UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century
According to a search carried out by A. J. Drewes 62 on the Safra inscription,
sterile cows and ewes were the offerings (a sacrifice still widespread
among some Ethiopian peoples). This inscription, the scholar notes,
contains specific terms used during the ritual, at which a priest-immolator
officiated. References to the slaughter of beasts used in burnt-offerings to
Astar are found in other inscriptions. According to ancient Semitic custom,
some kinds of donation for sacrifice were brought in ritually immaculate
clothing; for others this was not obligatory. But already in the pre-
Aksumite period the living sacrificial animal was supplanted by its consecrated
image. Bronze and stone images of sacrificial bulls, rams and other
animals, many bearing inscriptions, have been preserved.
Ancestor-cult, especially of dead kings, occupied an important place in
the religion of the Aksumites. It was customary to dedicate stelae to
them: häwelt, a word stemming from the root h-w-l, means 'to go round',
or'to worship' and is comparable to the Islamic worship of the Qaaba.
Sacrifices were brought to the altars and to the pedestals of stelae carved
in the form of altars, and the blood of the sacrifices flowed down into
hollows hewn in the form of bowls. The graves of Aksumite kings were
regarded as the city's holy places. Vessels and other objects found in burial
grounds indicate belief in a life beyond the grave. Some indirect references
suggest the existence of a cult of 'lords of the mountains' reminiscent of
corresponding cults in Arabia.
Although information on the religion of the Aksumites is still extremely
fragmentary, it may be considered a relatively developed religion, linked
to a complicated ritual and a professional priesthood.
During the early Aksumite period religious ideas from countries near and
far penetrated into Ethiopia. In the Monumentum Adulitanum mention is
made of Poseidon, a Sea-god who was evidently worshipped by the inhabitants
of Adulis and along the southern part of the Red Sea coast. 63
The holy places of Almaqah, 'national' god of the Sabaeans, worshipped
by king Gadara of Aksum, 64 were situated at Melazo and perhaps at
Hawila-Asseraw. The newly discovered stele at Aksum, with the Egyptian
symbol of life ankh, 65 and objects pertaining to the cult of Hathor, Ptah
and Horus, as well as scarabs, suggests that adherents to the Egyptian-
Meroe religion were residing at some time in Aksum, Adulis and Matara.
The small images of Buddha found at Aksum 66 were probably brought
there by Buddhist merchants from India. Numerous groups professing the
Judaic religion were living in southern Arabia and some must have come to
settle in Ethiopia prior to the sixth century, when Christianity became of
leading importance (see Chapter 14 and Chapter 16).
62. A. J. Drewes, 1962, pp. 50-4.
63. E. O. Winstedt, p. 77.
64. A. Jamme, 1957, p. 79.
65. F. Anfray, 1972b, p. 71.
66. H. de Contenson, 1963b, pp. 45, 46, Plates XLVII-XLVIII, a, c.
397