Sprawling, dusty, and rural - Aksum is
modest almost to a fault. On first sight, it's hard to imagine that the
town was ever the site of a great civilisation. Yet Aksum is one of
Ethiopia's star attractions.
Littered with massive
teetering stelae, ruins of palaces, underground tombs (most still
undiscovered) and inscriptions rivalling the Rosetta stone itself, the
town once formed part of the Aksumite kingdom. It has a vibrancy, life
and continuing national importance very rarely found at ancient sites.
Pilgrims still journey to Aksum and the great majority of Ethiopians
believe passionately that the Ark of the Covenant resides here.
Though
no longer a wealthy metropolis, the town continues to flourish as a
centre of local trade; life continues as it has for millennia. Around
the crumbling palaces, farmers go on ploughing their land, women
continue to wash their clothes in the Queen of Sheba's Bath, and
marketgoers and their donkeys hurry past the towering stelae. You won't
find pyramid-parking coaches or sound-and-light shows here. And
inextricably interwoven with the archaeological evidence is the local
tradition - the legends, myths and fables.
