Lesson video

Hello historians.

My name is Ms. Creno.

And I am delighted that you have joined me for another lesson about the Romans where we answer the question, what is the story of Christianity's Rise? Together we are going on a learning adventure to travel back in time to learn about the Christian Church in Aksum.

It's my job to guide you through the learning materials and resources so that by the end of the lesson you can describe the early Christian kingdom of Aksum and how historians have learned about it.

Before we start this lesson, I would like to introduce you to some key words.

These words will come up in the lesson and if you know they meaning it'll help you to make sense of the learning.

You might want to make a note of these words so that when we encounter them in the lesson, you can refer back to your notes.

The words are trade and missionary.

Let's find out what the words mean.

Trade.

People trade by buying or selling items they need or want.

Missionary.

A missionary is a religious person who is sent to other places to tell others about that religion.

You may want to pause the video here to make a note of these words and when you are ready to start the lesson, press play.

This lesson about the Christian Church in Aksum has three learning cycles.

In the first learning cycle, we are going to learn about missionaries.

At its height the Roman Empire was huge with many people living there.

Christianity became the main religion of the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

The Western Church became known as the Roman Catholic Church and had Rome as its capital city.

The church became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and had Constantinople as the capital city.

Christian missionaries were important in spreading the teachings of Christianity to different areas of the empire such as Britain.

However, Christianity did not just stay in the Roman Empire.

Missionaries travel to other places such as North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and northern Europe to spread the teachings of Christianity.

One example where missionaries travel to was the kingdom of Aksum, an ancient African kingdom located on the horn of Africa, in present day, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Let's pause the lesson a moment to check for understanding.

What was the job of the missionaries of the Roman Empire? Was it A, to help people travel to different places, B, to tell people and other places about Christianity or C, to help people achieve their missions in life? Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

It was a missionary's job to tell people in other places about Christianity.

Well done if you got that correct, we can now complete the first learning task of this lesson.

Explain to your learning partner in one sentence, how these words are linked.

Missionaries, Christianity, Roman Empire and beyond, Kingdom of Aksum.

Pause the video here and when you are ready to reflect on the answer, press play.

An example of an answer that you could have given is Christian missionaries spread the teachings of Christianity across the Roman Empire and beyond to other places such as North Africa and the Kingdom of Aksum.

Well done if your answer was similar to this one.

In the second learning cycle of this lesson, we are going to learn about King Ezana.

The kingdom of Aksum was a powerful kingdom in northeast Africa.

It's lay between the Red Sea and the Nile River, and was located on a major trade route between the Roman Empire and India.

And so it's attracted merchants and traders from far and wide.

Merchants from all over the Roman empire travelled great distances to trade their goods in Aksum.

When the Roman merchants travelled to buy and sell their goods, they didn't just trade, but also had conversations with the people of Aksum and told them about the ideas and culture of the Roman Empire.

One of these cultural ideas was Christianity.

In fact, the cultural ideas spread so well that Christianity became the dominant religion of Aksum in the 300s CE.

let's consolidate what we have just learned.

Is this statement true or false? Christianity spread to em because it was on an important trade route.

Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Well, that statement is true.

Let's justify our answer.

Let's give a reason why we say that statement is true.

Is it because A, Roman merchants sold Bibles to the people of Aksum? Or is it that Roman merchants trading an Aksum told the people living there about their culture and religion? Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The correct justification is that Roman merchants trading in Aksum told the people living there about their culture and religion.

Well done if you got that right.

It is believed that a Christian missionary from the Eastern Roman empire further spread Christianity in Aksum.

His name was Frumentius.

According to tradition Frumentius and his brother were shipwrecked on the Red Sea coast of Aksum in the early 300s CE, they were taken to the Royal Court and Frumentius soon became a trusted advisor to the Queen who ruled Aksum at the time.

She had a son called Ezana.

Ezana was influenced by the teachings of this missionary.

Ezana later became the king of Aksum and he converted to Christianity.

He ordered that everyone in his kingdom also had to follow Christianity.

This made Aksum one of the earliest Christian kingdoms in the world.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Explain to your learning partner how Frumentius and King Ezana are linked.

Pause a video here and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

Let's reflect on an answer that you could have given.

Frumentius, a missionary, influenced King Ezana of Aksum to become a Christian.

Well done if your answer was similar to this one.

