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Sonderdruck aus Band 52 · 2022

DE GRUYTER
 Inhalt des 52. Bandes (2022)

Alcorac Alonso Déniz, L’  épigramme funéraire d’Agorakritos de Calymna, mort à

Halicarnasse (IG XII 4, 5, 4201)
Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska, A Building Inscrip-
tion for the Blemmyan King Kabantia
Sophia Bönisch-Meyer, Stadt und Statthalter zwischen Lokalem und Reichs-
geschehen. Zur Lesung von SEG 56, 1762 (Olympos, Lycia)
Bret C. Devereaux, The Adoption and Impact of Roman Mail Armor in the Third and
Second Centuries BCE
Peter Kruschwitz, Epigraphy: the Art of Being Nosy? Some Thoughts on Plutarch,
De curiositate 11 (= Moralia 520d–f) and Related Texts
Myles Lavan, Greek names and freed status in Roman Italy: Why ancient historians
can’t ignore statistics
Denis Rousset, Aus der Arbeit der «Inscriptiones Graecae». La métonomasie de Néôn
en Tithoréa et les relations entre Étoliens et Phocidiens au IIIe s. av. J.-C.
Ivana Savalli-Lestrade, Μετὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. Les solidarités entre frères dans la docu-
mentation épigraphique des cités grecques, principalement à l’  époque hellénistique
Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner – Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, Die Politik der Form:
Das Edictum Theoderici, das Prätorische Edikt und die Semantiken königlicher
Rechtsetzung im postimperialen Westen
Jack W.  G. Schropp, Eine neue Meilensteingruppe aus Noricum mit miliaria des
Severus Alexander und Probus
Riccardo Vecchiato, Ein Beispiel des ptolemäischen Pragmatismus: Zu den norm­
widrigen Kleroszuweisungen im ptolemäischen Ägypten
Michael Wörrle, Epigraphische Forschungen zur Geschichte Lykiens XIV: Zeus in
Limyra
 RODNEY AST – SZYMON POPŁAWSKI – JOANNA RĄDKOWSKA

A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia

The 2019 excavation season at B ­ erenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt featured the
discovery of a building inscription on the lintel of the entrance to a shrine devoted to
Isis and Sarapis in the harbor’s so-called Northern Complex.1 The inscription was set
up by an interpreter named Mochosak on behalf of the Blemmyan king Isemne.2 One
year later, in January 2020, excavations in the same complex revealed a second lintel
inscription mentioning a previously unknown Blemmyan king named Kabantia. It
had been carved above the entrance to an adjacent shrine. Together, these two finds
constitute mounting evidence for the importance of the port itself and of this particu-
lar area in it to Blemmyan inhabitants of late antique ­Berenike. In what follows, we
present an edition of the inscription discovered in 2020 together with a description of
its archeo­logical, architectural and historical contexts.

I.  Archeological and Architectural Contexts

Joanna Rądkowska – Szymon Popławski
The lintel inscription found in the Northern Complex in 2020 once adorned a shrine
that was part of a vast complex which included a central building, two extensive north-
ern and southern enclosures, and multiple smaller rooms located around the southern
enclosure.3 Positioned at the northern extent of one of two main streets (the cardo in
the language of Roman city planning), the Northern Complex formed a distinct axis
with a late antique tetrastylon located at the intersection of these streets. The complex

1  R. Ast’s and S. Popławski’s work at ­Berenike in 2020 was supported by a grant awarded
Ast and Olaf E. Kaper (Leiden) by the Thyssen Foundation for the Isis Temple Project, which
is being led by Ast, Kaper and Martin Hense under the umbrella of the ­Berenike Project
co-directed by Steven Sidebotham (University of Delaware) and Mariusz Gwiazda (Polish
Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology). The authors thank Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiqui-
ties for permission to work in ­Berenike. They also express gratitude to Roger Bagnall, Julia
Lougovaya and Steven Sidebotham for commenting on the article and to Elke Fuchs for
producing excellent photos under challenging field conditions.
2  Ast – Rądkowska (2020).
3  See Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 147, with further bibliography; Sidebotham et al. (2021)

15–17. Several of the rooms on the west side of the enclosure served as shrines; see Oller
Guzman et al. (2022).
202 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

Fig. 1: Plan of ­Berenike showing the axial arrangement of the Northern Complex,
Isis temple and ecclesiastical complex around the central tetrastylon.

