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Aksum
Adulis
Ezana
MAIN IDEA
SETTING THE STAGE In the eighth century B.C., before the Nok were spreading
their culture throughout West Africa, the kingdom of Kush in East Africa had become
powerful enough to conquer Egypt. (See Chapter 4.) However, fierce Assyrians swept
into Egypt during the next century and drove the Kushite pharaohs south. Kush nevertheless remained a powerful kingdom for over 1,000 yearsuntil it was conquered
by another even more powerful kingdom.
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made it an important trading center. It was a hub for caravan routes to Egypt and
Mero, the capital of Kush. Its miles of coastline and ports on the Red Sea gave it
influence over sea trade on the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean as well. Traders
from Egypt, Arabia, Persia, India, and the Roman Empire crowded Aksums chief seaport, Adulis (AHD uh luhs), near present-day Massawa. As a result, Aksum soon
became an international trading power.
Aksumite merchants traded necessities such as salt and luxuries such as rhinoceros
horns, tortoise shells, ivory, emeralds, and gold. In return, they chose from items such
as imported cloth, glass, olive oil, wine, brass, iron, and copper. Around a.d. 550, an
Egyptian merchant named Cosmas described how Aksumite agents bargained for gold
from the people in southern Ethiopia:
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
They take along with them to the mining district oxen, lumps of salt, and iron, and when
they reach its neighborhood they . . . halt . . . and form an encampment, which they
fence round with a great hedge of thorns. Within this they live, and having slaughtered
the oxen, cut them in pieces and lay the pieces on top of the thorns along with the
lumps of salt and the iron. Then come the natives bringing gold in nuggets like peas . . .
and lay one or two or more of these upon what pleases them. . . . Then the owner of the
meat approaches, and if he is satisfied he takes the gold away, and upon seeing this its
owner comes and takes the flesh or the salt or the iron.
COSMAS, quoted in Travellers in Ethiopia
strong ruler, Ezana (AY zah nah), occupied the throne. Determined
to establish and expand his authority, Ezana first conquered the part
of the Arabian peninsula that is now Yemen. Then, in 330, Ezana
turned his attention to Kush, which already had begun to decline. In
350, he conquered the Kushites and burned Mero to the ground:
Ezana
Mid-Fourth Century A.D.
Ezana of Aksum, who reigned from
about A.D. 325 to 360, succeeded to
the throne as an infant after the
death of his father. While his mother
ruled the kingdom, he was educated
by a young Christian man from Syria
who had been captured and taken
into the court.
When Ezana finally became ruler
of Aksum, he converted to
Christianity and established it as the
kingdoms official religion. I will
rule the people with righteousness
and justice and will not oppress
them, and may they preserve this
Throne which I have set up for the
Lord of Heaven, he vowed.
These spiritual aimsalong
with his earthly conquestsgained
him the title negusa nagast, or
king of kings.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
I carried war against [them] when they had rebelled. . . . I burnt their
towns of stone and their towns of straw. At the same time, my men
plundered [stole] their grain, their bronze, their iron and their copper,
destroyed the idols in their homes, their stocks of corn and of cotton;
and they threw themselves into the river. . . .
KING EZANA OF AKSUM, quoted in Africa: Past and Present
200 Chapter 8
The Spread of Christianity The Aksumites, like other ancient Africans, traditionally believed in one god. They called their god Mahrem and believed that their king
was directly descended from him. They were also animists, however, and worshipped
the spirits of nature and honored their dead ancestors. They offered sacrificesoften
as many as a dozen oxen at a timeto those spirits, to Mahrem, and often, to the
Greek god of war, Ares.
Vocabulary
cosmopolitan:
including elements
from many parts of
the world.
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lasting achievement of the Aksumites. They also developed a unique architecture. They used stone instead of mud bricks to construct vast royal
palaces and public buildings. Like the Egyptians, the Aksumites used no
mortar. Instead, they carved stones to fit together tightly. Aksums kings also
built huge stone pillars called stelae (STEE lee). These presumably were
meant to celebrate the kings conquests and to demonstrate Aksums greatness. Some are 60 feet tall and were among the largest structures in the
ancient world. Ezana left a lasting reminder of Aksums spiritual and structural achievements in his last stele. He dedicated this soaring stone to the
Christian God, the Lord of heaven, who in heaven and upon earth is
mightier than everything that exists.
Geez, the language brought to Aksum by its early Arab inhabitants. Aside from
Egypt and Mero, Aksum was the only ancient African kingdom known to have
developed a written language. It was also the first state south of the Sahara to mint its
own coins. Made of bronze, silver, and gold, these coins were imprinted with the saying,
May the country be satisfied. Ezana apparently hoped that this
inscription would make him popular with the people. Every time they
GlobalImpact
used a coin, it would remind them that he had their interests at heart.
A Road Paved with Gold:
In addition to these cultural achievements, the Aksumites adapted
Aksum to Rome
creatively to their rugged, hilly environment. They created a new
The kingdom of Aksum had a
method of agriculture, terrace farming. This enabled them to greatly
tremendous impact on the ancient
increase the productivity of their land. Terraces, or steplike ridges
Mediterranean world. It particularly
influenced one of the most
constructed on mountain slopes, helped the soil retain water and
important powers of the time, the
prevented its being washed downhill in heavy rains. The Aksumites
Roman Empire. Roman ships came
dug canals to channel water from mountain streams into the fields.
to Adulis weekly to trade with the
They also built dams and cisterns, or holding tanks, to store water.
Aksumites. Many Roman merchants
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This 15th-century
Ethiopian fan
shows the Christian
influence that
began in Aksum
and continues in
the area today. It
may have been
used during the
church service to
keep flies from
settling on the
communion bread
and wine.
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Muhammads family and followers during his rise to power, however, his followers initially did not invade Aksums territories on the African coast of the Red Sea. Retaining
control of that coastline enabled Aksum to remain a trading power.
Before long, though, the invaders seized footholds on the African coast as well. In
710 they destroyed Adulis. This conquest cut Aksum off from the major ports along
both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. As a result, the kingdom declined as an
international trading power. But it was not only Aksums political power that weakened. Its spiritual identity and environment were also endangered.
As the invaders spread Islam to the lands they conquered, Aksum became isolated
from other Christian settlements. To escape the advancing wave of Islam, Aksums
rulers moved their capital over the mountains into what is now northern Ethiopia.
There, depletion of the forests and soil erosion as well as Aksums new geographic isolation led to its decline as a world power.
Although the kingdom of Aksum reached tremendous heights and left a lasting
legacy in its religion, architecture, and agriculture, it lived out its lifespan within a fairly
small area. Other cultures, both in Africa and around the world, have developed not by
expanding locally, but by moving over great distances. As their living circumstances
changed, they adapted to the other peoples and environments they encountered.
Section 2 Assessment
1. TERMS & NAMES
Identify
Aksum
Adulis
Ezana
2. TAKING NOTES
THINK ABOUT
Aksums achievements
202 Chapter 8
3. ANALYZING CAUSES
4. ANALYZING THEMES