XPost: alt.religion.christianity, alt.religion.christian.east-orthodox,   
   alt.christian.religion   
   XPost: soc.culture.african, soc.history   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   Church Unearthed in Ethiopia Rewrites the History of Christianity in   
   Africa   
   Archaeologists now can more closely date when the religion spread to   
   the Aksumite Empire   
   Site   
   At an archaeological site in Ethiopia, researchers are uncovering the   
   oldest Christian basilica in sub-Saharan Africa. (Ioana Dumitru)   
   By Andrew Lawler   
   smithsonian.com   
   December 10, 2019 3:01PM   
      
   In the dusty highlands of northern Ethiopia, a team of archaeologists   
   recently uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan   
   Africa, a find that sheds new light on one of the Old World’s most   
   enigmatic kingdoms—and its surprisingly early conversion to   
   Christianity.   
      
   An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30   
   miles northeast of Aksum, the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a   
   trading empire that emerged in the first century A.D. and would go on   
   to dominate much of eastern Africa and western Arabia. Through   
   radiocarbon dating artifacts uncovered at the church, the researchers   
   concluded that the structure was built in the fourth century A.D.,   
   about the same time when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalized   
   Christianty in 313 CE and then converted on his deathbed in 337 CE.   
   The team detailed their findings in a paper published today in   
   Antiquity.   
      
   The discovery of the church and its contents confirm Ethiopian   
   tradition that Christianity arrived at an early date in an area nearly   
   3,000 miles from Rome. The find suggests that the new religion spread   
   quickly through long-distance trading networks that linked the   
   Mediterranean via the Red Sea with Africa and South Asia, shedding   
   fresh light on a significant era about which historians know little.   
      
   “The empire of Aksum was one of the world’s most influential ancient   
   civilizations, but it remains one of the least widely known,” says   
   Michael Harrower of Johns Hopkins University, the archaeologist   
   leading the team. Helina Woldekiros, an archaeologist at St. Louis’   
   Washington University who was part of the team, adds that Aksum served   
   as a “nexus point” linking the Roman Empire and, later, the Byzantine   
   Empire with distant lands to the south. That trade, by camel, donkey   
   and boat, channeled silver, olive oil and wine from the Mediterranean   
   to cities along the Indian Ocean, which in turn brought back exported   
   iron, glass beads and fruits.   
   Pendant   
   A stone pendant with a cross and the term "venerable" in Ethiopia's   
   ancient Ge'ez script found outside the eastern basilica wall. (Ioana   
   Dumitru)   
      
   The kingdom began its decline in the eighth and ninth centuries,   
   eventually contracting to control only the Ethiopian highlands. Yet it   
   remained defiantly Christian even as Islam spread across the region.   
   At first, relations between the two religions were largely peaceful   
   but grew more fraught over time. In the 16th century, the kingdom came   
   under attack from Somali and then Ottoman armies, but ultimately   
   retained control of its strategic highlands. Today, nearly half of all   
   Ethiopians are members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.   
      
   For early Christians, the risk of persecution from the Romans   
   sometimes ran high, forcing them to practice their beliefs in private,   
   posing a challenge for those scholars who study this era. Christianity   
   had reached Egypt by the third century A.D., but it was not until   
   Constantine’s legalization of Christian observance that the church   
   expanded widely across Europe and the Near East. With news of the   
   Aksumite excavation, researchers can now feel more confident in dating   
   the arrival of Christianity to Ethiopia to the same time frame.   
      
   “[This find] is to my knowledge the earliest physical evidence for a   
   church in Ethiopia, [as well as all of sub-Saharan Africa,]” says   
   Aaron Butts, a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages at Catholic   
   University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the   
   excavation.   
      
   Harrower’s team conducted their work between 2011 and 2016 at an   
   ancient settlement called Beta Samati, which means “house of audience”   
   in the local Tigrinya language. The location, close to the modern-day   
   border with Eritrea and 70 miles to the southwest of the Red Sea,   
   appealed to the archaeologists in part because it was also home to   
   temples built in a southern Arabian style dating back many centuries   
   before the rise of Aksum, a clear sign of ancient ties to the Arabian   
   Peninsula. The temples reflect the influence of Sabaeans, who   
   dominated the lucrative incense trade and whose power reached across   
   the Red Sea in that era.   
      
   The excavators’ biggest discovery was a massive building 60 feet long   
   and 40 feet wide resembling the ancient Roman style of a basilica.   
   Developed by the Romans for administrative purposes, the basilica was   
   adopted by Christians at the time of Constantine for their places of   
   worship. Within and near the Aksumite ruins, the archaeologists also   
   found a diverse array of goods, from a delicate gold and carnelian   
   ring with the image of a bull’s head to nearly 50 cattle   
   figurines—clearly evidence of pre-Christian beliefs.   
      
   They also uncovered a stone pendant carved with a cross and incised   
   with the ancient Ethiopic word “venerable,” as well as incense   
   burners. Near the eastern basilica wall, the team came across an   
   inscription asking “for Christ [to be] favorable to us.”   
      
   In the research paper, Harrower said that this unusual collection of   
   artifacts “suggests a mixing of pagan and early Christian traditions.”   
   Ring   
   A gold and carnelian ring depicting a bull's head from the excavation   
   site. (Ioana Dumitru)   
      
   According to Ethiopian tradition, Christianity first came to the Aksum   
   Empire in the fourth century A.D. when a Greek-speaking missionary   
   named Frumentius converted King Ezana. Butts, however, doubts the   
   historical reliability of this account, and scholars have disagreed   
   over when and how the new religion reached distant Ethiopia.   
      
   “This is what makes the discovery of this basilica so important,” he   
   adds. “It is reliable evidence for a Christian presence slightly   
   northeast of Aksum at a very early date.”   
      
   While the story of Frumentius may be apocryphal, other finds at the   
   site underline how the spread of Christianity was intertwined with the   
   machinations of commerce. Stamp seals and tokens used for economic   
   transactions uncovered by the archaeologists point to the cosmopolitan   
   nature of the settlement. A glass bead from the eastern Mediterranean   
      
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