Hawulti (monument)
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Hawulti (monument)
Hawulti () is a pre-Aksumite obelisk located in Matara, Eritrea. The monument bears the oldest known example of the ancient Ge'ez script. Description The Hawulti monument is high, with a disk and crescent at the top; Ullendorff believes these symbols "no doubt meant to place the stele under the protection of the gods, probably of Šams, the Sun goddess, and of Sin, the Moon god". These pre- Christian symbols, as well as paleographical characteristics such as the lack of vowel marks in the Ge'ez script, convinced Ullendorff that the monument dated "to the early part of the fourth century A.D." Ullendorff translated of the inscription as follows: : This is the obelisk which had made : 'Agaz for his fathers who have : carried off the youth of ‘W’ : ‘LF as well as of SBL. His translation differs from Enno Littmann at several points. First, Littmann believed the third line referred to the digging of canals nearby (his translation, "zog die Kannaele von `Aw`a") desp ...
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Matara, Eritrea
Metera or መጠራ(𐩣𐩷𐩧) is a small town and important archeological site located in the Debub Region of Eritrea. Situated a few kilometers south of Senafe (ጸንዓፈ), it was a major city in the Dʿmt (𐩵𐩲𐩣𐩩) and Aksumite kingdoms. Since Eritrean independence, the National Museum of Eritrea has petitioned the Ethiopian government to return artifacts removed from the site. However, the efforts have thus far been rebuffed. History Matara is the name of both a small village and an important archaeological site in Eritrea. The latter is located some 136 kilometers southeast of the capital Asmara, just past Senafe on the road leading south to the border with the northern Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The archaeological site already has yielded evidence of several levels of habitation, including at least two different major cities, covering more than 1000 years. The topmost layers are associated with the Aksumite Empire and date from the fourth to the eighth centu ...
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Gunda Gunde
Gunda Gunde Monastery ( ti, ገዳም ጉንዳ ጉንዶ ''Gädam gunida gunido'') is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo monastery located to the south of Adigrat in the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone of the northern Tigray Region in Ethiopia. It is known for its prolific scriptorium, as well as its library of Ge'ez manuscripts. This collection of over 220 volumes, all but one dating from before the 16th century, is one of the largest collections of its kind in Ethiopia. History Gunda Gunde was founded by followers of Saint Estifanos seeking a refuge from the persecutions of their beliefs in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, finding it in the remote region of the modern Irob woreda. According to a tradition recorded by Justin de Jacobis, the monastery was built on a crater where a dragon named Gabella dwelled, which was appeased with the periodic sacrifice of young women until the monks' prayers tamed it. The remoteness of the monastery attracted other groups at odds with t ...
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Axumite Obelisks
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in what is now northern Ethiopia, and spanning modern-day Eritrea, northern Djibouti, and eastern Sudan, it extended at its height into much of modern-day southern Arabia during the reign of King Kaleb. Axum served as the kingdom's capital for many centuries but relocated to Jarma in the 9th century due to declining trade connections and recurring external invasions. Emerging from the earlier Dʿmt civilization, the kingdom was likely founded in the early 1st century. Pre-Aksumite culture developed in part due to a South Arabian influence, evident in the use of the Ancient South Arabian script and the practice of Ancient Semitic religion. However, the Geʽez script came into use by the 4th century, and as the kingdom became a major power on th ...
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History Of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa, the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Due to migration and imperial expansion, it grew to include many other primarily Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities, including Amhara, Oromos, Somalis, Tigray, Afars, Sidama, Gurage, Agaw and Harari, among others. One of the early kingdoms to rise to power in the territory was the kingdom of D'mt in the 10th century BC, which established its capital at Yeha. In the first century AD the Aksumite Kingdom rose to power in the Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum and grew into a major power on the Red Sea, subjugating Yemen and Meroe. In the early fourth century, during the reign of Ezana, Christianity was declared the state religion. Ezana's reign is also when the Aksumites first identified themselves as "Ethiopians", and not long after, Philostorgius became the first foreign author to call the Aksumites Ethiopians. The Aksumite empire fell into decline w ...
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History Of Eritrea
"Eritrea" is an ancient name, associated in the past with its Greek form ''Erythraia'', Ἐρυθραία, and its derived Latin form ''Erythræa''. This name relates to that of the Red Sea, then called the ''Erythræan Sea'', from the Greek for "red", ἐρυθρός, ''erythros''. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara, and named it with its current name. After World War II, Eritrea was annexed to Ethiopia. In 1991, the communist Ethiopian government was toppled by TPLFand Eritrean people liberation front are earned their independence. Eritrea officially celebrated its 1st anniversary of independence on May 24, 1994. Prehistory At Buya in Eritrea, one of the oldest hominids representing a possible link between '' Homo erectus'' and an archaic ''Homo sapiens'' was discovered by Eritrean and Italian scientists. Dated to over 1 million years old, it is the oldest skeletal find of its kind and provides a link between hominids and the ea ...
