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Ethiopia is old beyond imagination.
More then three million years ago, one of our first ancestors walked
that portion of the earth that is now Ethiopia: namely, Lucy (Dinkenesh
to Ethiopian), meaning ‘Thou Art Wonderful’ the remains of this
‘ firs human’ – an almost complete hominid skeleton—were discovered
in 1974 at Hadar on the lower Awash River in Ethiopia’s barren and
forbid ding Dankil region.
It is widely thought that Dinkenesh’s homeland—Ethiopia
–holds the key to a myriad of other questions that have puzzled
palaeoanthropologist about our past. To this end, palaeoanthropological
and archaeological work continues at Hadar and at a number of other
sites along the Ethiopia section of the Great Rift Valley and in
the Omo Valley.
These often bleak, sparsely inhabited regions have
already yielded some fine examples of Stone Age tools from deposits
up to 1.7 million years old, and remains of Homo erectus from deposits
some 800,000 years old.
One of these sites, Melka Konture, is relatively
close to Addis Ababa. Since 1965, geologists and archaeologists
have had a compound there, some 60 Kilometers south of the capital
on the Addis—Butajira road, set up to excavate that which the earliest
humans left behind. Many examples of beautiful two-edged hand-axes,
obsidian scrapers, and sets of ‘ bolas’—the round stones used several
together in nets to throw at animals—have been found. Fossilized
bones of hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, and antelope have also
been unearthed here.
But early man was as much an artist as a toolmaker:
some fine, delicate paintings have been discovered on cave walls—such
as at Porc Epic near Dire Dawa and Dilla, about 300 kilometers south
of Addis Ababa—estimated at 400,000 years old.
Not as ancient, but equally fascinating relice of the past are the
crudely fashioned stone ‘ monuments’ –often referred to as monoliths
or stelae—found at Dilla and Tiya, a small village about forty kilometers
south of Melka Konture. The Tiya location, whose monuments have
markings believed to date from about 1300-1500 AD, has been proclaimed
a world heritage Site.
But perhaps the worlds most famous and mysterious
stelae still stand silent sentry in Ethiopia’s northern regions,
in Aum, once reputed to be the home of the legendary Queen of Sheba.
Although its very early history is still unknown, Ethiopian legends,
firs recorded in the fourteenth – century Kebre Nagast (Book of
Kings), proclaim Axum as Sheba’s tenth-century BC capital. It seems
certain that a high civilization was established here by immigrants
from southern Arabia before the Christian era. And that by the first
century AD –the time of the earliest historical records –Axum was
well known to Greek traders as a fine city and the centre of a very
considerable empire.
Rising to importance around the time of the birth
of Christ, Axum was the capital of the far-reaching Axumite kingdom
– a kingdom that dominated the vital crossroads between Africa and
Asia for almost a thousand years –and the location of its principal
ecclesiastical building: the church of St Mary of Zion, where, according
to legend, the biblical Ark of the Govenant was placed. The Axumites
introduced a written language, Ge’ez, and crated a new imperial
power and political cohesion. They also gave Ethiopian its first
organized religion—Christianity –in the fourth century AD.
The spectacular rise of Islam in the seventh century
was the main cause of Axum’s decline. Although there was no direct
aggression, Arab influence in the Red sea cut off trade and cultural
relations, and Ethiopia found itself isolated from the rest of the
world.
However, even after the realm’s decline, the city
reminds Ethiopia’s religious capital as well as the place where
several medieval emperors went to be officially crowned. The town
abounds in archaeological remains –including the graves of kings,
the foundations of a palace, inscribed tablets, and great carved
obelisks.
It is with these famous obelisks, or monolithic
stelae, that Axum is widely identified. In ancient times, seven
of these monoliths of granite stood together; but the biggest, the
largest monolith ever made any where in the world—measuring over
thirty-three meters (108 feet) and weighing about 500 tons—fell
at some remote period in the past and now lies smashed on the ground
to the right of the standing stele. The second-largest stele about
twenty-four meters (79 feet) high, also fell and was stolen during
the Fascist Italian occupation on the personal orders of the dictator
Mussolini. It remains in Rome, where it was taken in 1937. However,
the third-largest stele, measuring twenty-three meters (75feet),
still stands in Axum.
All seven giant stelae are made of single pieces
of granite and have identical decoration. Each resembles a tall,
slender multistoried house in the architectural style of the Axumite
house and palaces and is decorated with representations of doors,
windows, and, in some case, door handles.
Also of great interest is Axum’s Church of Saint Mary of Zion. There
are, in fact, two such churches, one old and one new, both located
in a spacious walled compound directly opposite the park of the
Stelae. The older, a rectangular battlemented building, was put
up in the early
seventeenth century by Emperor Fasiledas; the modern structure was
erected near by Emperor Haile Selassie, who opened it in the company
of England’s Queen Elizabeth II in 1965. the older structure, by
far the more interesting, is the repository of many royal crowns
and other valuables. Unfortunately, it is closed to women, who are,
however, allowed to inspect some of these treasures, which are carried
to the edge of the church precincts for this purpose. The church
courtyard also contains many antiquities, including sculpted stones,
which obviously formed part of the earlier church. Visitors may
also see the stone thrones on which the monarchs of the past were
crowned, as well as other stone chairs reserved for bishops and
courtiers.
