| Chapter 1: | Historical and Cultural Background |
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Blemmyes, despite the Blemmyes’ meeting his demands for camels, sheep, and silver. King Phonen wrote to Abourni to state that he had met his demands, and that Abourni should therefore have left his lands alone. In such a context, identifying oneself as either Blemmyan or Nobatae must have been very significant, as was the use of the title basileus, which is evidence for the existence of Blemmyan and Nobadae kings. Since this letter was discovered at Qasr Ibrim, it raises the question of whether it was actually received there, which would imply that the Nobatae had held Qasr Ibrim at this point. Alternatively, perhaps an archive was stored there, of which this letter was part. Three other fifth-century letters were also found that had been written in Coptic. One of these was addressed to Tantani, “Phylarch of the nation of those who belong to the Nouba or the Anouba”. The recipients of these letters (one of whom was a Byzantine military officer) were all Christian (Rose 1992, 24).
The evidence may suggest that by the fifth century AD, the Nobadae, and perhaps the Blemmyes, were client rulers under the power of the Roman Empire based at Constantinople. As we have seen, diplomatic relations were already recorded between the imperial court and the two groups under the reign of Constans I and Constantius II in the fourth century (FHN 1998, 1079–1081). Their integration may have continued to such an extent that in AD 524, Justin I was able to offer an army of Blemmyan and Nobadae troops to the King of Axum (FHN 1998, 1185–1188; Rose 1992, 27).
Literary Evidence for the Blemmyes and Nobadae:
Possibilities of Sociopolitical Organisation
The literary evidence concerning Lower Nubia suggests a picture of warlike, belligerent tribes attacking settled areas of Egypt without provocation. Even when peace was declared and treaties were ratified, the Blemmyes and Nobadae betrayed their word as soon as it was advantageous. Furthermore, the Blemmyes have been seen as an artefact-impoverished group who moved into the artefact-rich Nile valley (Welsby 2002, 20). It is worth returning, however, to those historical texts