Makuria

Coming into being after the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush in the 4th century, it originally covered the Nile Valley from the 3rd cataract to somewhere south of Abu Hamed at Mograt Island.

Increased aggression from Mamluk Egypt, internal discord, Bedouin incursions and possibly the plague and the shift of trade routes led to the state's decline in the 13th and 14th century.

[3] One exception is Ibn Selim el-Aswani, an Egyptian diplomat who traveled to Dongola when Makuria was at the height of its power in the 10th century and left a detailed account.

[12] There was a significant population growth[13] accompanied by social transformations,[14] resulting in the absorption of the Kushites into the Nubians,[15] a people originally from Kordofan[16] that had settled in the Nile Valley in the 4th century AD.

[18] In the late 5th century one of the first Makurian kings[19] moved the power base of the still-developing kingdom from Napata to further downstream, where the fortress of Dongola, the new seat of the royal court, was founded[20] and which soon developed a vast urban district.

The imperial court, however, was divided in two sects, believing in two different natures of Jesus Christ: Justinian belonged to the Chalcedonians, the official denomination of the empire, while his wife Theodora was a Miaphysite, who were the strongest in Egypt.

[42] With both sides being unable to decide the battle in their favour, abi Sarh and the Makurian king Qalidurut eventually met and drew up a treaty known as Baqt.

Under king Merkurios, who lived in the late 7th and early 8th century and whom the Coptic biograph John the Deacon approvingly refers to as “the new Constantine”, the state seems to have been reorganized and Miaphysite Christianity to have become the official creed.

[66] A few months after Georgios arrived in Baghdad he, described as educated and well-mannered, managed to convince the caliph of remitting the Nubian debts and reducing the Baqt payments to a three-year rhythm.

[85] Georgios accepted the first request of the emissary, the resumption of the Baqt, but declined the second one, the conversion to Islam, after a lengthy discussion with his bishops and learned men, and instead invited the Fatimid governor of Egypt to embrace Christianity.

[85] The kingdom of Makuria was, at least temporarily, exercising influence over the Nubian-speaking populations of Kordofan, the region between the Nile Valley and Darfur, as is suggested by an account of the 10th century traveller Ibn Hawqal as well as oral traditions.

[94][95] An exceptional case[96] was the mediation of Georgios III between Patriarch Philotheos and some Ethiopian monarch,[97] perhaps the late Aksumite emperor Anbessa Wudem or his successor Dil Ne'ad.

[103] In the same period Makuria also began to adopt a new royal dress[104] and regalia and perhaps also Nubian terminology in administration and titles, all suggested to have initially come from Alodia in the south.

[112] Probably ruling over both Makuria and Alodia,[92] Moses Georgios was a man confident in his ability to resist the Egyptians, stamping with hot iron a cross on the emissary's hand.

[118] In 1265 a Mamluk army allegedly raided Makuria as far south as Dongola[119] while also expanding southwards along the African Red Sea coast, thus threatening the Nubians.

[123] Three years later the Makurians attacked and destroyed Aswan,[121] but this time Mamluk Sultan Baybars responded with a well-equipped army setting off from Cairo in early 1276,[122] accompanied by a cousin of king David named Mashkouda[124] or Shekanda.

[141] A text was found in Qasr Ibrim apparently mixing Nubian with Italian[142] as well as a Catalan playing card[143] and in Banganarti there has been noted an inscription written in Provencal dating to the second half of the 13th century/14th century.

Both the traveller Ibn Battuta and the Egyptian historian Shihab al-Umari claim that the contemporary Makurian kings were Muslims belonging to the Banu Khanz, while the general population remained Christian.

[151] The attestations of Siti's reign, all Nubian in nature, show that he still exercised control/influence over a vast territory from Lower Nubia to Kordofan,[152] suggesting that his kingdom entered the second half of the 14th century centralized, powerful and Christian.

The brother of the deceased king and his retinue fled to a town called Daw in the Arabic sources, most likely identical with Gebel Adda in Lower Nubia.

[155] The usurper then killed the nobility of the Banu Ja'd, probably because he could not trust them anymore, and destroyed and pillaged Dongola, then traveled to Gebel Adda to ask his uncle for forgiveness.

[166] It is possible that some petty kingdoms that continued the Christian Nubian culture developed in the former Makurian territory, for example on Mograt island, north of Abu Hamed.

[171] They are now divided into several sub-tribes, which are, from Al Dabbah to the conjunction of the Blue and White Nile: Shaiqiya, Rubatab, Manasir, Mirafab and the "Ja'alin proper".

