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Monuments of Axum in the Light of South Arabian ArcheologyAuthor(s): Gus W. van BeekSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 87, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1967), pp. 113-122
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MONUMENTSOF AXUM
IN THE
LIGHT OF
SOUTH
ARABIAN
ARCHEOLOGY
Gus
W.
VAN
BEEK
SMITHSONIANINsTITUTION
THE
STELAE
OF
AxUm are among the more
enigmatic monuments of the
historic
period
in
Africa.
When
were
they
built? What
architec-
tural
designs
do
they incorporate?
Are
these
motifs
borrowed
or are
they indigenous?
If
they
are
borrowed,
what source or sources
are
repre-
sented? What
is the purpose
or function of the
stelae?
Not
all
of these questions
can
be
answered
even in
part at this
time, but the vastly
increased
amount of
archeological field work in both south-
ern Arabia and Ethiopia in the past 15 years has
added
significantly to
our knowledge
of these re-
gions.
This
knowledge
in turn
provides
a frame-
work within
which these
monuments must be
understood and interpreted.
CULTURAL
ELATIONS
ETWEEN THIOPIA
AND
SouTH ARABIA
That Ethiopia and
southern Arabia
should
share close contact
with one another
appears
almost
inevitable from
an
examination of the map.
The
southwestern corner
of the
Arabian
Peninsula
points directly to the heartland of Ethiopia. At
the
Straits
of Bab
el-Mandeb,
these
two
land
masses are
separated by a scant fifteen
miles.
Through
this narrow
passage,
all
shipping between
the
Red Sea,
the Arabian
Sea,
the Persian
Gulf,
and
the Indian
Ocean was
funneled from the
Greco-Roman
period-and
perhaps
earlier-up to
modern
times. In
addition to dominating
this cor-
ridor, Ethiopia and
southern Arabia,
especially the
Yemen, share
a similar
environment.
Rainfall,
flora,
and fauna
of these two
regions arequite simi-
lar, and in many
instances virtually
identical.
While
Caton
Thompson
has
argued that the Red
*
A
somewhat abbreviated
version of this paper was
presented at the annual
meeting of the
African Studies
Association held in
Philadelphia,
Pa., October 28, 1965.
The
drawings were
made by Mr. George
Robert Lewis,
Office
of
Anthropology, Smithsonian
Institution. The
writer also
wishes to
express gratitude to Mr.
Thomas
Cassell of
Wabash
College,
who
served as a
student
assistant
during the summer,
1966.
Sea
corridor
may
have
been
a
formidable
barrier
in
prehistoric
times,1
during the
historic
period,
it
was
an
easy
avenue for the
transmission of
com-
modities and
ideas.
It seems
likely
that contact
between
Ethiopia
and
the pre-Islamic
civilization in southern
Arabia
began about the
tenth
century
B.
c.
Although
we
as yet
lack
archeological
control of
this
period in
both
regions,
a
number
of
historical
considerations
warrant this
inference. The
first of
these
deals
with the relationship between the nameless Queen
of
Sheba
and
King Solomon as
recounted
in
1
Kings
10.
It
has
been
pointed out
elsewhere
that
this
visit
was
essentially
an
economic
mission.2
The
Queen of
Sheba, who
controlled
the frankin-
cense and
myrrh-producing
areas,
probably made
the
trip
in
order
to reach an
agreement
regarding
the
distribution of these
precious
commodities
among
the
customers in
the
north.
Since the
Levant seems
to have
been the
focal
point of
Arabian
trade
throughout
the
pre-Islamic
periods,
and
since
Solomon was
the
leading land
monarch
in the
entire Near
East
in
the tenth century
B.
C.,
it is
natural that
the
Queen
should seek
agreement
with
him. The
fact that
such
a
trip
could
success-
fully be
made
implies a
considerable
degree of
security over
some
1500 miles
of
rugged
and bar-
ren
terrain.
Effective
security, in
turn,
presup-
poses
a
high
level
of
social
organization and
a
strong
government in
southern
Arabia.
Certainly
a
government
that could
mount an
expedition of
this
size,
could
at
the
same time
colonize the
much
closer
Ethiopian
plateau and
exploit
its
resources.
Such
colonization
would
explain
the
seeming con-
fusion in
Genesis
Chapter 10-
The
table of
Na-
tions -which lists Sheba as a son of Cush on the
1
G.
