Axum (Ethiopia)

Last updated: May 23rd, 2025 at 12:44 pm · Est. Reading Time: < 1 minute

Axum was a kingdom located at the horn of Africa.  It was born around 100 CE and survived up to 940 CE.

Modern historians call it the kingdom of Axum (Aksum) after its capital city.  The citizens of this country did not call it by this name.  Instead, they used to call it Ethiopia (Ḥabshah حبشه in early Islamic sources).¹

The title of its king was Ngš Ngšt.  Ngš Ngšt is referred to as Najashi (Najāshī نجاشى) in early Arabic sources.²  English translation of Ngš Ngšt is Negus.

It was one of the earliest nations adopting Christianity.³

Mani, a 3^rd century CE Iranian scholar, considers it one of four great powers of the world, the others being Rome, Persia, and Sileos (China).⁴

Further Reading

Stuart C. Munro-Hay. Aksum: A Civilization of Late Antiquity, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991.

https://historyofislam.org/pre-islamic-arab-politics/#Ethiopia

Endnotes

1. Rufinus of Aquileia, Patrologia Latina, Vol. 21, ed. J. –P. Migne, (Paris: publisher not recognized, 1849), 478 – 80.
2. Albert W. F. Jamme, Sabaean Inscriptions from Mahram Bilqîs (Mârib): Publications of the American Foundation for the Study of Man, 3, (Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1962), 290 – 291.; Ma‘mar ibn Rāshid. The Expeditions, ed. Joseph E. Lowry, trans. Sean W. Anthony.  (New York: New York University Press, 2015), 22.; Johannes H. Mordtamm, Himjarische Inschriften und Alterthümer in den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin: Mitteilungen aus den orientalischen Sammlungen, 7, Berlin: W. Spemann, 1893.  (Inscription: CIH 308).
3. Rufinus of Aquileia, Patrologia Latina, Vol. 21, ed. J. –P. Migne, (Paris: publisher not recognized, 1849), 478 – 80.; F. Anfray, A. Caquot and Nautin, “Une nouvelle inscription grecque d’Ezana, Roi d’Axoum”, Journal des Savants (1970): 266.  (Inscription RIE 189 = DAE 1).
4. Mani, Kephalaia, ed. and trans. Hugo Ibscher, (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1940) 188, 189.