Faras Gallery

We came across a fascinating video showing some of the beautiful works of art recovered from Faras (in Nubia) on Youtube. In the Women of 1000 AD project, the list of sources for Queen Martha included a link to a related video.

Christianity in the Sudan

Giovanni Vantini's Christianity in the Sudan is a dated work which, by and large, is mainly about Christian Nubia. Heavily based on the corpus of "Oriental" sources (plus some European ones) Vantini published, much of the text is like reading that compilation with some narrative commentary. It was a refresher for certain points in the history of medieval Nubia that we have forgotten about, but without any deeper investigation of the source materials, rather limited. Fortunately, advances by archaeologists and studies of Old Nubian and other textual sources has shed more light on the nature of the Nubian political system, economic structure, and religion. For instance, Dotawo is now more widely accepted as being the same state as Makuria. Sadly, Alwa, in Upper Nubia, remains a mystery in Vantini's text, but that is no surprise given the year this work was published (1980). More intriguingly for those interested in the later centuries of medieval Nubia, one can find here useful Western sources on Nubia and some important references to the Vatican's attempts to replant the Christian seed in Nubia. Some of this correspondence even touches upon the Kwararafa south of Borno, confusingly believed by some Europeans in Tripoli to have been Christians. Last, but certainly not least, some European sources also alluding to the survival of Christianity in pockets of Nubia as late as the 1740s suggest fruitful areas of research for scholars interested in Christian traces in Nubian culture. Some observations noted here on possible areas of Christian Nubian influence in Kordofan and Darfur also suggest medieval Nubian kingdoms really did exert some degree of influence to the west of the Nile...Indeed, the place name in the Dilling area mentioned in the famous Tabaqat may be further evidence of this.

Africanobyzantina

Africanobyzantina is one of those deeply flawed but potentially fruitful analyses of the pre-Islamic past of Sudanic Africa. Positing a significant influence of Byzantium and medieval Nubian civilization on Sudanic Africa in the period of the 500s-700s, Theodōros Papadopoullos essentially restates the Hamitic Hypothesis for elucidating the rise of complex states and kingdoms in the Central and Western Sudan. However, he largely ignores pre-6th century history, overlooking any Egyptian and Kushite influences that permeated "Negro-Sudanese" Africa in Antiquity. So, using the Byzantine-sponsored Christianization of Nubia in the 6th century and the medieval Nubian kingdoms adoption of at least part of the Roman/Byzantine state apparatus and civilization, Papadopoullos endeavors to use a migration of said Nubians to the west to explain the development of civilizations like Kanem, Songhay, the Hausa states, and even the origins of the Jukun, Borgu, and Nupe. 

Like other theories based on the Hamitic Hypothesis, the vector of this civilizing current is presented as likely Zaghawa (although the Tuareg and their possible part eastern origins in northeast Africa is also considered), although the author fails to clarify how nomadic or seminomadic populations in the Sahara or Darfur and Chad were able to create kingdoms that brought Byzantine and oriental (Middle Eastern) statecraft to Black Africans. Presumably, actual Nubians and perhaps Copts and Persians, traveled to West Africa in large enough numbers to transfer aspects of their more "advanced" cultures but, naturally, our oral traditions and legends cited by the author fail to demonstrate this persuasively. Instead, what Papadopoullos achieves is a confused speculative theory based on outdated translations of Arabic sources (which he sometimes fails to address the contradictions of), problematic interpretations of said sources, and a large corpus of oral traditions collected by Frobenius, Meek, H.R. Palmer, and other Western colonial administrator-scholars and ethnographers. While there is undoubtedly great value in some of these traditions and, in the case of Palmer, local manuscripts written by locals in northern Nigeria, the methodological issues, language barriers, colonial context, and disturbing racialized framework adopted by these European scholars are never addressed or interrogated by Papadopoullos.

