The Architecture of Power in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) and Eritrea in the 1st millennium BCE – 1st millennium CE Rodolfo Fattovich The rise, consolidation and decline of the so-called D’MT polity (ca. 900/800 – 400/300 BCE) and the Kingdom of Aksum (ca. 50 BCE – 700 CE) in Tigray (northern Ethiopia) and Eritrea were associated with changes in the conception of the state, which modeled the traditional attitude to social hierarchy in the mind of the people and were exhibited in the elite buildings and tombs. In this paper the settlement and architectural evidence ascribable to these polities will be reviewed in order to outline i) the use of architecture (from settlements to single buildings) by the elites to display and sustain their power and ii) the consequences this use had in shaping the perception and acceptance of a social inequality by the population through the manipulation of their visual world. Introduction Beginning in the late 1st millennium BCE, the King- The centuries from ca. 900/800 BCE to 700/800 CE dom of Aksum replaced the D’MT polity. This king- were a crucial time in the history of the whole Horn dom was an important commercial partner to the of Africa. In this period two major polities develo- Roman and Byzantine Empire and dominated the ped on the highlands of Tigray in northern Ethiopia southern Red Sea in the 1st millennium CE.4 The and Eritrea: the so-called D’MT (Daamat/ Diamat) kingdom arose in central Tigray from a local polity polity during 900/800 and 400/300 BCE and the with a different cultural tradition from D’MT and Kingdom of Aksum between 50 BCE and 700 CE.1 progressively incorporated the whole Tigray and Despite these polities occupied the same territory in Eritrea into one territorial state.5 In the late 1st a temporal sequence, they were two distinct episodes millennium CE, the Aksumite kingdom declined in the history of the region, the evidence of continui- and the core of the state shifted to southern Tigray ty between them being small (Fig.1 ).2 and later to the present northern Amhara region in The evidence of D’MT is very scarce, and the central Ethiopia.6 actual nature of this polity (chiefdom, tribal fede- These early historical polities were successive ration, early state?) is obscure. The occurrence of stages in the development of social inequality in the monuments and a few artifacts in South Arabian northern highlands of the Horn of Africa and repre- style, as well as inscriptions in Sabean script and a sented the background to the hierarchical structure variant of Sabaic language, suggest that the rise of the of the later Ethio-Semitic Christian traditional socie- polity was in some way related to contacts between ty, which survived up to the 20th century in Ethiopia the people of the northern Horn of Africa and those and Eritrea.7 Their rise, consolidation and decline of south-western Arabia, particularly the Sabeans, in were associated with changes in the conception of the early 1st millennium BCE. The dynamics of these the state, which modeled the traditional attitude to contacts, however, are debated. Different interpreta- social hierarchy in the mind of the people and were tions have been suggested, ranging from migration exhibited in the elite buildings and tombs.8 to and/ or colonization of the African highlands by In this paper, I am pleased to offer to Steffen one or more South Arabian tribes to commercial Wenig in the occasion of his eightieth birthday, I shall exchanges and acculturation or independent cultural try to focus on i) the use of architecture (from sett- developments.3 lements to single buildings) by the elites to display 4 Fattovich 2008; 2010a; Phillipson 2012. 1 Finneran 2007; Fattovich 2010a; Phillipson 2012. 5 Fattovich 2008; 2010a. 2 Fattovich & Bard 1994; Fattovich 2010a. 6 Phillipson 2009b; 2012. 3 Curtis 2008; Fattovich 2009; 2010a, 2012; Manzo 2009; 7 Pankhurst 1998; Henze 2000. Phillipson 2009a; Gerlach 2012. 8 Fattovich 2008. 96 Rodolfo Fattovich Fig. 1: General Map of Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea with location of the sites quoted in the text and sustain their power and ii) the consequences this pretation (each one generating a cascade of specific use had in shaping the perception and acceptance of problems) to be appropriately understood in order a social inequality by the population through the to outline the contribution of architecture to fix the manipulation of their visual world.9 cognition of hierarchy in the mind of people and transform the acceptance of inequality into a cultural pattern of the population. In particular, four major Architecture of Power: definition and problems aspects concerning the relation of architecture with social inequality, power, landscape, and social space A definition of ‘architecture of power’ may sound could be distinguished, providing the investigation simple: architecture is the material evidence of social with sounder foundations.11 inequality and elite power within a