was thus an important part of an urban plan that also included the Isis temple at the
western end of the decumanus and a church complex at its eastern extent (Fig. 1).4
Excavations in January 2020 concentrated on the part of the complex just east of
where the Isemne inscription was found the year before. A geomagnetic map of the
site produced between 2008 and 2015 indicated that this area contained a building

4  For more on the tetrastylon (also referred to in literature about the port as the tetrakio­

nion) and Isis temple, see Sidebotham et al. (2019) 11–18; Sidebotham et al. (2020) 15–22;
Sidebotham et al. (2021) 16–20; a description of earlier exploration of the temple, going
back to the early 19th century, can be found in Hense (2019). For information on the so-called
Christian ecclesiastical area, excavated in the years 1996–2001, see Sidebotham – Wendrich
(2001/2002) 32–34; Sidebotham (2007) 163  f.; Sidebotham et al. (2008) 147  f.; Sidebotham
(2011) 272–275. A good general overview of the site is available in Sidebotham (2011).
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 203

Fig. 2: Geomagnetic map showing the outline of rooms in the Northern Complex.
The arrows indicate entrances to three adjacent shrines. The left one points to the room
from the entrance to which the Isemne inscription came; the middle one shows where the
­inscription for Kabantia edited here was found; the right indicates an area that has not
been excavated yet. The southern enclosure is the large expanse visible below the arrows.

with three monumental entrances. The doorway uncovered in 2019 was the western
entrance on the geomagnetic map, while that found in 2020 was the one in the center
(see Fig. 2). Stones from the walls that had collapsed around these entrances landed
in such a way that individual blocks could be assigned to their original positions. For
example, the lintel with the Isemne inscription was discovered together with the top
(cavetto) blocks and a few jamb stones directly in front of the entrance to one room.
And the lintel found in 2020 was lying at an angle outside the doorway that it once
adorned (Fig. 3). These architectural pieces, together with remains of one wall that
were preserved in situ, allowed us to establish that the two doorways were most likely
placed in the same facade (Fig. 4). It does not appear that their construction was sep-
arated by a long period of time, but it has been difficult to determine the temporal
relationship of the two entrances. There is some indication that the central room and
doorway were built before the western one. In particular, the entryway of the central
204 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

Fig. 3: Aerial view of the shrines associated with two Blemmyan inscriptions found in
2019 and 2020. The Isemne inscription is in the foreground lying face down in front
of the entrance to a shrine (this is the doorway shown by the left arrow in Fig. 2).
The inscription edited here is on the lintel that lies in the background at an an­
gle to the entrance of that shrine, which is still largely ­unexcavated (the central shrine
in Fig. 2); the writing is upside down on the side of the stone facing south.

room appears to have been on a single axis with that of the room itself, whereas the
entrance to the western room was offset to the east with respect to the room’s interior
axis. Moreover, the geomagnetic map suggests that the central doorway was on the
axis of the southern enclosure, which could point to its integral place in the original
plan of the complex (Fig. 2). The sequence in which the shrines were constructed has
possible implications for the chronology of the reigns of the two kings attested in the
inscriptions; this is addressed in more detail below.
The lintel bearing the inscription published here was found lying upside down
where it had fallen (Fig. 3). It was made of local anhydritic gypsum and originally con-
sisted of two lines of Greek carved below a crude torus molding that featured a series
of diagonal and vertical lines arranged in an alternating pattern. This ornamentation
maintained a uniform direction across the entire torus and is partially visible in Fig. 5.
The lintel is sufficiently preserved to permit full reconstruction of its original dimen-
sions. The width of the door opening was 156.0  cm; the distance from the bottom of
the torus to the lower part of the lintel slab was 13.0  cm; the height of the torus was
10.0  cm; the width of each doorjamb was 44.0  cm. The depth of the lintel, c. 52.0  cm,
was equal to the thickness of the wall in which it was built. The door to the room was
double-leafed, as is clear from two pivot slots that had been cut into the bottom of the
lintel. In its current condition, the lintel block is not as thick as one would expect for
the span of the doorway. This disproportion might be explained by the fact that about
18.0  cm of the original stone was removed from the bottom of the block and the pivot
sockets by means of a claw chisel. Marks from this type of tool are not observed on
other stones from the Northern Complex or on the remaining surfaces of the lintel.
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 205

Fig. 4: Reconstruction of the entrances to the two shrines. The doorway with the Isemne
­inscription is on the left and the entrance with the inscription for Kabantia is on the right.

