Qasr Ibrim is
an archaeological site in Lower Nubia. It was originally a major city perched
on a cliff above the Nile, but the flooding of Lake Nasser after the
construction of the Aswan High Dam transformed it into an island and flooded
its outskirts. Qasr Ibrim is the only major archaeological site in Lower Nubia
to have survived the Nile floods. Both prior to and after the Nile floods, it
has remained a major site for archaeological investigations.
Human habitation at the site dates back to the New Kingdom, but it
reached its greatest prominence in the Middle Ages, when the area became the
home of the Eparch of Nobatia. Qasr Ibrim is the source of the largest
collection of Old Nubian documents ever found, including the records of the
Eparch. The site was inhabited until the 1840s. Today the island is closed to
all but archaeologists.
This important site derives its name from
the nearby village of Ibrim, on the east bank of the Nile. Qasr Ibrim is also
notable for its fortress of Qasr Ibrim ("The Castle of Ibrim"), which
certainly stood on older pharaonic foundations. Partly built "in Roman
times under the prefecture of Gaius Petronius during Augustus' reign," it
was originally a pharaonic site where material from the New Kingdom and later
periods of Egyptian history were found. The earliest record is a stela dates
back to year 8 of Amenhhotep I’s reign, while "a temple structure of
Taharqa (with a painting showing the king offering to a god)" is also
known here.