| Chapter 1: | Historical and Cultural Background |
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Olympiodorus apparently encountered the Blemmyan king and wrote of the existence of phylarchs (a potential link to the description given in inscription M194; see page 21), who might be interpreted as tribal chiefs or royal princes tied to the ruler, but holding some degree of power over specific geographical areas (Blockley, trans. of Olympiodorus 1983, 199). The occupied towns were Phoinikon (el-Laqeita), Khiris (unidentified), Thapis (Taifa), Talmis (Kalabsha), and Prima (Qirta) (Welsby 2002, 16), although Qirta may also be identified as Qasr Ibrim (Rose 1992, 17).
According to the mid-sixth-century account given by Procopius, Roman troops withdrew from Nubia because of the expense of maintaining the troops in an impoverished area and proceeded on to a seven days’ journey beyond Elephantine. Diocletian then invited the Nobatae to move from their bases in the el-Kharga and el-Dakhla oases to settle the now unoccupied area of Lower Nubia. This arrangement could have benefited the Romans in two ways: by encouraging the end of raiding whilst also creating a buffer state between Egypt and the hostile forces farther south. In showing favour to the Nobatae, and ensuring their loyalty by annual payments in gold, the Romans may have hoped to encourage enmity between the Blemmyes and Nobatae, thus turning their attention away from Roman territory and towards each other. However sound this plan was, and however often it had succeeded in other areas of the empire, Procopius reports that the annuity in gold continued to be paid even though the raids failed to cease (Procopius, trans. Dewing 1914, 187). Procopius’ version of events was written approximately 250 years after these incidents allegedly took place and may, therefore, be viewed as an attempt to legitimise the situation—as it then existed in mid-sixth-century Lower Nubia— with historical details (Rose 1992, 18; Welsby 2002, 19). Indeed, as Updegraff stated, the introduction of the Nobatae in Procopius’ account of the political situation in the latter part of the third century seems too early to be convincing (1978).
A number of inscriptions at Kalabsha are of great importance for the historiography of the fourth to sixth century AD. One fourth- or fifth-century inscription indicates the appointment of klinarchs and other cult