Aksum

(noun)

A trading nation in Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia Tigray that existed approximately from 100 to 940 CE. It grew from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. the 4th century BCE to achieve prominence by the 1st century CE, and was a major agent in the commercial route between the Roman Empire and Ancient India.

Related Terms

(noun)

The capital of the Kingdom of Aksum.

Related Terms

Examples of Aksum in the following topics:

  • Kingdom of Aksum

    • By 350, Aksum conquered the Kingdom of Kush.
    • The main exports of Aksum were agricultural products.
    • The people of Aksum also raised cattle, sheep, and camels.
    • Aksum, isolated, nonetheless still remained Christian.
    • The Rome Stele (known also as the Aksum Obelisk) in Aksum (Tigray Region, Ethiopia)

  • Architecture of Aksun and Lalibela

    • Aksum and Lalibela were cities in northern Ethiopia that, during their time, accomplished great feats of architecture.
    • Aksum (sometimes spelled Axum) is a city in northern Ethiopia that was the original capital of the Kingdom of Aksum.
    • Aksum is best known for the 1937 discovery of the 24-meter tall, 1,700-year-old Obelisk of Axum.
    • The Obelisk of Aksum after its return to Ethiopia in 2005
    • The obelisk is an example of the stelae built by the Aksum kingdom.

  • Ethiopia and Eritrea

    • Following the ancient kingdom of D'mt and the medieval empire of Aksum, some of current Ethiopia's territory was dominated by the Christian Ethiopian Empire established by the Zagwe dynasty in the 12th century, and later ruled by the Solomonic dynasty until the 20th century.
    • It is not known whether D'mt ended as a civilization before Aksum's (its one possible successor) early stages, evolved into the Aksumite state, or was one of the smaller states united in the Aksumite kingdom possibly around the beginning of the 1st century.
    • Aksum is the first verifiable kingdom of great power to rise in the region.
    • Fasilides also constructed several churches in Gondar, many bridges across the country, and expanded the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum.

  • Death

    • The stelae of Aksum are enormous stone towers and grave markers (some up to 33 meters high) that are engraved with patterns and emblems representing the rank of the deceased.

  • Ancient Africa

    • Egyptian influence reached deeply into modern Libya, north to Crete and Canaan, and south to the kingdoms of Aksum and Nubia.

  • Trade Under the Tang Dynasty

    • Chinese envoys had been sailing through the Indian Ocean to India since perhaps the 2nd century BC, but it was during the Tang dynasty that a strong Chinese maritime presence was found in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, into Persia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Egypt, Aksum (Ethiopia), and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.