EA VI: Axum

Axum is a very small town about 75 kilometers from the border or Eritrea. It is an ancient place that boasts Queen of Sheba's birthplace, palace and tomb. It is in Axum that the Empirical line started with the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and apparently continues today in the descendants of Hallie Selassie.

Since the days of the bible when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Axum, there's been some pretty hard times.

Even still, you must have a filling station.



Our guide, a former archeologist, negotiated a chance for us to sit on a camel, at last fulfilling Wendy's camel-riding dreams, which nearly had us trekking in Mali instead of touring Ethiopia.



The camel was not impressed with us, kept making this angry bellowing noise. He made us very happy that we were in Ethiopia and not on a camel trek through Mali.



You can't see them in these photos, but in this market were the remains of two very large weapons (maybe an anti-aircraft gun of some kind?)left over from the war with Eritirea. They were rusting away, living out their final days as hitching posts for mules.

Axum is home to Stelles. These are very large obelisks and there are an awful lot of them in town. This one stands 23 metres tall:



Two metres are below ground. It is supported at its base by two very large stones. Underneath all of this is a tomb, thought to be filled with treasure.

All of the stelles are grave markers. According to our guide, it was custom to bury someone with all of their wealth so that their children wouldn't become corrupt and lazy. Hear that, Paris Hilton?

The view from the ground:



The Italians, after invading Ethiopia in the 1930s, spent a lot of time looting the country. One of the things they grabbed was the third-largest obelisk in Axum. They have returned it (unfortunately in several pieces) and it's lying in shipping containers on the site. There are plans to erect it in the future.

Like the one the Italians stole, the largest obelisk in Axum never actually stood. This is the largest one, which we were told broke falling over while it was being erected (a process that involved elephants and hundreds of men).



How big is it? Very big.



At the largest cathedral in Ethiopia, there is a 300-year-old bible hand-printed on goatskin. The guide: "Go ahead, use your flash. Why wouldn't you?"



None of the pictures of the monastery where the ark of the covenant is kept are ready for posting, but this is a very old, (don't remember how old, at least 400 years probably more like 600) painting of St. George. He's a favourite of Ethiopia Orthodoxy, there are paintings of him everywhere and the most popular beer is even named after him.

I took this photo in the monastery next door to the ark. Sorry Wendy, again no women were allowed. But weirdly, they did let me use a flash. It was very large so I took several photos and Wendy later sewed them together:



Our last historical/educational adventure was at the local museum. Our guide seemed to take a great deal of pleasure out of posing us for photos. Here's me, pretending like I can read an ancient inscription that reads, left-to-right, then right-to-left on the next line, same as a plow in a field.



Pretending to peer into a glass case. The top shelf held some nifty wine glasses and other pottery. The middle shelf, a human skull.



At the end of the tour, he had his buddy at the museum open up a locked door. Inside there were relics packed onto shelves waiting to move to a brand new museum set to open later this year.

It was too dark for us to see any, but that's what the flash cameras are for. We took this picture so we could see what it was later. It's an old piece of ivory, very nicely carved.



Here's our guide (right) and his museum buddy, inside the little room full of treasures:



This is sunset from a swanky, former government-run hotel, overlooking the stelles. To the left (outside the picture) is the Queen of Sheba's swimming pool. It's way bigger than any puny little Olympic size pool. But this does give you some sense of the way the stelles loom over the town.