In AD 298 the Roman emperor Diocletian abandoned Roman holdings in Nubia, and a period of fighting and occasional alliances ensued between two nomadic groups, the Nobatai and the Blemmyes.
Yesbekheamani, possibly the last Meroitic pharaoh, died in AD 300. Once the power of Meroe waned, temples and pyramids gave way to other cult practices and burial under earthen tumuli (burial mounds). Greek replaced the Meroitic written language, at least in Lower Nubia, although the spoken language was probably Nubian.
Lower Nubia was occupied by the Ballana culture, characterized by very standardized wheel-made pottery, while in Upper Nubia the Tanqasi culture used handmade pottery.
By AD 543, when Christian missionaries arrived, Nubia was divided into three independent kingdoms or states, Nobatia, Makouria and Alodia. The central cemeteries of the three kingdoms are known, at Qustul in Lower Nubia, where large tumuli contained richly furnished burials including silver crowns, Tanqasi in Upper Nubia and Hobagi in southern Nubia.
At Hobagi, which is associated with a large walled site, as yet unexcavated, tumuli, the largest 130 ft (40 m) across, contained rich burials with Meroitic inscriptions.
