Empires, Capitals and Landscapes of Ancient Ethiopia Author(S): Karl W
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Empires, Capitals and Landscapes of Ancient Ethiopia Author(s): Karl W. Butzer Source: Archaeology, Vol. 35, No. 5 (September/October 1982), pp. 30-37 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41727795 Accessed: 13-03-2015 20:58 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archaeology. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ancient times,glimpses of teriorto rescue one of theirconsuls a forbiddenland hidden away who had been held hostage. Al- Sincein the mountainfastness of though Ethiopia fendedoff the first Ethiopia have been allowed only to a wave of European colonialismby veryfew. Byzantine traders,mis- wipingout an Italian armyin 1893, sionaries and diplomats traveled the countryfell to Mussolini in therebetween the fourthand sixth 1935-36.Yet ironicallythis defeat centuriesafter Christ, when the early served to open Ethiopia to the Ethiopian state was reckonedone modernworld. Because ofthis turbu- of the fourworld powers. Hundreds lent history,it was not untilthe of years later,beginning in the four- early 1960s that Ethiopia's archaeo- teenthcentury, fabulous reportsof logical heritagebecame visible to a Christianking of interiorAfrica the outside worldwhen, for the first knownas the Prester(Priest) John time,the obelisks of Classical intriguedEuropeans. Portuguese Axum, the rock-cutchurches of soldiers rescued Ethiopia from Mediaeval Lalibela, and the castles Somalian invaders in A.D. 1543,and of Renaissance Gondar became ac- Catholic missionariesfollowed to try cessible by air. to wean the conservativemountain Ethiopia, one of the oldest people fromtheir long traditionof nations in Africa,is a land of con- Coptic Christianity,but they were trastinglandscapes : hot drylow- expelled by the Ethiopians in lands are separated fromtemperate 1632. The chroniclesof the English- well-wateredplateaus by steep and man James Bruce, dating to the inaccessible escarpmentswith 1770s, reportedsuch bizarretales of gorges rivalingthe Grand Canyon. lifeat the royal court that they In the southernhighlands the werereceived with much skepticism grazing herds and the tropicalcrops in enlightenedBritain. contrastdramatically with the Later,in 1869, a British-Indian Near Eastern plow agricultureof the forcetrekked into the rugged in- north.Scholars wereat firstat- Thelargest standing obelisk ofAxum, which was oncethe capitalof a worldempire , simulates a nine-storiedpalace. Some23 metershigh , it wasengraved on a singleblock of rock duringthe fourth century after Christ. This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions tractedto Ethiopia to study its writ- ten Semitic languages - Sabaean, Gheez, Tigre, and Amharic. The tra- ditional view saw Ethiopia as a derivativesphere of the Near Eastern world.More recently,however, archaeologists and anthropologists have begun to project a new image of a richindigenous culture.Al- thoughthe earlyreligious and politi- cal beliefsas well as irrigation techniques wereevidently intro- duced fromthe area now called Yemen,many otheraspects are uniquely Ethiopian. The domesti- cated plants are clearlynative to Ethiopia, and such characteristic Ethiopian featuresas plow farming and the Semitic languages are very much older than the South Arabian colonists of the last millennium B.C. Germanand Italian explorations conducted in Ethiopia since 1906 and Frenchand Britishexcavations since the 1950s placed the earliest political and urban centersin north- ernmostEthiopia. A systematic surveyof the northby Joseph Michels of Pennsylvania State Uni- versityin 1974 identifiedstrong Sabaean influencesfrom South Arabia duringa firstperiod of seden- tary settlementbetween 500 and 300 B.c. These early settlements weredispersed and small. Subse- quently,from 300 to 100 B.c., settle- mentcoalesced into largertowns centeredamid irrigatedlands. This integratedsocio-political system later disintegrated,but a new cycle of urbanizationbegan once again duringthe second centuryafter Christ. By A.D. 300 a powerfulkingdom had emergedin northernEthiopia centeredat Axum. Coins were minted,much of the Sudan to the west was conquered,and a dynasty of Axumite kings began to estab- lish strongcommercial links via the (Above)The steep and forbidding forestedescarpment of the plateau near Adulisdefended Axum and thelater EthiopianEmpire during the last 2,000 years.