Government, Administration, Army and Church to 1500

Not unlike other African empires, the Axumite kingdom emerged as the result of an amalgamation of a number of commercially oriented ‘city states’ by the most aggressive or enterprising among them. This relatively loose confederation, which served as the nucleus for later expansion, was ruled by a king who at first was considered primus inter pares. But little information is available about the political dynamics of this early period. Yet the titles of governors of provinces, districts and even of large villages ¹ in use during the reign of the new Solomonic dynasty, and the fact that many retained hereditary rights and symbols of past status and independence, ² are evidence of this evolutionary process. Indeed, even the title of the Ethiopian king — Negusa Nagast ³ — is indicative of the process which led to the rise of the monarchy of Axum. ⁴