I blame CK for this purchase on Medieval Nubian history

[Crosswire]

Just had this purchase arrive and am eagerly looking forward to reading it.

Prior to CK I had never heard of Makuria or Alwa/Alodia. I knew of Nubia, though more through it association with Ancient Egypt. Then one day in CK2 I looked around for somewhere that was a bit different and a bit challenging, and I spotted Makuria, bordering the great green blob. Gave it a go and enjoyed it. It intrigued me so I decided to look up about it.

I must admit to becoming fascinated by medieval Nubia, and Makuria in particular as a result. I've been a history geek since I was little - I actually wanted to be an archaeologist back when I was 6 or 7. Odd choice for a kid, but there you go. I'd have to say, right now, medieval Nubia/Makuria would be my favourite historical nation. And this certainly won't be the first book on the subject that I get.

And it is all thanks to Crusader Kings. Who said that games rot your brains and you never learn anything from them?

 

[elvain]

Just had this purchase arrive and am eagerly looking forward to reading it.


View attachment 872381

Prior to CK I had never heard of Makuria or Alwa/Alodia. I knew of Nubia, though more through it association with Ancient Egypt. Then one day in CK2 I looked around for somewhere that was a bit different and a bit challenging, and I spotted Makuria, bordering the great green blob. Gave it a go and enjoyed it. It intrigued me so I decided to look up about it.

I must admit to becoming fascinated by medieval Nubia, and Makuria in particular as a result. I've been a history geek since I was little - I actually wanted to be an archaeologist back when I was 6 or 7. Odd choice for a kid, but there you go. I'd have to say, right now, medieval Nubia/Makuria would be my favourite historical nation. And this certainly won't be the first book on the subject that I get.

And it is all thanks to Crusader Kings. Who said that games rot your brains and you never learn anything from them?

That's a good book and I'm happy you got inspired enough to buy it.
Enjoy!

 

[daniloy]

I think Makuria and Alodia should be dejure Kingdoms.

 

[Knotz]

Yeah, cuz of CK I know more about gnosticism than I really ever needed too.

It's a slippery slope folks, one day you decide it'd be fun to do a Cathar run in CK2 and suddenly you're subscribed to Esoterica on Youtube and you're reciting The Thunder, Perfect Mind naked on a bus stop at 0230.

 

[junassa]

I've bought like 10 books and read over 20 research papers (mostly on W Africa). History is a hell of a drug.

 

[天皇の神風]

I believe you went into a wonderful rabbit hole! Enjoy, mate!

 

[Slaughter]

Wow, sounds like a nice book. Gotta get it

 

[CMDR_HERNE]

CK1 opened my eyes on this area

 

[YellowPress]

Just had this purchase arrive and am eagerly looking forward to reading it.


View attachment 872381

Prior to CK I had never heard of Makuria or Alwa/Alodia. I knew of Nubia, though more through it association with Ancient Egypt. Then one day in CK2 I looked around for somewhere that was a bit different and a bit challenging, and I spotted Makuria, bordering the great green blob. Gave it a go and enjoyed it. It intrigued me so I decided to look up about it.

I must admit to becoming fascinated by medieval Nubia, and Makuria in particular as a result. I've been a history geek since I was little - I actually wanted to be an archaeologist back when I was 6 or 7. Odd choice for a kid, but there you go. I'd have to say, right now, medieval Nubia/Makuria would be my favourite historical nation. And this certainly won't be the first book on the subject that I get.

And it is all thanks to Crusader Kings. Who said that games rot your brains and you never learn anything from them?

Thank-you for the blogpost, I look forward to more

 

[Crosswire]

That's a good book and I'm happy you got inspired enough to buy it.
Enjoy!

From my initial look there weren't a lot on the subject and I just went with this one as it was the cheapest at the time. If you have any other recommendations I'll happily add the to the list.

So far I'm enjoying it. Must say that the account of how Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia were converted, with rival missions, almost sounds a little petty at times.

 

[Crosswire]

I think Makuria and Alodia should be dejure Kingdoms.

Given the way the map is squished up, you don't get a sense of how big these nations really were. Yeah, they should be dejure kingdoms.

And the culture needs a change to. Warrior Queens makes no sense.

 

[Ksiendzu]

Given the way the map is squished up, you don't get a sense of how big these nations really were. Yeah, they should be dejure kingdoms.

And the culture needs a change to. Warrior Queens makes no sense.

Also a decision might have been made to create the united kingdom of Nubia. It is in the game anyway

 

[ChaosOnline]

Ohh! That looks really interesting! Have you started it yet? How is it? I kind of want to pick it up.

 

[Crosswire]

Ohh! That looks really interesting! Have you started it yet? How is it? I kind of want to pick it up.

I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through so far, but I'm finding it interesting. It is an academic text though, so maybe not quote for those who don't enjoy them or find the subject interesting.

So far its covered the emergence of the Nubian kingdoms, the arrival and impact of Christianity, the Nubians and their neighbours (7th to 13th centuries) and I'm now up to the chapter on the heyday of the Nubian kingdoms. After that there are chapters on settlements, architecture, the economy, arts, language and literacy and finally the collapse of the Nubian kingdoms.

One thing that does come out is there is so much that still remains unknown. There hasn't been a huge amount of archaeology done and, despite plenty of written works found (a lot of which still remains to be worked on), no written history by the Nubians has yet been found.

Something of the early conversion of the Nubians and relationships are known. Nobadia and Makuria weren't on good terms, and while Nobadia adopted the Coptic (monophysite) faith, Makaria went with the Byzantine (Melikite) faith. Alwa/Alodia was on good terms with Nobadia and also adopted Coptic, but its relationship to Makuria at the time was unknown. It is possible Makuria was stuck between two rivals.

Completely unknown is how Makuria took Nobadia over, or why it change from Melikite to Coptic.

On Alwa/Alodia, even less is known that with Makuria, but Muslim sources indicate it was actually more powerful than Makuria.

On the subject of Kings, and Kingdoms, in game they really should be Kingdoms, not Duchies. The Kings of Makuria and Alodia had kinglets under them, such as the King of Dotawo, who was a subject of the King of Makuria and some Muslim sources mentioned them being lords over some desert dwelling tribes. They were actually called the Great King, so the game is doing them a great disservice. Interestingly, the Great King and the Kinglets were also priests, able to perform the liturgy, unless they had killed a man.

It also talks about the sister-son successions, and how at times the nephews of the kings were not always content to wait until their uncle had died to inherit.

Bishops were generally chosen from the monasteries and as a result were expected to remain celibate, but lesser clergy were allowed to marry as they weren't previously monks.

And of course the Baqt is talked about, which the game doesn't model. It was not, as pointed out by Muslim writers, a tribute but an exchange of goods of equal value, with the Makurians sending slaves to the Muslims, and in return receiving grains, horses, clothes of various types and other goods.

 

[LinusLinothorax]

It's a good book (though focusing heavily on archaeology), but it's already quite outdated. Over the last 20 years there has been great progress in terms of archaeology (the excavation of large parts of Dongola, Banganarti, the 4th cataract, Soba and more) as well as the study of Nubian manuscripts. We know now, for example, that Dotawo was not a petty kingdom within the kingdom of Makuria, but was merely the Old Nubian name of Makuria. Too bad that we will have to keep waiting for a new dedicated monograph, as everything is published either in papers or excavation reports (the PCMA excavation series, for example).