Kingdom of Aksum

Carlo Conti Rossini believed that the word Aksum derives from a Semitic root, and means 'a green and dense garden' or 'full of grass'.

Due to limited geographical knowledge many Byzantine texts from seventh and early eight century wrongly classified Ethiopia being in "India", which lead to the Kingdom also being called Kingdom of the Aksumite Indians.

Before the establishment of Axum, Eritrea and the Tigray Plateau of northern Ethiopia were home to a kingdom known as dʿmt. Archaeological evidence indicates that the kingdom was influenced by Sheba (now Yemen). Scholarly consensus had previously held that the Sabaeans (the people of Sheba) were the founders of 'Semitic' civilization in Ethiopia, though this view has now been refuted, and their influence is considered minor. The Sabaean presence likely lasted only for a matter of decades, but their influence on later Aksumite civilization included the adoption of Ancient South Arabian script, which developed into Geʽez script, and Ancient Semitic religion.

The early centuries of Aksum's development, during which it transitioned from a modest regional center to a significant power, remain largely obscure. Stone Age artifacts have been unearthed at Gobedra, two kilometres west of Aksum. Archaeological excavations on the tell of Betä Giyorgis northwest of Aksum validate the pre-Aksumite roots of a settlement in the vicinity of Aksum, dating back to approximately the seventh to fourth centuries BCE. Further evidence from excavations in the Stele Park at the heart of Aksum corroborates continuous activity in the area from the beginning of the Common Era. Two hills and two streams lie on the east and west expanses of the city of Aksum, perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area.

Archeological evidence suggests that the Aksumite polity arose between 150 BCE and 150 CE. Small-scale kingdoms denoted by very large nucleated communities with one or more elite residences appear to have existed in the early period of the kingdom of Aksum, and here Stuart Munro-Hay concludes,

Quite probably, the kingdom was a confederacy, one of which was led by a district-level king who commanded the allegiance of other petty kings within the Axumite realm. The ruler of the Axumite kingdom was thus 'king of kings' — a title often found in inscriptions of this period. There is no evidence that a single royal lineage has yet emerged, and it is quite possible that at the death of a king of kings, a new one would be selected from among all the kings in the confederacy, rather than through some principle of primogeniture."

The first historical mention of Axum comes from the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a trading guide which likely dates to the mid-first century AD. Axum is mentioned alongside Adulis and Ptolemais of the Hunts as lying within the realm of Zoskales. The area is described as primarily producing ivory, as well as tortoise shells. It is evident from the Periplus that, even at this early stage of its history, Axum played a role in the transcontinental trade route between Rome and India.

The Aksumite control over Adulis enabled the exchange of Ethiopian products for imports. Both Pliny the Elder and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea refer to this port, situated three days away from the initial ivory market at Coloe, itself five days distant from Aksum. This trade across the Red Sea, spanning from the Roman Empire in the north to India and Ceylon in the east, played a crucial role in Aksum's prosperity. The city thrived by exporting goods such as ivory, tortoiseshell, and rhinoceros horn. Pliny also mentioned additional items like hippopotamus hide, monkeys, and slaves. During the second century AD, Ptolemy's geographer referred to Aksum as a powerful kingdom. Both archaeological findings and textual evidence suggest that during this period, a centralized regional polity had emerged in the Aksumite area, characterized by defined social stratification. By the beginning of the fourth century AD, the Aksumite state had become well-established, featuring urban centers, an official currency with coinage struck in gold, silver, and copper, an intensive agricultural system, and an organized military.

