From the fourth to the sixth centuries CE, desert nomads often attacked the people of Lower Nubia. These nomads were excellent fighters. The Romans wrote about two groups: the Blemmyes and the Nobadae. The Blemmyes later settled in northern Lower Nubia. The Nobadae settled in southern Lower Nubia and had a kingdom called Nobatia.
In the 1930s archaeologists found and excavated the tombs of the Nobatian kings and nobles. The tombs looked like huge mounds. They were so large that the archaeologists first thought they were natural hills. When they started digging they found, beneath the mounds, large connecting brick chambers.
When a king died, one room was filled with food and drink offerings, and another, with his tools and weapons. In some rooms, archaeologists found the remains of the queen and all her servants, who were sacrificed when the king died. The kings were buried with all their finery and wore on their heads beautiful silver crowns inlaid with jewels. After a tomb was sealed, the passageway leading to the entrance was filled with slaughtered animals: horses, camels, donkeys, and dogs. The larger tombs contained up to seventeen human sacrifices. Many of the objects found in the tombs were imported from Egypt.
Sadly, the Aswan Dam flooded all these tombs in the 1960s.
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| Burial mound of a Nobatian king, Ballana, Lower Nubia, shown during excavation in the 1930's. |
| From W. B. Emery, Nubian Treasure. London: 1948. |
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| Skeleton of a Nobatian king, as found in his grave at Ballana. Note that he was buried wearing his crown. |
| From W. B. Emery, Nubian Treasure. London: 1948. |
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Royal crown from Ballana made of silver with inlaid jewels. |
| Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. |