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!

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. 

S2E01: Ethiopia's Civilizational Stage

I hope you enjoy this week's episode of the History of Africa. This week, we're starting a new season, one that finally leaves the Nile Valley and moves on to the Highlands of Ethiopia.

So, to help you along while listening to the geography portion of the show here's a map showing the general placement of the different biomes in Eastern Africa

This Egyptian mural depicts the so-called king and queen of Punt. As we discussed in the podcast, these people were most likely rulers of a specific Puntite city-state, rather than rulers of a unified Puntite kingdom. Looking at the king, you may notice some trappings of Egyptian fashion, specifically, the elongated, artificial beard.

 

The queen of Punt is possibly depicted as having severe health issues, most likely elephantiasis, a disease that can cause major swelling of limbs. But it might also indicate that beauty standards in Ancient Punt were focused on fertility, with rotund women possessing especially large hips being considered the ideal female form. This resembles depictions of fertility goddesses in other hunter-gatherer and neolithic societies, so it's not a stretch to attribute this view to neolithic East Africans.

Anyways, if you'd like to support the show, click support show at the top of the page. Your help is needed to keep the show running, and it's much appreciated. 

S01E10: Collapse of the Old Kingdom

After all these weeks spent exploring the early years of Egyptian civilization, the Old Kingdom, encompassing more than 500 years and four dynasties of Egyptian history, has come to an end. However, if you'd like to learn about the lives of Egypt's lower and middle classes during the Old Kingdom, or if you would just like to ensure that we can keep providing free education on African History, you can support the show on Patreon and receive access to premium episodes for just $1.99.

Part of the reason for the collapse of the Old Kingdom was the expansion of the power of bureaucrats and local nomarchs. This problem was especially hard to deal with because trying to limit the power of one of these groups would often increase the power of the other. For example, when the fifth dynasty king tried to lessen the influence of royal bureaucrats, he inadvertently surrendered power to the local nomarchs. Reforms to limit the influence of nomarchs often achieved the opposite, surrendering power to the bureaucracy. By the time of the sixth dynasty period, the power of these groups each superseded the pharaoh in real influence. While nomarchs and high-level bureaucrats often received luxurious tombs of their own, by the sixth dynasty their tombs exceeded the tombs of the pharaohs in terms of opulence.

This tomb, for example, was built at Saqqara for Mereruka, an advisor of the pharaoh Teti. With over 30 distinct rooms and passages, it surpasses even many royal tombs in terms of size and splendor, including that of his advisee. This evidences that bureaucrats from this era possessed a lot of wealth, even more wealth than the pharaoh at points.

Photo By Manmeet Kaur

Another example of this is the tomb of Mehu, the vizier and manager of the royal treasury under Pepi I. The tomb, also built in Saqqara, is not only impressive in its external structure, but also for its internal decor. The tomb contains some of the most intact and intricate stonework from the Old Kingdom. 

So, after the slow decline of the power of the pharaoh throughout the Sixth Dynasty period, local nomarchs assumed the powers once covered by the royal government. Next week, we'll reflect on the achievements of the Old Kingdom, and also learn what happens to Egypt in the immediate aftermath of the Old Kingdom's fall. After that, I'm not sure where next season will focus on, but make sure to keep your eyes open for updates.