B R I T I S H M U S E U M P U B L I C A T I O N S O N E G Y P T A N D S U D A N 1
THE FOURTH CATARACT AND BEYOND
Proceedings of the 12th
International Conference for Nubian Studies
edited by
Julie R. ANDERSON and Derek A. WELSBY
PEETERS
LEUVEN – PARIS – WALPOLE, MA
2014
CONTENTS
CO TE TS .............................................................................................................................................. V
CO TRIBUTORS ...................................................................................................................................... XV
PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................ XXIII
ACK OWLEDGEME TS ............................................................................................................................ XXV
ABBREVIATIO S...................................................................................................................................... XXVII
I TRODUCTIO
YUSUF FADL HASAN and Derek A. WELSBY
Opening Session .................................................................................................................................... 1
SALAH MOHAMED AHMED
An Introduction to the Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project (MDASP)....................................... 5
THE FOURTH CATARACT A D BEYO D - MAI PAPERS
PREHISTORY
Piotr OSYPIŃSKI
Prehistory of the Fourth Cataract............................................................................................................. 9
Matthieu HONEGGER
Recent Advances in Our Understanding of Prehistory in Northern Sudan ................................................. 19
Donatella USAI
Recent Advances in Understanding the Prehistory of Central Sudan......................................................... 31
Maria Carmela GATTO
Recent Advances in the Understanding of Nubian Prehistory in Lower Nubia, Upper Egypt and the Deserts 45
THE KERMA PERIOD
Henryk PANER
Kerma Culture in the Fourth Cataract of the Nile..................................................................................... 53
Charles BONNET
Forty Years Research on Kerma Cultures ................................................................................................ 81
VI CONTENTS
Brigitte GRATIEN
Kerma North of the Third Cataract.......................................................................................................... 95
Dominique VALBELLE
International Relations between Kerma and Egypt ................................................................................... 103
THE KUSHITE PERIOD
SALAH MOHAMED AHMED
Kushites at the Fourth Cataract ............................................................................................................... 111
Vincent RONDOT
The Island of Meroe ............................................................................................................................... 119
Angelika LOHWASSER
Kush and her Neighbours beyond the Nile Valley.................................................................................... 125
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
Bogdan ŻURAWSKI
The Fourth Cataract in the Medieval Period ............................................................................................ 135
Włodzimierz GODLEWSKI
The Kingdom of Makuria........................................................................................................................ 155
David N. EDWARDS
Medieval Nobadia................................................................................................................................... 171
Derek A. WELSBY
The Kingdom of Alwa ............................................................................................................................ 183
THE ISLAMIC PERIOD
ABDELRAHMAN ALI MOHAMMED
The Islamic Period in the Fourth Cataract................................................................................................ 201
INTISAR SOGHAYROUN ELZEIN
Islamic Archaeology in Northern Sudan .................................................................................................. 209
Michael MALLINSON
The Red Sea Littoral since the Arrival of Islam ....................................................................................... 217
YUSUF FADL HASAN
The Islamic Sudan and the Outside World, c. 1317-1821 ......................................................................... 227
CONTENTS VII
REPORTS A D RESEARCH PAPERS
PREHISTORY
Elena A. A. GARCEA
The Evolution from Large Social Units with Loose Networks into Small Social Units with Tight Networks
from the Khartoum Variant to the Abkan and the Pre-Kerma at Sai Island ............................................. 235
Sandro SALVATORI, Donatella USAI, MOHAMED FAROUG ABDELRAHMAN, Antonietta DI MATTEO,
Paola IACUMIN, Veerle LINSEELE and MONGEDA KHALEB MAGZOUB
Archaeology at el-Khiday: New Insight on the Prehistory and History of Central Sudan ........................... 243
Andrea ZERBONI
The Geoarchaeological Contribution to the el-Salha Project: From Site to Landscape at el-Khiday
(Central Sudan)..................................................................................................................................... 259
Tina JAKOB
A Bioarchaeological Appraisal of the Human Skeletal Remains from el-Khiday 2, Central Sudan............. 271
ABDELRAHIM M. KHABIR
Typological and Technological Examinations of Neolithic Pottery from Khartoum Province, Sudan ......... 279
AZHARI MUSTAFA SADIG
Child Burials: A Funerary Practice in the Middle Nile Region. Evidence from the Late Neolithic Site
