By Stuart Munro-Hay The military establishment was undoubtedly one of the key institutions of the Aksumite monarchy, and as such was closely associated with it. The king himself was the commander-in-chief, but royal brothers and sons, and perhaps other relatives, were frequently put in charge of campaigns when the king was occupied elsewhere. The semisacred […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay Of Aksumite literature we know virtually nothing except that between the fifth and seventh centuries the Bible and other works began to be translated into Ge`ez (in some cases by Syrian/Aramaic speakers, thus absorbing certain additions to the vocabulary of the Ge`ez language). Traces of the early biblical translation survive in the […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay Apart from rock-cut tombs of various types, and others constructed by walling excavated pits, the Aksumites built some much more elaborate tombs. The chronology of these is uncertain, but some idea has been gained from the stratigraphical evidence provided by recent excavations (Munro-Hay 1989). The tombs show that the Aksumites were deeply […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay Few African societies possessed a market or exchange system so evolved as to require a universally accepted form of currency; the need for such a currency stands in a direct ratio to the complexity of the society which has developed, and the ultimate expression of the requirement for currency in the ancient […]
By Jon Abbink From its very inception, Islam has been a trans-continental religion, in this case, helped by thé proximity of thé African Red Sea Coast to thé Arabian heartland where it first emerged. In fact, thé first converts to thé new religion – outside thé close circle of thé Prophet Muhammad – are assumed to […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay From the very uneven choice of excavation areas at Aksum and other Aksumite cities, we have inevitably a view of Aksumite everyday life which favors the upper echelons of urban society. Palaces, mansions, large and important tombs, and churches contain the remains of objects from these élite groups, whilst the living equipment […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay There emerges at this stage yet another unusual feature of the Aksumite coinage. Large numbers of bronze coins were issued, perhaps by Ezana or perhaps by an immediate successor, with no royal name, just the word `basileus’, king. But on the reverse a prominent Greek cross appeared in the centre of the […]
Aksumite Ethiopia possessed a mainly agricultural and pastoral economy, and its geographical situation gave it access to an unusual variety of environments which could be seasonally exploited for crop growing or grazing (Connah 1987; Phillipson 1989). The agricultural resource base, depending on rainfall and soil quality, seems to have been of far richer potential in […]
By Stuart Munro-Hay The rediscovery of the Aksumite coinage has been a slow process. Nathaniel Pearce, who was in Ethiopia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, may have been the first to describe Aksumite coins (although parts of his descriptions are hard to reconcile with the Aksumite series, and may have referred to Roman […]
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 […]
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