page_title: Alodia
section_title: Sources
hierarchical_section_title: Alodia / Sources
caption_attribution_description: English: In Sudan, archaeologists arrive at work in the early morning. It is necessary to make photographic documentation before the Sun rises high. On the image, you can see archaeological trench, explored in November and December 2019. It is exposing mud-brick architecture. In medieval times the entire area, including the fields and the nearby orchards seen on the photo, was part of a large city, the capital of the kingdom of Alwa (Khartoum Province, Sudan).English: In Sudan, archaeologists arrive at work in the early morning. It is necessary to make photographic documentation before the Sun rises high. On the image, you can see archaeological trench, explored in November and December 2019. It is exposing mud-brick architecture. In medieval times the entire area, including the fields and the nearby orchards seen on the photo, was part of a large city, the capital of the kingdom of Alwa (Khartoum Province, Sudan).
context_page_description: Alodia, also known as Alwa, was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers.
  Founded sometime after the ancient kingdom of Kush fell, in around 350 AD, Alodia is first mentioned in historical records in 569. It was the last of the three Nubian kingdoms to convert to Christianity in 580, following Nobadia and Makuria. It possibly reached its peak during the 9th–12th centuries when records show that it exceeded its northern neighbor, Makuria, with which it maintained close dynastic ties, in size, military power and economic prosperity. Being a large, multicultural state, Alodia was administered by a powerful king and provincial governors appointed by him. The capital Soba, described as a town of "extensive dwellings and churches full of gold and gardens", prospered as a trading hub. Goods arrived from Makuria, the Middle East, western Africa, India and even China. Literacy in both Nubian and Greek flourished.
context_section_description: Alodia is by far the least studied of the three medieval Nubian kingdoms, hence evidence is very slim. Most of what is known about it comes from a handful of medieval Arabic historians. The most important of these are the Islamic geographers al-Yaqubi (9th century), Ibn Hawqal and al-Aswani (10th century), who both visited the country, and the Copt Abu al-Makarim (12th century). The events around the Christianization of the kingdom in the 6th century were described by the contemporary bishop John of Ephesus; various post-medieval Sudanese sources address its fall. Al-Aswani noted that he interacted with a Nubian historian who was "well-acquainted with the country of Alwa", but no medieval Nubian historiographical work has yet been discovered.
  While many Alodian sites are known, only the capital Soba has been extensively excavated. Parts of this site were unearthed in the early 1950s, further excavations taking place in the 1980s and 1990s. A new multidisciplinary research project is scheduled to start in late 2019. Soba is approximately 2.75 km² (1.06 sq mi) in size and is covered with numerous mounds of brick rubble previously belonging to monumental structures. Discoveries made so far include several churches, a palace, cemeteries and numerous small finds.
caption: Soba during the excavations in late 2019
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