The Late Period in Nubian Art

from the middle of 13th to the end of 14th centuries.

Nubia of the Late Period was a land undergoing important social and political changes. Its economic condition was largely dependent upon the political situation in Egypt and the migrations of the desert tribes; it differed at various stages but systematically deteriorated with time. Politically, Nubia was no doubt dependent to a considerable extent upon three factors: the stability of royal succession, Egypt's influence and the degree of control over the nomadic tribes living in the eastern deserts as well as in the territories lying west of the Nile.The Late Period in Nubia is not a homogeneous period and can easily be subdivided into narrower time horizons, characterized chiefly by Nubia's relations with Egypt.

I. 1050-1150 - peaceful coexistence with Fatimid Egypt.

2. 1150-1250 - the Ayyubid invasion and growing pressure from the desert tribes

3. 1250-1350 - Nubia's subordination to Egypt of the Mamelukes; vigorous influx of Bedouin tribes to the Nubian region; rapid increase in the number of believers in Islam.

4. 1350-1520 - decomposition of the Nubian state; establishing a Christian kingdom with a center at Daw; Islamization of the country south of Batn el Hagar.

 

Throughout the Late Period in the Nubian kingdom the direct inheriting of the throne as practiced in the Classical period obviously tended to be abandoned in favor of inheriting through the female line: the heir was the son of the king's sister. This system of inheritance led to internal strife, but primarily it allowed non-Nubians to gain rights to the Nubian throne, particularly the Kanz ed-Dawla tribe which held a strong position in the area of Assuan. The slow decline of the church and the dissolution of its organization was an important factor destabilizing the Nubian kingdom then and was to a large extent the result of a diminishing importance of royal power. The periodization of the Late period presented here is rather schematic because of insufficiently advanced research as well as of a small number of available documents. It is necessarily political in character but will have to be used currently, for want of a better dvision, to periodize cultural events, keeping in mind throughout that the two need not be in total agreement and presumably was not.

 

In the second half of the 13th century, just before the Mameluke invasion which changed the political and economic situation of the country in so dramatic a way, it is possible to observe in Nubian art obvious tendencies which can briefly be described as a pauperization of culture. The dating of Nubian structures of this period is uncertain and the criteria used in publications so far variable enough for the dating in particular cases to differ by even 200 years from study to study. The recent opportunity to assign certain paintings to the reign of Mari Kuda, eparch of Nobadia, would seem to be an important step out of the impasse. Mari Kuda, eparch of Nobadia and presumably also domestikos of Pachoras as was the custom at the time /Browne 1991/, is mentioned in one of the documents discovered at Qasr Ibrim (no. 90229 see Plumley 1978: 235/ as a contemporary of David, King of Dotawo. Thus, his administrative floruit must have been in the sixties and seventies of the 13th century. On a portrait representation of an eparch, which has long been known from a small church at Abd el Gadir (no.12), there is an incomplete legend which F. LI. Griffith had read as ...RI KUDA EPARCHOS OF NOBADIA /Griffith 1928:70-71/. It is now possible to reconstruct the name as Mari Kuda and date the painting to the beginning of the second half of the 13th century. From the documents so far at our disposal it would appear that only one Mad Kuda ever served as eparch of Nobadia and this would confirm the identity of the figure represented in the church at Abd el Gadir.Another finding of importance for the chronology of Nubian painting is the revised dating of the late paintings in the Faras cathedral. The original chronology had largely been based on the assumption that the Cathedral was seriously damaged during the Ayyubid invasion /Michalowski 1967: 97-98; Michalowski 1974:26,40­41/, when a garrison of the invaders was stationed temporarily at Qasr Ibrim and its leader, Ibrahim al-Kurdi, was drowned in the Nile near Faras in 1175. The death of Bishop lesu II occurred at this time, too, and he is the last bishop to be recorded on the list of bishops written on the walls of the baptistery of the Cathedral /Jakobielski 1972:165/. Today it is clear that the Pachoras bishopric continued until 1372 and that the cathedral was rebuilt along different lines presumably at the turn of the 13th century, and served in its capacity as an episcopal church until the very end /Godlewski 1994/. Consequently, the dating of certain of the paintings, chiefly portraits of Nubian kings, eparchs of Nobadia and bishops of Faras, can be moved forward to the 13th and early 14th century. At this time the Faras cathedral, seat of the oldest Nubian bishopric, served as a kind of "Nubian national gallery". This is particularly obvious in the numerous portraits of eparchs of Nobadia who were domestikos of Pachoras at the same time, a fact that is satisfactorily documented in Old Nubian texts from Qasr Ibrim Browne 1991/. One of the eparch portraits on the middle pilaster of the western wall of the church, only partly preserved and devoid of an identifying inscription, can now be identified as a portrait of Mad Kuda /Michalowski 1974:263/. His representation should be expected in the Faras cathedral because all the eparchs of the time were painted on its walls. The portrait is preserved in extraordinarily fresh colors in comparison with other Faras paintings, something which until now was interpreted as the result of the brevity of the period which transgressed between its painting and the rebuilding of the cathedral which covered the mural by introducing in the arcade, where on a pillar the painting was located, a supporting wall with only a small doorway. The interpretation is probable and is additionally and excellently evidenced by the eparch's years of life; Mad Kuda died before the Mameluke invasion on Nubia in 1276, and the proposed rebuilding of the cathedral currently dated to the years after the invasion. More supportive evidence is to be found in certain stylistic similarities between the portrait painting from Abd el-Gadir and the representation of the eparch from the Faras cathedral. In both cases the frontally standing figure of the eparch is protected by Christ who leans out from some clouds around the right shoulder of the eparch; in the Faras cathedral only the hand of the protector has been preserved and it is difficult to be sure that it was Christ. The decoration of the robes is also very similar in both paintings, particularly that of the eparch's skirt. The eparch from Abd el Gadir supports a model of a church on his left hand. In Faras it is the bucranium from his crown and this has an analogy in a recently uncovered painting from Old Dongola where the Mother of God holds her crown in a similar way. It is worth emphasizing that there is also a close similarity in the decoration of the ribbons of both crowns as well as of the robes of the figures - an ornament of round interconnected medallions filled with decoration inside. Unfortunately, the Dongolan painting is not well dated - it could not have been painted before than the early 12th century. Neither can there be any doubt as to the difference of hands as far as the Abd el Gadir and Faras portraits of the eparch are concerned. In fact, it can be said that between the two artists there is a sea of difference in terms of capabilities and artistic talent. The Faras painting is undoubtedly the work of a good artist, while the portrait at Abd el Gadir was painted by a local village painter entrusted with the task of representing the sponsor of the church's development on its walls. The identification of the Faras painting as a portrait of Mari Kuda, not absolutely certain as yet, has provided scholars with the opportunity of placing other representations of eparchs without identifying inscriptions in a chronological order based on stylistic criteria and the logic of architectural changes inside the cathedral.

