Kingdom of Aksum

===Religion===
[[File:South Arabian - Fragment of a Frieze with an Ibex and Oryxes - Walters 2138.jpg|thumb|right|A stela with an [[Nubian ibex|ibex]] and three [[Arabian oryx]], associated with [[Astar (god)|Astar]] ({{lang|gez|ዐስተር}}), Semitic god of the [[Venus in culture|Morning and Evening Star]]]]
Before its conversion to Christianity, the Aksumites practiced a [[polytheistic]] religion related to the religion practiced in southern Arabia. This included the use of the crescent-and-disc symbol used in southern Arabia and the northern horn.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nx-qYO3zqlIC&pg=PA292|title=Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the northern Horn, 1000 BC – AD 1300|last=Phillipson|first=David|publisher=James Currey|year=2012|isbn=978-1847010414|page=91}}</ref> In the [[UNESCO]] sponsored ''[[General History of Africa]]'' French archaeologist Francis Anfray, suggests that the pagan Aksumites worshipped [[Astar (god)|Astar]], his son, [[Mahrem]], and [[Beher (god)|Beher]].<ref>{{cite book|title=UNESCO General History of Africa: Ancient Africa v. 2|publisher=University of California Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0520066977|editor=G. Mokhtar|page=221}}</ref>
[[File:James Heath - No 1 - A Table of Hieroglyphics found at Axum - B1977.14.8631 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg|thumb|A Table of Hieroglyphics found at Axum c. 19th century]]
[[Steven Kaplan (Africanist)|Steve Kaplan]] argues that with Aksumite culture came a major change in religion, with only Astar remaining of the old gods, the others being replaced by what he calls a "triad of indigenous divinities, Mahrem, Beher and Medr." He also suggests that Aksum culture was significantly influenced by Judaism, saying that "The first carriers of Judaism reached Ethiopia between the reign of [[Queen of Sheba]] BC and conversion to Christianity of King Ezana in the fourth century AD." He believes that although Ethiopian tradition suggests that these were present in large numbers, that "A relatively small number of texts and individuals dwelling in the cultural, economic, and political center could have had a considerable impact." and that "their influence was diffused throughout Ethiopian culture in its formative period. By the time Christianity took hold in the fourth century, many of the originally Hebraic-Jewish elements had been adopted by much of the indigenous population and were no longer viewed as foreign characteristics. Nor were they perceived as in conflict with the acceptance of Christianity."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Beta Israel (Falasha) in Ethiopia: From the Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century|last=Kaplan|first=Steve|publisher=New York University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0814746646}}</ref>

Before converting to Christianity, King Ezana II's coins and inscriptions show that he might have worshiped the gods Astar, Beher, Meder/Medr, and Mahrem. Another of Ezana's inscriptions is clearly Christian and refers to "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A0XNvklcqbwC&pg=PA77|title=Encyclopedia of Africa Vol. I|last=Munro-Hay|first=Stuart|publisher=Oxford University press|year=2010|isbn=978-0195337709|editor=Henry Louis Gates Jr., Kwame Anthony Appiah|page=77}}</ref> Around 324 AD the King Ezana II was converted to Christianity by his teacher [[Saint Frumentius|Frumentius]], who established the Axumite Coptic Church, which later became the modern [[Ethiopian Orthodox Church]].<ref name="isbn0-313-32273-2">{{cite book|last=Adejumobi|first=Saheed A.|title=The History of Ethiopia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Un6_LGIEyQC&pg=PA171|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32273-0|page=171}}</ref><ref name="goblues.org">{{Cite web|url=http://goblues.org/faculty/weekse/files/2012/08/axum-and-the-solomonic-dynasty.pdf|title = GoBlues - Asheville School| date=16 May 2023 }}</ref><ref name="obelisk bekerie">{{cite web |location=Newark, USA |url-status=dead |url=http://hornofafrica.newark.rutgers.edu/downloads/aksum.pdf |title=The Rise of the Askum Obelisk is the Rise of Ethiopian History|last1=Bekerie|first1=Ayele |access-date=2017-01-06 |publisher=Rutgers University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107100939/http://hornofafrica.newark.rutgers.edu/downloads/aksum.pdf |archive-date=2017-01-07 }}</ref> Frumentius taught the emperor while he was young, and it is believed that at some point staged the conversion of the empire.<ref name="ruperthopkins.com"/><ref name="otik.uk.zcu.cz"/> We know that the Aksumites converted to Christianity because in their coins they replaced the disc and crescent with the cross.  

Frumentius was in contact with the [[Church of Alexandria]], and was appointed Bishop of Ethiopia around the year 330. The Church of Alexandria never closely managed the affairs of the churches in Aksum, allowing them to develop their own unique form of Christianity.<ref name="users.clas.ufl.edu" /><ref name="whc.unesco.org" /> However, the Church of Alexandria probably did retain some influence considering that the churches of Aksum followed the Church of Alexandria into [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] by rejecting the Fourth Ecumenical [[Council of Chalcedon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmeca.org.uk/christianity-middle-east/history-christianity-middle-east-north-africa|title=A History of Christianity in the Middle East & North Africa|last=Wybrew|first=Hugh|publisher=Jerusalem & Middle East Church Association|access-date=25 February 2013|archive-date=3 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203152710/http://www.jmeca.org.uk/christianity-middle-east/history-christianity-middle-east-north-africa|url-status=dead}}</ref> Aksum is also the alleged home of the holy relic the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is said to have been placed in the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]] by Menelik I for safekeeping.<ref name="britishmuseum.org" /><ref name="Daily Life" />

Islam came in the 7th century at the reign of [[Ashama ibn-Abjar]], when the first followers of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] (also known as the [[Companions of the Prophet|Sahabah]]) migrated from [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] due to their persecution by the [[Quraysh]], the ruling [[Arabs|Arab]] tribal confederation of [[Mecca]]. The [[Quraysh]] appealed to the [[Ashama ibn-Abjar]], arguing that the early [[Muslims|Muslim]] migrants were rebels who had invented a new religion, the likes of which neither the Meccans nor the Aksumites had heard of. The king granted them an audience, but ultimately refused to hand over the migrants. A [[Second migration to Abyssinia|second migration]] consisting of 100 Muslim migrants occurred a few years later. Arabic inscriptions on the [[Dahlak Archipelago]] dated to the mid 9th century A.D. confirm the existence of an early Muslim presence in Aksum.<ref>Trimingham, Spencer, ''Islam in Ethiopia'', p. 47.</ref>