Aksum is a city in northern Ethiopia. It’s known for its tall, carved obelisks, relics of the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. Most are in the northern Stelae Park, including a huge fallen pillar, now in pieces. Centuries-old St. Mary of Zion is a Christian church and pilgrimage site believed to have housed the biblical Ark of the Covenant.
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.
Lioness of Gobedra
The Lioness of Gobedra is a rock sculpture located in Gobo Dura, Ethiopia. It is a representation of a crouching lioness around three metres long, which was carved into a relief on a large phonolite rock outcropping situated two kilometers west of Axum. It was first described by German archeologists in 1913.
Obelisk of Axum
is a 4th-century CE, 24-metre tall phonolite stele, weighing 160 tonnes, in the city of Axum in Ethiopia. It is ornamented with two false doors at the base and features decorations resembling windows on all sides. The obelisk ends in a semi-circular top, which used to be enclosed by metal frames.
The obelisk properly termed a stele or, in the local languages, TIgrigna and church Ge’ez.
King Bazen’s Tomb
Despite being the crudest of tombs, roughly hewn into solid rock instead of constructed with fine masonry, this place has a slightly magical feel. According to local beliefs, King Bazen is thought not just to have reigned at Christ’s birth, but to have been Balthazar, and it was he who carried news of Christ’s birth to Ethiopia. Whether true or not, judging from the number of tombs and stelae found nearby, the burial site may once have been quite large and important.