Caton
Thompson, The
Evidence
of
South
Arabian
Palaeoliths
in
the
Question
of
Pleistocene
Land
connection
with
Africa,
Third Pan
African
Congress
on
Prehistory
(London,
1957), pp.
380-384.
2
G. W. Van
Beek,
Frankincense
and
Myrrh,
Jour-
nal
of
the
American
Oriental
Society,
LXXVIII
(1958),
pp.
145 ff.
113
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114 VAN
BEER:
Monuments
of
Axum
one hand,
and a son of Shem through
Eber and
Joktan
on
the
other. The attribution
of Sheba to
both
Ham and
Shem
may
indicate that Sabaeans
lived
in both
Arabia
and
Africa
at the same time.
If this
document dates
to the tenth century B.
C.,
as has generally been supposed by Biblical schol-
ars,3 it would
be good
evidence of
the expansion
of
the
South
Arabian kingdom
of Saba (Sheba)
to
the Ethiopian
plateau by
that time. This
in turn
suggests
that the Ethiopian
account
in
the
Kebra
Nagast
of the
visit
of
Queen
Makeda
to the court
of
Solomon
may
rest on
long
oral
tradition and
contain a
nucleus
of
historical
fact: That Ethiopia
was
inhabited by people
from
Saba
who owed
al-
legiance to
the South
Arabian queen.
In any case,
it
is clear that
by
the seventh cen-
tury
B.
C.,
South
Arabian
culture was
firmly
im-
planted in Ethiopia, so much so that for the next
several
centuries many
aspects
of
the material cul-
ture of Ethiopia
and southern Arabia
are
virtually
identical.
Let
us
cite
a few
examples.
Perhaps
the outstanding
example
of
borrowing
is
language.
Not only
South
Arabic
itself,
but also its
script
and even
its
peculiar
boustrophedon
direction of
writing
became firmly
established
in
Ethiopia. It
should
be noted
here that
boustrophedon writing
largely
died out
in
South
Arabia
by
the
middle of
the
fifth
century
B.
C., clearly
indicating
that
the
borrowing
took
place
well before
that
time.
In
material
culture,
there
are
also numerous
examples.
A
limestone
statue of
a
seated woman
wearing
a robe decorated
with
highly
stylized ro-
settes
was found
at Makalle by
French archeolo-
gists
in
1954;
4this statue,
which
probably
belongs
to the
late
7th or
early
6th
century
B.
C.,
would be
equally
at home
in
southern Arabia.
Further,
there
are
a
large
number of similar
incense
burners
from
both regions
dating from
about the middle
of the
first millennium
B.
C.,
to about
the first cen-
tury
A.
D.
South
Arabian incense burners of this
period
are commonly
square
and are decorated
with
recessed paneling
or windows.
On the more
elaborate models, four stages of recessing are
usually represented
in
combination
with
a band of
dentil-like projections,
a
louvered
panel, and are
sometimes
surmounted
by
yet another
row of den-
til-like projections and a louvered panel
5
(PI.
1 a).
Incense burners of this type are also found in
Ethiopia (P1. lb). Round incense burners or
altars also are a common link. Several were found
in South Arabia, some of which have parallel in-
cised vertical lines around the body and rest on
tripod legs
7
(P1.
1
c); two examples of
a
similar
form been found at Makalle
8
(P1.
1
d).
There
is
also a curious architectural member which was
perhaps
used to border
doorways
and
windows, and
which
is common to both regions.
This form con-
sists of
a
stone slab, dressed smooth
on one
face,
with two shallow parallel grooves running length-
wise of the slab, both of which are interrupted at
intervals by thin transverse dividers; examples of
this member abound
in
South Arabia, appearing
in
pre-Islamic sites in Hadhramaut (PI. 1 e); Wadi
Beihan, and Yemen, as well as in Ethiopia near
Enda
(erqos
9
(pl.
1
f). The
ceramic
traditions,
on
the other hand, appear to have diverged
consider-
ably, based on the rather limited material
re-
covered to date. This probably
reflects an
increas-
ing tendency toward cultural divergence between
southern Arabia and the Ethiopian plateau. The
only commonly
shared
example
as
yet
isolated
is
sand tempered ware, which appears
in
a limited
repertory of forms. Examples
of this
ware
are
found in
South Arabia between the seventh
or
sixth to the fourth or second centuries
B.
c.
