No General Descriptions provided.
| Year Range | Makuria Kingdom III (sd_makuria_k_3) was in: |
|---|
Inhabitants.
"The fortifications of Dongola, first identified in 1990 are among the most massive and most extensive defense works in the entire Kingdom of Makuria. ... the most recent season of excavations has provided data for calculating the area of the settlement enclosed by these walls. It was found to measure some 57,000 sq. m".
[1]
5.7 hectares within the fortifications of Dongola. Did the settlement extend beyond it?
"Table 3. Fortified sites of early(?) medieval date"
[2]
Kalabsha:Â ? ha
Sabaqura: 0.8ha
Ikhmindi: 1.1ha
Sheikh Daud: 0.7ha
Faras: 4.6ha
Old Dongola: 4.75ha
Bakhit: 2.7ha
[1]: (Godlewski 2004, 38) Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Christian Nubia, Studies 1996-2000. Mat Immerzeel. Jacques van der Vliet. eds. 2004. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. II. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies Leiden 2000. Peeters Publishers. Leuven.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 130) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
in squared kilometers
15,000-20,000 km2 for the strip of the Nile valley between the First and Third Cataracts and the same again or a bit more for the Makuria region down to Alwa. Satellite map shows more southerly latitudes, between the White and Blue Niles as green. This area is about 100,000 km2. This is the region occupied by Alwa. The early Makuria state was not extensive enough to control this region so probably was confined to the Dongola Reach stretch of the Nile river which is sandwiched by desert.
"The Kingdom of the Nobadae (Nuba in Arabic), known as Nobadia, extended from Philae to the Second Cataract. Its capital was Faras."
[1]
Nobadia was located in northern Nubia between the First Cataract and the Dal "i.e. the area between the Second and the Third Cataracts."
[2]
Like this reference for the Meroe Kingdom Makuria probably "was over large areas, confined to a narrow strip along the banks of the Nile for well over 1000 km of its course".
[3]
- and less than that since this polity begins below the Third Cataract.
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 186) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Michalowski 1981, 326) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
[3]: (Welsby 2002, 16) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
People. Lower Nubia (50,000?) plus Middle Nile region = 200,000?
The Meroe Kingdom "conquered and organized the whole of central Sudan and brought about a third of the Sudanese under their rule. With the total number of Sudanese now approaching 1.5m this meant that the Kingdom of Meroe, as the new state was known, had a population of some 0.5m. It lasted till the 4th century AD, when it broke up into three successor states".
[1]
Presumably the successor states are Nobadia, Makuria and Alwa and the authors omit the intervening periods.
For the borders of North Sudan and South Sudan McEvedy and Jones (1978)
[2]
estimated about 2.25 million for 400 CE, 2.5 million for 600 CE, 2.75 million for 800 CE and 3 million for 1000 CE.
The largest population would have been in the most southerly of the successor states where there was a wetter climate, but where little archaeology has been done. The pre-Makuria state was not extensive enough at this early time to control the region that would later become Alwa, and was confined to the Dongola Reach stretch of the Nile river which is sandwiched by desert.
An idea of a likely population cap for the Dongola Reach stretch of the Nile might be had by comparison with the more northerly Lower Nubia part.
"The Christian period was a time of rapid economic development in Nubia. The population of northern Nubia was about 50,000. The introduction of sakiya irrigation in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods had enlarged the area under cultivation by watering it between the abundant Nile floods of that time..."
[3]
Possibly the Middle Nubia region occupied by Makuria was slightly better for agriculture but surely not by a lot since it also was surrounded by desert. It is difficult to imagine a population of much more than 100,000 people.
[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 235) Colin McEvedy. Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Allen Lane. London.
[2]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978, 237) Colin McEvedy. Richard Jones. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Allen Lane. London.
[3]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
levels.
1. Capital
2. Town e.g. Philae
3. Village "In northern Nubia villages were surrounded by walls to protect the inhabitants from Arab raiders. Sometimes the villagers built up communal stores against siege."
[1]
Churches located near the center of villages.