 

Architecture

Settlement in Nubia in the mid 13th century is not equally well known for the whole kingdom. The terrritory of Northern Nubia and the Batn el Hagar region up to the Dal cataract is relatively well researched, even though the most important publications of fieldwork at Qasr Ibrim, Gebel Adda, Faras, Serra East and the survey in the region from Gamai to Dal are still wanting. Not all the preliminary archaeological reports can be considered reliable as far as dating particular structures and paintings is concerned. In Southern Nubia, the core of the kingdom of Makuria, things are much worse. So far late habitations have been the object of systematic research only at the capital in Old Dongola and in the Letti basin which constituted the hinteriand of the capital. According to a list of holdings of the sultan Baybars in Northern Nubia, preserved in Mufaddal's work /Vantini 1975:502/, the most important settlements in Nubia in the second half of the 13th century were: Sabagura, Adama?, Ad Daw=Gebel Adda, Ibrim=Qasr Ibrim, Dandal?, Bukharas=Faras, Semma and the island of Michael (Meinarti). On the basis of archaeological results Serre East, Tamit, Sunnarti, Kulubnarti and Dongola can be added to this list. The chief setllements of Nubia such as Qasr Ibrim, Gebel Adda and Dongola were fortified in similarity to a number of settlements in the rocky region of Batn el Hagar: Sunnarti, Kulb. The houses in many settlements were also defensive; massive and storeyed, they had entrances in the first floor. Generally speaking, it is to be said that in Northern Nubia and the Batn el Hagar region settlement was concentrated at a limited number of localities.

 

