Ezana
r. 325-360
Aksumite King
During the Middle Ages, Europe was not the only stronghold of Christianity: far to thesouth, separated from Rome and Constantinople by hostile Muslim forces, was a Christian stronghold in Africa. The influence of Christianity in Ethiopia, where the religion remains a powerful force today, can be traced to a single man, King Ezana of Aksum. Under his leadership, Aksum grew to become an enormously influential regional power, and extended its influence to neighboring lands through conquest, trade, and exploration.
Ezana of Aksum (sometimes spelled Axum), in what is now Eritrea, grew up around the Red Sea port of Adulis after about 500 B.C. As a seafaring power, it enjoyed contact with the Greek culture of Ptolemaic Egypt, and by the first century A.D. was engaged in trade with regions as far away as China and India.
During the reign of Ezana's father Ella Amida, a philosopher named Meropius, from Tyre in what is now Lebanon, undertook a voyage to India. He took with him two boys, Frumentius and Aedesius, but when their ship put in at Adulis to take on supplies, they were attacked by a crowd hostile to them: the visitors were Roman citizens, and Ella Amida had long been in conflict with Rome. All of the foreigners were put to death except for the two boys; not only did Ella Amida spare their lives, but he took them into his household.
The fourth century historian Rufinus, principal source for the tale (which has been corroborated by Aksumite records), reported that though Aedesius had a good heart, he was a simple lad. Frumentius, on the other hand, proved himself wise beyond his years, and in time the king appointed him as treasurer and secretary. After Ella Amida died, his wife Sofya—who served as regent for her young son Ezana—begged the two foreigners, by then young men, to stay and assist her.
Both Frumentius and Aedesius were devout Christians, and in time, both grew desirous of an opportunity to leave Aksum and pursue careers in the Church. As king, Ezana allowed them to go: Aedesius to Tyre, where he became a priest, and Frumentius to Alexandria—where that city's patriarch consecrated him as a bishop and sent him back to Aksum as a missionary. It was most likely after his return, and under his influence, that Ezana converted to Christianity.
The fact of Ezana's conversion is preserved in the coins of Ezana, which had previously borne pagan symbols but thereafter bore the cross, as well as in numerous inscriptions throughout his empire. These inscriptions are in Geez or Old Ethiopic, Sabean (the language of southern Arabia), and Greek, thus attesting to the cosmopolitan nature of Ezana's realm. They preserve, among other things, a record of conquests: according to one inscription, Ezana deputized his brothers Shaiazana and Hadefan to subdue the Beja people, who had been raiding trading caravans to the north. Other inscriptions indicate journeys to regions that have not been identified. It is possible to conclude from these records that Ezana began the conquest of southern Arabia, which Aksum's rulers would dominate by the sixth century.
Though Egypt had once been the dominant power in the region, it had long since been over-taken by Rome—and by Ezana's time, Roman power, too, was fading. Another great power of previous centuries was Kush, in what is now Sudan, which had controlled Egypt during the latter's Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (712-667 B.C.) But the influence of Kush, too, had waned, and Ezana dealt that empire its final blow when he conquered the ancient Kushite capital of Meroë.
Thanks to Ezana, Aksum would remain a force for stability in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Arabia for centuries to come. It also remained Christian even after the Muslim conquest of Egypt neutralized the influence of Alexandria's bishop. As a result, Ethiopia developed its own Coptic version of Christianity, which remains highly distinct from the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
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