Download or read book Aksum and Nubia written by George Hatke and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2013-01-07 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aksum and Nubia assembles and analyzes the textual and archaeological evidence of interaction between Nubia and the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum, focusing primarily on the fourth century CE. Although ancient Nubia and Ethiopia have been the subject of a growing number of studies in recent years, little attention has been given to contact between these two regions. Hatke argues that ancient Northeast Africa cannot be treated as a unified area politically, economically, or culturally. Rather, Nubia and Ethiopia developed within very different regional spheres of interaction, as a result of which the Nubian kingdom of Kush came to focus its energies on the Nile Valley, relying on this as its main route of contact with the outside world, while Aksum was oriented towards the Red Sea and Arabia. In this way Aksum and Kush coexisted in peace for most of their history, and such contact as they maintained with each other was limited to small-scale commerce. Only in the fourth century CE did Aksum take up arms against Kush, and even then the conflict seems to have been related mainly to security issues on Aksum’s western frontier. Although Aksum never managed to hold onto Kush for long, much less dealt the final death-blow to the Nubian kingdom, as is often believed, claims to Kush continued to play a role in Aksumite royal ideology as late as the sixth century. Aksum and Nubia critically examines the extent to which relations between two ancient African states were influenced by warfare, commerce, and political fictions.
Download or read book Foundations of an African Civilization written by D. W. Phillipson and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2014 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Focuses on the Aksumite state of the first millennium AD in northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea, its development, florescence and eventual transformation into the so-called medieval civilisation of Christian Ethiopia. This book seeks to apply a common methodology, utilising archaeology, art-history, written documents and oral tradition from a wide variety of sources; the result is a far greater emphasis on continuity than previous studies have revealed. It is thus a major re-interpretation of a key development in Ethiopia's past, while raising and discussing methodological issues of the relationship between archaeology and other historical disciplines; these issues, which have theoretical significance extending far beyond Ethiopia, are discussed in full. The last millennium BC is seen as a time when northern Ethiopia and parts of Eritrea were inhabited by farming peoples whose ancestry may be traced far back into the local 'Late Stone Age'. Colonisation from southern Arabia, to which defining importance has been attached by earlier researchers, is now seen to have been brief in duration and small in scale, its effects largely restricted to ľite sections of the community. Re-consideration of inscriptions shows the need to abandon the established belief in a single 'Pre-Aksumite' state. New evidence for the rise of Aksum during the last centuries BC is critically evaluated. Finally, new chronological precision is provided for the decline of Aksum and the transfer of centralised political authority to more southerly regions. A new study of the ancient churches - both built and rock-hewn - which survive from this poorly-understood period emphasises once again a strong degree of continuity across periods that were previously regarded as distinct."--Publisher's website.
Download or read book Aksum written by Joseph W. Michels and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is an abridged version of the book CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA: 700 BCAD 850 written by the author and published in 2005 in the Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology Series by British Archaeological Reports (BAR) of Oxford, United Kingdom. Most of the books methodological and technical sections have been removed in order for the reader to more easily focus on the main theme of the work, namely how the study of the settlement history of a single region can reveal the ways in which a society adapts to changing conditions over the course of a thousand years. From a scatter of simple hamlets and villages, Ancient Aksum evolved into a formidable mercantile state that, for a time, controlled much of the trade at the southern end of the Red Sea. Then, as circumstances changed, Aksum went into decline, its urban center contracting then disappearing. The historical trajectory of Aksum as discussed in this work offers a textbook example of political change: from egalitarian hamlets, the Aksumites organized themselves into an increasingly prominent local chiefdom, then into a kingdom, and eventually into a state.
