S2 E4: Aksum's Humble Origins

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoy this week's episode on the rise of the kingdom of Aksum. Starting as a minor agrarian township in the Ethiopian highlands, Aksum soon became a powerful empire rivaled only by Rome, Persia, and China.

Author's note: the last power in the quotation attributed to Mani is a subject of scholarly debate. While most mainstream sources believe he is referring to China, some claim that he was, in fact, referring to the Kushan empire of Northern India. If this is true, the four states he mentions were the only four states presently capable of minting gold coins during Mani's lifetime. The ability to mint gold coins may have been Mani's barometer for a state's power and prestige.

Tomb of the legendary Aksumite king Bazen, who is often equated with the biblical magus, Balthazar. Built ~20 AD

As described in this week's episode, Aksum's rise primarily came about as a consequence of three outside factors and two internal factors. The first of these was the rise of the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt. The Ptolemaic kingdom put a larger emphasis on expanding its influence in the Red Sea trade system. It began patrolling the Red Sea with a massive fleet of ships, the most intimidating of which was the Octere. These enormous oar-propelled ships were the dreadnoughts of their day, especially dominant in the shallow inland seas like the Mediterannean and Red seas. With the backing of this powerful navy, the Ptolemaic kingdom projected its economic influence throughout the Red Sea region. In order to secure safe passage through the waters of the Red Sea, the incense merchants of East Africa were forced to offer their products at lower prices to the Ptolemaic merchants. With the price of their most important export declining, so too fell the economies of Aksum's trade dependent neighbors, like Adulis, Qohaito, and Yeha. 

A Ptolemaic Octere Ship: from the Naval Encyclopedia

Aksum, on the other hand, was barely affected by this change. The city's economy was based primarily on the exportation of Ethiopian pepper and teff, which were much less affected by the Ptolemy's naval influence in the region. The kings of Aksum used the weakening of their neighbors to expand their own influence into their floundering East African rivals, soon growing to become the undisputed hegemon of the Ethiopian highlands.

 

One king of Aksum that went unmentioned in the podcast due to the lack of records surrounding his life was the legendary king Bazen, who supposedly ruled Aksum from around 20 BC to 20 AD. Bazen's life is largely enigmatic, though it's worth noting that in the tradition of Ethiopian Christianity he is equated with the king Balthazar, known for his gift of myrrh to the baby Jesus.

However, the first major move made by Aksumite kings to propel the city from a local power into a regional kingdom was the conquest of Adulis by the king Za Haqala in the late First Century AD. Adulis was an incredibly important port on the Red Sea coast, and its conquest allowed Aksum to become the preeminent trade power in the region.

Remains of a Roman-Egyptian style church in Adulis ~5th Century AD.

In 30 BC, the fall of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and its conquest by the Roman empire led to a resurgence of the incense trade. Not only was the primary cause of the price's decline gone, but a new, wealthier customer had taken its place. With the failure of a Roman invasion of Saba a few years later, it became clear that Roman influence in the Red Sea would be more limited. However, the damage done by the Ptolemaic kingdom had already been done in Arabia. The kingdom of Saba had collapsed into civil war, with multiple kingdoms declaring their independence from the capital of Marib. In order to secure a monopoly on the recovering incense market, future Aksumite kings would see increasing their influence in southern Arabia as their foremost policy goal.

Map of East Africa and Arabia ~100 AD

This week will be accompanied by a premium episode about the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, one of the primary sources about the economic and political situation of the Indian Ocean during this period. If you'd like to learn more about this interesting source from an ancient globalized world, access any of our previous premium episodes, or help pay for the hours of unpaid work that we put into researching, recording, and editing the show, support us on Patreon for just $1.99 per month.

S2 E3: In with D'mt, Out with Saba

This week's episode will focus on the collapse of the confederation of Saba, the rise of the Kingdom of Saba in its place. For the purposes of African history, this history is incredibly important because it would give rise to Ethiopia's first independent and powerful state, the confederacy of D'mt.

The Name D'mt comes from the Sabaic word for Pillars, in reference to the tower pillars that once adorned this temple to Almaqah in Yeha.

Yes, that's right, Dm't was most likely a confederation, not a kingdom like most sources seem to claim. After the rule of Rdm around 685BC, the title of King of D'mt was replaced with the title Mukarrib (federator) of Dm't, implying that the state of D'mt functioned in a way similar to the Sabaean confederacy. Rather than one centralized government, D'mt functioned more like a united alliance of autonomous city-states. Each city paid taxes and submitted to the authority of D'mt's capital city, Yeha, but were allowed to make their own laws and manage their own affairs.

As always, here are some maps to help you follow along with the geography of this week's episode.

East Africa and Yemen during the Sabaean Civil War (~690 BC)

East Africa and Yemen after the declaration of the Kingdom of Saba (~680 BC)

Anyways, the main figure of this week's podcast, Karib il-Watar, is one of the best-documented southern Arabian kings from the ancient era. Albeit, that's not saying much, as he's essentially the only ruler from the period that is documented in any respectable capacity. Pretty much his entire biography comes from a handful of inscriptions, the most important being the Naqsh An-Nasr, the Inscription to Victory. This inscription documents Watar's triumphant campaigns through the kingdom of Awsan, describing his destructive campaign in glorious language. More than 16,000 people are estimated to have been killed according to this document, and countless villages laid to waste. 

A section of the Inscription to Victory

Sadly, like much of the preislamic history of Yemen, this inscription is in immediate danger. The destructive modern war in Yemen threatens to destroy priceless artifacts as well as the knowledge of the past that they could provide us. Ironic that a document that so vividly described the destruction of war could itself be demolished by an even more destructive conflict. Learn more here.

S02E02: The Rise of Saba

Hello everyone, this week we're going to look at the rise of the Yemeni kingdom of Saba. Yes, I know this is the History of Africa podcast, but the story of Saba is so crucial to Ethiopian civilization that any series on Ethiopian history that excludes their story would be incomplete.

Anyways, here's a map of Saba in case you get lost during this episode. 

This is a picture of the Marib dam. This dam controlled the floods of the Wadi Dhana, allowing the Sabaeans to efficiently use Yemen's sparse water for irrigation. Various forms of the dam remained in use until the 6th century AD, and remained an important facet of southern Arabian life. The dam was permanently breached in 570 AD when the siltation of the reservoir made the dam unusable. The destruction of the dam destroyed the Yemeni society of the time, an event alluded to in the Quran. According to the Quranic depictions of events, the failure of the dam caused a destructive flood, sent by God to punish the southern Arabians for their continued practice of the old pagan faiths. 

But they turned away. So We sent against them a devastating flood, and replaced their orchards with two others producing bitter fruit, fruitless bushes, and a few sparse, thorny trees. -Surah 34:17

The Marib dam remains a symbol of national pride to the modern people of Yemen, depicted on the shield of the eagle's chest in the country's national coat of arms. 

Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. This show isn't free to produce, as I have to pay for hosting, and spend usually about 20+ hours each week writing scripts, recording, editing and, uploading to various platforms, in addition to writing articles. So please, if you'd like to support the hard work we put into the show, please click the support show link at the top of the page.