This suggests that the reworking of the stone served a functional purpose related to
this specific doorway. One possibility is that the lintel was modified after the doorway
was built in order to provide more height to the entrance, perhaps in order to move
an object through it that was larger than the existing entrance.
Aside from architectural and epigraphical remains, the Northern Complex has
yielded only a small number of chronologically significant finds such as datable pot-
tery. This makes it difficult to date the area. What is preserved, however, points to the
fourth and fifth century for the building of this part of the complex.5

II.  The Lintel Inscription

Rodney Ast
The lintel is poorly preserved, especially on its left side where the stone had practi-
cally melted. The middle and right sections of the slab are in a slightly better state
(Fig. 5), as is the right doorjamb, which was found detached from the lintel (Fig. 6).

5  See
Ast  – Rądkowska (2020) 149; cf. also Sidebotham et al. (2020) 14  f. and Side-
botham et al. (2021) 15  f.
206 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

The inscription originally comprised two lines of writing, but the second line is almost
entirely gone, with just a couple of letters discernible on the doorjamb. The extant
writing surface measures 100  cm in width. The lettering is irregular and visually sim-
ilar to that of the Isemne dedication, especially Μ and Ω.6 The letters Σ and Ε, how-
ever, do not appear to be as squarish as they are in the other inscription. We cannot
be certain about this, because no examples of those letters are clearly preserved, but
the impression given by the traces is that they were rather rounded in shape. The size
of individual letters also differs in the two inscriptions: In the one edited here, they
range in width from 3.0 to 3.3  cm and in height from 3.8 to 4.7  cm, while in the Isemne
inscription they are 3.5 to 5.0  cm wide and 4.4 to 5.5  cm high. This discrepancy could
simply be the result of the different dimensions of the lintels, but, even so, it is clear
that the same stonecutter was not responsible for both dedications. A corollary of this
is that no direct connection between the two inscriptions, temporal or otherwise, can
be established on the basis of the lettering.
The surviving, yet very weathered text contains part of the opening formula of a
dedication made on behalf of a king named Kabantia. If we assume that this formula
followed the opening language of the dedication for Isemne, as it does in the extant
part, then the first line would have begun with ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας.7 But this would mean
a loss of only about 15 letters, whereas the reconstructed size of the doorway given
above (p. 204) would accommodate more letters than that. Thus, we believe that the
inscription likely began with a longer formula, although we cannot say exactly how
much longer. This would depend on where the lines started, whether directly over the
opening of the door or on the left doorjamb. Greek inscriptions from Roman Egypt
attest different possible formulas. The dedicatory phrase ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας καὶ διαμονῆς
occurs in two texts dated to the second century,8 a formula that would entail for our
inscription 26 letters missing on the left. An early third-century inscription from
Koptos has ὑπὲρ διαμονῆς καὶ αἰωνίου νίκης,9 which would mean 30 missing letters
at the beginning of the ­Berenike inscription. Of similar length is the formula ὑπὲρ
αἰωνίου κράτους καὶ διαμονῆς, found in a dedication that was set up in ­Berenike in
AD 215 by a Palmyrene archer named Mokimos on behalf of Caracalla and his mother

6  
Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 150  f.
7  For ease of reference, we give here the text and translation of the Isemne inscription as they

appear in the first edition: ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν  Ἰσεμνη βασιλέως | ἔθνους Βλεμμύων
καὶ τοῦ σύνπαντος αὐτοῦ οἴκου | [ . . . ] διαμονῆς Μωχωσακ ἑρμηνεὺς ᾠκοδόμησα τοὺς |
[ c. 5 letters ] . . ς       Ἴσιδι Σαράπιδι θεοῖς μεγίστοις // ἔτους L // ι // μη|[νὸς ? c. 10 letters? ἐπ᾿
ἀ]γαθῷ // | [ c. 8 letters? Διοκλητι]ανοῦ, «For the preservation of our Lord Isemne, King of the
tribe of Blemmyes, and his whole house and (?) for (their) permanence, I Mochosak the inter-
preter built the … to Isis (and) Sarapis, the greatest gods. Year (year) 10 [month (?)]. For the
good! [Year . . . of Diocleti]an», Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 151.
8  I.Musée d’ Alexandrie 78 (= OGIS 2. 708) from AD 181 and SEG 40. 1578 (= I.Portes 34;

Dendera) from AD 105/106.

