Blemmyes

The Blemmyes (Latin Blemmyae) were a nomadic Beja tribal kingdom that existed from at least 600 BC to the 3rd century AD in Nubia. They were described in Roman histories of the later empire, with the Emperor Diocletian enlisting Nobatae mercenaries from the Western Desert oases to safeguard Aswan, the empire's southern frontier, from raids by the Blemmyes.

They also became fictionalized as a legendary race of acephalous (headless) monsters who had eyes and mouths on their chest.

The Greek geographer Strabo describes the Blemmyes as a peaceful people living in the Eastern Desert near Meroe.

Their cultural and military power started to enlarge to such a level that in 193, Pescennius Niger asked a Blemmye king of Thebes to help him in the battle against the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. In 250, the Roman Emperor Decius put in much effort to defeat an invading army of Blemmyes. A few years later, in 253, they attacked Lower Aegyptus (Thebais) again but were quickly defeated. In 265, they were defeated again by the Roman Prefect Firmus, who later in 273 would rebel against the Empire and the Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia, with the help of the Blemmyes themselves. The Roman general Marcus Aurelius Probus took some time to defeat the usurpers with his allies but couldn't prevent the occupation of Thebais by the Blemmyes. That meant another war and almost an entire destruction of the Blemmyes army (279-280).

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