the concept before this. The Periplus mentions that they were importing brass “for cutting as money” and also that they imported money for “use by the foreign community.” When coins were minted by Endybis they were probably based on Roman coinage and produced in gold, silver, and bronze. They showed the head of the king and stalks of the indigenous wheat (Eragrostis tef) on the obverse, with a disc and crescent at the top. The inscription on the gold coins was in Greek, but the silver and bronze coins used the local language and script, Ge’ez, suggesting that the latter were for local use and the former for international trade.
Archaeology in Axum has revealed complex palace structures but also, most notably for this period, large stone built tombs (assumed to be royal burials) marked with carved stelae. The largest of these, which weighed 517 tonnes and would have been 32.6 meters tall if successfully erected, would have been the largest monolith to be raised by humans at that time.71 It was made from granite quarried on a hill close by and possibly transported by elephants—although they are no longer found here. The stelae are carved with representations of the local architecture of multistoried monumental buildings. These were constructed of dressed granite with recessed facades, rebated walls, wooden tie beams, and monumental staircases. Archaeology of sites in Axum dating from the second century onward reinforces this, with remains of several substantial complexes tentatively identified as palaces but also large elite residences, indicating a society with considerable wealth.72 Finds in the tombs and elsewhere show evidence for trade both north and south from Adulis, including Roman glass and Indo-Pacific beads.73
Even though the written and archaeological evidence is scarce, it suggests that the Axumites were probably used to foreign visitors—traders, religious figures, and diplomats. But we enter the area of speculation by proposing that the gift of coins was brought by a diplomatic mission sent by the Kushans directly to the Axumites. Possibly it was intended for some other recipient and was waylaid here, or it might not have been a single hoard at all.74 We therefore have to make a leap of imagination to picture the Kushan mission disembarking at Adulis after their long sea journey. From here they would have taken the journey inland, perhaps accompanied by local officials and soldiers or simply joining a trading caravan. The gift was handed over and perhaps placed in the royal treasury. Here it possibly remained through a succession of kings.
A century later King Ezena (r. ca. 333–ca. 356) converted to Christianity, and a cross replaced the disc and crescent on the Axum coinage. Churches were built and monasteries endowed over the following centuries. In the late fifth century it is recorded that nine Christians came to Axum from various parts of the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453) to avoid persecution after the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The council, convened by the Eastern Church, declared that Christ had two natures in one person, God and man. This was not a doctrine accepted by many parts of the Christian Church and resulted in a split in the Eastern Church. The churches not accepting this doctrine are often referred to as the Oriental Orthodox or Old Oriental Churches. The Axumite Church was among them—along with Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, and Malankara (Indian) Orthodox. The lives of the nine Christians are recorded in much later biographies, albeit with many contradictions. Among them was ʾAragawi Zä-Mikaʾel—the Elder Zä-Mikaʾel.
According to his later biography, Zä-Mikaʾel was the son of the Roman prince Yeshaq and of Edna (an Ethiopian name). The biography states that at age fourteen he received his name from and became a monk with Pachomius (ca. 292–348) in Egypt.75 Other Christians joined them in what Pachomius established as a new form of monastic community, where monks and nuns formed one community with common property and were presided over by an abbot or abbess. This broke with the earlier tradition of ascetics living largely as hermits. Zä-Mikaʾel’s mother Edna later became a nun here. Later Zä-Mikaʾel traveled to Rome and thence to Axum, which was by this time Christian. He invited his eight fellow believers to join him, and together with his parents they were welcomed by the king.76 They lived at the court for twelve years before separating to evangelize in the countryside. Zä-Mikaʾel went with his mother and a disciple called Mattéwos to Eggala in the Tigray district. Here he decided to found a monastery—associated with Debra—on top of a steep-sided plateau. But he was unable to climb the cliffs until a serpent, living on top, let down his tail and pulled him up. The monastery was erected on the order of King Gabra Masqal, a large ramp being constructed to transport the building materials. On completion, the ramp was removed, making the perilous cliff climb the only route up. Zä-Mikaʾel’s biography also reports that his mother Edna became part of the community, which suggests there might also have been nuns, as in Pachomius’s original monastery.77
Tradition says that the king endowed the monastery with treasures. This is possibly another clue in the journey of our coins. Could the king have presented the coins to the monastery at this time? We have no evidence of this, but it is a possible hypothesis. It is, of course, also possible that the monastery was built on an existing shrine and that the coins were already there, or, indeed, that they did not make its journey to Axum until later. It is almost certain that we will never have the answers to such questions.
Treasuries are found in churches throughout the Christian world (see chapter 8) and present-day Ethiopia is no exception, laying claim to holding one of the greatest treasures of Christianity, the Ark of the Covenant. According to tradition, this gilded wooden chest contains the tablets giving the Ten Commandments received by Moses on Mount Sinai and was carried with the Israelites until the temple was built in Jerusalem to house them. Ethiopian tradition further records that the Ark left Jerusalem at the time of King Solomon, carried by his son with the Queen of Sheba, Menelik. It was kept safe until finally being enshrined in the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum, built by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1960 for this purpose. Today it is said to be in the treasury building adjacent to the church. Only the high priest is allowed to see it.
While most believe this story to be apocryphal, the treasury probably does contain some ancient treasure, just like many other churches in Ethiopia. Other treasures have been found at Debra Damo, including an Axumite coin of Armah (r. 614–31), gold and silver Arabic coins dating from about the eighth to the tenth centuries, and some textiles from the sixth to twelfth century, probably originating in Egypt.78 Our coins probably remained safely there for centuries. However, oral and written histories tell of two major threats to Debra Damo and the Christian heritage of the Axumites in the intervening centuries.
The first, which appears mainly in oral tradition, was during the reign of Queen Gudit around the mid-tenth century. Some corroboration is provided by a contemporary Arab traveler and geographer Ibn Ḥawqal in his work Kitāb Ṣūrat al-ʿArḍ (Picture of the earth), written in 977. “The country of the habasha [Abyssinians] has been ruled by a woman for many years now: she has killed the king of the habasha who was called Haḍani [from Ge’ez haṣ́ani, modern aṣ́e or atse]. Until today she rules with complete independence in her own country and the frontier areas of the country of the Haḍani, in the southern part of [the country of] the habasha.”79
Gudit (Judith) is said to have come from Axum’s Jewish community, which had coexisted there for centuries alongside the Christians. Tradition tells that she killed the king to take the throne. It was usual at the time that royal princes were exiled on hilltop settlements such as Debra Damo—presumably to keep them from seeking power.80 Queen Gudit duly went there, built a ramp to gain access, as Gabra Masqal had done, and killed the exiled princes to rid her of her rivals.81
The second event is better attested. It took place long after the end of the Axum Empire, starting in 1529 with the invasion of Ethiopia by Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghāzī (r. ca. 1506–43), the ruler of the neighboring Muslim sultanate of Adal. He was named Gragn—“the Left-Handed” in Amharic. During this invasion many churches and monasteries were destroyed—including the Church of St. Mary of Zion, and, it is reported, many church treasuries were looted.82 The Ethiopians asked for assistance from the Portuguese, who landed a force in 1541, and the invaders were eventually driven out. As
