Click on the objects in the image for descriptions
hard Philp Gallery
AXUMITE
Two terracotta heads
c. 3rd century A.D.
Height: 4 in, 3.5 in
The Axumite civilization was a Coptic pre-Christian state in Ethiopia, from about AD 100-800.
The legends narrated in the Kebre Nagast (‘Book of Kings’) recount how the city of Axum as early as the 10th century B.C was already the city in which the Queen of Sheba resided. It is recounted that the son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant to Axum where it is believed to reside to this day, preserved in a sanctuary.
Axumite obelisks and stelae still otand as a witness of the prominence of Axum among world civilizations. It was also through Axum that Orthodox Christianity was introduced into Ethiopia in the fourth century.