Around 200 AD, Aksumite ambitions had expanded to Southern Arabia, where Aksum appears to have established itself in al-Maafer and engaged in conflicts with Saba and Himyar at various points, forming different alliances with chief kingdoms and tribes. During the early part of the third century, the kings GDRT and ʽDBH dispatched military expeditions to the region. Inscriptions from local Arabian dynasties refer to these rulers with the title "nagasi of Aksum and Habashat," and a metal object discovered in eastern Tigray also mentions a certain "GDR negus of Aksum." Later in the century, the mlky hhst dtwns wzqrns (kings of Habashat DTWNS and ZQRNS) are also mentioned fighting in Arabia. According to a Greek inscription in Eritrea known as the Monumentum Adulitanum recorded by Cosmas Indicopleustes, in around the mid to late third century (possibly circa 240 to circa 260), the Aksumites, led by an anonymous king, achieved significant territorial expansion in the Ethiopian Highlands and the Arabian Peninsula, with their influence extending as far as Lake Tana and the borders of Egypt.

GDRT is also the author of the oldest surviving royal inscription in Geez, found at ʿAddi Gälämo (RIÉ 180), the meaning of which remains debated but has been plausibly read as recording a royal dedication of a sceptre to two sanctuaries. In South Arabian texts GDRT is referred to by the title mlk hbšt wýksmn, meaning "king of Ethiopia and the Aksumites", which is the earliest attestation of that dual formulation. By around 200 AD he had entered South Arabian politics as an ally of the Sabaean king ʿAlhan Nahfan, and an inscription at the Sabaean royal palace records a formal friendship pact between the two rulers. That alliance did not last: during the reign of ʿAlhan's son ŠaʿirumYawtar (ca. 210–230 AD), Sabaean and Aksumite interests came into conflict, and though GDRT succeeded in controlling vast stretches of western Yemen during that period, including the Tihama, Najran, Zafar, al-Maʿafir, and parts of the Hašid highlands near Hamir, Sabaean pressure eventually pushed Aksumite forces back. His memory survived in the traditional Ethiopian king lists under the variants Gédur and Zägdur.

By the end of the third century AD, Aksum had gained recognition by the prophet Mani in the Kephalaia, as one of the four great powers of the world alongside Rome, Persia, and China. As the political influence of Aksum expanded, so did the grandeur of its monuments. Excavations by archaeological expeditions revealed early use of stelae, evolving from plain and rough markers to some of the largest monuments in Africa. The granite steles in the main cemetery, housing Aksumite royal tombs, were transformed from plain to carefully dressed granite, eventually carved to resemble multi-storey towers in a distinctive architectural style. Aksumite architecture featured massive dressed granite blocks, smaller uncut stones for walling, mud mortar, bricks for vaulting and arches, and a visible wooden framework, known as "monkey-heads" or square corner extrusions. Walls inclined inwards and incorporated several recessed bays for added strength. Aksum and other cities, such as Adulis and Matara, boasted substantial "palace" buildings employing this architectural style. In the early sixth century, Cosmas Indicopleustes described his visit to Aksum, mentioning the four-towered palace of the Aksumite king, adorned with bronze statues of unicorns. Aksum also featured rows of monumental granite thrones, likely bearing metal statues dedicated to pre-Christian deities. These thrones incorporated large panels at the sides and back with inscriptions, attributed to Ousanas, Ezana, Kaleb, and his son Wazeba, serving as victory monuments documenting the wars of these kings.

King Ezana became the first Christian ruler of Aksum in the fourth century. Ezana's coins and inscriptions make the change from pre-Christian imagery to Christian symbolism around 340. The conversion to Christianity was one of the most revolutionary events in the history of Ethiopia as it gave Aksum a cultural link with the Mediterranean. Aksum gained a political link with the Byzantine Empire, which regarded itself as the protector of Christendom. Three inscriptions on the Ezana Stone document the conversion of King Ezana to Christianity and two of his military expeditions against neighboring areas, one inscribed in Greek and the other in Ge'ez. The two expeditions refers to two distinct campaigns, one against the "Noba", and the other against the Beja. According to the inscription, the Noba were settled somewhere around the Nile and Atbara confluence, where they seemed to have taken over much of the Kingdom of Kush. Yet they did not drive the Kushites away from their heartland since the inscription states that the Aksumites fought them at the junction of the two rivers. Also mentioned in the inscription are the mysterious "red Noba" against whom an expedition was carried out. This people seems to be settled further north and may be identical with the "other Nobades" mentioned in the inscription of the Nubian king Silko carved on the wall of the Temple of Kalabsha.

