Nobatia
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Nobatia

Nobatia /nˈbʃə/ or Nobadia (/nˈbdiə/; Greek: Νοβαδία, Nobadia; Old Nubian: ⲙⲓⲅⲛ̅ Migin or ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ, Migitin Goul lit. "of Nobadia's land") was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia, modern day southern Egypt. Together with the two other Coptic-Nubian kingdoms, Makuria and Alodia, it succeeded the kingdom of Kush. After its establishment in around 400, Nobadia gradually expanded by defeating the Blemmyes in the north and incorporating the territory between the second and third Nile cataract in the south. In 543, it converted to Coptic Christianity. It would then be annexed by Makuria, under unknown circumstances, during the 7th century.

The kingdom of Nobatia had been founded in the former Meroitic province of Akine, which comprised large parts of Lower Nubia and is speculated to have been autonomous already before the ultimate fall of the Kingdom of Kush in the mid 4th century.

While the Nobatae /ˈnɒbəti/ had been invited into the region from the Western Desert by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in 297 AD, their kingdom only became tangible around 400 AD. Early Nobatia is quite likely the same civilization that is known to archeologists as the Ballana culture.

Eventually, the Nobatae were successful in defeating the Blemmyes, and an inscription by Silko, "Basiliskos" of the Nobatae, claims to have driven the Blemmyes into the Eastern Desert. Around this time the Nobatian capital was established at Pakhoras (modern Faras); soon after, Nobatia converted to non-Chalcedonian Christianity.

By 707, Nobatia had been annexed by their southern neighbor, Makuria. The circumstances of this merger are unknown. It is also unknown what happened to the Nobadian royal family. The merger most likely occurred before the Muslim conquest in 652, since the Arab histories speak of only one Christian state in Nubia and reached at least as far as Old Dongola. Nobatia seems to have maintained some autonomy in the new state. It was ruled by an eparch of Nobatia who was also titled the Domestikos of Pakhoras. These were originally appointed but seem to be dynastic in the later period. Some of their records have been found at Fort Ibrim, presenting a figure with a great deal of power.

Nobatia՚s name is often given as al-Maris in Arabic histories. The eparchate of Nobadia remained an integral part of the Kingdom of Makuria until Makuria's end, as is confirmed by a document from 1463 mentioning an eparch named Teedderre.

Since Ptolemaic times, the "state religion" of Lower Nubia had been the Isis cult of Philae. Its importance outlived the Ptolemaic and Meroitic period and Nubian pilgrims continued to travel to Philae. The temple on Philae was eventually shut down between 535 and 538 and Nubians were forbidden to enter.[why?] Another Isis cult, the Greco-Roman mysteries of Isis, has been confirmed to be practised in Nobadia by an unearthed shrine in Qasr Ibrim. This cult was practised during Meroitic times as well.

As confirmed by epigraphical and archaeological evidence, Christianity was already present among parts of the Nobadian society even before the official conversion of 543. The Nobadian elite might have started considering to convert to Christianity in the 530s, parallel to when the Isis temple was shut down. Christianity proceeded to spread through Nobadia on various levels at different speeds. Towns, for example, were quick in adopting the new religion, while the Christianization of the villages was not accomplished until the 7th–9th centuries. South of the second cataract, Christianity seems to have begun spreading later than in the north, possibly since the late 6th or early 7th century. Many ancient Egyptian temples were converted to churches and plastered with Christian wall paintings.

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