[1]
"Table 3. Fortified sites of early(?) medieval date"
[2]
Kalabsha:Â ? ha
Sabaqura: 0.8ha
Ikhmindi: 1.1ha
Sheikh Daud: 0.7ha
Faras: 4.6ha
Old Dongola: 4.75ha
Bakhit: 2.7ha
[1]: (Michalowski 1981, 336) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 130) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
levels.
"Among the late Christian documents from Qasr Ibrim are mentioned the following church officials: bishops (papas) of Ibrim, Kourte, Sai and Ori, great priests (sorto daoul), priests (sorto), archimandrites, archdeacons, deacons, liturgists (jalligatt), chartelarius, elders (gort) and a fire-sacrificer? (eigla mosil). Most are named as witnesses to or writers of documents and there is no further information on what their functions may have been. In the monastery on Kom H at Old Dongola are references to archiepiscopos and archpresbyter." [Welsby 2002, p. 99] Xenon next to a monastery. [Welsby 2002, p. 39] Which period? A xenon is "an institution of Byzantine origin which was a combination of a hospice and a hospital where the efficacy of treatment was assisted by its proximity to the burials of Holy Men." [Welsby 2002, p. 276] The Cathedral at Ibrim had a bishops list. [Welsby 2002, p. 76]
levels.
"Nauarchos is the early Byzantine title of an admiral, an inscription dating to 1322 can be reasonably securely translated as ’the admiral supreme on the water’. On the Debeira inscription, dated 1069, the title may be meizonauarchos ’admiral supreme’.
[1]
Nubian military was sent on expeditions.
[2]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 96) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Michalowski 1981, 334) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
levels.
The evidence for the following spans the 700-1000 CE period.
1. King
"The king was the undisputed head of state holding absolute authority over all his subjects."
[1]
In law the general population were slaves of the king although in Nobadia/Maris "estates could be passed on by inheritance" at least from the early ninth century.
[2]
2. "The domesticos was a deputy and we find domesticoi of the king and of the eparch."
[3]
The mid-7th century Nubian peace-treaty with the Muslim Arabs apparently included the requirement for the latter to supply wheat (300 ardeb), jugs (300) and cloth (3 pieces of qabati) for the king’s delegates. The Makurian king sent slaves the other way.
[4]
_Court government_
"Although Nubia, unlike Egypt, was not part of the Byzantine empire, there undoubtedly existed between them definite links forged by the missions of the priests Julianos and Longinos. The organization of the Nubian government, as its nomenclature shows, was strictly modelled on the Byzantine bureaucracy."
[5]
Referring to the Byzantine bureaucracy of the 6th century.’ Modelled on the imperial court at Byzantine.
[6]
"Among the officials of Makuria recorded in the sources are the primicerius, the promeizon and the protodomesticos of the palace and the protomeizoteros." Other titles are known but their duties unknown.
[7]
Cannot assume a similar function to those in the Byzantine court.
[3]
2. Eparch palatium Based at the capital? "The eparch palatium may have been a separate office, perhaps the chief administrator of the whole realm."
[6]
3.
4. Scribes "There was clearly also a civil administration with its own scribes separate from the Church."
[8]
"The Church was clearly a major force in the State, but how it was maintained and what secular role it played in the administration is unclear. The Church certainly owned land, as is indicated by an Old Nubia document from Qasr Ibrim..."
[9]
"There is a suggestion that monastic institutions were directly involved in manufacturing, especially of pottery but also possibly of other goods, and, along with members of the clergy, in the provision of services, legal, medical and secretarial. The monks and clerics were presumably among the best educated and literate members of Nubia society and hence would have been an invaluable resource for the administration of the State, although their abilities alone do not constitute proof that they were so employed. There was clearly also a civil administration with its own scribes separate from the Church."
[8]
_Regional government_
2. Eparch of an eparchate
[10]
"The authority of the Makurian king was delegated to a number of officials, chief among whom was the eparch, a title which, as the Greek equivalent of the Latin praefectus, was widely used in the Roman and Byzantine Empires."
[6]
"the organization of power in Christian Nubia was modelled on Byzantium. The civil governor of the province was the eparch, whose authority was symbolized by the horned crown which he wore on a helmet decorated with a crescent."
