Ideas · c. 325–340 CE
Aksum becomes a Christian kingdom
Aksum (Tigray, Ethiopia)
Aksum, in today's northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, grew rich on Red Sea trade through its port of Adulis, exporting ivory, gold and tortoiseshell and minting its own coins; in the 3rd century the prophet Mani counted it among the world's four great powers with Rome, Persia and China. King Ezana, taught by Frumentius, a Christian from the Roman east, became its first Christian ruler, around 325–330 by most estimates, and his coins replaced the pagan disc and crescent with the cross.
Why it mattered
Aksum became one of the earliest states anywhere to adopt Christianity, and Ezana made its Ge'ez script and language official alongside Greek, rooting a Christian, literate tradition in the Horn of Africa.
Related
- The world in 300: Rome of Four Emperors chapter
- The Gupta age in India previous moment · c. 320–550 CE
- The Western Roman Empire falls next moment · 476 CE