Historical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Nubia

Crawford, Gregory AReference & User Services Quarterly 10-01-200 !istorical "ictionary of Ancient and #edieval $u%ia &yline' Crawford, Gregory A (olu)e' $u)%er' 1 *SS$' 10+ +0, -u%lication "ate' 10-01-200 -age' .+ /y0e' -eriodical 1anguage' 2nglis3 !istorical "ictionary of Ancient and #edieval $u%ia4 &y Ric3ard A4 1o%%an4 !istorical "ictionaries of Ancient Civili5ations and !istorical 2ras, no4 104 1an3a), #d4' Scarecrow, 200 4 Sli0, al6aline 7110 8*S&$ 0-.10.- 9. -1:4 $u%ia4 2ven t3e na)e sounds e;otic4 *t evo6es t3e i)age of a distant and far-off 0lace4 *n t3is new wor6, 1o%%an, 0rofessor of ant3ro0ology at R3ode *sland College and an e;0ert on $u%ia and t3e $u%ians, 3as 0rovided not only a useful dictionary on t3is fascinating civili5ation, %ut also an e;cellent introduction to its 3istory, life, and i)0act u0on ot3er civili5ations of its day4 $u%ia co)0rises )uc3 of t3e nort3ern 0art of t3e )odern country of Sudan4 As suc3, t3is current %oo6 is an outgrowt3 of t3e !istorical "ictionary of t3e Sudan 8Scarecrow, 2002:, now in its t3ird edition, w3ic3 0rovides greater coverage of $u%ia fro) t3e *sla)ic 0eriod to t3e 0resent4 "uring its earlier 3istory, $u%ia was closely lin6ed wit3 2gy0t and its dynasties4 <or )uc3 of its 3istory, 2gy0t controlled $u%ia eit3er directly or indirectly, %ut for at least one dynasty, t3e /wenty-fift3 89=0-=,= &C2:, t3e $u%ians ruled all of 2gy0t4 2ater, t3e Ro)ans ruled 2gy0t and )uc3 of t3e $u%ian lands4 &eginning in t3e fourt3 century C2, C3ristianity was increasingly acce0ted as t3e )ain religion in $u%ia4 &y t3e %eginning of t3e si;teent3 century, *sla) reac3ed sout3ern $u%ia w3en t3e last C3ristian 6ingdo) in t3e area fell4 /3us, t3e 3istory of $u%ia reflects t3e great 0olitical and social )ove)ents t3at cascaded t3roug3out t3e lands of t3e #editerranean and #iddle 2ast4 Alt3oug3 %illed as a dictionary, t3is reference wor6 also 0rovides an e;cellent and co)0lete c3ronology of ancient and )edieval $u%ia and its 3istory, es0ecially in relation to 2gy0t4 /3e introduction gives a solid discussion of t3e geogra03y, languages, 0o0ulation, and 3istory of t3e region4 /3e dictionary 0ortion includes a00ro;i)ately five 3undred entries for 0eo0le, 0laces, events, ideas, etc4 >it3in entries, cross references are )ade using t3e a%%reviations ?4v4 and ??4v4, rat3er t3an t3e standard %old or italics ty0eface4 /3e entries, wit3 )ost %eing one-3alf to one 0age in lengt3, are well-written and 0rovide useful infor)ation t3at is not included in ot3er reference sources4 /3e aut3or 0rovides nu)erous @see@ references to co)0ensate for various ways of transcri%ing words fro) t3e $u%ian or 2gy0tian languages4

Af s0ecial note is t3e %i%liogra03y, w3ic3 is )ore t3an seventy 0ages in lengt34 /3e %i%liogra03y is classified %y 0eriod and to0ic, for e;a)0le, @Greco-Ro)an /i)es,@ and @Geology of $u%ia and Sudan4@ #ost of t3e entries are in 2nglis3, alt3oug3 <renc3 and Ger)an wor6s are well re0resented4 At3er a00endi;es, w3ile interesting, are of less value, alt3oug3 t3e @/a%le of #eroitic !ierogly03s and Cursive@ toget3er wit3 its word list and translations )ay %e of interest to language sc3olars4 /3e !istorical "ictionary of Ancient and #edieval $u%ia is a wor6 destined 0ri)arily for t3e s3elves of acade)ic and se)inary li%raries4 <or )ost li%raries it is not a )andatory 0urc3ase, %ut for t3ose institutions su00orting t3e study of ancient 2gy0t or African 3istory, it will %e a welco)e addition to an area lac6ing in good reference sources4-Gregory A4 Crawford, !ead of -u%lic Services, -enn State !arris%urg 1i%rary, #iddletown, -ennsylvania AU/!ARBA<<*1*A/*A$ Gregory A4 Crawford, !ead of -u%lic Services, -enn State !arris%urg 1i%rary, #iddletown, -ennsylvania Co0yrig3t A)erican 1i%rary Association <all 200 Citation for your reference: Crawford, A, Gregory44 @!istorical "ictionary of Ancient and #edieval $u%ia4@ Reference & User Services Quarterly 18200 :'.+4 eLibrary4 >e%4 C0 Dan4 201 4 Crawford, A, G4 8200 , Acto%er 01:4 !istorical "ictionary of Ancient and #edieval $u%ia4 Reference & User Services Quarterly, 81:, .+, Retrieved fro) 3tt0'EEeli%rary4%igc3al64co)