The close contact of Christian Nubia with Coptic Egypt led to substantial influences on how Christianity was practiced in the kingdoms of the Middle Nile Valley from the sixth century onward.1 This influence concerned both the official liturgy of the church and per- sonal piety.2 Perhaps most importantly, the Coptic influence in Nubia brought…[Read more]

The present text, an Old Nubian land sale (DBMNT 700), was uncovered during the fourth and last season of the ARCE mission between 26 December 1965 and 26 April 1966. According to the preliminary report of Millet, the sale was found ‘at a considerable distance from the palace’, part of ‘Late Christian remains’. According to Millet, the palace…[Read more]

In my editio princeps of the legends on a painting in room 5 of the Southwest Annex of the Monastery on Kom H in Dongola (DBMNT 1364), I translated the verbal root ⲁⲣⲁⲅ / ⲁⲣⲁⲕ as ‘to bear, to be pregnant.’ This now appears to me to be an error. A far more natural rendering of several phrases could be achieved by translating ⲁⲣⲁⲅ as ‘to dance’,…[Read more]

In recent years, medieval studies have become increasingly aware of how enmeshed they are in fascist ideologies as medieval imagery is weaponized and scholarly discourse appropriated for political ends. These developments have brought into view how medieval studies as a discipline have its origins in the epistemic frameworks of 19th-century…[Read more]

The present paper looks at two Old Nubian titles: ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧ/ⲥⲁⲙⲁⲧ and ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧⲓⳟⲟ. Whereas the former is thought to be the Nubian parallel of Greek δομήστικος, no satisfactory parallel has been found so far for the latter. We will argue that the two Old Nubian titles can be considered loans from Meroitic smt and smt lh respectively, and that ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧⲓⳟⲟ sh…[Read more]

The article provides a transcription, translation, and analysis of the Old Nubian legends on a painting of a dancing scene in room 5 of the Southwest Annex of the Monastery on Kom H in Dongola. The painting shows two groups of Nubian singing and dancing, and from the legends we understand that the occasion is the birth of a new heir to the royal…[Read more]

In this article we will analyse three potential Old Nubian cognates of the Meroitic word aleqese, taking up a prior suggestion of Claude Rilly. After providing an overview of the linguistic relationship between Meroitic and Old Nubian and the extant analyses of aleqese in the extant literature, we will inspect the Old Nubian conditional clause…[Read more]

The three bilingual Greek–Old Nubian psalms published in this paper have been preserved to us in form of ink inscriptions on the walls of the annexes abutting the monastery on Kom H in Dongola from the west, the capital of the Nubian Christian Kingdom of Makuria. DP 2 (no. 1) is found in the Southwest Annex, DP 3 (no. 2) and DP 4 (no. 3) in the N…[Read more]

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 5.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 4.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 3.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 2.

This study revisits the longest known text in Old Nubian to date, the pseudo- Chrysostomian “Sermon on the Venerable Cross,” whose editio princeps was furnished by Gerald M. Browne. The Greek Vorlage of the Nubian text is known under catalog number CPG 4525 and is attested in more than 50 manuscripts in Greek, as well as in translations in sev…[Read more]

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 1.

In this essay, I venture to describe my own trajectory, through linguistics and continental philosophy, to becoming a philologist specialized in the Old Nubian language, in tandem with a broader analysis of the destabilizing powers of philology that resonate in both deconstruction and psychoanalysis: the problem of the material carrier of writing…[Read more]

The present paper analyses two Old Nubian inscriptions found at a church in Akasha West in 1969. The first inscription was found on an ostracon and invokes Jesus Christ. The second inscription was found on the altar inside the church’s sanctuary, and refers to the Holy Altar of Michael. The publication gives a description of the inscrip- tion, a t…[Read more]

The present paper analyses an Old Nubian inscription from the Faras Cathe- dral, containing a curse with a reference to Col 1:13. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text.

The present paper analyses the rubrication patterns in two Old Nubian manu- scripts (known under the sigla St and SC) both originally intended for deposition at the Jesus Church in Serra East. Through a comparison with rubrication patterns in other Old Nubian manuscripts, the authors argue that the rubricated phrases in St and SC show an internal…[Read more]