Aksumite Religion Essay

Religion

Aksumites first started off practicing a polytheistic religion. Astar was the main god of the Aksumites and also his his son Mahrem which was who the kings of Aksum believed they were descendents from. But Under Emperor Ezana, Aksum adopted Christianity in place of its former polytheistic religion around 325 C.E. Ezana was not only influenced by Roman religion but also by his slave teacher who taught Ezana about Christianity

Christianity

Aksum embraced the Orthodox tradition of Christianity around 340–356 C.E under the rule of King Ezana. The king had been converted by Frumentius, who was a former Syrian captive who was later made Bishop of Aksum. Frumentius later baptised King Ezana, who then declared Aksum a Christian

Merchants in Adulis traded in a wide variety of products including salt, gold, ivory, gems, cloth, glass, and olive oil. Some traders would travel from distant lands such as the Roman Empire and India to acquire goods at Adulis.

The main exports of Axum were, as would be expected of a state during this time, agricultural products. The land was much more fertile during the time of the Aksumites than now, and their main crops were grains such as wheat and barley. The people of Aksum also raised cattle, sheep, and camels. Wild animals were also hunted for things such as ivory and rhinoceros horns.

Written language

The Kingdom of Axum developed and adopted Ge'ez, a written alphabet that Arabian migrants brought to Aksum. Aksum was the only ancient African kingdom known to have developed a written language before the fourth century; Moreover Ge’ez had not made use of vowels. But the usage of vowels was incorporated into Ge’ez when the Aksumites converted to Christianity; Ge’ez became the basis for three languages that are used in Ethiopia and Eritrea today such as Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre. Ge’ez is still used in the Ethiopian