Georgios II lived during the
Makurian
golden age between the 9th and 11th centuries, when the kingdom reached the peak of its cultural development. He has previously been assumed to have been identical with
Georgios I, but it is now clear that he was a king of his own. Georgios II was probably born after the early 860s. He was the grandson of
Zacharias I, who, in 835, had founded a new
Makurian
dynasty, and the son of Georgios I, who had famously travelled to
Baghdad in the same year. He also had a sister whose name has not been reserved in the records, who was married to
Nyuti (nephew of Zacharias I), and a younger brother named
Zacharias. The sources for the reign of Georgios II are limited. What is known is that he became king in 887, after the death of his father. He was married to a woman named
Mariam, who bore him a son and eventual successor,
Zacharias II. Zacharias II was already consolidating his power during the rule of his father, holding the highest offices of the kingdom (
protoeparch and
protodomestikos). Late in Georgios' reign, between 910 and 915, Nubia was reportedly raided by the
Abbasid Emir of
Egypt,
Takin al-Khazari. It is not entirely clear when Georgios' rule came to an end: a document from
Qasr Ibrim suggests that he was succeeded by his son in 915, while a foundation stele from
Faras places that event in the year 920. ==Notes==