Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/227

 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 Arès." 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

be, this precious inscription, reproduced for the first time by the explorer Sat, 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 perpetuates 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.