise. Hence it is not possible to define at present the geographical area covered by the term "Christian" Nubia.
The term «Christian Nubia» is itself far from ideal. It appears to conflate a religious ideology with a geographical and linguistic area and a political system. Nubian history is a continueum, and the worship of the god of the Christians by the people of that region is an episode not only in the history of Nubia but also in the history of the three Nubian kingdoms that are the real subject of this paper. It is clear from the Byzantine Church historians of the mid 6th century that a stable political system was in existence along the middle Nile with three autonomous kingdoms, before the official adoption of Christianity by their rulers. There are indications of hostility between them, the detour of Longinus into the Eastern Desert on his journey from Nobatia to Alwa may reflect political rather than religious animosity. Also the activities of Longinus in Alwa were said to be the result of a specific request by the Alwan King to the King of Nobatia, suggesting friendly contacts between the north and south of Nubia. One can appreciate why the King of Makuria would have been suspicious of the friendliness of his northern and southern neighbours, both potential enemies.
Well before the final demise of Christianity on the Middle Nile the designation, at least of the Kingdom of Makuria, as a Christian kingdom is not apposite. Bill Adams prefers to call the period of the breakdown of the kingdom, the feudal period, neither Christian nor Islamic. As early the first or second decade of the 14th century a muslim ruler sat on the throne at Old Dongola Adams, 1977: 528.
From the Meroitic Empire to the Medieval Kingdoms
The reasons for the fall of Meroe, which is traditionally dated to the mid 4th century AD, and the emergence of the Nubian kingdoms in its aftermath cannot at present be provided by archaeology (now see Török, 1988, pp. 209 suiv.), but that is not to say that archaeology does not contribute to our understanding of the history of this most difficult period. The excavations by Emery and Kirwan at Ballana and Qustol (1938) indicated clearly that a new centre of political power was in existence in Lower Nubia, in an area that had hitherto rarely enjoyed autonomy, an area that had never been the power base of a regime, being always ruled either from Egypt to the north or by the Kushites from Napata or Meroe far to the south.
Archaeological research uncovered the Ballana and Qustol tumuli with their exceptionally rich grave goods. It provided evidence for the great temporal power of the "primary" occupants, people whose prestige after death allowed them to consign lesser mortals to their fate to accompany them into the next world. These burials must surely be amongst the least ambiguous of burial types containing the mortal remains of kings and queens with crowns still in place on their heads. This has enabled us to state the fact of the presence of a major political power in the area. It does not help to indicate how that political power came to be consolidated and why it developed in that particular area.
The recovery of so many articles of Byzantine and Egyptian manufacture does indicate that the rulers who were buried at Ballana and Qustol enjoyed the support of the Empire to the north, a support perhaps both financial and moral (cf. Kirwan, 1987: 124127) and this may go some way to explain the apparent paradox between the desire to retain "the kingly traditions of Ancient Kush while abandoning or suppressing everything associated with priestly traditions" Adams, 1977: 415. Yet the rulers of Lower Nubia who were buried at Ballana and Qustol where not at that time converted to Christianity, but were still treated with great tolerance by the Byzantines. The Nubians were allowed access to the Temple of Isis at Philae, the temple uniquely being exempt from the strict application of the Edict of Theodosius I (AD 390) which ordered the closure of all pagan temples throughout the Empire. It was only in the time of Justinian, on the eve of the official introduction of Christianity into the region, that the temple was finally closed. That the closure appears to have met with no protest, in stark contrast to the state of affairs in the 5th century, presumably indicates that the cult was already in a state of terminal decline.
Reisner, the first archaeologist to formulate a cultural sequence for Nubia based on the archaeological material, a sequence which still holds good today, was forced to name the cultural assemblage of the immediately post-Meroitic period, the X-Group, highlighting the "prehistoric" nature of our evidence for the culture even though it lies in an area which had been included in historical writings since the time of Herodotus, and millenia before by the Ancient Egyptians.
Recent work by our French colleagues at elHobagi, following up a small scale excavation by the late Neville Chittick, appears to have found the southern Nubian equivalent of the Ballana and Qustol necropoli. As in the north the associated habitation settlement has not been located, but at least we have a glimpse of the rulers of what had been the heartlands of the Meroitic Empire. The siting of the necropoli at Ballana/Qustol and el-Hobagi some distance from the earlier centres of political power, in the north at Qasr Ibrim where the Meroitic pestos or governor resided and in the south at Meroe itself, indicates that the new rulers of Nubia, of which there may well have been more than two, were not related to the old political order and did not need the status which would have accrued by occupying the old centres of power.
