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Aksumite Architecture and Church Building in the Ethiopian Highlands1

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Aksumite Architecture and Church Building in the Ethiopian Highlands1 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:55 Pagina 49 ECA 4 (2007), p. 49-75; doi: 10.2143 / ECA.4.0.2024666 Aksumite Architecture and Church Building in the Ethiopian Highlands1 Jan TROMP uncovered. The Aksumite architecture has been dis- closed by the Deutsche Aksum Expedition (D.A.E.) in 1906, for the greater part on the basis of the sculpted stelae, the ruins of a palace and one of the two extant built churches in this style. Only one of the six storied stelae is still upright. Locals attribute this stela to the very popular King Ezana, who accepted Christianity as the state’s religion in the fourth century. Under the ever growing influ- ence of the internet the stela is generally, and as an established fact, referred to as the Ezana stela. There seems to be no historical or archaeological proof for this attribution, so there is space for crit- icism. The ruins of the Ta’akha Maryam palace, exca- vated by the D.A.E., have been destroyed during the Italian occupation in the interbellum. How- ever, the Dongour complex, excavated in 1966 may fill the gap in reconstructing the Aksumite architecture. The church studied by the D.A.E. is the monastic church on the Debre Damo plateau. The problematic non-Aksumite main entrance of this building asks for an explanation. It has long been believed that the Debre Damo Church was Pl. 1. Stela 3 (© author) the only church that survived the troublesome six- teenth century. The second one, the Yemrehanna Krestos Church near Lalibela, unknown to the Any visitor of the northern highlands of Ethiopia D.A.E., will be discussed here as it corroborates will be overwhelmed by its cultural past and espe- their findings. cially by the sculpted giant stelae in Aksum, the Finally, reading articles and books in different ancient capital of the Aksumite Kingdom (begin- languages makes one realize that the terminology ning of the Christian era to ca 800), situated close used also differs greatly, both within the same lin- to the border with Eritrea (Fig. 1). The architec- guistic areas and between different ones. A com- tural features sculpted on these multi-storied ste- prehensive inventory of the characteristics of the lae, dating probably from the third and fourth cen- tury, are repeated in the rock-hewn churches of the Ethiopian highlands, almost a millennium later. As the knowledge about Aksum is not wide- 1 This article is based on my (unpublished) MA-thesis ‘Build- spread, this article will deal with the origins of the ings not built, rock and cave churches in Northern Aksumite Kingdom and its architecture, of which Ethiopia’, at the University of Amsterdam. For additional information, see www.jantromp.nl or contact the author there is so little left, or perhaps so much still through [email protected]. 49 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:55 Pagina 50 Pl. 2. Stela 3, lower part (© author) architecture is missing and in describing and com- situated, are the ruins of a moon temple from about menting on actual monuments in an art-historical 500 B.C. in Yeha, a town belonging to the pre- way, enhancing or upgrading the sometimes inad- Aksumite era. The very accurately cut stone blocks equate existing terminology is needed2. measure up to 3 m in length, fitting perfectly one upon the other and held together by an internal GENESIS OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM wooden construction. Seven steps lead to a plateau on which the building is constructed. These are The oldest witness to a sophisticated civilization in features that we shall meet again in Aksumite archi- the northern province of Tigre, in which Aksum is tecture. During this pre-Aksumite era Arab hunters and merchants emigrated from the east coast of the Red 2 Additional photographs accompanying this text with the Sea (Yemen) to settle permanently in Northern format JT-2005-001-001, may be downloaded from the Ethiopia3. They spoke a Semitic language called extensive Ethiopian database of the University of Toronto: http://ethiopia.deeds.utoronto.ca:8080/, username = stu- Ge’ez that was to become the language of the 4 dent, password = student, quick search = slide-number as Aksumite Kingdom . Aksum was presumably indicated in the footnotes of this article. I would like to founded at the beginning of our common era, the thank Prof. Michael Gervers for allowing access to the name occurring for the first time in an anonymous Ethiopian database. 