Axum: The Ancient Capital of Ethiopia

Axum

The next stop on our tour of Ethiopia took us to Axum, the ancient capital of Ethiopia. This city is in the heart of the Tigray province in the far north, about 40 kilometers from the border with neighboring Eritrea. It is hotter here, and Axum is much larger than Lalibella.

One of the Stelae at Axum

Our days were filled with seeing the sights in and around the city. Axum is famous for a number of reasons, but one the the most well known is for the stelae fields. At the time of Axum's prominence, the area under Axumite control was much of present-day Ethiopia, as well as Eritrea, part of Sudan and even Yemen, on the other side of the Gulf of Aden. The kings that ruled from Axum traditionally would construct obelisks which would, to a certain extent, serve as their tombstones. Looking at the Stelae shows the changes that took place during the reign of the Axumite kingdom. Many stelae are very old and so the those stelae are rather unimpressive. However, there are others that are magnificent, rising around 10 stories in the air and carved designs in granite which was quarried from about 5 miles away and brought to the sites with the help of elephants. Beneath the stelae are a number of tombs where archaelogists have found various treasures, pieces of pottery, and other common findings in tombs like these. During the period shortly before World War II, Italy found itself in control of what is today Eritrea and certain parts of present-day Ethiopia. In Axum, Mussolini broke one of the most important Stelae into three pieces and took it to Rome where it stood for a number of years. It wasn't until fairly recently (a little less than a decade) that this particular stelae was returned to its original place and carefully put back together. One of the interesting pieces of this history we found in the tomb area. There is a casket that has been found in one of the tombs below the stelae fields. It is unknown who is entombed in this casket, except it is assumed one of the Kings is there. However, the casket is made of granite and there is no seal. It appears to be one solid piece of Granite, no way to open it. However, the interesting thing is that it is hollow. There is something inside, but there is no real way to figure out what is inside without breaking the granite apart.

Our guide banging on the casket of one of the Kings to show us that it is hollow.

We enter the Simien mountains on the road toward the border with Eritrea.

Axum is also the purported home of the real Ark of the Covenant, the home of the tablets God gave to Moses on which are inscribed the Ten Commandments. All Ethiopian Orthodox churches have a replica of the Ark in their own “holy of holies.” However, St. Mary's church in Axum is where, according to legend, the real ark is housed. There are only a few people who are allowed to actually see it. We were lucky enough to spend some time with one of the former Chief Priests of St. Mary's. His family has been in charge of the Ark for generations. We, of course, were not allowed to see the Ark. Not suprising, but almost all Ethiopians believe that the real Ark is indeed housed here and that belief has affected the course of Ethiopian politics, society, and religion for the past couple thousand years.

We also went to a small town about 60 kilometers away to see the ruins of the city of Yeha. Here there are ruins that date back 2500 years. The temple, which has been somewhat reconstructed, is open and upon entering, one sees the outline of the different rooms, including the rooms where Ibek's, a local type of deer, were sacrificed. In addition, the site contains other interesting things to see.

The Simien Mountains rise above on the way to Yeha.

Pastor Steve at the ruins of Yeha with a camel in the town square.

A young girl selling a traditional Ethiopian Coffee Jar

The ruins of the Temple at Yeha, a pre-Christian sit

It is definitely different than seeing a horse on the side of the road.

The children here are really great, but they are salesmen and saleswomen at heart and do not take no for an answer. However, occasionally one encounters a kid who just wants to practice their English or make a friend with someone from a foreign realm. Traveling to Yeha and back to Axum took us through the Simien Mountains. Beautiful peaks that rise up at least two thousand feat and more but that are not really connected to each other. I see a flat plain with these huge rocky spikes rising up from the flatland, each one freely standing on its own. I have never seen mountains like that, it gives me a sense of total awe at God's marvelous and diverse creation.

The ruins of the palace of the Queen of Sheba

Finally, we headed out to see the remains of the palace of the Queen of Sheba. The site, apparently, is not the actual palace of this famous Queen. The ruins date back to the 5^th or 6^th century after Christ, much to recent to be from the Queen of Sheba who is believed to have lived around the 10^th century BC. However, as archaeologists have excavated the palace, they have found that below what is there now is a different foundation that is much older. One of the current theories then, is that the site is indeed the location of the palace of the Queen of Sheba, however that palace was either destroyed or otherwise abandoned and later another palace was built by another royal and that second palace is the one whose ruins are visible today.

I was taken aback while at this palace to run into an Argentine doctor who is working for a Spanish non-profit in the Horn of Africa. We talked for a bit and I had to laugh that I would come the whole way here to find an Argentine. God always has those little surprises for us, coincidences or not!

As we went back to the hotel, we were accosted by a barrage of children looking for either a sale, a handout, or a handshake. These kids, though, were very adept at dividing us up to conquer us individually and many of us fell for the ruse. However, I did help one kid who showed me his report card, proud of his good grades. However, he worried because he couldn't go to the next grade without a new uniform, so I helped him out by taking him to the tailor and paying a small amount to help him cover the cost. It wasn't much, but it felt good to help him advance his studies. I worry that it was all a ruse and that I got conned, but I am going to convince myself that what I did was the right thing to do, either way, it made me feel good, even though the act of charity was small compared with the need around us.

As I write this, we are at the airport in Axum, waiting to board our plane to the city of Gondar where we will spend the next day and after which we will drive to the city of Bahir Dar which will take us around Lake Tana (the largest lake in Ethiopia) and will provide us the opportunity to take a boat ride on the Blue Nile. I am excited to see that.