Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/366

 348 AUXUME. than Mr. Salt in 1813, or Loid Yalentk in 1808. Its most interesting monument is its obelisk. Originallj there appear to have been 55 obelisks: of which 4 were of superior magnitude to the rest. One of the 4 is still erect It is 60 feet in height, and is formed of a single block of gramte. • But it is not inscribed with hieroglyphics, and differs con- siderablj from Egyptian and Aethio|nan structures of that kind. For the Auznmite obelisk, although quadrilateral, has not a pyramidal summit, but a finial shaped like a slipper or a patera; and on one of its faces is a deep hollow groove, surmounting a doorway, and running up the centre of the face from the lintel of the door to the vertex of the obelisk. It stands near a Daroo tree {ficua s^camimu) of re- markable size, and of great age — the sole survivor possibly of a sacred grove, in which the other now prostrate obelisks were erected. Nothing is known of the date of these obelisks; but they are probably not anterior to the Christian era. The most interesting monument of Auxume is to be found near its principal church. This is a square oiclosure, with a pillar at each of its angles, and a seat and footstod nearly in its centre. The walls, pillars, and seat are all of granite. The enclosure was, according to a local tradition, the coronation chamber, and the seat the throne of the ancient Auzumite kings. Bruce affirms, but rowe recent travellers deny, that there is upon this footstool and seat an inscription in Greek characters. The real Auxumite inscription, however, appears, from Mr. Salt's narrative, to be found upcm another footstool without the enclosure, and about 30 yards apart from it A Greek inscription was seen at Auxume by the Portuguese missionaries in the 17 th cen- tury. (Tellez, HuL of Atthiopia^ vol. i. ch. 22.) The inscription on the latter footstool is biUngnal — Greek and Cushite, or Aethiopian — one set of characters was probably intended fw the native Auxnmites, the other for their Greek rulers or colo- nists. Mr. Salt considers them as contemporary and identi<»l in meaning. He was unable to transcribe much of the Aethiopic, which is in small letters; but he copied the Greek inscription, which is in rude characters. ^ By comparing the Auxumite inscription with the Marmor AduUtanum [AouLB],we find that they both reUte to the same dynasty of kings, and that the latter is the more ancient of the two. From each it appears that the Auxumite and Adulitan monarchs claimed a descent from Ares, and that while tlie Adulitan king conquered various neigh- bouring tribes — Troglodytes, Uomerites, Sabaeans, &c. — the Auxumite king is simply stated to have ruled over Uiem. We may accordingly infer that Adule was at first the more powerful state of the two, and that Auxume derived its prosperity from its commercial emporium on the Bed Sea. About A. D. 356 Athanasius of Alexandreia was expelled from his see by the Arians, and his suc- cessor Gregory insisted upon his right to re-conse- crate all the bishops in his diocese. The Byzantine emperor Gonstantius Nicephorus accordingly ad- dressed a rescript to the kings of Auxume, ordering them to send forthwith the Auxumitan bishop Fru- mentins for re-consecration to Alexandreia. This rescript has been transmitted to us by Athanasius in the " Apohgy^ which he addressed to Gonstan- tius shortly after his expulsion. (Athanas. Opera, vol. i. pt i. p. 315, ed. Bened.) From the address of the rescript wo learn that AUZA. two eqiia] and oontemporary monarchs, Aeizanas and Sazanas, reigned at that time in Auxume. These names are, probably, like that of the Parthian Su- renas, not so much personal as official appellaticms. Now, the above-mentioned Greek inscription rectnxis the name and acts of Aiisanas, king of the Auxu- mites, Homerites, &c., and moreover mentions his royal brothers Saizanas and Adephas. The rescript and the inscription, therefore, relate to the same per- sons and the same period. There is, indeed, some little difficulty, respecting the religion of the Auxu- mite monarchs at this epoch. The city was a Christian see, since Frumentius was its bishop, and Christianity had been preached in Abyssinia at least as early as a. d. 330. Two suppositions, therefore,- are before us: (1) that Aeizanas and Sazanas were Christians, but retained on public monuments the old pagan fonnularies, as roost familiar to tbdr. sub- jects; or (2) they were tolerant princes, and pro- tected, without themselvM embracing, the new iaith. Cosmas, the Indian voyager, who composed his work on Christian Topography in the sixth century a. d., mentions another Auxumite king, whom he names Elesbaan, and who was contemporary with the em- peror Justinian, i. e. a. d. 527 — 565. (Nonnosns, ap. Phot. p. 2, ed. Bekker) Here we seem to find the Arabic prefix Al or £1; and in the " Book of Axum or Abyssinian Chronicles," a copy of which was brought to this country by Mr. Bruce, several of the Auxumite kings have a similar prefix to their names. If the names be wholly or partially Arabic, the circumstance aflfords an additional proof of the gradual influx of the Arabs into Aethiopia, which we have abeady noticed. The subject of the Auxu- mite inscription is discussed by Buttmann {Afut, der AUerthumswissenschq/lf vJl. ii. p. 575, where all the authorities are given). Vopiscus, in Iiis ac- count of the emperor Aurelian's triumph in A. D. 274 {Aurelian. 33), enumerates Axomitae among the captives who preceded his chariot These were probably merchants who were resident in Palmyra at the time of its capture; and if so^ they afford an additional proof of the commercial enterprise of their countrymen. The Byzantine historians speak of the Auxumites as Indians, but by that term they imply not an ethnical but a physiological distinction — the dark colour of the Aethiopian race. (Bruce, Travels^ vol. i. p. 476, seq., vol. ii. p. 527, vol. iii. p. 128, seq.; Valentia, TrareZf, p. 87, seq. 180; Salt, Tra- vels in Abystiniay p. 510; Combe and Tamisier, Voyage en Abysnme^ vol. i. p. 268 ; Bitter, Erd* ktrnde, vol. i. p. 222; Maunert, Geograph,d, AlUn. X. 1, p. 122, seq.) [W. B. D.] AUZA (/<. AnL p. 30), AUZEA (Tac. Ann. iv. 25), AUZIA (APCia, Ptol. iv. 2. § 31, vulg. M^ivai CoiiOKiA AuziENSia, Inscr.), an important inland city of Mauretania Caesariensis, on the high road from Caesarea to Sitifi, stood in a small desert plain, at the N. foot of the Jebel Deira (Garaphi M.), and near the sources of the river Adoui (pro- bably the ancient Audus). A tradition, quoted by Josephus from Menander, ascribes its foundation to Ithobalus, king of Tyre, the contemporary of Ahab, king of Israel (Awtiq, Jud, viiL 7. s. 13. § 2 : ovTos FfCTurt AC^om r^v ii^ Ai€vp,') Its position exposed it greatly to the attacks of the bar^ barians. In the reign of Tiberius, when it was the scene of DoIabelWs victory over Tactarinas, and the latter chiefbun's death (a.d. 24), it is described by Tacitus (^ c.) as a half-destroyed fort, which had been burnt by the Nnmidians, shut in by vast forests