Ezana bore the clan name béýése Halen ("man of Halen"), recorded in both his inscriptions and on coins in the Greek form bisi Alene. His inscriptions document four separate military campaigns, three of them conducted while he was still pagan, against the Bega, the Agwézat, and a people called the Afan. The fourth, against the Noba and Kasu, was carried out after his conversion and opens with a Christian formula. During the Bega campaign his brother Sazanas served as one of the army commanders, and in Ezana's later years Sazanas was elevated to co-regent. A letter of the Roman Emperor Constantius II, dated to 356/57 AD and preserved in a work by Athanasius of Alexandria, is addressed to "the tyrannoi Aizanas and Sazanas," indicating that the Romans recognized the joint rule and were attempting to bring Aksumite church affairs under imperial influence by removing Frumentius, an effort that came to nothing.

King Kaleb sent an expedition against the Jewish Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas, who was persecuting the Christian community in Yemen. Kaleb gained widespread acclaim in his era as the conqueror of Yemen. He expanded his royal title to include king of Hadramawt in southeastern Yemen, as well as the coastal plain and highland of Yemen, along with "all their Arabs", highlighting the extensive influence of Aksum across the Red Sea into Arabia. Dhu Nuwas was deposed and killed and Kaleb appointed an Arab viceroy named Esimiphaios ("Sumuafa Ashawa"), but his rule was short-lived as he was ousted in a coup led by an Aksumite named Abraha after five years. Kaleb sent two expeditions against Abraha, but both were decisively defeated. According to Procopius, following Aksum's unsuccessful attempts to remove him, Abraha continued to govern Yemen through a tribute arrangement with the king of Aksum.

After Abraha's death, his son Masruq Abraha continued the Aksumite vice-royalty in Yemen, resuming payment of tribute to Aksum. However, his half-brother Ma'd-Karib revolted. Ma'd-Karib first sought help from the Roman Emperor Justinian the Great, but having been denied, he decided to ally with the Sassanid Persian Emperor Khosrow I, triggering the Aksumite–Persian wars. Khosrow I sent a small fleet and army under the commander Vahrez to depose the king of Yemen. The war culminated with the Siege of Sana'a, capital of Aksumite Yemen. After its fall in 570 and Masruq's death, Ma'd-Karib's son, Saif, was put on the throne. In 575, the war resumed again, after Saif was killed by the Aksumites. The Persian general Vahrez led another army of 8,000, ending Axum rule in Yemen and becoming the hereditary governor of Yemen. According to Stuart Munro-Hay, these wars may have been Aksum's swan song as a great power, with an overall weakening of Aksumite authority and over-expenditure in money and manpower.

Aksumite trade in the Red Sea likely suffered due to the Persian conquests in Egypt and Syria, followed by the defeats in Yemen.

The Aksumite population mainly consisted of Semitic-speaking groups, one of these groups were the Agʿazian or the speakers of Geʽez. The commentator of the Adulis inscription identifies them as the main inhabitants of Aksum and its surroundings. The Cushitic-speaking Agaw people were also known to have lived within the kingdom, as Cosmas Indicopleustes notes that a "governor of Agau", was entrusted by King Kaleb of Axum with the protection of the vital long-distance caravan routes from the south, suggesting that they lived within the southern frontier of the Aksumite kingdom. Aksum also had a sizeable Greek population, which resided in the cities of Ptolemais Theron and Adulis. Nilotic groups also inhabited Aksum, as inscriptions from the time of Ezana note the "Barya", an animist tribe who lived in the western part of the empire, believed to be the Naras.

