Axum
This article is about the city of Axum. For the kingdom, see Kingdom of AxumAxum, properly
Aksum, is a
city in northern
Ethiopia. Located in the
Mehakelegnaw Zone of the
Tigray Region near the base of the
Adwa mountains, this town has a latitude and longitude of . It was the centre of the
Axumite Kingdom, which emerged around the time of the birth of
Jesus and declined after the
7th century due to unknown reasons, but contributed to the shift of the power centre of the Ethiopian Empire further inland.
[G. Mokhtar, UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. II, Abridged Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990), pp. 215-35. ISBN 0-85255-092-8.] Based on figures from the
Central Statistical Agency in 2005, Axum has an estimated total population of 47,320 of whom 20,774 were males and 21,898 were females.
[CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4] Seventy-five percent of the people in the city are members of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The remainder of the population is
Sunni Muslim and
P'ent'ay (Protestant and other non-Orthodox Christians).
Axum is served by an
airport (
ICAO code HAAX,
IATA AXU).
Due to its
historical value, in
1980 UNESCO added its archeological sites to its list of
World Heritage Sites.
 |
The Chapel of the Tablet |
The
kingdom of Axum had its own written language called
Ge'ez, and also developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks, the oldest of which (though much smaller) date from 5,000-2,000 BC
[Herausgegeben von Uhlig, Siegbert, Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p. 871.]. This kingdom was at its height under king
Ezana, baptized as Abreha, in the
300s (which was also when it officially embraced
Christianity).
[J. D. Fage, A History of Africa (London: Routledge, 2001)". pp. 53-54. ISBN 0-415-25248-2.]The
Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that the
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum houses the
Biblical Ark of the Covenant in which lies the
Tablets of Law upon which the
Ten Commandments are inscribed.
[Hodd, Mike, Footprint East Africa Handbook (New York: Footprint Travel Guides, 2002), p. 859. ISBN 1-900949-65-2.] This same church was the site Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of
Fasilides, then again beginning with
Yohannes IV until the end of the empire. Axum is considered to be the holiest city in Ethiopia and is an important destination of pilgrimages.
Significant religious festivals are the T'imk'et Festival (known as the
Epiphany in western Christianity) on
7 January and the
Festival of Maryam Zion in late November.
In
1937, a 24-meter tall, 1700-year-old
obelisk standing in Axum was cut into three parts by
Italian soldiers and shipped to
Rome to be re-erected. The obelisk is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of engineering from the height of the Axumite empire. Despite a
1947 United Nations agreement that the obelisk would be shipped back, Italy balked, resulting in a long-standing diplomatic dispute with the Ethiopian government, which views the obelisk as a symbol of national identity. In April
2005, Italy finally returned the obelisk pieces to Axum amidst much official and public rejoicing. It is due to be re-erected in late
2006.
[Hoffman, Barbara T., Art and Cultural Heritage (Cambridge: University Press, 2005), p. 5. ISBN 0-521-85764-3.] [
1] UNESCO has assumed responsiblity for the re-installation of this stele in Axum.
Although Axumite Muslims have attempted to build a mosque in this most holy of Ethiopian towns, Orthodox residents have replied that they must be allowed to build an Ethiopian Orthodox church in
Mecca (officially Makkah) if the Muslims are to be allowed to build a mosque in Axum.
The connection of Axum with Islam is very old. According to
ibn Hisham, when
Muhammad faced oppression from the
Quraish clan, he sent a small group that included his daughter Ruqayya and her husband
Uthman ibn Affan, whom
Ashama ibn Abjar, the king of Axum, gave refuge to, and protection to, and refused the requests of the Quraish clan to send these refugees back to Arabia. These refugees did not return until the sixth year of the
Hijra (
628), and even then many remained in Ethiopia, eventually settling at
Negash in eastern Tigray.
There are different traditions concerning the effect these early Muslims had on the ruler of Axum. The Muslim tradition is that the ruler of Axum was so impressed by these refugees that he became a secret convert. On the other hand, one Ethiopian tradition states that one of the Muslim refugees who lived in Ethiopia during this time converted to Orthodox Christianity, thus becoming the first known convert from Islam to Christianity. Worth mentioning is a second Ethiopian tradition, that on the death of Ashama ibn Abjar, Muhammed is reported to have prayed for the king's soul, and told his followers, "Leave the Ethiopians in peace, as long as they do not take the offensive."
[Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), pp. 42f] |
The Northern Stelae Park in Axum with the King Ezana's Stele at the centre and the Great Stele lies broken. |
The major Aksumite
monuments in the town are
stelae; the largest number lie in the
Northern Stelae Park, ranging up to the 33 metre-high
Great Stele (believed to have fallen during construction) and the tallest standing 24m high
King Ezana's Stele.
Another stele looted by the Italian army was only returned to Ethiopia in 2005 and is due for reinstallation. They are believed to mark
graves and would have had cast metal discs affixed to their sides, which are also carved with architectural designs. The
Gudit Stelae, unlike the northern area, are interspersed with mostly
fourth century tombs.
Other features of the town include
St Mary of Zion church, built in
1665 and said to contain the
Ark of the Covenant (a prominent
twentieth century church of the same name neighbours it),
archaeological and
ethnograpic museums, the
Ezana Stone written in
Sabaean,
Ge'ez and
Ancient Greek in a similar manner to the
Rosetta Stone,
King Bazen's Tomb (a
megalith considered to be one of the earliest structures), the so-called
Queen of Sheba's Bath (actually a
reservoir), the
fourth century Ta'akha Maryam and
sixth century Dungur palaces, the monasteries of
Abba Pentalewon and
Abba Liqanos and the
Lioness of Gobedra rock art.
Local legend claims the
Queen of Sheba lived in the town.
*
Denver,
USA (since 1995)
* Yuri M. Kobishchanov.
Axum (Joseph W. Michels, editor; Lorraine T. Kapitanoff, translator). University Park, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 1979. ISBN 0271005319
* Stuart Munro-Hay.
Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: University Press. 1991. ISBN 0748601066
online edition* Stuart Munro-Hay.
Excavations at Aksum: An account of research at the ancient Ethiopian capital directed in 1972-74 by the late Dr Nevill Chittick London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1989 ISBN 0500970084
* Sergew Hable Sellassie.
Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270 Addis Ababa: United Printers, 1972.
*
African Zion, the Sacred Art of Ethiopia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
*
Ethiopian Treasures - Queen of Sheba, Aksumite Kingdom - Aksum*
Kingdom of Aksum article from About Archaeology
*
UNESCO â€" World Heritage Sites - Aksum*
The Metropolitam Museum of Art â€" The Foundation of Aksumite Civilization*
On Axum*
More on Axum*
Axum from Catholic Encyclopedia*
Final obelisk section in Ethiopia,
BBC,
25 April 2005
