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Axum, or Aksum (pronounced: ), is a town in the
Tigray Region The Tigray Region, officially the Tigray National Regional State, is the northernmost regional state in Ethiopia. The Tigray Region is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob, and Kunama people. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray ...
of
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire, a naval and trading power that ruled the whole region from about 400 BCE into the 10th century. In 1980,
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
added Axum's archaeological sites to its list of
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
s due to their historic value. Axum is located in the
Central Zone The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...
of the Tigray Region, near the base of the
Adwa Adwa ( ti, ዓድዋ; amh, ዐድዋ; also spelled Aduwa) is a town and separate woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is best known as the community closest to the site of the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian soldiers defeated Itali ...
mountains. It has an elevation of and is surrounded by La'ilay Maychew, a separately administered woreda of the Tigray region.


History

Axum was the hub of the marine trading power known as the Aksumite Empire, which predated the earliest mentions in
Roman-era The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medit ...
writings. Around 356 CE, its ruler was converted to an Abyssinian variety of Christianity by
Frumentius Frumentius ( gez, ፍሬምናጦስ; died c. 383) was a Phoenician Christian missionary and the first bishop of Axum who brought Christianity to the Kingdom of Aksum. He is sometimes known by other names, such as Abuna ("Our Father") and ...
. Later, under the reign of the Emperor Kaleb, Axum was a quasi-ally of Byzantium against the Sasanian Empire which had adopted
Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...
. The historical record is unclear with ancient church records being the primary contemporary sources. It is believed the empire began a long and slow decline after the 7th century due partly to the Persians and then the Arabs contesting old Red Sea trade routes. Eventually the empire was cut off from its principal markets in
Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
, Byzantium and
Southern Europe Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alb ...
and its share of trade captured by Arab traders of the era. The Aksumite Empire was finally destroyed in the 10th century by Empress Gudit, and eventually some of the people of Axum were forced south and their old way of life declined. As the empire's power declined so did the influence of the city, which is believed to have lost population in the decline, similar to Rome and other cities thrust away from the flow of world events. The last known (nominal) emperor to reign was crowned in about the 10th century, but the empire's influence and power had ended long before that. Its decline in population and trade then contributed to the shift of the power hub of the
Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
south to the Amhara region as it moved further inland. In this period the city of Axum became the administrative seat of an empire spanning one million square miles. Eventually, the alternative name of Ethiopia was adopted by the central region and then by the modern state that presently exists. "Axum" (or its Greek and Latin equivalents) appears as an important centre on indigenous maps of the northern
Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004 ...
in the 15th century.


The Aksumite Empire and the Ethiopian Church

The Aksumite Empire had its own written language, Geʽez, and developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks. The oldest of these, though relatively small, dates from 5000–2000 BCE. The empire was at its height under Emperor Ezana, baptized as Abreha in the 4th century (which was also when the empire officially embraced Christianity). The
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
claims that the
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion The Church of Our Lady, Mary of Zion is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church which is claimed to contain the Ark of the Covenant. The church is located in the town of Axum, Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia, near the grounds of Obelisks ...
in Axum houses the Biblical
Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an ...
, in which lie the Tablets of Stone upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed.Hodd, Mike, ''Footprint East Africa Handbook'' (New York: Footprint Travel Guides, 2002), p. 859. . Ethiopian traditions suggest that it was from Axum that Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, journeyed to visit King
Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
in Jerusalem and that the two had a son, Menelik, who grew up in Ethiopia but travelled to Jerusalem as a young man to visit his father's homeland. He lived several years in Jerusalem before returning to his country with the Ark of the Covenant. According to the Ethiopian Church and Ethiopian tradition, the Ark still exists in Axum. This same church was the site where Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of
Fasilides Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲልደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a ...
, then again beginning with
Yohannes IV ''girmāwī'' His Imperial Majesty, spoken= am , ጃንሆይ ''djānhoi''Your Imperial Majesty(lit. "O steemedroyal"), alternative= am , ጌቶቹ ''getochu''Our Lord (familiar)(lit. "Our master" (pl.)) yohanes Yohannes IV ( Tigrinya: ዮሓ ...
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 Timkat festival (known as Epiphany in western Christianity) on 19 January (20 January in leap years) and the Festival of Maryam Zion on 30 November (21 Hidar on the
Ethiopian calendar The Ethiopian calendar ( am, የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን ኣቆጣጠር; Oromo: Akka Lakkofsa Itoophiyaatti; Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Ge'ez calendar ( Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓ� ...
). In 1937, a tall, 1,700-year-old
Obelisk of Axum The Obelisk of Axum ( ti, ሓወልቲ ኣኽሱም, ḥawelti Akhsum; ) is a 4th-century CE, tall phonolite stele, weighing , in the city of Axum in Ethiopia. It is ornamented with two false doors at the base and features decorations resembli ...
, was broken into five parts by the Italians and shipped to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
to be 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; Italy also covered the US$4 million costs of the transfer. UNESCO assumed responsibility for the re-installation of this stele in Axum, and by the end of July 2008 the obelisk had been reinstalled. It was unveiled on 4 September 2008.


