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Primis
Arabic QASR IBRIM
Primis (in northern
Nobadia,
now within the political borders of Egypt),
was an important Nubian
cultural centre from at least 1000 BC until
the XVI Century. It was the site of what was
probably the country's first church, a converted
pagan temple originally built by the "Black pharaoh"
of Egypt, Tarhaqa, centuries before.
Primis and
Pachoras were the
two main sees of the Nubian Church.
Pachoras seems to have been more important in
the days of Nubia's greatness, but Primis outlasted
its rival (despite a devastating 1172 raid
and occupation by Saladin's brother Shams al-Dawla
and the temporary conversion of the Cathedral
into a mosque). By the XIV Century,
there was no longer a functioning cathedral
in Pachoras, and Bishop
Timothy
evidently held both titles. There was
still a bishop (Mark)
in the following century, but Primis declined
under Islamic rule and is today completely uninhabited.
At the time of this writing (2007),
the ruins of the Christian city are in danger because of the decision
to raise the water-level in Lake Nasser.
--- Norman Hugh Redington
Under construction --- far from complete! Read with caution.
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