Fontes Historiae Nubiorum
III
could only have been composed by a foreign visitor, and it must also be noted
that the language of official documents in Roman Egypt was Greek and not
Latin, while of course Latin was the official language of the Roman army (for
the use of Latin in Egypt see the summary in Bagnall 1995, 17 f., 22). Moreover,
though terse, the text cannot fairly be said to violate the rules of Latin grammar. So it would seem likely that 297 was written by somebody for whom Latin
was a spoken and written language and that the unusual appearance of the text
is due to the person who carved it on the wall and not to the original author.
In Hintze's view (1964, 298) the domina regina refers to a queen of Meroe.
The Greek equivalent Kupic 3a ktaaa, that occurs in Greek proskynema inscriptions in the Dodecaschoenus (cf. FHN II, 168) and is quoted by Hintze
refers, however, to the goddess Isis (whence the suggested interpretation of the
text as a votive dedicated to Isis in Török 1986a, 357). If our assessment is correct, it would have been expected that the inscription was dated in a correct
style and signed by its author. However, part of the dating, a regnal year, seems
to be lost in line 5; and the remaining MENSE APR DIE XV seems unusual.
The name of the author is illegible except for the last letters (...)TVS (?) in line
6. It has been suggested (Török 1986a, 357) that the squeeze (Hintze 1964, Pl.
LVI) also permits an alternative reading of the beginning of line 4, E VRBE
MEROE. The reading E VRBE.MENSE is, however, more likely.
[1_,T]
298 Aksum. Greek inscription of Ezana. Mid 4th cent. AD.
-
SEG XXXII1601.B-D-S270bis.
Source bibliography
E. Bernand 1982
Bernand-DrewesSchneider 1991
E. Bernand: Nouvelles versions de la campagne du roi
Ezana contre les Bedja. ZPE 45, 105-114+ Pl. 3.
E. Bernand-A.J. Drewes-R. Schneider: Recueil des
inscriptions de l'Ethiopie des pffiodes pr&axoumite
et axoumite. Vol. 1-2. Paris 1991. [= B D S.]
J. Bingen: Notes dpigraphie grecque. IV. CdE 57, 350354.
S. Munro-Hay: Aksum. An African Civilisation of Late
Antiquity. Edinburgh.
-
Bingen 1982
Munro-Hay 1991
Introduction
-
to source
This monumental inscription was carved on one side of a large stela discovered at the site called Geza Agumai north of the ancient town of Aksum in
Ethiopia (see further Comments below). The Greek text was first published by
E. Bernand (1982, with photo). Our text is based on that of E. Bernand in
Bernand-Drewes-Schneider (1991, 368-370, with Pl. 180), to whom we refer for
bibliography and critical apparatus.
1094
The Sources
This new text is better preserved
than the Greek version known earlier
(OGIS I 200, SB V 8546, B-D-S 270; English translation
in Munro-Hay
1991, 224
f.); it differs slightly in wording or sequence at some places and is sometimes
more elaborate, especially in the dedication section (lines 26-37).
All the numbers were inscribed afterwards
in spaces reserved for them by
the original stone-cutter.
Some of the signs used for numbers are peculiar in
form; their reproduction
in the text below (as in other printed editions) is only
roughly approximate
and, in a few cases, presupposes
an interpretation
(on the
numbers, see E. Bernand 1982, 109-111).
Text
'Actav6c;
5
10
15
20
25
30
13aatX£i);
'PactSdiv
'AC01.11T6w Kat '0wripur6w
AiBtOircov
1::43aElTdiv
ico6,
Ttcq.td
cx BOUyaElTv
K(asl)
KOcaou, f3cLrn?ç
PacsiXécov,
ôç Ocoii ckVlKTjtou "Apeo);, detaleT116åVTCON/Katà Koctp6v Toi3
OvoDçTCtiv Bovyaeurcb^v dmEatiXocRev Toi)
dc8EX6o.i) 1,ocav6v ic(oit) T6v 'ASIO6tv
TO1STO1JgICOX41116al
napaSE&OKOTOW fri)—
Tdiv imoTdcavTE;
airco.i); liyayov irpôç illtdc
getå KU. tO OXX.all airrciiv ökall KCXtTciiv OpegtOc—
Tow, f3o63v
xcå irpoPOurow ,ccricS' Kat WO—
To(1)6pwv xor, OpévocvtE; ocirroi); 136Ecsiv TE
Kasl ETClalTlag63, Civve6v(Tig), O'lv(Q)) TE Ic(aX) -68pogéXvu,
K(al) .68pei)p.amv
iç xopTaaiav
pijvoc.
