Old Dongola
Christian Era Remains
The collapse and of ancient Meroe kingdom occurred by around 350AD, the invasion of king Aezanes of Aksum marked the end this once flourished kingdom, the memorial victory inscription indicates his embrace to Christianity.
Earlier before this invasion the Bible tells us the story about the first Meroitic Christian, a Meroitic high official in the court of the kingdom, who was a pilgrim to Jerusalem ,in a pursue of learning about this new religion Christianity to be baptized on his return ,act of the apostle 8,26-39 version of the Jerusalem Bible.
Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush during the 4th century BC, a political vacuum was left in the region it controlled, now modern-day Sudan and southern Egypt. This void was filled by the emergence of a number of smaller Nubian kingdoms. The most well-known of these successor states was the Kingdom of Dongola, or Makuria, which had its capital in the city of Old Dongola, located on the east bank of the Nile. The modern city of Dongola is situated 80 km (49.7 miles) downstream on the opposite side of the bank.
Other kingdoms or estates were Nobatia further northward from Makuria, shared which is today inside both borders of Sudan & Egypt.
The third kingdom was called Alwa, having the capital southward of the current Khartoum at Soba area.
The theological dispute, 5 &6 centuries brought the breakdown of Christian unity in the east, brought what we know today as the Monophysites or the anti Chalcedonians, were called up to now also as Copts, a dispute to be led that time by the emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora ,they both then worked on spreading Christianity in Nubia .
Nubatia king and his family embraced Christianity by roughly 543AD, as a Jacobite, followed later by Makuria converting to Christianity in between 550AD and 567AD, later in years followed the Alwa ki Numerous churches were built in Old Dongola (Makuria), but the most notable monuments are the old monastery where the Polish excavation team found a crypt of a 900-year-old medieval crypt was discovered in 1993 by the Polish Mission to Dongola. It was, however, only in 2009 that the crypt was excavated. In the crypt, archaeologists discovered the naturally mummified remains of seven males. Based on an epitaph found nearby, it is believed that amongst those buried in the crypt was an 11 th/12th century archbishop named Georgios, whose seat might have been at the ‘Church of the Granite Columns’. On the walls of the crypt were inscriptions written in Greek and Sahidic Coptic. These inscriptions included excerpts from the four Gospels, magical names, as well as signs and a prayer given by the Virgin Mary. These inscriptions were meant to protect the occupants of the crypt from the forces of evil.
Standing also beside this old monastery and the column church that overlook the remains of the down is the crowning palace of two floors.
Certainly, the remains of this city show a beautiful and perfect planning view at that time as we can see most churches, houses, stores and the resident palace were all overlooking the Nile.
These Christian kingdoms flourished up to the 15th century, leaving a lot of Christian remains all over the current north of Sudan, they all collapsed the continues pressure, struggle & fight with the Arab Muslims, yet there were still some pockets in Nubia stayed as Christians, within times it all converted to Islam.
