17 december 2025 | Crossing Borders

Crossing Borders: Coptic Language and Culture in Christian Nubia

In this lecture, Nesreen Monir takes us to Christian Nubia, where language, faith, and culture intertwined along the Nile valley.

From the mid-sixth century onwards, Christianity spread throughout Nubia, encompassing three kingdoms stretching from north to south: the Kingdom of Nobadia (Nobatia), situated between the first and third cataracts; the Kingdom of Makuria, extending between the third and fifth cataracts; and the Kingdom of Alwa, located between the fifth cataract and the confluence of the two Niles.

The Coptic language appeared in Nubia from the fifth century and remained in use until the fourteenth century. Within this multilingual environment, Coptic was used alongside Greek and Old Nubian, the local language. Nubians not only employed Coptic in biblical, literary, and documentary texts, but also adapted letters from the Coptic alphabet (together with some Meroitic signs) to create Old Nubian.

Monir received her MA in Coptology from Fayoum University in 2019 and recently completed her PhD at the same university. Last summer, she was a NINO Visiting Research Fellow, continuing her research in Leiden on the role of Coptic language and culture in medieval Nubia.

Photo: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden

The lecture will be held in English. The Zoom link will be sent one day before the event.