Similar, but less well preserved, paintings have been found at several other sites in Makuria, including palaces and private homes, giving an impression of Makurian art.

[205] Some houses in Cerra Matto (Serra East) featured privies with ceramic toilets, which were connected to a small chamber with a stone-lined clean out window to the outside and a brick ventilation flue.

Millennia-old traditions such as the building of elaborate tombs, and the burying of expensive grave goods with the dead were abandoned, and temples throughout the region seem to have been converted to churches.

[236] While the Jizya, the Islamic head tax enforced on non-Muslims, was established after the Mamluk invasion of 1276[237] and Makuria was periodically governed by Muslim kings since Abdallah Barshambu, the majority of the Nubians remained Christian.

One important technological advance was the saqiya, an oxen-powered water wheel, that was introduced in the Roman period and helped increase yields and population density.

A great assemblage of 13th century cattle bones from Old Dongola has been linked with a mass slaughter by the invading Mamluks, who attempted to weaken the Makurian economy.

For instance, in the 10th century, Georgios II successfully intervened on behalf of the unnamed ruler at that time, and persuaded Patriarch Philotheos of Alexandria to at last ordain an abuna, or metropolitan, for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

A model of the Faras Cathedral at the state of its excavation in the early 1960s. The discovery of the church and its magnificent paintings revolutionized the knowledge of Christian Nubia.
19th century ground plan of the tumulus field of Tanqasi (late 3rd—first half of the 6th century). [ 7 ] Since then, many new tumuli have been noted there, [ 8 ] although most of them still await excavation. [ 7 ]
Burial within a tumulus of the tumulus field of Kassinger Bahri (second half of the 4th century–early 6th century) [ 9 ]
Ground plan of the "Old Church" in Dongola, founded in the mid-6th century
A Nubian archer on a Portuguese manuscript from the 16th century
Reconstruction of the 9th century "Cruciform Church" of Dongola. It was the largest church in the kingdom, measuring c. 28 x 37,3 x 34,8m. [ 60 ] It served as a source of inspiration not only for many Nubian, but even Ethiopian churches like the famous rock–hewn churches of Lalibela . [ 61 ]
Mural from Sonqi Tino showing King Georgios II (r. late 10th century)
13th-century depiction of a dignitary in the northern Ethiopian church of Qorqor Maryam . Nubian influence is not only suggested by the horned headgear the dignitary is wearing, resembling that of Nobadian eparchs, [ 87 ] but also by the style of the painting itself, executed in a Nubian style common during the 10th-12th centuries. [ 88 ]
The 11th-century Banganarti church, initiated by Archbishop Georgios
Mural from Faras depicting King Moses Georgios (r. 1155–1190), who probably ruled over both Makuria and Alodia and who confronted Saladin during the early 1170s.
Reconstruction of the domed church of Adindan
Possible depiction of king David from Dongola
Growing aware of Christian Nubia, the Europeans included it in their cartography between the 12th and 15th centuries. [ 129 ] The peak of this awareness marked the Ebstorf map of c. 1300. [ 130 ] The legend concerning Nubia reads: “The people who live here are called the Nubians. This people always go naked. [ e ] They are honest and devout Christians. They are rich in gold and live on trade. They have three kings and the same number of bishops. [ f ] They pay frequent visits to Jerusalem in vast crowds, carrying with them a lot of wealth which is offered to the Sepulchre of the Lord .” [ 132 ]
The Throne Hall of Dongola , which was converted into a mosque in 1317
Arabic stela commemorating the conversion of the throne hall
View of Gebel Adda in 1910
Minimum extension of the late Makurian kingdom
Nubians of the early 19th century
A page from an Old Nubian translation of Liber Institutionis Michaelis Archangelis from the 9th–10th century, found at Qasr Ibrim , now housed in the British Museum . The name of Michael appears in red.
Pottery fragment from Faras, c. 900.
Makurian princess protected by Virgin Mary and Christ Child, Faras (12th century)
An Eparch of Nobatia
The remains of the Ghazali monastery on a mid-19th century painting by Karl Richard Lepsius
A painting from the Faras Cathedral depicting the birth of Jesus
Wood painting from Wadi Halfa depicting some Christian saint
The Adam chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem , which during the Crusades was owned by Nubian monks.
Muslim tombstone from Meinarti (11th century)
A Makurian dancing mask as depicted on a mural from Dongola.
A Nubian saqiya wheel in the 19th century
Financial transaction scene from Dongola (12th century)