Gebel Adda (also Jebel Adda) was a mountain and
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
on the right bank of the
Nubian Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
in what is now southern
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medite ...
. The settlement on its crest was continuously inhabited from the late Meroitic period (2nd century AD–4th century) to the Ottoman period, when it was abandoned by the late 18th century. It reached its greatest prominence in the 14th and 15th centuries, when it seemed to have been the capital of late kingdom of
Makuria
Makuria (Old Nubian: , ''Dotawo''; gr, Μακουρία, Makouria; ar, المقرة, al-Muqurra) was a Nubian kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. Makuria originally covered the area along the Nile River from t ...
. The site was superficially excavated by the
American Research Center in Egypt just before being flooded by
Lake Nasser
Lake Nasser ( ar, بحيرة ناصر ', ) is a vast reservoir in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. It is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world. Before construction, Sudan was against the building of Lake Nasser because it would encr ...
in the 1960s, with much of the remaining excavated material, now stored in the
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...
in Canada, remaining unpublished. Unearthed were
Meroitic inscriptions,
Old Nubian
Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used througho ...
documents, a large amount of leatherwork, two palatial structures and several churches, some of them with their paintings still intact. The nearby
ancient Egyptian rock temple of
Horemheb
Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab ( egy, ḥr-m-ḥb, meaning " Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC ...
, also known as temple of Abu Oda, was rescued and relocated.
Location
Rising from its flat surroundings as a
table mountain
Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...
with steep slopes on all sides, Gebel Adda lay in Lower
Nubia
Nubia () ( Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), o ...
, on the east bank of the Nile, between the first and second cataracts, five kilometers south-east of
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about s ...
. The current border with
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...
lies 20 kilometers to the south. In the vicinity there were once several smaller settlements from Christian times: the
Church of Kaw lay about 20 kilometers downstream on the same side of the river bank, while
Abdallah Nirqi and
Tamit were directly opposite, and the burial grounds of
Qustul
Qustul is an archaeological cemetery located on the eastern bank of the Nile in Lower Nubia, just opposite of Ballana near the Sudan frontier. The site has archaeological records from the A-Group culture, the New Kingdom of Egypt and the X-G ...
lay about ten kilometres to the south. All these sites were flooded in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Egyptian temple on the slopes of the mountain is often named after the modern-day village Abu Oda that was located at the foot of the mountain. The mountain fortress was the site referred to as ''Daw'' ( ar, دو) in medieval Arabic sources, which has been thought to be the capital of Makuria from 1365 to around 1500. The town's
Old Nubian
Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used througho ...
name was Atwa.
History
At the beginning of the
New Kingdom of Egypt
The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties of Egypt. Radioc ...
in the sixteenth century BCE,
Pharaohs conquered the Nubian part of the Nile in several campaigns against the
Kingdom of Kerma
The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia" (in parts of presen ...
and had temples built in several places, immortalising themselves in inscriptions down to the twelfth century. During the reign of
Haremheb (c. 1319–1292), the rock temple was built at nearby Abu Oda.
While most of the excavated material remains unpublished it seems that the hilltop of Gebel Adda was settled at least since the late
Meroitic period
Meroitic may refer to:
* things related to the city and kingdom of Meroë in pre-Islamic Sudan
* Meroitic alphabet
* Meroitic language
The Meroitic language () was spoken in Meroë (in present-day Sudan) during the Meroitic period (attested fro ...
, probably from the 2nd century AD. The settlement was surrounded by a defensive wall, the simple construction of which was modified and expanded several times up until the Christian period. After Egypt became a
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
, Gebel Adda was ruled by an Egyptian governor as part of
Triakontaschoinos. From the middle of the third century CE the area came under attack from the south by the
Blemmyes
The Blemmyes ( grc, Βλέμμυες, Latin: ''Blemmyae'') were an Eastern Desert people who appeared in written sources from the 7th century BC until the 8th century AD.. By the late 4th century, they had occupied Lower Nubia and established a k ...
who controlled Lower Nubia in the following century. Between the second and fourth centuries, Gebel Adda was an important provincial center together with
Faras
Faras (formerly grc, Παχώρας, ''Pakhôras''; la, Pachoras; Old Nubian: Ⲡⲁⲭⲱⲣⲁⲥ, ''Pakhoras'') was a major city in Lower Nubia. The site of the city, on the border between modern Egypt and Sudan at Wadi Halfa Salient, was f ...
. On the plain, a large cemetery has been preserved, belong the
X-Group culture
The X-Group Culture was an ancient civilization that existed from ca. 300 CE to ca. 600 CE. It was centered in Nubia stretching from the Dodekaschoinos in the north to Delgo in the south. George A. Reisner coined the term ''X-Group Culture'' for ...
(about 350 to 550).
