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 doesnt often get
covered adequately). It also doesnt 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 its 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!