Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

BANGANARTI

SUDAN

assumes a Nubian ending or is com-
pounded with a Nubian, word. Purely
Greek names, including Biblical ones, are
relatively rare. Interestingly, some of these
names, like Rhabdon, seem not to have
been attested in the Greek world before.
We have already seen that the people
who visited the Banganarti church ori-
ginated mainly from Dongola and its
vicinity, and were connected with the
Dongolese Church of (Great) Jesus
(= Cruciform Church). In this context, one
needs to mention the place-name Tungul,
sometimes spelled Tungula, which occurs
some dozen times in the Banganarti
inscriptions. In several cases, it is ac-
companied by the designation “dipp”, Old
Nubian for “city, town”. It is very
probable that this toponym refers to the
capital of Makuria. We would thus have
the original Nubian name of the Makurian
capital attested for the first time in
internal sources. Until now, it was known
only from external Arabic sources as
Dunqula.
In addition to Tungul, we also have
other toponyms. The list includes: Silmi
(modern Ibrim in North Nubia), Sai (an
island and a village between the second
and third cataracts), Tillarti (literally
“Island of God”, perhaps to be equated
with modern Silinnarti, a village on
the left side of the Nile opposite Old
Dongola), Ouggeri (most probably
present-day Argi), Apko (perhaps Abkor,
a village some 50 km east of Banganarti
with important Christian ruins), Nuri
(a village in the fourth cataract area known
for its Naparan remains), Apate, Kous(s)a,
Ase, and Pinne, the last four remaining
unidentified.

The inscriptions from the Upper
Church at Banganarti throw light upon it
as an important pilgrimage center, which
attracted pilgrims from all classes of
Nubian society and from all over Nubia,
starting from Qasr Ibrim in the north and
reaching Nuri in the south. Why did all
these people come to Banganarti? The
answer is not to be found in the
inscriptions. Bogdan Zurawski is of the
opinion that the pilgrims came because of
some important relics preserved in the
church. Such relics could have been kept in
the octagonal structure with a square
central depression, discovered in the very
center of the church. Another reason for
pilgrimages to the church would have been
the tombs of important persons buried in
the church and around it.
The inscriptions on the walls of the
Upper Church at Banganarti appear to have
been made within a relatively short period,
estimated at around 50-100 years. They are
undoubtedly later than the latest wall
paintings, which date from the 13th
century.’1 They are also younger than the
latest rebuilding of the church, attributed
to around 1280, which encompassed the
adding of pillars at the entrances to the
chapels. In turn, the inscriptions men-
tioning King Siti and his officials indicate
that the custom of leaving a written record
of one's visit to the church continued
through the 1330s, although it was slowly
approaching an end as the inscription of Siti
himself occurs relatively low above the floor
and was not whitewashed. All this leads to
the conclusion that the inscriptions on the
walls of the Upper Church at Banganarti
should be dated between about AD 1280
and 1350.

3) Cf. contribution by M. Laptas in this volume.

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