Other major necropoli, perhaps the burial grounds of more or less independent chiefdoms have been located at Genial and Firka (see Török, 1988, p. 71) while burials, perhaps of members of the ruling hierarchy, but of lesser status, have been noted at Tanqasi and Tabo. At Tanqasi and Tabo large tumuli were found, but the poor grave goods indicated that the occupants of the tombs were not in the same class as the kings of the post-Meroitic period. The grave goods do suggest the possibility that Tanqasi was associated with the southern Nubian cultural zone, Tabo with the northern.
Although the post-Meroitic royal necropoli date to the period between the end of the Meroitic Empire and the first mention of the Nubian kingdoms in the historical sources, how they relate to the three kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alwa, first attested in the mid 6th century, is just as obscure as how they relate to the collapsing Meroitic Empire of the mid fourth century. The three Nubian Kingdoms have in the past largely been recognised by the evidence for their Christianity, and it is this evidence for Christianity that is generally taken as the characteristic feature of the Nubian kingdoms' archaeological signature. This approach will tend to obscure the evidence for the kingdoms before the arrival of Christianity.
The apparent lack of continuity between post- Meroitic Nubia and Nubia under the Kings of Nobatia, Makuria and Alwa may well be an artificial creation. The obsession of archaeologists with assigning human activity over time to distinct periods does not allow us to recognise the often extremely gradual process of the change, but only serves to highlight the differences between the situation before and after that change.
Continuity or Change: History versus Archaeology
We have here a classic problem in archaeology and archaeology's contribution to history. To what extent can political changes, the changes with which the historian and our historical sources are often most interested, be expected to be reflected in the archaeological record. These changes are much more likely to directly influence the lives of a relatively small and elite group in society, most notably the elite of the eclipsed society and the new elite of the emerging political group. Archaeological data is, in the normal course of events, statistically biased towards the recovery of the mundane rather than the exceptional and necessarily rare structures and artefacts directly associated with the upper echelons of society actively engaged in the new political system.
To some extent the nature of the archaeological research in Nubia, when it has been able to follow its own course, rather than being directed by the special rescue forces generated by the Aswan dams, has tended to concentrate on the special, the impressive and grandiose monuments of Nubia at all periods. Excavation of major Egyptian monuments, of Napatan and Meroitic pyramids, of the royal city of Meroe and of major complexes at Musawwarat es Sufra, Naga and Wad ben Naga, has been followed by excavation in the churches and cathedral at Faras, the churches at Old Dongola and the churches and palatial structures at Soba.
Not only are these sites of major political and/or religious importance in their heyday, but they are also the most likely sites to provide us with information from which to write political history. The reconstruction of the list of rulers of Napata and Meroe is a classic example of the use of data derived from archaeology, together with the archaeological technique familiar to the pre-historian, of seriation, being used to form an historical framework. However, we have not been so fortunate in the Medieval period in being able to produce a similar tour de force.
Christianity like most other major religions, both ancient and modern, holds out the promise of life after death, but it contrasts markedly with ancient Egyptian religion, the religion of the Meroites, and the religion of the kings buried at Ballana and Qustol, in that it is assumed that, at least in theory, everyone will be of one status in the afterlife and that the physical trappings of ones wordly wealth and status will not be necessary. There was thus no need to bury ones possessions with the dead nor to provide provisions for the journey to the other world, nor to boast of ones prowess in this life. Christian burials hence generally contain little or nothing in the way of artefacts (cf. Zurawski, 1986: 414) and none of the boastful inscriptions like those which graced earlier tombs. Also in Nubia they would appear not to have been housed in grandiose funerary monuments, the pyramid of the Meroites and the massive tumuli of the post-Meroitic period have no successors for the rulers of Nubia who adhered to the Christian faith. There are some special tomb monuments, as at Faras where the tomb of the bishop Joannes was a cuboid structure capped by a small dome, and at Soba where a circular red brick structure 4 m in diameter has been found, but these are very much the exceptions and they do not compare favourably with the grandiose monuments of earlier periods. At Faras the tomb just mentioned housed an ecclesiastical dignitary and the same may be the case at Soba. Of the rulers of Medieval Nubia, however, no burial have been found suggesting that their graves were not given special prominence. The recently discovered tombstone of King David of Alwa Jakobielski, 1991: 274-276, who ruled from AD 999 to 1015, that is in the heyday of the southern Nubian kingdom, gives no hint that he was the ruler of the rich and powerful kingdom as recorded by the Arab writers.
