A.n. 200—560.

A.D. 896.

A.D. 330.

A.D. 451.

A.D. 400-500.

A.D. 545.

A.D. sec.

Strabo says the Ethiopians above Aswan consisted of the Troglodytae, Blemmyes, Nubse, and Megabari. The Megabari and Blemmyes inhabited the Eastern Desert north of Meroe, towards the frontiers of Egypt, and were under the dominion of the Ethiopians.* The Ichthyophagit lived on the shore of the Red Sea ; the Troglodyta3, from Berenike southwards, between it and the Nile ; and the Nubfe, an " African " nation, were on the left bank, and independent of Ethiopia, which country, he states, did not extend north of Haifa.

From Procopius we learn that in a.d. 296, in the reign of Diocletian, these Nubse, or Nobatae, were brought from the Oasis of El Kharga, and given the country above Aswan, on condition of their protecting Egypt against the incursion of the Blemmyes. This treaty was annually ratified by a religious sacrifice, according to the rites of the ancient Egyptian religion, on the Island of Philse, in which the Roman garrison took part. There are still the remains of the wall which Diocletian built across the valley near here ; and, according to some authorities, not venturing to trust entirely to the Nubians to defend the Egyptian frontier, he agreed to pay a yearly tribute both to the Nubians and the Blemmyes.

A few years afterwards two young Christians of Tyre, Edesius and Frumentius, were, on their return journey by sea from India (?), kidnapped on the coast of Abyssinia. According to their story they became advisers to the widow of the king who had captured them, and used all their influence to promote Christianity in the land. They succeeded so well that Frumentius, on his return to Alexandria, was consecrated by Bishop Athanasius and returned to Abyssinia, where he spent the rest of his life in proselytizing, with excellent results.

Little or nothing is known of the history of internal or Upper Nubia during these centuries, but the Blemmyes continued to give trouble to the Roman rulers of Egypt. They gradually succeeded in occupying the five towns of the Commilitium Romanum, making Talmis or Kalabsha their capital, and even penetrated into the Thebaid, where m A.D. 451 Maximinus, the general of Marcian, was forced to make a treaty with them for 100 years. But it was soon broken by the barbarians.

In the fifth century the Nubians, whose religion at that time was chiefly limited to star-worship, were gradually converted by monks and others of the Alexandrian Church. The first important convert was one Bahriya (?), nephew of the king, and he built many churches and monasteries.

During the sixth century the entire nation adopted Christianity. In a.d. 545 their King Silko defeated the Blemmyes and took the already well-known town of (old) Dongola for his capital.

The Egypto-Roman-Christian remains at NagaaJ, and those of the kingdom of Aiwa, or Soba, then under the King of Nubia, may belong to this or even to an earlier period, for there are legends of Christianity having penetrated to the Blue Nile in the third century, and St. Mark is reported to have preached in the Sudan, or at all events, in " Ethiopia," in the first century, a.d. 1.

In the days of Justinian there seems to be no doubt that Christianity was the established religion of the whole of Ethiopia and Nubia.

* Query — the ancestors of the present Bisharin and Ababda ? t The inhabitants of Elephantine Ishmd, Aswan, were also tluis terme<l in the 6th century ii.c. J Vide p. 315.

OSE OF THE ANIMALS AT NA.OAA.