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Sacred Worship in Ancient Nubia: An Interview with Professor Solange Ashby

Posted on December 26, 2020February 8, 2023 by TheCustodian

“In writing the history of this Nubian tradition of worship in the Egyptian temples of Lower Nubia, I came to understand that Nubian pilgrimages to and activities at the sacred site of Philae were actually older than the extant temple of Isis that was built under Ptolemy II…”

-Professor Solange Ashby

Situated in modern-day Egypt and Sudan, Ancient Nubia was home to prosperous and innovative societies whose influence could be felt throughout the ancient world. Exceedingly rich in natural resources, such as gold and iron, Nubian city-states like Meroe and Napata developed and maintained transcontinental commercial ties and used their wealth to fund and build an impressive array of tombs, temples, and other civic structures–many of which are still intact.

Yet the financial, religious, and artistic contributions of Ancient Nubian civilisations have often been downplayed, ignored, or–in some cases– suppressed. For years, archaeologists and historians, blinded by their own prejudices, interpreted and sought to portray Nubia only as an extension or vassalage of Egypt.

Fortunately, rigorous scholarship has helped to change some of these misconceptions, and in this regard, the work of Professor Solange Ashby–one of today’s foremost scholars of Nubiology–is especially valuable. Ashby’s first book, Calling out to Isis: The Enduring Presence of Nubian Worshippers at Philae (2020), examined the unique and significant activities of Nubian communicants in several Egyptian temples of Lower Nubia. 

Ashby is set to take up a new professorship at Barnard College next month. We caught up with her to learn more about her research and forthcoming projects.

The Custodian: When did you first take an interest in Nubiology and how did you arrive at your dissertation topic?

Professor Solange Ashby: Before I applied to doctoral programs, I took some courses at University of California, Berkeley though their Adult Education program. The first course I took was a survey of ancient Egyptian history. I asked my professor to recommend books on ancient Nubia, which I had heard of but knew nothing about. She recommended William Y. Adams’ book Nubia Corridor to Africa, which whetted my appetite to know more.

My dissertation chair suggested that I read Francis Griffith’s book on the Demotic graffiti at the temple of Philae. I had told her that I wanted to study and write about the transitional period from traditional Egyptian religion to Christianity. When I began to read the prayer inscriptions recorded by Griffith, it immediately struck me that many of them were written by Nubians and I knew this would be the subject of my dissertation: Nubian worship at the temple of Philae.

C: What does the presence of Nubian inscriptions at the temple of Philae tell us about the temple’s activities and rites?

SA: This corpus of inscriptions shows us that the groups of Nubians who arrived at Philae (and the other temples of Lower Nubia) changed over time, the context of their participation in the temple rites changed as did the gods that they came to worshipped at the temple, initially local Nubian gods, later Isis and Osiris, and finally Blemmye gods such as Ptiris and Mandulis. In writing the history of this Nubian tradition of worship in the Egyptian temples of Lower Nubia, I came to understand that Nubian pilgrimages to and activities at the sacred site of Philae was actually older than the extant temple of Isis that was built under Ptolemy II (ca. 260 BCE). The oldest standing monument in the temple complex is a granite bark stand inscribed for the Kushite king Taharqo (690-664 BCE) who worshipped the god Amun who is closely associated with Kushite kingship.

Philae, circa 1888. Image via Internet Archive

It also became apparent over the course of this research, that Nubian involvement in the temples of Lower Nubia was heavily financial, initially as colonised people forced to deliver subventions to the temples and later as the financial backers of the temple cult and final practitioners of the traditional Nile Valley religion.

C: Where and how did Ancient Nubian populations usually conduct their worship?

SA: Three separate phases of Nubian worship are recorded in the prayer inscriptions. In the first century CE, Nubian worshippers conducted their rites and engraved their prayer inscriptions on the forecourt of the Main Temple at Philae. On this forecourt are several smaller temples dedicated to Nubian gods: Arensnuphis, Mandulis, and Thoth Pnubs. 

In the second and third centuries CE, Nubian priests gained access to the interior of the temple. Their rites were conducted in the Pronaos of the temple, in the Gate of Hadrian (to the west of the Main Temple), and on a nearby island called Biga (Abaton in Greek) where a temple associated with the burial of Osiris is located along with 365 offering tables according to a hieroglyphic text that decorates the interior north wall of the Gate of Hadrian.

In the final phase in the early fifth century CE, worshippers may have performed their rites on the roof of the Main Temple (where the so-called Osiris Chambers, decorated with scenes of the mummification and revivification of Osiris, are located) and the roof of the Birth House. It is likely that they retreated to the roofs due to the increasingly powerful Christian presence on the island of Philae.

C: What unique prayers, songs, dances, and myths did the Nubian clergy and lay worshippers develop for deities like Hathor, Horus, and Isis?

SA: One Nubian rite performed at Philae for the god Osiris was called the Festival of Entry or the ꜥq-procession, which entailed gilding the divine statue of Osiris to be carried in procession by priests anointed for the celebration. Another unique Nubian rite, performed for the god Osiris, was the pouring of milk libations in which milk (as a purifying substance) was poured out as a libation over a table laden with offering. This scene was part of the funerary rites depicted in funerary chapels in the royal cemetery in Meroe, the capital of the kingdom of Kush to the south of Egypt.

The Temple of Naqa, circa 1820. Image via Internet Archive

C: Have you identified any links between ancient and modern-day Nubian cultural practices?

SA: Interestingly, Nubian women traditionally poured a milk libation on the husband’s grave as part of the standard period of mourning as late as the early twentieth century. Palm leaves, frequently depicted in the hands of mourners in the funerary chapels of the royal burials in Meroe, continue to be laid on Nubian graves in Aswan, Egypt and in El-Kurru, Sudan. The Nubian word angareb, the traditional bed burial, means “life” and tells us of the intention of burying the deceased in this way. Traditional Nubian burials still used the angareb before the flooding of Nubia after the erection of the Aswan High Dam.

The Pyramids of Nuri, circa 1820. Image via Internet Archive

C: Could you tell us more about your forthcoming monograph on the queens of Kush?

SA: I am researching the ritual roles of Kushite queens based on titles associated with royal women, which often reflect participation in the cult of the goddess Hathor. God’s wives of Amun, originally a position held by 18th dynasty royal women in Egypt, reached the pinnacle of its power under Kushite rule in Egypt’s 25th dynasty. This tradition of dedicating Kushite royal sisters to the temples of Amun predates Kushite rule in Egypt and continues after the Kushites were expelled from Egypt. 

The role seems to be connected to the position of the Queen Mother as the person who bestows legitimacy on her sons to take the Kushite throne. Finally, in the Meroitic period a series of about five women acquired incredible power, either ruling jointly with their husbands or becoming the sole-ruler. So little has been written on these amazing women of antiquity, their story deserves to be told.

Want more stories? Check out our spin-off project, Godfrey’s Almanack.

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