S2E11: The Aksumite Civil War

In the year 525, Aksum was on top of the world. The empire had long been among the most powerful states on the planet, considered an equal of Rome and Persia as far back as the rule of Ezana. However, with the conclusion of Kaleb's conquest of Himyar, the state vaulted to the top. For a brief year, Aksum was, probably, the single wealthiest and most powerful state on Earth.

However, after this great peak in power, Aksum immediately saw a period of instability. Fueled by a differing policy on how to treat the conquered people of Himyar, the two Aksumite generals Ariat and Abraha butted heads. Yes, their names are incredibly similar, so it can be somewhat confusing to listen to. Ariat, Kaleb's half-brother, viewed the conflict as a holy war. To Ariat, the main goal of the conflict had always been to convert the Himyarites. He marched his army around the Yemeni countryside, coercing conversion to Christianity out of any Jewish or Pagan villages he encountered. Abraha, on the other hand, had viewed the conflict as just another war. He looted villages indiscriminately of religion, and sought direct dominance of the region rather than working through local intermediaries. You can imagine how these two must have viewed each other: Ariat viewing Abraha has an atheistic opportunist and vice versa as a reckless zealot, though neither of these caricatures were accurate. And, again, because the names are so similar:

Abraha = Former slave turned general, supported indiscriminate looting, and giving the loot directly to soldiers

Ariat = Kaleb's brother, supported looting only of non-Christians, and sending the loot to Aksum as tribute

This confrontation eventually escalated into a civil war after Abraha imprisoned an ambassador sent by Kaleb. Taking this as an act of treason, Ariat convinced Kaleb to send him reinforcements to confront Abraha. Abraha's force was significantly outnumbered. Ariat's army possessed more than 100,000 men by some estimates, making it the largest army under the command of a single man in Aksumite history. Abraha, on the other hand, likely commanded 50,000 men or less. Despite this disparity in numbers, early skirmishes proved inconclusive. Understanding that he couldn't win, Abraha challenged Ariat to a duel, an opportunity to personally kill his hated rival which the latter couldn't refuse. However, Abraha emerged victorious in the duel, and Ariat's army defected en masse. Later attempts by Kaleb to reconquer Yemen ended in failure.

Overcome by the weight of this defeat, Kaleb decided to abdicate the throne. Remember, Kaleb's dream job since childhood was to live a peaceful, studious life in a monastery. So, that's what he did. He donated the crown jewels of Aksum to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where they have been lost ever since the church was destroyed by a fire in 614.

S2E10: Saint Kaleb the Conqueror

 

Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed this week's episode on the life and times of the Aksumite king Kaleb. He is most famous for his invasion of the kingdom of Himyar, located in modern Yemen. His rule represented the peak of Aksumite power, avenging Aksum's previous defeats in Southern Arabia and expanding Aksumite hegemony to its greatest extent. By the end of his reign, the Aksumite Empire was unquestionably the most powerful kingdom not only in the Red Sea region but arguably in the entire Indian Ocean.

The portrait of Negus Kaleb that serves as the cover for season 2 of the podcast

Kaleb is something of a relatable character. As a young man, he never wanted to be king. Aksum at the time was still in the later stages of the religious and intellectual renaissance that started with the arrival of the nine saints. Kaleb, an inquisitive and academic young man, was more interested in reading religious and theological texts than ruling a nation. While religious institutions today are largely perceived as anti-intellectual and superstitious, nothing could have been further from the truth in Kaleb's era. At the time, monasteries were the most prestigious academic institutions of the day. Monks within these monasteries engaged in rigorous theological debates and worked hard to preserve the extensive monastic libraries. However, Kaleb's father, King Ousas, died before he could produce a more willing heir, so the title of King of Kings was thrust upon the reluctant young man.

However, despite his reluctance to take the title, Kaleb proved initially to be quite an effective ruler. His domestic reign was prosperous, but he really made a name for himself when a crisis across the Red Sea demanded a response. The King of Himyar, Dhu Nuwas, had begun to persecute the Christian population of the long-time Aksumite ally, the city of Najran. The Aksumite garrison which had been assigned to protect the city was massacred with special malice, provoking an Aksumite response. Kaleb expended the vast resources of Aksum to assemble the largest army in Aksumite history, more than 100,000 men by some estimates. Accompanying this army was a brigade of trained war elephants and a battalion of Somali mercenaries.

