The Kingdom of Aksum

The Kingdom of Aksum, often called the Aksumite Empire, was a powerful state in the Horn of Africa and South Arabia that lasted from classical antiquity into the Middle Ages. Its heartland was in what is now Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, and at its peak it also covered parts of modern-day Djibouti, Sudan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. The kingdom grew out of the earlier Dʿmt civilization and was established in the 1st century, with the city of Axum as its capital. According to Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, Aksum was one of the four great powers of the 3rd century, ranking alongside Persia, Rome, and China.

The kingdom expanded significantly under King Gedara (around 200–230), the first Aksumite ruler to get involved in South Arabian affairs. He brought much of western Yemen under his control, including Tihama, Najran, al-Ma'afir, and Zafar (until about 230), as well as parts of the Hashid territory around Hamir in the northern highlands. However, a joint Himyarite-Sabean alliance eventually pushed the Aksumites out. Conflicts between Aksum and Himyar continued throughout the 3rd century. Under King Endybis (270–310), Aksum began minting its own coins, which have been found as far away as Caesarea and southern India.

As Aksum grew into a major hub on the trade route between Rome and India, it gained a monopoly over Indian Ocean trade and entered the Greco-Roman cultural sphere. Because of these ties, the kingdom adopted Christianity as its state religion in the mid-4th century under King Ezana (reigned from the 320s to around 360). After converting, the Aksumites stopped building steles. Under Ezana, the kingdom conquered Meroë in 330 for a short time, and from that conquest it inherited the Greek name "Ethiopia."

Aksum’s dominance in the Red Sea reached its height under King Kaleb (514–542). At the request of the Byzantine emperor Justin I, he invaded the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen to stop the persecution of Christians by the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas. After annexing Himyar, Aksum reached its largest territorial extent, covering about 2,500,000 square kilometers (970,000 square miles). But this territory was lost during the Aksumite–Persian wars. Aksum held onto southern Arabia from 520 until 525, when Sumyafa Ashwa was overthrown by Abraha.

The kingdom’s slow decline began in the 7th century, when it stopped minting coins. The rise of Persian and later Muslim power in the Red Sea, along with the weakening of the Roman Empire (a key trade partner), hurt Aksum’s economy, and the population of Axum shrank. Environmental problems and internal issues also likely contributed. The last three centuries of Aksum are considered a dark age, and the kingdom collapsed under unclear circumstances around 960. Despite being one of the most important empires of late antiquity, Aksum faded into obscurity as Ethiopia remained isolated during the Late Middle Ages.

The name Aksum may come from a Semitic root meaning "a green and dense garden" or "full of grass," according to scholar Carlo Conti Rossini. Because of limited geographical knowledge, many Byzantine texts from the 7th and early 8th centuries mistakenly placed Ethiopia in "India," leading some to call Aksum the Kingdom of the Aksumite Indians.

Before Aksum arose, the area of Eritrea and the Tigray Plateau in northern Ethiopia was home to the kingdom of Dʿmt. Archaeological evidence shows that Dʿmt was influenced by Sheba (modern Yemen). Earlier scholars thought the Sabaeans from Sheba founded Ethiopia’s Semitic civilization, but this view has been disproven; their influence was minor. The Sabaean presence probably lasted only a few decades, but it left a mark on Aksumite culture through the adoption of the Ancient South Arabian script (which evolved into Geʽez) and elements of Ancient Semitic religion.

The early centuries of Aksum’s growth—when it changed from a small regional center into a major power—are still poorly understood. Stone Age tools have been found at Gobedra, two kilometers west of Aksum. Excavations at the tell of Betä Giyorgis, northwest of Aksum, show that a settlement existed there before Aksum, dating back to around the 7th to 4th centuries BCE. Digs in the Stele Park at the heart of Aksum also confirm continuous activity in the area from the start of the Common Era. Two hills and two streams on the east and west sides of the city may have been the original reasons people settled there.

Archaeological evidence suggests the Aksumite state emerged between 150 BCE and 150 CE. In its early period, small kingdoms with large, tightly packed communities and elite residences existed. According to scholar Stuart Munro-Hay, the kingdom was probably a confederacy, led by a district-level king who commanded the loyalty of other petty kings within the realm. The Aksumite ruler was therefore called "king of kings," a title often found in inscriptions from that time. There is no evidence of a single royal line; instead, when a king of kings died, a new one was likely chosen from among the confederacy’s kings, rather than through primogeniture.

The first historical mention of Axum comes from the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea*, a trading guide probably written in the mid-1st century AD. It lists Axum alongside Adulis and Ptolemais of the Hunts as part of the realm of Zoskales. The area was noted mainly for producing ivory and tortoise shells.