What were the social classes of Axum?
They also provide some evidence that Aksum had a social hierarchy: bureaucrats, priests, soldiers, merchants, and artisans. Aksum had its own coinage, each dynasty etched onto the gold coins.
What was the Axum empire known for?
The Kingdom of Aksum is notable for a number of achievements, such as its own alphabet, the Ge’ez alphabet. Under Emperor Ezana, Aksum adopted Christianity, which gave rise to the present-day Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church.
What are three facts about Axum Kingdom?
Interesting Facts about the Kingdom of Aksum
- The city of Axum still exists in northern Ethiopia.
- The stone buildings in Aksum were built without the use of mortar.
- The city of Adulis was destroyed by Islamic invaders in 710.
What 3 things was Aksum known for?
Aksum managed trade between India and the Mediterranean in ivory, gold, emeralds, silk, spices, agricultural products, salt, exotic animals, manufactured goods, and much more. In the first century CE, Aksum flourished. They could afford to build a powerful navy to patrol the Red Sea and protect their trade routes.
How was Axum’s government organized?
Type of Government Aksumite kings generally used family members as court advisers and palace administrators, but depended on the leaders of client states to govern the vast hinterland. In this respect, Aksum was essentially a federation, held together by the prestige and authority of its negusa nagast (king of kings).
What did the Kingdom of Axum practice?
The Axumites adopted Christianity as the state religion in 325 or 328 AD under King Ezana, and Axum was the first state ever to use the image of the cross on its coins.
Why is Axum important to history?
Aksum was the first African country to mint its own coins—in gold, silver, and bronze—all in the standard weight categories issued by the Roman Empire. These coins have been recovered in multiple foreign locations, including as far away as India.
What was the main reason for the kingdom of Axum’s success and growth?
The Rise of Axum Major influences include the Sabaean people from Southern Arabia, the local Da’amot people, and the declining Kingdom of Kush in modern-day Sudan. As Kush lost power, it presented the people of Axum an opportunity to grow and they took it.
What is the history of Axum?
The African kingdom of Axum (also Aksum) was located on the northern edge of the highland zone of the Red Sea coast, just above the horn of Africa. It was founded in the 1st century CE, flourished from the 3rd to 6th century CE, and then survived as a much smaller political entity into the 8th century CE.
How was trade important for the Kingdom of Axum?
Considered as important as the empires in Rome, Persia and China, the kingdom of Aksum arose in the Horn of Africa. This location provided access to trade in the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean, allowing it to become a powerful trading hub.
What are two reasons the kingdom of Axum was very wealthy?
The Aksumites took full advantage of these commercial opportunities. Gold and ivory were perhaps their most valuable export commodities, but they also trafficked in tortoise shells, rhinoceros horns, frankincense, myrrh, emeralds, salt, live animals, and enslaved people.
What religion did the Axum practice?
Christianity
Kingdom of Aksum
| Kingdom of Aksum መንግሥተ አኵስም (Ge’ez) | |
|---|---|
| Common languages | Ge’ez Greek (from 1st century)Sabaic |
| Religion | Christianity (Orthodox Tewahedo; official after mid-4th century) Aksumite polytheism (official before 350) |
| Demonym(s) | Aksumite, Abyssinian, Ethiopian |
| Government | Monarchy |
What is one political feature of Axum?
Axum’s political rulers used its newly found power, gained from trading, to build a centralized state that tightly controlled its people. By the third century A.D. Axum had established its own currency.
What was the economic basis of Axum?
The main exports of Aksum were, as would be expected of a state during this time, agricultural products. The land was much more fertile during the time of the Aksumites than now, and their principal crops were grains such as wheat and barley. The people of Aksum also raised cattle, sheep, and camels.
What are the factors that led to the rise of Axum?
Why was Axum built?
Centered as a trade city between Persia and Rome, the city of Axum flourished in culture, power and wealth. A pagan Kingdom during its early peak, giant pillars were erected to mark the tombs of important leaders.
What religion was practiced in the kingdom of Axum?
Christianity. Aksum embraced the Orthodox tradition of Christianity in the 4th century (c. 340–356 C.E.) under the rule of King Ezana.
What religion did the Axum empire practice?
Was Axum religion and government combined?
Government of the Axum Empire With the adoption of Christianity, religion became more intertwined with government. Inscriptions of King Ezana in the 340s C.E., for instance, document bloodshed, conquest, and subjugation of surrounding peoples and enemies.
What was significant about the civilization of Axum adopting Christianity?
Traders and Egyptian missionaries had brought Christianity to the region during the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE, and the official acceptance by Aksum may have occurred because the kingdom had important trade connections to the North African provinces of the Roman Empire, which itself had adopted …
How did Axum expand its empire?
The kings used this wealth to build armies and extend Axum’s power to the surrounding region, while they also controlled the trade routes across the Red Sea, Arabian Peninsula, and greater East Africa. With the adoption of Christianity, religion became more intertwined with government.
What was the religion of Axum?
Because of this, Axum followed the religion of Saba – also known as Sheba, a kingdom across the Red Sea on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. In the 4th century, however, Christianity spread to Axum from Egypt. This type of Christianity is referred to as Coptic, from the regional language of the time.
What did they sell at Axum?
At Axum, merchants and sellers from around the region bartered, bought, and sold a variety of goods: ivory, frankincense, myrrh, textiles, wine, olive oil, hippopotamus hides, rhinoceros horns, tortoise shell, monkeys, and even human slaves.
How did Christianity spread to Axum?
In the 4th century, however, Christianity spread to Axum from Egypt. This type of Christianity is referred to as Coptic, from the regional language of the time. Even after Axum collapsed after the 12th century and the subsequent spread of Islam through the region, Coptic Christianity remained and does so to this day.