Kingdom of the obelisks
The ruins of Africa's most sophisticated ancient empire rise from the Tigray highlands — towering granite stelae marking royal tombs, a palace complex attributed to the Queen of Sheba, and the church said to hold the original Ark of the Covenant.
Aksum was the capital of the Aksumite Empire from roughly the 1st to 7th centuries CE, a major Red Sea trading power linking Roman Egypt with India, Arabia, and sub-Saharan Africa. At its height the empire minted its own gold coins and adopted Christianity in 340 CE under Emperor Ezana, making Ethiopia one of the world's first Christian states. Colossal granite stelae — carved to resemble multi-storey palace facades — were erected as royal tomb markers, the largest a world-record 33-metre single block; the empire declined after 7th-century Arab expansion disrupted its Red Sea trade routes, bu…