Aksum and the Ethiopian church

Ages 9 to 12 Read alone or together · about 30 minutes

Read together

Aksum was a powerful kingdom in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. It traded across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

In the 300s, King Ezana accepted Christianity, so Aksum was among the first Christian states.

Do it

1. Find Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Red Sea on a map.
2. Look at a picture of an Aksumite coin showing a cross and notice that the coins changed when the king became Christian.
3. Learn that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church uses an ancient script, Ge'ez, for its services.
4. Compare: how is Christmas (Genna) kept there? See the Genna occasion in this site.

Talk about it

• Why was Aksum important in trade?
• What changed on the coins?

For the grown-up

Christianity in Africa is ancient, not a modern import. Dates and details of Ezana's conversion are known partly from coins and inscriptions, and church tradition adds more. Where the sources are traditions, say so.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Munro-Hay, S., Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh University Press, 1991)
• Hable-Selassie, S., and Pankhurst, R., Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa (Cambridge University Press), chapters on Aksum and Christianity
• The British Museum, collection pages on Aksumite coins

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.