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Axum: The Ancient Civilization of Ethiopia
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By
Kate Prendergast**
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July
07, 2005
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The obelisk that was looted by Mussolini from the ancient Ethiopian Aksum stood in Rome for 68 years
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Recent
celebrations in Ethiopia no doubt aroused the envy of the Greeks, who have been
campaigning fruitlessly for years to convince the British government to return
the Elgin marbles. The altogether luckier Ethiopians have, in contrast, finally
persuaded the Italians to return a 1,700-year-old stone obelisk looted by
Mussolini nearly 70 years ago during the fascist occupation of Ethiopia (BBC
News). The obelisk is the finest of more than 100 stone monoliths which stood in
Aksum (Axum), capital city of the ancient Aksumite kingdom that flourished in
northern Ethiopia between 100-600 CE and which, according to legend, was where
Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, brought the Ark of the
Covenant from Jerusalem. As yet, however, few know much about this ancient
African civilization, and its role in the development of trade, arts, and
religion in the centuries that also witnessed the spread of the Roman Empire,
the birth of Christianity, and the rise of Islam (Munro-Hay).
The
city of Aksum is located in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, near the Red
Sea. The kingdom, of which it was the centre, was founded by Semitic speaking
Aksumites or Habash (Abyssinians) and owed its development to a range of
factors. The wider region had long been dominated by the Egyptians and by Nubian
kingdoms based in Sudan. The Aksum state rose as its nearest rival, the Sudanese
kingdom of Meroë, suffered rapid decline as a result of changing political and
economic fortunes in the first centuries CE. Aksum took the place of Meroë and,
to a lesser extent, Ptolemaic Egypt in international trade networks.
Although
located more remotely and without access to either the fertility or easy
transport of the Nile that was enjoyed by Egypt and Nubia, the Ethiopian kingdom
had distinct advantages. It was closer to the Red Sea and an Arabian sphere of
influence that had long been significant in trade in the region, and most
importantly, it was sufficiently remote that it did not attract the hostile
attention of the Roman or Persian superpowers. As a result, it was never
conquered or suffered punitive expeditions that so frequently beset its
neighbors and was, thus, left free to develop a unique culture that nurtured
some key innovations of the period (Munro-Hay).
The
Aksumites developed a sophisticated civilization that contributed a range of
innovations in the fields of architecture and ceramics. It developed the Ge`ez
or Ethiopic script, which allowed them to leave a legacy of written material and
was sufficiently Hellenized for its rulers to also speak Greek. It produced a
coinage bearing legends in both Greek and Ge`ez, which name the successive kings
of Aksum. From coinage and other inscriptions, a chronology of the period can be
reconstructed, while oral histories also tell us something of the political
structure of the Aksum state.
The
title Negusa Nagast (King of Kings), first established by Aksumite and
successive Ethiopian rulers, was used until the death of the late emperor Haile
Selassie. In the Aksumite state, other kings and chiefs across Ethiopia were
subordinated to the King of Kings, but retained roles as administrators within
the new system. The Aksumites had a diverse and difficult territory to subdue,
which they seemed to achieve, acquiring dominance over the Red Sea straits and
over the sea to what are now the Yemeni and Saudi Arabian coastlands, and
beyond.
Perhaps
the most spectacular achievements of the Aksumite kingdom were the construction
of the great monoliths, of which the example taken by the Italians was the
finest. Over 100 such monoliths once stood in Aksum. Carved from hard
granite-like rock, the obelisks were erected as funerary markers, or stelae, for
deceased members of the aristocracy. The seven largest and most intricately
carved obelisks were erected by Ezana, the King of Aksum who converted to
Christianity in 325 CE. The carvings depict windows and doors to create the
illusion that the obelisks were, in fact, buildings. Funded by trade in such
luxuries as turtle shells, ivory, obsidian, rhino horns, emeralds, cattle, and
gold, the obelisks are testament to the skill of the Aksumite quarrymen,
engineers, and stone carvers, as well as to the power of their rulers. The
prosperity and reputation of Aksum was such that, by the third century CE, the
Persian philosopher Mani described it as one of the four greatest kingdoms in
the world, along with Rome, China, and Persia.