9  I.Portes 82 (AD 210); a variation of this wording is seen in I.Portes 12 (AD 232).
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 207

J­ ulia Domna.10 Slightly longer than this is the phrase ὑπὲρ αἰωνίου διαμονῆς καὶ τοῦ
σύμπαντος οἴκου in an inscription from Hermopolis dated AD 176–179.11 The fact
that these parallels date two to three centuries earlier than the Blemmyan dedications
is striking and suggests that the Blemmyes deliberately appropriated earlier epigraphic
language. One presumes that there were sufficient examples of similarly worded in-
scriptions visible in sanctuaries throughout the region for them to draw on.
As for the right side of the inscription for Kabantia, we presume that the end of the
doorjamb marked its limit. If this is correct, then the first line will have contained a
total of 58–74 letters, and the second must have been of similar length. Overall, the
dedication was likely somewhat shorter than the Isemne inscription.  Here is a tran-
script of the visible and restored letters (Figs. 5 and 6):

decorated torus molding

[– – –               τοῦ] κυρίου ἡμῶν Καβαντια βασιλέως ἔθνου[ς]
[Βλεμμύων(?) – – –]  slight traces of letters [ c. 6–8 letters ]. . [ . ]υσ . . . 

«[ . . . ] of our Lord Kabantia, King of the tribe of [Blemmyes(?)…]»

1  The crucial reading in this line is the name after ἡμῶν: Καβαντια (Fig. 5). The let-
ters Κ and Α are immediately discernible. The left vertical stroke and top horizontal of
Β are also quite clear. There is a bit of space before the next Α, which tilts backwards in
the direction of Β. After that, Ν, Τ and Ι are visible. The final Α is somewhat concealed
by pits in the lintel block; it also tilts backwards towards the preceding letter.
After the break in the stone between the doorjamb block and the main lintel slab,
we see a curved depression in the writing surface which probably belongs to the first
Σ in βασιλέως (Fig. 6). After that there is the hint of an Ι followed by Λ (a crack in the
stone that cuts through the middle of this letter makes it look like an Α). The top of Ε
is then visible, followed by inconclusive traces that we interpret as the Ω in βασιλέως;
however, it is possible that the word was spelled βασιλέος, with the unexceptional in-
terchange of Ω and Ο.12 The rounded left side of Ε, the circle of Θ (its crossbar can no
longer be seen) and a clear Ν can be read; traces of the next two letters are consistent
with Ο and Υ, but the final Σ is lost.
2  The letter appearing after Σ in this line resembles either Λ or Α.

10  SEG 48. 1977.
11  I.Hermoupolis
12 (AD 176–179). The Isemne inscription contains similar wording: ὑπὲρ
σωτηρίας (+ ruler name) and τοῦ σύνπαντος αὐτοῦ οἴκου [καὶ (?)] διαμονῆς; see Ast – Rąd-
kowska (2020) 151.
12  
Gignac (1976) 275–277.
208 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

Fig. 5: Close-up photo of the main lintel slab lying upside down where it fell;
part of the detached right doorjamb is visible at the right edge of the picture.
The decorative diagonal and vertical lines can be seen on the torus at the top.

Fig. 6: Detached right doorjamb.

Kabantia, King of the Tribe of Blemmyes

King Kabantia is a previously unattested king, but the name Kabantia is known. It
occurs in the so-called «Phonen letter», a fifth-century Greek letter on papyrus sent
by Phonen, King of the Blemmyes, to Abourni, King of the Noubades, in response to
an earlier missive of Abourni.13 The papyrus was discovered at Qas. r Ibrîm (ancient
Primis) in 1976 together with three Coptic documents addressed to a man named

13  The papyrus was first published in Skeat (1977), with a revised edition appearing two

years later in Rea (1979). The text can be found also in FHN III 319. Skeat (1977) 159 assigned
the papyrus to the fifth century, saying that E. G. Turner and C. H. Roberts had proposed
the same date independently of each other. But Roberts, whom Skeat quotes in his n. 3, says
that it was probably written around the middle part of the century. This same narrower date was
supported on archeological grounds, so Adams (1977) 34, and it has been upheld by Pierce
(FHN III, p. 1158) and Cooper (2021) 24. Ηägg (1986) 284  f., n. 2 puts the letter in the second
half of the fifth century, while Rea (1979) 147 argues that it should be assigned to the broader
period of 420–500.
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 209