tc5csocpa; dittvat
'ijaccv TOv åptelgOv ,SuK'
avv6WED6f..1EvM KaO' KdcYt1v kiépav
6crytou
aurivo.K p.u(plOciSa) [3'
åxpEt; ot6toi);
tEtOKjGcO.tEV
to1'rouç 011YV
EvEXOEvTag icpôç kt6kg, ScDpiad—
gEV01. al')TOtig ruivta TOc brizrj8fta ico6, dcgOlOcaavTEg, RETOIKiCaVIEg al5101); KaTECYTijaagEV 'ig T1—
va TO7Z0v Tfig ill..teTépoc xoSpag KaXoligevov
MaTkla Kasl EleakEl)GailEV oc.1)to.6;
Ocvvco—
vEl)ECTOOUErit Tolg EKiCTETO/ZOlg, napacyx6gevol
EKciato? POU:SIXiCYKO)
POag ,Spy'
0j; yivecsOco tol;
ëco;:siv
iKoç
POot; gu(p16c3a;)
irrep Sè ci)xapuytia;
gca yEN/V1i6avTog
(1\itlerjTou ''Apeco; dtve0ijKa1ev a-6T6); OwSpt—
Ocvta xpliamov
va ic(c)6.) dcpy6patov
va K(o6,) xakKocio•K
xa't dc,vé011ica
Tijv CYTTjXv
itotpEOE1.111val'm)\,/ T(0: oUpawi) iccit tij yfi Kat T6,5 gcn
yevvijcsavn
Oevtlerjw 'Apécv Ei -n; oi3v toirtov
åSueficyca f3mAr101),
.02,EOpe1a1.3 cdrc6v 6 Oe[O]
1095
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum
III
Tois) 01)pavoi3 K(X'L'Cf1; yfi; èicpi.Ç6v Kcàp,T1 "l)7rdcp—
[x]T3 airroi3 45voga v yfi Vwccov.
eiQapt(c5)—
35 'flaVtEÇ (iv£OTIKOCII£N, åy()(E)6.),
•
EIA1); åvelkkagev
6è t()): OCV1Klite?
'Apéel ElDrATE tccit BEME.
Translation
Aeizanas, King of Aksumites and Himyarites and of Raeidan and Aithiopians
and Sabaites and of Silee and of Tiamo and Bougaites and of Kasu,686King of
Kings, son of the invincible god (5) Ares (Mahrem):
When the nation (ethnos) of the Bougaites (Beja) once revolted, we sent
our brothers Sazanan and Adiphan687 to make war on them. After they had
surrendered, they brought them under our dominion and led them to us (10)
with their whole population as well as their animals: 3,112 cattle, 6,224 sheep
and 677 pack animals, and gave them cattle and grain to eat, and wine and
honey-water, beer and wells (hydreuma)688 to satisfy their needs for four (15)
months. They were 4,420689in number and received per day 22,000 pieces of
bread made from grain, until we moved them to a new home.
Thus, after they had been brought to us and we had given them all they
needed and clothed them, (20) we moved them to a new home and settled
them in a place in our territory called Matlia; and we commanded that they
should be fed once more in those places, and gave to each of their chieftains
(basiliskos) 4,190 cattle, that is, (25) altogether 25,140 cattle to the six chieftains.
As a thank-offering to him who begat me, the invincible Ares, we set up for
him one statue of gold and one of silver and three of bronze and I set up this
stela and presented (30) it to heaven and earth and the invincible Ares who begat me.
If anyone should wish to wrong him, may the god of heaven and earth destroy him utterly and extirpate him, and may his name not exist on the earth of
the living. And thanking (him) (35) we set up (the stela). May it be for the best.
(?).690
Immediately, however, we set up to the invincible Ares a (?) and a
[TH]
686 0ur
translation tries to bring out the Greek text's variation between names with the definite
article (in genitive singular) and those lacking an article by adding "of" before those of the former category.
