Important finds of documents written in Aramaic have also been
made here; they show that there was on the island in Ptolemaic times a
regular colony of Syrian merchants.
South of Aswan and Philse begins Nubia. The Nubian language, which is
quite different from Arabic, is spoken by everybody on the island of
Elephantine, and its various dialects are used as far south as Dongola,
where Arabic again is generally spoken till we reach the land of the
negroes, south of Khartum. In Ptolemaic and Roman days the Nubians were
a powerful people, and the whole of Nubia and the modern North Sudan
formed an independent kingdom, ruled by queens who bore the title or
name of Candace. It was the eunuch of a Candace who was converted to
Christianity as he was returning from a mission to Jerusalem to salute
Jehovah. "Go and join thyself unto his chariot" was the command to
Philip, and when the Ethiopian had heard the gospel from his lips he
went on his way rejoicing. The capital of this Candace was at Meroe, the
modern Bagarawiya, near Shendi. Here, and at Naga not far off, are
the remains of the temples of the Can-daces, great buildings of
semi-barbaric Egyptian style. For the civilization of the Nubians, such
as it was, was of Egyptian origin. Ever since Egyptian rule had been
extended southwards to Jebel Barkal, beyond Dongola, in the time of
Amenhetep II, Egyptian culture had influenced the Nubians.
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