The Ark of the Covenant in Aksum, Tigray province, Ethiopia

Aksum is the holiest city in Ethiopia.  Emperors of the Solomonic Dynasty were crowned here. It was the capital of the Aksumite Kingdom, and one of the oldest cities in Africa, with some ancient stelae fields dating from before 2500BC. The Aksumite Kingdom was a powerful sea fearing nation on the Red Sea, which controlled economic trade between the Romans and the Arabs on the Silk Road.  It linked Sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean and to India.  It was located east of the land of Kush, in modern-day Sudan and south of Alexandria in Egypt. Here, the Ark of the Covenant has been hidden away on the grounds of The Tsion Mariam Church - The Church of our Lady Mary of Zion for nearly three thousand years. I spent three consecutive days visiting its grounds.  On the third, I went to sit under a tree and clear my mind of all the negative thoughts I had been stewing.  I was frustrated that I was at the holiest city in Africa, with such darkness inside me. When I arrived at the church grounds, the priests were chanting and drumming inside.  The acoustics resonating off the domed ceiling travelled for miles around.  I watched pilgrims come and kiss the steps leading up to the entrance, and prostrate themselves.  Some kissed the exterior walls.  Women wore traditional clothes, which included a modest white head covering and a long skirt.  The sounds filled our souls. I sat under a cedar tree, on my sankofa fabric from Ghana, and watched as a mother and baby sheep grazed on the grass inside the church gardens.  I imagined that they had come to hear the music as well.  Purple petals from a flowering tree blanketed the ground.  An elderly woman walked past me, giving me her blessing.  We didn't speak the same language, but we could read each other's hearts. This act nearly brought me to tears.  Until that point, I had been noticing some looks of scorn.  I imagined that these looks stemmed from the fact that I was not dressed in an appropriate manner - wearing jeans and a bright floral scarf to cover my head.  To most, I must have looked like a foreign prostitute.   But not to her. A few minutes passed and I noticed military soldiers had come to shoo the baby and mother sheep away; from eating the flowers no doubt.   I was taken aback, feeling that in this holy place, should not peace and inclusivity be paramount?  Who let the guns in?! After making his rounds, in a very official manner I must say, the soldier approached me with a look of superiority and authority to demand a look at my ticket, of which I obliged. I felt much like the sheep and wondered if economic profitability had surpassed spirituality and pilgrimage in importance here. It brough to mind how in this world, the police state does represent control on behalf of the institutions; and we the people are like the sheep, who only wish to enjoy the splendor of the world around us, only to be met with the instillation of fear as a means to control and repress. The Ark of the Covenant Regarding the Ark, only one man knows for sure that it is there; a monk.  He is the only one allowed inside the building where it is kept.  Commissioned to guard it until his death, he will reportedly have a dream to name the next monk who will assume this honour.  Then this new man's life will be devoted to its safekeeping.  The Ark holds the tablets given to Moses on Mt. Sinai,  the original Ten Commandments. Written by Gods' own hand.  These are powerful stones.  Many people have tried to capture it over the years, but none have succeeded. Currently the Ark is being prepared to move to a new home, just next door.  There is water damage at the current location, and a new building is being constructed.  I noticed that the cross which rests on top of its home will also change, and I wonder if there is significance to this. The Ark came to reside in Aksum as a result of a love affair between King Solomon of Jerusalem, and the Queen of Sheba of the Sabaeans.  Modern scholars attribute the center of the Biblical Kingdom of Saba (1200 BC to 275AD) to Yemen.  The people who live in Aksum today believe that the Queen of Sheba lived in Aksum; possibly at a castle just outside town. This was back in the Old Testament days, in the first millennium before the Christians.  Back when Arab and Jewish people lived together in relative peace.  At one point, Aksum was a haven for Muhammad and his family while they were in exile. Jesus wouldn't be born for another 1000 years and Muhammad wouldn't be born for another 1600.  During this time, Arabs and Jews had different cultural traditions, but similar religious ones.  Both the Quran and the Old Testament share many of the same characters, including the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon.  Solomon was from the family line of David; the same family line as Jesus.  Although Sheba is not mentioned by name, the Song of Solomon was likely written as a tribute to her. Ethiopian oral traditions tell stories about their meeting and their love.  Legend has it that Solomon sired a son with her named Menelik, who grew up in Aksum with his mother.  When Menelik was old enough, he traveled to Jerusalem to be with his father.  After living in Jerusalem for a few years, King Solomon sent the Ark of the Covenant with Menelik, back to Aksum to establish the family line in North Africa.  The Ark has been in Ethiopia ever since. Menelik I was the first Solomonic Emperor of Ethiopia.  He began his reign around 950BC, just after the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem.  Legend has it that the Solomonic dynasty remained unbroken in Ethiopia until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown by his generals. Christianity in Aksum King Ezana of Aksum was the first of the Solomonic Emperors to convert to Christianity.  He ruled from 320's-356AD.  At that time, his kingdom stretched from northern Somalia to southern Egypt in Africa and included modern-day Yemen and southern Saudi across the Red Sea in Arabia. The stones in Aksum still speak to his greatness and to his power.  The tallest, and last obelisk erected in Aksum was to his honour. It towers above the other stelae at the park.  There is also a monument describing the capture of a group of nomadic people from the Kingdom of Kush in Sudan and their subsequent conversion to Christianity.  This monument called the Ezana stone is not unlike the Rosetta stone, in that it is written in three languages: Ge'ez, Ancient Greek, and Sabaean; a testament to the connection between the Aksumite Kingdom, the Byzantines and the Arabians. When the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors were looking for a maritime route to India in the fifteenth century, they could very well have been looking for a way around these fierce Christian allies, controlling the other side of the Mediterranean.