In spite of our criticisms of the book, there is nonetheless some merit to it. For instance, linguistic evidence studied by Claude Rilly does point to medieval Nubian contacts with peoples in western Sudan and eastern Chad. Some medieval Arabic sources do indeed reference contact between Nubia and the lands to their west. The Tuareg language does indeed include words of Latin or Greek origin that suggest a Christian past. And even some of the Kisra traditions analyzed by Papadopoullos seem to refer to historical events and personages relevant to the Persian conquest of Egypt and Sassanian conflict with the Byzantine Empire. And snippets of a pre-Islamic past that may have once been influenced by Christian Nubia can be occasionally seen here or there, if the references to Nasara or Christian-sounding practices are reliable in the traditions and accounts collected by Meeks, Frobenius and Palmer. Recent scholarship has also pointed out possible links between Nubia and the Lake Chad region through analysis of beads found at a site believed to have been a royal capital of Kanem, possibly Njimi. If the bead assemblage analyzed there was closer to those found in East Africa, and highly unlike the chemical composition of beads found at medieval sites in West Africa, the authors are probably correct to suspect trade links to the east that likely traversed Darfur and Nubia. 

Similarly, the aforementioned linguistic evidence of medieval Nubian influence on languages spoken between the Nile and Lake Chad points to potential Nubian trade, settlement, or migration into some of these areas. Some potential evidence of this can be seen in archaeological sites showing medieval Nubian extension west into Kordofan. Indeed, perhaps Muhammad Bello's tale of the Tuareg migration into Air from Kanem and Borno may have a kernel of truth, too, showing evidence of a Tubu, Kanuri, Tuareg, and Hausa interaction sphere by the 7th or 8th century that may have had ties to Nubia through trade. Archaeological evidence of pre-Islamic trans-Saharan at Marandet, Kissi and other sites that may have traded through the Fazzan or further east with the Nile Valley is also possible. Indeed, the Zaghawa word for king, kire, based on one Beria dictionary, sounds like it may be related to the Meroitic qore. In short, there are number of possible areas of influence from the Nubian civilizations, both Kushite and medieval, in the lands to the west. To what extent they actually influenced the Central and Western Sudan is unknown, but contacts were probable and likely predate medieval Nubia. 

Nonetheless, a deeper study of these aforementioned traditions and sources is required, especially with scholars who are well-versed local languages and have an understanding of how Islamic-influenced histories and legends draw on Jewish and Christian traditions. Due to his reliance on these highly problematic colonial-era scholars and colonial administrators, and the author's reliance on sometimes flawed translations of Arabic materials, he ends up promoting the Hamitic Hypothesis in a slightly different manner yet still flawed and lacking merit. It is also likely that some of the traditions recorded by locals, upon the insistence of Palmer or with his sponsorship, were influenced by more erudite traditions of Islamic history that included more specific knowledge of Sassanian Persian wars with the Byzantine Empire. Indeed, in East Africa, a Swahili poet even wrote about the Heraclius. To what degree the traditions collected by individuals like these actually reflect the Mandara, Borno, Nupe, or Hausa traditions of origin must be addressed, particularly in the ways traditions mutate or incorporate new figures over time. One must also look for actual evidence of migration of Persians, Copts, or Nubians in the period from the 6th century to the 8th century, too, since the author seems to think these Byzantine and eastern influences arrived via actual migratory movements that were associated with the Zaghawa (and, possibly, Tuareg, whose ancestors may have come from the east as well as Berber North Africa). Finally, scholars must also look to local and intra-regional factors and developments to avoid hyperdiffusionist thinking. Perhaps a deeper look at non-Islamic societies in West or Central Africa may have helped the author avoid assuming complex state administrative features or court rituals are only a product of contact with the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern worlds. 

The Miracle of Saint Mena

A nice overview of a medieval Old Nubian text, The Miracle of St. Mena. Although the text is short, the message of the work must have meant something to a medieval Nubian audience and readers. One thing that stood out to us was the failure of the boatman or sailor to do his part by taking the egg to the church of St. Mena. By not doing what he promised, he made it harder for the woman to accept Christianity and convert. One can see the relationship between fertility or having children and Christian devotion was also relevant here, bringing to mind a Coptic custom which involved using a relic of a saint's body in the Nile to ensure it will flood. So, the unnamed woman here, eager to have children, turns to the St. Mena and Christianity and finds herself, her servants, and her livestock producing many children. The other intriguing thing about this short the depiction of St. Mena as a warrior, possibly a sign of the appeal of such saints to Medieval Nubia. 

