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figure 2
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Around the mid-fourth century, during Ezana’s
reign, Aksum’s
metropolitan cathedral was dedicated to Mary the mother of God
(Phillipson, Monuments, 116). According to local tradition, in the
sixteenth century the Ark of the Covenant was enshrined in Saint
Mary of Zion. Within every Ethiopian church a replica of the Ark
of the Covenant, or tabot, is
dedicated to the saint for whom the church is named. The tabot must
be blessed by the metropolitan or patriarch. The liturgy is celebrated
over this flat tablet which is housed in a portable altar (Munro-Hay,
Ethiopia, 50). Rebuilding over the centuries has generally left
little trace of Aksumite churches beyond their raised foundations.
Saint Mary of Zion consciously imitated the Temple of Solomon
and the church of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, site of the Last Supper
(Garlake: 79). The present structure is generally considered
to be a seventeenth century replacement for the building destroyed
by Muslim invaders in 1535. It stands on a massive podium 215
feet or sixty-six meters long. The original building had been
described as a five-aisled basilica. While it is recorded that
in the seventh century its interior paintings excited the admiration
of visitors from Arabia, no trace of these or any other Ethiopian
paintings from the first millennium A.D. have survived. The earliest
examples of extant Ethiopian painting on vellum have been dated
to the tenth to eleventh centuries (Phillipson, Monuments, 83).
Coinage that was issued during the later part of the third century
has provided the source of a great deal of information about Aksumite
civilization. In order to facilitate international trade, the weight
standard adopted was based on that of the Roman and Byzantine monetary
systems. Coins were struck in gold, silver, and copper with the names
and portraits of Aksum’s leaders. These circulated far beyond Ethiopia
so that more Aksumite gold coins have been found in southern Arabia than
on the African side of the Red Sea. |
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