DOI issue:
Sudan
DOI article:Jakobielski, Stefan: Old Dongola: season 2000
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41368#0278
OLD DONGOLA
SUDAN
room 2. Among the sherds there were
numerous fragments of wine amphorae,
some of them inscribed in Old Nubian:
“wine for the Great Trinity” and “wine
for King Toskona”. This is the first
recording of the name of this Nubian
king (Fig. 8). He may have been
a resident of the monastery or one of the
patients cured in the xenon.
While more architectural investigation
is required, the following hypothetical
development of the Annex can be
propounded here. Georgios seemingly
continued building activity in the Annex
even after being invested as bishop. Room
20 (large enough to be suitable as an
assembly hall) was built in the south-
western part and another one (room 2) in
the northwestern part, perhaps to unify the
block outline. Soon after, but still before
Georgios' death in 1113, the conception
changed and a twin crypt (most probably
a reused tomb from the neighboring ce-
metery) was incorporated to form an im-
posing commemorative complex (room 1).
Who was actually buried there remains a
mystery, as the stele originally fixed in an
imposing portal-screen is missing, but the
crypts themselves served burial purposes
perhaps up to the Terminal Christian
period. It is very likely that another crypt
(the one, in which Georgios was later
buried) was dug at this time (and left
unused) under room 5.
By the end of the 11th century the
western part of the Annex included extra
space within newly constructed massive
walls with projecting semicircular struc-
tures imitating towers. Georgios1 plan,
perhaps never completed, appears to have
been to add a monumental passage
segmented into spans with a row of inner
pilasters and with the main entrance from
the south, leading to the former gate
(room 12). In reality (presumably after
Georgios1 death in AD 1113) the space was
disposed of in a different way, having been
divided prior to plastering into individual
rooms of diversified use. The southwestern
corner room (21), entered only from
Fig. 8.
Old Dongola. Western Annex. Inscribed amphora sherds, the one on the top left with the
name of a. previously unknown Nubian king Toskona (Photo T. Jakobielski)
27 6
SUDAN
room 2. Among the sherds there were
numerous fragments of wine amphorae,
some of them inscribed in Old Nubian:
“wine for the Great Trinity” and “wine
for King Toskona”. This is the first
recording of the name of this Nubian
king (Fig. 8). He may have been
a resident of the monastery or one of the
patients cured in the xenon.
While more architectural investigation
is required, the following hypothetical
development of the Annex can be
propounded here. Georgios seemingly
continued building activity in the Annex
even after being invested as bishop. Room
20 (large enough to be suitable as an
assembly hall) was built in the south-
western part and another one (room 2) in
the northwestern part, perhaps to unify the
block outline. Soon after, but still before
Georgios' death in 1113, the conception
changed and a twin crypt (most probably
a reused tomb from the neighboring ce-
metery) was incorporated to form an im-
posing commemorative complex (room 1).
Who was actually buried there remains a
mystery, as the stele originally fixed in an
imposing portal-screen is missing, but the
crypts themselves served burial purposes
perhaps up to the Terminal Christian
period. It is very likely that another crypt
(the one, in which Georgios was later
buried) was dug at this time (and left
unused) under room 5.
By the end of the 11th century the
western part of the Annex included extra
space within newly constructed massive
walls with projecting semicircular struc-
tures imitating towers. Georgios1 plan,
perhaps never completed, appears to have
been to add a monumental passage
segmented into spans with a row of inner
pilasters and with the main entrance from
the south, leading to the former gate
(room 12). In reality (presumably after
Georgios1 death in AD 1113) the space was
disposed of in a different way, having been
divided prior to plastering into individual
rooms of diversified use. The southwestern
corner room (21), entered only from
Fig. 8.
Old Dongola. Western Annex. Inscribed amphora sherds, the one on the top left with the
name of a. previously unknown Nubian king Toskona (Photo T. Jakobielski)
27 6