The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia

Derek Welsby's The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia: Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile is a great synthesis of archaeology and historical studies on a period of over 1000 years in Nubia. Beginning with the late Meroitic period and post-Meroitic period, better represented in northern Nubia, Welsby outlines the entire history of Medieval Nubia from the emergence of Nobadia, Alwa and Makuria to the spread of Christianity and their eventual decline in the late Christian period by the end of the 15th century. Sadly, Lower Nubia is better represented by archaeological surveys and excavations and northern Nubian towns like Qasr Ibrim possessed more favorable conditions for the preservation of records. Thus, most of the book is really on the kingdoms of Nobadia and Makuria (both as independent states in the post-Meroitic period and as a unified kingdom). Alwa, the lesser known southern kingdom said to have been wealthier in some of the medieval Arabic sources, remains a mysterious entity but one that may, with future archaeological excavations at Soba and other sites, potentially elucidate the relationship of medieval Christian Nubia with African societies to the east, west and south. 

The main theme, if one can be selected for this detailed work, is that of continuity. Viewing Nubia through the lens of continuity beginning with the Kushite kingdom does suggest that Nubia, despite experiencing obvious historical changes and transformations, remains a civilizational unit defined by geography and culture. Indeed, even the Christian states which emerged by the 6th century were, during phases of the post-Meroitic period, preserving the Meroitic script and continuing to use and worship at Kushite temples or the temple of Isis at Philae. That said, the spread of the waterwheel and the adoption of Christianity changed the nature of worship while also continuing Nubia's ties to Coptic, Byzantine and Eastern Christian influences. But even that development can be partly traced to the Meroitic era, when Kush was closely connected to the Hellenistic and Roman worlds. Indeed, Greek became an important language for inscriptions of Nobadian and Blemmye rulers in the 5th and 6th centuries  as these peoples became federates of the Roman Empire in the turbulent 5th century. Intriguingly, the archaeological evidence does not support a large-scale migration along the Middle Nile of Blemmyes or Noubades, suggesting that the bulk of the population in medieval Nubia were likely descendants of the population already living in the region for millennia. In fact, Welsby even finds evidence of this development in the post-Christian period, when Makuria and Alwa fragmented and the formal Church disappeared. Even then, after centuries, some Christian-derived traits persisted in Nubia.

Viewed through the lens of continuity, one begins to wonder if the political fragmentation of Nubia into 3 then later 2 kingdoms mirrored the political fragmentation of the declining Meroitic phase. Can one see similarities in terms of the Meroitic state's northern officials and those of Makuria with regard to the eparchs in Qasr Ibrim? And to what extent was the Kushite kingdom's relations with societies to the east, west and south similar to arrangements which characterized the medieval Nubian kingdoms? Certainly, the medieval Nubians were interested in trade through the oases to the north and west, but was this actually a major route connecting the Nubian states to societies in Darfur or further west? And what to make of the Beja polities to the east, which, according to some Arabic sources, were Christians and aligned with the Nubians? One wonders if Nubia may have had access to goods from the west and south by acting as a middleman between the Red Sea ports of Aidhab and Suakin to the kingdoms further west, like Kanem. And what, if any, were the connections between medieval Nubia and Ethiopia? The Coptic sources suggest Nubia on at least one occasion (Makuria's ruler?) intervened to request the Patriarch to send another metropolitan to Ethiopia. Were the kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia also serving as routes for Ethiopian pilgrims traveling to Egypt and the Holy Land, as suggested by Ge'ez texts in medieval Egyptian sites? And to what extent were the peoples south of Alwa, despite not being Christianized, participating in trans-Sudanic trade like the Shilluk of later centuries?

Medieval Nubia

Giovanni Ruffini's ambitiously titled Medieval Nubia: A Social and Economic History asserts a number of compelling and, despite its limited sources, plausible theories for Christian Nubia. Instead of seeing Makuria or Dotawo as lacking private land tenure or a monetized economy, Ruffini draws from the Qasr Ibrim land sales and letters to argue Makuria was a mixture of classical Mediterranean and local Sudanese traditions. Like Spaulding and others who have analyzed various aspects of Nubia's vast history, Ruffini argues for cultural continuity as a guiding theme for making sense of Nubia. Numerous examples are cited in the text of Meroitic and even pharaonic Egyptian influences in medieval Nubian religion, culture, and customs. The Choiak public festival, for instance, was likely of Osirian origin and survived in Coptic and Nubian Christian practice. Nubian rituals of today that include dipping new-born infants into the Nile and referencing Mary likely date from the Christian period, too. 