Tantani, a chief (phylarch) of the tribe of Anouba (i.  e., the Noubades) (ⲡⲉⲫⲩⲗⲁⲣⲭⲟⲥ
ⲙ̄ⲡϩⲉⲑⲛⲟⲥ ⲛ̄ⲛ̄ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲃⲁ).14 It marked the second attestation of Phonen, who is identi-
fied also as phylarch in an inscription from Kalabsha dated on paleographic grounds
to the fifth century, although there his name is spelled Φονοιν.15 The language of the
Phonen letter has elicited much commentary. Among its many problems of syntax and
morphology, there are confused case endings, arbitrary verb tenses and, what is par-
ticularly disconcerting for the reader, indiscriminate verbal personal endings. Thus,
despite its good preservation, the document presents very elementary challenges to
interpretation, as it is often difficult to understand the grammatical function of indi-
vidual words. As T. Hägg points out, skilled editors such as T. C. Skeat and J. Rea
offered interpretations that in some places directly contradicted each other.16 Why the
letter should be so incomprehensible is debated: Hägg views its language as a reflec-
tion of the pidgin Greek that was used by indigenous groups such as the Blemmyes
and Noubades, the grammar of which had «largely broken down».17 S. Burstein
contends, however, that there was no universal Greek language, pidgin or otherwise,
shared by these tribes. In his view, Greek was used only for special purposes by select
officials, and such a letter would have been explained by the courier or envoy who
delivered it.18 Despite its ambiguity, the Phonen letter is important to us because it
refers to the defeat of the king mentioned in the inscription from ­Berenike, even if the
garbled language makes it unclear who actually defeated him. The relevant passage in
the letter deserves closer attention.
From King Phonen we learn that Abourni followed in the footsteps of his predeces-
sor Silko in conquering Kalabsha (ancient Talmis) and in occupying Blemmyan land.19
Phonen was offered the chance to make peace with Abourni, but he agreed to do so
only if the Blemmyes got back what was taken from them. In setting out his demands
for peace, Phonen enumerates some of the wrongs the Noubades did to his people in
the past. Here is a quotation of the lines in question (23–25) without any attempt to
normalize obvious misspellings:

14  The Coptic texts are printed in FHN III 320–322; Tantani’s title, as quoted here, is found

in FHN III 320. 3  f. For a good general account of the Blemmyes and Noubades based on a range
of sources, see Dijkstra (2014).
15  FHN III 313; for the date of the Kalabsha inscription, see Wilcken (1901) 413.
16  Hägg (1986) 281  f.
17  Hägg (1986) 284.
18  Burstein (2021) 42  f.
19  This brief summary follows Rea (1979) 151. Silko is probably best known from a monu-

mental inscription in which he boasts of his defeat of the Blemmyes, FHN III 317. It was carved
on a wall in the temple of Mandulis in Kalabsha and originally dated to the second half of the
sixth century. The dating, which was already questioned by Wilcken and others, was revised to
pre-AD 450 following the discovery of the Phonen letter (see the introduction to FHN III 317).
210 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

23 . . . γράφω σοι πάλιν ὅτι Παχενιως ἦλθα

24 καὶ ἐρήμωσεν Δαναντ20. καὶ ἀναχώρησα ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ὑμῶν. καὶ γὰρ Κωει ἦλθα
εἰς τὼ πέρα Ταβαλες καὶ ἐποίησα τοὺς βωμοὺς
25 καὶ Καβαντια ἐνίκησες. καὶ ο\ὐ/ παραμίνομεν τὰς χώρας ἡμῶν, ὅλα οἱ βασιλεύς,
ἐνίκησες.

Several interpretations of these lines have been given over the years. We provide ex-
cerpts from three different editions, beginning with Skeat’s editio princeps.

1)  Skeat (who does not give a running translation, but translates and discusses indi-
vidual lines within his commentary):21

«I write to you again that Pachenios has come and laid waste Damant.»
«I retired from my territories.»
«For Koei has entered the (country) beyond Tabales and erected altars.»
«You have conquered Kabantia. We do not remain in (any of) your territories. You have con-
quered all the kings …»

2)  Rea:22

«I write to you again that Pachenios went and laid waste Danant. And go up out of our land. And
indeed Coei went to the country beyond Tabales and set up altars, and conquered Cabantia (?).
And we, who are all kings, will not allow you to conquer our land.»