Download or read book Ethiopia written by Mary Anne Fitzgerald and published by American University in Cairo Press. This book was released on 2017-11-20 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lavishly illustrated photographic journey through the history and traditions of the ancient churches of Ethiopia. The ancient Aksumite Kingdom, now a part of Ethiopia, was among the first in the world to adopt Christianity as the official state religion. In AD 340 King Ezana commissioned the construction of the imposing basilica of St. Mary of Tsion. It was here, the Ethiopians say, that Menelik, son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, brought the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments. By the fifth century, nine saints from Byzantium were spreading the faith deep into the mountainous countryside, and over the next ten centuries a series of spectacular churches were either built or excavated out of solid rock, all of them in regular use to this day. Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has the best known cluster, but the northern region of Tigray, less well known and more remote, has many churches that are architectural masterpieces of the basilical type. Ethiopia: The Living Churches of an Ancient Kingdom traces the broad sweep of ecclesiastic history, legend, art, and faith in this sub-Saharan African kingdom as seen through the prism of sixty-six breathtaking churches, unveiling the secrets of their medieval murals, their colorful history, and the rich panoply of their religious festivals, all illustrated with more than eight hundred superb color photographs by some of the most celebrated international photographers of traditional cultures. This magnificent, large-format, full-color volume is the most comprehensive celebration yet published of Ethiopia’s extraordinary Christian heritage. Ethiopia is the third book on iconic places of worship published by Ludwig Publishing and the American University in Cairo Press, following the bestselling success of The Churches of Egypt and The History and Religious Heritage of Old Cairo.
Download or read book Axum written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts of Axum *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "The Tigreans had Axum, but what could that mean to the Gurague? The Agew had Lalibela, but what could that mean to the Oromo? The Gonderes had castles, but what could that mean to the Wolaitai?" - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in response to a question about Ethiopian unity In the year 570 CE, a child by the name of Muhammad is born in the Arabian city of Mecca. Sixty-two years later, he dies, and upon his death, the faith that he founded, Islam ("obedience to the one God"), dominates the western half of the Arabian Peninsula. By the end of the first millennium CE, four centuries after the death of Muhammad, Islam has grown to dominate western Asia, north and east Africa, the Levant, and the Iberian Peninsula. The Holy Lands are lost to Christianity, and Christian Europe is under siege. Folk tales begin to circulate - their origins obscure, but first noted in historic texts around the 12th century CE - of a lost Christian kingdom in the East, the Kingdom of Prester John. There resides the patriarch of Saint Thomas, who proselytized in the Orient. Later, in the 15th century, under the impetus of the Portuguese King Henry the Navigator, Portuguese missionaries and navigators enter the Indian Ocean from the south and, creeping northward up the east coast of Africa, hear ever more substantial tales of a Christian kingdom lost in the belly of Islam. As they enter upon the coast of Somalia, competing in a growing trade in slaves and gold with Arabs of the peninsula, they become increasingly interested in the source of this legend, in part to fulfil the centuries-long dream of discovering the Kingdom of Prester John, but also in part to secure the alliance of a Christian power against the force of Islam. In 1515, a Portuguese missionary explorer by the name of Father Francisco �lvares enters Ethiopia and takes note in the interior of the remnants of a civilization of obviously Christian origin, with living adherents conforming to a branch of the faith clearly founded in deepest antiquity. Could this be the Kingdom of Prester John? Father �lvares is intrigued, but wary of too fanciful a construction, and he speculates more practically on the legend of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, and other such muses. The city at the center of the civilization he calls Aquasumo. Thus the existence of the Kingdom of Aksum came to the notice of Christian Europe after almost a millennium of isolation. The Portuguese had their own motivations for reaching and taking note of African antiquity, but as has often been true of the Portuguese relationship with Africa, their earliest explorations tended to be eclipsed by the work of later European explorers representing the wealthier nations of Europe. Axum: The History and Legacy of the Kingdom of Aksum's Capital and One of the Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in Africa examines the amazing history and legacy of one of the most interesting places in the world. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Axum like never before.
Download or read book Ancient Ethiopia written by D. W. Phillipson and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first seven centuries AD there arose at Aksum in the highlands of northern Ethiopia a unique African culture. Although its monuments have long been known, their full significance is only now being revealed. Ancient Aksum maintained wide-ranging international trade and produced an unparalleled coinage in gold, silver and copper. Its kings adopted Christianity in the fourth century AD and the Christian civilization of the Ethiopian highlands traces its origin to Aksumite roots. This book, based on the author's field research, presents an illustrated account of Aksumite civilization in its African and wider context.
Download or read book Invitation to Syriac Christianity written by Michael Philip Penn and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2022-02-22 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction -- Origin stories -- Poetry -- Doctrine and disputation -- Liturgy -- Asceticism -- Mysticism and prayer -- Biblical interpretation -- Hagiography -- Books, knowledge, and translation -- Judaism -- Islam -- Religions of the Silk Road -- Appendix 1 : translations and editions -- Appendix 2 : biographies of named authors -- Appendix 3 : glossary.
