When Greek was an African Language | Page 7

? This was the only time in the Middle Ages that Muslims exempted a non-Muslim state from conquest.
Archaeology makes clear the scope and scale of the transformation. Throughout Nubia from Philae in the north to Musawarat es Sofra in the south worship of the old gods of Egypt and Kush ceased and temples were re-consecrated as churches while new churches and monasteries were built. From a land of Egyptian style temples Nubia became a land of churches��well over a hundred are known. [32] ? Nor was the change limited to the public aspects of religion. Pagan symbols disappeared from Nubian pottery. The most dramatic change, however, was at the personal level in funerary religion and it is visible archaeologically in cemeteries throughout Nubia.
For millennia the peoples of Nubia had provided the dead with elaborate tombs, rich funerary gifts, and ritual offerings. Suddenly, this all ended. In Christian Nubia the dead were buried in Spartan graves that, according to the archaeologist William Y. Adams, were "narrow vertical slot[s] in which the body" was "laid on its back��without any covering except perhaps for a crude 'lean-to' of bricks over the face��" and "wrapped in a shroud" accompanied by only "a few small articles of personal jewelry��." [33] ? It was as though a chasm had opened between the newly Christianized Nubian kingdoms and the Pharaonic traditions that had been introduced into Nubia by the pharaohs of the 25 &supth; th dynasty over a millennium and a half before. Few aspects of Kushite elite culture crossed that chasm. One of those privileged few was the Greek language. Indeed, the Middle Ages were to be the golden age of Greek culture��Christian Greek culture, to be sure��in Nubia.
This is not the place or the time to rehearse the long history of the Nubian Christian kingdoms. Suffice to say that the Arab geographers describe both Makuria and Alwa as strong and prosperous states with numerous cities and towns. Makuria��our sources primarily concern Makuria��not only maintained its independence until the 14 &supth; th century AD but was strong enough to intervene in Egyptian affairs and on one occasion in the mid 8 &supth; th century the Makurian king Kyriakos even forced the emir of Egypt to release the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria from prison.
The revelation of the place of Greek cultural elements in the lives of these kingdoms has been gradual and is still ongoing, but already it is clear that Greek was the official language of government and religion for most of their history. The distinguished church historian W. H. C. Friend well summed up the initial impression created by the wide use of Greek and the extensive influence of Christian Greek art in Medieval Nubia in the title of one of his articles: "Nubia as an Outpost of Byzantine Cultural Influence". [34] ? So, for example, Christian Nubian political terminology is almost entirely borrowed from the late Roman Empire. Terms such as basileus, eparchos, domestikos, meizoteris, and even Hellenized Latin terms such as rix=rex, primikerios, not to mention, Augustus and Caesar, abound. One king of Makuria was even called the "New Constantine". [35] ?
At first glance, we seem to be looking at a Nubian version of the late Roman imperial government, but first impressions are often misleading, and that is the case here. The Nubian kingdoms were not bureaucratically organized centralized states like the Roman Empire, but segmentary states like Kush and other African states. [36] ? They consisted, that is, of alliances of regional monarchies linked to a paramount ruler by personal ties, and that reality is reflected in the use of these terms with basileus and Augustus referring to paramount rulers, eparchos and rix to regional governors, and those such as domesitkos to the paramount's household. In other words, Roman terms were not mechanically copied but selectively borrowed and adapted to a new Nubian reality.
The glory of Medieval Nubian civilization was its religious art. [37] ? Only brief allusions in Arab accounts and a few fresco fragments were known prior to the discovery by a Polish expedition of the main cathedral of Faras, the principal city and one time capital of Nobatia, buried to its roof in sand. Excavation revealed that the cathedral and its decoration were largely intact and, more remarkable, that the cathedral was an artistic palimpsest with multiple layers of frescoes preserved. Careful separation of the different layers has allowed the reconstruction of a detailed history of Nubian fresco painting from the construction of the cathedral in the 8 &supth; th century AD through its peak in the 12 &supth; th century to its abandonment in the 15 &supth; th century. Themes include episodes from the Old and New Testaments, saints, and Nubian political and ecclesiastical figures. Technically, stylistically, and thematically, Nubian Christian art has clear connections to Byzantine art