Nearby are the ruins of the original church, which,
according to tradition, was erected soon after the state adopted
Christianity as its religion in the early fourth century.
Perhaps the greatest mystery about this strange,
ancient city is the claim that it is the last resting place of the
Ark of the Covenant the—a claim connected in Ethiopian tradition
to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, whose son Menelik is said
to have brought the Ark to Axum 3,000 years ago and to have founded
the Solomonic dynasty, of which Haile Selassie was the last emperor.
The well guarded sanctuary chapel of the Ark of the Covenant stands
in the town –which the visitor may approach but never hope to enter.
There are a number of sites associated by local
folk with the Queen of Sheba herself. The most notable is a huge
water reservoir, hewn out of solid rock, known as the Queen of Sheba’s
bath. It is the focal point of the annual ceremony of Timkat (epiphany)
in which, each January, a replica of the Ark is carried in procession.
Almost equally impressive are the ruins of the
so-called Queen of Sheba’s palace –a great and well-built edifice
with finely mortared stone walls, deep foundations and an impressive
drain age system, which stands on the outskirts of town on the Gondar
road.
Across the road, in a field facing the palace,
visitors may also inspect a number of rough – hewn granite stelae,
some standing more than four meters (13 feet) high, some fallen
and broken, Most are undecorated but one, the largest, is carved
with four horizontal bands, each topped by a row of circles in relief.
This crude obelisk, much older than those in the park of the Stelae,
is thought by the townspeople to mark the Queen of Sheba’s grave.
Axum is but one stop on Ethiopia’s famed historic
Route, a well trodden path through the country’s best known historic
places of interest, easy to see because all are regular daily stops
on Ethiopian Airlines’ domestic route.
But the visitor who has a little more time should
veer off the beaten track –particularly in the fascinating Tigray
region –to discover some of the country’s most amazing historical
treasures.
For example, Ethiopia’s earliest known capital,
Yeha, lies in a remote part of the region several hours’ drive from
Axum through some dramatic highland scenery. But, as the birthplace
of the country’s earliest high civilization, it well worth visiting.
There are the imposing ruins of Yeha’s temple of the Moon –a large
pre-Christian shrine erected around the fifth century BC—as well
as a modern church dedicated to Ababa Aftse, one of the ‘Nine Saints’
from Syria who founded many important Monasteries in northern Ethiopia
in the fifth and sixth centuries. The building’s front façade has
been fitted with stones from the original temple, and the church
contains many crosses, old manuscripts, and stones bearing ancient
Sabaean inscriptions, all of which can be seen on request.
Another ‘hidden treasure’ lies on a distinctive
flat-topped mountain in the same region: the ancient monastery of
Debre Damo –difficult to reach, but most rewarding for any man (women
are not allowed in) determined enough to visit it.
The monastery, which dates back to early Axumite
times. Is said to possess the Ethiopia’s oldest existing church.
Legend has it that Abba Aragawi, one of the ‘Nine Saints’, while
wandering at the foot of the cliff, judged that the plateau above
him was a suitable place to live a solitary life. God hearing his
wish, commanded a snake living on the mountain –top to stretch down
and lift up the holy man, who made Debre Damo his abode.
The visitor, lacking the kind snake that helped
the monastery’s founder to ascend the mountain, has to go up using
a rope lowered by the friendly monks. The summit, when eventually
conquered twenty-four meters (78 feet) later, offers panoramic views
and complete seclusion and peace for the 100 or so monks and deacons
who live there.
The beams and ceiling of the ancient Debre Damo
church around which the monastery is built –are beautifully decorated
with carved wooden panels depicting lion, elephant, rhinoceros,
snakes, gazelle, antelope, giraffe and camels. A large number of
paintings are preserved there, including several depicting Abba
Aragawi’s legendary foundation of Debre Damo.
The treasures secreted with in –kept intact through
the monastery’s 1,400 tumutluous years of history because of that
arduous, dangerous ascent—include and extensive collection of illuminated
manuscripts, among them the oldest surviving text fragments any
where in Ethiopia. The church now houses about fifty manuscripts,
although the monks claim they once possessed no less than a thousand.
Further south of Debr Damo lies the regional capital
of Makale, from where the adventurous can make arrangements to visit
the more than 130 known rock-hewn churches scattered over the mountains
of Tigray. They vary from modified caves, very crudely enlarged
and shaped, to highly sophisticated, finely hewn structures, cut
in to the rocky cliffs with consummate skill and patience. Some
churches have been elaborately decorated with paintings and cringes
on walls, ceilings, and pillars.
Experts disagree as to the age, origin, and development
of these churches, but it is thought that this unique form of church
building in the region developed during the latter half of the Axumite
empire places of worship were excavated from rocky cliffs, many
hewn in extremely inaccessible spots with secluded entrances possibly
as a form of defense.
Most of the old churches are still in active use
today and have been through the intervening centuries. They have
been the guardians of religious life and culture through aeons of
turmoil and change, and remain some of the priceless wonders of
Ethiopia.
But what has become known as the ‘Eighth
wonder of the world’ lies further south, on a natural 2,600 metre
(8,500-foot) rock terrace surrounded on all sides by rugged and
forbidding mountains in the northern extreme of wollo region: the
marvellous monastic settlement of Lalibela.
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