Archaeological and Historical Chronologies
Archaeological data and history are often on parallel tracks and it is the establishment of links between the two disciplines that is one of the major tasks of the archaeologist in the historical period. The greatest problem facing the archaeologist of the Nubian kingdoms in this task is the absence of an absolute chronology.
Very few artefacts to be found in Nubia at this period are intrinsically dated, and those that are, are rare and imported. In other advanced cultures coinage is often the most abundant and most useful category of material in this respect. Even when the coins are not dated to a specific year they can often be tied down to a short date range of several years, although this is not invariably the case (note the numismatic problems facing archaeologists of Axum MunroHay, 1989: 330). The absence of any native coinage places the archaeologist of Nubia at a very serious disadvantage. Finds of coins in the area are so unusual as to be of little value. In other parts of the world where coins are found it is their abundance which makes them a useful chronological indicator. Within the Kingdom of Alwa not a single coin has been recovered from an archaeological context.
Christian tombstones do often give the date of death which, when they are of major political or religious figures is of use in our quest to write history, they contain little else of interest. There is not usually any indication of where the deceased lived, what was his or her occupation, or even how old they were. If found within a church they do provide a terminus ante quem for the building of the structure of which they are a part if they are not being reused, but nothing more.
Building inscriptions are exceedingly rare. There are the two well known examples at Faras Jakobielski, 1972: 37, built into the wall of the palatial structure close to the cathedral. They record the foundation of a church in the eleventh year of the reign of Merkurios, when Markos was eparch, in the year 423 of the era of Diocletian, by the bishop of Pachoras, Paulos.
Although they are explicit in recording the construction of "this holy place was established as worthy for service in it of the Catholic and Apostolic Church" they were not built into the wall of the cathedral. Initially it was assumed that they related to the construction of the cathedral, but owing to their position in an adjacent building this interpretation is open to question. However, other evidence now conclusively shows that the cathedral excavated by the Polish Mission in the 1960's was that built by Paulos (pers. comm. Dr. W. Godlewski), and is presumably the structure referred to in the inscriptions. Why they were not built into the fabric of the cathedral is unclear.
Also from Faras is the foundation inscription from the Church on the South Slope of the Kom, carved on a door lintel in Coptic (ibid., p. 111). It gives the name of the reigning king and the years of his rule, the names of his parents and the name of the bishop who was responsible for the construction, along with the date of the construction, 646 in the era of Diocletian, i.e. AD 930. Another dates from well towards the end of the Christian period when in AD 1317 an inscription was set up in what may have been the throne hall (audience room) of the Kings of Dongola when it was converted into a mosque.
The rarity of building inscriptions largely denies us one of the most reliable sources of dating of major monuments. It also denies us any clear connection between historically attested and dated personages, the structures they built, or were built in their reigns, and the artefacts used in those buildings, and of equal importance the artefacts sealed beneath their floors.
The only intrinsically dated artefact from the recent excavations at Soba, apart from the tombstone already mentioned, was a glass jeton or weight of the Fatimid caliph Al-Zahir, dateable to the period AD 1020-35 Allason Jones, 1991: 143, which was probably over 200 years old when it was buried among the rubbish material used to fill the ground floor rooms of the mud brick palatial structure excavated in 1986. Its value, from a chronological point of view is thus severely limited.