The campaign proved to be a decisive victory. The Himyarite army was devastated at the battle of Zafar, and the Himyarite king died soon after. Depending on which source you believe, the Himyarite King was either executed by Aksumite forces or killed himself by riding his horse into the ocean. However, soon after this successful invasion, rifts began to form within the Aksumite military. One faction, led by Kaleb's relative, Ariat, supported punishing the Himyarites for the persecution at Najran. The other faction, led by a slave-turned-advisor-turned-general Abraha, supported further integration of Himyar into the Aksumite state, annexing the region and turning its inhabitants into subjects of the king instead of persecuting them. In the next episode, we'll witness this rift evolve into outright civil war, with Ariat and Kaleb on one side against Abraha and his supporters on the other.

Author's note: in the podcast I make the claim that "an estimate of 60,000 was more accurate for the number of soldiers in the invasion force. This was a mistake. I meant to say that 60,000 was a more accurate estimate for each of the invading armies. I had seen estimates as high as 200,000 for the entire invasion force, but had seen reputable scholars dispute this number as being closer to 120,000, with 60,000 being present in both Ariat and Abraha's invasion forces. Some sources, however, note that Abraha alone may have commanded about 100,000 men, while Ariat only commanded 60,000. The matter is confusing and nobody knows for sure.

S2E9: The Zealot King and the Nine Saints

  
 

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoy this week's episode of the history of Africa. This week, we cover two somewhat obscure periods of Aksumite history, the rule of the zealot king Mehadyis and the arrival of the "Nine Saints" into the Aksumite empire.

Mehadyis' silver coin. Notice the Ge'ez writing and more prominent Christian imagery

This era of Aksumite history is fairly mysterious, as historical records about Aksum from this time are quite rough. As an example of that, Mehadyis is the last Aksumite ruler whose name's pronunciation is uncertain (he is the last ruler to spell his name with the old, vowel-less Ge'ez alphabet as MHDYS). Because of the scant records of this period, I had to make some admitted stretches in connecting the dots of what occurred in this period. For example, we know that Mehadyis included a lot of Christian imagery in his coins, we know that he did not appoint an Abuna during his rule (at least not one that had any real power), and that all Pagan syncretic practices evaporated rapidly during his rule. While there are no historical records that explicitly state that he went on a campaign to root out Pagan practices during his reign, the culmination of these three events seems to point to something along these lines occurring during his reign. However, I'm adding this disclaimer to future-proof this episode. In the future, evidence might come to light that disproves this admittedly quite flimsy understanding of this period in Aksumite history. Additionally, for this same reason, the dating in this episode is questionable, and could definitely be disproven by new evidence coming to light. If any archaeological or textual discoveries emerge that challenge the assumptions in this episode, I will make sure to update the episode with our most recent understanding of the period.

Medieval Ethiopian mural depicting the Nine Saints

Fortunately, the archaeological records of the ensuing period are significantly better, in part due to the gradual arrival of the nine saints. Again, the exact date of their arrival is not certain (and it's unlikely that they all arrived in close succession), so the dating of this episode is subject to change. However, regardless of what year they arrived, their impact on Tawhahedo Christianity is undeniable. 

A page from the Garima Gospels, the oldest illuminated manuscript in the world

The Nine Saints introduced many important aspects of church activity that continue in Ethiopia to this day, including the countries first permanent monasteries, some of its most important churches, and the introduction of a strong church scholastic tradition.

The entrace to Debre Damo

The extremely isolated Debre Damo monastery requires climbing equipment to reach

Ethiopia's church has been the single most important institution in terms of preserving important historical documents and records. If not for the reforms introduced by the Nine Saints and continued by their disciples, our understanding of East African history would be incredibly limited. Additionally, much of the modern culture of the Ethiopian highlands stems from the artistic and institutional traditions of the Tawhahedo Church. For example, the bedrock of Ethiopian musical tradition stems largely from the works of Saint Yared, a disciple of one of the Nine Saints who was later himself sainted for his immense contributions to Tawhahedo liturgical music.

Mural depicting Saint Yared and his disciples performing in front of the Aksumite Negusa

Thank you for listening to the show. As always, myself and my editor put ~20 hours of work into each episode's research, writing, recording, editing, uploading, and promoting. If you'd like to help support us for the free education and entertainment we provide, then you can do so by supporting the show on Patreon, providing a review on your listening app of choice, or by sharing the podcast with anyone you think might be interested.

S2E8: Ezana's Conquest of Nubia

King Ezana's Funerary Stela

In this week's episode, King Ezana will deal with the fallout of the decisions made in the first half of his reign and somehow emerge from these challenges in an even stronger position than before.

Note: The Blemmyes were another nomadic people who invaded Nubia during the end of Meroe. Where exactly their realm ended and Nobatia's began is not clear.

