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axum
December 6, 2018

The Decline of the Empire

15- 1. The Failure of Resources

By Stuart Munro-Hay

The long period of occupation of the city of Aksum evidently had a profound effect on the surrounding countryside, from which it drew the materials of subsistence. Some of the processes set in the train can be inferred from the present state of the land, and consideration of the various factors involved. The local industries, including the manufacture of glass, faience, brick, and pottery, and metal-working, all needed wood or charcoal for their furnaces. Charcoal was probably in further demand for cooking, and heating when necessary, and wood was used for furniture and other equipment as well as house-building. These activities slowly robbed the surrounding hills of their covering of trees — which, however, survived in a few enclaves on the Shire plateau to be noted by Butzer (1981), — and exposed their topsoil to degradation and erosion.

The expansion of the population, probably adequately coped with at first by enlarging the food catchment areas by improved roads and transport facilities for goods into the city, and more intensive cultivation on the surrounding lands, eventually subjected these to overcropping. The pressure on the land would have shortened the rotation period of the crops, land which should have lain fallow for longer being pressed into use too soon. The subsequent lowering of the fertility level of the land again resulted in degradation and erosion, leaving an exhausted soil in the proximity of the city and the immediate countryside. Difficulties in maintaining the food-supplies may have been a significant factor in removing the capital elsewhere. A certain amount of recovery may have been possible in some areas around the town since the fertility of the hinterland of the much smaller town of later times was noted by travelers a thousand or so years later. Alvares simply mentioned that `its countryside . . . is sown in their season with all kinds of seed’ (Beckingham and Huntingford 1961: 159). Others noted wheat, wine, and vegetables growing at Aksum (Frate Rafaello Francescano, 1522; de Villard 1938: 60), a poor crop of fruit (Bruce 1790: III, 132), or, rather better, `a vast plain richly cultivated with many sorts of grain and near the town grass-plots and meadows’ (Plowden 1868: 391-2).

We cannot be sure for the Aksumite period, but among the natural disasters which in later times reduced the agricultural and animal yield in Ethiopia, cattle plague (Ch. 4: 8.3) and locusts are noted. For example, Alvares observed the desolation caused by the `multitude of locusts . . . and the damage which they do’ (Beckingham and Huntingford 1961: 132). It is not inconceivable that, apart from the steady decline caused by overuse of the land, one or both of these may have occurred to emphasize the need to remove the capital to some better-provided region.

Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity

1. Introduction

2. Legend, Literature, and Archaeological Discovery

  • 2-1. The Legends of Aksum
    2-2. Aksum in Ancient Sources
    2-3. The Rediscovery of Aksum in Modern Times

3. The City and the State

  • 3-1. The Landscape
    3-2. Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
    3-3. The Development of Aksum; an Interpretation
    3-4. Cities, Towns, and Villages
    3-5. The Inhabitants
    3-6. Foreign Relations

4. Aksumite History

  • 4-1  The Pre-Aksumite Period
    4-2  Early Aksum until the Reign of Gadarat
    4-3  Gadarat to Endubis
    4-4  Endubis to Ezana
    4-5  Ezana after his Conversion, to Kaleb
    4-6. Kaleb to the End of the Coinage
    4-7. The Post-Aksumite Period

5. The Capital City

  • 5-1. The Site
    5-2. The Town Plan
    5-3. Portuguese Records of Aksum
    5-4. Aksumite Domestic Architecture
    5-5. The Funerary Architecture
    5-6. The Stelae

6. The Civil Administration

  • 6-1. The Rulers
    6-2. Officials of the Government

7. The Monarchy

  • 7-1. The King and the State
    7-2. The Regalia
    7-3. Dual Kingship
    7-4. Succession
    7-5. The Royal Titles
    7-6. The Coronation

8. The Economy

  • 8-1. Population
    8-2. Agriculture, Husbandry, and Animal Resources
    8-3. Metal Resources
    8-4. Trade, Imports and Exports
    8-5. Local Industries
    8-6. Food

9. The Coinage

  • 9-1. The Origins
    9-2. Introduction and Spread of the Coinage
    9-3. Internal Aspects of the Coinage
    9-4. The Mottoes
    9-5. The End of the Coinage
    9-6. Modern Study of the Coinage

10. Religion

  • 10-1. The Pre-Christian Period
    10-2. The Conversion to Christianity
    10-3. Abreha and Atsbeha
    10-4. Ecclesiastical Development
    10-5. Churches

11. Warfare

  • 11-1. The Inscriptional Record
    11-2. The Military Structure
    11-3. Weapons
    11-4. The Fleet
    11-5. The Aksumite inscriptions

12. Material Culture; the Archaeological Record

  • 12-1. Pottery
    12-2. Glassware
    12-3. Stone Bowls
    12-4. Metalwork
    12-5. Other Materials

13. Language, Literature, and the Arts

  • 13-1. Language
    13-2. Literature and Literacy
    13-3. The Arts
    13-4. Music and Liturgical Chant

14. Society and Death

  • 14-1. Social Classes
    14-2. Funerary Practice

15. The Decline of Aksum

  • 15-1. The Failure of Resources
    15-2. The Climate
    15-3. External and Internal Political Troubles
    15-4. The Najashi Ashama ibn Abjar
    15-5. The NatsaniDaniell

16.The British Institute in Eastern Africa’s Excavations at Aksum

Funerary Practice The decline of Aksum

Related Posts

An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity

Aksumite Empire

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Aksumite Empire

Excavations at Aksum

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Aksumite Empire

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