Thus, from the late Meroitic or Late Antique era until about 1821, one can arguably find much continuity across the political dimensions of the region. This can be highlighted with the adoption of the waterwheel and the role of the Nile and local ecology in both Lower and Upper Nubia. However, Nubia was, through thousands of years of contact with Egypt and the Mediterranean world, also a recipient of those influences. That impact can be seen in the Greco-Roman and Coptic traces in medieval Nubia's legal traditions. Naturally, then, one cannot be surprised to find similarities between Old Nubian land documents and those in Coptic in Egypt. Moreover, the importance of Greek as a living and even divine language used for bilingual Biblical texts, titles, amulets, and rituals attests to the survival of Roman and Byzantine influences long after Egypt fell under Muslim rule. Ruffini's Medieval Nubia attempts to demonstrate this signifiance of the classical Mediterranean's legacy through Qasr Ibrim's surviving documents, plus occasional epigraphic, ethnographic, literary, archaeological, and additional sources.

Unfortunately, our limited sources leads one to think Ruffini's study remains too speculative. While likely correct about the existence of private land tenure in Lower Nubia (and throughout Nubia, probably), much of the analysis of the Qasr Ibrim documents relies on speculation. We await further confirmation from Dongola, Soba, and other sites to ascertain the degree to which some of these speculative conclusions can be borne out. Nonetheless, Ruffini's analysis is persuasive based on the assumption of cultural continuity and the comparative data from other parts of Sudan and Egypt. The implications of this suggest a much wider territory included within what is usually considered "Mediterranean." In addition, it suggests medieval Nubia's land was productive or profitable and that elites who engaged in land sales were socially linked to the ecclesiastical and royal authorities. This elite group, whose conspicuous consumption through feasting accompanied land sales, also appears in the external Arabic sources in occasional revolts, conflicts with Nubian kings, and relations with Egypt. Alas, we are still left in the dark about the slaves, peasants, tenant farmers, and other groups in this complex society. 

The internal sources also call into question some of the problematic assumptions made by Western scholars who heavily rely on the external textual references. Some, like al-Masudi definitely reflect what might be considered a racial bias, although perhaps Ruffini overstates the case in regards to medieval Arab views of black Africans. Regardless, medieval Nubia represents a case in which one must carefully use the medieval Arabic sources when analyzing societies of the Sudan. Without understanding local dynamics, local sources, and the literary topos of the outside writers, one can perpetuate biases and omissions from the original writers, such as al-Masudi. Unfortunately, we have a lot more to uncover from Old Nubian sources and archaeological research before we can confirm some of Ruffini's conclusions. Research on Alwa would be particularly interesting here, since the external sources suggest it was wealthier than Makuria. Alwa's southern location and less reliance on the Nile also raises interesting questions about the periods of unification of medieval Nubia and Alwa's relations with societies further east and west. Either way, the future of Nubiology promises to be exciting.

Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia

After reading a short book on Alwa and revisiting Welsby and Ruffini, we decided to take another look at Vantini's Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia. We read Vantini back in 2020 during a past obsession with the question of Kanem relations to the Eastern Sudan. While one cannot deny the great use of having a compilation of various "Oriental" sources on Nubia from Late Antiquity to the early 16th century as a reference work, far too many of the extracts are incredibly repetitive. Some selections nearly repeat verbatim earlier chronicles or geographical texts, often adding little or no new information. These repetitions can be useful in terms of illustrating the sources for later writers, but makes for rather uninteresting reading. However, it was occasionally interesting to see how mistakes of copyists or authors introduced more confusion, such as transferring to the Nubians a description of the "Zaghawa" of Kanem. Or confusion mixing the Nubians with the Habasha or Beja when detailing relations between the Patriarchs in Alexandria and the southern Christian populations of the Sudan and Ethiopia. Some of these mistakes raise questions about the reliability of the included texts for parts of the "Sudan" and contain clearly legendary materials or outdated ideas derived from Ptolemy on the course of the Nile and the interior of Africa. 

In spite of the cultural, religious and perhaps racial bias of several of the sources, they are of paramount importance for understanding the societies of medieval Nubia. Although modern scholars are correct to stress the significance of relying on internal sources to reconstruct the history of the region, we have relied so heavily on external Arabic sources for West Africa during this same time. If historians have, over time, been able to match the external Arabic texts on West Africa with local archaeological, textual and oral sources, then one should be able to do the same for Nubia. After all, Nubia was even closer to the central Islamic lands and known to the ancient world for several millennia. If used judiciously, these sources tell us something, albeit not enough, of the kingdoms of Makuria and Alwa over a period of 1000 years. Sadly, Alwa was, despite its reputation as the wealthier kingdom, not as well known. But these sources have been used by scholars such as Zarroug for proposing some theories on the kingdom's likely role in east-west trade routes. 