Axum and Islam

The Aksumite Empire had a long-standing relationship with
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
. According to ibn Hisham, when
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mon ...
faced oppression from the Quraysh clan in Mecca, he sent a small group of his original followers, that included his daughter Ruqayya and her husband Uthman, to Axum. The Negus, the Aksumite monarch (known as An- Najashi (النجاشي) in the Islamic tradition), gave them refuge and protection and refused the requests of the Quraish clan to send the refugees back to Arabia. These refugees did not return until the sixth
Hijri year The Hijri year ( ar, سَنة هِجْريّة) or era ( ''at-taqwīm al-hijrī'') is the era used in the Islamic lunar calendar. It begins its count from the Islamic New Year in which Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Yathr ...
(628 C.E.) and even then many remained in Ethiopia, eventually settling at Negash in what is now the Misraqawi Zone. 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, Arabic historians and Ethiopian tradition state that some of the Muslim refugees who lived in Ethiopia during this time converted to Orthodox Christianity. There is also 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 Abyssinians in peace, as long as they do not take the offensive."


Earlier researches

In February 1893 the British explorers,
James Theodore Bent James Theodore Bent (30 March 1852 – 5 May 1897) was an English explorer, archaeologist, and author. Biography James Theodore Bent was born in Liverpool on 30 March 1852, the son of James (1807-1876) and Eleanor (née Lambert, c.1811-1873) B ...
and his wife
Mabel Bent Mabel Virginia Anna Bent (née Hall-Dare, a.k.a. Mrs J. Theodore Bent) (28 January 1847 – 3 July 1929), was an Anglo-Irish explorer, excavator, writer and photographer. With her husband, J. Theodore Bent (1852–1897), she spent two decades (1 ...
, travelled by boat to Massawa on the west coast of the Red Sea. They then made their way overland to excavate at Axum and Yeha, in the hope of researching possible links between early trading networks and cultures on both sides of the Red Sea. They reached Axum by 24 February 1893, but their work was curtailed by the tensions between the Italian occupiers and local warlords, together with the continuing ramifications of the
First Italo-Ethiopian War The First Italo-Ethiopian War, lit. ''Abyssinian War'' was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. It originated from the disputed Treaty of Wuchale, which the Italians claimed turned Ethiopia into an Italian protectorate. Full ...
and they had to make a hasty retreat by the end of March to Zula for passage back to England.


3D documentation with laser-scanning

The
Zamani Project The Zamani Project is part of the African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes Database. Zamani is a research group at the University of Cape Town, which acquires, models, presents and manages spatial and other data from cultural heritage sites ...
documents cultural heritage sites in 3D to create a record for future generations. The documentation is based on terrestrial laser-scanning. The 3D documentation of parts of the Axum Stelae Field was carried out in 2006 and 3D models, plans and images can b
viewed here


1989 air raid

During the Ethiopian Civil War, on 30 March 1989, Axum was bombed from the air by the
Ethiopian National Defence Forces The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) ( am, የኢፌዲሪ መከላከያ ሠራዊት, Ye’īfēdērī mekelakeya šerawīt, lit=FDRE Defense Force) is the military force of Ethiopia. Civilian control of the military is carried out t ...
and three people were killed.


Maryam Ts'iyon massacre

Thousands of civilians died during the
Axum massacre The Axum massacre (alternatively spelled Aksum, also called the Maryam Ts'iyon massacre) was a massacre of about 100–800 civilians that took place in Axum during the Tigray War. The main part of the massacre occurred on the afternoon and evenin ...
that took place in and around the Maryam Ts'iyon Church in Axum during the Tigray War in December 2020. There was indiscriminate shooting by the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) throughout Axumand focussed killings at the
Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion The Church of Our Lady, Mary of Zion is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church which is claimed to contain the Ark of the Covenant. The church is located in the town of Axum, Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia, near the grounds of Obelisks ...
(''Maryam Ts'iyon'') by the
Ethiopian National Defense Force The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) ( am, የኢፌዲሪ መከላከያ ሠራዊት, Ye’īfēdērī mekelakeya šerawīt, lit=FDRE Defense Force) is the military force of Ethiopia. Civilian control of the military is carried out t ...
(ENDF) and Amhara militia. The church was also a place where the corpses of civilians killed elsewhere were collected for burial. A tight government communications blackout ensured that news of the massacre (or two separate massacres; reports are still emerging) was only revealed internationally in early January 2021 after survivors escaped to safer locations.


