Soba (city)

Soba is an archaeological site and former town in what is now central Sudan. In the Middle Ages, it used to be the capital of the medieval Nubian kingdom of Alodia from the sixth century until around 1500. E. A. Wallis Budge identified it with a group of ruins on the Blue Nile 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Khartoum, where there are remains of a Meroitic temple that had been converted into a Christian church.[1] This would place Soba in the modern-day Sudanese state of Al Jazirah.

For the Japanese noodle, see Soba.
Soba during the excavations in 2019

Ibn Selim el-Aswani described the city as large and wealthy, but he probably never visited it and modern archaeological investigations show it to have been a moderate centre. Built mainly of red brick, the abandoned city was plundered for building material when Khartoum was founded in 1821. Development from the growth of suburbs now threatens the ruins.

Notes
  1. Budge, E. A. Wallis (1970) [1928]. A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia. Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications. p. 118. OCLC 1070966107.

Further reading
  • Adams, William Y. (1977). Nubia: Corridor to Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-7139-0579-4.
  • Shinnie, P. (1961). Excavations at Soba. Sudan Antiquities Service. OCLC 934919402.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Welsby, Derek (1998). Soba II. Renewed excavations within the metropolis of the Kingdom of Alwa in Central Sudan. British Museum. ISBN 978-0-7141-1903-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Welsby, Derek (2002). The Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia. Pagans, Christians and Muslims Along the Middle Nile. British Museum. ISBN 978-0-7141-1947-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Welsby, Derek; Daniels, C.M. (1991). Soba. Archaeological Research at a Medieval Capital on the Blue Nile. The British Institute in Eastern Africa. ISBN 978-1-872566-02-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.