Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (16.2004(2005))

BANGANARTI

SUDAN

part of the church thus far. Among the
inscription which came to light in this part
of the church, two items bear particular
interest. They are situated near one another
in the southwestern corner of Room 11,
one on the southern wall, another one on
the western wall [Fig. 1]. Both of them are
in Greek and commemorate Paper, King of
the Town of Tungul (= Dongola). A king
of this name is otherwise unknown. The
relative chronology of the Banganarti wall
inscriptions indicates that he reigned in
the end of the 13th/first half of the 14th
century. It should be remarked that the
king's title sounds somewhat strange.
Instead of being called "King of Makuria"
(or similarly) he is designated only as "King
of Dongola". Perhaps he sat on the throne
of Dongola after the Kingdom of Makuria
ceased to exist, having split into a series of
chiefdoms (mekkships) of which one was
centered at Dongola, in other words he was
a Christian mekk of Dongola. Provided this
is true, Paper's inscriptions should be da-
ted to the middle of the 14th century and
perhaps even later.
Another interesting phenomenon of
Paper's titulature is that his King's title is
followed by the word brephos — "babe". This
designation surely is not to be taken liter-
ary. Perhaps it should be understand in the
sense "The Junior (King of the Town of
Tungul)". Another possibility is that it
translates a Nubian word, e.g. tot = "son,
child", which also is attested as the name of
an office in the Kingdom of Makuria.
Paper's titulature would read "King of the
Town of Tungul (and) Tot" in this case.

Among the inscriptions occurring on
the walls of the northwestern part of the
church one should mention also a graffito
in the southern part of the eastern wall of
Room 11 which commemorates a King's
Mother with the name Andala (?).
Several inscriptions occurred in different
parts of the church on the earlier layers of
plaster after removing the last layer.5 The
most interesting among them is situated
on the southern part of the eastern wall of
Room 20, just behind the door leading
from the southern portico to the interior of
the church [Fig. 2], The Nubian text com-
memorates a certain Teeita who claimed
"to have" no less than three churches: the
Church of Jesus at Moukdakko, the Church
of Michael of the West, and the Church of
Gabriel at Edi.6 In contrast to other Ban-
ganarti inscriptions, which as a rule do not
contain dating elements, this one has as
many as three chronological indications:
Hathyr 22, moon 26, second (day) of the
week, a coincidence which probably cor-
responds to 18 November 1280. This date
is of primary importance for the chrono-
logical evaluation of the use of the Upper
Church at Banganarti. It is the ante quem
date for laying the last layer of plaster and,
consequently, for the entire collection of
inscriptions written on this last layer. It
should be observed that Hathyr 22, the day
of Teeita's visit to the church, is according
to the Coptic synaxary the day of the com-
memoration of the saints Cosmas and
Damianos, whose representations stand on
the western wall of Room 13, not far from
the place where this inscription was writ-

5 The church had three layers of plaster on the central supports and two on the remaining walls, columns and pillars.
6 For "having" churches in Christian Nubia, see A. Lajtar, J. Van der Vliet, "Rich Ladies of Meinarti and their Churches.
With an appended list of sources from- Christian Nubia containing the expression 'Having the Church of So-And-So'",
JJP 28 (1998), 35-53. None of the churches mentioned in the inscription can be identified.

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