3)  Pierce (who inserts parenthetical headings that are meant to orient the reader
but are omitted here):23

«I write you in addition (πάλιν) that Pakhenios came and devastated Danant and withdrew from
your (sic) land.»
«For indeed (καὶ γάρ), Koy came to (the lands) beyond Tabales and made the altars, and you
(sic) defeated Kabantia.»
«And we (can) not abide your conquering our lands, all we (lit.: the) kings.»24

Three personal names and two toponyms occur in these lines. The people are
Pachenios, Koy and Kabantia, and the places, Danant and Tabales. The reference to
unnamed kings in the last line is important. Phonen states: καὶ ο\ὐ/ παραμίνομεν τὰς
χώρας ἡμῶν, ὅλα οἱ βασιλεὺς ἐνίκησες. Rea and Pierce interpret οἱ βασιλεύς as the

20  Skeat reads Δαμαντ here, whereas subsequent editors all print Δαναντ. The photograph
reproduced in Skeat (1977) pl. XXVII is inconclusive; in our view, the spelling with Μ should
not be entirely discounted.
21  Skeat (1977) 167.
22  Rea (1979) 157.
23  FHN III 319.
24  In a footnote to this part Pierce states: «The text has ‹all the kings›. An alternative inter-

pretation might be: ‹We, all the kings you have conquered, (can)not tolerate (the loss of) our
lands›».
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 211

plural subject of παραμίνομεν, while Skeat takes it as the plural object of ἐνίκησες.
Despite these diverging opinions, all three seem to understand the word οἱ βασιλεύς
as referring to Blemmyan kings, that is, to Phonen’s Blemmyan peers.
When it comes to the tribal affiliations of the individuals mentioned in the sen-
tence before the statement about the kings, there is no consensus on whether they
were Blemmyes or Noubades. Rea favors the view that Phonen is recounting previous
Blemmyan victories in an attempt to show what could happen to the Noubades if the
two groups did not make peace. He writes, «I … take it that Phonen was pointing out
that though he wanted peace the Blemmyes were capable of carrying on hostilities if
their lands were not returned»,25 as illustrated by past events. From this and from his
translation («Coei went … and conquered Cabantia») it would follow that Kabantia
was Noubadian and Koy (Rea’s «Coei») was Blemmyan. Yet, the other commentators
interpret Καβαντια to be the object of ἐνίκησες, «you (i.  e., Abourni) defeated Kaban-
tia», which would make Kabantia a Blemmyan king. The inscription from Berenike,­­
the larger archeological context of which, if we include the Isemne inscription, is de-
monstrably Blemmyan, leads us also to conclude that Phonen is talking here about the
Noubadian defeat of the Blemmyan king Kabantia.
About the other people referred to in the lines of the Phonen letter quoted above
there is lingering uncertainty. First there is Pachenios, who is said to have come and
devastated Danant. Again, Rea favored the view that the quoted lines contained ex-
amples of Blemmyan conquest. Thus, Pachenios will have been Blemmyan and Danant
will have been a Noubadian settlement. Skeat, however, thought that Pachenios was
a Noubadian aggressor, in which case Danant will have been a Blemmyan place. Ulti-
mately, there is too much ambiguity in the letter to resolve this question.
With the person of Koy, we might be in a better position to speculate. The fact that
he is said to have made altars (l. 24: καὶ ἐποίησα τοὺς βωμούς) suggested to Rea that
he was Blemmyan because such behavior would have been «more characteristic of
the staunch paganism of the Blemmyes».26 This strikes us as a tenuous argument, as
it entails the belief that the Noubades had fully embraced Christianity by this period,
while the evidence points to a more complicated and lengthier process of conversion.27
Nevertheless, if setting up altars can be viewed as an expression of peace or recon-
ciliation, then we might consider the next clause «and you (i.  e., Abourni) defeated
Kabantia» to be a pointed juxtaposition: «Even though Koy went out and set up altars,
you still defeated Kabantia». This interpretation raises the question of Koy’s rank: If
he were indeed Blemmyan, was he also a king (βασιλεύς) along with Kabantia, or did
he have some other rank? It is well known that Blemmyan society included a range of
chiefs (φύλαρχοι, ὑποτύραννοι, βασιλικοί), and Koy could have been any one of them