Church architecture

In the main centers of Nubia, great church complexes built in the Early or Classic periods continued in existence: the cathedral at Qasr Ibrim, the cathedral at Faras, the great complexes of Dongola such as the Church with Granite Columns and the Cruciform Church. Also the smaller churches, both of the basilican of aisle type as well as those with central domes, continued to serve liturgical functions. It should be emphasized, however, that all the churches newly built in the 12th and 13th century are of a different character. They are small, of a length usually not exceeding 10-12 m; some are even smaller. All of them are reduced dome basilicas in form, and some of them are designed as central structures inscribed into a square, a cross-in-square or cruciform buildings. In the interiors, all the churches lost the typical elements of the furnishings which had been the canon in the Classical period and at the beginning of the Late period.The apse is almost always square or rectangular. Never again does it have a synthronon and it usually has passages joining it to the comer rooms; sometimes the tripartite division of the eastern end of the church is missing. The altar is usually to be found in the apse and only sometimes is it separated from the faithful by an altar screen. Only exceptionally are there steps in the western end of the complex and the tripartite division of the western end of the church also vanishes gradually. The characteristic Nubian feature of a passage joining the comer siderooms behind the apse also disappears. Some of these changes were forced by the evident reduction in the size of these churches, but primarily they are a reflection of the changes in the liturgy and a gradual decrease in the number of faithful. Most of the churches considered to be of the Late period do not have an exact dating.The tiny two-phase church at Abd el Gadir is definitely very important/Griffith 1928;Bissing 1937; Nescović and Medić 1965/. The original structure measured 5 by 5.5 m and was built most probably in the mid 13th century. Two side rooms were added by the eparch Mari Kuda in the sixties of the 13th century. The design is that of a reduced dome basilica with a small dome in the eastern end of the main aisle just in front of the sanctuary. The dome was supported upon the vault of the nave. The aisles were separated by single arcades. The apse was rectangular and of the same width as the rest of the original building; it filled the whole space intended for the tripartite bema in earlier churches. The tripartite character of the western end of the church may have been marked by little more than the pilasters of the arcades separating the aisles. The interior was filled with paintings. The church at Abd el Gadir is doubtless the best Nubian example of a reduced basilican plan in a local village edition.The religious complexes in Serra East /Mileham 1910:41-45; Monneret de Villard 1935:204; Knudstad 1966:166-171; Grossmann 1982:191/ are close to the Abd el Gadir church, although much better constructed. All four are to be dated to the 13th century. The North Church at Serra East is perhaps the closest to the Abd el Gadir structure. The basilican building measures 8.5 by 7.0 m and has a nave divided by two arcades. Above the eastern part of the nave there was a dome on a drum supported in part on the vault. The eastern end of the building was tripartite, with a rectangular apse and side corner rooms entered by doorways from the apse. There were no rooms in the western end of the structure. The Central and South Church at Serra resemble each other to a large extent as far as form is concerned, the main difference being that the Central Church is a storeyed structure. The plan is that of a small basilica measuring 8.5 by 7 m, with the eastern end of the nave clearly distinguished by pillars supporting the dome. A square apse is connected only with the northeastern room. In the northwestern unit there is a small staircase instead, leading up to the storey designed on a central plan around the support of the dome.The South Church at Serra is of similar dimensions (9 by 7 m) and it resembles the Central Church in that it has the eastern end of the nave separated out by the pillars supporting the small dome. A rectangular apse is conected with the side rooms, while in the western end of the structure the tripartite division is marked only by the pilasters of the arcades dividing up the body of the church into aisles. Similar complexes are to be found at Qasr Ibrim, i.e. the Domed Church /Grossmann 1988:22-25/, and at Kulubnarti /Grossmann 1988:45-47/ and Sunnarti /Grossmann 1982:193-194/.A slightly different type of basilican church is to be found on the first floor of a house in Faras, incorrectly interpreted by the discoverers as the Northern Monastery /Griffith 1926:57-59; Michalowski 1962:148-151; Grossmann 1982:20-22/. It was undoubtedly an important residence of a bishop or perhaps domestikos of Pachoras where the ground floor was adapted to communication and storage facilities, with stores accessible from both the inside and in the case of a few rooms from the outside. The upper storey, much damaged, was presumably intended for living purposes and the entire eastern