human group from local community to empire, up to the modern nation-state. The construction of monumental buil- a) Social inequality dings and tombs actually points to a more and more centralized political organization with leaders and Despite hierarchy is part of the social behavior officers capable of managing a large labor force and humans inherited from primates,12 the emerging redistributing resources through the population in of inequality was a cultural process,13 which was conformity with a well established hierarchical scale associated with the increasing authority of leaders (the pyramids of ancient Egypt being the most typi- in human groups.14 cal example). Architecture is directly related to this process This definition, however, is reductive even if it insofar as palaces, temples, tombs and megaliths can is consistent with the archaeological record.10 The be regarded as the materialization of differences in ‘architecture of power’ is a multi-faced phenome- role, status, affluence and energy expenditure among non, requiring different levels of analysis and inter- 11 See also Manzo forthcoming. 12 de Waal 2005; Panskeep & Biven 2012; Wilson 2012. 9 See Wells 2012. 13 Flannery & Marcus 2012. 10 Renfrew & Bahn 2004, 178-181. 14 Vaughn, Eerkens & Kanter 2009. The Architecture of Power in Tigray 97 the members of a human group and/ or between c) Landscape human groups.15 In particular, archaeological and ethnological evidence suggests that large monoliths Landscape can be defined as a complex palimpsest and ritual houses characterized achievement-based of natural and man-made features, which change societies; temples were typical of chiefly societies; through time and provide humans with a visual world and palaces were the mark of kingdoms and empi- and a cognitive map for organizing their actions res.16 through space and time.22 Natural landscape con- sists of all geological, geomorphologic, vegetal and animal features that provide people with information b) Power about the spatial distribution of resources and sym- bols of their cultural identity and social or personal Power in social sciences is the capability of indi- history.23 Man-made landscape includes residential viduals or groups to affect the behavior of others settlements, cemeteries and cult features, as well as in order to get preferred outcomes by means of in a farming and/ or herding context agricultural ter- coercion, reward or attraction.17 The legitimating races and fields, grazing areas, wells, cisterns, dams, of leadership is a crucial step to transform power draining channels, roads, tracks and paths, which into institutional authority within a human group.18 link together all elements of the territory in one Power is based on three main strategies for manipula- man-made system.24 These landscape components ting social relations: i) by using threats or rewards to overlap each other and form a web of scattered physi- change the behavior of others against their interests; cal and symbolic features, which shape an imaginary ii) by controlling the agenda of actions of others in landscape supporting together with local traditions order to limit their choices; and iii) by creating and the cultural memory of the population.25 The sett- shaping the perceptions, beliefs and preferences of lement pattern, insofar as it is related to the social others.19 organization of the single populations, forms their Architecture is related to the practice of power political landscape,26 and prominent features, such as as buildings and tombs are external material devi- e.g. large settlements, citadels, isolated monuments, ces stimulating psychological changes in the mood are the power landscape of the population.27 and feelings of the people,20 and may be regarded Architecture is a crucial aspect of landscape as as ‘constitutive symbols’ of institutional authori- buildings, tombs and megaliths provide people with ty.21 In particular, monumental constructions such landmarks to generate i) spatial cognitive maps for as palaces, temples and tombs impose a physical organizing their activities;28 ii) a visual world for per- perception of the existence of a powerful leadership ceiving and knowing their web of social relations;29 over the people, generating a sense of subjection to iii) a man-made environment for establishing con- the observer. Fortresses and other military facilities nectivity and interaction among people and stimu- show other people the presence of a strong military lating the rise of social networks between human power in order to dissuade them from aggression. groups;30 iv) prominent features for shaping and Planned towns are the material device to induce from maintaining their cultural memory.31 In particular, the top a feeling of social hierarchy and control of the differences in the type of settlement (hamlets, the agenda of activities among the people. villages and towns), and size, style and sophistica- tion of residential buildings (huts, houses, palaces), 15 Earle 2004.