Aksumite settlements were distributed across a significant portion of the highlands in the northern Horn of Africa, with the majority located in northeastern Tigray, Ethiopia, as well as the Akele Guzai and Seraye regions of Eritrea. Despite the concentration in these areas, some Aksumite settlements such as Mifsas Bahri are located as far as Ofla. In addition to the highlands, sites from the Aksumite period were discovered along the Red Sea coast of Eritrea, near the Gulf of Zula. Numerous Aksumite settlements were strategically positioned along an axis that traversed from Aksum to the Gulf of Zula, forming a route connecting the Aksumite capital in the highlands to the principal Aksumite port of Adulis on the Red Sea. Along this route, two of the largest Aksumite-era settlements, Matara and Qohaito, were situated in the Eritrean highlands. The concertation of these Aksumite ancient settlements suggests high population density in the highlands of Tigray and central Eritrea. The southern regions of the Aksumite polity are little known. However, in the mountains of Lasta and Wollo, archeological surveys appear to have located sites with Aksumite affinities, particularly near Mount Abuna Yosef.

A complex agricultural system in the Aksumite area, which involved irrigation, dam construction, terracing, and plough-farming, played a crucial role in sustaining both urban and rural populations. Aksumite farmers cultivated a variety of cereal crops with origins from both Africa and the Near East. These crops included teff, finger millet, sorghum, emmer wheat, bread wheat, hulled barley, and oats. In addition to cereal crops, Aksumite farmers also grew linseed, cotton, grapes, and legumes of Near Eastern origin such as lentils, fava beans, chickpeas, common peas, and grass peas. Other important crops included the African oil crop, Guizotia abyssinica, as well as gourds and cress. This diverse range of crops, combined with the herding of domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats, contributed to the creation of a highly productive indigenous agropastoral food-producing tradition. This tradition played an integral role in the development of the Aksumite economy and the consolidation of state power.

The Empire of Aksum is notable for a number of achievements, such as its own alphabet, the Geʽez script, which was eventually modified to include vowels, becoming an abugida. Furthermore, in the early times of the empire, around 1700 years ago, giant obelisks to mark emperors' (and nobles') tombs (underground grave chambers) were constructed, the most famous of which is the Obelisk of Aksum.

Under Emperor Ezana, Aksum adopted Coptic Christianity in place of its former polytheistic and Judaic religions around 325. The Axumite Coptic Church gave rise to the present day Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (only granted autonomy from the Coptic Church in 1959) and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church (granted autonomy from the Ethiopian Orthodox church in 1993). Since the schism with Orthodoxy following the Council of Chalcedon (451), it has been an important Miaphysite church, and its scriptures and liturgy continue to be in Geʽez.

Greek became the official and literary language of the Axumite state, coming from the influence of the significant Ethiopian Greek communities established in Axum, the port of Adulis, Ptolemais Theron, and other cities in the region during Ptolemaic times. Greek was used in the state's administration, international diplomacy, and trade; it can be widely seen in coinage and inscriptions.

Geʿez, the language of Agʿazi, was spoken alongside Greek in the court of Aksum. Although during the early kingdom, Geʿez was a spoken language, it has attestations written in the Old South Arabian language Sabaic. In the fourth century, Ezana of Axum promoted the Geʽez script and made Geʽez an official state language alongside Greek; by the sixth century literary translations into Geʿez were common. After the seventh century's Muslim conquests in the Middle East and North Africa, which effectively isolated Axum from the Greco-Roman world, Geʿez replaced Greek entirely.

Early on in the Christian period, several texts began to be translated into Ge'ez in the Kingdom of Aksum for religious purposes. The most famous example is represented by the Garima Gospels, a set of manuscripts containing all four Gospels translated into Ethiopic dating between the fourth and sixth centuries. Citations of the Bible occur in several Aksumite inscriptions that have been found in South Arabia. Dating to roughly the same time period, the Aksumite Collection is a multi-text manuscript dating to the 13th century, at the latest, but containing a large number of documents which must have been translated into Ge'ez between the fourth and sixth centuries, covering subjects including liturgy, canon law, historiography, letters and treatises, etc.