The
most common form
is a
jar with
a
narrow neck,
a flattened flaring rim, sometimes two or more
knobs placed on the shoulder, and a high ring base.
Examples of this ware are found
in
Tigre
Prov-
ince, Ethiopia (PI.
1
g), in Yemen (PI.
1
h), at
3
W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity,
Anchor Books (Garden City, 1957), p. 251.
4
A. Caquot and A. J. Drewes, Les Monuments Re-
cueillis a Maqalle (Tigrp) , '
Annales
d'Lthiopie,
1
(1955), pp. 18-26.
A. Grohmann, Gottersymbole und Symboltiere
aufi
Siidarabischen Denkmdlern
(Vienna, 1914), p. 39.
See
also the writer's
discussion in A New Interpretation
of
the So-called South
Arabian
House
Model,
American
.Jouirnal
of Archaeology, 63 (1959), pp. 269-273,
Pis.
69-76.
'
Caquot and Drewes,
op. cit., pp. 26-32.
7
R. L. Cleveland, An
Ancient South Arabian Necropo-
lius, (Baltimore, 1965), pp. 115-117, PI.
90,
especially TC
1217, 1565.
Caquot and Drewes, op. cit., pp. 39-41.
'See G. Caton Thompson, Tomb8 and Moon Temple of
I1ureidha (Oxford, 1944),
PI. 18: 1 and 21: 2 and pp. 50-51.
G. L.
Harding, Archaeology in the Aden Protectorates,
P1.
33: 70, 74. J. Leclant, Haoulti-Melazo (1955-1956),
Autvales d'tthiopie, III
(1959), p. 54 and
PI.
43: B & C.;
H. de Contenson, Les
Fouilles a Haoulti-Melazo
en
1958, Anunales d'tthiopie, IV (1961), p. 40 and PI. 23:
D;
C. Rathjens,
Sabaeica,
1
(Hamburg, 1953), figs. 60,
109.
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-\T-N
BEEX:
Monuments
of
Axum
1II)
Hajar
Bin
Humeid
in Wadi
Beihan,
and at
nu-
merous sites
in
Hadhramaut10
(PI.
1i).
These
forms seem
to
indicate not a common ceramic
cul-
ture,
but rather
trade between
the
two
regions.
The
virtual
identity of the
culture
of
Ethiopia
and southern Arabia in the first millennium
B.
C.
points
to settlements
by colonialists
or
immigrants
from
southern
Arabia, who
brought
with them
an
already
developed culture which
they
maintained
in
Ethiopia,
adapting
it
to
local
needs.
As
might be
expected,
divergence between
cultural
traditions
took
place
in
the course
of
time,
a
phenomenon
which
can be
shown
to
have
existed elsewhere in
the
ancient
Near
East,
such
as in
Palestine
where
there
are
microcultural
differences between
the
north
and
south,
and
again
between
Palestine
proper
and
Transjordan,
although
a
basic
culture
is common to the entire region.
From
the
first
century
A. D.
until the
coming
of
Christianity
in
the
fourth
century
A.
D.,
Ethiopian
culture
and
South Arabian
culture
seemed
to have
diverged
considerably,
although
adequate
evidence
for
a
certain
judgment
is
lacking
because
of a
dearth
of
archeological
excavations of
this
period.
It
appears
that
each
culture
developed
more or
less
independently,
suggesting
that
contact
between
the
two
regions was
declining.
Perhaps this
loss
of
contact is
in
part
due
to the
gradual
decline
in
the
frankincense
and
myrrh trade
which
formed
the basis
of
South
Arabian
economy,
and
more
particularly of the role played by the southern
Arabian
ports
as
trans-shipment
points
for com-
modities
of
both
east and
west.
It
seems
probable
that
with the
loss
of
trade
revenues,
the
South
Arabs
turned
their
attention
to
more
intensive
agricultural
pursuits, and
I am
inclined
to
think,
based
on little
evidence
at the
moment, that
terrace
agriculture began
in
the
highlands
of
Yemen dur-
ing
this
period.
With
the
coming
of
Christianity to
Ethiopia in
A.
D.
327,
relations
between
Ethiopia
and
southern
Arabia
gradually
intensified.
