Aksum
The ancient Ethiopian capital whose church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds, keeps the Ark of the Covenant.
- Location
- Tigray, northern Ethiopia
- Modern country
- Ethiopia
- Period
- Ruins from the 1st to 13th centuries CE; peak 3rd–7th centuries
- Monuments
- Monolithic stelae; the largest fallen one about 33 m
- Church
- Saint Mary of Zion; Chapel of the Tablet
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage Site (1980)
What is Aksum known for?
Aksum in northern Ethiopia was the capital of a powerful kingdom that, at its height, traded across the Red Sea through the port of Adulis and was counted among the great states of the world between Rome and Persia. Its kings minted coins and raised tall monolithic stelae carved to look like multi-storey buildings; the largest, about 33 meters long, lies where it fell. Christianity became the court religion in the 4th century.
The Kebra Nagast, compiled in the 14th century and attributed to Yeshaq, a church official of Aksum, tells how Menelik, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds that it rests in the Chapel of the Tablet beside the Church of Saint Mary of Zion, guarded by a single monk; no outsider is allowed to see it.
Historians cannot test the claim, and there is no independent evidence for the Ark's journey. The ruins of Aksum became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
The Kebra Nagast and the Ethiopian Church place the Ark of the Covenant at Aksum.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeArk of the Covenant
- Rabbit holeKebra Nagast
- PassageSolomon's flying wagon (Kebra Nagast, chapters on the Ark's journey)
- PersonEdward Ullendorff
- PersonIsaac of Aksum (Yeshaq)
- PersonMenelik I
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Aksum'Reference
- The Kebra Nagast (tr. E. A. Wallis Budge), sacred-texts.comPrimary text
- Wikipedia, 'Axum'Reference
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