The Dating of Ezana and Frumentius

Munro-Hay, Stuart

doi:10.4324/9781315250854-4

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…During the fourth century AD, under King Ezana, the royal court converted to Christianity. At the same time, Fumentius, the first bishop of Aksum, was appointed by Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, establishing an enduring link between the Ethiopian and Egyptian churches (Kaplan 1982; Fedalto 1988: 670; Munro-Hay 1988, 1997; Amidon 2016 [1997]: 394–96). Some scholars argue that this conversion was a top-down process, with the court initially adopting Christianity, and the wider population only following sometime later (e.g.…”

Section: Historical and Archaeological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

An archaeology of conversion? Evidence from Adulis for early Christianity and religious transition in the Horn of Africa

Castiglia

2022

Antiquity

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The port-city of Adulis in modern Eritrea was a key node on the Red Sea linking the Kingdom of Aksum to the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. Recent excavations at Adulis have reinvestigated two early Christian churches. New radiocarbon analysis dates both structures to the sixth and early seventh centuries AD, with multiple phases of architectural development reflecting changing use and liturgy. The author uses evidence for both continuity and change in architectural materials, construction styles and sacred practices to assess religious transition at Adulis, and across the Aksumite Kingdom more broadly. Moving beyond an archaeology of conversion, the article reinforces recent work on cosmopolitanism in the Horn of Africa.

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Section: Historical and Archaeological Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

An archaeology of conversion? Evidence from Adulis for early Christianity and religious transition in the Horn of Africa

Castiglia

2022

Antiquity

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“…Archaeo-[1] logical and historical findings have revealed that paganism has long existed in the Christian highlands. Before Christianity, the Aksumites worshipped various pagan gods, as is clear from the inscriptions and coins of the fourth century (Munro-Hay 1984). The famous pagan trilingual inscription 2 (written in Greek, Gǝʿǝz and Sabaic) of ʿEzānā clearly lists the names of King ʿEzānā's pagan gods, from whom he claimed he had acquired the power to win over his enemies, the neighbouring ancient local states and peoples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much has been written about the inscriptions of this period, but it is useful to quote some of the works: Sergew Hable Sellassie (1972); Schneider (1982); Bernand, Drewes, and Schneider (1991); Avanzini et al (2007); Munro-Hay 2012;Munro-Hay (2012); Bausi and Liuzzo (2018); Bausi, Harrower, and Dumitru (2020). 3…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pagan Religious Practices in Medieval Ethiopia: Development and Resistance of the Christian Kingdom (1434–1468)

Beyene¹

2022

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In the long religious history of Ethiopia, paganism has been widely practised since ancient times, as evidenced by the inscriptions of ʿEzānā and other archaeological objects. It continued to dominate for centuries even after the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century, which hindered its expansion south of the Aksumite empire until the thirteenth century. However, later in the fourteenth century, Christianity was widely expanded with the military and political support of the Christian emperors, especially King ʾAmda Ṣǝyon (1314–1344), who suppressed pagan practices in the northern highlands of the Christian kingdom. Subsequently, pagan chiefs and priests were forced to be baptised and converted to Christianity, pagan sanctuaries were dismantled, and, in their place, churches and monasteries were built. Resistance against paganism continued in a more organised way in the fifteenth century during the reign of King Zarʾa Yāʿǝqob (1434–1468), who actively engaged in making laws and composing religious books to prevent Christian adherents from practising paganism. In this regard, we have a sizeable collection of Gǝʿǝz texts dating to the time of Zarʾa Yāʿǝqob that provide vivid information to better understand the development and features of paganism, on the one hand, and the measures undertaken by the king as a part of religious reformation to resist and dismantle pagan practices, on the other. Paganism, in general, is a neglected subject in the historiography of medieval Ethiopia, but taking into account the source availability, studying the pagan practices and resistance of this period is indispensable. Thus, this paper attempts to reconstruct the history of pagan practices and its development in the period under discussion to identify the names of the pagan gods as well as to analyse their social role and the measures taken under Zarʾa Yāʿǝqob against paganism.

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For an Archaeology of Religious Identity in Adulis (Eritrea) and the Horn of Africa: Sources, Architecture, and Recent Archaeological Excavations

Castiglia¹,

Pergola²,

Ciliberti³

et al. 2021

J. African Arch.

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The aim of this paper is to present new archaeological data coming from the recent excavations in Adulis (Eritrea) in the so-called “Church of the British Museum”, discovered in 1868 by Captain Goodfellow. New excavations that began in 2018 have led to highlight the biggest church known so far in Adulis, probably the ecclesia episcopalis. It stands as a 30 meters long building, which follows the typical Aksumite architectural layout. Also, the great quantity of decorated marbles coming from the church are of great interest, revealing important contacts with Yemen and Byzantium, mostly in the 6th century AD. The new archaeological data will be contextualized in the wider scenario of the rise and establishment of early Christianity in the Aksumite kingdom, until the arrival of Islam.

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The Dating of Ezana and Frumentius

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

An archaeology of conversion? Evidence from Adulis for early Christianity and religious transition in the Horn of Africa

An archaeology of conversion? Evidence from Adulis for early Christianity and religious transition in the Horn of Africa

Pagan Religious Practices in Medieval Ethiopia: Development and Resistance of the Christian Kingdom (1434–1468)

For an Archaeology of Religious Identity in Adulis (Eritrea) and the Horn of Africa: Sources, Architecture, and Recent Archaeological Excavations

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