Moreover, when interpreted together, the external Arabic sources point to connections between the different regions of the Sudanic belt of the African continent. We are unsure if some of the copyists or authors made a mistake here, but one source in Vantini actually refers to the ruler of Dahlak levying a duty on the ships of al-Kanam. Our first response is to think Kanem was connected to the Red Sea through ships commissioned by their rulers. There are also references by al-Idrisi to conflict between the Nubians and the Daju between Kanem and Nubia. Other sources mention war between the "Zaghawa" and Nubians. Additional sources point to the pilgrimage route that went from Upper Egypt through the Eastern Desert to Aydhab. Beja and Nubians may have interacted with travelers and traders from the Western and Central Sudan through those arenas, not to mention in Egypt itself. In addition, conflict between the Oasis Dwellers west of the Nile and the Nubians are casually referenced, leading us to wonder about Nubian interests in trade to the northwest and west. Despite their limitations, these sources possess a number of suggestive implications for cultural and economic connections across the "Sudan."Hopefully archaeologists in Chad and Sudan will uncover evidence. 

Alwa and Sudanic Africa

Although we have long considered Alwa to be the more interesting of post-Meroe states in Nubia, the limited archaeological excavations and fewer references in the external Arabic primary sources makes it more of an elusive entity. Mohi el-Din Abdalla Zarroug attempts to redress this with an admittedly speculative but provocative analysis of the kingdom of Alwa. Based on the ethnographic present (after assuming probable cultural continuity in the Nubian heartland for the last several centuries), archaeological surveys, and textual sources from Antiquity, Islamic lands, and later reports or narratives, The Kingdom of Alwa proposes an interesting interpretation of Alwa as the more powerful, wealthiest state of medieval Nubia. Instead of being a peripheral Nubian state, or, as Adams wrongly assumed, a "primitive" state based on the slave trade, Alwa may have been a major state whose influence radiated far to the east and west, perhaps vying with Kanem over influence in Darfur and what later became Wadai. 

Contrary to assumptions or expectations of Makuria being the dominant Nubian kingdom, often based on the far more extensive archaeological research in northern Nubia, Alwa appears to have been able to support higher population densities while benefitting from surplus crops (through riverine and rain-based agriculture), gold exports, hides, and long-distance trade. The interdependency of the pastoralist and agriculturalist populations of Alwa became the basis for a regional economy and local exchange. Gold, iron, ivory, leather, and salt also contributed to this economy, which must have connected Alwa to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Sudanic, and trans-Saharan trade routes. The extent to which Alwa inherited aspects of Meroitic economic or administrative structures is unknown, but Zarroug sees evidence of "Meroitized" Noba in the region during the Late Meroitic Period, according to burial types and the Axumite inscription of Ezana. Geographical factors likely favored continuity, too, suggesting Alwa succeeded Meroe as the center of Nubia. This is also the impression one gains from the external Arabic sources like al-Aswani. 

Zarroug speculates that Alwa relied more on east-west trade routes that linked the kingdom to trans-Saharan routes as well as to the Red Sea. Ruins of structures in Kordofan and Darfur suggest Alwa (and probably Makuria, too) had a presence in western Sudan, likely connecting it to trade routes that led to the Fezzan and North Africa. Although the evidence is still lacking or perhaps waiting on confirmation from finds in Kanem, Darfur, and Soba, Zarroug's theory is quite plausible. We have long wondered to what extent Kanem may have played an early essential role in trade and cultural contacts across the Sudanic belt of the African continent. Hints of it can be seen in the chronicles of Ahmad b. Furtu or al-Idrisi, Ibn Said and oral traditions of Darfur suggestive of Kanem's influence further east. Perhaps Kanem and Alwa (and likely Makuria) exerted influence over the Daju and what later became Wadai as peripheral territories. Over time, secure trade routes developed which could link Alwa to the Fezzan and possibly establish a firmer "Sudan Road." The presence of Muslim traders in Alwa and Makuria may have facilitated this process, so that Christian Nubia did not represent an impenetrable barrier for Muslims of the Central Sudan.