December 4, 2018

The Art

By Stuart Munro-Hay

No Aksumite painting, beyond that on pottery, has survived, and much of the decorative material which has been found is of uncertain provenance. Some of it may have originated in Egypt or Syria, or even South Arabia. Surviving metal-work objects, such as small images of an ibex, the Three Graces, and a pair of dogs, or glass-inlaid bronze box fragments (see Ch. 12), may have been foreign workers imported into Aksum. No large statues have yet been found of the Aksumite period — though possibly one of the gold, silver and bronze statues mentioned in the inscriptions, to which some of the granite plinths still existing at Aksum probably once belonged, may have survived the desire to melt down its metal, and be still awaiting the excavator’s pick. The only truly Aksumite art-form we yet know of (apart from some plastic modeling on pottery, and some carving on flat surfaces and in the round) is an architecture (see Ch. 5: 4) and the limited imagery of the coinage (Ch. 9).

abuna yemata guh ceiling fresco tigray churches ethiopia travel blog

In view of the later liking for elaborately-painted walls in the churches, it may not be too surprising to find, one day, paintings on the plastered walls of one of the tombs, palaces, or churches, like that reported to Muhammad by his wives (Muir 1923: 490; Sergew Hable Sellassie 1972: 186, n. 30; Lepage 1989: 52). Muhammad was apparently involved in a strange scene with some of his womenfolk, who had tried to help him as he lay dying by feeding him an Abyssinian remedy consisting of Indian wood, a little wars seed, and some olive oil. Muhammad then made them all swallow it as well. “After this, the conversation turning upon Abyssinia, Um Selame and Um Habiba, who had both been exiles there, spoke of the beauty of the cathedral of Maria there, and of the wonderful pictures on its walls. Overhearing it, Mohammad was displeased and said `These are the people who, when a saint among them dieth, build over his tomb a place of worship, and adorn it with their pictures; in the eyes of the Lord, the worst part of all creation. . . .” Of uncertain date is the carved lioness, over 2 m long, on the rock of Gobedra, near Aksum (Littmann 1913: II, 73), but carved stone lion (or bull) heads (Anfray and Annequin 1965: pl. LXVII, 5-6) were often used as water-spouts on Aksumite buildings, and were still so employed in Alvares’ time (Ch. 10: 5). The much larger rock sculpture of a lion at Kombolcha in southern Wollo may be an Aksumite creation (Gerster 1970: 25, pls. 9-10), or perhaps dates from the post-Aksumite period. Carving on a shell (an ibex from Aksum; Munro-Hay 1989) is attested as well, but not necessarily of local production. If, as suggested above, parchment or papyrus books or scrolls were used in Aksumite times, the art of calligraphy or even the beginnings of the illumination of such books may also have a long history.

Illustration 62. The figure of a lioness carved on a rock at Gobedra, near Aksum.

We have a certain amount of evidence that the remarkable development of elaborate variations on the cross-motif, for which Ethiopia is even now very notable, was in full swing in Aksumite times. On the coins the cross is gradually expanded to a design with gold inlay, accompanied by additional features like crosslets on the arms, and various-shaped frames. Many pottery vessels have stamped crosses on their bases, possibly the result of carved wooden stamps now vanished. There are a number of these from Aksum, and a more elaborated type was commonly found at Matara (Wilding in Munro-Hay 1989; Anfray 1966). On other vessels, the crosses are incised and accompanied by monograms and other symbols. The long-footed Latin cross is uncommon, though it does appear, and the equal-armed Greek cross is the main type used.