Long before the castles of Gondar or the churches of Lalibela, Aksum ruled the trade routes between Rome, Arabia, Persia and India. Ships at its port of Adulis carried ivory, gold and incense across the Red Sea.
Its kings raised enormous single-stone stelae, carved to look like multi-storey palaces with false doors and windows. They marked royal tombs and announced Aksum's power to the world.
In the 4th century, King Ezana embraced Christianity, making Aksum one of the first Christian states. Tradition holds that the Ark of the Covenant still rests here, in the Chapel of the Tablet.
- c. 100 BCEAksumite kingdom rises in the northern highlands
- c. 270 CEAksum begins minting coins
- c. 330 CEKing Ezana adopts Christianity
- c. 940 CEDecline of the empire
- 2005The Obelisk of Aksum returns from Rome
King Ezana
The Aksumite king who made Christianity a state religion in the 4th century.
Ge'ez Script
One of the oldest alphabets still in use — the fidel behind Amharic and Tigrinya.
Queen of Sheba
Makeda, the legendary queen who journeyed to meet King Solomon.
PLACESLalibela
Eleven churches carved downward from living rock — a 'New Jerusalem' in the highlands.