[11]
One based in the north of the Kingdom dealt with the Muslims. "Ibn Selim describes him as among the highest ranking governors in the kingdom".
[6]
"The court of the eparch was modelled on that of the monarch and used the same court titles, derived in both cases from the imperial court at Byzantine."
[6]
Also an eparch who administered the south.
[6]
Nobadia was "a distinct territorial unit within the Makurian state with the name of Maris."
[12]
Although the Kingdom of Nobadia "was subordinated to the central Makurian administration ... it is difficult to speak of a united Kingdom of Nubia. ... The new royal Makuria administration with its division into provinces was established presumably by King Kyriakos and should be dated to the second half of the 8th century."
[13]
3. "The tot is the most commonly found of these officials and is always associated with a locality, of which a total of fifteen are recorded. Adams suggests that the tot may have been a wealthy local worthy deputed by the state to oversee a community although the presence of tot at settlements of very differing status may suggest that the situation was rather more complicated."
[3]
2. Kinglets In mid-eighth century 13 kings under the King of Makuria. "These kinglets were all priests, but if they killed someone they were no longer allowed to celebrate the liturgy." Their absence from Arab sources suggests they did not control any military forces.
[1]
3. Town mayor Graffito in Jebel Adda written by the town-mayor.
[1]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 92) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 94) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[3]: (Welsby 2002, 96) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[4]: (Welsby 2002, 70-71) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[5]: (Michalowski 1990, 187) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[6]: (Welsby 2002, 93) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[7]: (Welsby 2002, 95) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[8]: (Welsby 2002, 103) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[9]: (Welsby 2002, 102-103) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[10]: (Welsby 2002, 93-94) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[11]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[12]: (Welsby 2002, 84) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[13]: (Godlewski 2004, 1045) Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Christian Nubia, Studies 1996-2000. Mat Immerzeel. Jacques van der Vliet. eds. 2004. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. II. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies Leiden 2000. Peeters Publishers. Leuven.
The Cathedral at Ibrim had a bishops list. [Welsby 2002, p. 76]
References to son and nephew appointed as commanders of the army for various battles. [Welsby 2002, p. 74] "Nauarchos is the early Byzantine title of an admiral, an inscription dating to 1322 can be reasonably securely translated as 'the admiral supreme on the water'. On the Debeira inscription, dated 1069, the title may be meizonauarchos 'admiral supreme'. [Welsby 2002, p. 96] The nauarchos was likely a professional officer.
"There was clearly also a civil administration with its own scribes separate from the Church." [Welsby 2002, p. 103]
"There was clearly also a civil administration with its own scribes separate from the Church." [Welsby 2002, p. 103]
Clergy would be non-specialist judges.
"There is a suggestion that monastic institutions were directly involved in manufacturing, especially of pottery but also possibly of other goods, and, along with members of the clergy, in the provision of services, legal, medical and secretarial." [Welsby 2002, p. 103]
Probably something based on Christian law since the clergy may have been involved in legal issues.
"There is a suggestion that monastic institutions were directly involved in manufacturing, especially of pottery but also possibly of other goods, and, along with members of the clergy, in the provision of services, legal, medical and secretarial." [Welsby 2002, p. 103]
Possible river ports at Dongola. [1]
[1]: (Godlewski 2004, 38) Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Christian Nubia, Studies 1996-2000. Mat Immerzeel. Jacques van der Vliet. eds. 2004. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. II. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies Leiden 2000. Peeters Publishers. Leuven.
Northern Nubia: "The introduction of sakiya irrigation in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods had enlarged the area under cultivation by watering it between the abundant Nile floods of that time, and it produced wheat, barley, millet and grapes. The abundant date harvest from the palm plantations also raised the country’s living standards." [1] Saqiya (water-wheel) irrigation introduced in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. [2] Agriculturalists along the Nile river banks. [3]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Michalowski 1981, 334) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
[3]: (Welsby 2002, 9) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
"In northern Nubia villages were surrounded by walls to protect the inhabitants from Arab raiders. Sometimes the villagers built up communal stores against siege." [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1981, 336) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
Xenon next to a monastery. [Welsby 2002, p. 39] A xenon is "an institution of Byzantine origin which was a combination of a hospice and a hospital where the efficacy of treatment was assisted by its proximity to the burials of Holy Men." [Welsby 2002, p. 276] We probably cannot know if this xenon was available to members of the public or just to the clergy and royal family?