part was taken up by a small basilican church, possibly the palace chapel. The building itself is not a homogeneous structure and was presumably constructed in three stages. The church belongs to the third stage which should be dated to the 13th century, perhaps even its second half, but the evidence for this is not very strong. The small domed basilica measures 17 by 9 m and has a nave with two domes and a barrel vault over a small space just before the church apse, creating a sort of vestibule before the sanctuary. There were doorways between the apse and the comer rooms. The western end of the complex was definitely tripartite with    two rows of rooms separated from the chapel and thus presumably serving functions other than liturgical ones. The Faras church is undoubtedly the latest version of the domed basilica in Nubia. The chapel in the palatial complex at Gebel Adda seems to have been very similar in character /Millet 1967:59-60/. Unfortunately this structure which was presumably the palace of the last kings of Nubia has not been published as yet. ln speaking of buildings on a central plan three should be mentioned: the Desert Church in Adindan /Mileham 1910:38; Grossmann 1980:96-97/, the Church of the Angels in Tamit /Monneret de Villard 1935:154-162; Grossmann 1982:81-82/ and the North Church in Dongola /Godlewski 1990:37-55/. All were built in the 13th century on different plans.The Church of the Angels in Tamit is a small cruciform structure modelled undoubtedly on the Cruciform Church of Dongola. The structure with dimensions 9.80 m to the side is topped by a central dome. It has a clearly distinguished eastern part with apse amd two interconnected side rooms. An entrance from the apse in the western arm opens up onto a staircase. In the northern and southern arms there were entrances to the church and the arms actually served as vestibules. The harmoniously designed interior was completely filled with late paintings from the 13-14th century. The building itself has been dated in widely differing ways, but presumably its construction must have coincided with the paintings found in its interiors. The Desert Church at Adindan is a unique structure as far as Nubian architecture is concerned. Built far from the settlement, it must have been connected with a cemetery. Measuring 11.5 by 12.80 m, it was built on the plan of a domed basilica with the dome supported on four cenral pillars. The design was developed to include porticos with arcades on the north and south side. The comer rooms were also enlarged to retain the block character of the exterior. In addition to the central dome which was presumably supported on a drum, there were four comer domes. Inside the church has a clearly distinguished eastern end with a rectangular apse connected to two small rooms on either side. Also the western end is tripartite and the southwestern room contains a staircase. The presbytery of the church was enlarged toward the west and an altar screen placed around it. The North Church at Dongola received yet a different form. It is also a small structure measuring 11.5 m to the side, built on a typically Byzantine plan, "cross in square", and topped by a central dome. The inside of the building had a typical Nubian design with the sanctuary, a small apse set inside the thickness of the wall, joined to comer rooms of which the northern one was a prothesis with an altar against the eastern wall. Also the western end was tripartite with a staircase in the southwestern comer leading to the church roof. The North Church at Dongola has earlier analogies in religious Nubian architecture in the form of the Church at Sonqi Tino and the complex at Gandal Irki, both of which may be dated to the 10th-11th century. The Dongolan church is undoubtedly much later, from the 13th -14th century, and its is surely the latest church complex to be erected in Dongola.This short review of church architecture from the 13th century brings home the fact that religious building remained faithful to the development trends observed in Nubia and continued to introduce certain changes in interior designs even if on such a small scale.The end of the 13th century brought the Mameluke invasion and in consequence large-scale destruction of churches in Nubia. This particularly concerned the large and monumentally large complexes which were even profaned intentionally as in the case of the Cruciform Church at Dongola/Godlewski 1990:127-137/. Destructions were also noted at this time in the Faras Cathedral, but both structures were quickie returned to liturgical use. Some renovation work was observed at the Qasr Ibrim cathedral; it was probably bishop Mielkuda who carried out these works after the damages were done to the structure /Gartkiewicz 1980: 89/. P. M. Gartkiewicz thought to place these works in a much earlier period, but at present it would seem they should also be dated to the turn of the 13th century. The very Nubian name of the bishop would also suggest a late dating; at this time compound names with -kuda in them are very common.The work undertaken during this time in the great churches of Nubia had one purpose: to return these buildings to their normal function as quickly as possible and in the most economic way.