The
Ethiopians-or
Abyssinians-conquered Saba about
A.D.
335 and
ruled
until
A. D.
370;
during
this
period,
Theophi-
los
converted
the
Sabaean
ruler to
Christianity.
In
the
fifth
century,
the
Sabaean
rulers
adopted
Judaism, and
for
some time
it
appears
that
traces
of
the
old
South
Arabian
polytheism,
Christianity,
and
Judaism
existed side
by
side,
competing
for
the
loyalty
of
the
population.
In the
early
sixth
century A.
D., the
Jewish
ruler,
Dhu-Nuwas,
perse-
cuted
the Christians
and
was
responsible
for
their
massacre
at
al-Ukhdud
in
Negran.
This
act
so
incensed
the
Ethiopians, that
Kaleb and
his
army
crossed the Red Sea and, in
A. D.
525, killed
Dhu-Nuwas.
Ethiopian
rule in
Saba lasted
until
about A.D.
575, when the area was
conquered
by
the
Persians.
Because of
a
lack of
archeological
excavations
of this
period,
there
is
little evidence of
Ethi-
opian-South
Arabian
contact
in
material
culture.
One
example
will
be
cited.
At
Marib,
the
north
sluice
of
the
great
dam, which
was
constructed
between
the
fourth
and sixth
centuries A.
D.,
is
built
with
headers
protruding
beyond
the face
of
the
wall.
This
technique
has
no
real
construc-
tion antecedents in South Arabian architecture.
In
Ethiopian
architecture, on
the
other
hand, the
ends of
wooden
joists
frequently
protruded
beyond
the
face of
the
building,
and
were often
imitated
in
stone.'2 In
view of
the
fact
that the
Ethiopians
politically
dominated
the
Sabaeans
throughout
much
of this
period, it
seems
likely
that
they
might
also
be
responsible
for
such
architectural
forms
as
these
protruding
headers,
and in
a
larger frame-
work, this
technique
should
probably be
interpreted
as
cultural
influence
coming
from
Ethiopia
to
southern
Arabia.
In
summary,
then,
the
basic
structure of
ancient
Ethiopian culture of the historic period was South
Arabian,
and
throughout the
first
millennium B.
C.
these
separate
cultures
remained
close
to
one
another
and
probably
developed
along
close,
paral-
lel
lines.
Toward
the end of
the
period, it
seems
likely
that
they
began to
diverge
and
develop
along
separate
and
independent
lines, a
tendency
which
was
accentuated
during
the
first
three
centuries
A. D.
By
the
time
Christianity
reached
Ethiopia,
Ethiopian
culture
had
achieved a
considerable
measure
of
independence, and
with
the
vigor
which
characterized
its
early
Christian
period,
it
may
have exported aspects of its own culture to
southern
Arabia.
10
See
the
writer's
detailed
description
and
discussion
in
his
forthcoming
volume
Hajar
Bin
Humeid.
1{
R.
LeBaron
Bowen
and
F.
P.
Albright,
Archaeologi-
cal
Discoveries
in
South
Arabia,
(Baltimore,
1958),
P1.
87,
where
protruding
headers
appear in
the
north
face of
the
overflow
wall of
the
north
sluice.
12
In
addition
to
the
stele
(see
below),
early
examples
include
the
church
at
Debra
Damo,
parts
of
which
may
go
back
to
the
6th
century
A.
D.,
See
D.
Krencker,
Deut-
sche
Aksum-Expedition,
II,
(Berlin,
1913),
PI. 25.
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116
VAN BByi: Monuments
of
Axum
THE
STELAE
AT
AxUM
In
April,
1964, on the
invitation
of His
High-
ness Mengesha
Seyoum,13 it was the
writer's
privilege to make
a
brief visit to Axum.
The
most
surprising
impression
which
I,
as a
South Arabian
archeologist, formed was that the archeological
remains at Axum have little that resemble the
pre-
Islamic culture
of
southern
Arabia;
virtually
everything
seen
suggests
the
early
Christian
period.
For example
the inscription of
Ezana-who made
Christianity
the state
religion
of
Ethiopia
in
A.
D.
327-is
carved on
gray
granite,
the
same
stone
used for the major
stelae, as
well as
the
column
and
capital
in
the
park,
and in
the construction
of
portions of the tombs of
Kaleb
and his son
Gabra
Maskal in
the
first half of the 6th
cen-
tury
A.
