After assuming the throne, Ezana proclaimed Christianity the state religion. He became an advisor to the court at Aksum and a tutor to the crown prince, Ezana. Frumentius came from the Phoenician city of Tyre (present-day Lebanon). A figure named Frumentius is given credit for spreading the gospel to Ethiopia. and became the first sub-Saharan African state to embrace the new Semitic religion. Aksum had become Christianized in the fourth century C.E. The Roman emperor at Byzantium supported Aksum in this venture, largely in retaliation for Yemen’s persecution of Christians. In the sixth century, the Aksumite King Kaleb sent a force across the Red Sea to subdue the Yemenites, subjugating them as vassals for several decades. Led by King Ezana I, Aksumites conquered the city-state of Meroe (part of present-day Sudan) in the early fourth century C.E. Aksum also enlarged its territory through warfare. The kingdom exercised administrative and economic control over a swath of territory encompassing Tigray and northern Eritrea, the desert, coastal plains to the south and east, and much of the Red Sea coast (in present-day Djibouti and Somalia). The city of Aksum grew in population, size, and the complexity of its development, while smaller towns and rural villages sprang up in surrounding areas. In those years, it was a prosperous, stratified society, with divisions ranging from high nobles, lower status members of the elite classes, and common folk. The kingdom of Aksum reached its peak power between the third and sixth centuries C.E. These coins have been recovered in multiple foreign locations, including as far away as India. Aksum was the first African country to mint its own coins-in gold, silver, and bronze-all in the standard weight categories issued by the Roman Empire. Perhaps their most important commercial partners were the Byzantine Romans. Their trading partners included most of the major states in the known world: Egypt, South Arabia, the Middle East, India, and China. In exchange, they imported textiles, iron, steel, weapons, glassware, jewelry, spices, olive oil, and wine. Gold and ivory were perhaps their most valuable export commodities, but they also trafficked in tortoise shells, rhinoceros horns, frankincense, myrrh, emeralds, salt, live animals, and enslaved people. The Aksumites took full advantage of these commercial opportunities. Most importantly, the city was strategically positioned at the crossroads of trade routes running in every direction, from the East African coast to the continent's interior. Its climate, rainfall patterns, and fertile soil made the area suitable for herding livestock and agriculture. The city is located some 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) above sea level, on a plateau. The local geography contributed to the rise of Aksum. or thereabouts, Aksum had emerged as a state to unify the area. Nevertheless, it is clear that by the first century C.E. Scientists and historians are still trying to understand the process of cultural and economic development that led to the growth of a wide polity in this region. Another city-state seems to have existed right next to Aksum on the Bieta Giyorgis Hill. This culture was apparently based in the village of Yeha, in the Tigray highlands about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Aksum. In this region, archaeologists have found evidence of a complex society called Di’amat, or D’MT, that preceded the rise of Aksum by several centuries. People from the kingdom of Saba, across the Red Sea on the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, may have migrated into the area in the first millennium B.C.E. But the origins of the kingdom of Aksum are mysterious. Humans had inhabited the region and the valleys below since the Stone Age, and agrarian communities had been there for at least a millennium. Aksum was situated in the highlands of northern Ethiopia, in a region called Tigray, near present-day Eritrea. Aksum was also noteworthy for its elaborate monuments and written script, as well as for introducing the Christian religion to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Aksum, the capital city, was a metropolis with a peak population as high as 20,000. This wealthy African civilization thrived for centuries, controlling a large territorial state and access to vast trade routes linking the Roman Empire to the Middle East and India. A major empire of the ancient world, the kingdom of Aksum arose in Ethiopia during the first century C.E.
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