Aksum An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity Stuart Munro-Hay

language (Schneider 1961). Some of the other apparently tribal names also occur in both 
groups of inscriptions. The usual way of referring to someone in the inscriptions is `N. of 
the family N. of the tribe N.', possibly also reflected later by the Aksumite `Bisi' -title; 
`king N. man of the tribe/clan (?) N.' (
Ch. 7: 5
).  
It seems that these `inscriptional' Sabaeans did not remain more than a century or so — or 
perhaps even only a few decades — as a separate and identifiable people. Possibly their 
presence was connected to a contemporary efflorescence of Saba on the other side of the 
Red Sea. Their influence was only in a limited geographical area, affecting the 
autochthonous population in that area to a greater or lesser degree. Such influences as did 
remain after their departure or assimilation fused with the local cultural background, and 
contributed to the ensemble of traits which constituted Ethiopian civilisation in the rest of 
the pre-Aksumite period. Indeed, it may be that the Sabaeans were able to establish 
themselves in Ethiopia in the first place because both their civilisation and that of mid-1st 
millenium Ethiopia already had something in common; it has been suggested that earlier 
migrations or contacts might have taken place, leaving a kind of cultural sympathy 
between the two areas which allowed the later contact to flourish easily. The precise 
nature of the contacts between the two areas, their range in commercial, linguistic or 
cultural terms, and their chronology, is still a major question, and discussion of this 
fascinating problem continues (Marrassini 1985; Avanzini 1987; Pirenne 1987; Isaac and 
Felder 1988).  
Jacqueline Pirenne's most recent (1987) proposal results in a radically different view of 
the Ethiopian/South Arabian contacts. Weighing up the evidence from all sides, 
particularly aspects of material culture and linguistic/palaeographic information, she 
suggests that "il est donc vraisemblable que l'expansion ne s'est pas faite du Yémen vers 
l'Ethiopie, mais bien en sens inverse: de l'Ethiopie vers le Yémen". According to this 
theory, one group of Sabaeans would have left north Arabia (where they were then 
established) for Ethiopia in about the eighth or seventh century BC under pressure from 
the Assyrians; they then continued on into south Arabia. A second wave of emigrants, in 
the sixth and fifth century, would reign over the kingdom of Da'amat (D`MT), and would 
have been accompanied by Hebrews fleeing after Nebuchadnezzar's capture of Jerusalem; 
an explanation for the later Ethiopian traditions with their Jewish and Biblical flavour, 
and for the Falashas or black Jews of Ethiopia. These Sabaeans too, in their turn would 
have departed for the Yemen, taking there the writing and architecture which they had 
first perfected in Tigray. In the fourth and third century BC the remaining Sabaean 
emigrés would have left Ethiopia for the Yemen, leaving elements of their civilisation 
and traditions firmly embedded in the Ethiopian's way of life. This ingenious mise en 
scène, so far only briefly noted in a conference paper, must await complete publication 
before it can be fully discussed; but it is expressive of the highly theoretical nature of our 
conclusions about pre-Aksumite Ethiopia that so complete a reversal of previous ideas 
can even be proposed. Isaac and Felder (1988) also speculate about the possibility of a 
common cultural sphere in Ethiopia and Arabia, without giving either side the 
precedence.  

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It has also been suggested that the progress of the youthful Ethiopian state brought it into 
conflict with Meroë in the reigns of such kings as Harsiotef and Nastasen from the fourth 
century BC. Whilst there must have been some contact later, there is no real evidence 
from this early date (Taddesse Tamrat 1972: 12).  
The altars, inscriptions, stelae, temples, secular structures, tombs and other material left 
by the Sabaean- influenced Ethiopian population occur in considerable numbers even 
from the few excavated sites; those attributed to the Sabaeans themselves occur more 
rarely. The monuments are dated from the 5th century BC by study of the letter- forms 
used on them (palaeography), and seem to appear in Ethiopia at about the same time as 
they do in South Arabia (nb. the reservations about the dating expressed by Fattovich 
1989). The disc and crescent symbol used on some of the monuments (and very much 
later by  the pre-Christian Aksumites) was also familiar on some South Arabian coins, and 
South Arabian altars; many of the same deities were being worshipped in the two regions. 
It was also during this period that iron was introduced into the country. In the present 
state of our knowledge, it is unclear how much of Aksumite civilisation was a direct 
continuation of a cultural heritage from pre-Aksumite times, or how much any South 
Arabian aspects might be better attributed to a renewal of overseas contacts in the period 
after the consolidation of Aksum as an independent polity in the first and second 
centuries AD. No clear evidence of connexions between the pre-Aksumite, Sabaean-
influenced, period, and the earliest Aksumite period is at the moment available, though it 
seems intrinsically more likely that Aksum in some way was able to draw directly on part 
of the experience of its predecessors. At Matara, the archaeological evidence implies that 
there was a clear break between the two periods (Anfray and Annequin 1965), but this 
need not have been the case everywhere in the country. The solution to these questions 
can only await further clarification from archaeology.  
The subsequent periods are those which represent the duration of the Aksumite kingdom 
proper. In the following table approximate dates for these periods, numbered 1-5, are 
indicated, together with the names of the known rulers, with notes about any references in 
texts or inscriptions, contemporary constructions (
Ch. 16
) at Aksum (using the 
terminology in Munro-Hay 1989), and significant international events with a bearing on 
Aksum.  
2. Comparative Chronological Chart; Rulers, Sources and Sites 
Period 1. Early Aksum until the reign of GDRT. 1st-2nd centuries AD.  
 
 
Earliest platforms 
 
 
Lower Stele Park levels 
 
Zoskales? Periplus? 
100AD   
 
 
 
Platform A, 
c150AD  
1st platform extension 
 
 
Ptolemy. 
Period 2. GDRT -Endubis. Beginning of 3rd century AD to c270AD.  

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