Location of Soba in medieval times (below on the right)Church complex in Soba: All three churches were basilicas with a narthex in the West and an apsis in the East
Soba is an archaeological site and former town in what is now central Sudan. Three kingdoms existed in medieval Nubia: Nobadia with the capital in Faras, Makuria with the capital in Dongola, and Alodia (Alwa) with the capital in Soba.[1] The latter used to be the capital of the medieval Nubian kingdom of Alodia from the sixth century until around 1500. E. A. Wallis Budge identified it with a group of ruins on the Blue Nile19 kilometres (12mi) from Khartoum, where there are remains of a Meroitic temple that had been converted into a Christian church.[2]
In the 10th century Ibn Selim el-Aswani described the city as large and wealthy, but he probably never visited it and modern archaeological investigations show it to have been a moderate centre. Built mainly of red brick, the abandoned city was plundered for building material when Khartoum was founded in 1821. Since the 1990s, development from the growth of suburbs in Greater Khartoum has continued to pose a threat to the ruins.
Archaeological research
In its heyday, the city covered approximately 275 hectares, but the excavations carried out prior to 2019 only encompassed about 1% of this area.[3] The research was conducted by, among others, expeditions from the Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) and the British Institute in Eastern Africa, mostly as part of salvage excavations resulting from the construction of a tarmac road and the building activity along it. Since the 1900s, modern buildings started to covered the remains, resulting in modern development covering about half of the site.[4]
In 2019, the interdisciplinary project “Soba – the heart of Alwa” was commenced. It is carried out by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw and the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and is directed by Mariusz Drzewiecki (PCMA UW).[1] It aims to study the topography of Soba and determine the extent, spatial structure, and character of each city quarter.[3] A magneticgeophysical prospection revealed unknown parts of medieval Soba.[5] In one of the quarters, large architectural complexes stood at a distance from each other; in another, a clear street grid is visible.[1] Test trenches were also excavated in strategic spots in the city or in places where the results of the geophysical research are not unequivocal.[6] The residence of the kingdom of Alwa’s rulers has not yet been identified.[1]
↑ Budge, E. A. Wallis (1970) [1928]. A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia. Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications. p.118. OCLC1070966107.
Shinnie, P. (1961). Excavations at Soba. Sudan Antiquities Service. OCLC934919402.
Welsby, Derek (1998). Soba II. Renewed excavations within the metropolis of the Kingdom of Alwa in Central Sudan. British Museum. ISBN978-0-7141-1903-8.
Welsby, Derek (2002). The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims Along the Middle Nile. British Museum. ISBN978-0-7141-1947-2.
Nubiology is the scientific study of ancient Nubia. The term was coined by Kazimierz Michałowski.
Alodia, also known as Alwa, was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers.
Old Dongola is a deserted Nubian town in what is now Northern State, Sudan, located on the east bank of the Nile opposite the Wadi Howar. An important city in medieval Nubia, and the departure point for caravans west to Darfur and Kordofan, from the fourth to the fourteenth century Old Dongola was the capital of the Makurian state. A Polish archaeological team has been excavating the town since 1964.
Abu Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ahmad ibn Salimal-Aswani was a tenth-century Egyptian diplomat and Shia Muslim dāʿī (missionary) in the service of the Fatimids.
Faras 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 flooded by Lake Nasser in the 1960s and is now permanently underwater. Before this flooding, extensive archaeological work was conducted by a Polish archaeological team led by professor Kazimierz Michałowski.
The National Museum of Sudan or Sudan National Museum, abbreviated SNM, is a two-story building, constructed in 1955 and established as national museum in 1971.
Banganarti (Arabic: بنقنارتي Nobiin: Bángànarti is a small village in Sudan, about halfway between the third and fourth cataract of the Nile. It is situated 10 kilometres from Old Dongola, the capital of Makuria. Banganarti was an important Christian pilgrim center; the remains of a substantial medieval church are near the village.
El-Hobagi is an archaeological site in Sudan. It lies approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) southwest of Meroe on the western side of the Nile, near the sixth cataract.
The Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw operates as an independent research institute of the University of Warsaw under the present name since 1990. It is dedicated to organizing, implementing and coordinating archaeological research, both excavations and study projects, as well as conservation, reconstruction and restoration projects, in northeastern Africa, the Near East and Cyprus. Projects include sites covering a broad chronological spectrum from the dawn of civilization through all the historic periods of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations to Late Antiquity and early Islam. Tasks beside fieldwork include comprehensive documentation of finds, archives management and publication of the results in keeping with international research standards. The PCMA manages the Research Centre in Cairo and Polish Archaeological Unit in Khartoum.
Stefan Karol Jakobielski is a Polish historian, archaeologist, philologist, epigraphist. One of the pioneers of nubiology. He participated in archaeological research in Faras, Tell Atrib, Palmyra, Deir el-Bahari and Qasr Ibrim; directed the archaeological works at Old Dongola.
The Kingdom of Fazughli was a precolonial state in what is now southeastern Sudan and western Ethiopia. Oral traditions assert its establishment to refugees from the Nubian Kingdom of Alodia, after its capital Soba had fallen to Arabs or the Funj in c. 1500. Centered around the mountainous region of Fazughli on the Blue Nile and serving as a buffer between the Funj sultanate and the Ethiopian empire, the kingdom lasted until its incorporation into the Funj sultanate in 1685.
The kingdom of al-Abwab was a medieval Nubian monarchy in present-day central Sudan. Initially the most northerly province of Alodia, it appeared as an independent kingdom from 1276. Henceforth it was repeatedly recorded by Arabic sources in relation to the wars between its northern neighbour Makuria and the Egyptian Mamluk sultanate, where it generally sided with the latter. In 1367 it is mentioned for the last time, but based on pottery finds it has been suggested that the kingdom continued to exist until the 15th, perhaps even the 16th, century. During the reign of Funj king Amara Dunqas the region is known to have become part of the Funj sultanate.
The Throne Hall of Dongola, also known as the Mosque Building or Mosque of Abdallah ibn Abi Sarh, is an archaeological site in Old Dongola, Sudan. It is a two-storey brick building situated on a rocky hill, overlooking the town and the Nile valley. It was originally built in the 9th century, serving as the richly adorned representative building of the Makurian kings. In 1317, during the period of Makurian decline, it was converted into a mosque, serving this purpose until it was closed and turned into a historic monument in 1969. Shortly afterwards Polish archaeologists from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw began to excavate the building. It has been described as possibly "the most important, symbolic edifice in the medieval history of Sudan". It is presently the oldest preserved mosque in Sudan.
The Dongola Reach is a reach of approximately 160 km in length stretching from the Fourth downriver to the Third Cataracts of the Nile in Upper Nubia, Sudan. Named after the Sudanese town of Dongola which dominates this part of the river, the reach was the heart of ancient Nubia.
The Umm Marrahi fort is a ruined fortress on the top of Umm Marrahi hill. The defenses were built in the 2nd half of the 6th century AD. At that time, the region was part of the kingdom of Alwa. The ruins of its capital (Soba) are 50 km southeast from Umm Marrahi.
The Hosh el-Kab fort is a fort in Sudan. Ruins of a stone fort located on the left bank of the Nile, in Khartoum State (Sudan), at a distance of 40 km from the place where the waters of the White Nile meet with the Blue Nile. The enclosure was erected in the 2nd half of the 6th century AD. At that time, the region was under the Alwan rule.
Abu Nafisa fort is a ruin located on the left bank of the Nile, in Khartoum Province (Sudan). It was built by the rulers of Alwa.
The Sudan Archaeological Research Society is a registered British charity based in London, UK. It was founded in 1991 to study the history and culture of Sudan and expanded its remit in 2011 to include the newly independent South Sudan. The society has surveyed and excavated numerous archaeological sites across Sudan, and disseminates its research through publications and events.
The Monastery in Ghazali is a medieval Christian monastery in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan. Probably founded by the Makurian king Merkurios in the late 7th century, it functioned until the 13th century.
El Detti is a village in the Northern Province of Sudan, on the right bank of the Nile between the Third and Fourth Cataracts. An Early Makurian cemetery is located there.
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