^ Home  ^ Services  ^ Tips for Travellers  ^ Capital City  ^ Historical Route  ^ Nomadic Trail  ^ Itinerary  ^ Photo Gallery  ^ Events  ^ Testimonials  ^ About Us

    ^ Axum   ^ Bahir Dar & Blue Nile Falls   ^ Debre Damo   ^ Gondar   ^ Lalibela   ^ Lake Tana Monasteries   ^ Yeha   ^ Harar                               >Contact Us
 

 

 

 

Axum
Axum was founded perhaps 500 years after the decline of Yeha. Much more is known about the historic importance of Axum and its Red Sea port, Adulis. Axum was a great commercial civilization trading with distant lands, among them Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India.

Axum’s greatest significance however is the fact that it used to be the centre of the queen of Sheba dynasty upon which the Semitic people of Ethiopia base their notion of the sacred kingship.

Stella of Axum
Several are more than 500 tones in weight and stand 20 meters high.

The tallest now is more than 33 meters in the sky. The purpose of these prodigious monolithic obelisks may have been to draw down power from firmament in a ritual undoubtedly accompanied by occasional sacrifices; most of the obelisks have altars at their bases and all align towards the rising sun.

  


The Axum obelisk, 24 metres high, 160 tons in weight and about 1700 years old, was looted and broken into three pieces by Italy for transportation purposes around 70 years ago and has only been returned back to Ethiopia in April 2005. The operation of re-installing the obelisk would be finalised towards the end of 2006. The obelisk is registered as one of UNESCO's world heritage sites.

Axum is also known as a place of the ‘Ark of the Covenant’. The Ark remained in Axum until the early 1530’s when it was removed to a secret place to protect it from approaching Muslim armies and a hundred years later the Ark was brought back to Axum.

The Ark was hidden in the church of St Maryam of Tsion that was build on the ruins of the earlier church by Emperor Fasilidas – undoubtedly one of Ethiopia’s greatest rulers. Haile Selassie (said to be two hundred and twenty-fifth direct-line descendant of Menelik, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon) transferred the Ark to the secure chapel in the church. Only the head priest of the church is allowed to see the Ark.

The Tabot (a copy of the Ark of the Covenant) is carried around during processions to celebrate Timkat (Epiphany) - the major Ethiopian Orthodox celebration that occurs every January.

 

   

 

Nomadic Ethiopia Tours, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tel. Ethiopia (+251) 911121424. (+251) 911196873, tel. Poland: (+48) 602285242, Email: info@nomadicethiopia.com,