A civilization: African and Arab

From the beginning of the pre-Aksum period (during the early part of the first millennium BC), the city of Aksum (or Axum) became the central focus of a commercial civilization that grew to combine elements of Semitic culture (southern of Arabia) with an indigenous African economic culture, which originally may have had similarities to the more recent Iron Age settlements of southern Africa at Mapungubwe and Zimbabwe. There were also more exotic (and presumably less important) influences on this civilization from the Persian Achaemenid, Greek, Egyptian, and Nubian (Kushite) civilizations. In time, the full-fledged Aksumite civilization had trade ties as distant as Rome, Byzantine Constantinople, and even India.

Aksum itself is an existing city located at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, at the northern end of the vast Ethiopian plateau. It is close to the source of the Nile Atbara, about 150 km south of the present regional center of Asmara and 200 km west of the Red Sea coast. Due to the high altitude, it is relatively well watered, with a warm and healthy climate, capable of supporting the cultivation of cereals and the raising of cattle. It straddles an ancient trade route, connecting the central Ethiopian plateau with the rough, dry, low Eritrean plain. This route reached the coast of the Red Sea at the port of Adulis, in ancient times an important link with the coastal cities of southern Arabia, just across the narrow gulf and the maritime trade route north through the Red Sea to Egypt and the Mediterranean. Another important caravan route started from the plateau in a westerly direction through the Atbara valley and the Wadi Hawad road, reaching the Nile valley in the kingdom of Meroe in the interior of Sudan (Nubian). Local routes also led north to organized settlements in the Gash Delta area and south to remote centers scattered across the vast Ethiopian plateau.

That it has become a large international commercial center is well established. In addition to the ubiquitous relics of South Arabia, numerous imported ancient trade items, ceramics, manufactured artifacts and coins from remote areas such as Greece, Egypt, Byzantium and India have been found in the Aksum region. In addition to the many inscriptions in the Sabaean script of southern Arabia, there are others in the local language that use Greek characters. Existing manuscripts of Mediterranean civilizations, written in historical times, have left us references to Aksum and Adulis. These include works by the Roman author Pliny the Elder; the well-known Roman / Byzantine historian Priscus; Agatharchides of Cnidus who wrote: In the Eritrean Sea, and the unknown author of Periplus Maris Erythraei and even a fictional story of Heliodorus, the Ethiopian history. (Connah, 1987). There were also later Islamic historians who recorded earlier oral traditions. These various sources give some evidence of the type of goods exported from the region (ivory, gold, furs, aromatic oils, slaves, etc.) They also speak of Aksum’s commercial ties and some of the history of its rulers. However, the historical, epigraphic, linguistic and (very limited) archaeological evidence for the Pre-Aksumite phase is somewhat contradictory and therefore difficult to reconcile into a clear and coherent picture of how this commercial state and its culture unique may have really evolved.

Conventional wisdom has long held that Aksum’s prosperity and strategic importance derived entirely from its connection to South Arabia, insofar as the civilization was a mere “transplant from South Arabia” (Phillipson: 1990: 55-59) The accepted position was that Aksum’s whole raison d’être was to be a kind of commercial emporium for the Arabs, as Shanghai was in the late 19th century for the Europeans. An additional proposal, considered by some, is total colonization by an Eritrean group with cultural ties to South Arabia, moving from the coastal plain. However, Phillipson makes a very compelling case for an African indigenous base for the initial growth in importance of the pre-Aksum region. First, he points out that if trade with Arabia were of the utmost importance, a site actually on the coast, or at least closer to the eastern edge of the plateau, with a therefore shorter route, would have been much more appropriate than Aksum himself. Phillipson argues that it was actually intraregional trade between the wealthy localities of the central and western Ethiopian plateau and the Sudanese lowlands, along with a viable well-established local agricultural base for settlement, that predetermined Aksum’s suitability to be the main region. growth point.