Other translations include the entire Greek Bible, parabiblical texts (including the Book of Enoch, Book of Jubilees, 4 Baruch, and the Ascension of Isaiah), and other theological texts like the Qerallos. Native Ethiopic texts from this period are less certain, though it was a period active with translations from Greek texts. The reception or translation of Syriac literature during the Aksumite age is still unattested. In recent decades, the known corpus of Aksumite literature has grown substantially.

Before its conversion to Christianity, the Aksumites practiced a polytheistic religion related to the religion practiced in southern Arabia. This included the use of the crescent-and-disc symbol used in southern Arabia and the northern horn. In the UNESCO-sponsored General History of Africa, French archaeologist Francis Anfray suggests that the Aksumites worshipped Astar, his son Mahrem, and Beher.

Steve Kaplan argues that with Aksumite culture came a major change in religion, with only Astar remaining of the old gods, the others being replaced by what he calls a "triad of indigenous divinities, Mahrem, Beher and Medr." He also suggests that Aksum culture was significantly influenced by Judaism, saying that "The first carriers of Judaism reached Ethiopia between the reign of Queen of Sheba BC and conversion to Christianity of King Ezana in the fourth century AD." He believes that although Ethiopian tradition suggests that these were present in large numbers, "A relatively small number of texts and individuals dwelling in the cultural, economic, and political center could have had a considerable impact", and that "their influence was diffused throughout Ethiopian culture in its formative period. By the time Christianity took hold in the fourth century, many of the originally Hebraic-Jewish elements had been adopted by much of the indigenous population and were no longer viewed as foreign characteristics. Nor were they perceived as in conflict with the acceptance of Christianity."

Before converting to Christianity, King Ezana II's coins and inscriptions show that he might have worshiped the gods Astar, Beher, Meder/Medr, and Mahrem. Another of Ezana's inscriptions is clearly Christian and refers to "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". Around 324 AD the King Ezana II was converted to Christianity by his teacher Frumentius, who established the Axumite Coptic Church, which later became the modern Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Frumentius taught the emperor while he was young, and it is believed that at some point staged the conversion of the empire. We know that the Aksumites converted to Christianity because in their coins they replaced the disc and crescent with the cross.

Frumentius was in contact with the Church of Alexandria, and was appointed Bishop of Ethiopia around the year 330. The Church of Alexandria never closely managed the affairs of the churches in Aksum, allowing them to develop their own unique form of Christianity. However, the Church of Alexandria probably did retain some influence considering that the churches of Aksum followed the Church of Alexandria into Oriental Orthodoxy by rejecting the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. Aksum is also the alleged home of the holy relic the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is said to have been placed in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion by Menelik I for safekeeping.

Islam arrived in the seventh century, during the reign of Ashama ibn-Abjar, when the first followers of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (also known as the Sahabah) migrated from Arabia due to their persecution by the Quraysh, the ruling Arab tribal confederation of Mecca. The Quraysh appealed to the Ashama ibn-Abjar, arguing that the early Muslim migrants were rebels who had invented a new religion, the likes of which neither the Meccans nor the Aksumites had heard of. The king granted them an audience, but ultimately refused to hand over the migrants. A second migration consisting of 100 Muslim migrants occurred a few years later. Arabic inscriptions on the Dahlak Archipelago dated to the mid ninth century AD. confirm the existence of an early Muslim presence in Aksum.

The Empire of Aksum was one of the first African polities to issue its own coins, which bore legends in Geʽez and Greek. From the reign of Endybis up to Armah (c. 270 – c. 610), gold, silver and bronze coins were minted. Issuing coinage in ancient times was an act of great importance in itself, for it proclaimed that the Aksumite Empire considered itself equal to its neighbours. Many of the coins are used as signposts about what was happening when they were minted. An example being the addition of the cross to the coin after the conversion of the empire to Christianity. The presence of coins also simplified trade, and was at once a useful instrument of propaganda and a source of profit to the empire.