The spread of Christianity in
later Roman Egypt and the construction of the first churches in the region began in the mid-sixth century. At this time, a Christian influence is correspondingly visible at Gebel Adda:
amphorae
An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...
found in an X-Group grave are decorated with Christian
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
in the form of
Greek crosses. This does not mean that the burial ground was Christian, but the find does indicate the spread of the Christian symbol. From the late Christian period to the sixteenth century, Faras,
Qasr Ibrim
Qasr Ibrim ( ar, قصر ابريم; Meroitic: ''Pedeme''; Old Nubian: ''Silimi''; Coptic: ⲡⲣⲓⲙ ''Prim''; Latin: ''Primis'') is an archaeological site in Lower Nubia, located in the modern country of Egypt. The site has a long history ...
and Gebel Adda were the largest fortified cities in Lower Nubia. A complex of buildings during this period may have been the palace of the Dotawo kings. Large parts of the town were rebuilt in the 13th century, in addition to the palace area, other larger buildings and a church were built. In the 14th century, the palace and the defenses were expanded again. The kingdom of Dotawo is mainly characterized by inscriptions known from Gebel Adda and Qasr Ibrim. In 1155 a bishop of Selim and a king of Dotawo are mentioned in a text by Qasr Ibrim. A letter from Gebel Adda dated 1484 mentions
Joel of Dotawo as well as nobles and church leaders. From the 13th century the
Mamluks
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...
raided the Nubian Christian kingdoms. Sultan
Baibars I sent a force to overthrow the
Makurian
Makuria (Old Nubian: , ''Dotawo''; gr, Μακουρία, Makouria; ar, المقرة, al-Muqurra) was a Nubian kingdom located in what is today Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt. Makuria originally covered the area along the Nile River from th ...
king
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
at
Dongola
Dongola ( ar, دنقلا, Dunqulā), also spelled ''Dunqulah'', is the capital of the state of Northern Sudan, on the banks of the Nile, and a former Latin Catholic bishopric (14th century). It should not be confused with Old Dongola, an ancie ...
in 1276 in response to previous Nubian raids . On the way there were battles at Gebel Adda and
Meinarti, up to the decisive battle in Dongola, which was victorious for the Egyptians. From this time on, the Egyptian Muslims increasingly dominated the politics of the Nubian empires. The Makurian rulers in Lower Nubia also suffered from raids from nomadic tribes. With Egyptian support they succeeded in 1364 at Gebel Adda in a victory against the insurgents. Presumably the mountain fortress became their retreat from which they ruled the empire of Dotawo. In the 1560s, the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
established a garrison in the fortress city of Qasr Ibrim and on the island of
Saï. By this time, by conventional reckoning, the kingdom of Dotawo had already disappeared. Gebel Adda remained inhabited throughout the Turkish period until the later 18th century, when its population likely migrated to
Ballana on the other bank of the Nile.
History of research
Nineteenth-century European travelers described the prominent rocky hill and the ruins of the former city next to the village of Abahuda.
Anton von Prokesch-Osten
Anton von Prokesch-Osten (german: Anton Graf Prokesch von Osten; 10 December 1795, in Graz – 26 October 1876, in Vienna) was an Austrian diplomat, statesman and general.
Life
Anton von Prokesch was a man of great versatility, whose multi-fac ...
counted seventy small burial mounds made of stones and clay bricks in the sand hollows at the foot of the mountain, believed by the locals to be the tombs of Islamic martyrs (saints) who died in the conquest of the Christian settlement. Prokesch-Osten took the site to be Roman. He also visited the "Felsengrab von Abahuda" ("rock tomb of Abahuda") — the pharaonic temple later converted into a church — on the mountainside, devoting a paragraph to it in his travelogue. During his stay in 1906, Arthur Weigall also dated the graves with subterranean vaulted chambers to the
Fatimid period (tenth–twelfth centuries CE).
[Arthur E. P. Weigall: ''A Report of the Antiquities of Lower Nubia …'' (Oxford, 1907), p. 141.]
In 1932–33, Ugo Monneret de Villard carried out excavations in Lower Nubia on behalf of the Egyptian antiquities authority and with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He wrote the first detailed report about the fortress and the tombs. Monneret, who was mainly interested in the remains of the Christian Middle Ages, uncovered three church buildings to the south of the fortress hill.
In 1959, Mustafa el-Amir began the first systematic excavations as leader of an expedition from the
University of Alexandria
Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...
. In a three-month campaign they uncovered a large part of the Christian cemetery (Cemetery 2), as well as six large burial mounds from the X-Group period (Cemetery 1), some late Christian-period dwellings on the hill, and the church already examined by Monneret (Church 1). The excavations led by
Nicholas B. Millet on behalf of the American Research Center built on this. Their most extensive work was carried out in four campaigns from 1962 to 1965 between December and April.
Layout
The ancient and medieval city lay on the crest of the steep hill, from which a slightly flatter spur pushes north to bank of the Nile. The only access was a steep and narrow path, partly involving stairs, which ascended to the spur and from there led first into the northern suburbs, and then on into the city proper through a massive gate that was reinforced in the fourteenth century. This route was protected by a adobe tower; in the Meroitic period, the city wall ran to the north of this, later to be found by archaeologists under Christian- and Islamic-period ruins. On the north-east side there was a rectangular platform made of stone, which probably formed the base (
stylobate
In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...
