Africanobyzantina

Africanobyzantina is one of those deeply flawed but potentially fruitful analyses of the pre-Islamic past of Sudanic Africa. Positing a significant influence of Byzantium and medieval Nubian civilization on Sudanic Africa in the period of the 500s-700s, Theodōros Papadopoullos essentially restates the Hamitic Hypothesis for elucidating the rise of complex states and kingdoms in the Central and Western Sudan. However, he largely ignores pre-6th century history, overlooking any Egyptian and Kushite influences that permeated "Negro-Sudanese" Africa in Antiquity. So, using the Byzantine-sponsored Christianization of Nubia in the 6th century and the medieval Nubian kingdoms adoption of at least part of the Roman/Byzantine state apparatus and civilization, Papadopoullos endeavors to use a migration of said Nubians to the west to explain the development of civilizations like Kanem, Songhay, the Hausa states, and even the origins of the Jukun, Borgu, and Nupe. 

Like other theories based on the Hamitic Hypothesis, the vector of this civilizing current is presented as likely Zaghawa (although the Tuareg and their possible part eastern origins in northeast Africa is also considered), although the author fails to clarify how nomadic or seminomadic populations in the Sahara or Darfur and Chad were able to create kingdoms that brought Byzantine and oriental (Middle Eastern) statecraft to Black Africans. Presumably, actual Nubians and perhaps Copts and Persians, traveled to West Africa in large enough numbers to transfer aspects of their more "advanced" cultures but, naturally, our oral traditions and legends cited by the author fail to demonstrate this persuasively. Instead, what Papadopoullos achieves is a confused speculative theory based on outdated translations of Arabic sources (which he sometimes fails to address the contradictions of), problematic interpretations of said sources, and a large corpus of oral traditions collected by Frobenius, Meek, H.R. Palmer, and other Western colonial administrator-scholars and ethnographers. While there is undoubtedly great value in some of these traditions and, in the case of Palmer, local manuscripts written by locals in northern Nigeria, the methodological issues, language barriers, colonial context, and disturbing racialized framework adopted by these European scholars are never addressed or interrogated by Papadopoullos.

In spite of our criticisms of the book, there is nonetheless some merit to it. For instance, linguistic evidence studied by Claude Rilly does point to medieval Nubian contacts with peoples in western Sudan and eastern Chad. Some medieval Arabic sources do indeed reference contact between Nubia and the lands to their west. The Tuareg language does indeed include words of Latin or Greek origin that suggest a Christian past. And even some of the Kisra traditions analyzed by Papadopoullos seem to refer to historical events and personages relevant to the Persian conquest of Egypt and Sassanian conflict with the Byzantine Empire. And snippets of a pre-Islamic past that may have once been influenced by Christian Nubia can be occasionally seen here or there, if the references to Nasara or Christian-sounding practices are reliable in the traditions and accounts collected by Meeks, Frobenius and Palmer. Recent scholarship has also pointed out possible links between Nubia and the Lake Chad region through analysis of beads found at a site believed to have been a royal capital of Kanem, possibly Njimi. If the bead assemblage analyzed there was closer to those found in East Africa, and highly unlike the chemical composition of beads found at medieval sites in West Africa, the authors are probably correct to suspect trade links to the east that likely traversed Darfur and Nubia. 

Similarly, the aforementioned linguistic evidence of medieval Nubian influence on languages spoken between the Nile and Lake Chad points to potential Nubian trade, settlement, or migration into some of these areas. Some potential evidence of this can be seen in archaeological sites showing medieval Nubian extension west into Kordofan. Indeed, perhaps Muhammad Bello's tale of the Tuareg migration into Air from Kanem and Borno may have a kernel of truth, too, showing evidence of a Tubu, Kanuri, Tuareg, and Hausa interaction sphere by the 7th or 8th century that may have had ties to Nubia through trade. Archaeological evidence of pre-Islamic trans-Saharan at Marandet, Kissi and other sites that may have traded through the Fazzan or further east with the Nile Valley is also possible. Indeed, the Zaghawa word for king, kire, based on one Beria dictionary, sounds like it may be related to the Meroitic qore. In short, there are number of possible areas of influence from the Nubian civilizations, both Kushite and medieval, in the lands to the west. To what extent they actually influenced the Central and Western Sudan is unknown, but contacts were probable and likely predate medieval Nubia. 