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6th-century BC Inscriptions
The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the previous century left Europe fractured into many small Germanic kingdoms competing fiercely for land and wealth. From the upheaval the Franks rose to prominence and carved out a sizeable domain covering much of modern France and Germany. Meanwhile, the surviving Eastern Roman Empire began to expand under Emperor Justinian, who recaptured North Africa from the Vandals and attempted fully to recover Italy as well, in the hope of reinstating Roman control over the lands once ruled by the Western Roman Empire. In its second Golden Age, the Sassanid Empire reached the peak of its power under Khosrau I in the 6th century.Roberts, J: "History of the World.". Penguin, 1994. The classical Gupta Empire of Northern India, largely overrun by the Huna (people), ...
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Yeha
Yeha ( gez, ይሐ ''yiḥa'', older ESA 𐩥𐩢 ''ḤW''; Old South Arabian: 𐩺𐩢𐩱 ''Yḥʾ'') is a town in the Maekelay Zone of the northern Tigray Region in Ethiopia. It likely served as the capital of the pre-Aksumite kingdom of D'mt. Archeology The oldest standing structure in Ethiopia, the Temple of Yeha, is located in Yeha. This is a tower built in the Sabaean style, and dated through comparison with ancient structures in South Arabia to around 700 BC. Although no radiocarbon dating testing has been performed on samples from site, this date for the Great Tower is supported by local inscriptions.David W. Phillipson, ''Ancient Churches of Ethiopia'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 36 David Phillipson attributes its "excellent preservation" to two factors, "the care with which its original builders ensured a level foundation, firmly placed on the uneven bedrock; and to its rededication -- perhaps as early as the sixth century AD -- for use as a Christi ...
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Monolithic Architecture
Monolithic architecture describes buildings which are carved, cast or excavated from a single piece of material, historically from rock. The most basic form of monolithic architecture is a rock-cut building, such as the monolithic churches of Ethiopia built by the Zagwe dynasty, or the Pancha Rathas in India. These are cut out of solid rock, to which they remain attached at the base. In most cases this is evident from the remaining surrounding rock, but sometimes a building is cut from an outcrop, as in the Shore Temple in southern India, and only inspection at close quarters reveals that the building is monolithic. The terms ''monolith'' and '' monolithic column'' are normally used for objects made from a single large piece of rock which is detached from the ground. They may have been moved a considerable distance, as with several ancient Egyptian obelisks, which have been moved around the world. Buildings with a structural material that is poured into place, most commonly ...
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King Ezana's Stela
King Ezana's Stele is a 4th century obelisk in the ancient city of Axum, in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. The monument stands in the middle of the Northern Stelae Park, which contains hundreds of smaller and less decorated stelae. This stele is probably the last one erected and the largest of those that remain unbroken. King Ezana of Axum's Stele stands tall, smaller than the collapsed Great Stele and the better-known "Obelisk of Axum" (reassembled and unveiled on 4 September 2008). It is decorated with a false door at its base and apertures resembling windows on all sides. History This monument, properly termed a stele (' or ' in the local Afroasiatic language) was carved and erected in the 4th century by subjects of the Kingdom of Aksum, an ancient civilization focussed in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands. The stelae are thought to be "markers" for underground burial chambers. The largest grave markers were for royal burial chambers and were decorated with multi-story fa ...
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Ezana Stone
The Ezana Stone is an ancient stele still standing in modern day Axum in Ethiopia, the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. This stone monument, that probably dates from the 4th century of the Christian era, documents the conversion of King Ezana to Christianity and his conquest of various neighbouring areas, including Meroë. From AD 330 to 356, King Ezana ruled the ancient Kingdom of Aksum centred in the Horn of Africa. He fought against the Nubians, and commemorated his victories on stone tablets in praise of God. These liturgical epigraphs were written in various ancient languages, including the Ethiopian Semitic Ge'ez, the South Arabian Sabaean, and Greek. The king's engravings in stone provided a trilingual monument in different languages, similar to the Rosetta stone. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church had its beginnings during this period. Rufinus's ''Ecclesiastical History'' narrates that Saint Frumentius, a freed slave and tutor for the very young King, conve ...
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National Museum Of Eritrea
The National Museum of Eritrea is a national museum in Asmara, Eritrea. Established in 1992 by Woldeab Woldemariam, it was originally located in the former Governor's Palace until 1997, when it was moved. The venue has since been relocated to the former Comboni Sisters School for Women. The function of the National Museum of Eritrea is to promote Eritrean history, both within the country and abroad. It also aims to investigate new archaeological sites, and to explore the country's history. In 1996, Eritrea's central government nominated the following six sites to be considered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Adulis, Dahlak Kebir, Matara, Nakfa and Qohaito. Background North-central Eritrea was the coastal region of the Ethiopian Empire until 1889. Italian colonial occupation of northern Ethiopia began during the 1880s, out of which Italian Eritrea was formally created in 1890, following the death of Emperor Yohannes. It was ruled by Italy until 1941, after which it was ta ...
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