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Published: February 3rd 2011
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A lay in for once! And I've now read that the iphone alarm should be working for today, temporary glitch... Not reassuring!
Today my guide is collecting his sister from the airport having not seen her for 3 years as she's been working in the Arab States, so I have a back up guide. He seems ok, but it eventually turns into lost in translation. First we drive to the Yeha Temple, which is about an hour from Aksum and past the town of Adwa. Up until Adwa there is only dirt track road so another dusty slow journey. We make one stop to view the Adwa mountains where the battle with the Italians took place . This was the biggest colonial defeat and took place in 1896. Strange place for a battle, but terrain like that often works in the local's advantage.
From Adwa the road is the best paved road I have been on in Ethiopia, it's a very relaxing drive the further 50km to the Yeha turning. Back to another dirt track for 5km, then we reach the site. The Yeha Temple is dated to between the 5th and 8th Century BC. It is made of huge stone
blocks which fit so tightly that there is no mortar or fixings at all. Amazing that the blocks are so perfect, when they are so old and so large. Another mystery building... As many other Ethiopian sites, it is currently undergoing archaeological analysis. My guide hopes that in 10years time, the Aksum area will be at least 50% excavated, as there has been much more interest in the last 10years, so he hopes it will continue.
Next to the temple is a newer church and a monk showing the antiquities in a small museum. Some are gifts to the church, some are ancient engraved tablets excavated from around the temple area.
After lunch the plan was to visit Debre Damo, the monastery established by one of the nine saints. He thought the peak would be a perfect place but had no way to get up there, God of course helped and lowered a snake for him to climb up. This snake has now been replaced with a cow skin rope, but is only allowed for men to climb so I decide not to visit a hill where I cannot see anything. I didn't fancy the precarious climb anyway.
Instead I
visit the Ethiopian Rosetta Stone. Found by 3 farmers and now enclosed in a small hut, stands a huge tablet with an inscription in 3 languages, Sabaean, Greek and Ge'ez. It states that King Ezna won many battles.
Further up the path is the tomb of Kings Kaleb and Gebre Meskel. These are similar to the other tombs I've seen, built of huge rock bricks, with stairs descending below the ground. Some of the rocks here have been carved in an interlocking manner which is much more sophisticated than the rectangular ones. One room has 3 sarcophagi, one bearing a cross so it is known that this was after the time in which Christianity became the popular religion.
My lost in translation took a turn for the worst in this section of the tour. I first asked if the stone tablet was buried, he said no it was under the earth. So then I said to my guide, “You can't understand me, can you?”, he had no response, which clearly meant yes. Then in the tomb he told me that King Kaleb was not buried here as he climbed the hill and became a monkey, er, what?? a monkey?? “Yes,
a monkey”. Luckily I has read the guide book in advance. King Kaleb abdicated his throne for his son and took sanctuary in the Abba Pentalewon Monastery on the top of the hill, where he most likely became a monk (not monkey), and was buried.
We don't visit the close by monastery of Abba Liquanos as it is also men only, instead we take a 30min walk through some local houses and farmland to visit the new church at the base of the hill housing Abba Pentalewon. This is the oldest monastery in the area and was built by one of the nine saints who prayed for 40 years. By the new church are some monks studying by reciting from the old bibles. A monk shows me more artefacts and gifts. He has a cross that is over 1000 years old and the crown of King Kaleb. He also shows me some stone tablets which were excavated only 6 months ago, they are written in Sabaean so are from pre-Christianity times, possibly pagan. The new church is accessible for women and has the same paintings as other churches. From there it's only a short walk back to town.
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