The first of these challenges was overcoming the religious tensions that emerged with Aksum's conversion to Christianity. While the peasantry and nobility of Aksum were surprisingly receptive to the change, Aksum's Jewish population was unwilling to convert. In the face of increasingly aggressive missionary efforts, the Jews of Aksum fled to the Semien mountains, where they proclaimed a man named Phineas to be their king. Despite now having a kingdom of their own, however, the Aksumite Jews continued to pay taxes to Ezana. In the end, this exodus to the Semien mountains ended up working out well for everyone. The Jews could avoid persecution and conversion, while the Aksumites could continue to profit from their taxation. 

To the North, Ezana had to decide what position Aksum would support in the theological controversies that were ailing Roman Christianity. Coincidentally for our podcast, this controversy was, itself, incited by the teachings of an African. Arius was a Berber theologian from the region of modern Libya, then a part of the Roman Empire. He believed that, before the creation of the world, there was a time when God the Father existed without God the Son. This notion, while it seems esoteric and unimportant to us today, was an incredibly controversial belief in the 4th century. Arius' school of thought always remained a minority view in the Roman Empire, but caught on strongly among certain portions of the Roman populous, especially among the Germanic tribes and the Roman legions.

Arius "The Heretic"

During the reign of the Roman emperor Constantius, Arian Christianity became the dominant sect within the imperial court. Ezana's tutor and bishop Frumentius, however, was a Nicene Christian. As part of a wider purge of Nicenes from Rome's government and religious institutions, Constantius tried to pressure Ezana to remove Frumentius as the Abuna, or patriarch, of Aksum. This demand was refused, indicating that, even in this early state, East African Christianity enjoyed independence from Roman religious authorities. This is an important distinction, as the fact that Frumentius was appointed from Alexandria and practiced Nicene Christanity might make you think that Aksumite Christianity was just an extension of the Roman faith. However, with Ezana's refusal to dismiss Frumentius, it becomes clear that Roman religious authorities held no true power over the Aksumite church.

Some of Meroe's famous pyramids

At the tail-end of his reign, Ezana encountered a crisis with his Northwestern neighbor, the Nubian kingdom of Meroe. Meroe was a kingdom in decline since even before Ezana took the throne. A series of wars between the kingdom and Rome throughout the first centuries BC and AD severely hurt the kingdoms economic prospects, and forced the Meroites to give away significant portions of valuable farmland to repatious mercenaries. Throughout the early centuries AD, things got worse for Meroe as Aksum began to outcompete the Meroites in the trade of African goods like ebony wood, ivory, exotic animals, and, of course, incense. The treasury of Meroe was, at this point, relying entirely on the import tariffs that they levied on Aksumite and Roman merchants, much to the chagrin of these merchants. However, with the reduction of piracy and the construction of Gadarat's road on the Red Sea coast, these merchants could bypass Nubia altogether, drying up Meroe's last source of revenue. Early in Ezana's rule, he had already taken advantage of Meroe's weakness once when he used their land as a bargaining chip in the resettlement of the coastal Beja population. However, when a Nubian militia made an encroachment on Aksumite elephant hunting grounds, it gave Ezana an excuse to invade Meroe. With Meroe destroyed, a new Askumite client arose in the city of Soba. Soba became the capital of Alodia. This kingdom would itself last for almost a millennium, finally collapsing in the 14th century AD. 

Ruins of an Alodian fort outside Soba, Sudan

Ezana, despite his Christian faith, was buried in a traditional Aksumite pagan ceremony. However, he would ultimately be the last Aksumite king to be buried in this way. Next episode, we will focus on the life of Mehadyis, the Zealot king of Aksum who made it his mission to destroy the remnants of Aksumite paganism. 

S2E7: The Great King Ezana

 

A coin minted by Ezana early in his reign

In this week's episode, we explore the reign of Ezana, the greatest king in Aksumite history. We begin the episode at the start of Ezana's life. He was tutored by Frumentius, a Syrian Christian who was sold as a slave to the Aksumite court, and was later elevated to the position of advisor after he demonstrated great confidence and charisma. 

Frumentius, Ezana's childhood tutor and close friend (depicted here as an old man)

Frumentius's tutoring had a strong impact on the young boy. In addition to strengthening Ezana's linguistic and literacy skills, he also instilled in the boy a philosophy that was derived from the Nicaean church. By the time Ezana came of age, Frumentius would leave the country and return to Rome to continue his ecclesiastic education.

