Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Aksumite roots of Medieval Ethiopia

2004; Routledge; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00672700409480389

1945-5534

David W. Phillipson,

Eurasian Exchange Networks

Abstract In Ethiopian historiography, there has been a tendency for the Aksumite and medieval periods to be studied separately. The former has been seen as the preserve of archaeologists and epigraphers, with significant contributions also made by numismatists and by historians—ancient, Byzantine or ecclesiastical—whose specialism is not specifically Ethiopian. The medieval period, on the other hand, has been studied primarily from an art-historical perspective, often emphasising foreign connections, and through Ethiopian historical records. The links between the two periods, while recognised, have not been comprehensively investigated, and the methodological dichotomy has exaggerated their distinctiveness and has meant that they have tended to be the preserves of different groups of scholars. This paper will seek to break down these methodological and conceptual divisions. It will go beyond the links between Aksumite and medieval architecture, stressed half a century ago by David Buxton, and consider the antecedents of medieval painting and manuscript production. It will note that extant data relating to medieval Ethiopia are almost exclusively ecclesiastical and/or political. In this context it will consider the significance of the Kebra Negast and of medieval accounts of Aksumite events. It will conclude that there has been much greater continuity between the two periods than has been recognised hitherto, and that the specifically Ethiopian contribution has been dominant throughout. Keywords: AksumChristianityMedieval Ethiopia