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Ancient Nubia:
Introduction
and
Overview
Why Nubia?
What comes to mind if Ancient Africa is mentioned?
Early Man?
Endless Desert?
The Pyramids?
King Tut?
Usually only Egypt, although there were
several other major civilizations in
Ancient Africa, both indigenous and
colonial (such as Carthage, a colony of the
Phoenicians).
Relief from the temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, surprisingly in Nubia!
Two of these (the civilizations of Kerma and Napata/Meroe)
were located in Nubia in the modern nation of Sudan
(although the region known as Nubia extends into the
southern portion of modern Egypt).
Areas of Interest
The study of Ancient Nubia is on the fringes of a
variety of subject areas covered by various academic
departments such as History,
Anthropology/Archaeology, Egyptology, Art History,
Classical/Near Eastern Studies and African Studies
(which is part of the reason it doesn’t often get covered
adequately). It also doesn’t help that the native
language used by these people for writing has not in
large part been deciphered, except of for things like
names.
There has been no “Rosetta Stone” found.
Origins
The beginnings of civilization in Nubia parallel the
origins of the Early Dynastic (c. 3100 to 2700 BC)and
Old Kingdom in Egypt (c. 2700-2200 BC. As Egypt is so
closely tied to developments in Nubia for most of the
period dealt with in this course there will be significant
coverage of Egypt as well.
The Culture
The culture that developed in Nubia was
heavily influenced by Egyptian political,
religious and trade activities for much of
it’s history, most notably in the later
Napatan/Meroitic kingdom, but Egyptian
influence is seen even in the period of the
kingdom of Kerma and earlier with
Egyptian materials being found in burials
and settlement sites.
Religious Influence
As will be seen later in the course, the Kerma
civilization practiced elaborate mound burials
for its important leaders, which were mostly
unlike the burials of Egyptian kings and their
religious practices are mostly unknown, but the
Napatan/Meroitic kingdom adopted much of the
Egyptian religion and culture, even to the point
of adopting the principle Egyptian gods (Amun,
Isis, Horus, Osiris) as their own and adopting
the Old Kingdom style of royal burial using
pyramids (which had long gone out of fashion in
Egypt itself).
Major Gods of Napata/Meroe
Amun
Isis
Horus
Osiris
Apedemak
Maps for Map Portion of Exam
Note that on this map there is a new country (South Sudan) which is not shown.
More Maps
Course Overview
The majority of this course will focus on
the kingdoms of Kerma and Napata/Meroe
and the succeeding period of Aksumite
domination and Christian Nubia. The
Islamic conquest will mark the end of the
course, as it is a distinct cultural,
religious and linguistic break from the
previous periods and is also more clearly
in the Medieval period.
Images from Kerma
Images from Napata/Meroe
Famous Sites of Lower Nubia
Good Luck
Enjoy!