An agricultural surplus is always a prerequisite to support the formation of the elite power group, necessary to transform a loosely connected indigenous society into an organized state of any kind. Once a structured environment is in place to provide security, any remaining agricultural surplus can be used to exchange with immediate neighbors in the area to compensate for specific deficiencies or deficiencies in local crop production or to improve herds. Over time, the network would expand in search of more exotic goods and luxuries, possibly from more technically advanced areas. In the mature phase of its existence, if the location is suitable, the state or its private citizens would use their facilities and marketing skills to act as intermediaries, marketing non-indigenous products in both directions, with the intention of making a substantial profit in the exchange. If all goes well, the model becomes self-sufficient. Applying this logic to the Aksum case, Arab and international trade across the Red Sea could only have grown in importance. after Aksum had already established its prominence as an important local center for intraregional indigenous trade and agriculture. The initial phases of this process probably developed over several centuries. However, at some point, the existence of flourishing local markets attracted the attention of foreign traders and, once Arab and international trade began, it gave more impetus to general prosperity and promoted the formation of a strong state and growth. culture of the Aksum area. Unfortunately, little archaeological evidence has yet accumulated to establish what the true basis of this original wealth really was. The recent political instability between Ethiopia and Eritrea has delayed the necessary archaeological research for some time.

However, there is considerable architectural, ceramic and epigraphic evidence showing very close links between the urban ruling elite and the kingdom of Saba (Biblical Saba) and some other cities of southern Arabia during the middle of the first millennium BC. During this period, known as the Middle Pre-Aksumite era, impressive monumental structures such as the Obelisk of Aksum (stolen by Mussolini) and also temples and sage-style inscriptions at Aksum, Yeha, Kaskase, Marib, Kohairo, Matara and Adulis are a clear evidence. of a complex and prosperous society The strategic and cultural connections between the elite leadership group and the southern Arabs, whether the result of conquest, trade ties, political alliances or strategic marriages, resulted in the area consolidating in a kingdom run on the Sabean model. (tea D’mt = Daamat kingdom), which lasted through the middle centuries of the first millennium BC. The region copied the use of the plow, writing, architecture and irrigation techniques of the Arabs. Many of the gods known in Aksum at this time were of Arab origin and their cult was worshiped in a similar way to Saba. Pre-Aksumite Kings took the titles mkrb as in the Sabean mukarib (Fattovich: 1990 pp. 1-14) although the more common ancient Semitic title for the king was also sometimes used mlk gold malikas in Ugaritic or Hebrew).

However, it appears that the local indigenous culture reasserted itself in the late pre-Aksum phase and the kingdom split and much of the Arab cultural influence disappeared from the Aksum region (Fattovich, 1990). However, the language is not so easily lost and linguistic evidence shows that the Semitic languages ​​still used in this region have their roots in the Arabian Peninsula. Opinion is divided as to whether the sage language was commonly spoken by all the inhabitants of the middle Pre-Aksumite state, or only by a ruling elite. It is also not known whether the adoption of the language was due to an early prehistoric migration of peoples from across the Red Sea or due to acculturation as a result of the Arab conquest of the pre-Aksumite state or some other close association. Over time, the language became less like Southern Arabic and evolved through an intermediate language called Ge’ez into the modern languages ​​of Amharic, Tiger, and Tigrinya (Connah, 1987).

Whatever the reason for its initial growth and the cultural components that make up its society, Aksum was able to thrive as a strong business entity for over a thousand years. This was because it had a good agricultural base to feed its citizens and its trading caravans were able to supply themselves with African products, much needed by the rich civilizations of the Mediterranean basin. In exchange, he brought back manufactures such as cloth and metal weapons that were demanded by the inland African tribes. So successful was he in these ventures that Aksum likely caused the downfall of Meroe in the early 4th century AD, by diverting most of African trade from the long-established Nile route to his own Red Sea fleet. It was also admirably positioned through its port at Adulis to redistribute valuable spices such as frankincense and myrrh from Arabia Felix, as well as many other products from the East Coast and Horn of Africa and the islands to India. These products included aromatic oils, chewing gum, colorants, and kohl, etc. However, in the 9th century AD, the pressure of the growth of Islam persuaded Ethiopians (by then Christians) to take an isolationist path, retreating to their highlands and out of sight of the world. This determination was coupled with a growing social trend toward a form of undeveloped feudalism. Indeed, the state of Aksum had lost its raison d’être and was finally destroyed by a tribal chiefdom from within.

Ethiopia became a forgotten, isolated and isolationist land, firmly Christian, in a region now dominated by Islam. The vague stories of a legendary warrior ruler, Prester John, continued to trickle down to the West, but nothing was known at all of the isolated Christian kingdom he was supposed to rule. However, this very withdrawal from world affairs ensured the kingdom’s unique resistance as an indigenous cultural entity unconquered to this day. It was this fiercely independent spirit that, with the help of a few British and South African troops, was finally able to defeat a belated colonization attempt by Mussolini’s Italian fascists.