Ancient nubia

Ancient Egyptians never even once referred to their jet black west Nilotic southern neighbours as 'Nubians'. Instead they identified them by their Nations or tribes. The term Nubia doesn't appear anywhere in Ancient Egyptian texts. It was first coined by Romans after they conquered Egypt from the Ptolemaic Greek Coptic rulers in order to distinguish the indigenous black southern Egyptians from the Ptolemaic Greek Coptic mullatoes of Alexandria calling themselves Egyptians at the time.

The best defined images of Nubians are probably these tiles, and this drawing of a Nubian from the Belzoni illustration of the tomb of Seti (the original sadly very damaged by moisture) is probably…

Pharaonic Egypt is arguably the most famous ancient civilization on the African continent. This does not mean, however, that it was the only ancient civilization that sprang from African soil. Egypt’s southern neighbors, the Nubians (Egyptian for ‘gold’, due to the abundance of this precious metal in their lands), have had an uneasy relationship with the Egyptians over the millennia.

FEATURE (Category: Africa | Egypt | autumn | winter | cultural-historical | traditional peoples)..................REGISTER for LIGHTBOXThe Egypt of the NubiansHe who travels south along the Nile from Luxor cannot fail to notice it: the villages become more colourful and the people darker and more charming. Black Africa beckons: Nubia. Sadly the old Nubia has disappeared - devoured by the waters of Lake Nasser. In 2014 that happened exactly 50 years ago. Around Aswan, however, the Nubian…

Learn about the wonders and wealth of Ancient Nubia with this unit!

Nubia: The Other Egypt - Download as a PDF or view online for free