AKSUM. 



173 



the law," and of the holy ark of the Jews brought back from Jerusalem by 

 Menelik, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. But Aksum possesses some 

 genuine antiquities, which the inhabitants watch over with jealous care. A 

 column bears a Greek inscription, now almost illegible, which commemorates the 

 victims of a certain King Aeïzanas, " son of the invincible Ares." Is this 

 Aeïzanas identical with La San, the Christian king who lived in the middle of the 

 fourth century of the vulgar era, or did he belong to the earlier pagan dynasty, as 

 might be supposed from his claim to the title of the son of Mars ? Howsoever this 



Fig. 50. — Aksum. 



Scale 1 : 30,000. 



^/^oAoefô lll'^'i^^ 



of ureenvMch 



38 "44 



56°-i5- 



1,100 Yards. 



be, this precious inscription, reproduced for the first time by the explorer Salt, is a 

 proof of the ancient relations existing between Abyssinia and the Greek world. 

 Another column, discovered by Ferret and Galinier, is engraven with Himyaritic 

 characters, also nearly effaced by time. According to D'Abbadie's reading it per- 

 petuates the memory of the valiant " Halen, king of Aksum and of Hamer," that 

 is to say, of the country of the Himyarites. South-western Arabia and Ethiopia 

 formerly constituted one empire. On the plateau of Aksum, near an enormous 

 sycamore whose trunk is 50 feet in circumference, stands another curious monument, 

 which has been appealed to in proof of an ancient Egyptian culture in Abyssinia. 



