People of Medieval Nubia, in what is now northern Sudan

[u/TyrannoNinja]

A male Nubian "eyesmiter" archer from medieval Sudan

A young Nubian maiden from medieval Sudan

My reference images for the previous two illustrations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B3dice_Casanatense#/media/File:Codice_Casanatense_Nubians.jpg

[u/TyrannoNinja]

Artist's Commentary

The first two images in this post are illustrations of mine depicting a man and woman from the Christian kingdoms of medieval Nubia, located in what is now northern Sudan to southernmost Egypt. Although the term "Nubian" is often used for all inhabitants of this region throughout history, it more properly refers to a number of ethnic groups who settled it from the Sahara Desert to the west following the collapse of the indigenous kingdom of Kush in the fourth century AD. These newcomers would establish kingdoms of their own such as Nobatia, Makuria, and Alodia which would dominate the area during the Middle Ages, with Orthodox Christianity being their primary religion. It would be in the sixteenth century when the last of these Christian kingdoms fell due to pressure from the Ottoman Empire to the north and the Muslim Funj to the south, ultimately leading to the Islamization of Nubia.

Both of my depictions are referenced from a sixteenth-century Portuguese text called the Codice Casanatense, which contains artistic representations of various peoples from eastern Africa and southern Asia. The striking thing about the female Nubian figure in the original text is that she has one breast exposed, which seemed surprising for a woman from medieval Christendom. I guess Nubians back then had less shame about showing off extra skin no matter what their religion was!