BANU AL-KANZ (colloquially, Bani Kanz) Originally a warrior tribe of mixed Arab and BEJA ancestry. They established de facto control over the Aswan area in Fatimid times, and one of their rulers was rewarded with the title Kanz al-Dawlah (treasure of the state) for his service to the Fatimid caliph. From then on the title …
ALWA , or Alodia The most southerly of the Christian kingdoms of medieval Nubia. Its territorial extent is unknown but was apparently considerable. According to IBN SALIM AL-ASWANI, it was larger than the neighboring kingdom of MAKOURIA. The frontier between Makouria and ‘Alwa was at AL-ABWAB (the gates), which was evidently somewhere between the Fourth …
MONOPHYSITISM The doctrine that the incarnate Christ is one Person and has one divine nature as opposed to the orthodox doctrine that he is one Person and has two natures, one human and one divine. The rift between the Monophysites, including the Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian, and Armenian churches, and the Orthodox Church has divided Eastern …
GREEK LANGUAGE IN CHRISTIAN NUBIA Of the territory in which the three Christian Nubian kingdoms emerged in the sixth century, only the Dodekaschoenus had a tradition of the use of the Greek language, the most eloquent remains being the proskynemata left by soldiers of the Roman imperial army garrisoned in this frontier zone (e.g., Preisigke, …
QASR IBRIM A fortified hilltop settlement in Lower Nubia, about 25 miles (40 km) to the north of the famous temples of Abu Simbel. A temple seems to have been built there in the Egyptian New Kingdom, and the place was intermittently occupied from that time until its final abandonment in 1811. The name appears …
FARAS The name given in modern times to a small village on the west bank of the Nile, on the frontier between Egypt and the Republic of the Sudan. In earlier history it was one of the most important religious and administrative centers in Lower Nubia. It is named both in Meroitic and in medieval …
MENARTI The name given in modern times to a small island situated at the foot of the Second Cataract of the Nile, a few miles south of the town of Wadi Halfa. The name in Nubian means “island of Mei,” but some scholars believe this may be a corruption of Mikhailnarti (island of Michael). Near …
NUBIAN CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE According to the testimony of JOHN OF EPHESUS (507-586), Nubia was evangelized in the second quarter of the sixth century by Julian and Theodorus, bishop of Philae. Christianization quickly made great progress. From the end of the sixth century, the country may accordingly be considered as essentially Christian. A monumental Christian architecture …
EPARCH OF NOBATIA The Nubian kingdom of NOBATIA was subjugated by the larger kingdom of MAKOURIA in the seventh century. Nobatia thereafter lost its independence but not its name or separate identity. It was governed throughout the Middle Ages by a kind of viceroy, the eparch of Nobatia, who was appointed by the king of …
EVANGELIZATION OF NUBIA Nubia was not a part of the Roman empire, and thus did not follow Egypt into the Christian fold in the fourth century. The worship of the ancient Egyptian deities, and particularly of Isis, lived on for another two centuries, and Nubian votaries were permitted by the Roman authorities to worship in …