Editing Axum (section)

=== Medieval ===
The city rose to prominence again after the rise of the [[Solomonic Dynasty]], and became the spiritual capital of the [[Ethiopian Empire]]. A collection of Ge'ez documents, encompassing a concise legendary history of Aksum, land charters, and other related material, known as the ''[[Book of Axum]]'', is occasionally discovered bound within manuscript books alongside the [[Kebra Nagast]] and other works. This compilation provides numerous insights into the church's possessions and the subsequent history of the town. The city also had its own governor known as the [[Ethiopian ecclesiastical titles#Nebure-Id|Nebure Id]], who was also a high dignitary of the church. The [[Kebra Nagast]] was written by [[Ethiopian ecclesiastical titles#Nebure-Id|Nebure Id]] Yishaq of Aksum, but  Aksum is never mentioned by name in the
book. Instead, the "city of the kingdom" is called Dabra Makadda.<ref name="Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C">{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=177}}</ref>

The [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion|Aksum Seyon]] was restored by [[Dawit I]] in 1406. It has been rumored to house the Biblical [[Ark of the Covenant]], in which lie the [[Tablets of Stone]] upon which the [[Ten Commandments]] are inscribed. [[Zara Yaqob]] underwent his coronation there in 1436 and continued to reside in Aksum for three years. Subsequently, a few other monarchs also chose Aksum as the site for their coronation ceremonies. This unique ritual involved cutting a cord held by the "daughters of Aksum," symbolizing the king's ascent to "king of Zion." The ancient Aksumite stone thrones served as coronation chairs, although the "coronation" itself comprised an anointing and tonsuring ritual, followed by a mass in the church.<ref name="Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C"/>

[[Francisco Alvares]], a [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[missionary]] and [[Exploration|explorer]] who spent eight months in Aksum in the 1520s described it as "a large town with very good houses and very good wells of water of very beautiful worked masonry, and also in most of the houses ancient figures of lions and dogs and birds, all well made in very hard, fine stone"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Munro-Hay |first=S. C. (Stuart C. ) |url=http://archive.org/details/aksumafricancivi0000munr |title=Aksum : an African civilisation of late antiquity |date=1991 |publisher=Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7486-0106-6}}</ref> He also described [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]], the stelae, the thrones and other structures. Describing the church, he wrote: "A very noble church, the first there was in Ethiopia: it is named Mary of Syon. They say that it is so named because its altar stone came from Sion. In this country (as they say) they have the custom always to name the churches by the altar stone, because on it is written the name of the patron saint. This stone which they have in this church, they say that the apostles sent it from Mount Sion. This church is very large; it has five aisles of good width and of great length, vaulted above, and all the vaults closed, the ceiling and sides all painted. Below, the body of the church is well worked with handsome cut stone; it has seven chapels, all with their backs to the east, and their altars well ornamented. It has a choir after our fashion, except that it is low, and they reach the vaulted roof with their heads; and the choir is also over the vault, and they do not use it. This church has a very large circuit, paved with flagstones like the lids of tombs. This consists of a very high wall, and it is not covered over like those of the other churches, but is left open. This church has a large enclosure, and it is also surrounded with another larger enclosure, like the enclosing wall of a large town or city. Within this enclosure are handsome groups of one storey buildings, and all spout out their water by strong figures of lions and dogs of stone [of different colours]. Inside this large enclosure there are two mansions, one on the right hand and the other on the left, which belong to the two rectors of the church; and the other houses are of canons and monks."<ref name="Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C"/>

[[Adal (historical region)|Adal]] leader [[Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi]] led the conquest of Axum in the sixteenth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chekroun |first1=Amélie |title=Le" Futuh al-Habasa" : écriture de l’histoire, guerre et société dans le Bar Sa’ad ad-din (Ethiopie, XVIe siècle). |publisher=l’Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne |page=336 |url=https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01134623/document}}</ref> Aksum was sacked and burned in 1535 by the troops of [[Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi]] who destroyed the church that Alvares had described. Before the city was sacked, a document in the Book of Aksum lists 1,705 golden objects as well as many other items from Aksum that [[Dawit II|Lebna Dengel]] distributed to various governors to save them from destruction, and it is recorded by Ahmad's chronicler that a large stone object
was removed at this time for safety to "Tabr".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last1=Uhlig |first1=Siegbert |title=Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: A-C |pages=178}}</ref>

[[Manuel de Almeida]] who visited after the convulsions of [[Ahmed ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi]] confirmed the extent of the ruin that befell Aksum in the 16th century commenting that it then had only about 100 inhabitants where everywhere there are ruins to be seen.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The city was rebuilt in 1580 by Emperor [[Sarsa Dengel]] who restored the church and held his coronation there.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>