As Adams pointed out in his summing up of the section on "Nubian Christianity: North and South", in the proceedings of the Uppsala conference Adams, 1987, it is the quest for an absolute chronology which so differentiates the historian's approach to a society to that of the pre-historian or the art-historian. Without a fixed and detailed chronology it is impossible to allocate events into their correct sequence. The problem can occur at all levels of the archaeological process. Even within a single building, if there is no direct stratigraphical relationship between two adjacent rooms for instance, it is frequently impossible to establish the contemporeinity or otherwise of activities, the evidence for which is found in the two discrete areas. Where two parts of the same site are excavated, as at Soba where the recent excavations on mound B lie over 1 km from the church on mound C excavated by Peter Shinnie, direct stratigraphical links are extremely unlikely and contemporeinity of activities found in the archaeological record cannot be proven. On the next level up attempts to establish the relationship of events at different sites within the same kingdom or across political boundaries is an impossible task in most cases. These are archaeological problems faced by archaeologists of all periods and cultures, the difficulties of dovetailing archaeological data into an historical framework is of identical type.
There are exceptions where major events can affect in the same way a number of different localities and allows us to glimpse the true chronological relationship between different areas. The fire which destroyed the western end of the palatial structure on mound B at Soba allows us to recognise the same moment of disaster over the whole 400 sq. m. of the structure damaged at that time. One can envisage scenarios where events will leave evidence in the archaeological record over wide areas of a site, e.g. major destruction deposits caused by serious flooding, as were found at Meinarti Adams, 1965: 149, and as may be found by future archaeologists excavating in the Dongola reach in levels associated with the great flood of 1988, or destruction by fire whether started by accident or by localised enemy activities, and on a larger scale by the evidence for invasion. In the present state of our knowledge large scale activities are not recognised archaeologically as having left their mark on the Nubian kingdoms although we may expect to find evidence of the Arab invasions which penetrated into Nubia as far south as Old Dongola in AD 642 and 651-2. However characterising "destruction by the enemy" is itself no easy matter.
No other single events are recorded in the historical sources which may have left an unambiguous signature in the archaeological record. There were other military incursions into Nubia, but the scale of these will make their identification difficult. The Nubian kingdoms also do not appear to have fallen to the sword in one cataclismic event, but to have been gradually infiltrated over a considerable period of time from the north, south and east so that it may even have been difficult for a contemporary observer to have been sure when the Nubian kingdoms ceased to exist. By all accounts they gradually fell apart, central authority breaking down allowing the rise of petty chiefs who held sway over restricted areas. The break-up of the Nubian kingdoms in the period 12th-16th centuries may serve as a model for the collapse of the Meroitic state 1000 years before.
Scientific Dating Techniques to the Rescue?
Scientific dating techniques at first sight appear to provide a solution to some of the problems of bridging the gap between archaeological and historical data, but in reality, at present, they leave much to be desired. To the pre-historian, who is only able to appreciate general trends and where the changes taking place over centuries if not millennia are of interest, the imprecise dating techniques such as radiocarbon dating are of value. In the historical framework of the Nubian kingdoms the degree of precision is rarely sufficient to make the technique useful. Archaeomagnetism is a possible source of data, particularly useful in providing dates for the last firing of a pottery kiln, of a hearth, or to date the destruction by fire of a mud brick building where the temperatures attained were sufficient to bake the green bricks red. However, the data derived from the measurement of the fired structures has to be related to a data-base derived in part from the association of material already dated by historical evidence to which the archaeomagnetic data can be compared. The necessary data base has not yet been prepared for the Sudan and the risk of being involved in circular arguments is ever present.
Thermoluminescence is potentially of great value, allowing the dating of the manufacture of pottery vessels. Pottery as the most common artefact found on sites in the period of the Nubian kingdoms, has many advantages as a means of attaining an understanding of the chronology of features and deposits uncovered by archaeology. Even in the present state of pottery research, where we are without a tight chronology for the periods of manufacture of the pottery types, not withstanding the detailed researches by Bill Adams and others, pottery bears the onus of providing us with our site chronologies to a large degree.
Of equal value is the ability to date fired brick by thermoluminescence. This may, in the future, allow the construction of particular buildings to be closely dated. In many cases, as at Soba, it is clear that the bricks were specifically made for use in the construction of a building. Buildings A, B and C beneath the western end of mound B were each constructed of bricks of a particular type. Building A was constructed from rectangular bricks 44-48 x 18-27 cm in size, building B from bricks 28 cm square and 14x28 cm, and building C from bricks with dimensions of 32 x 18 cm. However, the degree of precision attainable at present is usually only ±7% of the age of the sample, i.e. for a red brick building constructed in AD 650 the date range from TL would bracket the period AD 556-744 and cannot be expected under ideal circumstances to be more accurate than to within ±5% of the age (data from the Durham T.L. Dating Service, England). One must await the refining of the technique.