Main sites of Axum

The major Aksumite monuments in the town are steles. These obelisks are around 1,700 years old and have become a symbol of the Ethiopian people's identity. The largest number are in the Northern Stelae Park, ranging up to the Great Stele, believed to have fallen and broken during construction. The
Obelisk of Axum The Obelisk of Axum ( ti, ሓወልቲ ኣኽሱም, ḥawelti Akhsum; ) is a 4th-century CE, tall phonolite stele, weighing , in the city of Axum in Ethiopia. It is ornamented with two false doors at the base and features decorations resembli ...
was removed by the Italian army in 1937, and returned to Ethiopia in 2005 and reinstalled 31 July 2008. The next tallest is the King Ezana's Stele. Three more stelae measure high, high, high. The stelae 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 to the west of town, unlike the northern area, are interspersed with mostly 4th century
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
s. The other major features of the town are the old and new churches of ''Our Lady Mary of Zion''. The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion was built in 1665 by Emperor
Fasilides Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲልደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a ...
and said to have previously housed the Ark of the Covenant. The original cathedral, said to have been built by Ezana and augmented several times afterwards, was believed to have been massive with an estimated 12 naves. It was burned to the ground by Gudit, rebuilt, and then destroyed again during the Abyssinian–Adal war of the 1500s. It was again rebuilt by Emperor Gelawdewos (completed by his brother and successor Emperor Minas) and Emperor Fasilides replaced that structure with the present one. Only men are permitted entry into the Old St. Mary's Cathedral (some say as a result of the destruction of the original church by Gudit). The New Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion stands next to the old one, and was built to fulfil a pledge by Emperor
Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
to Our Lady of Zion for the liberation of Ethiopia from the Fascist occupation. Built in a
neo-Byzantine style Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Ortho ...
, work on the new cathedral began in 1955, and allows entry to women. Emperor Haile Selassie interrupted the state visit of Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
to travel to Axum to attend the dedication of the new cathedral and pay personal homage, showing the importance of this church in the Ethiopian Empire. Queen Elizabeth visited the Cathedral a few days later. Between the two cathedrals is a small chapel known as The Chapel of the Tablet built at the same time as the new cathedral, and which is believed to house the Ark of the Covenant. Emperor Haile Selassie's consort, Empress Menen Asfaw, paid for its construction from her private funds. Admittance to the chapel is closed to all but the guardian monk who resides there. Entrance is even forbidden to the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, and to the Emperor of Ethiopia during the monarchy. The two cathedrals and the chapel of the Ark are the focus of pilgrimage and considered the holiest sites in Ethiopia to members of its Orthodox Church. Other attractions in Axum include archaeological and ethnographic museums, the Ezana Stone written in
Sabaean Sabean or Sabaean may refer to: *Sabaeans, ancient people in South Arabia **Sabaean language, Old South Arabian language *Sabians, name of a religious group mentioned in the Quran, historically adopted by: **Mandaeans, Gnostic sect from the marshl ...
, Geʽez and
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
in a similar manner to the
Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Anci ...
, King Bazen's Tomb (a
megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...
considered to be one of the earliest structures), the so-called Queen of Sheba's Bath (actually a
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...
), the 4th-century Ta'akha Maryam and 6th-century
Dungur Dungur (or Dungur 'Addi Kilte) is the ruins of a substantial mansion in Aksum, Ethiopia, the former capital city of the Kingdom of Aksum. The ruins are in the western part of Aksum, across the road from the Gudit stelae field. Dungur is known lo ...
palaces, Pentalewon Monastery and Abba Liqanos and about west is the rock art called the
Lioness of Gobedra The Lioness of Gobedra is a rock sculpture located in Gobo Dura (Gobedra), Ethiopia. It is a representation of a crouching lioness around three metres long, which was carved into a relief on a large phonolite rock outcropping situated two kilomet ...
. Local legend claims the Queen of Sheba lived in the town.


Climate

The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as subtropical highland (Cwb).


Demographics


Population

According to the
Central Statistical Agency The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social grow ...
of Ethiopia (CSA), the town of Axum's estimated population was 56,576. The census indicated that 30,293 of the population were females and 26,283 were males.


Religion

The 2007 national census showed that the town population was 44,647, of whom 20,741 were males and 23,906 females). The majority of the inhabitants said they practised
Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chri ...
, with 88.03% reporting that as their religion, while 10.89% of the population were Ethiopian Muslim. The 1994 national census reported the population for the city as 27,148, of whom 12,536 were men and 14,612 were women. The largest ethnic group reported was Tigrayans with 98.54% and Tigrinya was spoken as a first language by 98.68%. The majority of the population practised Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with 85.08% reported as embracing that religion, while 14.81% were Muslim.


