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Africa

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November 3, 2018

The Monarchy

By Stuart Munro-Hay

1. The King and the State

It appears that to all intents and purposes, the Aksumite king was himself the embodiment of the state. This is emphasized on the coinage (see Ch. 9) where the image of the king appears on both the obverse and the reverse of the gold coins accompanied by his name and the title `king of the Aksumites’. This sort of concentration on the king is most unusual, other coinages generally showing some symbolic representation of the state such as the image of Roma or specially chosen gods and goddesses, national symbols, or certain heraldic animals or birds. The only symbols permitted by the Aksumite kings to share their prominent position on the coins were the disc and crescent in pre-Christian times, and the cross after the conversion, unless the wheat or barley stalks which appear on all gold coins and on some bronzes (Munro-Hay 1984i) may be regarded as some sort of badge representing the state.

In the Pre-Christian period, the king was considered to be the son of Mahrem, who was identified with Ares, the Greek god of battles. He was probably the special dynastic or tribal god of the Aksumites. This relationship would have enhanced the kings’ position in the eyes of his subjects, raising him to a quasi-divinity which set him in a special category, apart from and above all other men. The Aksumite royal inscriptions emphasize the king as a dynamic figure, son of a deity, member of one of the Aksumite clans (see below, the `Bisi’-title), the leader of his people as war-hero and conqueror, but also as judge and lawgiver.

Ancient-Blocks-in-Yeha-Ethiopia

It has been suggested that the title negus or nagashi originally denoted an official who was little more than a tax-gatherer for Sabaean colonial rulers. However, the whole concept of the Sabaean period in Ethiopia is now generally altered (Ch. 4: 1), and it seems that there was a true Ethiopian kingship as early as the time of the mukarribs of D`MT and Saba (Drewes 1962; Schneider 1976i). The connecting links between these early rulers and the Aksumite kings are unfortunately missing from the archaeological record.

The pivotal position of the Aksumite king in the machinery of government must have meant that the personality of each individual who occupied the office had a strong influence on the character of the reign. There are very few glimpses of anything so personal; but we may perhaps suggest that Zoskales’ interest in commercial profit and Greek literature, Ezana’s predilection for military exercises and his qualities as a leader in war, and Kaleb’s religious bent, do at least give some hints as to individual rulers’ concerns.

  • Introduction
  • Archaeological Discovery
    • Ancient Aksum
    • The Rediscovery of Aksum
  • The City and the State
    • Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
    • The Development of Aksum
    • Cities, Towns and Villages
    • The Inhabitants
    • Foreign Relations
  • Aksumite History
    • Early Aksum
    • Gadarat to Endubis
    • Endubis to Ezana
    • Ezana to Kaleb
    • The End of the Coinage
    • The Post-Aksumite Period
  • The Civil Administration
    • Officials of the Government
    • Aksum, the Capital City
    • The Town Plan
    • Portuguese Records of Aksum
    • Domestic Architecture
    • The Funerary Architecture
    • The Stelae
  • The Monarchy
    • The Regalia
    • Dual Kingship
    • Succession
    • The Royal Titles
    • The Coronation
  • The Economy
    • Agriculture and Animal husbandry
    • Metal Resources
    • Trade
    • Local Industries
    • Food
  • The Coinage
    • Introduction of the Coinage
    • Internal Aspects of the Coinage
    • The Mottoes
    • The End of the Coinage
    • Modern Study of the Coinage
  • Religion
    • The Conversion to Christianity
    • Abreha and Atsbeha
    • Ecclesiastical Development
    • Churches
  • Warfare
    • The Military Structure
    • Weapons
    • The Fleet
    • The Inscriptions
  • Archaeological Records
    • Glassware
    • Stone Bowls
    • Metalwork
    • Aksumite Materials
  • Language
    • Literature
    • The Art
    • Saint Yared
  • Society and Death
    • Funerary Practice
  • The Decline of the Empire
    • The Arrival of Islam in Ethiopia
    • The decline of Aksum
    • External and Internal Troubles
    • The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum
  • Excavations at Aksum

Ethiopian History

  • Lucy
  • The Æthyopians
    • Ethiopia in Biblical Greek “Αιθιοπια”
    • Herodotus’s Ethiopia
    • The Legendary Queen of Sheba
    • The Horn Of Africa
    • Enoch ‘The black prophet’
    • The Ethiopic Book of Enoch
    • ETHIOPIANISM
    • Ethiopia Mystery and antiquity
  • Wonderful Ethiopians
  • Unknown Kings of Ethiopia
    • The Great Pyramids part 1
    • The Construction of the Pyramids part 2
    • Who Built the Giza Pyramids? Part 3
  • Kebra Nagast
  • Aksumite Empire
  • The Zagwe Dynasty
  • The Gadaa System
  • The Battle of Adwa
    • The Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
    • Mussolini’s atrocity
  • Profiling Africa
  • National Parks
  • Pages
  • Pages
The Civil Administration The Regalia

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Africa

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Culture

  • BF1CAA6E-18B6-422A-B62B-16E90D1E0AD5Ethiopian Food as Divine Blessing
  • Skylight-hotel-New-Year-719-Copy-Copy-2-Copy-1How Perfect Is Ethiopian Calander? The Answer Lies On The Seventh Day Of Pagume ‘Aqede’
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Business

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  • Alatish Ethiopian National Park
  • Awash National Park
  • Babille Elephant Sanctuary
  • Bahir Dar Blue Nile Millennium Park
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