Giovanni R. Ruffini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199891634
- eISBN:
- 9780199980048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199891634.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter introduces the reader to Dotawo, the kingdom of medieval Nubia in southern Egypt and Sudan that remained independent from the seventh century to the fifteenth century ad. It introduces ...
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This chapter introduces the reader to Dotawo, the kingdom of medieval Nubia in southern Egypt and Sudan that remained independent from the seventh century to the fifteenth century ad. It introduces the reader to Qasr Ibrim, one of Dotawo’s major settlements in Lower Nubia, in southern Egypt, where archaeological excavations uncovered hundreds of texts from the later medieval period from the 1960s to the 1980s. It summarizes the key goals of the book: to identify the owner of one of Qasr Ibrim’s chief archives as Mashshouda the choiak-eikshil, to use Qasr Ibrim’s archives to demonstrate the existence of monetization and private land tenure in medieval Nubia, to show how Nubia’s legal tradition represented a fusion of Greco-Roman and indigenous practices, and to argue that medieval Nubia was a Mediterranean society in Africa.Less
This chapter introduces the reader to Dotawo, the kingdom of medieval Nubia in southern Egypt and Sudan that remained independent from the seventh century to the fifteenth century ad. It introduces the reader to Qasr Ibrim, one of Dotawo’s major settlements in Lower Nubia, in southern Egypt, where archaeological excavations uncovered hundreds of texts from the later medieval period from the 1960s to the 1980s. It summarizes the key goals of the book: to identify the owner of one of Qasr Ibrim’s chief archives as Mashshouda the choiak-eikshil, to use Qasr Ibrim’s archives to demonstrate the existence of monetization and private land tenure in medieval Nubia, to show how Nubia’s legal tradition represented a fusion of Greco-Roman and indigenous practices, and to argue that medieval Nubia was a Mediterranean society in Africa.
Giovanni R. Ruffini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199891634
- eISBN:
- 9780199980048
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199891634.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This book explores the history of medieval Nubia through the Old Nubian documentary archives excavated at Qasr Ibrim in southern Egypt. It focuses in particular on a single archive of land sales from ...
More
This book explores the history of medieval Nubia through the Old Nubian documentary archives excavated at Qasr Ibrim in southern Egypt. It focuses in particular on a single archive of land sales from the late twelfth century ad. It argues that the evidence from this archive alters our understanding of medieval Nubian society and economy. We should no longer see medieval Nubia as an isolated society with a primitive, demonetized economy. Nubian sales and accounts show wide levels of monetization. The accounts reveal gold-to-silver exchange rates in keeping with those of neighboring Egypt, thus tying Nubia’s economy to the wider Mediterranean. The documents from Qasr Ibrim also reveal medieval Nubia’s deep ties to Roman and Byzantine civilization. Old Nubian land sales have Greco-Roman Egyptian land sales as their historical basis. These land sales also suggest the existence of land purchase for investment by high-ranking officials who carried the expenses of the state, much like late antique landholders in Egypt. But the documents from Qasr Ibrim also reveal Nubian cultural practices along side this Roman cultural inheritance. In particular, we see evidence for public feasts as a widespread practice: Communal eating is a way for medieval Nubians to confirm the legitimacy of their legal transactions and their social hierarchies. Thus our records for medieval Nubia reveal a hybrid civilization with African and Byzantine characteristics.Less
This book explores the history of medieval Nubia through the Old Nubian documentary archives excavated at Qasr Ibrim in southern Egypt. It focuses in particular on a single archive of land sales from the late twelfth century ad. It argues that the evidence from this archive alters our understanding of medieval Nubian society and economy. We should no longer see medieval Nubia as an isolated society with a primitive, demonetized economy. Nubian sales and accounts show wide levels of monetization. The accounts reveal gold-to-silver exchange rates in keeping with those of neighboring Egypt, thus tying Nubia’s economy to the wider Mediterranean. The documents from Qasr Ibrim also reveal medieval Nubia’s deep ties to Roman and Byzantine civilization. Old Nubian land sales have Greco-Roman Egyptian land sales as their historical basis. These land sales also suggest the existence of land purchase for investment by high-ranking officials who carried the expenses of the state, much like late antique landholders in Egypt. But the documents from Qasr Ibrim also reveal Nubian cultural practices along side this Roman cultural inheritance. In particular, we see evidence for public feasts as a widespread practice: Communal eating is a way for medieval Nubians to confirm the legitimacy of their legal transactions and their social hierarchies. Thus our records for medieval Nubia reveal a hybrid civilization with African and Byzantine characteristics.