 

Civil architecture.

Civil architecture is even less certainly dated than the churches. It underwent very rapid changes and has not been the object of concentrated research so far, even to the point that particular structures have been left without being completely uncovered or stratified. In this period habitations continued to be compact, either one- or two-storeyed structures. The best known complexes of late habitations come from Qasr Ibrim and also Kulubnarti, Kasanarti and Meinarti, but none, however, have been fully published so far. The structures in Batn el Hagar as well as in Serre East and Qasr Ibrim do not follow a single plan, each being an original structure adapted to the needs of its inhabitants. But there are certain common features. The houses are usually close to a square in plan, with one entrance and four to eight rooms on the ground floor. One of these rooms would be the latrine reached by a long and narrow corridor. In storeyed houses the upper storey plan resembled that of the ground floor, but in these cases the ground floor served as storage and household space, the living quarters being on the upper floor. Frequently, the upper floor was accessible by means of a wooden Iadder.Some buildings uncovered at Serra East and at Kasanarti and Kulubnarti are special and seem to originate from the 13th or perhaps even 14th century. At Kasanarti it is one of the last structures built at the site/Adams 1964:218-222/. A square building somewhat larger than the neighboring structures, it had two storeys. There was no entrance to the ground floor, the rooms being entered through small square hatchways in their roofs reached from the upper storey which was accessible from the outside by means of Iadders.The blockhouse at Meinarti /Adams 1964:232-233/ had a metre or more thick outer wall built of mudbricks. The arrangement of the fifteen or so rooms was deliberately labyrinthine, with doorways often barely large enough to admit a man on his hands and knees. At least three rooms in the southwestern comer were entered through hatchways in the roof.ln Serra East there were several storeyed houses /Knudstad 1966:169-170/, each with a slightly different arrangement of the four or more rooms on the ground floor and a similar number on the upper storey which was accessible only by means of a ladder. Narrow streets between houses were vaulted level with the upper storey floors, possibly facilitating communication between neighboring houses on the upper floor.ln the settlement on Kulubnarti island /Adams 1970:142-143/ four two-storey unit houses present much the same plan on the upper floor, while the ground floor is devoted to smaller vaulted crypts. Access to the upper floor levels was only by means of a ladder. The plan of each house included at least one small storage space ewhich was elaborately concealed within the thickness of the wall. The groundfloors of these houses served as storage space while living quarters were on the upper floor.Three buildings from the period require a fuller discussion because of their function. At Gebel Adda a large building was discovered made up of a number of buildings built on a U-plan /Millet 1967:61-62/. The entrance to the courtyard thus created was from the north. The eastern arm of the complex was taken up by a church and a residential structure, the western arm housed the palace of the late kings of Dotawo. The buildings of the palace complex were all, with the exception of the church, built in the usual Late Christian manner with a ground floor of blind storage rooms, accessible from above, and a second and possibly third storey of large rooms for general living purposesDand a stair of some kind was necessary to enter most of them. Inside the church which is among the latest church buildings from Nubia a number of wall paintings was uncovered, including representatins of bishops. Unfortunately, this interesting complex, most probably a royal residence, has not received due attention in scholarly discussions. It would be well then to discuss at this point the earlier complex of buildings uncovered at Faras, to the northeast of the cathedral. It was interpreted by F. LI. Griffith and K. Michatowski as the Northern monastery, but it is undoubtedly a blockhouse combined with a church or rather a kind of house chapel, on the upper floor. This is not a homogeneous structure and, as I have already said, it was presumably built in three stages. The oldest part is an almost square building in the southwestern comer of the complex. The complex was doubtless in use throughout the 13th century and presumably in the eariy 14th century as well /Michalowski 1962:135-151/.It is a large building measuring 24 by 21 m with two entrances from the north. One of the entrances in the northern comer led through a number of rooms to the earliest building in the complex which is almost square in plan, measuring 10.4 by 12.3 m. Undoubtedly the most important part of the complex, the building had 14 interconnected rooms of different size on the ground floor. A staircase inside the structure led up to the first floor were there was a number of large rooms. Both floors were evidently for living purposes.The second entrance, which was definitely more monumental in nature and located in the central part of the complex, led to an extensive vestibule made up of 5 small rooms and a monumental corridor running through the entire complex to the southern facade where there was another entrance to it. The corridor gave access to a number of large parallel rooms-presumably storage rooms. Some of these rooms had a single entrance from the outside, located in the eastern facade. The corridor also gave access to the upper storey via a staircase located near the southern entrance. A number of large, extensively damaged rooms for living purposes was discovered on the upper floor. The entire northern part of the upper floor of the complex was taken up by the church, which was rather a kind of domestic chapel, preceded on the west by a number of rooms of a rather non-liturgical function. On the church walls as well as in the rooms preceding the church on the west there were wall paintings in different stages of preservation.The structure was apparently the residence of the Faras bishop and the complex as a whole to some extent resembles in character the palatial complex at Gebel Adda.At the turn of the 13th century the great throne hall of the Nubian kings at Dongola was seriously damaged, presumably during the Mameluke invasion /Godlewski 1982: 22/. It was subsequently rebuilt and turned into a mosque in 1317. At the present stage of research it is difficult to be sure which of the changes inside the building are from the period of renovation and which from the time of its transformation into a mosque. Thus, the changes have to be discussed jointly.The northwestern comer of the building was destroyed and left that way. The ground floor was filled with debris up to the level of the entrances to the rooms and some of the windows in the western facade of the eastern corridor were turned into doorways. A compact complex of rooms was thus created, made up of two long corridors, on the east and west, and four long parallel rooms between them. The entrance to this part of the ground floor was from the south. At the time the building was a mosque, the whole ground floor served as living quarters for pilgrims travelling to Mecca through Dongola. The main entrance in the western facade of the building led to the upper floor where there was a central square hall with a wooden roof supported on four granite pillars. This room was the coronation hall and after 1317 the mosque proper. From the corridor preceding this room on the west there was an entrance to the terrace of the building and a small minaret which was erected in the northwestern comer of the building. The building survived in this form until our days, being only externally reinforced at a later time by a casing wail running all around the ground floor.