As was the norm in the Aksumite government, many of the top positions within the military were reserved for members of the royal family. In the case of Ezana, military command was reserved for his brother, Saizana. In the early years of his reign, Ezana and his brother underwent a series of military incursions against the nomadic Beja people to their North. The Beja were a Cushitic people who lived in small, nomadic clans. Like nomadic people throughout the world, the Beja proved to be both a welcome partner and a troublesome adversary for the settled people around them. They often raided Aksumite and Roman caravans that crossed through their land, resulting in lost profits for the merchants of both states. In order to stop this banditry, Ezana sent his brother in command of an army to relocate a portion of the Beja people into Eastern Nubia to make the remaining tribes easier to control.

A modern Beja bedouin.

This plan was a success, and several Beja tribes were successfully relocated into Nubian lands. This decision took advantage of the weakness of the Nubian kingdom of Meroe, an ancient empire approaching the end of its life. The details of this collapse will be elaborated on next episode when Ezana continues to take advantage of Meroe's decline.

This week's Patreon exclusive episode focuses on the modern history of Ethiopia's Jewish population. We will certainly be hearing more about this fascinating people in future episodes, and if you'd like to learn about the modern history of the Ethiopian Jewish population and their mass-exodus out of the country, you can listen by becoming a patron of the show at our patreon. Thank you for listening, and I hope you continue to enjoy the show. 

S2 E6: The Aksumite Empire's Greatest Defeat

Last episode, King Gadarat of Aksum greatly expanded the Aksumite kingdom, engaging in wars of expansion that pushed Aksumite influence further into the Ethiopian highlands, as well as conquering the city of Najran from the Himyarite kingdom in Yemen. However, while Gadarat's wars had managed to push Aksumite's influence to an even further horizon, his wars were incredibly expensive in both money and lives. Additionally, the fallout from the destructive campaign in Yemen left Aksum incredibly diplomatically isolated, as Gadarat had ruined the kingdom's relationship with every state in the southern Arabian region. The burden to maintain the fragile gains fell into the lap of king Adhebah of Aksum. As the written form of Ge'ez didn't possess vowels at this point, his name was, in reality, spelled as DBH, and Adhebah is simply historians' best guess.

I admittedly simplified the political circumstances that led to the formation of an alliance between Aksum and Himyar in this episode. Himyar, in addition to facing the threat of war from the Sabaeans, was also engulfed in a civil war between two claimants to the throne. In fact, one of the events that spurred the end of the previous friendship between Himyar and Saba was the latter's support of a pretender on the Himyarite throne.

In response to the outbreak of war between Himyar and Saba, the Aksumite King Adhebah ordered his son, Germa to aid the Himyarite king Shamir Yuhahmid. Germa's name is similar to the Ge'ez words for majesty, terror, or frightful, showing how his reputation as a martial leader proceeded him. Despite the intimidating name, however, Germa would produce mixed-results on the battlefield throughout his career. In this early war, he won initial engagements but would later be forced to retreat and sign a hasty peace with Saba.

In a later period, the Aksumite king Datwinas would make a more concerted effort to bring Himyar under his heel. Using the Aksumite fleet, he transported thousands of Aksumite soldiers across the Red Sea to combined forces with Germa's garrison and wage a new war against the kingdom that had so briefly been their ally. Unfortunately, what Aksumite ships looked like is a mystery to us. We are certain that the nation had an impressive navy, as accounts from the time indicate that Aksum possessed the most powerful naval fleet in the Red Sea region. Additionally, we know a few scant details about the ships used. Instead of using iron nails, the Aksumites fastened their ships' planks together using a series of complex rigging and knots. This construction method allowed Aksum to produce more ships at a cheaper cost but unfortunately means that shipwrecked Aksumite vessels saw their ropes disintegrate underwater, making the shipwreck's remains fall apart. The locations of Aksumite shipwrecks can be identified, as their cargo remained intact, but the remains of the ship are so scattered that identification of the shape or form of the craft is impossible. However, they do provide an estimate of the ships size, with 19 meters (62 feet) being the most likely length, about the size of a small Roman bireme ship. It's worth noting, however, that this was a civilian merchant vessel, and that ships used for war were most likely significantly larger. Unfortunately, no illustrations of Aksumite vessels from this time exist either, so what these African warships looked like remains a mystery.

An example of a modern woven boat

The closest guess we can make to what an Aksumite ship looked like is to look to the Eastern neighbors, the Somali. The kingdoms and city states of Somalia continued using woven ships called bedens, or uwasiyye in their larger form designed for hauling cargo and warfare. It's possible that their Aksumite neighbors used a similar model of ship, but this is only a guess.

