In the highlands of Tigray is located the city of Aksum, possible home of the Queen of Sheba, and purported resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.
First mentioned in the 1st century AD sailing manual, the 'Periplus of the Erythraean Sea', from the 1st to 7th centuries AD Aksum was the capital of an Ethiopian trading empire whose influence extended across the Red Sea into Arabia. It controlled trade over a vast area, from India to the Mediterranean through its port at Adulis. Ivory was an important export.
In the 4th century AD the kings of Aksum adopted Christianity, at about the same time as it was taken up by the Roman emperors. In AD 524 the Emperor Justinian proposed sending aid to Aksum against their Arabian enemies in the form of a joint force of post-Meroitic Nobatai and Blemmyes.