of es-Sour  ............................................................................................................................................ 285
Przemek BOBROWSKI, Agnieszka CZEKAJ-ZASTAWNY and Romuald SCHILD
Gebel el-Muqaddas (site E-06-4). The Early Neolithic Tumuli from Nabta Playa (Western Desert, Egypt) 293
HEBA-TALLAH A. A. IBRAHIM
Megalithic Architecture and the Nubian Desert........................................................................................ 303
KERMA A D CO TEMPORARY CULTURES
George HERBST and Stuart Tyson SMITH
Pre-Kerma Transition at the Nile Fourth Cataract: First Assessments of a Multi-component, Stratified
Prehistoric Settlement in the UCSB/ASU Salvage Concession ............................................................... 311
Magdalena WŁODARSKA
Kerma Burials in the Fourth Cataract Region – Three Seasons of Excavations at Shemkhiya.................... 321
Geoff EMBERLING, Bruce B. WILLIAMS, Megan INGVOLDSTAD and Thomas R. JAMES
Peripheral Vision: Identity at the Margins of the Early Kingdom of Kush ................................................ 329
Enrico DIRMINTI
Between Kerma and Avaris: The First Kingdom of Kush and Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period 337
Pernille BANGSGAARD
Nubian Faunal Practices – Exploring the C-Group “Pastoral Ideal” at Nine Cemeteries ............................ 347
VIII CONTENTS
Petra WESCHENFELDER
Linking the Eastern Desert and the Nile Valley: Pan-Grave People from the Late Middle Kingdom to
the Early New Kingdom ....................................................................................................................... 357
PHARAO IC
Florence DOYEN
Sai Island New Kingdom Town (Northern Sudan): 3rd
and 4th
Seasons (2009-2010) ................................. 367
Giulia D’ERCOLE, Giacomo ERAMO and Italo M. MUNTONI
Archaeometric Approaches to Ceramic Manufacture and Traditions at Sai Island, Northern Sudan ........... 377
Lauriane MIELLÉ
Nubian Traditions on the Ceramics Found in the Pharaonic Town on Sai Island....................................... 387
Giacomo CAVILLIER
Soleb 2010 Project: Amenhotep III’s Fortified Complex Research ........................................................... 393
W. Vivian DAVIES
A Statue of Amenhotep III Rediscovered................................................................................................. 399
Kate SPENCE and Pamela ROSE
Fieldwork at Sesebi 2010 ........................................................................................................................ 409
Philippe RUFFIEUX
Early 18th
Dynasty Pottery Found in Kerma (Dokki Gel).......................................................................... 417
Stuart Tyson SMITH and Michele R. BUZON
Colonial Entanglements: “Egyptianization” in Egypt’s Nubian Empire and the Nubian Dynasty................ 431
Doris PEMLER
Looking for Nubians in Egypt. Taking a Look at the Iconographic Evidence from the 1st
Intermediate Period
and Middle Kingdom ............................................................................................................................ 443
Natalie A. POMERANTSEVA
Images of the Foreigners in Egyptian Art ................................................................................................ 451
Neal SPENCER
Amara West: Considerations on Urban Life in Colonial Kush .................................................................. 457
Michaela BINDER
Cultural Traditions and Transitions During the New Kingdom Colonial Period and Its Aftermath – Recent
Discoveries from the Cemeteries of Amara West................................................................................... 487
Danièle MICHAUX-COLOMBOT
Pitfall Concepts in the Round of ‘Nubia’: Ta-Sety, Nehesy, Medja, Maga and Punt Revisited................... 507
Alfredo CASTIGLIONI and Angelo CASTIGLIONI
À la recherche de la terre d’Amou........................................................................................................... 523
CONTENTS IX
KUSHITE
EL-SAMANI AL-NASRI MOHAMMED AHMED
The Emergence of Kush.......................................................................................................................... 531
Jean REVEZ
The Role of the Kings’ Brothers in the Transmission of Royal Power in Ancient Egypt and Kush: A CrossCultural
Study ...................................................................................................................................... 537
Friederike JESSE
On the Borders of Kushite Power – The Gala Abu Ahmed Fortress in Lower Wadi Howar, Northern Sudan 545
Michael H. ZACH
The Army and Military Dictatorship in Meroe? ....................................................................................... 557
Stanley M. BURSTEIN
The Satrap Stela and the Struggle for Lower Nubia ................................................................................. 573
Jeremy POPE
Meroitic Diplomacy and the Festival of Entry.......................................................................................... 577
Maria Iride PASQUALI
On the Traces of Nubians: Notes on the Relations between Romans and Meroites.................................... 583
IKHLAS ABDUL LATIEF
The K3 Symbol in Kushite Civilization ................................................................................................... 587
Amarillis POMPEI
Delivery of Nubian Royal Insignia: The Crowns...................................................................................... 591
Katarina ALDENHOVEN
Kushite Barque Stands ............................................................................................................................ 601
