14/10/2026
Where Byzantium becomes Africa: a hybrid lecture in Athens.
Nubia, modern-day Sudan, is where Byzantium literally becomes Africa. Back in 2016, a leading expert in the archaeology of Sudan, Artur Obluski, explained a lot about it in an article for our website, making us familiar with little-known realities about the way the legacy of Rome and then Constantinople survived and thrived in what is now Sudan, through a unique, sophisticated culture with African and Mediterranean features (see first comment). A decade later, and after a series of impressive discoveries, Obluski comes to Athens to show how research has fundamentally transformed modern understanding of Nubian societies from the 4th to the 14th centuries. Focusing on the historic capital city of Dongola, the presentation frames Northeast African kingdoms not as passive recipients of Byzantine culture, but as dynamic, sophisticated, and equal partners in the global medieval Christian landscape.
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/agenta/nubia-where-byzantium-became-african/
