Aksum An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity Stuart Munro-Hay

Map C. Plan of the ancient city of Aksum.  
Flanking the town in various directions were the necropoleis or cemeteries. These are 
marked today by the numerous granite stelae, standing stone monuments which vary 
from rough and simple marker-stones to some of the largest single stones ever employed 
in human constructions. Fields of such stelae are found in the following locations; 
  to the south of Dungur (called the `Gudit' field, after the legendary queen who sacked 
Aksum in the tenth century); 
  to the east of the town below the south side of Mai Qoho; 
  on the top of Beta Giyorgis to the north of the two church buildings there excavated by 
Lanfranco Ricci (1976); 
  and above all in the main stelae field running along the north side of the Mai Hejja. This 

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latter can be divided into two, a northern group in  the area known as Geza `Agmai, and 
the main, southern group, ending almost opposite the cathedral and embracing the 
recently- made `Stele Park', which includes all the decorated monoliths, and some 
enormous granite-built tombs (Littmann 1913; Munro-Hay 1989).  
Rock-cut or built tombs are also to be found on the slopes of Mai Qoho hill, in the 
courtyard of the church of the Four Animals (Arbate Ensessa) in Aksum, and in the 
region of the so-called tombs of Kaleb and Gabra Masqal some 2 km. north of the present 
town (Littmann 1913; Munro-Hay 1989). It is evident that there are many other structures 
in this region and to the north; an idea of the density of occupation can be gained from 
the survey work of Michels quoted in Kobishchanov (1979: Map 4).  
The southern group of stelae in the main stelae field marks what was evidently the chief 
necropolis of the city, and the royal burial place. Directly facing it was a religious and 
ceremonial area now occupied by the sacred enclosure called Dabtera where the two 
cathedrals, old and new Maryam Tseyon, stand. The base of the podium of the old 
cathedral is an Aksumite structure, and other very substantial buildings have been traced 
in the area (de Contenson 1963i); if the custom of building churches on former sacred 
spots was followed here also, these may be traces of earlier cathedrals or pre-Christian 
temples. The architectural ensemble of this part of the town, of cathedral/temple, thrones, 
and stelae, shows an arrangement which may owe something to intentional design, but 
which was evidently also an extended process. The earlier examples among the great 
decorated stelae may well have been situated one after the other following a deliberate 
design; this impression is much stronger for the last three, which, dominating the terrace 
of lesser stelae, must have offered a sight which for dramatic quality was rarely equalled 
in the ancient world.  
Near to and facing the old cathedral, is a cluster of granite thrones (Littmann 1913: II, 
45ff) of which now only pedestals remain. Most of them are in a row running 
approximately north- north-east to south-south-west. There are eleven in the row, two 
being double, with another two immediately in front of the main row. At least six of the 
thrones had some sort of pillared canopy, as emplacements for pillars can be seen in the 
stonework of the pedestals. Slots for their backs and sides show that the original design 
was for closed chairs like the picture (Wolska-Conus 1968) of the Adulis throne in 
Kosmas' book, and very likely at least some of these now- missing slabs bore inscriptions 
as did the Adulis monument. Some way to the southeast, between the row of thrones and 
the inner enclosure of the church, stand two other throne-pedestals, one with four 
columns still erect, and another set on a massive plinth. The throne-bases are noted in the 
Book of Aksum (Conti Rossini 1910) as the thrones of the Nine Saints, with others for 
Kaleb, Gabra Masqal and so on, or are attributed to the twelve judges of Aksum. In later 
times they served in the ceremony of the coronation. They may well have been the 
thrones which inscriptions tell us were set up as memorials of victories or other great 
events, like the one which still existed at Adulis in the sixth century, when Kosmas 
copied its anonymous Aksumite inscription. One of Ezana's inscriptions, DAE 10, (see 
Ch. 11: 5
) mentions a throne set up `here in Shado', possibly the ancient name of one of 
the two places at Aksum still marked by rows of thrones.  

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The second set of pedestals led in a row from beside the eastern stelae field towards the 
ceremonial centre of the town, and some of these still show traces which indicate that 
they once held statues. Plinths for statues are known from other parts of the town also, 
one having sockets for feet 92 cm long (Littmann 1913: II, 44, provided a photograph of 
this now-vanished monument). Perhaps this sort of monument gave rise to the legend that 
when Christ descended to earth to perform the miracle of filling up the lake where 
Abreha and Atsbeha later built the cathedral, he left his footprints in the rock; they were, 
according to the Book of Aksum, still visible in the fifteenth century. Some of the 
Aksumite inscriptions mention the erection of metal statues as victory memorials, but as 
yet only stone statues have been found in Ethiopia. These, of which the finest examples 
come from Hawelti, near Aksum, date to some centuries before Aksumite times, but there 
may have been a continuity of tradition from one period to the next (de Contenson 1963).  
Illustration 19. One of the stone thrones or statue-bases which lined the entrance avenue 
leading to Aksum's main Stele Field. Photo BIEA.  
The town-plan of Aksum is thus fairly simple; it may be envisaged as commencing with a 
ceremonial approach from the east, lined with granite victory-thrones and statues of 
bronze and precious metals dedicated to the gods, leading to the religious centre with the 
royal cemetery lying to the north and east. The focus for this region seems to have been 
the temple/cathedral area, with another row of thrones. The main residential suburb with 
its huge palaces was situated to the west; and the whole was flanked with lesser 
cemeteries and more humble residential suburbs. It is probable that there was at least one 
open square, a market-place perhaps, somewhere in the town centre. Since inscriptions 
and a statue base are reported to have come from the area between Ta`akha Maryam and 
Enda Sem`on (Littmann 1913; Schneider 1974), it may have been situated there, as such 
monuments may well have been set up in a public place. Civic building has not been 
identified; nothing has yet been excavated which can be categorised as public 
architecture, such as the structures housing town administrations, law-courts, covered 
markets or shopping arcades, baths, and the like so common in Roman town centres. As 
we have noted above, there is no hint that the Aksumite rulers needed to dominate their 
towns with citadels, or surround them with defensive walls, and the town must have 
simply petered out in the plain and on the slopes of the hills.  
3. Portuguese Records of Aksum 
The most significant of the Portuguese accounts of Aksum is undoubtedly that of 
Francisco Alvares (or Alvarez), who came to Aksum in 1520. He was a careful and 
sympathetic observer who noted a good deal about the town, including details of many of 
the then extant monuments. His account has the special significance that it was the only 
one made before the sack of the city by the Muslim leader Ahmad Gragn. Several of the 
buildings which he mentions now do not exist (at least on the surface), but from the 
accuracy of those descriptions which can be checked, it is evident that his statements are 
worthy of respect. His description of Aksum  was as follows (from Beckingham and 
Huntingford 1961); the square brackets indicate additions in Ramusio's Italian edition, 
apparently made from a different manuscript than that published in Lisbon in 1540.  

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