Axum Empire

Government: B (Brian H.)

           The government of the Axum was a highly organized monarchy up to the end of their empire. The government showed its organization by allowing for the individual rights of the people to be allowed. This was expressed in the toleration they had for other cultures, for example Islam. They protected Islamic and Arabic officials allowing the Islamic people open to trade. The government also controlled 1.25 million square kilometers of land at its peak. The government also lasted from 100-940 A.D; this reign was also not disrupted by war or civil unrest until the end of the empire’s reign. This showed the governments’ ability to govern the people fairly. The government therefor had to have a strong hold on the civilization to allow it to run smoothly. They also had a strong navy because of their strong connection with sea trade this allowed for the government to have more control over trade and economics’ within the civilization. But as the civilization started to decline the governments control over their navy and trade began to decline. This opened the door to more invasions from pirates and other civilizations. As the government lost power economically it drew back into isolation. Without the necessary resources to keep the Civilization sustained the Civilization continued to decline and was eventually taken over by an opposing tribe. I gave the Axum government a B because the government did promote religious tolerance and freedom along with developing a strong navy and trade empire that reached all the way to the Middle East and to the Roman Empire. The government also controlled up to one and a half million square kilometers with land that showed how efficiently the government protected its people. I marked the Axum Empire down because it eventally became corrupt and allowed for its navy and economy to slowly fall apart. This allowed for more invasions. They then became isolated driving the government to be more controlling and oppressive. This eventually lead to enemy invasion.

Religion B- (Brian H.)

            The Axum empires religion was very polytheistic at the beginning of its reign. It did not value human life because they were continually sacrificing humans and animals for offerings to their gods. They also performed many rituals and dances to bring favor to the gods before and after battle. But the Axum empire turned to Christianity monotheistic religion) after a king named Ezna came to power. He converted the civilization to Civilization and because this religion promoted peace, vowed to serve his people with honor and love. This religion therefor raised the value of life and led to more peace in the Civilization by not sacrificing humans or animals. This also allowed the higher and poorer classes of society to all have an equal chance at eternal happiness. The new religion did not completely take out the old traditions practiced in the Empire. I gave the empire a B- in religion because even though it converted to Christianity which improved value and life. Christianity even imposed new ways to solve problems (prayer). But the Axum empire was a polytheistic religion that degraded the value of life of the people by human sacrifice. It also potentially killed younger members of the civilization that could have helped the civilization grow.

Economy-  A-   (Hunter)
         The economy for the Axum Empire was farming and trading. Though the Aksumites
farmed, trading was the main objective of their life. In the Aksumites economy they produced
many goods that they used to trade. One of their main goods that they produced was
manufactured luxury goods, but also they had ivory, gold, iron, salt, copper, wheat, barley, and
other agricultural goods. In return for those goods the Axum Empire imported silk, spices, silver,
olive oil, and wine. The Aksumite rulers facilitated their own trade by starting their own
currency. An important reason why the Axum Empire was a large part of their economy was
because they were able to use the trade routes of the Silk Road and also the Southern Spice
(Eastern) trade routes. The empire also had the ability to use both the Nile River and the Red sea
for trading. Those trading routes enabled the Axum Empire to trade with Roman traders,
Egyptian merchants, Persian merchants, and also others within their range like African, Arabian,
and Indian states. Since the Axum Empire had all of those trading of products, it improved the
quality of life for the citizens because they received many useful and helpful goods for the
products that they exported. Later on in the empire the Aksumites benefited from the
transformation of the maritime trade system that had linked them to Rome and India using
monsoon winds. This started around the beginning of the Common Era. There was an advanced
level of trade for the Axum Empire because of all of the reasons listed and also their strong navy
to profit from the trade. For those reasons I have given the Axum empires economy an A-.

Art and Architecture: C (Ally S)
             The Axum Empire inharited many ideas and tecniques from Southern Arabians. Some art was a mixture Ethiopian, Southern Arabian, and Middle Eastern art. This was because the Axum Empire was based off Trade and many ideas were taken from the different cultures that traded with the Axum Empire. The Axum Empire was very creative with the use of colors and different interpertations of how they viewd nature. A large portion of their art was influenced by nature, animals and human beings. The Axum empire was known for their large and beautiful mansions made for Kings and other rulers. They also built large Catherdrals including Saint Mary of Zion, which is said to hold the "Ark of the Covenent." The Axum Empire didnt emphasize human advancement with art, but more so in the area in Architecture because they learned how to make a bigger and better houses with the use of their resources including stones and pottery. I gave the Axum Empire a C on Art and Architecture because they didnt empasize human advancement and most of their ideas were taken from others.

 Andrew - Technology – Grade - B

      The Axum Empire made some great technological advancements during their time. One thing they did was that they were the first country south of the Sahara desert to mint their own coins. Issuing coinage in the ancient times was of great importance because it showed the Axum Empire considered themselves equal to their neighbors. The presence of coins made trade easier which was a source of profit to the empire. The Axum Empire also created terrace farming which was used to farm on hillsides or mountainous areas. Another advancement was that they built dams and cisterns. A cistern can be described as a mini tank for holding water. I think that the Axum empires technology advancements did improve the quality of life. This is because minting coins improved the quality of trade with other countries and made them a better trading empire. Also they had the presence of mind to create terrace farming which made life better because it gave the empire a source of food and agriculture. Also dams and cisterns helped hold water for them. I gave the Axum Empire a B because even though they did not do many things in technology the things they did do were great for the empire. Without minting coins or terrace farming they would not have been able to trade with anyone or earn a profit.



Society: D - (Betsy)
           Axum Empire doesn’t approve of everyone being treated the same. Instead they had four classes. The four classes are (in order): High-Ranking Lineages, Low-Ranking Lineages, Endogamous, and Slaves and Decedents of slaves. The high and low-ranking lineages didn’t ever want to be seen with Endogamous or Slaves and Decedents of slaves. They classified the four classes by amount of education, neighborhood in which they lived (wealthy lived in urban areas, poor lived in the rural areas), and job one holds (lawyer= high classes, leather workers= low classes). In fact the two upper classes had the two lower classes work for them as slaves even if they weren’t meant to be slaves. If you owned land you most likely had a slave(s) to work the field for you. Only the upper classes owned land. The slaves that belonged to the Aksumites were treated horribly, bad. The slaves had to obey all the rules the owner of them put into place, which was called the feudal arrangement which was set up to ranch the ground. Slaves also couldn’t talk back, or rebel against their owners because they were the lowest class. If the slaves happen to rebel the owners could either have them shipped off somewhere else, beaten, and/or put in jail. The Aksumite Slaves were traded for other products the people in Axum needed. Finally the social movement was not allowed because the classes were so separated from each other.
         I gave the Axum Empire a D- because they didn’t have equality, they had classes. They also had slaves and treated them horrible. The last slave was emancipated by the EDLF government in the late 1970’s.

Overall Grade: C
Overall we gave the Axum empire a C. Their government was very good at first and lasted a long time but eventually became corrupt had a downfall. Religion was pretty good for them but they used human sacrifice which made it so the civilization couldn't grow very well. The economy and technology were also both pretty good and made the empire money with excellent trading. The reason their ranked down is because of their art and architecture and society. The empire copied other empires ideas for art and architecture and their society was just very poor because there were different classes so they treated everybody differently.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum

http://www.experiencefestival.com/kingdom_of_aksum_-_society_structure

http://archaeology.about.com/cs/africa/a/aksum.htm

http://www.theearthtraveler.com/empire-of-aksum-africa-history-and-religion.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-aksum.htm

http://wysinger.homestead.com/aksum.html