Download or read book Ancient Africa written by Captivating History and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you want to discover the captivating history of ancient Africa, then keep reading... Africa is the continent where the first humans were born. They explored the vast land and produced the first tools. And although we migrated from that continent, we never completely abandoned it. From the beginning of time, humans lived and worked in Africa, leaving evidence of their existence in the sands of the Sahara Desert and the valleys of the great rivers, such as the Nile and Niger. Some of the earliest great civilizations were born there, and they give us an insight into the smaller kingdoms of ancient Africa. Egypt is the main source of knowledge of many neighboring kingdoms that were just as rich and developed. Unfortunately, they were forgotten in time, as other civilizations and kingdoms replaced them as the continent's power bases. Only recently are we rediscovering the might of the Kingdom of Aksum, the political prowess of Kush, and the richness of the mysterious Punt. The early medieval kingdoms of Ghana and Mali are still being researched due to their unique pre-Muslim culture and their own outlook on Islam. As the home of the many pharaohs, Queen Sheba, Hannibal Barca, and Mansa Musa, Africa deserves our full attention. It has stories to tell us and cultural riches to share with us. Africa is where paganism, Christianity, and Islam left their trails and created a cultural fusion that is unique to the continent. Some modern countries are popular tourist destinations, while others are war-torn lands still unable to industrialize. This polarity of Africa can be traced to ancient times, and the world-shaping events that occurred here need to be studied and understood. In Ancient Africa: A Captivating Guide to Ancient African Civilizations, Such as the Kingdom of Kush, the Land of Punt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksum, and the Mali Empire with its Timbuktu, you will discover topics such as The Kingdom of Kush The Land of Punt Carthage The Kingdom of Aksum The Ghana Empire The Mali Empire And much, much more! So if you want to learn more about ancient Africa, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!
Download or read book Ancient Civilizations of Africa written by Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa and published by London : Heinemann Educational Books ; Berkeley : University of California Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: V.1. Methodology and African prehistory -- v.2. Ancient civilizations of Africa -- v.3. Africa from the seventh to the eleventh century -- v.4. Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century -- v.5. Africa from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century -- v.6. The nineteenth century until the 1880s -- v.7. Africa under foreign domination 1880-1935 -- v.8. Africa since 1935.
Download or read book Aksum and Nubia written by George Hatke and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2013-01-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aksum and Nubia assembles and analyzes the textual and archaeological evidence of interaction between Nubia and the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum, focusing primarily on the fourth century CE. Although ancient Nubia and Ethiopia have been the subject of a growing number of studies in recent years, little attention has been given to contact between these two regions. Hatke argues that ancient Northeast Africa cannot be treated as a unified area politically, economically, or culturally. Rather, Nubia and Ethiopia developed within very different regional spheres of interaction, as a result of which the Nubian kingdom of Kush came to focus its energies on the Nile Valley, relying on this as its main route of contact with the outside world, while Aksum was oriented towards the Red Sea and Arabia. In this way Aksum and Kush coexisted in peace for most of their history, and such contact as they maintained with each other was limited to small-scale commerce. Only in the fourth century CE did Aksum take up arms against Kush, and even then the conflict seems to have been related mainly to security issues on Aksum’s western frontier. Although Aksum never managed to hold onto Kush for long, much less dealt the final death-blow to the Nubian kingdom, as is often believed, claims to Kush continued to play a role in Aksumite royal ideology as late as the sixth century. Aksum and Nubia critically examines the extent to which relations between two ancient African states were influenced by warfare, commerce, and political fictions. Online edition available as part of the NYU Library's Ancient World Digital Library and in partnership with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW).
