Vᵉ siècle – VIᵉ siècle
Lower Nubia
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Silko was a sixth-century ruler who identified himself in a Greek inscription at Kalabsha as a “kinglet” of the Nobatae. The inscription celebrated his victory over the Blemmyes. His representation, showing him on horseback and wearing a crown with Egyptian divine emblems, complicates suggestions that he was Christian.
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Le récit
Silko is known in the extract through a Greek inscription on the temple at Kalabsha. In that inscription he calls himself a “kinglet” of the Nobatae and attributes his victory to divine favor. His historical importance lies in the evidence he provides for Nobataean authority and conflict in Lower Nubia during the sixth century.
The inscription describes a major defeat of the Blemmyes. It therefore belongs to a period when rivalry between the Nobatae and Blemmyes continued into the sixth century, after the disappearance of Meroitic as a written language. Greek remained the language of the surviving written evidence cited here.
Silko’s religious identity is uncertain. It has been proposed that he was Christian because the inscription says that God gave him victory, but the accompanying image shows him riding a horse and wearing a crown bearing emblems of various Egyptian gods. The extract treats these visual details as evidence against identifying him straightforwardly with Christianity.
Vᵉ siècle – VIᵉ siècle
Lower Nubia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Silko was a sixth-century ruler who identified himself in a Greek inscription at Kalabsha as a “kinglet” of the Nobatae. The inscription celebrated his victory over the Blemmyes. His representation, showing him on horseback and wearing a crown with Egyptian divine emblems, complicates suggestions that he was Christian.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Silko is known in the extract through a Greek inscription on the temple at Kalabsha. In that inscription he calls himself a “kinglet” of the Nobatae and attributes his victory to divine favor. His historical importance lies in the evidence he provides for Nobataean authority and conflict in Lower Nubia during the sixth century.
The inscription describes a major defeat of the Blemmyes. It therefore belongs to a period when rivalry between the Nobatae and Blemmyes continued into the sixth century, after the disappearance of Meroitic as a written language. Greek remained the language of the surviving written evidence cited here.
Silko’s religious identity is uncertain. It has been proposed that he was Christian because the inscription says that God gave him victory, but the accompanying image shows him riding a horse and wearing a crown bearing emblems of various Egyptian gods. The extract treats these visual details as evidence against identifying him straightforwardly with Christianity.
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