UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Christian Aksum
the Jews and that of King David before the Ark of the Covenant.
But with the introduction of Christianity, which was either preceded
or followed by a transfer of power into the hands of other groups (Sabaeans,
Habesan and others), the Jews, as everywhere else, were victims of prejudice
and violence and withdrew into less accessible areas. The massacre of the
Najrah Christians in south Arabia in the sixth century and the uprising
of the Palasha in the tenth century seem to be linked with the ill-treatment
inflicted on Jews living in the most Christian empire of Aksum, or to
be reactions to the political and economic hegemony of the latter in Arabia.
The coming of Christianity to Aksum
The new religion founded in Palestine by Christ and spread by his militants
throughout all the empires of East and West arrived, in its turn, at the
court of Aksum, in the midst of a polytheistic cult followed by the
Kushites and of a sub-Arabic religion practised by the Semites and the
Semitized Kushites.
On the basis of the apocryphal texts of the Acts of the Apostles drawn
up by a certain Abdia, part of the population mistakenly believes that Saint
Matthew was the firstto bring Christianity to Ethiopia. This view, however,
is supported by no document worthy of belief.
The history of the kings, Tarike Neguest, attributes to the famous
Frumentius the privilege of having introduced Christianity into the
country. Frumentius is later called the Enlightener (Kessate Brhan) or
Abba Selama, which means Father of Peace. The arrival of Frumentius
in Ethiopia, his depature for Alexandria and his return to Aksum are
described in detail by Eusebius and Rufinus. The work of the latter, which
deals particularly with the arrival of Christianity in Ethiopia, was later
translated into Ge'ez and subsequently into Amharic.
According to Rufinus, a certain Meropius of Tyre wished to go to the
Indies (following the example of the philosopher Metrodorus) with two
young relatives, Frumentius and Aedesius. On their return, his boat was
attacked by the population of a port (on the Red Sea?). Meropius died
and the two young brothers were taken to the king of Aksum. The
younger one, Aedesius, became a cup-bearer, whilst Frumentius, owing
to his Greek culture, became the king's counsellor and treasurer, as well
as tutor to the royal children. According to the date of arrival of the two
young men, this king seems to have been Ella Amida, father of King
Ezana. After the death of Ella Amida, his wife became regent and asked
the two young men to remain with her to administer the country until
her son was old enough to reign.
So Frumentius brought up the young prince to love the new Christian
religion. Having thus prepared the ground, he then departed with his
brother Aedesius. While Aedesius returned to Tyre to help his aged parents,
Frumentius went to Alexandria to visit the Patriarch Athanasius, and told
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