D.
Further,
in
the
stelae
field
to the
west of the village of Axum, in an area which
until
recently had been
under
cultivation, were
found
many potsherds
and
steep
scrapers.
This
pottery
is all of
the
early Christian
period
as
shown
by
crosses
on bowl
rims;
it
seems
likely,
though by
no means
certain,
that the
steep scrapers
belong to
a
somewhat
earlier
period than
the
pot-
tery.
On
the
high ground
to
the
north
of
this stelae
field
with its
Christian
pottery,
are natural
out-
croppings of rock
on
which
are
scrawled
Christian
rock
carvings
including crosses,
and crosses
with
crowns.
These and
other lines of
evidence lead
to
the
inescapable
conclusion
that Axum is
chiefly
a
creation of the Ethiopian Christian
community.
This
impression
is
borne out by the
data re-
covered
in
the
various
archeological
expeditions
at
Axum.
The
first
of
these,
the Deutsche
Aksum
Ex-
pedition
of
1906,
directed
by
D.
Krencker,
yielded
nothing definitely
pre-Christian.14 The
more
recent
French
excavations by
Jean Leclant
and
Henri de
Contenson from 1955
to the
present15
have shown
that the area
of the stelae
and plat-
forms
contains three
periods of
occupation: the
uppermost is
a recent
17th century
cemetery in-
truding into
the lower
remains; the
second, an
intensive building phase dated by the excavators
to the 5th-8th
centuries
A.
D.;
the
third,
the earliest
occupation
in
the
late
third-early
fourth
century
A. D. at
which time
the
excavatorsbelieve the stelae
were erected
and the
platforms constructed.
The
chief
dating evidence
of this period
are coins
of
Ezana and other early rulers, some of whom were
pre-Christian.
Coins of
the
pre-Christian
rulers,
of
course, may
have
been in circulation for
some
time,
and
do not
require
a
contemporary
occupa-
tion of
the
area,
although
this is
certainly possible.
It has
been
generally assumed that
the monu-
mental stelae
at
Axum
belong
to
pre-Christian
times,
and
more
particularly
to the
period
im-
mediately
preceding the
coming
of
Christianity.16
It has
also been
suggested
that they derived
from
both native
Ethiopian and
South Arabian
archi-
tectural
forms;
17
and
that
they
represent
a
House of God, terminating in the firmament, in
which
the Sabaean
sun-god is
supposed to re-
side,
18
or the
various
heavens
of the
gods
whose
chief
was
the
sun-god and
whose
symbol was fast-
ened
to the
uppermost
surface of
the stele;
'I
or
that
they
functioned as
grave-stones and
memo-
rials.20
Let us
examine the
stelae in detail,
con-
sidering their
assumed
connections
with
South
Arabian
architectural
motifs, as well as
their
prob-
able date
and function.
The
finely worked
architectural
monuments,
which
are six in
number,
consist of
two parts:
a
stele,
and
a
platform
(PI. 2:
a-d). The
platform,
which normally enclosed the base of the stele on
three
sides,
may have
functioned as
some kind
of
an
altar. In all
instances
in which
the
platforms
13
The
writer
wishes to
express
here
his
gratitude
to
His
Highness
for
having
made
this
visit
possible,
and
for
local
arrangements which
greatly
facilitated this
survey.
14
D.
Krencker,
Deutsche
Aksum-Expedition,
II,
(Ber-
lin,
1913).
1'
J.
Leclant,
Les
Fouilles
A
Axoum
en
1955-1956:
Rapport
pr~1iminaire,
Annales
d'JKthiopie, III
(1959),
pp.
3-24.
H.
de
Contenson,
Les
Fouilles a
Axoum
en
1957:
Rapport
preliminaire,
ibid.,
pp.
25-42.
16E.
A.
W.
Budge,
A
History
of
Ethiopia,
II
(Lon-
don),
pp.
621-627, dated them
between
the
Ptolemaic
period and
Ezana.
D.
Krencker, op.
cit., p.
30,
assigned
them
between
the
1st
and 4th
centuries
A.
D.
S.
Pank-
hurst,
Ethiopia: A
Cultural
History,
(Essex,
1955), p.
