From the beginning of the pre-Aksum period (during the early part of the first millennium BC), the city of Aksum (or Axum) became the central focus of a commercial civilization that grew to combine elements of Semitic (Southern) culture. of Arabia) with an indigenous African economy, which originally may have had similarities to more recent Iron Age settlements in southern Africa at Mapungubwe and Zimbabwe. There were also more exotic (and presumably less important) influences on this civilization from the Persian Achaemenid, Greek, Egyptian, and Nubian (Kushite) civilizations. Over time, the full-fledged Aksumite civilization had trade links as far afield as Rome, Byzantine Constantinople, and even India.
Aksum itself is an existing city located at an altitude of over 2,000 meters, at the northern end of the vast Ethiopian plateau. It is close to the source of the Nile Atbara and is about 150 km south of the present regional center of Asmara and is 200 km west of the Red Sea coast. Due to the high altitude, it is relatively well irrigated, with a warm and healthy climate, capable of supporting the cultivation of cereals and the grazing of livestock. It straddles an ancient trade route, connecting Ethiopia’s central plateau with the harsh, dry, low-lying plain of Eritrea. This route reached the Red Sea coast at the port of Adulis, in ancient times an important link to the southern Arabian coastal cities across the narrow gulf and the sea trade route north across the Red Sea to Egypt and the Mediterranean. Another important caravan route left the plateau and headed west along the Atbara Valley and the Wadi Hawad road, reaching the Nile Valley in the Meroe kingdom of inland Sudan (Nubia). Local routes also led north to organized settlements in the Gash delta area and south to remote centers spread across the vast Ethiopian plateau.
It is well established that it became a great center of international trade. In addition to the ubiquitous relics of southern Arabia, numerous imported ancient wares, pottery, manufactured artifacts, and coins from remote areas such as Greece, Egypt, Byzantium, and India have been found in the Aksum region. In addition to the many inscriptions in the Sabaean script of southern Arabia, there are others in the local language using Greek characters. The extant manuscripts of the Mediterranean civilizations, written in historical times, have left us references to Aksum and Adulis. These include works by the Roman author Pliny the Elder; the well-known Roman/Byzantine historian Priscus; Agatharchides of Cnidus who wrote: In the Eritrean Sea, and the unknown author of Periplus Maris Erythraei and even a fictional story of Heliodorus, the Ethiopian history. (Connah, 1987). There were also later Islamic historians who recorded earlier oral traditions. These various sources give some evidence of the type of goods exported from the region (ivory, gold, furs, aromatic oils, slaves, etc.) They also tell of Aksum’s trade links and some of the history of its rulers. However, the historical, epigraphic, linguistic, and (very limited) archaeological evidence for the pre-Aksumite phase is to some extent conflicting, and therefore difficult to reconcile into a clear and coherent picture of how this trading state and its culture unique may actually have evolved.
Conventional wisdom has long held that Aksum’s prosperity and strategic importance derived entirely from its connection to southern Arabia, to the point that the civilization was a mere “transplant from southern Arabia” (Phillipson: 1990 :55-59) The accepted position was that Aksum’s whole raison d’être was to be a kind of commercial emporium for the Arabs, as Shanghai was in the late 19th century for the Europeans. An additional proposal, considered by some, is direct colonization by an Eritrean group with cultural ties to South Arabia, advancing from the coastal plain. However, Phillipson makes a very compelling case for an indigenous African base for the pre-Aksum region’s initial growth in importance. First, he points out that if trade with Arabia were all-important, a site actually on the coast, or at least closer to the eastern edge of the plateau, with a correspondingly shorter route, would have been much more appropriate than the Aksum himself. Phillipson argues that it was actually intra-regional trade between wealthy localities in the central and western plateau of Ethiopia and the lowlands of Sudan, coupled with a well-established and viable local agricultural base for settlement, that predetermined Aksum’s suitability for the main regional commercial center. growth point
An agricultural surplus is always a prerequisite to support the formation of the elite power group necessary to transform a loosely connected indigenous society into an organized state of some kind. Once a structured environment is in place to provide security, any remaining agricultural surplus can be used to barter with immediate neighbors in the area to make up for specific deficiencies or deficiencies in local agricultural production or to improve herds. Over time, the network would expand in search of more exotic goods and luxuries, possibly coming from more technically advanced areas. In the mature phase of its existence, if the location is suitable, the State or its private citizens would use their trading facilities and skills to act as middlemen, trading non-indigenous products in both directions, with the intention of making a substantial profit on the exchange. . If all goes well, the model becomes self-sufficient. Applying this logic to the Aksum case, Arab and international trade across the Red Sea could only have grown in importance. after Aksum had already established its pre-eminence as an important local center for intra-regional indigenous agriculture and trade. The initial phases of this process probably took place over several centuries. However, at some point, the existence of thriving local markets attracted the attention of foreign merchants and, once Arab and international trade began, further boosted general prosperity and promoted strong state formation and economic growth. culture of the Aksum area. Unfortunately, little archaeological evidence has yet been accumulated to establish what the true basis of this original wealth actually was. The recent political instability between Ethiopia and Eritrea has delayed the necessary archaeological research for some time.