Transport

Axum Airport Axum Airport ( ti, ኣኽሱም ዮሃንስ ራብዓይ መዕረፍ ነፈርቲ) , also known as Emperor Yohannes IV Airport, is an airport serving Axum, a city in the northern Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The name of the city and airport may ...
, also known as ''Emperor
Yohannes IV ''girmāwī'' His Imperial Majesty, spoken= am , ጃንሆይ ''djānhoi''Your Imperial Majesty(lit. "O steemedroyal"), alternative= am , ጌቶቹ ''getochu''Our Lord (familiar)(lit. "Our master" (pl.)) yohanes Yohannes IV ( Tigrinya: ዮሓ ...
Airport'', is located just to the east of the city.


Education

Aksum University was established in May 2006 on a greenfield site, from Axum's central area. The inauguration ceremony was held on 16 February 2007 and the current area of the campus is , with ample room for expansion. The establishment of a university in Axum is expected to contribute much to the ongoing development of the country in general and of the region in particular.


Notable people

*
Abune Mathias Abune Mathias (born Teklemariam Asrat; 5 January 1941) is the current Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church since 2013. His full title is " His Holiness Abune Mathias I, Sixth Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, Archbishop of Axu ...
(b. 1941), among his titles he is the "Archbishop of Axum" *
Abay Tsehaye Abay "Amha" Tsehaye (; 29 April 1953 – 13 January 2021) was an Ethiopian politician and a prominent personality in the Ethiopian political discourse. He was active in the political scene from the early 1960s up to late 2018, initially as o ...
(1953–2021), politician and a founding member of the
Tigray People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...
* Zera Yacob (1599–1692), philosopher *
Zeresenay Alemseged Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged (born 4 June 1969) is an Ethiopian paleoanthropologist who was the Chair of the Anthropology Department at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, United States. He recently joined the faculty of the Univ ...
(b. 1969), palaeoanthropologist and was Chair of the Anthropology Department at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, United States


Gallery

File:Ethio_w3.jpg, Reconstruction of Dungur File:Aksum-107533.jpg, Dungur File:Aksum-139457.jpg, Dungur File:Aksum-107545.jpg, Dungur, with the Gudit stelae field immediately beyond it File:Ethio w4.jpg, Aksumite-era Amphora from Asmara. File:Axumite Palace (2827701317).jpg, Model of the Ta'akha Maryam palace. File:Axumite Architectural Fragments (2823506028).jpg, Aksumite water-spouts in the shape of lion heads. File:Axumite Jar With Figural Spout (2822617017).jpg, Aksumite jar with figural spout. File:ET Axum asv2018-01 img41 Stelae Park.jpg, Tombs beneath the stele field. File:Ethio w29.jpg, Entrance to the ''Tomb of the False Door''. File:Stelenpark in Axum 2010.JPG, The Stelae Park in Axum. File:Small Steles near Aksum.jpg, Small stelae in the Gudit Stelae Field File:Stelae Field in Axum, Ethiopia (2830293765).jpg, Another stelae field in Axum. File:Aksum-139458.jpg, Axum stele in a farmer's field File:Axoum partie moderne.JPG, Street in Axum


See also

* List of megalithic sites *
List of World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1975 Ethiopia ratifi ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* Francis Anfray. ''Les anciens ethiopiens.'' Paris: Armand Colin, 1991. * Yuri M. Kobishchanov. ''Axum'' (Joseph W. Michels, editor; Lorraine T. Kapitanoff, translator). University Park, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania, 1979. * David W. Phillipson. ''Ancient Ethiopia. Aksum: Its antecedents and successors.'' London: The British Brisith Museum, 1998. * David W. Phillipson. ''Archaeology at Aksum, Ethiopia, 1993–7.'' London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 2000. * Stuart Munro-Hay. ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity''. Edinburgh: University Press. 1991.
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 * 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. * J. Theodore Bent. ''The Sacred City of the Ethiopians: Being a Record of Travel and Research in Abyssinia in 1893''. London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1894
online edition


External links



* ttp://archaeology.about.com/cs/africa/a/aksum.htm Kingdom of Aksumarticle from "About Archaeology"
UNESCO – World Heritage Sites — Aksum
* ttp://www.ethiopiatravel.com/Axum_eng.htm On Axum* ttp://www.selamta.net/axum.htm More on Axumbr>Axum from Catholic Encyclopedia

Final obelisk section in Ethiopia
BBC, 25 April 2005
Axum Heritage Site on Aluka digital libraryAksum World Heritage Site in panographies
– 360 degree interactive imaging {{Authority control Axum (city) Capitals of former nations Holy cities Populated places in the Tigray Region World Heritage Sites in Ethiopia Populated places established in the 1st millennium BC Ancient Greek geography of East Africa Cities and towns in Ethiopia