Candace Buckner (Virginia Tech)
Recent scholarship on Rome and Nubia in Late Antiquity has noted how the burgeoning instability of the southern frontier mirrored a negative shift in the characterization of the peoples in the Upper Nile Valley (Burstein 2020:707–8). In particular, Christian Roman accounts of these areas and the people who inhabited them as increasingly painted at risk to barbarous and marauding entities from the south (Burstein 2020:707) or a population ripe for Christian imperialism (Dijkstra 2008:143–146). However, such accounts tend to ignore one of the crucial realities of the region of the Upper Nile Valley—that is, the area had long been a place of cultural exchange and interaction of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Nubian peoples. Some of this exchange had a long history marked less by violence and more by continued religious and cultural exchange, especially in the areas surrounding Aswan and Philae. For example, Solange Ashby has noted that Nubians had a long history of participation in the Cult of Isis, both as pilgrims to Philae and as permanent priests (2020:53–54). As such, the representation of Nubians in narratives can bely the typically dehumanizing descriptions often associated with residents of the Upper Nile Valley. This paper will focus on the portrayal of Nubians in the Coptic Life of Aaron, a Christian work dedicated to telling the exploits of the monk Aaron and the beginnings of the bishopric at Philae. Although this sixth-century text composed in the Sahidic dialect participates in an overarching narrative about Christianizing the southern frontier, it also attests to the importance of the cult of Saint Aaron for Nubians (van der Vliet and Dijkstra 2019:15) and the integral part Nubians played in the life of the southern frontier. These appearances are especially intriguing considering that Christian texts frequently portray Nubians and other dark-skinned peoples as demonic (Brakke 2001; Brakke 2006: 157–181). In fact, the tale preserves no less than five tales in which Nubians figure prominently, and the majority of these depictions highlight Nubian participation in the normal activities of daily life. I argue that the text attempts to navigate the complicated social and cultural history of Nubian interactions on Egypt’s southern border, and in doing so, it reveals the integral role of the constructed and continued maintenance of neighbor relations on Egypt’s border. In taking on this task, I draw on the work of Hannu Ruonavaara (2021:14) and other sociologists who understand the relationship between neighbors as an ongoing set of relational encounters that are often created and maintained between individual residents. The Coptic Life of Aaron lays bare these relational encounters through its focus on Nubian visitors to Aaron and his willingness to help and intercede on their behalf. As a result, the Life emphasizes the complex interrelations between the residents of Egypt, especially the Christian ones, and their southern Nubian neighbors who often appear as pagans before their conversion to Christianity.