Faras

{{for|people with this name|Faras (name)}} {{other uses|Faras (disambiguation)}} {{Short description|Archaeological site in Sudan (Nubia)}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Faras | native_name = | alternate_name = | image = Faras, Franz Christian Gau.png | alt = | caption = Drawing of the Faras citadel in 1819 | map_alt = | map_relief =yes | location = Faras Wadi Halfa | region = Wadi Halfa Nubia | coordinates = {{Coord|22.2|N|31.4666|E|region:SD_type:landmark|display=inline,title}} | type = | part_of = | length = | width = | area = | height = | builder = | material = | built = | abandoned = | epochs = | cultures =Nubia Ancient Egypt | dependency_of = | occupants = | event = | excavations = | archaeologists = | condition = | ownership = | management = | public_access = | website = }}

'''Faras''' (formerly {{langx|grc|Παχώρας}}, ''Pakhôras''; {{langx|la|Pachoras}}; Old Nubian: Ⲡⲁⲭⲱⲣⲁⲥ, ''Pakhoras''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.trismegistos.org/place/3170 |title=TM Places |website=Trismegistos |access-date=2020-03-21}}</ref>) was a major city in Lower Nubia. The site of the city, on the border between modern Egypt and Sudan at Wadi Halfa Salient, was flooded by Lake Nasser in the 1960s and is now permanently underwater. Before this flooding, extensive archaeological work was conducted by a Polish archaeological team led by professor Kazimierz Michałowski.

==History== {{multiple image | align = right | footer = ''Left:'' Plan of Faras and its surroundings<br> ''Right:'' Plan of the enclosure in 1910 | image1 = The valley of Faras-Pachoras.jpg | width1= 160 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Faras, enceinte fortifiée (années 1910) par Griffith.jpg | width2 = 178 | alt2 = | caption2 = }}

Dating back to the A-Group period, the town was a major centre during the Meroitic period, and was the site of a major temple. During the period of ancient Egyptian control over Nubia, Faras became an Egyptian administrative centre and, located upriver from Abu Simbel, Egyptian cultural influences were prominent.

The city reached its height during the Christian period of Nubia, when Faras was the capital of the ''basiliskos'' Silko of Nobadia. When Nobatia was absorbed into Makuria, it remained the most prominent center in the north, the seat of Nobadia's eparch.

==Archaeology==

In 1909–1912, research on the site was conducted by a British expedition from the University of Oxford headed by F.Ll. Griffith. Meroitic and Christian cemeteries, as well as Egyptian temples, were uncovered.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Jakobielski |first1=Stefan |last2=Martens-Czarnecka |first2=Małgorzata |last3=Łaptaś |first3=Magdalena |last4=Mierzejewska |first4=Bożena |last5=Rostkowska |first5=Bożena |date=2017 |title=Pachoras. Faras. The wall paintings from the Cathedrals of Aetios, Paulos and Petros |doi=10.31338/uw.9788323532361 |isbn=9788323532361}}</ref> At the turn of the 1960s, UNESCO organized the Nubian Salvage Campaign to preserve monuments from the area, which was to be flooded by Lake Nasser. Work in Faras, entrusted to Professor Kazimierz Michałowski, was carried out from 1960 to 1964 by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw in Cairo, which he had founded (now Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Faras |url=https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2019/03/20/faras-2/|access-date=2020-06-22 |website=pcma.uw.edu.pl |language=en-GB}}</ref> It turned out that the hill where the mission began excavations concealed a Christian cathedral with magnificent wall paintings. The researchers distinguished three main phases of its functioning. The cathedral was founded by bishop Aetios in 620 and then twice rebuilt: by Paulos at the beginning of the 8th century and Petros I at the end of the 10th century. The subsequent buildings were called after these bishops.<ref name=":0" /> The cathedral had been completely filled with sand thanks to which its structure and decoration were well preserved.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Godlewski, Włodzimierz. Auteur. |title=Pachoras : the cathedrals of Aetios, Paulos and Petros : the architecture |date=2006 |publisher=Warsaw University Press |isbn=83-235-0167-X |oclc=801028680}}</ref> These paintings are the best surviving examples of Christian Nubian art and depict portraits of archangels, mainly Michael, various monarchs and bishops of Faras, Christian saints, Virgin Mary and a number of Biblical scenes. They were executed in tempera on dry plaster, on several layers dated from the 8th to the 14th century. Of the 169 uncovered paintings, 120 were taken down from the walls. Sixty-six of them were transported to Poland and are today on display in the Polish National Museum in Warsaw, and in Sudan National Museum in Khartoum.<ref name=":1" /> In addition, a major pottery workshop was found.

Thanks to the discovery of the List of Bishops of Faras, it was possible to date each episcopate and thus to establish the date of some of the wall paintings.<ref name=":1" />

In the turbulent later years of Christian Nubia, Faras seems to have declined and the administrative centre moved to the more easily defended area of Qasr Ibrim.

<gallery heights="160" widths="230" caption="Gallery"> File:Pottery of the C-Group people, 2300-1600 BCE, Faras, British Museum EA51244.jpg|Pottery of the C-Group people, 2300-1600 BCE, Faras. File:SNMSetau.jpg|Stela, now in the National Museum of Sudan, with Setau, viceroy of Nubia, and his wife Nefro-mut worshipping Rameses II, whose Cartouche appears on the left side. File:Aegyptisches Museum Berlin InvNr20856 20080313 merotische Keramik aus Faras.jpg|Meroitic pottery, now in Ägyptisches Museum Berlin Image:Faras Frieze with birds.jpg|Fragment of the frieze with birds (National Museum in Warsaw) Image:Sudan Farras fresco of cathedral 22dez2005.jpg|The Birth of Jesus - fresco in the Cathedral (Sudan National Museum in Khartoum) </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Commons category}}

==External links== *[http://www.mnw.art.pl/en/collections/permanent-galleries/faras-gallery/ Faras Gallery in the National Museum] in Warsaw *[https://pcma.uw.edu.pl/en/2019/03/20/faras-2/ Faras - the salvage excavations] *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sob0Bn9ALJM Polish excavations at Faras], video on YouTube *[http://www.khm.at/en/visit/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2002/faras/ Description of exhibition on Faras], Vienna 2002 *[http://rumkatkilise.org/nubia.htm Medieval Nubia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103090421/http://rumkatkilise.org/nubia.htm |date=2018-01-03 }}

Category:Nubian architecture in Sudan Category:Archaeological sites in Sudan Category:Former populated places in Sudan Category:Kushite cities