The second grouped church is called the Western Group and contains Bete Giyorgis, undoubtedly the most finely executed and best preserved church that’s in Lalibella. This church is dedicated to Saint George. This monolithic church is isolated from the other groups of churches. It is located in the southwest of the village on a sloping rock terrace. In its deep pit with perpendicular walls it can only be reached through a tunnel which is entered from some distance away through a trench. Small round caves and chambers have been found in the walls of the courtyard graves for pious pilgrims and monks. According to legend, when King Lalibela had almost completed the group of churches which God had instructed him to build, Saint George appeared (in full armor and riding his white horse) and sharply reproached the king for not having constructed a house for him. Lalibela promised to build a church more beautiful than all the others for the saint.
According to legend, a dense cloud of bees surrounded the Prince Lalibela at the moment of his birth. His mother, claiming that the bees represented the soldiers who would one day serve her son, chose for him the name Lalibela, meaning "the bees recognize his sovereignty". Lalibela's older brother, King Harbay, was made jealous by these prophecies about his brother and tried to poison him. While Lalibela was drugged, angels transported him to various realms of heaven where God gave him directions to build a New Jerusalem with churches in a unique style. Lalibela also learned that he need not fear for his life or his sovereignty, for God had anointed him so that he might build the churches. After three days of divine communication, Lalibela returned to mortal existence and accepted the throne from his brother, who had also been visited by God (and told to abdicate to Lalibela). Both brothers traveled to the city of Roha and began the construction of the churches. Assisted by angels and St. Gabriel, they built twelve extraordinary churches over a period of twenty-five years. The Ethiopian Orthodox church later canonized the King and changed the name of the city of Roha to Lalibela.
The third group of churches is called The Eastern Group and consists of Bete Amanuel which according to many locals is the former royal chapel. Another church in this group is Bete Merkorios, which is known to have been a prison. The last two churches are Bete Abba Libanos and Bete Gabriel-Rufael which was possibly a former royal palace.
The last group of churches lay further afield and lay at the monastery of Ashetan Maryam and Yimrehane Kristos church. These churchs have an old Axumite style of structure although done inside a cave.
Our trip to Lalibella has been a very educational one. The amount of information we received from our tour guide is almost overwhelming. I have learnt so much that I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t gone on this trip. The thing that’s different about Lalibella is the brilliance of the architecture doesn’t become clear until you have actually seen it. If I do decide to do my internal assessment on Lalibella I hope to revisit the place and this time be prepared to take in everything said.
The next day we boarded another plane that would take us to our second destination, Axum. After we checked into our hotel we headed to our first site, the historic steles of Axum.
The steles that are seen in Axum are famous worldwide and many make the long journey to take a look at it. Each stele is a representation of the tomb that is in the under it, as a mark to symbolize the dead nobility. In 1997 there was an archeological research at the site of the obelisks in Axum that resulted in the excavation of skeletons, ivory and ancient coins. The obelisk resembles old Axumite architecture. Because there was no Christianity at the time of the building of the obelisks the steles have no religious significance whatsoever.
The first thing you see when you enter through the gates to the steles is the stele that had fallen down. “Nefas Mewcha” is the largest stele that is in Axum. It is over 2000 years old and weights 520 tons and is at a height of 33.5 meters. According to Professor David Phillipson, this stele was never fully erected because the base of the stele was too small to support the large stele. He describes his theories in his book “The Unfinished One”. But according to legends within the city it is believed an evil queen Yodit Gudit made it topple over after it had been erected. The tallest standing is at 24-metres and weighs 160 tonnes called the King Ezanas Stele. There are three more stele, one measures 18.2 M high 1.56 M wide and weighs 56 tonnes, another 15.8 M high 2.35 meters wide 75 tonnes, and another 15.3 meters high 1.47meters wide and weighs 43 tonnes.
We also saw the stele that had been stolen by the Italians during their five year occupation and hadn’t returned till a year ago. It is the tallest stele standing at the site now. It is a wonder that it took this long for the stele to be returned to the right full owners. I think the fact that it was returned symbolizes Ethiopia’s moving forward and standing on the same level with other western countries. It signifies the respect that is extended to Ethiopia and its people.