Julie R. ANDERSON and SALAH MOHAMED AHMED
Early Kushite Royal Statues at Dangeil, Sudan ........................................................................................ 613
László TÖRÖK
Quality, Style, and Nubianness. Prolegomena to a History of Meroitic Sculpture...................................... 621
MURTADA BUSHARA MOHAMMED
The Possible Royal Tomb of Eltameer Merowe ....................................................................................... 635
Julia BUDKA
Egyptian Impact on Pot-Breaking Ceremonies at el-Kurru? A Re-examination ......................................... 641
Brigitte BALANDA
Protecting the Mummy – A Reinterpretation of Shabtis in Napatan Funerary Customs ............................. 655
Timothy KENDALL
Reused Relief Blocks of Piankhy from B 900: Toward a Decipherment of the Osiris Cult at Jebel Barkal 663
X CONTENTS
Svetlana BERSINA†
Sabazios dans les pays de la vallée du Nil. Variétés régionales de l’image et du culte............................... 687
Emanuele M. CIAMPINI and Grażyna BĄKOWSKA-CZERNER
Meroitic Kingship and Water: The Case of Napata (B2200)..................................................................... 695
Tracey SWEEK, Julie R. ANDERSON, SALAH MOHAMED AHMED and Satoko TANIMOTO
Conservation of an Amun Temple in the Sudan ....................................................................................... 703
Karla KROEPER
Excavation of “Offering Chapel 360” in Naga ......................................................................................... 711
Pawel WOLF, Ulrike NOWOTNICK and Catharine HOF
The Meroitic Urban Town of Hamadab in 2010....................................................................................... 719
Eugenio FANTUSATI, Eleonora KORMYSHEVA and Svetlana MALYKH
Survey in Abu Erteila: Preliminary Results.............................................................................................. 739
Richard A. LOBBAN
Preliminary Findings at Abu Erteila: A Meroitic and Early Christian Site in Sudan .................................. 759
Michel BAUD†
Downtown Muweis – A Progress Report (2007-2011).............................................................................. 763
Marc MAILLOT
The Palace of Muweis in the Shendi Reach: A Comparative Approach .................................................... 783
Vincent FRANCIGNY
An Elite Meroitic Cemetery at Sai Island ................................................................................................ 797
MAHMOUD SULIMAN BASHIR
The Archaeological Material from the Meroitic Cemetery at Berber  ........................................................ 805
Tsubasa SAKAMOTO
Chronology of Meroitic Graves in Northern Sudan: Agency, Power and Society ...................................... 809
Serge FENEUILLE, Jean-Pierre LETOURNEUX and Marie BOUCHAR
Archaeological Information Extracted from a Comparative Study of Samples of Mortar Collected on
Various Ancient Monuments in the Nile Valley between the Third and the Sixth Cataracts.................... 827
MEDIEVAL
Marek CHŁODNICKI
The “Royal” Tumulus at Hagar el-Beida.................................................................................................. 833
Brenda J. BAKER
Tracking Transitions in the Fourth Cataract Region of el-Ginefab: Results of the Arizona State University
Fieldwork, 2007-2009........................................................................................................................... 841
CONTENTS XI
Eugen STROUHAL
Anthropology of Wadi Qitna and Kalabsha South.................................................................................... 857
Artur OBŁUSKI
Rank-Size Rule in Nubian Settlement Systems ........................................................................................ 867
William Y. ADAMS
The Eparch at Meinarti............................................................................................................................ 875
Bogdan ŻURAWSKI
Meroitic to Medieval Occupation Upriver from Dongola. Excavations at Banganarti and Selib in 2010..... 887
Mariusz DRZEWIECKI
Banganarti – Fortifications ...................................................................................................................... 901
Marta OSYPIŃSKA
Animals in the Economy of Christian Makuria ........................................................................................ 909
Małgorzata MARTENS-CZARNECKA
Nubian Representations of Nativity Discovered in the Monastery in Old Dongola .................................... 917
Magdalena WOZNIAK
Royal Iconography: Contribution to the Study of Costume....................................................................... 929
Dobrochna ZIELIŃSKA
The Iconography of Power – The Power of Iconography: The Nubian Royal Ideology and Its Expression
in Wall Painting ................................................................................................................................... 943
Adam ŁAJTAR
A Survey of Christian Textual Finds from Gebel Adda in the Collections of the Royal Ontario Museum,
Toronto ................................................................................................................................................ 951
Giovanni RUFFINI
May God Increase Your Years: Unpublished Old Nubian Correspondence from Qasr Ibrim ..................... 961
Grzegorz OCHAŁA
Old Nubian Lists of Goods and Money: A Preliminary Presentation ........................................................ 971
Claudia NÄSER and Alexandros TSAKOS
From Bits and Pieces. A Corpus of Medieval Manuscripts from the Humboldt University (H.U.N.E.)