Archaeologists and historians have found lots of evidence to prove that Christianity started in Aksum during King Ezana's reign.

One source of evidence are the coins that appeared during King Ezana's reign.

They had Christian crosses on them.

Can you spot the Christian crosses on the coins? Archaeologists and historians also found Christian imagery on King Ezana's stele, which is a large granite monument used to mark where King Ezana was buried.

Another historical source is the Ezana stone, which is a steel that tells a story of King Ezana's conversion to Christianity.

Let's check our understanding.

Match the archaeological source to the historical evidence.

So the archaeological sources are Aksumite coins, King Ezana's stele, Ezana stone.

The historical evidence is tells the story of King Ezana's conversion to Christianity.

Christian crosses appear on coins made during Ezana's reign and carved with Christian imagery.

Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Let's find out what the correct answers are.

The Aksumite coins appeared with Christian crosses when they were made during Ezana's reign.

King Ezana's stele was carved with Christian imagery and Ezana stone tells a story of King Ana's conversion to Christianity.

Well done if you got those correct.

We are now ready for the second learning task of this lesson.

Write one paragraph explaining how historians know that Christianity started in Aksum during King Ezana's reign.

Use the images to help you.

There are the coins of Aksum, King Ezana's stele, and the Ezana stone.

Pause the video here and when you are ready to reflect on the answer, press play.

Here is an example of what your answer might have included.

Historians know that Christianity started an Aksum during Ezana's reign as they have a variety of evidence to prove this.

For example, Christian crosses only started to appear an Aksumite coins made when King Ezana ruled.

Additionally, King Ezana's stele has Christian images on it and the Ezana stone tells a story of King Ezana's conversion to Christianity.

Both of these artefacts come from the 300s when King Ezana ruled Aksum.

In the last learning cycle of this lesson, we are going to learn about the churches of Aksum.

Historians believe that there is evidence to show that Christianity continued in the kingdom of Aksum after King Ezana's reign, many churches have been found from as far back as the 400s CE carved into the rocky mountain sides of the area, which is modern day Ethiopia.

One of these churches is so high up on a very steep cliff that it can only be reached by climbing on foot.

It's approximately 2,750 metres above sea level.

Inside these rock churches.

The walls are covered with beautiful paintings of Christian stories.

This shows us that people were still following Christianity after King Ezana's rule.

These extraordinary churches, often called rock-cut churches or cave churches are important evidence of the ancient kingdom's architecture and religion.

Let's check our understanding.

What evidence have historians found that tells them that Christianity continued after King Ezana's reign.

Choose two correct answers.

Was it buried Bibles? Rock-cut churches? Roman coins? Or paintings of Christian stories? Pause the video here and when you are ready for the answer, press play.

And the evidence is rock-cut churches and paintings of Christian stories.

Well done if you got those correct.

We are now ready for the last learning task of this lesson.

Place these events in the correct order by numbering them one to five.

Starting with the earliest.

Christianity became the Kingdom of Aksum's religion.

Frumentius, a missionary, arrived in Aksum.

Roman merchants visited Aksum and spread their culture and religion.

King Ezana converted to Christianity.

Rock-cut churches were made with Christian stories painted on the walls.

Pause the video here and when you have placed the events in the correct order, press play to check your answers.

Let's find out what the correct order is.

Number one, Roman merchants visited Aksum and spread their culture and religion.

Number two, Frumentius, a missionary, arrived in Aksum.

Three, king Ezana converted to Christianity.

Four, Christianity became the kingdom of Aksum's religion.

And five rock-cut churches were made with Christian stories painted on the walls.

So the order is 4, 2, 1, 3, 5.

Well done if you got all of those correct.

We have now come to the end of this lesson about the Christian Church of Aksum.

But before we go, let's summarise what we have learned.

Christianity emerged in places outside the Roman Empire.

For example, it became the dominant religion in the 300s CE in Aksum, an important African trading post between Rome and India.

Archaeological evidence such as coins, Ezana's stele, and the Ezana stone suggest that this took place during the rule of King Ezana.

In Ethiopia today, many Aksumite churches have been found carved in rocky mountains sides where the walls are covered with beautiful paintings of Christian stories.

We have now come to the end of this lesson.

Well done for all your hard work.

I have enjoyed learning with you and I hope to see you again very soon.