62,
assigns
them
to
before
A. D.
327. E.
Ullendorff,
The
Ethiopians,
(London,
1960),
p.
55,
attributes them
to
Ezana.
17
D.
Krencker,
op.
cit., p.
16
and
30,
correctly
derives
the
basic
design and
architectural
form
from
earlier
Ethiopian
construction.
Ullendorff's
suggestion
(op. cit.,
p.
160)
that
the
multistoried
aspect
is
reminiscent
of
the
high and
many
storied
buildings in
southern
Arabia
is
most
improbable.
While
the
multistoried
structure
is
the
most
distinctive
architectural
feature
in
South
Arabia in
modern
times, we
have
absolutely
no
evidence
that
such
construction
was
used
in
the
pre-Islamic
period.
18
J.
T.
Bent,
The
Sacred
City of
the
Ethiopians,
(Lon-
don,
1893),
p.
185.
19
Budge,
op.
cit.,
p.
627.
20
Ullendorff,
op. cit.,
p.
160.
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VAN BEEK: Monuments
of
Axum
1
17
have
been
finished,
there is a
series of four
hollows,
sometimes
plain,
and
sometimes
elaborately
worked
to
resemble recessed
bowls.
Where
there
is a
step
or
secondary platform
in
front of the
stele,
one
of
the hollows
is
located in
that
step.
The
platform
of the standing stele also has a great number of
small
shallow
holes, some of which
are
arranged
in
lines
and
others
in
symmetrical
groups. The
fact
that
none of
the
other
platforms
have
holes of
this
type
suggests that these are a
later
addition
and
may
have
been
used
for
playing
a
game,21
simply
because
this
platform
has been
exposed. Around
the rim
of this
platform
is a
grapevine
motif of
a
type which
appears
in
the
Hellenistic
world in
the
first
century in.
c.,
achieves
considerable
popularity
in
the
early
centuries
A. D.,
and
is
adopted by
Islamic
artists
after
the
seventh
century A.
D.
This
particular
design can be paralleled in southern
Arabia;
excellent
examples
of
it
occur
on
exposed
blocks
at Husn
el-Urr
in
lladhramaut,22
where
it
probably
belongs
to
the
late
first-third
centuries
A. D.
The
use of
this
motif
at
Axum
indicates
that
the
stelae
cannot
precede
the first
century
B.
C.,
and
in all
probabilitybelong
after the
first
century A.
D.
All
authors
who
have
addressed
themselves
to
the
subject
of
the
purpose
of
the
platforms
agree
that
they
functioned as
sacrificial
altars
where
blood
sacrifices
were
made, and where
offerings of
wine,
milk, and
bread
were
placed.23
While
it
seems
likely
that the
bowls
were
intended
for
some
kind of libations, it is most improbable that they
were
designed as
sacrificial
altars,
since
they are
entirely
different from
the
known
sacrificial
altars
of
the
pre-Christian
period in
Ethiopia
and
the
pre-Islamic
period
in
South
Arabia,
which
are
furnished
with
a
sloping
drain
spout,
usually
ter-
minating
in
the
head
of a
bull.
The stelae
themselves
are
granite
monoliths;
the
largest-which
fell in
antiquity
perhaps
while
being
erected-is
110
ft.
long,
and
the
second
largest-which
is still
standing-is
70
ft.
high
(P1. 2: a);
none of the monumental
stelae
are
smaller than
40
ft. Immediately
above
the plat-
form, each
stele
has a false
stone
door, sometimes
equipped
with
a carved
stone
doorpull
near the left
edge
as one
faces
the
door.
Rarely is
a door
indi-
cated on the back side. Just beyond the door
jambs,
and both above
and below
the
level
of the
door,
are squared
ends
of beams rendered
in stone.
Above
the door
and
the
beams,
is
a
row
of
dentil-
like
projections,
but
without
the
louvered panel
with
which
it
is always
associated
in architectural
motifs
from pre-Islamic
South
Arabia;
this sug-
gests
that
a considerable
period
of
independent
development
occurred
during
which the
purpose
of
the original
motif
was forgotten, selectivity
took
place,
and the
retained
design
element
became
firmly
established.
It is interesting
to note
that
an identical door is found in the tomb of Gabra
MKaskal,on
and successorof
Kaleb,
located
a short
distance
north of
Axum.24
Since
this
tomb
dates
to the
sixth century
A.
