In recent years, medieval studies have become increasingly aware of how enmeshed they are in fascist ideologies as medieval imagery is weaponized and scholarly discourse appropriated for political ends. These developments have brought into view how medieval studies as a discipline have its origins in the epistemic frameworks of 19th-century…[Read more]

The present paper looks at two Old Nubian titles: ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧ/ⲥⲁⲙⲁⲧ and ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧⲓⳟⲟ. Whereas the former is thought to be the Nubian parallel of Greek δομήστικος, no satisfactory parallel has been found so far for the latter. We will argue that the two Old Nubian titles can be considered loans from Meroitic smt and smt lh respectively, and that ⲥⲁⲙⲉⲧⲓⳟⲟ sh…[Read more]

The article provides a transcription, translation, and analysis of the Old Nubian legends on a painting of a dancing scene in room 5 of the Southwest Annex of the Monastery on Kom H in Dongola. The painting shows two groups of Nubian singing and dancing, and from the legends we understand that the occasion is the birth of a new heir to the royal…[Read more]

In this article we will analyse three potential Old Nubian cognates of the Meroitic word aleqese, taking up a prior suggestion of Claude Rilly. After providing an overview of the linguistic relationship between Meroitic and Old Nubian and the extant analyses of aleqese in the extant literature, we will inspect the Old Nubian conditional clause…[Read more]

The three bilingual Greek–Old Nubian psalms published in this paper have been preserved to us in form of ink inscriptions on the walls of the annexes abutting the monastery on Kom H in Dongola from the west, the capital of the Nubian Christian Kingdom of Makuria. DP 2 (no. 1) is found in the Southwest Annex, DP 3 (no. 2) and DP 4 (no. 3) in the N…[Read more]

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 5.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 4.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 3.

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 2.

This study revisits the longest known text in Old Nubian to date, the pseudo- Chrysostomian “Sermon on the Venerable Cross,” whose editio princeps was furnished by Gerald M. Browne. The Greek Vorlage of the Nubian text is known under catalog number CPG 4525 and is attested in more than 50 manuscripts in Greek, as well as in translations in sev…[Read more]

Slides accompanying NubiaFEST 2020 Old Nubian Crash Course – Day 1.

In this essay, I venture to describe my own trajectory, through linguistics and continental philosophy, to becoming a philologist specialized in the Old Nubian language, in tandem with a broader analysis of the destabilizing powers of philology that resonate in both deconstruction and psychoanalysis: the problem of the material carrier of writing…[Read more]

The present paper analyses two Old Nubian inscriptions found at a church in Akasha West in 1969. The first inscription was found on an ostracon and invokes Jesus Christ. The second inscription was found on the altar inside the church’s sanctuary, and refers to the Holy Altar of Michael. The publication gives a description of the inscrip- tion, a t…[Read more]

The present paper analyses an Old Nubian inscription from the Faras Cathe- dral, containing a curse with a reference to Col 1:13. The publication gives a description of the inscription, a transcription with critical apparatus, and a grammatical and general commentary on the text.

The present paper analyses the rubrication patterns in two Old Nubian manu- scripts (known under the sigla St and SC) both originally intended for deposition at the Jesus Church in Serra East. Through a comparison with rubrication patterns in other Old Nubian manuscripts, the authors argue that the rubricated phrases in St and SC show an internal…[Read more]

In this article I want to focus on the way in which land property is described within the Makuritan kingdom, based on a grammatical analysis of Old Nubian land sales. I will argue that such descriptions are always relative in nature, referring to adjacent plots oriented from south to north on the banks of the Nile. South is thus considered the…[Read more]

The Southwest Annex of the Monastery on Kom H in Dongola [Fig. 6.1] has a number of features that indicate a relation with womanhood, including, first of all, the many depictions of the Virgin Mary (Martens-Czarnecka 2011: Cat. Nos 86, 89B, 94, 97, 98, 108). One of them, located on the north wall of room 5, assumes the form of an icon of the…[Read more]

On January 18, 1963, the UCLA excavation uncovered a letter written in Old Nubian. At its present state it preserves the entire height and most probably the entire width. The publication of the letter was entrusted to Sergio Donadoni, but remained in draft form, like the rest of the publication on Askut prepared by Alexander Badawy. Together with…[Read more]