Kyriakos of Makuria

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Kyriakos or Cyriacus (c.750) was a ruler of the Nubian kingdom of Makuria. While some authorities place his reign between Merkurios and Zacharias I, according to Severus of Al'Ashmunein, Kyriakos succeeded Markos.1

In 722, Kyriakos marched north into Egypt at the head of an army said to number 100,000 men to free the Patriarch of Alexandria Michael, whom Abd al-Malik had thrown into prison. However, once the Makurian army reached Egypt, the Patriarch was released from prison, along with Kyriakos' envoy, who went to Kyriakos to ask him to return to Makuria.2

[edit] References

  1. B. Evetts, History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria, Part 3 (1910)
  2. E.A Wallis Budge, A History of Ethiopia: Nubia and Abyssinia, 1928 (Oosterhout, the Netherlands: Anthropological Publications, 1970) p. 104. Budge gives two dates for this expedition: 722 on this page, and 737 on p. 117; neither fits the dates Michael (whom Budge calls "Khail", the Egyptian form of his name) was patriarch (743-767).
Preceded by:
Markos
King of Makuria Succeeded by:
Mikael