However, there is considerable architectural, ceramic, and epigraphic evidence showing very close ties between the urban ruling elite and the kingdom of Saba (biblical Sheba) and some other southern Arabian cities during the middle of the first millennium BC. During this period, known as the Middle Pre-Aksumite era, impressive monumental structures such as the Aksum obelisk (stolen by Mussolini) and also Sabean-style temples and inscriptions at Aksum, Yeha, Kaskase, Marib, Kohairo, Matara and Adulis are clear evidence. of a complex and prosperous society. Strategic and cultural connections between the elite leadership group and the Arabs to the south, whether as a result of conquest, trade ties, political alliances, or strategic marriages, resulted in the area being consolidated into an administered kingdom. according to the Sabean model. (tea D’mt=Daamat kingdom), which endured through the middle centuries of the first millennium BC. The region copied the use of the plough, writing, architecture, and irrigation techniques from the Arabs. Many of the gods known in Aksum at this time were of Arab origin and their cult was worshiped in a similar way to that of Saba. Pre-Aksumite Kings took the titles mkrb as in sabean mukarib (Fattovich: 1990 pp. 1-14) although the more common Old Semitic title for king is also sometimes used milk Prayed malicious (as in Ugaritic or Hebrew).
However, it seems that the local indigenous culture reasserted itself at the end of the pre-Aksum phase and the kingdom was divided and much of the Arab cultural influence disappeared from the Aksum region (Fattovich, 1990). However, the language is not so easily lost and linguistic evidence shows that the Semitic languages still in use in this region have their roots in the Arabian Peninsula. Opinion is divided as to whether the Sabaean language was commonly spoken by all inhabitants of the middle pre-Aksumite state, or only by a ruling elite. It is also not known whether the adoption of the language was due to an early prehistoric migration of peoples from across the Red Sea or acculturation as a result of the Arab conquest of the pre-Aksum state or some other close association. Over time, the language became less South Arabian-like and evolved through an intermediate language called Ge’ez to the modern languages of Amharic, Tigre, and Tigrinya (Connah, 1987).
Whatever the reason for its early growth and whatever cultural components make up its society, Aksum was able to prosper as a strong commercial entity for over a thousand years. This was because it had a good agricultural base to feed its citizens and its trading caravans were able to obtain African staples, much needed by the rich civilizations of the Mediterranean basin. In exchange, he brought manufactures such as cloth and metal weapons that were in demand by the African tribes of the interior. So successful was he in these ventures that Aksum probably caused the downfall of Meroe in the early 4th century AD, by diverting most of the African trade from the long-established Nile route to his own Red Sea fleet. It was also admirably positioned through its port at Adulis to redistribute valuable spices such as frankincense and myrrh from Arabia Felix, as well as many other products from the East Coast and the Horn of Africa and the islands to India. These products included aromatic oils, gums, dyes, and kohl, etc. However, in the 9th century AD, the pressure of the growth of Islam persuaded the (then Christian) Ethiopians to take an isolationist path, retreating to their high plateau and immediately cutting themselves off from world view. This resolution was combined with a growing social trend towards an unurbanized form of feudalism. Sure enough, the state of Aksum had lost its raison d’être and was finally destroyed by a tribal chief from the interior.
Ethiopia became a forgotten land, both isolated and isolationist, staunchly Christian, in a region now dominated by Islam. Vague stories of a legendary warrior ruler, Prester John, continued to reach the West, but nothing was known at all of the isolated Christian kingdom he was supposed to rule. However, this very withdrawal from world affairs ensured the unique strength of the kingdom as an indigenous cultural entity undefeated to this day. It was this fiercely independent spirit that, with the help of a few British and South African troops, was finally able to defeat a belated colonization attempt by Mussolini’s Italian fascists.