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Aksum was strategically located near the Red Sea and maintained close trade relations with Arabia |
Aksum
also had a key role in the development of the world religions in the region;
notably Christianity, and to a lesser extent, Islam. In converting to
Christianity, Ezana instituted a radical change in religious practices.
Aksumites had hitherto worshipped a pantheon similar to the Greeks and typical
of more general late pagan culture in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Conversion required changing inscriptions from the disc and crescent motifs
representing the old practices, to the Christian cross. It also aligned the
kingdom much more fully with the now Christianized Roman Empire, although the
effects of this were unlikely to have been extensive, given the remoteness of
the region. Aksum’s first bishop was appointed by Alexandria, and when splits
in the Church emerged—first over the Arian heresy and then over the
Monophysite doctrine after the Council of Chalcedon in 451—the Aksumite Church
remained loyal to the Alexandrian and Eastern Churches, and split from the
Imperial Church (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
As
with so many ancient civilizations, after a heyday lasting several centuries,
Aksum became increasingly unable to maintain its position. During the 6th and
7th centuries, Persia successfully invaded the Yemen, Syria, and Egypt,
disrupting Aksum’s trade routes. Arab conquests from the mid 7th century
onwards, further transformed the old economic system, partly by blocking the Red
Sea route from Adulis to the Roman world, and so Aksum’s prosperity came to an
end. Christian Ethiopia was increasingly isolated in a wider Islamic region and
it no longer had the allies it needed to maintain its dominance. By 630 CE,
Aksum seems to have been abandoned as the political centre of the kingdom,
although it has maintained its role as a religious centre and occasional
coronation place for later dynasties until the present day.
Despite
losing its political preeminence, the civilization of Aksum bequeathed to
subsequent Ethiopian kingdoms several important legacies. The first was an
independence that managed to preserve some of the characteristics of an ancient
way of life. The second was a deep-rooted Christian faith and culture, unique to
Ethiopia. The Church continued to sponsor religious arts and culture in Ethiopia
after the decline of the Aksumite state, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
remains Monophysite to the present day. Aksum also gained a reputation for
religious tolerance. Ella Saham, an Ethiopian ruler of late Aksumite times, gave
protection and shelter to the early followers of the Prophet Muhammad, which
earned Aksum a place of respect among Muslims even when religious conflicts in
the region continued.
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More than 98% of what is left of Aksum has yet to be excavated |
These
characteristics have, in turn, spawned a fabled place for Aksum in Ethiopian
legend. For the people of Ethiopia, it is still regarded as the ancient
residence and capital city of the Queen of Sheba, the second Jerusalem, and the
resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Although it is not clear when oral
myths connecting Ethiopian Christianity to Old Testament stories first began,
they may date back to the establishment of Christianity in the 4th century CE.
Undoubtedly, both kings and priests would have been eager to establish such a
pedigree for themselves (up to the time of the end of the reign of Emperor Haile
Selassie, the dynasty was held to have descended directly from Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba through their mythical son, Emperor Menelik I.
Perhaps
the persistence of such legends more credibly reflects the importance of the
wider region in the development of world religions. Ethiopian traditions can
only claim the Solomon and Sheba story as their own because the Old Testament
strongly indicates that the land of Ophir, from where Sheba came, was somewhere
in Africa. Although not directly related to the later Aksum civilization,
nonetheless, the confusion around Old Testament and more recent Christian
traditions indicate the deep-seated nature of the range of monotheistic as well
as pagan influences in the wider region of which Ethiopia was a part. It is
precisely these influences, as they emerged, flourished, declined and persisted
over time, that gave Aksum its prominence in the ancient world, and they leave
us with a rich cultural legacy to be explored and enjoyed
Sources:
**
Kate
Prendergast, is a British freelance researcher and journalist with a particular
interest in African politics and development. Your emails will be forwarded to
her by contacting the art editor at:
artculture@iolteam.com.
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