 

Sepulchral architecture

Few of the many burial structures known from Nubia can be assigned to this period with any measure of certainty. Thus, it would seem worthwhile to describe more closely the tomb of the last bishops of Faras /Michalowski 1962:91-129; Godlewski 1994/ which was built next to the eastern facade of the cathedral above the earlier burial complex belonging to bishop Johannes and his successors, including lesu II who died in c.1170-1175. The new tomb was built at the beginning of the 14th century in the form of a small domed structure on a square plan, measuring 3.34 m to the side, with arched openings in the middle of each side. In form, this structure resembled quite closely the tomb of bishop Petros who died in 988, which was built next to the Church on the South Slope in Faras and also many tombs at Qasr Ibrim and Gebel Adda which are not dated well and which are sometimes difficult to distinguish as Christian or Moslem without opening the burial chamber.

 

Paintings

There is quite a number of paintings of the 13th and 14th century from several churches preserved in the large city centres such as Faras or Gebel Adda, as well as in the small villages of Abd el Gadir, Kulubnarti, Serra East. In quality the paintings differ considerably from piece to piece and it is difficult to be precise today as to what was actually the style of the Late Period in Nubia. There is undoubtedly much in common with the earlier period, particularly in the decorativeness and the obstinate attention to detail. Also without a doubt, there is little freedom in this painting which is chiefly imitative and schematic. But with an eye to the general, it must be said that it is a painting which is local Nubian, as much because of tradition as because of the tastes of an increasingly secular community. This is probably what explains the popularity of portrait representations, with laymen outdistancing church officials. Undoubtedly Faras remained the most important center of painting in Nubia. Almost all the compositions from the Cathedral dated to this period demonstrate an excellent artistic quality when compared to the paintings preserved at Kulubnarti or Abd el Gadir, but they too have a provincial character frequently. Although the majority of paintings have a local character, which may simply be called Nubian, even at Faras it is possible to encounter compositions as astounding as the head of Christ from a fragmentarily preserved compsition of an eparch protected by Christ, currently in Khartum /Michalowski 1967:165/, or the partly preserved representation of an eparch with a bow /Michalowski 1974:263/, identified with the person of Marikuda. These paintings, full of color and freshness, seem to be proof of the vivacity of Nubian painting workshops. Perhaps in both compositions one should see the influences of the distant capital at Dongola which, though still poor in preserved murals, must be considered the most important center of Nubian art, in this period as well. The 1993 discovery of a representation of the Queen Mather with a Crown would tend to prove this. It is unlikely that at this time there were new stylistic trends reaching Nubia from Egypt or Byzantium. This does not, of course, refer to new iconographic designs which were doubtless known in Nubia perhaps a little earlier, chiefly in the 12th century. lt would seem Nubian painting of the 13th century featured mainly figures in puffed trousers and wide skirts, without shoes or in yellow shoes with a double outline. Frequent representations of Christ are provided with a halo, with the arms of the cross in the form of a Maltese cross or with triangular endings. The themes current in the period resemble those already fixed in the iconography of Nubia as a whole, but there do exist clear preferences. There is much more portrait painting; representations of saints on horseback, the tripartite being of Christ and highly stylized representations of Christ in glory with four apocalyptical beings are all very popular.A detailed review of painting found in particular buildings would seem appropriate. One should start from the provincial painting, the Abd el Gadir murals /Griffith 1928; Bissing 1937; Nescović and Medić 1965; Martens-Czamecka 1993/, because these pieces can be dated to the mid 13th century thanks to the identification of a representation of Marikuda, eparch of Nobadia. It would seem that the whole church was decorated during a relatively short time. That the eparch was painted partly over an existing representation of a saint suggests there were at least two stages in the decoration of the church. The two stages probably correspond to two phases in the building of this complex. The enlarging of the building may possibly be assigned to Marikuda. The arrangement of the chief compositions inside the Abd el Gadir church is analogous to that seen in churches of the Classical period. On the eastern wall of the northern aisle there was a scene of the Nativity, while on the western wall of the southern aisle a representation of Three Youths in a Fiery Furnace and Christ with Doubtful Thomas beside him. On the eastern wall of the apse a depiction of Christ ? enthroned between the Apostles is only partly recognizable. In the eastern part of the walls there were many representations of angels while in the western part a number of saints on horseback. On the western wall of the nave there was a representation of Christ with a book held in the left hand and the right hand raised in blessing and protection of a much smaller figure of a ruler? holding a crown with three crosses in his left hand /Griffith 1928:71; Nesković; and Medić 1965:fig.55; Rostkowska 1978/. The composition as a whole is close to the painting from Faras representing a young eparch also protected by Christ who is shown as in the Faras piece /Michalowski 1974:251-256/. Beside it, on the northern wall there was one of the most interesting murals from the entire church; it depicted Christ enthroned, with the left hand supported on the knee and the right raised in blessing. From above the shoulders of the figure there appear two heads of Christ in cruciform nimbuses. The composition is not well preserved and rather brings to mind a three-headed enthroned Christ. On the other side of the nave, on the southern wall there is a representation of the founder, eparch Mad Kuda /Griffith 1928:70; Martens Czarnecka 1993: fig.7/, holding a small model of a domed church in his left hand and taking down a bag thrown over his right shoulder. On his head there is a a crown with a crescent moon and the star of David. He is dressed in a caftan, puffed skirt decorated with medallions, puffed trousers; his feet are bare. Above the right shoulder of the eparch there is a half-figure of Christ appearing from the clouds; with his right hand Christ is touching the shoulder of the Nubian officiaLMost of the compositions from the Abd el Gadir church are in the National Museum in Khartum and not in great shape . Undoubtedly it is the largest set of paintings of the Late Period from