Concession in the Fourth Nile Cataract ................................................................................................. 977
Alexandros TSAKOS and Henriette HAFSAAS-TSAKOS
A Note on the Medieval Period of Sai Island........................................................................................... 985
Robin SEIGNOBOS
Nubia and Nubians in Medieval Latin Culture. The Evidence of Maps (12th
-14th
Century)........................ 989
XII CONTENTS
ISLAMIC TO MODER
NADA BABEKIR MOHAMMED
Fangool Archaeological Site: A Brief Note.............................................................................................. 1005
RAGEH Z. MOHAMED
Bani Ady, Darb el-Arbaiin’s Last Station between Upper Egypt and Nubia in the Islamic period.............. 1009
Alex DE VOOGT
The Introduction of Mancala to Sai Island ............................................................................................... 1017
HAIFA MOHAMMED HASSAN ELTAYEB
Sudanese Beautification Ornaments between the Past and the Present ...................................................... 1021
Armgard GOO-GRAUER
House Decoration by Nubian Women Prior to 1964 Resettlement ............................................................ 1025
Anne M. JENNINGS
The Changing Face of Tourism in West Aswan Village ........................................................................... 1027
Costanza DE SIMONE
Perceptions of Nubia in Museum Collections and Displays ...................................................................... 1031
Salomé ZURINAGA
The Preservation of the Documentary Heritage of the ‘Nubian Campaign’ kept at the Spanish National
Archaeological Museum, Madrid, Spain ................................................................................................ 1035
MULTI-PERIOD
KABBASHI HUSSEIN GISSEMA
The Merowe Dam Salvage Archaeological Project (Sudan)...................................................................... 1049
FAWZI HASSAN BAKHEIT
Rock Drawing Studies: Four Seasons In The Middle Nile Region ............................................................ 1057
Joanna THEN-OBŁUSKA
The Code of the Hidden Beads – From the Kerma to the Islamic Period According to the Fourth Cataract
Material from the Gdańsk Archaeological Museum Expedition Excavations........................................... 1069
Ross THOMAS
Changing Societies in the Fourth Cataract: Identity Displayed through Ceramic Use and Consumption
Practices............................................................................................................................................... 1091
YAHIA FADL TAHIR
Archaeology and Palaeoecology of el-Ga’ab Basin .................................................................................. 1099
ALI OSMAN MOHAMED SALIH
Archaeology and Settlement in the Third Cataract Region. Abu Fatma: A Nubian Settlement from the
Kerma Period to Modern Times ............................................................................................................ 1107
CONTENTS XIII
Margaret JUDD
Growing Up in Gabati: An Overview of Health ....................................................................................... 1115
SIDDIG BABIKER AHMED
The Archaeological and Ethnographical Reconnaissance in the Sabaloka Area (Western Bank of the Nile,
North of Omdurman District) ................................................................................................................ 1125
Tim KARBERG
Rock Art from Wadi Abu Dom. Recent Discoveries of the W.A.D.I. Project (Münster/Germany) ............. 1135
KHIDIR ADAM EISA
The Recent Archaeological Survey and Salvage Excavations on the Eastern Bank of the White Nile,
8th
 Season – 2009.................................................................................................................................. 1143
Andrea MANZO
Beyond the Fourth Cataract. Perspectives for Research in Eastern Sudan.................................................. 1149
YOUSIF ELOBEID ELSHEIKH SALIH
GIS in Archaeology ................................................................................................................................ 1159
LA GUAGE A D LI GUISTICS
Claude RILLY
Language and Ethnicity in Ancient Sudan ............................................................................................... 1169
Herman BELL
A World Heritage Alphabet: The Role of Old Nubian in the Revitalization of the Modern Nubian Languages 1189
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF POWER – THE POWER OF ICONOGRAPHY: THE
NUBIAN ROYAL IDEOLOGY AND ITS EXPRESSION IN WALL PAINTING
DOBROCHNA ZIELIŃSKA
Among the various iconographic types in Nubian
wall painting there is a group of portraits of Nubian
dignitaries that forms a part of the church decoration,
the so-called ‘official program’ as defined by
Włodzimierz Godlewski (2008). This group consists of
representations of bishops, kings and kings’ mothers.
