In the second century A.D., the Nobades (e.g. Nobatae, Nobadae) emerged from the west to occupy the west bank of the Nile in northern Kush (Lower Nubia). One of several well-armed bands of horse and camel-borne warriors who sold protection to the Kings of Meroitic Kush; eventually the Nobades intermarried and established themselves among the Meroitic people as a military aristocracy. During this period, the Meroitic Kush kingdom contracted because of the northward expansion of Axum, a powerful Abyssinian state. Around 350 AD, an Axumite army captured and destroyed Meroe, ending that kingdom's independent existence. By 375 AD, the Nobades had their own well-established kingdom of Ballana (Nobatia) to the north near the third cataract of the Nile River (and near the modern Sudanese border).
The Blemmye were a fierce nomadic people from the mountainous regions near Nubia's Eastern Desert. Known to the Arabs as the Bedja, their raids are mentioned in Ku****e annals as early as the fourth century BC. They preyed on the ancient trade route connecting the Nile Valley to the Africa interior, which supplied Egypt and Rome with a wide variety of exotic goods including frankincense, myrrh, ivory, ebony and other exotic woods, precious oils, resins and gums, panther and leopard skins, monkeys, dogs, giraffes, ostrich feathers and eggs, and pygmies. In the first century AD, they began a series of constant raids against Ku****e and Romano Egyptian garrison-towns and were eventually able to occupy much of southern Egypt and Lower Nubia.
During the reign of Emperor Probus (276-282 AD), the Blemmye supported a somewhat obscure rebellion by the Egyptian cities of Ptolemais and Coptos. A decisive leader, Probus quickly crushed the rebellion and proceeded southward in a campaign of retribution against the Blemmye that so alarmed their not too distant neighbors, the Sassanians, that the Persian king sent a deputation to the court of Probus asking for Rome's friendship.
Probus' victories, however, did not end the Blemmye problem. In 298 AD, Emperor Diocletian decided that Nubia was no longer worth the effort(Roman Nubia consisting of the area between the 1st, and 5th cataracts of the nile, though Rome often had a strangle hold on the are between the 2, and 3rd, effectvlly making Nubia in earlyer time between the 3rd, and 5th cataracts) and withdrew Roman troops from the region, ceding authority to the Nobades. The Nobades were unable to oust the Blemmye from Lower Nubia, who had established their own kingdom between the first and third cataracts of the Nile River. Rome continued to subsidize the Nobades until the fifth century as a buffer against the Blemmye.
By the fourth century AD, Lower Nubia was effectively divided between the Nobades in the south and the Blemmye in the north. Both Kingdoms adopted the ancient Egyptian religion juxtaposed with Byzantine civil titles and influences, and both resisted Coptic Christian influences, which had already spread throughout Egypt and Abyssinia to the south. When not fighting with each other, the Nobades and the Blemmye often joined forces to raid Egypt or to fight Rome's enemies under commissions paid by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperors.
It is told that during this period the Blemmye raided into Egypt, seizing 20,000 captives. A Coptic priest, Apa Shenouda followed, making his way to the Blemmye camp to plead for their release. According to Coptic tradition, Blemmye soldiers threatened him at spearpoint all along the way, only to have their spear arms turn to wood. When the Blemmye king saw his men in such distress, he bowed before Shenouda and offered him gifts. Shenouda declined the gifts, but restored life to the men's arms on condition that the King release the captives, which he did gladly. For this miracle, Shenouda was later sainted (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite).
In AD 451, the Emperor Marcian mounted another campaign against the Blemmye and expelled them entirely from Upper Egypt, although a special exemption was made to allow Blemmye and Nobades pilgrims to travel to worship at the Eyptian Temple of Isis at Philae. Thus weakened, the Blemmye were eventually driven out of Upper Nubia by King Silko of the Nobades, who expanded the kingdom of Ballana to the first cataract.
