The Stelae of Aksum/Axum - North Ethiopia
To put it in basic terms, a "stelae" is a monolith placed on a tomb that announced to the world how powerful the ruling family or King was. "Mine is bigger than yours....." The Northern field (across the street from St. Mary of Zion Complex) is Ethiopia's biggest and most important stelae field containing over 120 stelae. It's possible that 98% of all the treasures are still underground. Someone...give me a shovel, trowel and dental pick and...let me loose! (Read Archaeological Dig Volunteer. )
This area had the Great Stele, believed to be the biggest obelisk or stela that humans ever attempted to erect and weighing 50 tons... King Ezana's Stele, just returned by the Italians and still being maneuvered into place...and tombs.
This small area had The Tomb of the False Door, and the Tomb of the Brick Arches dating from 3rd century. Remains of two skeletons, pottery, ivory were also found here....View image...
While wandering around the Stelae field, a group of old soldiers and/or their descendents were on the site commemorating the Battle of Adwa in 1896. ... View image... This important, historical event in Ethiopian history is celebrated annually (similar to our Independence Day). ...View image... Tomorrow, the President of Ethiopia would be in Adwa along with thousands of other Ethiopians to mark this day. As a matter of fact, Archbishop Deskoros from Tigrey was staying at our hotel.
A little more Ethiopian bible information - The founder of Aksum was Kush, grandson of Noah. Noah's son Kam was given the south of East Africa after the flood to be his land. When Kam gave his son, Kush, his portion later in the Bible, Kush called the settlement, Aksum.
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