Christianity in the Ancient Kingdom of Aksum

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In the mid-4th century CE, the powerful Aksumite civilization officially adopted Christianity as its state religion. Join us on this episode of Footnoting History as we look at this often-forgotten chapter of African history and explore the kingdom’s broader trade relationship with the Greco-Roman world.

Host: Ben

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Further Reading

Stephanie L. Black, “In the Power of God Christ:” Greek inscriptional evidence for the anti-Arian theology of Ethiopia’s first Christian king,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 71:1 (2008), 93-110. 

Niall Finneran, “Hermits, Saints, and Snakes: The Archaeology of the Early Ethiopian Monastery in Wider Context, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 45:2 (2012), 247-271

Stuart Munro-Hay, “Aksumite Overseas Interests,” Northeast African Studies, 13:2/3 (1991), 127-140.

Image

“Double-side Gospel Leaf” from the Tigray region of Ethiopia dating from the first half of the 14th century,  The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)