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figure 1
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Home to Lucy, one of our earliest documented
ancestors, Ethiopia has the longest continuous archaeological record on the
planet. Its northern highlands region is also the site of one of the oldest
Christian civilizations. Ethiopia’s Christian architectural
monuments rank alongside those of ancient Egypt, Great Zimbabwe,
and the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali as Africa’s great
enduring cultural landmarks that have survived into the present.
Divided between northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, the highlands’ mountain
massifs reach over a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 meters).
Situated in the easternmost part of the African continent, this
extensive mountainous terrain is at once adjacent to the Red
Sea and across from the Arabian Peninsula.
For millennia, close proximity and
control of the Red Sea as an artery of trade provided early highland
states with their main conduit to the outside world. When its Red
Sea outlet was eliminated beginning in the seventh century, however,
Ethiopia became comparatively isolated. In more recent times, Ethiopia
was the only African nation that successfully resisted colonization.
The longevity of its cultural heritage and retention of its own
sovereignty have contributed to a striking continuity between Ethiopia’s
past and present (Phillipson, Monuments, 8). A significant
aspect of that past that remains vivid in the popular imagination
is the role played by Ethiopia’s leadership in biblical times.
Compiled by indigenous chroniclers at the end of the thirteenth
century, the Kebra
Negest epic, or The Book of the Glory of
Kings, traces Ethiopia’s history from the time
of the Queen of Sheba, popularly referred to as Makeda. According
to this tradition concerning the foundation of Ethiopia’s
monarchy, Makeda’s journey to Jerusalem and union with
King Solomon led to the birth of their progeny, Menelik, following
her return to Ethiopia. Before assuming his role as Ethiopian
sovereign, Menelik traveled to his father’s court to receive
Solomon’s blessing. He returned home with the Ark
of the Covenant containing the tablets of the Commandments given
to Moses.
Established in the highlands of northern Ethiopia’s Tigray
province, during the first millennium, the city of Aksum was
the capital of Ethiopia’s earliest recorded state. Through
the port of Adulis on the Red Sea, south of present-day Massawa
in Eritrea, Aksum maintained wide-ranging trade contacts with
the Mediterranean as well as India, Sri Lanka, and China. Linked
to its port by a series of towns, the inland capital on the western
edge of the highlands controlled the export of valuable raw materials
such as ivory, rhinoceros horn, gold, and frankincense. Between
the third and sixth centuries, Aksum’s political control
extended intermittently to large areas of southern Arabia. Aksum
was in contact with Meroe, the Nile Valley, and Egypt through
inland routes.
The British archaeologist David Phillipson has characterized Aksum
as “the last of the great civilizations of Antiquity to be
revealed to modern knowledge” (Philippson, Monuments,
7). Its standing internationally among its contemporaries is reflected
in the commentary of the third century Persian prophet Mani who
asserted, “There
are four great kingdoms in this world. The first is the kingdom
of Babylon and Persia, the second is the kingdom of the Romans,
the third is the kingdom of the Aksumites, and the fourth is the
kingdom of Sileos [probably a reference to India or China]” (Munro-Hay,
Ethiopia, 236). At its height, Aksum developed into a
major nexus of commerce and political power. It remains to this day a center of great significance due to its identification with Ethiopia’s adoption of Christianity. |
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