ald and gold mines between the Nile and the Red Sea. The
kingdom, according to the Armenian historian Abu Salih, was in a very
flourishing condition in the 12th century. It then extended from Assuan
southward to the 4th cataract, and contained several large cities. Gold
and copper mines were worked. The liturgy used was in Greek. In 1173
Shams addaula, a brother of Saladin, attacked the Nubians, captured the
city of Ibrim (Primis), and among other deeds destroyed 700 pigs found
therein. The Egyptians then retired, and for about 100 years the country
was at peace. In 1275 the Mameluke sultan Bibars aided a rebel prince to
oust his uncle from the throne of Nubia; the sultans Kalaun and Nasir
also sent expeditions to Dongola, which was several times captured.
Though willing to pay tribute to the Moslems, the Nubians clung
tenaciously to Christianity, and, despite the raids to which the country
was subjected, it appears during the 12th and 13th centuries to have
been fairly prosperous. No serious attempt was made by the Egyptians to
penetrate south of Napata, nor is it certain how far south of that place
the authority of the Dongola kingdom (sometimes known as Mukarra)
extended. It was neighboured on the south by another Christian state,
Aloa (Alwa), with its capital Soba on the Blue Nile.

Cut off more and more from free intercourse with the Copts in Egypt, the
Nubian Christians at length began to embrace Jewish and Mahommedan
doctrines; the decay of the state was hastened by dissensions between
Mukarra and Aloa. Nevertheless, the Nubians were strong enough to invade
upper Egypt during the reign of Nawaya Krestos (1342-1372), because the
governor of Cairo had thrown the patriarch of Alexandria into prison.
The date usually assigned for the overthrow of the Christian kingdom is
1351. Only the northern part of the country (as far as the 3rd cataract)
came under the rule of Egypt. Nevertheless, according to Leo Africanus,
at the close of the 15th century Christianity and native states still
survived in Nubia, and in the 16th century the Nubians sent messengers
to Abyssinia to Father Alvarez, begging him to appoint priests to
administer the sacraments to them--a request with which he was not able
to comply. Thereafter the Nubian Church is without records. The Moslems
may have extinguished it in blood, for the region between Dongola and
Shendi appears to have been depopulated. Between Assuan and Hannek the
Turks introduced in th