687 We transcribe these names as they are written in the text; if Greek nominal inflection (in the
accusative case) is intended, the corresponding nominative forms would end in -as.
688 Perhaps the reference here is to hafirs (cf. (191), 198 Comments),
i.e., artificial ponds or
lakes.
689 Reading ,Sylc' with Bingen (1982, 351 f.) instead of Bernand's
Ic(ai.), "4,400 and".
690 At this place, the Greek redactor has simply transliterated
the indigenous terms for what
was offered to Mahrem; the non-vocalized Ethiopic version of the same passage runs in French
translation: "Et nous avons offert å Mahrem un SWT et un BD13" (R. Schneider in E. Bernand 1982,
113), the nature of the two offerings thus specified being unknown.
1096
The Sources
Comments
The Greek text is written on one side of a monolithic granite stela measuring
268 x 92.5 cm; the inscription field measures 139 cm in height. The opposite
side bears two further inscriptions, one in Ge'ez written in South Arabian
script and one in non-vocalized Ethiopic. This latter text continues on one of
the short sides of the stela and ends below the Greek text on the opposite side.
The three inscriptions represent three renderings of the text inscribed on the
famous stela of Ezana known since the early 19th century (for literature see E.
Bernand et al. 1991, 363 f.) commemorating his campaign against the Beja; this
latter stela also presents the narrative of the campaign in three languages, viz.,
in Greek (E. Bernand et al. 1991, 363 ff. no. 270), in Sabaean and in Ge'ez
(Littmann 1913, nos 6 and 7; Littmann 1950, 97 ff.).
The reign of King Ezana of Aksum, dated around the middle of the 4th
cent. AD (for literature see Munro-Hay 1991, 75 ff.),691is richly documented by
inscriptions written in different languages, also including Greek, and
commemorating his military campaigns.
From the early period of his reign as a pagan "king of kings" and "son of the
invincible god Ares" are preserved the above-mentioned triumphal stela and
the inscription presented here. In these texts we read the record of a campaign
against the Bougaites whom we may identify as Beja tribes (the Greek text in
both stelae uses Ovo'K T6A,BolYy0CE1T6W,
"nation of the B.") already previously
settled in Aksumite territory or living in a territory conquered by Aksum (as is
indicated by Ezana's title "King of the Bougaites"), and governed by native
chiefs (the Greek texts have basiliskoi, "chieftains", lit. "kinglets"). As a consequence of their rebellious habits, they are punished and resettled by force in another territory in the kingdom of Aksum that we cannot identify. Though the
scene of the events defies identification, it may well be supposed that the Beja
vassals of Ezana, like the Beja mentioned in Adulitana II (= 234), a triumphal
inscription of one of Ezana's predecessors, were originally inhabitants of the region of the Red Sea Hills, the large area bordered by the Red Sea and the kingdoms of Meroe and Aksum (for the background of the Aksumite-Beja conflicts
and interactions see Comments on 234).
In 298 as well as in the other versions of the same report mentioned above
(Littmann 1913, nos 4-7) Ezana styled himself, among his other titles, "King of
Kasu", by which title his claim to Kush, i.e., the kingdom of Meroe, is stated.692
The claim was doubtless based on earlier successful Aksumite campaign(s)
conducted in Meroitic territory; 285 and 286 attest that Meroe City had tem691 There is no need to discuss here the erroneous
dating and the assumed existence of two rulers
with the name Ezana suggested by Altheim and Stiehl (1961; 1976).
is inserted between "King of Raeidan" and "King of Saba"
692 The title "King of Aithiopians"
and is rendered in the Semitic variants of the Greek text as "King of Habashat", a term originally denoting the population of the eastern Tigray, cf. Munro-Hay 1991, 15, 36, 41; it does not refer to Meroe.
1097
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum
III
porarily (cf. Hintze 1967 and Comments on the mentioned documents), but
perhaps repeatedly, been occupied by a pagan Aksumite ruler.
In Ezana's well-known inscription in vocalised Ge'ez (Littmann 1913, no.