The iconographic idea of displaying rulers and other
high officials was obviously following Byzantine pat-
terns.1
In Nubia, the oldest surviving examples of such
representations were found in the Cathedral of Faras
and were dated to the 9th
century (Godlewski 2006,
268-269). These official representations mainly portray
Nubian dignitaries under the protection of celestialheavenly
creatures or saints of the Church. Such portraiture
developed into an iconographic type that
became popular in the wall decoration of Nubian
churches.2
This paper3
discusses the iconographical characteristics
of the portraits of kings and their mothers that
show interesting – and originally Nubian – ideas in
royal iconography in the Kingdom of Makuria.
KING UNDER SUPREME PROTECTION
The oldest examples of mural representations of
Nubian kings uncovered in the Faras Cathedral were
located in the southern and western part of the interior,
in the naos and in the neighbouring baptistery.4
How-
1
The literature is very extensive, e.g. André Grabar, L’empereur
dans l’art byzantin, London 1971, and Christopher Walter, Art
and Ritual of the Byzantine Church, London 1982.
2
Several problems concerning the iconography of those representations
have been discussed in numerous articles. Among
others, one should note works by Bożena Rostkowska (1971,
1972, 1978), Tadeusz Gołgowski (1966, 1967) and Stefan Jakobielski
(2001, 2007).
3
This text presents preliminary remarks from a wider study on
Nubian royal iconography under preparation by the author.
4
The tendency to place kings’ portraits in the southern part of
the church interior, as mentioned above, and to place female
representations in the northern nave, discussed later in the text,
could be linked to the Byzantine tradition where certain parts of
the naos were designated separately for female and male members
of the congregation (Mathews 1971, 130-132; Godlewski
2006, 71).
ever, most probably at some time in the 10th
century,5
the idea of portraying kings developed further, and
crossing the limits set by Byzantine tradition, it was
introduced into the most important place in the church
interior – the apse.
A basic variant of the Nubian apse decoration is represented
in the so-called ‘two zones apse composition’
with the representation of Maiestas Domini in the upper
zone and the Virgin Mary surrounded by the Twelve
Apostles in the lower zone.6
The iconographical type of the representation of the
Virgin Mary in these compositions seems to play a
decisive role in the interpretation of such decoration.
As it is connected with the most important place in the
church, the apse decoration could reflect ideas related
to the Eucharist. However, the interpretation of the
iconographic details is complex and can symbolise the
Ascension, the Incarnation (as well as a dogmatic representation
of the double nature of Jesus Christ –
especially in those examples with the figure of Virgin
Mary with Child in the lower zone), and the Second
Coming at the day of the Last Judgement (Grabar 1968,
134-135; van Moorsel 1986a, 2; 1986b, 337, 339); consequently,
the apse decoration was the most important
of all of the paintings in the church.
The original apse decoration of the Faras Cathedral
also represented the typical composition schema with
the representation of the Virgin Mary with the Child
– most probably in the iconographical type of Hodigitria
– surrounded by the figures of the Twelve Apostles,
and apparently with the composition of the Maiestas
Domini in the upper zone (Figure 1). This
programme was totally changed when the representation
of the king was introduced in the central place of
the lower register of the apse decoration. The figure of
the king was placed slightly below that of the Virgin
Mary, and in such a manner as to make it possible to
repaint her hands, now placed on the shoulders of the
5
The dating is based on the identification of the person of the
king; see below, footnote 10.
6
For Byzantine apse decorations this type was defined (zweizonige
Apsisprogramme) and divided into different variants by
Christa Ihm (1960, 95-102).