) of a temple. From here the enclosing wall ran across the north-eastern tip of the hill and some distance from the settlement along its east side. In at least some places the adobe wall was reinforced on the outside by an additional rubble wall.
As at Qasr Ibrim or
Ikhmindi, the residential buildings were built close together and could only be reached via narrow, winding streets. The walls consisted predominantly of clay bricks, the roofs constructed as
Nubian vaults.
One of the approximately seven churches in the area was preserved between the densely packed ruined houses, lying to the left of the stairway as the stairway reached the plateau. The hill reached its highest point in the southwest, where scattered fragments of granite columns identified around 1900 indicated the site of a larger church. Fragments of reddish sandstone
capitals were found in the rubble, one decorated with large smooth leaves, along with a
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...
decorated with
volute
A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an I ...
s.
Directly above the Meroitic northern defense tower stood another church, which in the Middle Ages collapsed along with the northern outer wall of the tower.
The Temple of Horemhab
The small rock temple (''
speos'') lay directly above the water level (at the then normal water level of the Nile of 120 metres above sea level). The entrance gate of the temple carved into the sandstone could be reached via thirteen steps. A small passageway opened into a central hall (anteroom) divided by four columns, with a
cella
A cella (from Latin for small chamber) or naos (from the Greek ναός, "temple") is the inner chamber of an ancient Greek or Roman temple in classical antiquity. Its enclosure within walls has given rise to extended meanings, of a hermit's or ...
at the back and two adjoining rooms off to the side. It was dedicated to the gods
Amun-Re
Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
and
Thoth
Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a ...
of
Hermopolis Magna
Hermopolis ( grc, Ἑρμούπολις ''Hermoúpolis'' "the City of Hermes", also ''Hermopolis Magna'', ''Hermoû pólis megálẽ'', egy, ḫmnw , Egyptological pronunciation: "Khemenu"; cop, Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ ''Shmun''; ar, الأشمون� ...
. There are also representations of the goddess
Anuket
Anuket was the ancient Egyptian goddess of the cataracts of the Nile and Lower Nubia in general, worshipped especially at Elephantine near the First Cataract.
Etymology
In ancient Egyptian, she was known as Anuket, Anaka, or Anqet. Her name ...
and the falcon-headed
Horus
Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the ...
. All four Nubian forms of Horus are shown. Reliefs show Haremheb sacrificing to the supreme gods of
Aniba,
Buhen
Buhen ( grc, Βοὥν ''Bohón'') was an ancient Egyptian settlement situated on the West bank of the Nile below (to the North of) the Second Cataract in what is now Northern State, Sudan.
It is now submerged in Lake Nasser, Sudan; as a resu ...
, Quban (Egyptian Baki, today near
ad-Dakka) and
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about s ...
(Egyptian Meha).
The early Christians converted the temple into a church, covering the walls with a layer of plaster to hide the reliefs of the Egyptian gods, and painting them with
frescoes
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
. Prokesch-Osten describes walls richly covered with Egyptian
hieroglyphs
A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonis ...
and images alongside Christian motifs such as
Saint George
Saint George ( Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
with a red horse above the baptismal font.
[A. Prokesch Ritter von Osten: ''Das Land zwischen den Katarakten des Nil'' (Vienna, 1831), p. 153.] During the construction of the
Aswan Dam
The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan ...
, parts of the chapel were cut out of the rock and rebuilt near the
Temple of Abu Simbel.
File:Gebel Adda Horemheb temple plan, Rosellini.tiff, Ground plan of the temple after Ippolito Rosellini, 1832
File:Abuhoda church.jpg, Interior of the temple in 1908. Note the medieval painting of Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
on the ceiling
Further reading
* Dieter Arnold: ''Die Tempel Ägyptens. Götterwohnungen, Kultstätten, Baudenkmäler.'' Artemis & Winkler, München u. a. 1992, , p. 78.
* Hans Bonnet: ''Reallexikon der ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte.'' de Gruyter, Berlin 1952, p. 203.
* Nicholas B. Millet: ''Gebel Adda. Preliminary Report for 1963.'' In: ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'', 2, 1963, , pp. 147–165.
* Nicholas B. Millet: ''Gebel Adda. Preliminary Report, 1963–64.'' In: ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'', 4, 1964, pp. 7–14.
* Nicholas B. Millet: ''Gebel Adda. Preliminary Report, 1965–66.'' In: ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'', 6, 1967, pp. 53–63.
* Mirella Sidro: ''Der Felstempel von Abu 'Oda. Eine architektonische und ikonographische Untersuchung.'' Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 2006, (''Antiquitates'' 38).
* Arthur E. P. Weigall: ''A Report of the Antiquities of Lower Nubia. The first Cartaract to the Sudan Frontier and their Condition in 1906–07.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford 1907, p. 141.
* Derek A. Welsby: ''The Mediaval Kingdoms of Nubia.'' British Museum Press, London 2002, {{ISBN, 0-7141-1947-4, pp. 122f., 250, 252.
External links
Photographs of the Temple at Gebel AddaExpeditions to Gebel Adda, Nubia, from 1963 to 1966
References
History of Nubia
Archaeological sites in Egypt
Former populated places in Egypt