Stellae, tombs and churches in Axum

Eight of our group, myself included, decided to take the minivan overland option around Ethiopia seeing Axum and the Simien Mountains. Three decided to fly – seeing Axum but not the Simien Mountains. And the others stayed with the truck, going straight from Lalibela to Gondar.

 

The road to Axum via Mekelle had lots of s-bends and was incredibly beautiful.

It poured with rain and even hailed, but we only managed to get bogged once. Andy was our extremely capable driver and we were lucky to have him, particularly as we’d encounter far worse roads on our journey from Axum to Debark.

In our hotel in Mekelle, I was happy to discover ‘balas’ (prickly pear fruit juice). I wasn’t so happy, however, to discover that right below our window was a ‘septic tank truck’ and a ‘liquid waste sucking truck’, though that explained the foul smell.

In Axum, we had the very knowledgeable Zeray as our guide. He told us that only 8% of what lies here has been discovered and the other 92% remains undiscovered.

Our tour started with the Queen of Sheba’s bath which is more than large enough for people to swim in, and they still do. Sadly many drown and they blame it on the demons in the water. A short drive away was King Ezana’s Inscription, which has been compared with the Rosetta Stone, although it is in Salean, Ge’ez and Greek. It belonged to Ezana, an Axumite King of the 4^th century AD, and on it he announces his victories over his enemies.

From there we visited the tombs of King’s Kaleb (father) and Gebre Meskel (Kaleb’s son) which date back to the 6^th century AD. The father’s tomb is located elsewhere, however, the stairs to his tomb

lead to three blocked off areas, which contain a tunnel that you could have followed for 180km until you reached Eritrea. The tunnel is said to still exist; the entrance is simply blocked.

In Axum, there are 366 stellae, 6 with carvings on them and 360 smooth/unfinished. Out of the 6 with carvings on them, the ones from the 4^th century BC are carved on all sides, yet the ones from the 4^th century AD are carved on only 3 sides. The Northern Stellae Field contains a large group of these stellae and the tombs underneath them. Apparently more than 3,000 elephants transported these stellae here from a quarry 4km away. The largest, at more than 33 metres and 500 tonnes, is broken into 4 pieces and is lying on the ground.

There’s also a 26 metre stellae that was cut into three pieces and taken to Rome in 1937, only to be returned in 2007 – but a lighter shade as the Italians cleaned it with chemicals. Another stellae there is supported – it has never fallen down but is tilting. The Mausoleum below the stellae contains 5 tomb rooms on the right and 5 treasure rooms on the left though the treasure has long since been removed.

The nearby Tomb of the False Door (or King Remhay’s tomb) includes a slaves’ room where the slaves were buried alive with the dead King.

The Mary of Zion Churches group includes a new and an old church, a museum and a chapel. The new church was built by Haile Selassie in 1965 and inside it, a monk showed Jo and I an old bible in the Ge’ez language for a 10 Birr tip. Jo and I couldn’t get into the old church built by Fasiladas Gondar in the 17^th century as it was for men only. But no-one can access the chapel as it’s where the Ark of the Covenant with the 10 commandments is said to reside. Only one monk is allowed inside it. We were told that four years ago some Israeli tourists tried to forcibly gain entry via knifepoint but couldn’t see it anyway as it was still hidden behind a wooden door. They ended up in prison here and then were transferred to an Israeli prison. Jo and I were fascinated by the chapel and whilst staring at it, could see the curtains billowing from the entrance and then the monk slipped between them to the inside. It all looked too easy and was so tempting! Imagine how hard it would be to keep the Ark of the Covenant a secret if you were that monk!

Our last stop was at palace remains which are said to be the Queen of Sheba’s as the lower layer dates back to the 10^th century BC. Opposite the ruins is the Queen Judith Stellae park where farmers farm teff and wheat so you can’t go inside it.

Everyone had seen enough sites by midday apart from Dom and I who decided to visit Saint Pteleon, a church on top of a nearby hill, where a monk showed us the 1,500 year old ‘Miracle of Mary and Angels’ book amongst other relics.

Only men could visit the actual church so Dom went inside and saw the views from the top whilst I waited with our Zeray below.

Then the next day we had an early start for our crazy journey from Axum to Debark.