Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Brief reflections on my trip to Ethiopia

dear gloria
you make ethiopia sound fabulous. thanks for this wonderful report of
what you found there
ken

On 4/4/13 6:23 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) wrote:
> After 16 hours in the plane from New York and two hours in Dubai,
> I landed in Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa. This was my third visit to Ethiopia
> but by the end of the trip I knew that I would make many more visits
>
> Ethiopia is truly a center of African Civilization in terms of the diversity of African peoples.Whether you are
> from South Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Jamaica, T&T, or Barbados, you will find someone who looks like you.
>
> Because I am a historian and passionately interested in ancient African Civilization I made a dash to the historical sites.
>
> There are numerous sites but this time around I decided to focus on sites in Yeha and Axum in Northern Ethiopia.
> The last time I visited Ethiopia, I focused intensely on Lalibela and Gondar. They are all astounding.
>
> There are now new dates for the construction of the Yeha temple and nearby palace as a result of some
> discoveries this year.They go back as early as 1000 BC or 3000 years ago. They are huge structures.
> The palace contained over 15 rooms. The temple about ten. I also got to see the palace of Queen Makeda
> (Queen of Ethiopia and Sheba) that was discovered in 2003.
>
> They recently found some charcoal and ibex remains on the site, that date to about 1000BC.The ibex is found only
> in Ethiopia, apparently. I saw a lot of depictions of this animal in a decorative style at the Yeha palace.
>
> I was able to see some manuscripts from about the 17th century all depicting the Virgin Mary and Christ as Black people,
> while I was at Yeha. At Axum I was reminded that Balthazar, one of the three wise men was from Axum. I bought
> some frankincense in Axum- and thought about his alleged gift of frankincense 2000 years ago.
>
> About 40% of Ethiopia is Muslim; 40% Christian; 20% polytheist and atheist. These figures are approximate and
> subject to correction. A Muslim Imam in the bus that I took to Axum told me that, not too far away from Mekelle,
> Prophet Mohammed was buried. I told him that was not true as far as I knew. He finally conceded that the person
> buried there was a name sake who was one of the early converts to the religion.He reminded me thast the fourth holiest
> place for Muslims is located in Ethiopia in the vicinity of Hadar. I knew that was quite true and related to the fact that
> Ethiopian Emperor Armah 11 (615-30AD), hosted about 100 believers of the new religion as they fled from persecution in Arabia.
>
> I have to go back to Ethiopia soon. I want to visit the place where the 3.2million old skeletal remains of Dinknesh alias
> Lucy was found, in the Afar region- and see the sculptured churches outside the town of Mekelle that go back to
> the 5th century AD - earlier than those fascinating sculptured churches of Lalibela, dated13th century AD.
>
> There are about 500 sculptured churches in Ethiopia, sculptured from the mountains and rocky terrain. I used to think that there
> were 300 but I was told that new ones have been found. You have to see them to believe. They truly are among the wonders of the world.
> I gave two well attended public lectures in two different parts of the country at the National Museum of Ethiopia and at Mekelle University.
>
> I acknowledge the assistance of Professor Ayele Bekerie of Mekelle University in facilitating this visit.
>
> I shall bring out a few films from the visit in due course and as you know my videos are entirely free for individuals around the world
> to look at- once you have access to a powerful enough computer.
>
>
> Professor Gloria Emeagwali
> africahistory.net
> vimeo.com/user5946750/videos
> Documentaries on Africa and the African Diaspora
>
>

--
kenneth w. harrow
faculty excellence advocate
distinguished professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
harrow@msu.edu

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