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   >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 Worldâs most   
   >enigmatic kingdomsâand 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.   
   >   
   >âThe empire of Aksum was one of the worldâs most influential ancient   
   >civilizations, but it remains one of the least widely known,â says   
   >Michael Harrower of Johns Hopkins University, the archaeologist   
   >leading the team. Helina Woldekiros, an archaeologist at St. Louisâ   
   >Washington University who was part of the team, adds that Aksum served   
   >as a ânexus pointâ 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   
   >Constantineâs 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.   
   >   
   >â[This find] is to my knowledge the earliest physical evidence for a   
   >church in Ethiopia, [as well as all of sub-Saharan Africa,]â says   
   >Aaron Butts, a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages at Catholic   
   >University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the   
   >excavation.   
   >   
   >Harrowerâs team conducted their work between 2011 and 2016 at an   
   >ancient settlement called Beta Samati, which means âhouse of audienceâ   
   >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 excavatorsâ 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 bullâs head to nearly 50 cattle   
   >figurinesâclearly evidence of pre-Christian beliefs.   
   >   
   >They also uncovered a stone pendant carved with a cross and incised   
   >with the ancient Ethiopic word âvenerable,â as well as incense   
   >burners. Near the eastern basilica wall, the team came across an   
   >inscription asking âfor Christ [to be] favorable to us.â   
   >   
   >In the research paper, Harrower said that this unusual collection of   
   >artifacts âsuggests a mixing of pagan and early Christian traditions.â   
   >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.   
   >   
   >âThis is what makes the discovery of this basilica so important,â he   
   >adds. âIt is reliable evidence for a Christian presence slightly   
   >northeast of Aksum at a very early date.â   
   >   
   >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   
   >and large amounts of pottery from Aqaba, in todayâs Jordan, attest to   
   >long-distance trading. Woldekiros added that the discoveries show that   
   >âlong-distance trade routes played a significant role in the   
   >introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia.â   
   >   
   >She and other scholars want to understand how these routes developed   
   >and their impacts on regional societies. âThe Aksumite kingdom was an   
      
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