Aksum (also spelled Axum) is the name of a powerful, urban Iron Age Kingdom in Ethiopia, that flourished in the centuries before and after the time of Christ.
The modern city of Aksum is located in the northeastern portion of what is now Ethiopia, on the horn of Africa. It lies high on a plateau 7200 ft above sea level, and in its heyday, its region of influence included both sides of the Red Sea. An early text shows that trade on the Red Sea coast was active as early as 1st century BC. During the first century AD, Aksum began a rapid rise to prominence, trading its agricultural resources and its gold and ivory through the port of Adulis into the Red Sea trade network and thence to the Roman Empire. Trade through Adulis connected eastward to India as well, providing Aksum and its rulers a profitable connection between Rome and the east.
Aksum Chronology
- Pre-Aksumite ~700-400 BC Sites: Kidane Mehret, Hwalti, Melka, LP56
- Proto-Aksumite ~400-50 BC
- Early Aksumite ~50 BC-AD 150 Mai Agam, TgLM 143
- Classic Aksumite ~AD 150-400/450 LP 37, TgLM 98, Kidane Mehret
- Middle Aksumite ~AD 400/450-550
- Late Aksumite ~AD 550-700 Kidane Mehret
- Post-Aksumite after ~AD 700
Aksum and the Written Histories
One reason we know what we do about Aksum is the importance placed on written documents by its rulers, particularly Ezana or Aezianas. In the early 4th century AD, Ezana spread his realm north and east, conquering the Nile Valley realm of Meroe and becoming ruler over part of both Asia and Africa. He constructed much of the monumental architecture of Aksum, including a reported 100 stone obelisks, the tallest of which loomed 98 ft over the cemetery in which it stood and weighed 517 tons. Ezana is also known for converting much of Ethiopia to Christianity, around 330 AD. One legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant containing the remnants of the 10 commandments of Moses was brought to Aksum, and Coptic monks have protected it ever since.
Aksum flourished until the 6th century AD, maintaining its trade connections and a high literacy rate, minting its own coins, and building monumental architecture. With the rise of the Persian empire in the 6th century AD, the Arabic world redrew the map of Asia and excluded the Axumite civilization from its trade network, and Aksum fell in importance. For the most part, the obelisks built by Ezana were destroyed; with one exception, which was looted in the 1930s by Benito Mussolini, and erected in Rome. In late April 2005, Aksum's obelisk was returned to Ethiopia.
Archaeological Studies at Aksum
Archaeological excavations at Aksum were first undertaken by Enno Littman in 1906, and concentrated on the monuments and the elite cemeteries. The British Institute in Eastern Africa excavated at Aksum beginning in the 1970s, under the direction of Neville Chittick and his student, Stuart Munro-Hay.
Sources
See the photo essay called The Royal Tombs of Aksum, written by the late excavator at Aksum, archaeologist Stuart Munro-Hay.
Phillipson, David W. 2005. African Archaeology, 3rd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Phillipson, Laurel 2009 ]Lithic Artefacts as a Source of Cultural, Social and Economic Information: the evidence from Aksum, Ethiopia. African Archaeological Review 26:45–58.
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com Guide to the African Iron Age, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
