Axum

This is the view from the terrace at our hotel, of the largest group of stelae, in Axum. The stelae are vertical chunks of granite, carved as "funerary" monuments here, in pre-Christian times (i.e. before the 4th century AD.). The were split with metal and wood implements, from a quarry 4 km from the site, and somehow moved, and then erected. This was mind boggling to me. The tallest ones are over twenty metres tall, and the heaviest was over 500 tonnes. The largest is apparently the largest monolith erected by humans ever, anywhere. How this could have been done without modern machinery is a mystery to me.

They are fairly ornately carved, with false doors and monuments. When Christianity came, the monuments stopped being built, but whether the two are related, no one knows. Apparently the largest stela fell and broke into pieces at the time Christianity arrived, so one thought is that people took that as a sign that they should stop erecting them and adopt the church. Who knows? Even the pieces of it on the ground were impressive. I'll post more photos to dropbox as soon as I can. If I haven't shared the dropbox photos with you, please send me an email.

There were also underground tombs to see in Axum, all long since emptied by grave robbers. Still, a great place to visit.