25  
Rea (1979) 161.
26  
Rea (1979) 161.
27  The idea that this process was complicated and lengthy is at the heart of Dijkstra (2008);

see too Dijkstra (2014) 309–311 and 323–326; Obłuski (2014) 167–178, with bibliography.
212 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

as well.28 On the other hand, the reference to kings (οἱ βασιλεύς) just after this might
suggest that he too was a king. It is unclear from what is known about Blemmyan po-
litical organization if kingship was exclusive to one person.29 J. Cooper has recently
pointed out that the reference to Isemne’s regnal years in the Isemne inscription from
­Berenike could support the idea of a single Blemmyan monarch.30 However, the re-
cording of regnal years does not by itself exclude the possibility that there were multi-
ple Blemmyan kings at any given time, perhaps with one enjoying special prominence.
Be that as it may, we are in very uncertain territory here, and should reiterate that we
do not really know which side Koy was on. He may have been Noubadian.31

Blemmyan Rulers
The chronology of fifth-century Blemmyan kings is not firmly grounded, as there is no
source that dates any one king precisely. We came very close to getting a date with the
Isemne inscription, which likely included a Diocletianic regnal year in the no longer
extant part of the text. However, because this year was lost, we could not determine
exactly when the dedication was made. The reference to King Isemne’s tenth regnal
year was insufficient for dating it, as Blemmyan regnal years have no equivalences in
the Julian calendar. On the basis of the lettering and of other sources related to Blem-
myan rulers, including Isemne, we concluded that the Isemne inscription was carved
sometime at the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. This was in
line with other scholars and in particular with the belief that the Blemmyes occupied
part of lower Nubia between 394 and 453.32 But we admit now that there is nothing
in the inscription itself to preclude a date in the mid-fifth or even the second half of
the fifth century. However, this is not the place to survey the entire body of evidence
upon which Blemmyan chronology has been built, which includes Meroitic material.33
We wish instead to restrict ourselves to the question of what the new inscriptions, for
Isemne and Kabantia, tell us about the sequence of Blemmyan rulers.
Graffiti, inscriptions and papyri related to Blemmyan kings are dated mainly by
their letter forms. Insights into questions of succession and the sequences of reigns

28  There is a lot of literature on the subject of the political organization of Blemmyan and

Noubadian peoples and their relationship to external powers, especially Roman. See, for exam-
ple, Dijkstra (2008) 161–170 and Dijkstra (2014); Obłuski (2014) 182–194; Cooper
(2020), all three of whom provide additional bibliography.
29  FHN III 311 comm.
30  Cooper (2020) 9.
31  R. S. Bagnall has proposed this to us (per litt.), saying that Koy could be the third-person
subject of all the verbs in the passage καὶ γὰρ Κωει ἦλθα εἰς τὼ πέρα Ταβαλες καὶ ἐποίησα τοὺς
βωμοὺς καὶ Καβαντια ἐνίκησες, «For indeed Koy came beyond Tabales and made the altars and
defeated Kabantia».
32  For our discussion of the date, see Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 152  f.
33  A good summary of the Meroitic evidence is laid out in FHN III 300.
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 213

depend in part on allusions made in other graffiti, inscriptions and papyri. For exam-
ple, the Phonen letter indicates that Abourni succeeded Silko as the Noubadian ruler.
And now the combined evidence of that letter and the ­Berenike inscription shows that
Kabantia probably preceded Phonen as Blemmyan king, unless the reigns of the two
men overlapped. If we have accurately interpreted the stages in which the two shrines
in ­Berenike were constructed, and the central shrine was indeed built before the one to
the west that had the dedication for King Isemne, then we might conclude that Isemne
postdated Kabantia. This is provided, of course, that the inscriptions were carved at
the time the shrines were built, and not added to existing thresholds later. Whether
Isemne also postdated Phonen is impossible to determine at present, although we
might have expected Phonen to mention Isemne in his letter to Abourni if Isemne
had ruled before him. Nevertheless, what we can say is that, although the archeological
evidence is still quite tentative and we cannot discount the possibility that multiple
kings ruled simultaneously, it is conceivable that Kabantia preceded Phonen who in
turn preceded Isemne. If true, this will have implications for our understanding of the
succession of Blemmyan kings.
In his important study of nomadic and, specifically, Blemmyan polity in Egypt’s
Eastern Desert, Cooper presents a list of fifth-century Blemmyan kings in which
the reign of Isemne (400–420?) is put as much as fifty years before that of Phonen
(c. ~450?).34 The dates of these and the other rulers in the list are all approximate.
As noted above,35 Rea cautioned against accepting the narrow date of the mid-fifth
century for the Phonen letter, preferring instead a span between 420 and 500.36 And
the inscription from Kalabsha that refers to the phylarch Phonoin was assigned
by Wilcken to the broader fifth century.37 If we acknowledge the possibility of this
larger chronological window, and we opt for the sequence: Kabantia – Phonen –
Isemne, then our list of Blemmyan kings will look rather different from previous
ones, but we do not think the evidence is secure enough at this point to permit firm
conclusions.

