Aksum An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity Stuart Munro-Hay

a certain amount of literacy in the country for the kings to take such care with the 
inscriptions and the coin legends with their mottoes (
Ch. 9: 4
). A ruler like Ezana, 
educated under the influence of Frumentius, who later returned to be installed as 
Ethiopia's first bishop, would surely have been able to speak and read Greek, and been 
well aware of the advantages of such propaganda media in both foreign and local circles.  
Very occasionally, there are other indications of literacy, like the inscription left by a 
presumably Aksumite Ethiopian, Abreha, in the Wady Manih on the road to the Egyptian 
port of Berenice. Its interpretation is, as usual, not quite clear, partly from uncertainty as 
to the significance of certain words, partly due to its condition (the last three lines are 
almost completely illegible). Sergew Hable Sellasie's version reads "I Abreha, man of 
Aksum, spent the night here [and] came believing in the might of the Lord of Heaven 
Aryam, with my son". Littmann read it as "I am Abreha Takla Aksum and I stayed here. 
[I] came [protected] by the power [of the Lord of the Sublime] H[eaven] with my son". 
Ullendorff suggested "I Abreha am the founder of Aksum" (or, "founder of the [Church 
of] Aksum") "and have my domicile there" (Sergew Hable Sellassie 1972: 109; Littmann 
1954; Ullendorff 1955). Schneider (1984: 158), after discussing the state of the text as it 
is preserved now, concluded, perhaps wisely, that after "I Abreha" `the rest is 
speculation'. However, the inscription is of interest since it is unvocalised and apparently 
of the early fourth century AD; it confirms that the name Abreha was in use in Ethiopia at 
the same period as the mysterious Abreha and Atsbeha of Aksumite legend. Another 
unvocalised inscription from Dabra Damo, associated with crosses, reads simply "I 
prayed" (Littmann 1913: IV, 61).  
A more mundane inscription, on a pot found at Aksum, reads "he who breaks it, pays!" 
(Anfray 1972: pl. III).  
In late Aksumite times the inscription of the hatseni Danael was carved on one of the 
statue bases in the city (
Ch. 11: 5
); this is, with the funerary inscription of Giho, daughter 
of Mangesha, from Ham (Conti Rossini 1939; Cerulli 1968: 18-19), one of the latest 
inscriptions we have. At Ham Conti Rossini also noted archaic Ethiopian inscriptions, 
probably simply names of travellers like those from a grotto at Qohayto, together with 
Aksumite pillars and other objects. The funerary inscription reads;  
"Giho, daughter of Mangasha, died in the month of Tahsas, the 27th day, at dawn, the 
day before the vigil of the Nativity, a Wednesday, being the year . . . Ella Sahel. But as it 
is written `Man born of woman is of few days' as it is written in the Gospel `He who has 
eaten my flesh and drunk my blood shall not taste death, and I will raise him at the last 
day'; and as is written in the Prophet `The dead shall be raised, and those who are in the 
tomb shall live'".  
Sergew Hable Sellassie (1972: 198), read the middle lines as "on the eve of Christmas on 
the day of Wednesday. And died a year after we had (conquered?) our enemy Ella Sahel". 
Conti Rossini suggested a date of the 7th or 8th cent ury for this inscription. Monneret de 
Villard (1940) noted that the shape of the tablet on which the inscription is carved 
resembles the typical Meroitic altar of offerings, and thought that Giho's name was also 
Meroitic in origin; since such a funerary inscription is so far unique in Ethiopia but not 

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unknown in Nubia, perhaps it does show some influences from there. It has been 
suggested that `Ella Sahel' refers to a king of that name who appears in the king- lists, but 
the reading of the sentence is obscure (Schneider 1984: 163).  
The later Ethiopian love of stories of the miracle- filled lives of saints, and the wonderful 
tales of old, may have had some literary reflection as early as Aksumite times, helping to 
both develop and preserve them. The compilation of the chronicles of the kings, as in 
mediaeval times, may have been an Aksumite custom, as illustrated by the preserved 
inscriptions. But if so the only traces we have of them are the Ge`ez king lists repeated in 
later times, with a few glosses about exceptional events. The patent inaccuracy of the 
lists, and the non-appearance of most known Aksumite rulers, show that only a very little 
was transmitted to later ages about Aksumite history, and presumably any such ancient 
chronicles perished during one of the periods of unrest from late Aksumite times.  
There can be little doubt that the art of making parchment and keeping records or literary 
works by the use of parchment scrolls (as in the Nubian kingdoms later), or larger flat 
pages (as in Ethiopia in the mediaeval period) could have been practised in Aksumite 
times, and one day we may hope to find something of the sort in, perhaps, one of the 
Aksumite tombs. Records of government business and commercial transactions, as well 
as religious and other works, were certainly kept from early times, but the climate of 
Ethiopia does not have the dryness which has preserved so much perishable material in 
Egypt and Nubia. Most of the surviving Ethiopian parchment books are of relatively 
recent date, but there remains the hope that some earlier works may one day be 
discovered.  
3. The Arts 
 
No Aksumite painting, beyond that on pottery, has survived, and much of the decorative 
material which has been found is of uncertain provenance. Some of it may have 
originated in Egypt or Syria, or even South Arabia. Surviving metal- work objects, such as 
small images of an ibex, the Three Graces, and a pair of dogs, or glass- inlaid bronze box 
fragments (see 
Ch. 12
), may have been foreign work imported into Aksum. No large 
statues have yet been found of the Aksumite period — though possibly one of the gold, 
silver and bronze statues mentioned in the inscriptions, to which some of the granite 
plinths still existing at Aksum probably once belonged, may have survived the desire to 
melt down its metal, and be still awaiting the excavator's pick. The only truly Aksumite 
art- form we yet know of (apart from some plastic modelling on pottery, and some carving 
on flat surfaces and in the round) is architecture (see 
Ch. 5: 4
) and the limited imagery of 
the coinage (
Ch. 9
).  
In view of the later liking for elaborately-painted walls in the churches, it may not be too 
surprising to find, one day, paintings on the plastered walls of one of the tombs, palaces, 
or churches, like that reported to Muhammad by his wives (Muir 1923: 490; Sergew 
Hable Sellassie 1972: 186, n. 30; Lepage 1989: 52). Muhammad was apparently involved 

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