Symbolic buildings present c700-1100 CE: "As a result of the Polish excavations carried out at Old Dongola since +1964, four churches and the Christian royal palace have been identified. One of these buildings dates back to the end of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth century. Beneath it the remains of an earlier church built of unbaked bricks have been discovered. This religious building, which was not the cathedral, had five naves and was supported by sixteen granite columns 5.20 metres in height. In view of the magnitude of the remains discovered, there is reason to think that the enthusiastic descriptions given by an Arab traveller in the eleventh century were historically accurate: Dongola was an important capital, at least as regard it monuments." [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 186) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
"The literary texts that we do have are all religious in content. However, the Nubians certainly maintained archives although, apart from at Qasr Ibrim, little of this material survives."
[1]
"In Faras, the aristocracy and the administrative officials spoke Greek, as did the dignitaries of the church. The clergy also understood Coptic, which was perhaps the language of many refugees."
[2]
What language were these texts in - Greek?
In 835 CE Abbasid Caliph el-Mutasim "decreed, following Giorgios’ visit to Baghdad, that the Baqt should only be paid every three years and confirmed this in a document which remained in the hands of the Makurians."
[3]
Writing fragments found at the Cathedral at Ibrim "ecclesiastical works in Coptic mainly written on papyrus and probably all pre-dating the tenth century".
[4]
The Cathedral at Ibrim had a library.
[4]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 9) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Michalowski 1990, 191) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[3]: (Welsby 2002, 73) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[4]: (Welsby 2002, 75) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
Possible river ports at Dongola. [1]
[1]: (Godlewski 2004, 38) Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Christian Nubia, Studies 1996-2000. Mat Immerzeel. Jacques van der Vliet. eds. 2004. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium. II. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies Leiden 2000. Peeters Publishers. Leuven.
"Papyri correspondence between the king of Nubia and the governor of Egypt. "The longest scroll, dated +758, contains a complaint in Arabic lodged b Musa K’ah Ibn Uyayna against the Nubians because they did not observe the baqt." [1] At Qasr Ibrim "legal texts, documents and correspondence" was discovered but mostly unpublished as of 2002. [2] "Most contemporary written accounts of Nubia we have are by Arabs, such as Ibn Selim el-Aswani, there are no Nubian accounts of Nubia "nor do we have any indication that such works were ever produced. The literary texts that we do have are all religious in content. However, the Nubians certainly maintained archives although, apart from at Qasr Ibrim, little of this material survives." [2]
[1]: (Michalowski 1981, 334) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 9) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
Written sources for the Nubian Kingdoms include graffiti on pottery and walls and inscriptions such as funerary stelae. At Qasr Ibrim "legal texts, documents and correspondence" was discovered but mostly unpublished as of 2002. [Welsby 2002, p. 9] Writing fragments found at the Cathedral at Ibrim "ecclesiastical works in Coptic mainly written on papyrus and probably all pre-dating the tenth century". [Welsby 2002, p. 75] "as late as the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century Meroitic was still a written language although how many people by that date could read it is uncertain. In northern Nubia Greek was well established and it took over from Meroitic as the language of official inscriptions during the fifth century, as well as later for religious, administrative and commercial matters, was Coptic, a language derived directly from the ancient Egyptian vernacular language, Demotic. Greek and Coptic were used during the medieval period throughout Nubia for inscriptions of all types from royal tombstones to graffiti on walls and on pottery and must have been widely understood. From the eighth century onwards they were joined by the written form of a language known as Old Nubian to distinguish it from the living language of Nubian still spoken, but not written, in northern Sudan and Southern Egypt today. Old Nubian as a spoken language may have been of considerable antiquity and has been thought to have been the language of at least some dwellers of along the Middle Nile in the second millennium BC. In the medieval period it was the spoken language in Nubia and was used in a wide range of written correspondence of both a private and an official nature." [Welsby 2002, pp. 236-237]
Xenon next to a monastery suggests medical information. A xenon is "an institution of Byzantine origin which was a combination of a hospice and a hospital where the efficacy of treatment was assisted by its proximity to the burials of Holy Men." [1] Also impressive developments in monumental architecture in this period. [2]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 276) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
"The literary texts that we do have are all religious in content. However, the Nubians certainly maintained archives although, apart from at Qasr Ibrim, little of this material survives." [Welsby 2002, p. 9]
"Papyri correspondence between the king of Nubia and the governor of Egypt. "The longest scroll, dated +758, contains a complaint in Arabic lodged b Musa K’ah Ibn Uyayna against the Nubians because they did not observe the baqt." [1] At Qasr Ibrim "legal texts, documents and correspondence" was discovered but mostly unpublished as of 2002. [2]
[1]: (Michalowski 1981, 334) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 9) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
After 700 CE an "extraordinary development" of culture and art in Nubia. [1] At the least imported Greek texts.