In A.D. 540, the Egyptian temple of Isis at Philae was closed by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Coptic missionaries began to travel throughout Nubia. According to tradition, the empress Theodora arranged for the appointment of Longinus as Bishop of the See of Napata (the Nobades capital). Gradually, the Nubian temples were converted into Christian churches. The Nobades and other Nubian kingdoms accepted the monophysite christianity practiced in Egypt and acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria over the Nubian church. By 600 AD, the conversion of Upper Nubia was essentially complete.
The Blemmye were a fierce nomadic people from the mountainous regions near Nubia's Eastern Desert. Known to the Arabs as the Bedja, their raids are mentioned in Ku****e annals as early as the fourth century BC. They preyed on the ancient trade route connecting the Nile Valley to the Africa interior, which supplied Egypt and Rome with a wide variety of exotic goods including frankincense, myrrh, ivory, ebony and other exotic woods, precious oils, resins and gums, panther and leopard skins, monkeys, dogs, giraffes, ostrich feathers and eggs, and pygmies. In the first century AD, they began a series of constant raids against Ku****e and Romano Egyptian garrison-towns and were eventually able to occupy much of southern Egypt and Lower Nubia.
During the reign of Emperor Probus (276-282 AD), the Blemmye supported a somewhat obscure rebellion by the Egyptian cities of Ptolemais and Coptos. A decisive leader, Probus quickly crushed the rebellion and proceeded southward in a campaign of retribution against the Blemmye that so alarmed their not too distant neighbors, the Sassanians, that the Persian king sent a deputation to the court of Probus asking for Rome's friendship.
Probus' victories, however, did not end the Blemmye problem. In 298 AD, Emperor Diocletian decided that Nubia was no longer worth the effort(Roman Nubia consisting of the area between the 1st, and 5th cataracts of the nile, though Rome often had a strangle hold on the are between the 2, and 3rd, effectvlly making Nubia in earlyer time between the 3rd, and 5th cataracts) and withdrew Roman troops from the region, ceding authority to the Nobades. The Nobades were unable to oust the Blemmye from Lower Nubia, who had established their own kingdom between the first and third cataracts of the Nile River. Rome continued to subsidize the Nobades until the fifth century as a buffer against the Blemmye.
By the fourth century AD, Lower Nubia was effectively divided between the Nobades in the south and the Blemmye in the north. Both Kingdoms adopted the ancient Egyptian religion juxtaposed with Byzantine civil titles and influences, and both resisted Coptic Christian influences, which had already spread throughout Egypt and Abyssinia to the south. When not fighting with each other, the Nobades and the Blemmye often joined forces to raid Egypt or to fight Rome's enemies under commissions paid by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperors.
It is told that during this period the Blemmye raided into Egypt, seizing 20,000 captives. A Coptic priest, Apa Shenouda followed, making his way to the Blemmye camp to plead for their release. According to Coptic tradition, Blemmye soldiers threatened him at spearpoint all along the way, only to have their spear arms turn to wood. When the Blemmye king saw his men in such distress, he bowed before Shenouda and offered him gifts. Shenouda declined the gifts, but restored life to the men's arms on condition that the King release the captives, which he did gladly. For this miracle, Shenouda was later sainted (St. Shenouda the Archimandrite).
In AD 451, the Emperor Marcian mounted another campaign against the Blemmye and expelled them entirely from Upper Egypt, although a special exemption was made to allow Blemmye and Nobades pilgrims to travel to worship at the Eyptian Temple of Isis at Philae. Thus weakened, the Blemmye were eventually driven out of Upper Nubia by King Silko of the Nobades, who expanded the kingdom of Ballana to the first cataract.
In A.D. 540, the Egyptian temple of Isis at Philae was closed by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Coptic missionaries began to travel throughout Nubia. According to tradition, the empress Theodora arranged for the appointment of Longinus as Bishop of the See of Napata (the Nobades capital). Gradually, the Nubian temples were converted into Christian churches. The Nobades and other Nubian kingdoms accepted the monophysite christianity practiced in Egypt and acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria over the Nubian church. By 600 AD, the conversion of Upper Nubia was essentially complete.
