Coptic Egyptian and Christian Nubian painting Essay

Coptic Egyptian and Christian Nubian painting - Essay Example The essay "Coptic Egyptian and Christian Nubian painting" compares Egyptian painting with Nubian painting and explores what do their themes tell us about the socio-economic life of these societies and their ideological outlook. A study of the region’s history and artifacts reveal its encounters with Pharaoh’s Egypt, the Nubian Kingdoms’ apparent transformation into Christendom, and the formation of Muslim and Arab identities in the more recent past. Scholars dedicated to the study of Egyptian politics and history have quite a lot to deduce from paintings found in Nubian and Coptic churches of ancient times. The sections that follow are dedicated to the analysis of Coptic and Nubian Christian pictures and culture during the period between 500 and 1000 AD. Nubia refers to the region that lies in northern Sudan and south of Egypt along the Nile. With quarter of its territory lying in Egypt, and most of itself lying in Sudan, ancient Nubia was formally a self-governi ng kingdom. In 373 AD, Bishop Athanasius consecrated as bishop of Philae Marcus in a show that marked the penetration of Christianity in the fourth century. In 545, a Monophysite priest, Julian, is recorded to have led to the King’s conversion together with several of his noblemen. In the same year, other records suggest, the Makuria Kingdom was converted to Catholism by Byzantine missionaries. As time went by, Arab traders introduced Islam to Nubia which slowly supplanted Christianity. It is noted that whereas there could have been a bishop.