In general, elite Aksumite buildings such as palaces were constructed atop podia built of loose stones held together with mud-mortar, with carefully cut granite corner blocks which rebated back a few centimeters at regular intervals as the wall got higher, so the walls narrowed as they rose higher. These podia are often all that survive of Aksumite ruins. Above the podia, walls were generally built with alternating layers of loose stone (often whitewashed, like at Yemrehana Krestos Church) and horizontal wooden beams, with smaller round wooden beams set in the stonework often projecting out of the walls (these are called 'monkey heads') on the exterior and sometimes the interior.

Both the podia and the walls above exhibited no long straight stretches but were indented at regular intervals so that any long walls consisted of a series of recesses and salients. This helped to strengthen the walls. Worked granite was used for architectural features including columns, bases, capitals, doors, windows, paving, water spouts (often shaped like lion heads) and so on, as well as enormous flights of stairs that often flanked the walls of palace pavilions on several sides. Doors and windows were usually framed by stone or wooden cross-members, linked at the corners by square 'monkey heads', though simple lintels were also used. Many of these Aksumite features are seen carved into the famous stelae as well as in the later rock hewn churches of Tigray and Lalibela.

Palaces usually consisted of a central pavilion surrounded by subsidiary structures pierced by doors and gates that provided some privacy (see Dungur for an example). The largest of these structures now known is the Ta'akha Maryam, which measured 120 × 80m, though as its pavilion was smaller than others discovered it is likely that others were even larger.

Some clay models of houses survive to give us an idea of what smaller dwellings were like. One depicts a round hut with a conical roof thatched in layers, while another depicts a rectangular house with rectangular doors and windows, a roof supported by beams that end in 'monkey heads', and a parapet and water spout on the roof. Both were found in Hawelti. Another depicts a square house with what appear to be layers of pitched thatch forming the roof.

The stelae are perhaps the most identifiable part of the Aksumite architectural legacy. These stone towers served to mark graves and represent a magnificent multi-storied palace. They are decorated with false doors and windows in typical Aksumite design. The largest of these would measure 33 meters high had it not fractured. The stelae have most of their mass out of the ground, but are stabilized by massive underground counterweights. The stone was often engraved with a pattern or emblem denoting the king's or the noble's rank.

For important monuments built in the region, a particular type of granite is used called nepheline syenite. It is fine grained and has also been used in historic monuments like the stelae. These monuments are used to celebrate key figures in Axum history, especially kings or priests. These stelae are also called obelisks, they are located in the Mai Hejja stelae field, where complex sedimentology of the land can be observed. The foundations for the monuments are around 8.5 m below the surface of the Mai Hejja stelae field. Sediments in this area have undergone a lot of weathering over the years, so the surface of this area has undergone a lot of changes. This is part of the reason for the complex stratigraphic history in this site, some previous layers under the surface of the site.

Aksumite funerary monuments combined stone platforms with one of three tomb types: pit-graves consisting of a circular rock-cut shaft over two metres deep beneath a platform; shaft-tombs formed by a quadrangular shaft between three and eight metres deep leading to one or more burial chambers; and staircase tombs entered by rock-cut staircases. Pottery basins placed on platform surfaces indicate these superstructures also served as sites for votive offerings to the dead.

Several individual tombs are known from Aksum.

The Aksumite Empire is portrayed as the main ally of Byzantium in the Belisarius series by David Drake and Eric Flint published by Baen Books. The series takes place during the reign of Kaleb, who in the series was assassinated by the Malwa in 532 at the Ta'akha Maryam and succeeded by his youngest son Eon bisi Dakuen.

In the Elizabeth Wein series The Lion Hunters, Mordred and his family take refuge in Aksum after the fall of Camelot. Kaleb is the ruler in the first book; he passes his sovereignty onto his son Gebre Meskal, who rules during the Plague of Justinian.