The other scientific technique which holds out hope for the future is dendrochronology, but again the basic data to allow samples of timber to be placed in their correct relative position in time is not yet available. Palm, the most widely used timber for building purposes at all periods of Nubian history is not, on account of its structure, suitable for dendrochronological dating. Also the very dry climate throughout much of the region, coupled with the relative scarcity of hardwoods, will have resulted in timber surviving for long periods and being reused whenever the opportunity permitted.
Archaeology versus History, a Case Study
It is salutary to look at the recent excavations at Soba East, with which the writer is most familiar, as a case study to highlight the problems of using archaeological data to write history and conversely, the contribution of historical evidence to the interpretation of the archaeological data. The Kingdom of Alwa effectively falls within what has been defined as proto-history, so infrequently do the historical sources refer to the Kingdom. We have extremely few dates provided by the historical sources. AD 580, the arrival of the missionary Longinus is the first, the second, and incidentally the last, is the fall of Soba prior to AD 1504 at the hands of the Funj and the Abdallab Arabs, recorded in the Funj Chronicle. Between these two dated events there are references to Alwa which show it to have been a large and flourishing state in the 9th and 10th centuries. There are indications of close contacts with the Makurian royal family to the north, for the presence of Muslim traders in the capital and information about the topography of the city of Soba and its vicinity, about its agricultural produce and about its customs, i.e. that they were the same as those of the Makurians. What, however, is the value of this information.
The date of AD 580 has been taken as the date of the introduction of Christianity into the Kingdom but Longinus met Christians at the capital city of Alwa who had come from Axum. AD 580 cannot be confidently used as a terminus post quem for any Christian artefacts or buildings in the kingdom, just as the dates given by the same ecclesiastical historians for the arrival of Christianity in the northern kingdoms were probably not the dates of the earliest introduction of Christianity into those areas.
The excavations at Meroe by John Garstang in the 1909-1910 season found some evidence for Christianity in the Temple of Isis and it has been suggested that the temple may have been reused as a church Kirwan, 1989: 300. A similar reuse of a Meroitic temple as a church in the area which may be presumed to have lain under the control of the Kings of Alwa has been noted at Musawwarat es-Sufra where pottery of identical type to that found in the Christian levels at Soba, was recovered from Temple IILA Török, 1974, Abb. 10. The discovery of Christian graves, one with a pendant in the form of a cross, a little to the east Hintze, 1962: 195-196, gives further support to this suggestion. One might suggest that such reuse of temples as places of Christian worship is more likely to be an early phenomenon and there is certainly little evidence for the continuing importance of Meroe and Musawwarat into the Christian period. Whether the temple-churches date to before AD 580, however, cannot be ascertained and it should be noted that the pottery types from Temple IRA are found at Soba in a number of contexts dateable to throughout the Christian period, but are rarely associated with the early Christian Soba ware.
Apart from the initial impetus to the birth of Christianity in Alwa given by Longinus' visit, we have no information on the mechanisms for the spread of the religion from the king and his entourage to the mass of the population. This may have been a slow process and the bulk of the population of Alwa may have remained pagan well into the "Christian" period. The relationship of the Christian burials found in post-Meroitic cemeteries, the one type differentiated from the other by the burial customs, is usually taken as sequential, the Christian burials being assumed to be later than the post-Meroitic ones. This, however, is rather a simplistic view and it should not automatically be assumed that the differences in burial practice, at least in the earlier phases of the growth of Christianity in Alwa, reflect a chronological progression. Within the Kingdom of Alwa, the evidence for the post-Meroitic and the Christian periods is mutually exclusive. The post-Meroitic inhabitants of the area are only recognisable by their graves, the Christian inhabitants largely by major religious monuments and habitation sites.
In time the influence of Christianity percolated down through society and into many facets of life. At Soba the earliest manifestation of Christian influence, to be seen in quantity in the archaeological record is the presence of Soba ware, the highly distinctive and often profusely decorated fine pottery whose decoration is derived from the motifs to be found in the mural art used to decorate Christian churches as exemplified by the cathedral at Faras. Prior to the production of Soba ware there is no reason to expect Christianity to be visible in the archaeological record away from the church and the cemetery. Christian burials can be recognised, but the absence of grave goods, one of their most characteristic features, divorces them from the artefacts which we so desperately need to date.