Conclusion
The inscription set up by Mochosak for King Isemne, which was discovered in 2019,
gave us the first physical evidence for monumental building by the Blemmyes at
­Berenike. We considered it to be culturally significant because, as a dedication to
the gods Isis and Sarapis, it revealed that the Blemmyes continued observing pagan

34  
Cooper (2020) 24.
35  Cf.
n. 13.
36  The year 420 depends on Olympiodorus of Thebes, who reports that the Blemmyes were

settled as far south as Primis around that time, while the Phonen letter shows that this was no
longer the case; from this, it follows that the Phonen letter must be later. Cf. Rea (1979) 147
and n. 8.
37  See n. 15.
214 Rodney Ast – Szymon Popławski – Joanna Rądkowska

practice long after the rise of Christianity in Egypt. This seemed in line with the state-
ment of the sixth-century historian Procopius that in his days the Blemmyes and Nou-
bades worshiped the gods of the Greeks as well as Isis, Osiris and Priapus.38 Further-
more, the Isemne inscription indicated to us that the Blemmyes relied on the port of
­Berenike for trade, particularly of green beryl.39 Although this is not explicitly stated
in the text, we know from other sources that the Blemmyes were mining green beryl
at Mons Smaragdus and perhaps in other mountains in the region. The harbor of
­Berenike would have been a natural place to ship from. Moreover, we concluded that
the interpreter Mochosak probably served a prominent diplomatic role as a mediator
and negotiator supporting Blemmyan trade activities.40
The Kabantia inscription found in 2020 is not as informative as the Isemne dedi-
cation, but it further highlights the scale and significance of the Blemmyan presence
at the port in Late Antiquity, especially when viewed in its archeological and archi-
tectural contexts. The Northern Complex appears to have been part of an expansive
Blemmyan network of shrines, which were not only of religious significance, but of
political importance as well. Sanctuaries at the site showcased expressions of gratitude
and respect made on behalf of the ruling elite by those who served them, such as the
interpreter-cum-mediator Mochosak. Thus, just as Ptolemy VIII and the Roman em-
perors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and Trajan, among others, were honored with dedi-
cations set up in temples across the site,41 so too were the Blemmyan potentates, even
if on a smaller scale.42 The interpreter Mochosak and the unknown dedicator of the
Kabantia inscription can, therefore, be seen as continuing practices that were deeply
rooted in the architectural and epigraphical landscape of the port.

Universität Heidelberg
Institut für Papyrologie
Marstallstr. 6
69117 Heidelberg
ast@uni-heidelberg.de

38  Procopius, De bellis 1.  19.  35.

39  
Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 152.
40   Ast – Rądkowska (2020) 152, 154  f.
41  For a dedication from the reign of Ptolemy VIII, see Ast (2020); for Tiberius, Ast (2021);

for Claudius and Trajan, Ast – Bagnall (2015); for Nero, SEG 55. 1812 and 1813. More dedi-
cations from the Roman period are in the process of being published by Ast.
42  Here we refer to the fact that, as noted above, the density of small finds in the North-

ern Complex has been less than in the Roman sanctuaries. Moreover, we have not found large
numbers of private dedications and inscribed statue bases in the Northern Complex, which are
typical of Roman shrines such as the Isis temple. The one exception might be the inscribed «cube
statue» from the so-called Falcon Shrine, which was located just off the northwest corner of the
Northern Complex’s southern enclosure (Fig. 1); that shrine is published in Oller Guzman
et al. (2022).
 A Building Inscription for the Blemmyan King Kabantia 215

Wrocław University of Science and Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental

Technology Cultures PAN
Faculty of Architecture Ul. Nowy Świat
Bolesława Prusa 53/55 00-330 Warsaw
50-317 Wrocław Poland
Poland jradkowska@iksio.pan.pl
szymon.poplawski@pwr.edu.pl ORCID 0000-0003-3362-1236

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Sources of Figures
Fig. 1. 3. 4: S. Popławski.
Fig. 2: T. Herbich.
Fig. 5. 6: E. Fuchs.
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