Nonetheless, a deeper study of these aforementioned traditions and sources is required, especially with scholars who are well-versed local languages and have an understanding of how Islamic-influenced histories and legends draw on Jewish and Christian traditions. Due to his reliance on these highly problematic colonial-era scholars and colonial administrators, and the author's reliance on sometimes flawed translations of Arabic materials, he ends up promoting the Hamitic Hypothesis in a slightly different manner yet still flawed and lacking merit. It is also likely that some of the traditions recorded by locals, upon the insistence of Palmer or with his sponsorship, were influenced by more erudite traditions of Islamic history that included more specific knowledge of Sassanian Persian wars with the Byzantine Empire. Indeed, in East Africa, a Swahili poet even wrote about the Heraclius. To what degree the traditions collected by individuals like these actually reflect the Mandara, Borno, Nupe, or Hausa traditions of origin must be addressed, particularly in the ways traditions mutate or incorporate new figures over time. One must also look for actual evidence of migration of Persians, Copts, or Nubians in the period from the 6th century to the 8th century, too, since the author seems to think these Byzantine and eastern influences arrived via actual migratory movements that were associated with the Zaghawa (and, possibly, Tuareg, whose ancestors may have come from the east as well as Berber North Africa).

Christianity and the Garamantes

One topic we hope archaeologists could potentially answer is the possible conversion of the Garamantes to Christianity in the 6th century. We know of at least 4 or 5 6th century sources that refer to Christianity among the Garamantes or with their neighbors, although the most direct source is John of Biclar. John of Biclar, whose chronicle mentioned Garamantian envoys to the Byzantines requesting peace and to become questions, gives a date of 568 or so. However, earlier references in the 6th century hint at a Christian presence among the Garamantes or their neighbors. For instance, Cosmas Indicopleustes, the famous 6th century traveler who is an important source on Aksum during this period, alluded to the land of the Garamantes as one that included churches. 

While Cosmas Indicopleustes may have writing rhetorically to suggest how universal Christianity was, it is interesting that he wrote around 550, several years before the Garamantes sent a delegation to the Byzantine Empire (to the coast or Constantinople?). In addition to these aforementioned writers, Procopius, whose Buildings includes a section on churches and construction in Libya and North Africa during the reign of Justinian. Like the others, Procopius  was writing around the middle of the 6th century, and according to him, the Byzantine Empire promoted Christianity in Ghadames, Augila (including a church for the Mother of God), and among various Berber peoples like the Gadabitani. He rebuilt and refortified cities like Leptis Magna, where he also constructed a chapel in honor of Mary. 

One more 6th century writer of the Roman Empire also alluded, indirectly, to the Garamantes. In his epic on the campaigns of John against the Berbers, Corripus wrote that neighbors of the Garamantes (Nasamonians) were part of the Berber alliance that attacked John. The genre and type of reference used by Corripus here is probably exaggerating the number and diversity of Berber foes John Troglita fought to portray him as a more heroic figure. Nonetheless, we know from earlier incidents that the Garamantes did occasionally participate or join in raids against the Romans on the coast of Libya in earlier centuries. If the Garamantes or their neighbors were involved in the conflict with John Troglita, perhaps it helps explain why they were seeking peace with the Byzantines by 568?

Additional references to the Garamantes in relation to Vandal North Africa (epigrams of Luxorius which reference Garamantes and their dark skin) and the Mediterranean can be found. And The Archaeology of the Fazzan series found evidence of ongoing trade and exchange with the Mediterranean at Garamante sites. However, no evidence of a church has been found at the capital of the Garamantes or any other site. In fact, archaeologists found evidence for the persistence of use of pagan temples. Indeed, Islam itself does not appear to have spread in the capital of the Garamantes for a few centuries after Uqba b. Nafi attacked Garama. Brunschevig also cited evidence that suggests the Fazzanis were pagans in the late 700s. So, what happened? Was Christianization of the Garamantes real or did the distance and realities of Byzantine rule in coastal Libya make it an ineffective mission? Or was the Fazzan already fragmented with a state or chiefdom based at Waddan and, perhaps, Zawila, the real centers of the Fazzan who were more likely to have received an actual church? Was Knut Vikor's theory correct about Qasr Umm Isa in Kawar being Jado (Djado)? If so, perhaps the place name is a testament to that era of 6th century Christian expansion, though we lack any evidence that the Kawar site ever hosted Christians. Besides this speculative theory, references in the early Arabic sources to Egyptians and Rum on an oasis route that connected Egypt to areas of the western Sudan may hint at contacts with Copts and Byzantines in the desert via Fazzan and Kawar.