Aksum
An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity
Stuart Munro-Hay
Dedicated to the late H. Neville Chittick
Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity was first published in 1991. Some errors
have been corrected in this edition.
© Stuart Munro-Hay 1991
[put online with permission by Alan Light,
]
[A number of readers have wanted to contact Mr. Munro-Hay. His current address is at
aol.com, user name is munrohay. I'm using that format to try to keep him from getting
spam.]
British Library Cataloguing
in Publication Data
Munro-Hay, S. C. (Stuart C), 1947-
Aksum: an African civilization of late antiquity.
1. Axumite Kingdom, history
I. Title
963.4
Contents
Chronological Chart
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Legend, Literature, and Archaeological Discovery
1. The Legends of Aksum
2. Aksum in Ancient Sources
3. The Rediscovery of Aksum in Modern Times
3. The City and the State
1. The Landscape
2. Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
3. The Development of Aksum; an Interpretation
4. Cities,
Towns and Villages
5. The Inhabitants
6. Foreign Relations
4. Aksumite History
1. The Pre-Aksumite Period
2. Comparative Chronological Chart; Rulers, Sources and Sites
3. Period 1; Early Aksum until the Reign of Gadarat
4. Period 2; Gadarat to Endubis
5. Period 3; Endubis to Ezana
6. Period 4; Ezana after his Conversion, to Kaleb
7. Period 5; Kaleb
to the End of the Coinage
8. The Post-Aksumite Period
5. The Capital City
1. The Site
2. The Town Plan
3. Portuguese Records of Aksum
4. Aksumite Domestic Architecture
5. The Funerary Architecture
6. The Stelae
6. The Civil Administration
1. The Rulers
2.
Officials of the Government
7. The Monarchy
1. The King and the State
2. The Regalia
3. Dual Kingship
4. Succession
5. The Royal Titles
6. The Coronation
8. The Economy
1. Population
2. Agriculture,
Husbandry, and Animal Resources
3. Metal Resources
4. Trade, Imports and Exports
5. Local Industries
6. Food
9. The Coinage
1. Origins
2. Introduction and Spread of the Coinage
3. Internal Aspects of the Coinage
4. The Mottoes
5. The End of the Coinage
6.
Modern Study of the Coinage
10. Religion
1. The Pre-Christian Period
2. The Conversion to Christianity
3. Abreha and Atsbeha
4. Ecclesiastical Development
5. Churches
11. Warfare
1. The Inscriptional Record
2. The Military Structure
3. Weapons
4. The Fleet
5. The Aksumite Inscriptions
12. Material Culture;
the Archaeological Record
1. Pottery
2. Glassware
3. Stone Bowls
4. Metalwork
5. Other Materials
13. Language, Literature, and the Arts
1. Language
2. Literature and Literacy
3. The Arts
4.
Music and Liturgical Chant
14. Society and Death
1. Social Classes
2. Funerary Practice
15. The Decline of Aksum
1. The Failure of Resources
2. The Climate
3. External and Internal Political Troubles
4. The
najashi Ashama ibn Abjar
5. The
hatsani Danael
16. The British Institute in Eastern Africa's Excavations at Aksum
17. Bibliography
Index
Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late
Antiquity
Chronological Chart
Period 1. Early Aksum until the reign of GDRT. 1st-2nd centuries AD.
100AD Zoskales Periplus
Ptolemy
c.150AD
Period 2. GDRT-Endubis. Beginning of 3rd century AD to c.270AD.
200AD
GDRT, BYGT
South
Arabian inscriptions
230AD `DBH, GRMT
Sembrouthes
260AD DTWNS and ZQRNS
Period 3. Endubis to Ezana before his conversion. c.270AD to c.330AD
270AD
Endubis* Coinage begins
300AD
Aphilas*
Wazeba*
Ousanas*
Ezana*
Inscriptions.