After we had finished looking at all the steles we moved into the museum that was located at the back of the location. This museum holds many archeological findings from pre-Axumite, Axumite and post Axumite periods in time. The Axumite Empire ranges from the second century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. whereas the pre-Axumite empire ranged between 7th century BC to the 2nd century BC. And the post Axumite is after the seventh century. These findings include a lot of coins and pottery.
After this we all headed to the palace of King Kaleb. This was situated beautifully at the top of a small hill. King Kaleb had ruled over Yemen for along time. After he deserted the Islamic people he became a monk in Ethiopia. He completely he disregarded his political rule. The monastery taught its subjects to be humble and that it was not necessary to be financially well off. On our way back to the hotel we saw the bath of Sheba that is now used during the holiday of “T’imket” or Epiphany.
The next day we started our journey to Adwa that is a region in Ethiopia not far from Axum where the Italians were defeated by Ethiopians during their attempted invasion in 1889. The Battle of Adwa was a disgrace to Italians because a great power like Italy was defeated by a primitive army that wasn’t well trained or properly equipped. Although Ethiopians outnumbered the Italians the vast amount of artillery the Italians had was vast. Emperor Menelik won this battle because he had an immense number of soldiers that were dedicated to their country and would do whatever it took to win. The Italian army had the disadvantages because the site of the battle was a harsh place to fight with mountains surrounding it. The Ethiopian soldiers knew the location well whereas the Italians had a faulty map.
Axum began to decline in the early decades of the 7th century following the rise and rapid expansion of the Muslim Arabs throughout the Middle East. Both Byzantium and the Persian Empire fell to the Arabs and this dealt a deathblow to the trading endeavors of the Axumite kings. Little is known of what became of the Axumite kingdom between the 8th and 11th centuries. Around the middle of the 11th century the Ethiopian state reappeared as the Christian Zagwe dynasty with its center in the town of Roha in the Amhara region of the Ethiopian highlands. The Zagwe dynasty, ruled over by eleven kings, lasted until the 13th century, when its last king abdicated in favor of a descendant of the old Axumite dynasty.
The most notable of the rulers of the Zagwe dynasty was King Lalibela who reigned from 1167 to 1207. A brilliant achievement of his reign was the construction of a dozen beautiful rock-hewn churches that we saw in the city of Lalibella.
Then we continued on the bus until we reached Yeha. Yeha is believed to be the first capital of Ethiopia and cradles the oldest building in Sub-Saharan Africa. This building was constructed during the 7th century BC without the use of any cement or mortar, and is held by many pillars that are made of one stone each. It is a wonder at how the people of the time were able to build such a structure. Even to transport rocks of its size would have taken a lot of technology. This happening proves that the people in Yeha at the time were advanced and the level of civilization was pretty high. History also says Yeha is where civilization started and the fact that they have such advanced structures in the town proves it. Not only was Yeha the capital of Ethiopia, but also the center of trade in that part of the world. The Axumite Empire extended into Yemen and this is reflected in the style of the steles, the steles in Yemen and the ones in Yeha are very similar. Another factor that affected this was the fact that there were immigrants in Yeha from Yemen. These Arabian immigrants were drawn to Yeha because of its fertile lands and many opportunities. Christianity was not there at this time and the people were mostly pagans. They worshipped the moon and sun gods in the standing building. The moon Gods name was Almoca and he was respected and feared by many. The King then was also worshipped as he was an elect of God. The “Beal Gibri” found outside the current compound and was used for worship as well. The Walia Ibex and moons carved on all the buildings.
The disappointing thing was that there isn’t a lot of information available because of the lack of documentation about the findings in recent years. There aren’t many facts that have been confirmed because of the lack of documentation and the poor preservation of the artifacts found in the site. The Sabian language was introduced during the time of King Kaleb. Because of the Arabic influence the other language that was developed “Ge’ez” has some resemblance. Later the other languages that developed from Ge’ez are the current languages “Amharic” and “Tigrinya”.
In the afternoon we went to The Mariam Zion Church. This church is supposedly the place where the Arc of the covenant is kept. Being a Christian this location was very special to me.
