city
Old Dongola
Old Dongola (Dongola al-'Ajuz), Sudan · Africa: Nubia
18.227, 30.744
Attested. Attested by excavations and medieval Arabic and Nubian sources.
Old Dongola was the capital of the Christian Nubian kingdom of Makuria. Polish excavations have uncovered large churches, including the Church of the Granite Columns and a cross-shaped church, along with a royal hall that was turned into a mosque in 1317. Christian Makuria lasted for centuries alongside Muslim Egypt.
Source stance: neutral. Archaeology plus Arabic sources.
People and groups named here
- Kings of Makuria
Sources
- Dongola (Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia)
William Y. Adams; The Coptic Encyclopedia (Macmillan 1991), Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Nubian Christian Architecture (Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia)
Peter Grossmann; The Coptic Encyclopedia (Macmillan 1991), Claremont Colleges Digital Library. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 865674318: Dongola
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.