944 DOBROCHNA ZIELIŃSKA
king in a gesture of protection (Martens-Czarnecka
1986, 330-331) (Figure 2).
This new arrangement not only changed the iconographic
elements of this composition, but the whole
idea of this apse decoration. The most important painting
– from a theological point of view – in the iconographic
programme of any church was subsequently
transformed into a symbolic representation of royal
authority.7
It was the king who had become the main
figure of the composition being surrounded by Christ,
the Virgin Mary, and the Apostles, and being under
their heavenly protection.8
However, the identification
of the king is purely hypothetical due to the lack of an
accompanying legend, but this lack is in fact not necessary
for further analysis.9
7
The exact meaning of the new composition could be only hypothetical,
but the representation of the king in the apse decoration
could signify his role in the Eucharist which was performed in
front of him. See the unpublished PhD thesis by Robin Seignobos
(2005) Le roi, le sacré et l’Église dans les royaumes chrétiens
de ubie (VIIe
-XIIIe
siècles).
8
It is worth mentioning that at the same time the figure of a
bishop had been incorporated into this composition (Godlewski
2008, 268-269). The bishop’s figure was placed on the right side
at the edge of the representation.
9
The person of the king is important for the analysis of the
causes and moment of the formation of such type of the apse
decoration, but not necessarily for understanding its meaning. In
the earlier publications the figure of the king is identified as
The final phases of the apse decoration of the Faras
Cathedral show that this new iconographic scheme
became one of the variants used subsequently in Nubian
churches continuing well into the 13th
and the 14th
cen-
turies.10
The examples from Dongola and Banganarti show
that the new representations played an important role
in the expression of royal ideology in the iconographic
programme of the churches. Both examples show a
variation in the representation of the Nubian ruler; he
is now depicted under the protection of the Archangel
and/or the Apostles.
The Dongolese example is the 12th
century decoration
found in Room 29 of the North-Western Annex of
the Monastery on Kom H. This decoration has been
identified as the programme of the apse in an unusual
church formed by Rooms 22, 23, 27, 29 and 31
(Zielińska 2010, 646). In this case the programme consists
of the so-called ‘two zones composition’ with the
depiction of Christ (in the Pantocrator type) in the upper
Georgios I, the most recent identification is Zacharias III (Mierzejewska
2000, 22-23; Jakobielski 2001, 66; Godlewski 2008,
268-269).
10
Apart from this kind of iconographical programme in the apse,
one can still observe both, the “two zones composition” and the
so-called reduced composition (Zielińska 2009, unpublished
PhD thesis).
Figure 1. First phase of the decoration of Faras Cathedral
(digital reconstruction by the author; based on
Michałowski 1974, fig. 19).
Figure 2. Second phase of the decoration of Faras
Cathedral (digital reconstruction by the author;
based on Michałowski 1974, fig. 19).
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF POWER – THE POWER OF ICONOGRAPHY 945
zone, and a Nubian ruler under the protection of the
Archangel surrounded by the Apostles (Martens-Czarnecka
2001, 262-264) in the lower (Plate 1). The exact
character of this painting, however, remains unclear.
Nevertheless, it is highly probable that since the neighbouring
complex in the same Annex was adapted to
accommodate tombs located beneath the pavement and
to be used for the performance of the commemoration
of the dead, perhaps a similar function was also intended
in the case of this space (Jakobielski 2008, 291−295).
The same idea was probably expressed in the Upper
Church, or Raphaelion, at Banganarti. The unique
architectural features of this building provided the interior
space with seven apses repeating the same iconographic
pattern where the ruler always appears under
the protection of the Archangel Raphael (hence,
together with numerous graffiti mentioning this Archangel,
the name suggested for the Banganarti church;
Łajtar 2004, 255; Łaptaś 2004, 244). In Chapels 2 and
3 the Apostles are also protecting/venerating the king
by resting their hands on his shoulders or supporting
his elbows (Plate 2).
As mentioned above, it is difficult to define the exact
character of this special iconographic programme in
either Dongola or Banganarti. However, an important
observation is that most of the royal figures at Banganarti
were at some point in time repainted and replaced
by the portraits of the next rulers. This was carefully
done without touching other areas of the composition
(Calaforra-Rzepka 2005; Łaptaś 2004, 24; 2008, 106).