3 Stappen 1996, 217. first- or second-century text, the Periplus maris ery- 4 Nowadays it still is the liturgical language of the priests, thraei, whereas the second-century Greek geogra- who during services read the Bible in Ge’ez. pher Claudius Ptolemeus writes about ‘Aksum 50 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:55 Pagina 51 Pl. 3. Stela 3, upper part (© author) where the royal court is’5. Inscriptions in Arabic and by taking control of the Kingdom of Cush. The the presence of perfume burners in and around kingdom now comprised the province of Tigre, Yeha6, identical to those found on the east coast of Eritrea, the eastern part of Sudan and the Kingdom the Red Sea, point to the relationship between of Sheba (Yemen)7. Yemen (then Sheba) and the province of Tigre (then Of capital interest to Ethiopia has been King part of the Aksumite Kingdom). Legend has it, that Ezana, who ruled from ca 330 to ca 356, and is the Ark of the Covenant remained at Yeha for cen- mentioned in numerous inscriptions in different turies, before it was brought over to Aksum. languages as ‘King of Aksum and various other After the second century A.D. Aksum’s renown states’, one of which was Sheba8. At the end of his grew, judging from the larger number of inscrip- life Ezana raised Christianity to the state’s religion, tions and texts found in Southern Arabia mention- replacing the god Mahram with the god of the ing the Aksumites or Abyssinians. One Arabian text Christians9. As a consequence, Ethiopia must have speaks of a treaty between the King of Sheba and Gadarat, King of Aksum. The Aksumites had a large commercial fleet in the port of Adoulis, located on the Red Sea coast, for transporting aro- 5 Anfray 1990, 65-66; Phillipson 1998, 25. matic substances and flavours. In the third century 6 Anfray 1990, 22. 7 Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 7; di Salvo 1999, Ch. 1; a King Aphilas added to his name the title of ‘King Munro-Hay/Phillipson 1989, 7. of Sheba, of the Himyarites and of Raydan’. The 8 Anfray 1990, 74. fourth-century King Ezana extended the territory 9 Gerster 1968, 25. 51 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:55 Pagina 52 Pl. 4. Fallen Stela 1 (© author) been a Christian empire before the Roman Emperor sionaries, referred to later as the ‘Nine Saints’ or Theodosius made the same decision at the end of simply the ‘Nine’, arrived via Egypt in Ethiopia and the fourth century. According to the Roman author zealously started christianising the population. Rufinus, Ezana was christened by the Syrian scholar Christianity was well implanted by the ‘Nine’ for, Frumentius10. There is convincing numismatic when the countries surrounding Ethiopia embraced proof that on the Ezana coins from after 341, the Islam after the seventh century, Christianity not crescent-and-disk symbol disappeared in favour of only survived in the highlands but also developed the sign of the Christian cross11. in a unique way. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 resulted in a In the sixth century the relationship with Sheba schism dividing Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedo- must have been problematic as King Kaleb, pro- nians, in particular in Egypt and Syria. Naturally pelled by the Byzantine Emperor Justin I, occupied this also had an impact on the Church of Ethiopia, Sana’a, appointed a viceroy and had a great cathe- whose abuna was appointed by the Coptic patri- dral built there12. After the seventh century fol- arch. After the council, nine threatened Syrian mis- lowed a rapid decline, when trade was taken over, first by the Sassanids, then by the Arab countries, pushing the Aksumite borders back to the west coast of the Red Sea. Little is known about what 10 Phillipson 1998, 113. 11 Munro-Hay 1991, Ch. 4-6, or: http://users.vnet.net/ happened between the eighth and the twelfth cen- alight/aksum/mhak2.html#c4-6. tury, when the dynasty of the Zagwe kings came 12 Phillipson 1998, 112, 116, 124. into power. 52 0347-07_ECA_4(2007)_04 18-08-2008 12:55 Pagina 53 Pl. 5. Ruins of the Dongour complex (© author) AKSUMITE ARCHITECTURE recognized from then on as ranking among the most important ancient sites of the world. The results, Aksum as an archaeological site is mentioned for the with hundreds of drawings and photographs, were first time by Francesco Alvarès, priest and chronicler published in four bulky volumes in 1913. of the Portuguese embassy in Ethiopia in the early sixteenth century13. He writes about the sculpted ste- THE AKSUMITE STELAE lae, some of which had fallen. He also notices twelve thrones of stone, near the entrance of the precinct of In Aksum there are several necropoleis, of which the Mary of Tsion, two hypogee houses and the tombs most important one, the Northern Stelae Field, of King Kaleb and his son Gebre Masqal. Alvarès’ counts six multi-storied monolithic giant stelae writings are of great importance because they date from before the large-scale destruction of Christian buildings from 1541 onwards14 and because they 13 Anfray 1990, 87-88; Phillipson 1998, 28.
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