Axum

After Bahir Dar we flew on to Axum. Axum is the presumed home of the Arc of the Covenant, huge stone stelae weighing up to 500 tons from an ancient civilization, the home of the Queen of Sheba and the oldest Christian sanctuary in Ethiopia and the spiritual home of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Basically, a very cool place.

One of the first things you notice are that most of the homes are built of stone. There is rock everywhere, so to clear the fields the stones I suppose ended up as houses and fences. This gives a much more permanent and ancient feel to the town and surroundings. Despite the auspicious position Axum holds for Ethiopia, it isn't a big town. In ancient times it apparently was much larger.

During our time there we did a day tour of the major sites. The most impressive being of these huge solid stone stelae that marked the grave sites of the ancient rulers of the area. The stelea have door images carved in them, the number carved represents the number of tombs beneath them. One tomb, which apparently didn't have its stelea erected, was discovered several years ago with a large casket shaped stone sealed so tight there was no way to look inside. It is still sealed until someone figures out how to open it without potentially destroying the inner contents. It can't be moved because it is too heavy and large to get out the door of the tomb.

One of the stelae was dedicated just two weeks before I arrived in Ethiopia. It had been stolen by the Italians under Mussolini, during their 5 year occupation of Ethiopia, and erected in Italy. Just recently the Italian government returned it to Ethiopia and assisted in re-erecting it. These stelae, I should add, are SOLID stone and weigh hundreds of tons. When the Italians moved the stellae they cut it into three large pieces. While lifting one of the stone segments, the large crane tipped over. When these stelae were erected thousands of years ago (estimated 4th century BC) they were moved in one large piece from a stone quarry approximately 5 miles away over rocky hills and fields. When you see these things and the landscape and how huge these things are you can't help but say, "How in the heck?!" Nobody knows.

Also in Axum we visited the ruins of a couple castles, one of which had been thought to be the castle of the Queen of Sheba, and a pool of water (which has since been expanded and now used for water in the nearby region) thought to be the Queen of Sheba's swimming pool. We caught a couple skinny dippers while passing by. We also saw a large stone unearthed several years ago that had three languages inscripted on it telling the same story (like the Rosetta stone in Egypt) in Ge-ez, Sabian and Greek-- basically ancient languages.

A large beautiful church erected by Emperor Haile Salassie on the site of an ancient church destroyed by previous wars was quite an impressive site. It also had a large concentration of beggars, most of which were old and lame. I wish I had more Birr on hand to hand out.

This large church is located across from the huge stelae and just opposite of this is the building that apparently houses the Arc of the Covenant. One monk is chosen to spend his entire life in this building as the guard. The priests and other monks bring him food and necessities. Next to this building is another old church that looks like a castle. Outside of this church is a stone that is the site of coronation of many of the ancient kings of Ethiopia.

While in Axum we ate lunch at a restaurant on the second floor of a local hotel. We had a good view of the passers by on the street below. I was fascinated at the variety of people and took several photos, some of which I share below.