This could suggest that these wall paintings were executed
after the death of the king to serve a purpose of a
very special veneration, and were ‘updated’ when the
time had passed and the place for the new one was
required. On the basis of the stylistic features, as well as
the archaeological data and the accompanying inscriptions,
this practice seems to have continued from the 11th
until the 13th
century or even later (Łaptaś 2004, 252).
Plate 1. Apse composition in the room no. 29 of the
North-Western Annex of the Monastery on Kom H in Old
Dongola (digital reconstruction by the author; based on
Jakobielski and Scholz (eds) 2001, pl. XXVI).
Plate 2. Fragments of apse decoration from Chapels 2 and
3 in the Upper Church (or Raphaelion) at Banganarti. The
gestures of the Apostles are indicated by the arrows
(photo B. Żurawski, courtesy of the Polish Centre
of Mediterranean Archaeology).
946 DOBROCHNA ZIELIŃSKA
The idea of portraying kings in the church interiors
was not alien to Byzantine customs. However, in Byzantine
iconography representations of the ruler in the
area of the sanctuary are extremely rare. The most
famous example of this pattern is the 6th
century representation
of Justinian from the San Vitale Church in
Ravenna. Here, the emperor was portrayed according
to the tradition as a perfect believer and a donor (Grabar
1971, 98-111). The Nubian type of the official
royal portrait in the apse composition, though, reveals
a different idea. This official royal portrait decorated
the apse in order to imply by the depiction of the king
under the protection of the heavenly hosts that his
office was given and protected by God.11
Bogdan Żurawski suggested that this type of apse
decoration could express the 12th
century Byzantine
idea of Christou mimesis (Żurawski 2003, 245; 2006,
181). However, as demonstrated by the example from
Faras, the figure of the king is neither placed among
the Apostles, nor is it replacing the figures of Christ
and the Virgin Mary. The royal figure is rather added
in such a manner as to make it clear that the king is
there to receive their protection. Furthermore, the
examples at Banganarti show that the king is represented
under the protection of the Apostles, but not
among them. Nevertheless, the idea of Christou mimesis
was expressed in a different way, as discussed
below.
HOLY AND ROYAL MOTHERS
The most complex section of the iconographic programme
in Nubian churches was that of the naos. It
comprises paintings of various subjects, among them
the most numerous group are the representations of
saints.
The various representations of male saints identified
on the walls of Nubian churches can be divided into
specific groups representing Prophets (e.g. King David,
John the Baptist), Apostles (e.g. Peter, Paul, Mark?),
Anachorites (e.g. Onophrios, Melas, Amone), ecclesiastic
saints (e.g. Stephen, John Chrysostom, Psate,
Kaau, Pakhomios, Kyprianos, Ignatios the archbishop
of Antiochia), saint warriors (e.g. Georgios, Theodore
Stratelates, Merkourios, Epimachos, Phoibammon, Sol-
11
Cf. Seignobos 2005, passim.
omon/Sisinios?), and saint healers (e.g. Kosmas and
Damianos).12
A surprising contrast, however, can be found in the
much more restricted selection of female saints, where
only depictions of Saint Anna and the Virgin Mary can
be identified.13
Moreover, the representations of these
two saintly figures are quite numerous,14
highlighting
in an even more meaningful way the absence of other
female saints from the iconographic programme.
These are not, however, the sole female representations
in Nubian painting. In the northern nave of the
Faras Cathedral, in both chronological phases, a group
of paintings has been identified as representations of
the mothers of the kings.15
Their identification is based
on the legend accompanying one of these representations,
which describes a woman portrayed as a ‘Martha,
Mother of the King’ and the similarities of the iconographic
features of this painting with other female portraits
(Michałowski 1967, 154-157; Jakobielski 2001,
66-70, 78-79; Rostkowska 1972; Godlewski 2008).
The title and position of the Mother of the King in
Nubia are well attested (Donadoni 1969). It was clearly
of a Nubian origin and seemed to have belonged to a
long tradition, as could be judged on the basis of Napatan
documents showing the matrilineal tradition of
royal succession (Kahn 2005, 145-147). In the Kingdom
of Makuria, the King’s Mother seemed to have
played a similarly important role, as confirmed by 22
documents that listed her office directly after the king’s,
12
This database has been constructed on a basis of the materials
collected for my PhD thesis, and updated with Alexandros Tsakos
as part of the project Corpus of the ubian Wall Paintings.