During the hey-day of the Kingdom of Alwa the historical sources are largely silent. They do speak of the power, wealth and prosperity of the kingdom and here, where general aspects of the culture rather than specific events are being discussed, archaeology and history are compatible, although the evidence is not always taken at face value.
The case of Soba is a classic example of this. Ibn Selim el Aswani, who may have visited Soba towards the end of the 10th century, wrote of the , "fine buildings and large monasteries, churches rich with gold and gardens" (in Vantini, 1975: 613). This is a clear statement by a well respected historical source. Archaeologists have, however, in the past, observing the sad ruins of Soba - uninspiring mounds of red and mud brick broken only by the granite columns of a church close by the river - been rather sceptical of Ibn Selim's observations. The results of the excavations by Peter Shinnie at Soba from 1950-1952 Shinnie, 1961 were not interpreted as offering support to Ibn Selim, even though Shinnie found what he took to be the remains of a palatial structure and recovered a quantity of fine Islamic glass, high value imports.
The recent excavations by the British Institute in Eastern Africa, which concentrated on an area at the western end of mound B, circa 80 m from the excavations of Shinnie, were located so as to allow the examination of a red brick spread, a category of surface remains defined as a result of the BIEA's first season of survey and trial trenching in the winter of 1981-1982 directed by Mr. C. M. Daniels. The discovery of three churches, two of cathedral size by Nubian standards Welsby and Daniels, 1991, was unexpected but immediately forced a change of attitude to the status of Soba, and of the Kingdom of Alwa, among the medieval Nubian kingdoms. It cast serious doubts on recent interpretations both of the poverty of Soba and of the veracity of Ibn Selim and other Arab writers who refer to the southernmost of the Nubian kingdoms. The palatial structure located immediately to the east of the churches added further confirmation of the presence of substantial "public" buildings at Soba. In hindsight the building partly excavated by Shinnie on mound B can be accepted as probably another substantial, palatial building, as Shinnie himself had suggested.
The complex of structures on mound B, with at least seven red brick structures (churches?) and mud brick buildings covering an area of 3 hectares in the centre of the city, suggests the presence of a monumental quarter of massive proportions. The excavations of Somers Clarke Clarke, 1912: 34-38 and Shinnie Shinnie, 1961: 25-27 indicate that there was another cathedralsized church on mound C towards the river. At this stage in our knowledge of the Soba site we already have evidence for the presence of three of the largest churches known in Nubia and the potential for the location of others is considerable.
In the later phases of the medieval kingdoms the historical sources hint at the growth of an independant state, the Kingdom of A1 Abwab, on the northern frontier of Alwa, presumably between it and the Kingdom of Makuria. It is assumed that this state had broken away from Alwa and that its presence suggests that the power of the rulers of Alwa was on the wane. However, we have no idea of the political organisation of Alwa, whether the state was a loose confederation of petty rulers under the suzerainity of the king of Alwa, or whether the king ruled directly through his appointed officials. The archaeology of Alwa is almost totally confined to the archaeology of Soba, the capital of the kingdom at least from the 9th century when A1 Yaqubi records that it was the residence of the Alwan kings (in Vantini, 1975: 71). We cannot thus tell whether there were distinctive features of the Alwan cultural assemblage that are wanting in the Kingdom of A1 Abwab. In any event if there were differences it is extremely unlikely that these could be related directly to the political allegience of the area.
The fall of the Kingdom of Soba, presumably the same as the Kingdom of Alwa, is recorded in the Funj Chronicle, a source only commited to writing probably late in the 19th century (in Vantini, 1975: 786-787). The reliability of the information in the Chronicle is thus suspect. It seems clear from the archaeological evidence that the churches on mound B were abandoned well before the conquest of the city at some date prior to 1504. This may suggest that, before the fall of Soba to the Abdallab Arabs and the Funj, it was already a Muslim city. The Chronicle states that the city was turned into a Funj metropolis. This is at variance both with the archaeological data and with the statement of David Reubeni who visited the site in 1523 and noted "the town of Soba, which is in ruins; there they have wooden dwellings" (in Vantini, 1975: 751). The distinctive Funj pottery is an extremely rare site find at Soba and this casts doubt on the authenticity of the Funj Chronicle.
