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!