a single church and is a good example of what the repertory of church decoration in the 13th century was Iike.The second set of paintings which seems to have been created in the 13th or 14th century and was the work of a team of artists is the decoration of the small cruciform church at Tamit, called the Church of the Angels. The study of this undoubtedly provincial set of paintings is unfortunately encumbered by the fact that it is known only from a very summary publication by U. Monneret de Villard and from black and white photographs /Monneret de Villard 1935: 154-162,p1s 157-1711/. The interior of the church at Tamit, an important settlement, is also a good example of a full repertory of church decoration completed in the late period. As in the Abd el Gadir church, the repertory here is the traditional Nubian combination of iconographic motifs arranged inside the building according to a scheme developed in the 10th century. The apse of the Church of the Angels at Tamit was traditionally filled with a two-register composition of the Mother of God between standing Apostles in the bottom part and Christ in Glory in the conch. The characteristic drawing of the apostles is worth emphasizing; they are shown without books or rolls in their left hands and their robes have linearly treated folds marked on them. This kind of representation of the apostles is undoubtedly typical of the Late period and does not appear earlier. In the northern room accessible from the apse, the prothesis of the church was presumably to be found. Although no altar has been preserved, the representation of Christ with a cup in his right hand and patera ? in his left defines the room's function. On the four walls there are representations of cherubs with six wings which were interpreted as angels by the discoverer. In the southern room next to the apse, where a baptistery is most often to be found, a saint is painted holding in his left hand an unrolled roll. This should be a representation of St. John the Baptist to judge both by the iconography and the spot the painting occupies in the church.On the northern side of the apse, on the eastern wall there was a representation of the Nativity but no photographic record of this scene has survived. At the southern entrance to the church, on the other hand, there was a depiction of the Three Young Hebrews in a Fiery Furnace, protected by an angel with spread wings. The composition as a whole is very similar in form to the splendid painting in the narthex of the Cathedral at Faras, presently in Khartum. It is undoubtedly the most "classic" painting of all the scenes painted in the church, "classic" both in the composition and the iconography. But it is difficult to expect it was much earlier than the remaining paintings. Also the image of Saint Mercurios on a horse, found next to it and poorly visible in the preserved photographs, seems to be different stylistically from the remaining compositions. This could suggest that both were the work of a better artist than the painters decorating the apse where because of its liturgical aspects, the painting had to constitute the original decoration of the church.A very interesting composition is to be found in the western apse where Christ was painted sitting on a throne with a book in his left hand and his right raised in blessing. On either side of Christ there are standing saints: the apostle Peter on Christ's right and Saint Pachom on the left. !n the northern arm of the building there was a standing Christ with hands raised as in pictures of orants, between the saints Damianos and Cosma. The type of the representation and the figures of the two saints are recorded for the first time in Nubian painting and they, too, may be connected with changes occurring in the Late Period.Beside Saint Damianos there was a representation of Christ in glory with four apocalyptical beings, a representation which was popular in Nubia since the 10th century. But in the Tamit church the arrangement of the wings of the apocalyptical beings is different; the wings meet at an angle forming a composition which resembles a great four-arm star.Apparently the Tamit paintings were created over a longer period of time. The building itself was accessible to visitors and used presumably until the end of Christianity in Nubia to judge by the graffiti and the characteristic damage to the paintings, mostly intentionally destroyed faces. The latest paintings are presumably representations of a ruler protected by a saint and angel as well as a cross in velium.Paintings have also been preserved in the late churches at Serra East, but they have not been published fully so far /Knudstad 1966:168-169/. Neither do we have any photographs at our disposal and we have to work with drawings made by F. LLGriffith /1927: 100-101, p1.77/.Inside the apse of the Central Church there was a painting which is known only from a description: "the figure of Christ enthroned, life-sized, in robes spotted with eyes. His left hand held an open book, the right seemed lifted above the shoulder. At the sides of the painting the symbols of four apocalyptical beasts. To the left and right on each side wall of the haikal stood six variously bearded saints with right hands raised over their breasts (Apostles). On the other walls of the church there were representations of Angels and Christ inside a niche in the northern sacristy, the prothesis.'The best paintings were preserved inside the Cathedral at Faras.ln the publications so far they were dated most frequently to the 12th century, but this was conditioned by the date accepted by the excavators for the rebuilding of the church, which was in the seventies of the 12th century, after the Ayyubid raid. Some paintings, mostly portrait representations of eparchs of Nobadia and bishops, preserved from before the rebuilding are presently dated to the turn of the 13th century. Presumably, the interior of the church was filled with paintings in the times of bishop Petros (974-999) and later the only some paintings which were added had liturgical character /representations of Madonna Eleusa, Angels, saints/ but most frequently that were pictures of Nubian secular and church officials. And these paintings were commissioned by successive rulers and bishops. Unfortunately, the legends accompanying usually the paintings have not been preserved in these cases and so the portrayed cannot be identified. It should be emphasized that in the Late Period the Faras Cathedral turned into something of a Nubian "national" gallery of portrait where beside the Pachoras bishops there were representations of eparchs, who were usually also domestikos of Pachoras, as well as some of the rulers of Nubia.Judging by some iconographic details of the represented persons and assuming that the painting in the National Museum in Warsaw no.234010 /Michalowski 1974:263/ is indeed a portrait of the eparch Mad Kuda, we can suggest the following succession of the eparchs of Nobadia whose portraits appeared in the cathedral from the mid 13th until the mid 14th century:

- eparch with Christ -National Museum in Khartoum /Michalowski 1967:165-166,fig.12-13,91­92/, dated to c.1250.

- eparch Mari Kuda? -National Museum in Warsaw /Michalowski 1974:263/

- eparch from the apse - National Museum in Warsaw /Michalowski 1974:132-137/, dated to c.1290 and could be identified as Urrosi /Plumley 1978:235/.

- eparch with Virgin - National Museum in Khartoum /Martens - Czamecka 1993/

- eparch /or king/ between two saints, one of them in bishop dress- National Museum in War­saw /Michalowski 1974:271-273/, dated to c.1330.

 

Painting, mid 14th century and later

It is difficult to be precise in distinguishing inside Nubian churches paintings which are from the period of the slow decline of Christianity in the second half of the 14th century. This is because of a lack of appropriate stylistic criteria on one hand and on the other, the simple fact that no new church buildings were built in this period. Painted portraits retain the greatest vivacity although cult scenes must have been created as well. The political situation in Nubia in this period is not clear to us either. What is certain is the existence of at least two bishoprics at Qasr Ibrim and Faras (until 1372); it is also probable that Qasr Ibrim and Daw (Gebel Adda) served in this period as the most important political centers and it is in these particular settlements that the residences of the Nubian king and eparch of Nobadia were to be found. The whole Batn el Hagar region remained an important area of settlement throughout this period, because of the naturally defensive character of the region.The cathedral at Faras once again is our starting point for an analysis of period painting. Beside it, there are two other buildings at Faras: the Rivergate Church /Griffith 1926; Monneret de Viltard 1957,p1s 145-147; Martens-Czamecka 1992/ and the church on the first floor of the Northern Building /Griffrth 1926:57-59,p1s 34-35; Monneret de Villard 1957:p1s 143-144/. Presumably also the paintings from the palace church at Gebel Adda should be referred to this period, but a lack of publications on the subject of these paintings makes their analysis impossible. Some of the paintings from the churches at Tamit also seem to originate from the 14th century. The church at Kulubnarti was surely decorated at this time /Adams 1970/, but the latest paintings are only mentioned by travellers, since their condition excluded their taking down from the walls. The paintings on the earlier layer of plaster are undoubtedly late and may be assigned to the turn of the 13th century. The paintings at the Faras cathedral were painted on walls which were built to reinforce the structure of the building already almost covered by sand dunes. Based on photographic evidence /Dzierzykray-Rogalski 1985: 222, fig. 325/, the southern wall of the haikal supporting the eastern arcade was decorated with paintings at two different points in time, and the compositions preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw /Michalowski 1974:268-273/ are from the second phase. On these grounds alone it is possible to date them to the middle 14th century. An over lifesize representation of an archangel /Michalowski 1974:268-271/ with a ball painted flatly in his left hand and a cross topping a long staff in his right has large wings folded against the figure and is spotted with apocalyptical eyes and peacock feathers. The robes, both the exterior one and the loros rounded at the bottom, are decorated with a double square ornament and with bejeweled yellow bands at the edges. The white sticharion has a wide black band at the bottom. The feet in yellow shoes are doubly outlined in black.Beside the representation of the archangel which serves as a guardian of the entrance to the haikal, there was a large painting depicting the standing figure of an eparch or a king protected by two saints /Michalowski 1974: 271-273/;the figure at right is in bishop's robes, giving rise to the assumption that the joint portrait represented a king and a bishop together. There is no data allowing the figure in bishop's robes to be considered a Nubian. A full interpretation of the painting is made difficult by the fact that the upper part has not been preserved. In the eparch's dress the plaited puffed skirt and the puffed Turkish trousers should be emphasized. The arrangement of the composition with the eparch in the center and two protecting figures slightly in the background is quite common in Nubia in the late period. But it seems it was not the only arrangement since equally often the protector, particularly if it is the Mother of God or Christ, is shown appearing from a cloud above the shoulders of the person they are protecting.An analogous painting was to be found in the Church of the Angels at Tamit (no.36) /Monneret de Villard 1957: p1.169/. It is known only from black and white photographs and was not very clear at the time of discovery, reducing chances at an interpretation. It was also a composition made up of three persons. In the middle there was a man holding a small book ? in his left hand and a cross on a long staff with a sharp fitting at the other end in his right. The cross is not visible, so it could have also been a spear. The figure is dressed in a double-pleated puffed skirt decorated with horizontal bands. On the shoulders of the figure there are fragments of bands which recall the way an omphorion was folded, but the interpretation cannot be certain. A crown or cask was to be found on the head. This must have been a representation of the eparch protected by an unidentified saint (on the figure's right) and an angel on the left side. One wing of the angel is folded against the body, the other is raised and protects the saint and eparch. It would seem that the Tamit painting is close to the portrait representations of rulers at Faras.Another painting from the Faras cathedral seems to belong to this same group of portrait representations.It was located on the western face of the northeastern pillar and depicted a man in priestly robes with an eparch's cask on his head and a cross on a long staff in his right hand /Martens­Czamecka 1992:308-309,fig.2/. The slightly spread arms of the cross are suggestive of a late form of the cross /Ratynski 1982:247-256/, similarly as the arrangement of the robes and the shoes worn by the portrayed person. On the right side of the eparch there was once a figure of which only one foot has been preserved. On the left there was a standing figure of the Mother of God without the Child. The face of the Madonna, although damaged considerably, reveals the hand of a true master. The contour of the face recalls the Madonna Eleusa from the apse of the narthex of the Cathedral /Michalowski 1974:259-262/, dated to the turn of the 13th century. The folded maphorion on Mary's head resembles the representation of the Mother of God with a Princess, now in Khartum /Michalowski 1967:167-168/, dated to the beginning of 13th century. The portrait of the Faras eparch-priest seems to be earlier that other paintings discussed so far and should be assigned to the first half of the 14th century. It is undoubtedly one of the leading artistic paintings of the 14th century.ln Raphael's Church at Tamit a painting has been preserved depicting a priest with an incense burner, protected by an angel /Monneret de Villard 1957:p1.153/. The painting is undoubtedly late and may have been done by a painter who also worked in the Church of the Angels at Tamit. Its date of creation is suggested by the priest's dress consisting of puffed trousers and by the middle pleat of the angel's robe and its arrangement as well as the decoration of the wings with eyes and feathers. The painting is known only from photographs.Two very interesting portrait paintings were discovered by F. Ll. Griffith at the Rivergate Church in Faras. This church which was doubtless decorated in the Late period was presumably the longest operating church at Faras beside the palace chapel in the Northern Building. The portrait of a bishop /Griffith 1926: 78-79; Martens-Czamecka 1992: 369-373/ on the eastern face of the southeastern pillar is so different in its form from other representations of bishops from Faras, both in the arrangement of the robes as particularly in the way the omphorion was painted with a shorter front side and its horizontal folding across the phelonion, that we can treat it as one of the latest representations of a bishop, painted at the Rivergate Church already when the Cathedral had been abandoned. It is quite possible that it is a representation of the bishop Timotheos, who was nominated in 1372 to the bishopric of Pachoras and Ibrim and who resided at Qasr lbrim /Plumley 1975; Godlewski 19941; his portrait should have been painted at the cathedral, but since the cathedral was already covered with sand and abandoned it was done in another church which was still operating.The bishop of Faras is protected by Christ appearing from clouds above the right shoulder of the figure. Christ's considerable leaning forward, emphasized further by his hands stretched out to the official's shoulders, is far from the definitely more hierarchical representations of a protecting Christ known from earlier paintings.The portrait of an eparch painted on the western face of the same pillar in the Rivergate Church seems to originate from the same period. The official has a crown with homs on his head, flattened and topped with a hardly recognizable crescent. With both hands he is holding the staff of a spear or cross. The puffed skirt is decorated with a coffer ornament. The eparch is protected by the Holy Trinity represented as a threefold figure of Christ. This type of protection has only rarely appeared so far; perhaps it was more popular in Dongola, the capital of the land.

 

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