(Below) Rounded wooden housesand storagebuildings nestle in theluxuriant countryside ofBegemder, a littlenorth of Gondar. This humid environment,with its bountifulsoils and twoor three crops per year, supplied thenew Ethiopian Empire emerging duringthe Mediaeval period. September/October1982 31 This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Red Sea withthe Mediterranean this instability,raiding villages at in Roman rituals; to this day ex- world,Arabia, Persia, and even dis- will and settlingmuch of the north- tensive stands of incense trees sur- tant India. By A.D. 400 Axum had ern Ethiopian highlands before vive along the escarpmentsof the been Christianizedand grewfrom a a.D. 870. Even the king gave up his northernplateau. Musk, extracted small ceremonialcenter to a popu- residenceat Axum, movingfur- fromthe wild civet cat to make a lous city.This metropolisreached its thersouth, and a littlelater the perfumebase, was probablyex- zenithof political prestigein A.D. metropolitanbishop also took refuge portedfrom Axum just as it was 525, when the neighboringArabian in the distant mountaininterior. duringthe nineteenthcentury. In- state of Yemenacross the Red Sea cense, timberand elephants came was incorporatedas part of Axum. fromareas around Axum while Axumite kings continuedto meddle TT he rise and fallof Axum can only ivory,horn, hides, civet,and slaves in Arabian affairson and offuntil be properlyunderstood in an eco- wereobtained fromthe interior a.D. 769. Axum's unsuccessful nomic context. By 2500 b.c. the plateau; gold was minednear the attack on Mecca in A.D. 702 was fol- pharaohs of distant Egypt wereal- distant Sudanese border.Since lowed by Arab retaliation.They ready seeking gold and ebony from directpolitical controlwas limited destroyedthe crucial port of Adulis inland areas south and east of the to the northernplateau, it is prob- and seized permanentcontrol of Red Sea. As early as the first able that withinEthiopia many of the adjacent Red Sea islands by A.D. centurythe Roman Pliny mentions these commoditieswere exchanged 715. Withina shorttime coins Ethiopian trade; the third-century forthe cattle, sheep and salt that ceased to be minted,and afterA.D. maritimemanual The Periplus of Axum had obtained as tributefrom 765 Axum was largelyabandoned. the ErythraeanSea lists ivory, lowland herders,or in exchange Herders fromthe lowlands to the rhinoceroshorn, hippopotamus forthe ironbars, metal tools and northand west took advantage of hides, and slaves as exports from ornaments,and brightlydyed the Red Sea harborof Adulis. Egyptian textilesthat had been pro- accounts of A.D. 525-30 cessed in Axum. Beit one the Byzantine Gabriel, of youngerMedia- The of Axum evalrock-cut churches at Lalibela, is specifylarge-tusked elephants, metropolis cutdown into red sandstone . ivory,gold dust, and hides from flourishedas a gateway city that literally" Four monkeyheads" frame the door in Axum that were shipped out via the funneledmaterials from the con- ancientAxumite tradition , but the port of Adulis. During the same tinentalhinterland into a maritime windowsand theirframes recall Gothic period,Axum also controlledtrade exchange network,reaching as far counterparts. in frankincense,a treegum burned as Spain, the Crimea and China. But This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions this maritimetrade could function only while the sea lanes remained open, eitherthrough good interna- tional relationsor naval strength, and only as long as Axumite luxury goods founddemand in foreign empires.Axum's role as a leading entrepotof the classical worldwas severelyweakened by the long Byzantine-Persianwars of A.D. 540-61and 602-32,which impover- ished all of Byzantium and lefthos- tile Persian fleetsin controlof the seas. A centurylater, it was the Arabs' turnto dominatethe coast, and Ethiopia was once again land- locked withonly intermittent authorityover Adulis. As soon as internationalprofits from its ex- change networkdeclined, Axum lost its abilityto dominateits disparate raw material suppliers. But the eclipse of Axum repre- sents more than the collapse of a gateway city severedfrom interna- tional trade outlets. The archaeo- logical recordin and around Axum documents several periods of build- ing and population growthending a littleafter A.D. 600. At its height