D., the
similarity
of
its
doorway
with
that
represented
on the stelae
sug-
gests
this
architectural
form
is common
to
the
early
Christian
period
of Ethiopia.
Above
the doorway,
the stelae
are carved to
represent
successive
stories
of
a building,
ranging
in number
from three
to twelve.
Between
each
story
is
a
row of
round projections
which pre-
sumably represent
round beams
or
logs
which
served
as
ceiling joists.
As noted
above,25
the
method
of construction
imitated
here
has
no
ante-
cedents
in
southern
Arabia;
that
it is
Ethiopian
in
origin
can be assumed,
but
the
absence
of evidence
from
pre-Christian
times
indicates
that
it
is
a com-
paratively
late
development.
Each
story
is further
marked
by a row
of windows,
covered
with
lattice
consisting of
horizontal
and
vertical
members.
These
windows
are
exceptionally
simple,
altogether
lacking the complexity
of
the
lattice window
in
South
Arabia
as is
found in
the
temple
Haram
Bilqis at Marib.26 Further,
none
of
the windows
on the stelae
are crowned with
the
row of dentil-
like projections and the louvered panel which com-
monly appear
both
above lattice
windows
and in
recessed
panelling
in
South
Arabian
examples
dating
between
the seventh
and
first centuries
B. C.
21 J
owe
this
suggestion
to a
number of
persons
who
participated in the discussion of
this
paper
at the
Afri-
can
Studies
Association
meeting.
There is
at
least one
group of
18
hollows
arranged
in
3 rows
of
6
hollows
each.
Bent
(op.
cit.,
pp. 72
f.)
calls
attention
to
an
Ethiopian
game
called
Gabatta',
which
requires
a
board
with
18
holes.
22
See
Harding,
Archaeology
in
the
Aden
Protectorates,
PI.
37:
1-3.
21
Budge,
op.
cit.,
p.
627.
Bent
(op.
cit.,
p.
185)
speaks
of
the
altars
receiving
blood
of
slaughtered
victims.
24
For a good summary
discussion of this structure,
see Pankhurst, op.
cit.,
pp.
88-94, and P1. 14.
25
See note 12.
26
Bowen and Albright,
Archaeological Discoveries
in
South
Arabia, p. 223 and PIs. 162, 165, 166,
and 168.
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118
VAN BEEK: Monuments
of Axunt
If the windows on the
stelae at Axum are
related
to
the
recessed
lattice
windows of southern
Arabia,
they
must
represent
a late
stage
of
development
which
could hardly
have occurred
before the
early
centuries of
the Christian era.
In the
top
three
stories of the largest of the stelae (the one which
fell and
broke),27
the windows are covered with
a
kind
of tracery which
presumably
imitates
tracery
either
in
stone
or
plaster.
While
such
tracery
com-
monly
occurs
during
the
Islamic
period
in
South
Arabia,
the writer knows of no
instances
in
pre-
Islamic Arabia.
Indeed,
the fact
that
tracery
does
not
appear before the
beginning
of
the Christian
era in
southern
Arabia may
be
taken
as an indica-
tion
of the
relatively late
date
of the
stelae.
The
stelae terminate
in an
arch-shaped top.
IBelow he
arching
rim
on the
face are
one or
two
flat surfaces with groups of cuttings for the attach-
ment
of some kind of
plaque or
standard. It has
been
suggested
that the standard
was the
crescent
and
disk, an
exceptionally
common symbol in
the
pre-Christian
and pre-Islamic
periods in
both
Ethiopia
and
southern
Arabia.28
A
careful
exami-
nation
of the
arrangement of these
holes in every
stele, however,
shows that it
would have been diffi-
cult
if
not
impossible to fit a
disk and
crescent,
since
some
holes would have
been left unfilled.
On
the other
hand, a cross,
bordered by a circular
or
arching band
representing a crown, by
a garland,
or
by ears
of grain in
any of a number
of combi-
nations and styles would fit the holes nicely (PI.
3:
a-e).29 The designs
used in these
drawings are
based on motifs found on
the
early
Christian
coins
ranging from
the
reigns
of
Ezana to
Hataz
II,
from
the 4th to the
9th
centuries
A.
D.'0
In
one
reconstruction (PI.
