History

From Red Sea empire to Christian kingdom to medieval decline (the most precisely AksumEthiopia single 1st century CE inscription first evidence Aksum Red Sea trade Adulis port Roman Empire Arabia India ivory gold slaves 3rd century CE Mani quote 4 great powers Ezana King Christianity adopted 330 CE Frumentius missionary first Bishop Aksum cross on coins first coins world with cross Kaleb 520 CE invasion Yemen Himyar Jewish kingdom Dhu Nuwas converted Christianity 6th century CE Arab expansion Red Sea Islamic conquest 8th century CE Aksum decline inland relocation Zagwe Dynasty 900 CE successor Lalibela UNESCO heritage: the early period (1st-3rd century CE: the earliest surviving Aksumite inscriptions date to the 1st century CE; the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (a 1st century CE Greek merchant handbook) describes the port of Adulis and the trade in ivory, gold, and slaves; the Aksumite kingdom at this period was a multi-ethnic state speaking a Semitic language (Ge'ez (Ethiopic)) with significant South Arabian cultural influences)); the Christian conversion (approximately 330 CE: King Ezana (r. approximately 320-360 CE) converted to Christianity (the earliest Christian ruler of a major state outside the Roman Empire); the missionary Frumentius (a Syrian Christian enslaved to the Aksumite court, who eventually became the first Bishop of Aksum; later the Patriarch of Alexandria appointed the Bishop of Aksum from Egypt until 1959 CE); the Aksumite coins after Ezana (the coins bear the Christian cross on one side)); the peak and decline (6th-8th century CE: the reign of Kaleb (approximately 514-540 CE; the Aksum military peak: the Ethiopian invasion of Yemen (520-525 CE) to end the persecution of Christians by the Himyar Jewish kingdom of Dhu Nuwas (who had massacred the Christian community of Najran)); the Arab expansion (the Islamic conquest of Arabia (7th century CE) cut off the Red Sea trade that had sustained Aksum; the port of Adulis was abandoned; the kingdom retreated inland and declined; the Zagwe Dynasty (900 CE) replaced the Aksumite dynasty and eventually moved the capital to Lalibela)) — the most precisely AksumEthiopia single 1st century CE Periplus ivory gold slaves Adulis port Ezana 320 360 CE Christianity 330 CE Frumentius first Bishop coins first Christian cross Kaleb 514 540 CE Yemen Himyar Dhu Nuwas Arab expansion 7th century CE Red Sea decline Zagwe 900 CE UNESCO heritage in any UNESCO world heritage site)).