Download or read book The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa written by Marijke van der Veen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a completely new and very substantial body of information about the origin of agriculture and plant use in Africa. All the evidence is very recent and for the first time all this archaeobotanical evidence is brought together in one volume (at present the information is unpublished or published in many disparate journals, confer ence reports, monographs, site reports, etc. ). Early publications concerned with the origins of African plant domestication relied almost exclusively on inferences made from the modem distribution of the wild progenitors of African cultivars; there existed virtually no archaeobotanical data at that time. Even as recently as the early 1990s direct evidence for the transition to farming and the relative roles of indigenous versus Near Eastern crops was lacking for most of Africa. This volume changes that and presents a wide range of ex citing new evidence, including case studies from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Uganda, Egypt, and Sudan, which range in date from 8000 BP to the present day. The volume ad dresses topics such as the role of wild plant resources in hunter-gatherer and farming com munities, the origins of agriculture, the agricultural foundation of complex societies, long-distance trade, the exchange of foods and crops, and the human impact on local vege tation-all key issues of current research in archaeology, anthropology, agronomy, ecol ogy, and economic history.
Download or read book African Kingdoms written by Saheed Aderinto and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-08-24 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This history-rich volume details the sociopolitical, economic, and artistic aspects of African kingdoms from the earliest times to the second half of the 19th century. Africa has a long and fascinating history and is a place of growing importance in the world history curriculum. This detailed encyclopedia covers the history of African kingdoms from antiquity through the mid-19th century, tracing the dynasties' ties to modern globalization and influences on world culture before, during, and after the demise of the slave trade. Along with an exploration of African heritage, this reference is rich with firsthand accounts of Africa through the oral traditions of its people and the written journals of European explorers, missionaries, and travelers who visited Africa from the 15th century and onward. Alphabetically arranged entries cover a particular kingdom and feature information on the economic, cultural, religious, political, social, and environmental history of the regime. The content references popular culture, movies, and art that present contemporary reenactments of kingdoms, emphasizing the importance of history in shaping modern ideas. Other features include primary source documents, a selected bibliography of print and electronic resources, and dozens of sidebars containing key facts and interesting trivia.
Download or read book The Ethiopian Homily on the Ark of the Covenant written by Amsalu Tefera and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Ethiopian Homily on the Ark of the Covenant, Amsalu Tefera offers a critical edition and English translation of a lengthy fifteenth century Ethiopian text which recounts the activities of the Ark, interpreting them primarily in a Mariological manner.
Download or read book How this Happened Demystifying the Nile written by Dereje Befekadu Tessema and published by Gashe Publishing . This book was released on 2023-02-07 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethiopians had to wait over a thousand years to be able to use their waters for their own development. Ethiopian emperors and leaders have tried to build a dam on the Nile River as part of their development efforts. Unfortunately, due to varying reasons and circumstances, including external pressure from countries near and far, geo- and hydro-political balance shifts, and internal conflicts, they were not successful in realizing their wishes. Instead of giving up, though, each leader contributed to different extents, by laying the foundation for and addressing challenges faced in making this dream a reality. The masterplan for the dam designed in 1964 has been the seed in waiting ever since, waiting for the right opportunity to arise for construction to start. Following the decade long negotiation and an agreement on the equitable use of the Nile waters by most Nile riparian countries, and the subsequent Cooperative Framework Agreement, the Ethiopian government started the construction of the GERD in 2011. The waiting had finally ended ... It was time for the seed to grow. Twelve years later, the construction program is almost done. The reservoir already holds billions of cubic meters of water, and the country has produced power from the first two turbines as part of the early power generation milestone. The seed has sprouted, and the tree is on track to be the tallest in Africa. In this six-part book, Dereje Befekadu Tessema discusses events that started thousands of years ago, culminating in the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). He also shares a recount of his trip from the sources to the mouth of the Nile River.
Download or read book Great Kingdoms of Africa written by John Parker and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-03-21 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking, sweeping overview of the great kingdoms in African history and their legacies, written by world-leading experts. This is the first book for nonspecialists to explore the great precolonial kingdoms of Africa that have been marginalized throughout history. Great Kingdoms of Africa aims to decenter European colonialism and slavery as the major themes of African history and instead explore the kingdoms, dynasties, and city-states that have shaped cultures across the African continent. This groundbreaking book offers an innovative and thought-provoking overview that takes us from ancient Egypt and Nubia to the Zulu Kingdom almost two thousand years later. Each chapter is written by a leading historian, interweaving political and social history and drawing on a rich array of sources, including oral histories and recent archaeological findings. Great Kingdoms of Africa is a timely and vital book for anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of Africa's rich history.
