We said goodbye to Gondar and caught an early flight to Aksum, in the north of Ethiopia. We’re here to learn more about the Aksumite Empire, which flourished beginning at least in 400 BC and continuing for 1000 years.
The Queen of Sheba is associated with Aksum. She has an entire backstory in Ethiopia, which involves traveling to Jerusalem to meet with King Soloman; he outwitted her and ended up sleeping with her, and the result of that union was Menelik I, who, interalia, carried the Ark of the Covenant from the Temple to Aksum. Why? Because Jesus told him to. Please understand, it’s not supposed to make sense.
Anyway, the Ark is still here, safely kept within a church complex. No one is allowed inside the building that houses the Ark except for a single priest, chosen by God and the other priests for what is a lifelong duty. There’s a second, 16th cent church that women are not allowed into. No women, and the story goes that Haile Selassie’s wife was not amused, so she had him build a third church that is open to both sexes. It’s pretty ugly, but it’s open.
But I digress. I was talking about the Ark of the Covenant.
I have always avoided tour guides who spend their time entertaining the tourists with fables. If I wanted entertainment, I’d stay home and read a novel. The thing of it is, Alex totally believes all this stuff. He believes that the palace we visited today belonged to the Queen of Sheba. He is absolutely convinced that the Ark Moses brought down from Mount Sinai is the one in the church. And who am I to disagree iwth him? So I am listening carefully – and then running his statements past the less fantastic ones in my guidebook. Anyway, it’s all very entertaining.
Whether or not this is the realm of the Queen of Sheba – and later that medieval legend Prester John – what is clear is that the Aksumite Empire was a remarkable trading entrepot – trading with Egypt, Sudan, Greece, Arabia. Iron, gold, silver, frankencense, slaves, wine and olive oil all passed through here. The city included a vast array of dams, wells and reservoirs (I saw one day that is described as the Queen of Sheba’s bath. Whatever.)
The stele were used as burial markers. The tallest is 33 meters tall, and carefully decorated. There’s one the Italians stole in the ’30s, cut into thirds, reerected in Rome, and which only came back to Aksum a few years ago. Actually, only about 5% of Aksum has been excavated – money and interest are all it takes to start work on the remaining 95%. Pretty amazing, all in all.
martyhelman 