11; cf. Littmann 1950; Kirwan 1960; Hintze 1967; Kirwan 1972b; Török 1988b, 33
ff.) the king has the same title; the monotheistic formulas used in its text indicate, however, that it should be dated to a later period in his reign.693In this inscription Ezana records a campaign against the Noba people. His army pursued
the Noba, who were his vassals but had revolted against him, from the junction of the rivers Takkaze and Atbara through the Butana (the "island of
Meroe" of classical texts) as far as the Gezira between the White and Blue Niles,
where their settlements were destroyed. Ezana's army then moved northwards
and fought the "Kasu", i.e., Meroites, and defeated them at the junction of the
Nile and the Atbara. Subsequerttly, an expedition was sent against the Meroitic
"towns of masonry" Alwa and Daro, which are identified with two settlements
close to the junction of these two rivers, viz., El Mogren (Juba: Alabe; Ptolemy:
Orba) and Shadinab (Darru) (Juba: Andaro), respectively (see 186a, 222). The
next action was directed against settlements the Noba took from the Meroites
north of the Nile-Atbara junction. An Old Abyssinian graffito on the exterior
wall of Temple T at Kawa (Macadam 1955, 235) as well as Old Abyssinian or
Sabaean (?) graffiti on a block of pyramid Beg. N. 2 (LD VI, 13/1) and on a block
from chapel M 292 at Meroe City (Török 1997, 151 find 292-3, PI. 114) may be
brought into connection with the events of the campaign.
As Hintze (1967) argued, this monument indicates the existence of a
Meroitic kingdom, albeit one reduced in extent and power as a consequence of
the expansion and conquests of the Noba, who are traditionally regarded as responsible for the end of the Meroitic kingdom which is supposed to have occurred shortly after Ezana's campaign.694 According to Burstein (1984, 221) the
joint action against the Noba and the Meroites would indicate that the last
rulers of Meroe were Aksumite vassals who tried to exploit the opportunity
presented by the war between the Noba and Ezana to "escape their vassal status"
The Noba of the Ezana inscription were largely identical with the Nubai of
the Greek sources (cf. FHN II 109), a people belonging to the large family of the
Nubian-speakers a branch of which, already by the New Kingdom, lived in the
Nubian Nile Valley (cf. Priese 1973) and to which the bulk of the population
settled from the late 3rd cent. BC onwards in the Lower Nubian Nile Valley
seems to have belonged (cf. Adams 1976, 11-25, 119 ff.; and see FHN II, 108,
(129), (131), 135, 140, 155). Nubai are recorded living west of the Nile from the
693 According
to Dinkler (1977, 124), the formulas reflect knowledge of Old Testament terminology but do not directly indicate Christian Monotheism or Monophysitism.
694 Cf. Kirwan 1939, 41 ff.; Hintze 1967; for a review of the literature see Török 1988a, 33 ff., 196
ff.; 1996; for a dating on the basis of archaeological finds to around AD 360 see Török 1974; 1988b,
120 f.
1098
The Sources
latitude of Meroe City to the Bayuda, i.e., the region north of the Nile-Atbara
junction, in the 3rd cent. BC (FHN II, 109). They are mentioned again by Pliny
(Natural History 6.192) and later by Ptolemy (4.5.6) as inhabitants of the same
region. Meroite-Noba conflicts seem to be hinted at by late lst cent. BC and lst
cent. AD Meroitic representations of enemies (Török 1989a, 192 ff., figs 300-312),
which also seem to indicate that Noba groups had started to leave their original
homeland and move towards Meroitic territories. At the date of Ezana's campaign in the mid-4th cent. AD, we already find them in possession of settlements in the Butana and north of the Nile-Atbara junction which they had
taken from the Meroites. The causes of their migration remain unknown, as
are those of the great migrations of this period towards and across the frontiers
of the Roman Empire (cf. Cameron 1993a, 140 ff.).