Progress of the work was presented at the 12th
International Conference
for Nubian Studies and recently at the 22nd
International
Congress of Byzantine Studies in Sofia in 2011.
13
There are two paintings previously identified as representations
of female saints. One of the paintings from the Faras Cathedral
was initially identified as saint Damiana (Michałowski 1967,
125-126), but due to the lack of a legend and other iconographical
arguments it has been recently identified as a representation
of King’s Mother (Godlewski 2008, 278-280, fig. 13). The other
representation has been uncovered in the prothesis room in the
Church of Archangel Raphael in Tamit. Initially described as a
saint, it has been recently identified as the Virgin Mary based
on the details of its iconography (Baldasare 1967, 45).
14
This is especially evident when it comes to the representations
of the Virgin Mary in the various iconographic types. There are
only three examples of depictions of Saint Anna identified by
legends.
15
The chronological phases refer to the so-called Paulos Cathedral
and Petros Cathedral. It is difficult to state when the tradition of
portraying Mothers of the King was introduced. W. Godlewski
has dated the oldest representation to the beginning of the 10th
century (Godlewski 2008, 271).
THE ICONOGRAPHY OF POWER – THE POWER OF ICONOGRAPHY 947
and as a part of the official protocol16
(Rostkowska
1982).
Both the title and the position of the representations
of Mothers of Kings in the Nubian iconographic programme
have no equivalent in the Byzantine Empire;
however, the Nubian representations could have been
inspired by the portraits of Byzantine empresses.
The representations of the Mothers of Kings together
with the aforementioned depictions of Saint Anna and
the Virgin Mary form an interesting, indisputably
homogenous group of portraits the character of which
16
I would like to thank Dr Grzegorz Ochała for allowing me
access to his database of Nubian texts. They are also listed on
http://www.medievalnubia.info/dev/index.php/Offices_and_
Titles.
is emphasised by the accompanying legends. As a
result, the fully preserved17
painted decoration of the
northern nave of the Faras Cathedral created a unique
official iconographical programme that depicted an
unconventional ‘succession’ line: from Anna – mother
of Mary, through Mary – mother of Christ, to the
Mother of the King (Plate 3).
These representations, especially in the absence of
other depictions of female saints among the known
Nubian wall paintings, create the impression that a specific
metros mimesis or Marias mimesis idea was
17
Fully in this context means preserved to a sufficient degree for
full identification of all representations, on the basis of unmistakable
iconographical attributes and legends.
Plate 3. 1: Representation of Saint Anna from the so-called Paulos Cathedral at Faras, legend see Łukaszewicz 1994
(photo Michałowski 1974, fig. 1). 2: Representation of Saint Anna from the so-called Petros Cathedral at Faras, legend see
Kubińska 1974, 120, the possible reading of “T[OY]...” at the end updated by Alexandros Tsakos (photo D. Zielińska,
courtesy of the Sudan National Museum). 3 and 4: Virgin Mary and the Mother of King from the so-called Petros Cathedral
at Faras, legend see Michałowski 1967, 154-155 (photo D. Zielińska, courtesy of the Sudan National Museum).
1
2
34
948 DOBROCHNA ZIELIŃSKA
expressed in Nubian painting. This idea parallels interestingly
the abovementioned concept of Christou mimesis,
setting the image of the holy mothers and of the
kings’ mothers beside each other, the Mother of the
King thus assuming a position equivalent to that of the
Mother of God. Consequently, the royal office in Makuria
becomes an image of Christ’s role as the heavenly
king and the king consequently become an equivalent
or terrestrial deputy of Christ (Godlewski 2008, 266).
CONCLUSION
From their very beginning, studies on Nubian iconography
have concentrated on defining the limits of
Byzantine influences and the degree of Nubian independent
artistic activity. Both topics discussed in this
paper exemplify this tendency, while clarifying its
nature in the following: it is clear that Nubian wall
painting was initially based on Byzantine patterns, but
rather quickly crossed the boundaries set by these origins
and went further so as to express indigenous ideas.
In the iconographic material examined here, there is
an unusual – for the art of Eastern Christianity of the
Middle Ages in general – stress on the significance of
royal authority. Although we lack the written sources
to define similar aspects in other levels of public
expression of Christian Nubians, we can infer from the
special role of the king and his mother in the mural
decoration of Nubian churches that this iconographical
custom mirrored a specific social reality of the Christian
Middle Nile Valley.
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