An illustration of a Somali naval vessel, 15th century AD. Aksumite vessels may have had a similar design, albeit in likely a more primitive form as this image predates Aksum's second and third Arabian wars by around 1,200 years.

Regardless of what their ships looked like, Aksumite merchants were happy to use them in mercantile missions across the Indian Ocean. To facilitate this trade, after the rule of Endubis, Aksumite merchants began using gold coins. While gold coins are today unfortunately associated primarily with sketchy infomercials targeting seniors, they were once considered an incredibly prestigious item. In antiquity, gold coins were an item of wealth reserved for the wealthiest countries. In this era, only four kingdoms minted gold coins. These were Rome, Aksum, Persia (on rare occasions only), and the Kushan Empire of Northern India. However, Aksum was alone in the quality of its coins. Gold coins are usually minted with gold composing only a small portion, with a gold plating covering an inside composed of less valuable metal. Aksumite gold coins, however, were unique in their high gold content. 

Gold coins of Endubis

The coins of Endubis provide us a surprising amount of insight into how Aksumite kings portrayed themselves. The Greek and Latin lettering read "King Endubis", indicating that the value of the coins was backed up not by their own intrinsic value, but by the strength of the Aksumite kings. The king's bust is flanked on each side by stalks of wheat. This association of the king with wheat indicates that the teff plant held some kind of symbolic significance to the Aksumites, the significance of which remains a mystery to this day. Finally, above the king, between the Greek text, lies a curious horizontal crescent with a star above it. This symbol is believed among archaeologists to represent the polytheistic faith of the Aksumites. As Aksum (spoiler alert) converts to Christianity, this Pagan symbol will eventually get replaced with the iconic Christian cross.

Finally, as always, I must remind you about the sheer amount of work that my editor and I put into this show. Researching, recording, editing, and publishing usually takes about 20 hours of work per week. We love to keep our show free, as African history should be freely available for all, and not locked behind a paywall. That said, we do occasionally publish premium episodes available only for our patrons. Doing 20 hours per week of unpaid labor is hard to justify, so if you'd like to ensure that we keep the show going, as well as receive access to our premium episodes, please help us by supporting the show on our Patreon. 

S2 E5: The Aksumite Invasion of Arabia

 Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed this week's episode on the rule of king Gadarat, the first great expansionist king of the Aksumites. 

Most records of Gadarat's achievements in Africa come from an inscription called the Monumentum Adilutanum, a document composed in Greek and Ge'ez. The bilingual composition of this document can give us some hints about its intention. The inscription was meant to tell visitors to Aksum about the great achievements of its kings, adding an aura of prestige to the royal palace and projecting the power of the king. 

A recreation of the original Monumentum Adulutanum

Like most sources from Africa during this time, the Monumentum does not provide many details on specific battles, sieges, or skirmishes. Instead, it focuses more on the general character of the engagement. Even the Aksumite king who took part in the invasions of the Monumentum is technically unnamed, and we can only assume it to be Gadarat based on a few pieces of evidence. The first piece of evidence is that the time of the inscription's writing lines up with the rule of Gadarat, and a few other documents from Gadarat's rule indicate that he engaged in some type of war prior to his invasion of Arabia.

Unfortunately, Gadarat's invasions of Arabia are much less unified in their records. In fact, Aksumite records about the invasion are pretty scant. This indicates either that the invasion was never that big of a deal for the Aksumites, and that they didn't consider it worth recording, or that the less-than-successful nature of the conflict made Aksumite recordkeepers reluctant to record such an embarrassment. Instead, our understanding of the conflict has to be pieced together from a variety of sources, including limited Aksumite records and various Arabian inscriptions, and filling in the rest with our best guesses. For example, no sources technically detail the reason that Aksum's relationship with Saba fell apart halfway through the war, but given that there are records that indicate a joint Aksumite-Sabaean invasion of Hadramawt, and records that indicate previously strong relations between the Sabean and Hadrami kings, we can infer that this might have been one of the chief causes of the deteriorating relationship. 

Finally, here's a map that showcases the Aksumite empire after Gadarat's conquests. As you can see, Gadarat almost doubled the size of the Aksumite realm, but this expansion came at great expense to the kingdom's resources. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this episode, and come back to listen to the next episode. That episode will focus on how the kings after Gadarat tried to salvage the tough situation they were put into.

This episode required about 20 hours of work to research, write, record, edit, and publish. If you'd like to help support the show and compensate our crew for the hard work we put into free education, you can click the "support the show" link at the top of our page. Cheers!