The latest non-royal burials in the cemeteries at Meroe City, dating from the
4th cent. AD, were identified, by their non-Meroitic type burial customs and
material culture, as documents of the Noba occupation that marked the end of
the Meroitic kingdom (cf. Kirwan 1939, 41 ff.). The latest habitation horizon at
Meroe City with its rural-type dwellings, the abandonment of the temples and
squatter occupation within their walls, burials in abandoned palatial buildings,
the disappearance of Meroitic industries and the emergence of hand-made pottery wares (Tiin5k 1997, 38 ff.) reflect the collapse of Meroitic urban life with its
government, social structure, and other institutions; and, at the same time, the
spread of a new culture can be observed, the bearers of which seem, however,
to some extent also to have been Meroiticized. Hence, it was supposed that the
collapse of the Meroitic kingdom was, at least partly, brought about not only by
Noba and Aksumite aggression but also by a political and cultural imbalance
caused by the increasing presence of superficially acculturated or unacculturated Noba in Meroe. Initially these may even have been encouraged to settle as
vassals or federates on Meroitic territory. For such a pattern we can find sufficient parallels from the Roman Empire and elsewhere. 298 presents an excellent Aksumite example of settled and resettled vassal tribes.695
It is apparently from a still later period of Ezana's reign that the inscription
presented here as 299 (see below) has been preserved. While in 298 Ezana erects
statues of Ares to the glory of the war god after his victory, and in Littmann
1913, no. 10, also records the triumphal sacrifice of 100 oxen and 50 prisoners, in
the monument inscribed after the Noba campaign (Littmann 1913, no. 11) the
captured idols of the enemy are destroyed and triumphal thrones erected without being associated with Ares or, for that matter, with the monotheistic god
repeatedly invoked in the text. 299 is, by contrast, explicitly Christian and Trinitarian. As Dinkler (1977, 124 f.) pointed out, this text reflects a high level of
695For the problem
of the end of Meroe see the review of recent literature
presented
in Török 1996;
for investigations
based on more recent archaeological
discoveries
that apparently
indicate
a
more organic continuity
between
Meroitic
and post-Meroitic
society than argued
for by Török
1988b ancl 1996 see Lenoble 1989; 1994; Edwards 1989.
1099
Fontes Historiae Nubiorum
III
knowledge about Christian teaching of which no traces could be found in the
monumental Ge'ez inscription Littmann 1913, no. 11. Consequently, Dinkler
denies that 299 is a variant of the latter and suggests instead that it records another, later, campaign against the Noba who were living in the Butana region
and still harassing other peoples there, including the (remaining) Meroites.
Since the Greek text 299 presents only the introductory sectiorts of a longer triumphal inscription,696 Dinkler's suggestion must remain hypothetical, however likely it may be in the light of 299's considerable ideological and stylistic
differences from Littmann 1913, no. 11. If, however, it is correct, 299 provides
good evidence for the existence of a Meroitic political unit surviving in the
shadow of Noba threats and at the mercy of Aksum in the period after Ezana's
conversion.
[LT]
299 Aksum. Christian Greek inscription of Ezana.Mid 4th cent. AD.
SEG XXVI1813. B-D-S271.
-
Source bibliography
Altheim-Stiehl 1976
Anfray-CaquotNautin 1970
Bernand-DrewesSchneider 1991
Munro-Hay 1991
Introduction
F. Altheim-R. Stiehl: Die neue griechische Inschrift
Ezans von Akstim. Klio 58, 471-479.
F. Anfray-A. Caquot-P. Nautin: Une nouvelle
inscription grecque d'Ezana, roi d'Axoum. Journal des
Savants, 260-274.
E. Bernand-A.J. Drewes-R. Schneider: Recueil des
inscriptions de l'Ethiopie des p&iodes pr&axoumite
et axoumite. Vol. 1-2. Paris 1991. [= B-D-S.]
S. Munro-Hay: Aksum. An African Civilisation of Late
Antiquity. Edinburgh.
to source
This inscription was carved on one side of a large stela discovered in 1969 in
the centre of ancient Aksum (for details, see Comments below). The text ends
in the middle of the narrative, so presumably its continuation was carved on
another stone which has not been found. The letters are distinctly carved and
easy to read, except in places where the stone has suffered subsequent damage.
The Greek text was first published by A. Caquot et P. Nautin in AnfrayCaquot-Nautin (1970, with photo). Our text is based on that of E. Bernand in
Bernand-Drewes-Schneider (1991, 370-372, with Pl. 181), to whom we refer for
696 It remains
obscure what the actual relationship was between 299 and the badly damaged
Ge'ez inscription on the other side of the stela
Bernand et al. 1991, 268 ff. no. 190), which is
assumed to be the middle and final (?) sections of a text, the missing beginning of which would
have been a variant of 299.
1100