Conversely there is a hint in the archaeological record of a major event which is not recorded by the historical sources. The southern church was the latest of the three to be constructed at the western end of mound B and it included the characteristic range of five rooms at the east of the building. Whatever the function of the rooms in the eastern range, their number was reduced to three at the end of phase la in the northern church and during phase I in the southern church. The presence of the range of five in the southern church, therefore, strongly suggests that it was constructed during phase la in the northern church.
Although building C was clearly designed and built as a church, and we have every reason to suspect that it was completed and presumably functioned for a time as a place of Christian worship, it was abandoned within the Christian period, at least partly demolished, and was given over to intensive domestic activities. Evidence for a similar hiatus in the use of the northern church was also found. The extensive post-Christian robbing of the central church may have removed similar evidence from that building.
It is extremely difficult to suggest why, during the currency of the Christian state, churches would be deconsecrated and demolished. The implication is that Soba ceased to be Christian at some date in the medieval period. Was there a period during which the Christian kings were ousted from power? This is, of course, pure speculation, but some major event must have been responsible for the features observed in the archaeological record. The rebuilding of both the northern and southern churches to a similar plan indicates that whatever the problem had been it was relatively short lived, the Church and presumably the Christian state recovering and surviving for centuries thereafter.
Here history is desperately needed to come to the aid of archaeology. However, in the nature of things, the possibility of new historical data emerging is remote whereas, by contrast, new archaeological data, often it must be admitted not of great worth, is brought to light with every stroke of the trowel.
The Suitability of Archaeological Data for our Understanding of the Past
The discussion above has illustrated some of the difficulties facing the archaeologist and the historian when an attempt is made to relate the data from the two disciplines. This is not necessarily a deficiency in the science of archaeology, but is frequently a failing of the scholar who asks the wrong questions from his data. Although archaeology rarely provides information suitable for the reconstruction of political history it is an invaluable source of information on other branches of historical research, social and economic history, art history and the history of architecture among them.
The recovery of artefacts containing the written word is the most direct means by which archaeology contributes to historical research. Owing to the especially favourable climatic conditions, particularly in the far north of Nubia, papyri and parchment can survive intact and the spectacular finds of such material from Qasr Ibrim, itself a major political centre in the medieval period, holds out the hope for the recovery of further significant historical documents which may make a fundamental contribution to our understanding of Nubian history. Qasr Ibrim is now a unique site in Northern Nubia, having survived relatively unscathed the flooding of the Nile Valley behind the Sadd el Aalli. Further to the south the climatic conditions steadily become less favourable to the preservation of organic materials and the threat from the hungry termite is ever present.
The Archaeology Study of the Nubian Kingdoms Today
At present a number of archaeological missions are actively involved in the study of Medieval Nubia. The long term excavations by the Polish Mission at Old Dongola, a project now of 26 years duration, seems set to continue and has contributed a considerable amount to our understanding, particularly of Nubian ecclesiastical architecture. The recent work in the industrial quarter at Old Dongola is particularly welcome and the results of the pottery kiln excavations should go some way to allowing us to begin a detailed study of the pottery of Central Nubia. Only a few kilometres to the north of Old Dongola the Canadian Mission, after two seasons of survey over a 80 km stretch of the east bank of the Nile in the Dongola Reach from 1984-1986 Grzymski, 1987, is excavating a site of uncertain character at Hambukol which should give us some idea of the character of the capital city and of its immediate environs.
Moreover the Canadian Project is designed "to study in depth the cultural development of a stratified habitation site" Grzymski, 1988: 2 in an area where there is evidence for Meroitic and earlier occupation as well as the obvious Christian monuments in the vicinity.
A campaign of three seasons of excavation at Soba is also in progress during which an attempt is being made to excavate a number of areas of differing character and date within the city to provide a more balanced appraisal of the development, layout and history of the site. Of particular interest is the evidence, recovered during the initial surveying and trial trenching of the site from 1981-1983, for the city having attained its greatest extent in the early Medieval period, at a time when the highly distinctive polychromatic painted pottery known as Soba ware was in use. In the present state of our knowledge this occupations appears to be associated with timber structures of post-hole construction. The nature of the structures, which were found in profusion under the churches at the western end of mound B, remains unclear. They may, however, reflect a tradition of timber architecture in marked contrast to the more familiar stone, red and mud brick buildings of the Meroitic and Medieval phases of occupation in Central Sudan. If the fine quality of Soba ware reflects its high cost of purchase in the market place, its presence may indicate that the timber buildings were not the dwellings of the poorest strata in Alwan society.