3:
d),
a
gabled
roof
chest
is
used, which
is
based on the
so-called
unique
stele at Axum, which must be roughly contempo-
rary with
the other
stelae. Pankhurst
plausibly
suggests
that the chest
shown
on
the
unique
stele
may represent
the
Ark of the
Covenant
or
a
Torah
shrine in
view of the Judaic influence
in
the
thought of
the
early
Ethiopian
Church.31
A
number of
lines of
evidence,
therefore, indi-
cate
an
early
Christian date for
the Axumite stelae.
The absence of
a
significant
pre-Christian
occupa-
tion at
Axum, the
divergent architectural
motifs
represented
on the
stelae
which have
no
counter-
part in
southern
Arabia, the
similarity of the
stelae
false door with that of the sixth century
A. D.
tomb
of
Gabra
Maskal, and
the
arrangement of the
drill-
ings
at the
top of the
stele for
the
attachment
of an
Ethiopian
cross,
all
point to
a
date
for
the stelae
in
the early
Christian period
in
Ethiopia,
probably
between
the
fourth and
sixth
centuries A.
D. The
ruder
stelae,
which are
found in
profusion in
the
area
of Axum
and which
are only
rarely
decorated,
possibly
belong to
about the
same
period,
but
there
is
nothing to
prevent
them
from being
somewhat
earlier or
later.
The fact
that the
stele
form is
known at
Mlatara n
Ethiopia
as well
as in
southern
Arabia
suggests that
this
pagan,
pre-Islamic
form
was
taken
over by
the early
Christians and
infused
with
a new
meaning.
FUNCTION OF THE
STELAB
If
these
stelae are
indeed Christian
monuments,
what was
their
purpose?
Since
they
certainly
were
not
utilitarian,
what
symbolism did
they por-
tray?
With
no
great
measure of
confidence, the
writer
suggests
that they
may
have been
a graphic
representation of
the words
of Jesus
contained in
the
Gospel
of
John 14:
2
ff: In
my
Father's
house
are
many
mansions, if
it were
not
so
I
would
have
told
you;
for I go
to
prepare a place
for you.
And
if I
go
to
prepare
a
place for
you, I will
come
again, and will
receive
you
unto
myself; that
27
Krencker,
op.
cit., pp.
8-10,
Pis.
8-10.
28Most
scholars
allude here
to the
plain
stele
from
Matara,
which
has
a
typical
crescent
and
disk
symbol,
(C.
Conti
Rossini,
Storia
d'Ttiopia,
1
[Milan,
1928],
PI.
42:
127),
together
with
pre-Christian
Ethiopian
coins
which
carry the
same
symbol
on
the
reverse. See
Krencker
(op.
cit., p.
142, fig.
276),
who follows
Litt-
mann,
and
A.
Kammerer,
Essad
sur
l'Histoire
Antique
d'Abyssinie,
(Paris,
1926), pp.
131 ff.
291Krencker's
arguments
(op.
cit.,
pp.
12f.),
that the
arrangement of
the
holes
does
not
determine
the
shape
of
the
plaque,
and
that
a
cross was
not
used
because
the
stelae are pagan monuments have little
force.
Dowel
holes
do
provide
a
reasonably
good
indication
of
the
design,
since
they
must
provide
adequate over
all
sup-
port,
especially
at points
where the
design is
not
con-
tinuous,
as
in
the
case
of the
arms
of a
cross or
the
ends
of a
crescent.
If a
solid
plaque
with
a
relief
design
had
been
used,
fewer
and
more
evenly
spaced
holes
would
have
been
cut.
With
regard to
his
second
argu-
ment,
one
can
only
say
that
Krencker is
reasoning in
a
circle,
i.
e.,
the
monuments
had
a
disk
and
crescent
sym-
bol
and
are
therefore
pagan;
since
they are
pagan, they
could
not have
used
the
cross, but
must
have
employed
the
disk
and
crescent.
30
See
Arturo
Anzani,
Corpus delle
Monete
Axumite,
Revista
Italiana
di
Numismatica
e
Scienze
Affini,
III:
39
(1926), PI.
A-K.
Conti
Rossini,
op. cit., PIS.
60
f.
81
Pankhurst,
op. cit.,
pp.
76-80
and
PIS.
10-11.
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B1EK:
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of
Axum
119
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Hwle
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