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
At Qasr Ibrim "documents and correspondence" were discovered but mostly unpublished as of 2002. [1] "Our perception of the prevalence of written material in Nubia is dramatically altered by the evidence from Qasr Ibrim. The ultra-dry conditions and the absence of termites on that site, which has contributed to the excellent preservation of organic materials, allows us to glimpse the wealth of written material on papyrus, parchment and paper. On the site are preserved thousands of documents in Meroitic, Latin, Greek, Coptic, Old Nubian, Arabic, and Turkish." [2] After 700 CE an "extraordinary development" of culture and art in Nubia. [3]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 9) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 241) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[3]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
After 700 CE an "extraordinary development" of culture and art in Nubia. [1] At the least imported Greek texts.
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[1] "Our perception of the prevalence of written material in Nubia is dramatically altered by the evidence from Qasr Ibrim. The ultra-dry conditions and the absence of termites on that site, which has contributed to the excellent preservation of organic materials, allows us to glimpse the wealth of written material on papyrus, parchment and paper. On the site are preserved thousands of documents in Meroitic, Latin, Greek, Coptic, Old Nubian, Arabic, and Turkish." [1] After 700 CE an "extraordinary development" of culture and art in Nubia. [2]
[1]: (Welsby 2002, 241) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
[2]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
Makurian traders "sold ivory to Byzantium and copper and gold to Ethiopia." [1] "In Upper Nubia throughout the medieval period, as in most other periods of its history, there was no currency and, therefore, all trade was achieved by barter." [2]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Welsby 2002, 203) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
"In Upper Nubia throughout the medieval period, as in most other periods of its history, there was no currency and, therefore, all trade was achieved by barter. Ibn Selim notes that neither the dinar nor the dirham are of any use and that all transactions are carried out by the exchange of slaves, cattle, camels, iron tools and grains." [Welsby 2002, p. 203]
"In Lower Nubia however, Islamic coinage did circulate." [Welsby 2002, p. 203] Not this period.
Trade continued between Nubia and Egypt despite Arab raids. [1] Makurian traders "sold ivory to Byzantium and copper and gold to Ethiopia." [2] "In Upper Nubia throughout the medieval period, as in most other periods of its history, there was no currency and, therefore, all trade was achieved by barter. Ibn Selim notes that neither the dinar nor the dirham are of any use and that all transactions are carried out by the exchange of slaves, cattle, camels, iron tools and grains." [3]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 187) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[2]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
[3]: (Welsby 2002, 203) Derek A Welsby. 2002. The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims along the Middle Nile. The British Museum Press. London.
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. Coin weights found at Qasr Ibrim. [Welsby 2002, p. 203]
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1] Faras Cathedral had archways through its northern Nave.
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.
Likely of Byzantine Greek or traditional origin. After 700 CE an "extraordinary development of culture, art and monumental architecture in Nubia". [1]
[1]: (Michalowski 1990, 189) K Michalowski. The Spreading of Christianity in Nubia. MuḼammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1990. UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol. II. Abridged Edition. James Currey. UNESCO. California.