The work of the French Mission at el Hobagi has already been mentioned. Given the extent of the Nubian kingdoms and the paucity of archaeological research within them, particularly in Central and Southern Nubia, the gaps in our knowledge are immense.
What are the outstanding problems facing the student of Medieval Nubia on which light can be shed by archaeological research? Obviously there are many and the relative importance one would assign to them depends largely on the personal interest of the scholar concerned. In Northern Nubia much of Nobatia had already disappeared beneath the waters of Lake Nasser apart from the Qasr Ibrim, and archaeological research is confined to post-excavation studies. In Central and Southern Nubia it is the disparity between the number of sites which we may assume 'With confidence to have been occupied in the Medieval period and the very small number of sites ,which have actually been examined archaeologically, which makes any conclusions that we draw from the data available extremely tentative. The data base at present is very small and the relation between the data from different sites, often a considerable distance apart, is problematical.
The Archaeological Study of the Medieval Nubian Kingdoms, the Future
What then of the future direction of research into the archaeology of Medieval Nubia. One feature stands out and demands attention. This is the absolute necessity to publish the results of archaeological research, quickly and in detail. Interim reports are of interest, but are not in any way a substitute for the final report where all the evidence from the site is aired at length.
Publication is increasingly a problem. It is very expensive and funding bodies, which may be attracted by the "glamour" of excavation, are often reluctant to make grants to the less spectacular post-excavation projects which are of considerably longer duration than the field projects with which they are concerned. There is also, it would seem, all too often the fear of putting pen to paper and producing the "definitive" report while the work is still in progress. However, With major sites, where work may be expected to continue for decades, the final reports cannot be delayed indefinitely. Any archaeological report where less than the "whole" site has been excavated, is only an interim statement, but if the work is well done and the material is published in detail, although the conclusions and interpretations may be modified by subsequent work, the value of the publication will remain for ever.
There was some discussion, during the concluding session of the Uppsala conference, of the relative merits of rescue archaeology versus research excavations. Ideally of course both types of work are needed, but there is rarely enough money for both, this is the case in Britain and elsewhere just as much as in Sudan. Many of the research excavations in Sudan are also, to some extent, necessitated either by a direct and imminent threat or by the necessity to demonstrate the continuing need for the preservation of the sites already under the control of the Department of Antiquities. However, it is rather difficult to justify pure research excavations in the face of the widespread threat to archaeological sites along the banks of the Nile from the expansion of agriculture and from the encroachment of housing, and once again the potentially devastating destruction of another large tract of the Nile Valley, in the Fourth Cataract area looms before us. By concentrating on the sites well known to us, and which are protected to some extent, we risk the destruction for ever of sites, the existence of which we are not even aware. The contrast between our knowledge of the human geography of Northern Nubia at all periods and that of Central and Southern Nubia the former benifiting from the detailed surveys associated with the construction of the Aswan dams, serves to indicate just how much information there was and to some extent there must still be available.
Ideally, survey/rescue archaeology should go hand in hand with research excavations. The research excavations will then provide the dated sequences of artefacts which are so essential to allow us to recognise the significance of the sites located through survey work and revealed by excavations, the siting of which was decided by factors beyond the archaeologist's control.
Today the disparity in our knowledge of Medieval Nubia mirrors the thrust of archaeological research hence the heavy weighting towards the very north of Nubia. As has often been pointed out the discussion of Nubia, North and South is the discussion of the archaeological work in those areas rather than of the differences in settlement patterns in the Medieval period. If we fail to take up the challenge posed by the threat to the archaeological heritage in Central and Southern Nubia we risk the disparity in our knowledge of Nubia, North and South, at all periods, being with us and succeeding generations for ever.
Acknowledgements
The writer would like to thank L. Allason-Jones, D. Edwards and J. Maddox for reading earlier versions of this text and making a number of helpful comment. However, the views expressed are those of the writer alone.
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Translated into Arabic by Osama Elnur
The Faras Mural of the Three Youths in the Fiery Furance- Some Observations
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