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The northern Ethiopia ancient city of Axum, regarded
as the cradle of Ethiopian culture and Christianity,
is the country's oldest extant urban settlement.
From around 200 BC to 700 AD, Axum was the seat of
an empire that extended across the Red Sea to
Arabia, traded with India and China, had its own
alphabet and notational system, constructed great
engineering works and dams was reckoned by the 4th
century, Persian historian Mani to be one of the
four great powers of the ancient world, along with
China, Persia and Rome.
After
its conversion to Christianity, early in the fourth
century, Axum also emerged as an important religious
centre, site of the country's most important and
revered Church of St Mary of Tseyon, which,
according to Ethiopian tradition, is the repository
of the biblical Ark of the Covenant.
The
visitor can see stelaes made of single blocks of
granite, including the tallest stood over 33 metres
high-the largest monolith in the world, the tombs
and castles of Kings, Axum museum, inscriptions and
the 16th century of St. Mary of Zion church, built
on the site of Ethiopia’s first church and it is a
chapel of the holiest Christian sanctuary in
Ethiopia, and Ethiopians believe that the church
houses the Ark of Covenant, containing the tables on
which Moses wrote the ten commandments.
A
visit to Axum can be extended to take in the 800 BC
pre-Axumite temple at Yeha, 55 km east of Axum and a
little further, the 7th century monastery at Debre
Damo. (Women are not allowed to enter the latter,
and the only access is by rope.) And the historical
town of Adwa is among the several attractive sites
that can be covered within a day excursion.
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