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Nobatia (c. 350 AD - 600 AD) also known as Nobadia was an ancient African Christian
Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
 kingdom in Lower Nubia
Lower Nubia

Lower Nubia is the northern portion of Nubia, downstream on the Nile from Upper Nubia. It lies between the First Cataract and Second Cataracts, roughly from Aswan in the north to Wadi Halfa in the south....
 and subsequently a region of the larger Nubia
Nubia

Nubia is a region in Southern Egypt along the Nile and in what is now northern Sudan. Most of Nubia is situated in Sudan with about a quarter of its territory in Egypt....
n kingdom of Makuria
Makuria

Makuria was a monarchy located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. It was one of a group of Nubian kingdoms that emerged during the decline of the Aksumite Empire, which had dominated the region from approximately 50 AD to AD 950....
. Its name is often given as al-Maris in Arabic histories.

Nobatia was likely founded by the Nobatae, who had been invited into the region from the Egyptian desert by the Roman Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
 to help defeat the Blemmyes
Blemmyes

The Blemmyes were a nomadic Nubian tribe described in Ancient Rome histories of the later empire. From the late third century on, along with another tribe, the Nobatia, they repeatedly fought the Romans....
 in AD 297. Early Nobatia is quite likely the same civilization that is known to archeologists as the Ballana culture.






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Nobatia (c. 350 AD - 600 AD) also known as Nobadia was an ancient African Christian
Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
 kingdom in Lower Nubia
Lower Nubia

Lower Nubia is the northern portion of Nubia, downstream on the Nile from Upper Nubia. It lies between the First Cataract and Second Cataracts, roughly from Aswan in the north to Wadi Halfa in the south....
 and subsequently a region of the larger Nubia
Nubia

Nubia is a region in Southern Egypt along the Nile and in what is now northern Sudan. Most of Nubia is situated in Sudan with about a quarter of its territory in Egypt....
n kingdom of Makuria
Makuria

Makuria was a monarchy located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. It was one of a group of Nubian kingdoms that emerged during the decline of the Aksumite Empire, which had dominated the region from approximately 50 AD to AD 950....
. Its name is often given as al-Maris in Arabic histories.

Nobatia was likely founded by the Nobatae, who had been invited into the region from the Egyptian desert by the Roman Emperor Diocletian
Diocletian

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus , born Diocles and commonly known as Diocletian , was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305....
 to help defeat the Blemmyes
Blemmyes

The Blemmyes were a nomadic Nubian tribe described in Ancient Rome histories of the later empire. From the late third century on, along with another tribe, the Nobatia, they repeatedly fought the Romans....
 in AD 297. Early Nobatia is quite likely the same civilization that is known to archeologists as the Ballana culture. Eventually the Nobatae were successful, and an inscription by Silko, "Basiliskos" of the Nobatae, claims to have driven the Blemmyes into the eastern deserts
Eastern Desert

The Eastern Desert refers to the desert east of the Nile, between the Nile and the Red Sea. It extends from Egypt in the north to Eritrea in the south, and also comprises parts of Sudan and Ethiopia....
. Around this time the Nobatian capital was established at Pakhoras, modern Faras
Faras

Faras, known in ancient times as Pachoras, was a major city in Lower Nubia in modern Egypt. The site of the city was flooded by Lake Nasser in the 1960s, and is now permanently underwater....
; soon after, Nobatia converted to Oriental Orthodox Christianity
Oriental Orthodoxy

Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christianity Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils ? the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus....
.

By 701, Nobatia had been annexed to its southern neighbor Makuria. The circumstances of this merger are unknown. It most likely occurred before the Muslim
Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
 invasion in 652, since the Arab histories speak of only one Christian state in Nubia and reached at least as far as Dongola
Dongola

Dongola is the capital of the state of Northern, Sudan in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancient city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank....
. Nobatia seems to have maintained some autonomy in the new state. It was ruled by an Eparch of Nobatia, who was also titled Domestikos
Domestikos

Domestikos , in English sometimes [the] Domestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy in the Byzantine Empire....
 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
Qasr Ibrim

Qasr Ibrim is an archeological site in Lower Nubia. It was originally a major city perched on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the construction of the Aswan High Dam transformed it into an island and flooded its outskirts....
, presenting a figure with a great deal of power. However, some Arab writers refer to the merged state as the "Kingdom of Makuria and Nobatia," which might imply a dual monarchy
Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states are governed by the same monarch, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct....
 for at least some periods.

Nobatia was the closest part of Nubia to Egypt and was the most subject to the pressures of Arabization
Arabization

Arabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic language and/or incorporates Arab culture....
 and Islamization
Islamization

Islamization or Islamification means the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam, or a neologism meaning an increase in observance by an already Muslim society....
. Over time the people of Nobatia gradually converted and married into Arab clans such as the Banu Kanz
Banu Kanz

The Banu Kanz were a group of Rabi'ah Arabs who emigrated to Egypt, eventually dislocating the Beja and penetrating into the Eastern Desert east of the Nile around Aswan....
, although some remained independent in the Christian kingdom of Dotawo
Dotawo

Dotawo was a kingdom that might have existed in Lower Nubia in the Middle Ages. It has long been known that a kingdom by this name is mentioned as existing during the collapse of Makuria in the thirteenth century....
 until its conquest by Sennar in 1504.