The Arc of the Covenant and its supposedly divine contents are one of the great mysteries of antiquity. Its story begins with Moses. The traditional founder of Judaism, Moses was born in Egypt, the son of a Hebrew slave. The Hebrews had been in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years from approximately 1650-1250 BC. Near the end of this period an Egyptian priest in the service of the Pharaoh made a prophecy that a child would be born to the Hebrews that would one day free them from their slavery. The Pharaoh, on hearing this prophecy, ordered that every male child born to the Hebrews should be killed by drowning. In hopes of preventing his death, Moses' parents placed him in a small basket, which they set adrift on the Nile. He was found by the daughter of the Pharaoh and subsequently raised as an adopted son of the royal family. During his upbringing he was extensively educated in the esoteric and magical traditions of the Egyptian mystery schools. At the age of forty Moses discovered that his original people, the Hebrews, were in bondage to the Egyptians. Enraged at this cruel treatment, he killed an Egyptian overseer and fled into exile into the Sinai wilderness. Approximately forty years later, while grazing his flocks on the side of Mt.Horeb, Moses came upon a burning bush that was, miraculously, unconsumed by its own flames. A voice speaking out of the fire (Exodus 3:1-13) commanded him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt and return with them to the mountain. Upon his return Moses twice climbed the mountain to commune with god. Regarding the second ascent, Exodus 24: 16-18 states: And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day God called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount fourty days and fourty nights. During this time on the mountain Moses received two tablets upon which God inscribed the Ten Commandments, in addition to precise dimensions for the Arc of the Covenant, which would contain the tablets.
Ethiopian legends say that when the Queen of Sheba made her famous journey to Jerusalem she was impregnated by King Solomon and bore him a son - a royal prince - who in later years stole the Ark. The name of the prince was Menelik, which means "the son of the wise man". Although he was conceived in Jerusalem he was born in Ethiopia where the Queen of Sheba had returned after discovering that she was carrying Solomon's child. When he had reached the age of twenty, Menelik himself traveled from Ethiopia to Israel and arrived at his father's court. There he was instantly recognized and accorded great honor. After a year had passed, however, the elders of the land became jealous of him. They complained that Solomon showed him too much favor and they insisted that he must go back to Ethiopia. This the king accepted on the condition that the first-born sons of all the elders should also be sent to accompany him. Amongst these latter was Azarius, son of Zadok the High Priest of Israel, and it was Azarius, not Menelik, who stole the Ark of the Covenant from its place in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The group of young men did not reveal the theft to Prince Menelik until they were far away from Jerusalem. When at last they told him what they had done he asserted that they could not have succeeded in so bold a venture unless God had willed its outcome. Therefore he agreed that the Ark should remain with them. Thus Menelik brought the Arc to Ethiopia, to the sacred city of Axum, where it has remained ever since.
Writing in his meticulously researched book, The Sign and the Seal (concerning his search for the lost Arc of the Covenant), Graham Hancock suggests that the Arc, and more precisely its mysterious contents, may have been a product of ancient Egyptian magic, science and technology. Moses, being highly trained by the Egyptian priesthood, was certainly knowledgeable in these matters and thus the astonishing powers of the Arc and its “Tablets of the Law” may have derived from archaic Egyptian magic rather than the mythical god Yahweh.
In past centuries, the Arc of the Covenant was brought out during important church festivals. The arc is protected and only seen by one man. He is a priest that has dedicated his life to the arc. According to legends and local believers, if any one were to see the arc they would explode in flames on the spot. The guard of the arc is selected from candidates that have vowed their pure faith and loyalty to the arc. Because no one except for the guarding priest has ever seen the arc, the existence of it is questioned by many.
This trip has been very educational for me, and I am so glad I went on it. Although I felt the “Ethiopian Pride” before now I know why I feel it. The feats achieved by the Ethiopian people are unheard of anywhere else in the world. Many of Ethiopia’s treasures were revealed to me and in the future I am hoping that I will observe many more. The preservation of the artifacts is something that I think has to be worked on. If we want future generations to be able to witness these relics preservation is the key.
