NUBIA

Nubia is the section of the Nile Valley from the first cataract to the Sennar parallel. The conversion of Nubia to Christianity occurred in the 6th century, when there were close relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Christian state of Axum to the south. The region of Nubia was controlled by three kingdoms: Nobatia, in lower Nubia; Makuria, or Mukurra, in the Dongola region; and Alwa, or Alodia, with its capital near the present city of Khartoum. The inhabitants spoke Nubian, and seem to have pushed into the Nile Valley from Kordofan and Darfur a few centuries earlier. They were pagans and worshipped the gods of ancient Egypt and Meroe.

Conversion to Christianity. Christianity was brought to Nubia prior to the official conversion of the people by Monophysite refugees from Syria who had settled near Philae after the Council of chalcedon (451), and by a few Axumite followers of julian of halicarnassus, who are reported to have been living in Alwa. Most historians agree that the first missions to Nubia, and especially to Nobatia, were directed from Constantinople rather than from Egypt or Ethiopia. According to John, bishop of Ephesus, Nobatia was formally converted to Monophysite Christianity c. 543 by a mission led by Theodore, bishop of Philae, and Julian, a priest sent from Constantinople by Empress Theodora (1). Although John was a contemporary of these events, he was a Monophysite and is considered biased by some scholars; they prefer the account of Eutychius, Patriarch of Alexandria (933 to 940), who claims that Nobatia was orthodox prior to the 8th century.

According to john of biclaro, Makuria was converted to orthodox Christianity in 569, and the same year Longinus, a Monophysite, was invited by the king of Alwa to convert his kingdom. This happened soon after the pagan temples at Philae were closed by justinian i at the expiration of a 100-year treaty that left them open for the pagan peoples to the south. The Nubian kings seem to have accepted Christianity in part to promote good relations with Byzantium and Axum, and in part out of admiration for Byzantine culture. Pagan customs seem to have lasted until the 7th century, although Byzantine influence in art, literature, politics, and religion remained strong during the Christian period. Officials bore titles used at the imperial court and Christian names of Byzantine origin were common. Among the educated, Greek appears to have been spoken as late as the 12th century.

Muslim Invasions. In 640 Nobatia repelled a Muslim invasion led by Abdullah ibn Saad, governor of Egypt, but in 651 an Arab force reached the capital of Makuria. Because of the spirited resistance of the Nubians, the Arabs did not hold the country, but concluded a peace treaty that had important provisions concerning trade. By 710 the kingdoms of Nobatia and Makuria had been united to form a single kingdom with its capital at Old Dongola. The influence of Dongola reached as far west as Darfur, where the ruins of a Christian church appear to exist at Ain Farah.

In the 8th century, the Nubian Church was wholly Monophysite. At that time the Arabs, who preferred Coptic Christianity to the orthodox discipline of Constantinople, interfered with the appointment of new orthodox bishops. However, funerary inscriptions occurring as late as the 12th century are written in Greek and bear prayers from the Byzantine Euchologia. Between 850 and 1100 both Alwa and Dongola apparently prospered. Each country was divided into a number of bishoprics; those south of Aswan had cathedrals at Dakka, Qasr Ibrim, and Faras. Excavations in the cathedral at Faras have brought to light a list of 27 bishops who held office there, as well as a vast number of wall paintings showing kings, bishops, and religious scenes that are in an unparalleled state of preservation. Churches were common throughout the region and many are still standing.

Islamization. For a time the Nubians controlled much of upper Egypt. The presence of Christian refugees and Egyptian priests probably accounts for the prevalence of Coptic as a written language. Religious books were written also in Old Nubian. During this period, Nubians appear to have been free to settle in upper Egypt, while Muslims were free to purchase land in Nubia. By the 10th century Islam was widespread in the northern part of lower Nubia. In the 12th century Egyptian invasions and Bedouin attacks brought an end to Christian culture in most of lower Nubia, and led to the concentration of the population in fortified communities farther south. The architecture of some of the forts is said to reflect crusader influence. Christian power in Dongola was weakened by disputes over the succession to the throne, and in 1315 Kerenbes, the last Christian king, was deposed and removed to Cairo. During the rest of the century, the Beni Kanz, Hawara, and other Arab tribes rapidly introduced Islam to the Dongola region. The kingdom of Alwa was overrun by Muslims c. 1500 and the Nubian language gave way to Arabic.

Recent discoveries show that the Christian religion persisted for a time in many communities in lower Nubia, as it still does in upper Egypt. A scroll found in a bishop's tomb at Qasr Ibrim records his appointment to that office in 1372. In Ethiopia, Francisco Alvares heard reports that suggested the survival of Christianity in the Dongola region c. 1525; and a colony of Nubian Christians is said to have been living near Esna, in upper Egypt, in the 1630s. In the last century, the Nubians living at Tafa, near Aswan, took pride in their descent from the Christians of medieval Nubia.

Bibliography: u. monneret de villard, Storia della Nubia cristiana (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, (Rome 1935–). l. p. kirwan, The Oxford University Excavations at Firka (Oxford 1939) 49–51. g. s. mileham, Churches in Lower Nubia (Philadelphia 1910). The UNESCO Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia has produced new information about Christian Nubia that appears in Kush (Kharloum 1953–), The Journal of the Sudan Antiquities Service, and in the The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (London 1914–).

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