1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, the production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: Today we have something that's been suggested by at least 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: a couple of listeners, including William and Thomas, and that's 6 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: the rock hewn churches of Ethiopia, in particular the complex 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,320 Speaker 1: of them that is known as Lollibella. There are at 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: least two hundred rock hun churches in Ethiopia. The oldest 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,200 Speaker 1: ones are in the Tigray region and are carved from sandstone. 10 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: Those dates all the way back to about the fifth century. 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: This complex that Lollibella, is a little newer. It was 12 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: excavated from volcanic rock about seven hundred years ago and 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: the site has been in continuous use since then. Today 14 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: Lollibella is a deeply important religious site in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. 15 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: So these churches are just an incredible feat of engineering, 16 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: both in terms of the structures themselves and all of 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: the water management that's involved with them. And they're also 18 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: connected to the overall history of Christianity in Ethiopia, which 19 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: evolved very differently from Christianity and the rest of Sub 20 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: Saharan Africa. So today we will have a brief overview 21 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: of the origins of Christianity in Ethiopia before talking about 22 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: these Rocket Churches at Lalibela, from their original building to 23 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: the threats that the site is facing today, before we 24 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: get to the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia. The nations 25 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: of Africa as we know them today have roots in 26 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: the Scramble for Africa that took place in the late 27 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,759 Speaker 1: nineteenth century. That is, when European nations divided the continent 28 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: up among themselves without regard for the existing nations, empires, 29 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: and political alliances that were already there. This is something 30 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: that has come up on the show multiple times before. 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: The resulting national borders were really arbitrary in terms of 32 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: everything from geography to existing territorial boundary. These nations and 33 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: their borders continued to evolve after the Scramble for Africa, 34 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: but in general they also continued to group people's that 35 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: hadn't necessarily been affiliated before, creating the idea of nations 36 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: that didn't necessarily match up to the existing political landscape. 37 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: So of course that applies to Ethiopia, and then in 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: terms of Ethiopia in particular. That name can mean a 39 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: lot of different things depending on when a person is 40 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: talking about and when they were using that term. A 41 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: lot of ancient writing from outside of Sub Saharan Africa 42 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: uses the word Ethiopia in a generic kind of way 43 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: to just mean Africa in general, or in particular Africa 44 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: south of Egypt. Ancient sources, including the Christian Bible, also 45 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,919 Speaker 1: used the word Ethiopian to describe anyone with very dark skin, 46 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: so in these early uses of the word Ethiopia and Ethiopian, 47 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: it's not always clear exactly who or where they are 48 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: talking about. There are also a couple of written uses 49 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: of the term that came from what's now Ethiopia rather 50 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: than from elsewhere. They date back as far as the 51 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: third or fourth century. One of them references a king 52 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: of the Oxomites and the Ethiopians. The Oxomite Empire was 53 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: in what's now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and this wording 54 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: suggests that people thought of these as two different places. 55 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: In the history we're talking about today includes this same 56 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: general region, which at some points has also been called Abyssinia. 57 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: Christianity has been present in Northern Africa since the earliest 58 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: years of the religion, as it's spread through areas that 59 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: were part of the Roman Empire, but in most of 60 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: Sub Saharan Africa it was introduced much later, starting with 61 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: Portuguese missionaries in the fifteenth century, so for the most part, 62 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: in Sub Saharan Africa, Christianity is associated with European colonialism. 63 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: Ethiopia is an exception, though Ethiopia's Christian traditions trace back 64 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: to Biblical accounts, including the flight of Mary, Joseph, and 65 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:57,839 Speaker 1: Jesus from Herod, the Roman king of Judea shortly after 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: Jesus was born in the Book of Matthew and in 67 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: some of the New Testament Apocrypha, an angel appeared to 68 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: Joseph and told him that Herod planned to kill Jesus, 69 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: so the Holy Family fled to Egypt and lived there 70 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: for several years. In the Ethiopian tradition, they continued into 71 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: Ethiopia and they took refuge there. The Book of Acts 72 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: in the Bible also describes the apostle Philip baptizing a 73 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: eunuch from the court of Candice, Queen of the Ethiopians, 74 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: with that baptism happening in Jerusalem, and his fourth century 75 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: ecclesiastical history, Bishop Assebius of Cesarea wrote that this person 76 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:40,000 Speaker 1: returned to Ethiopia, arriving there sometime before the apostle Matthew did. 77 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: But like we just talked about, it's not really clear 78 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: exactly where Ethiopia is in these accounts in terms of 79 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: the introduction of Christianity as an established religion that goes 80 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: back to the days of the Oxomite Empire, also called 81 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: the Kingdom of ox Um. This umpire was established sometime 82 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: between one fifty b c. And fifty sea, and it 83 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: flourished from the third to the six centuries. Because of 84 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: its position on the northern Horn of Africa along the 85 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: Red Sea, this empire had extensive trading relationships with what's 86 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: now Sudan, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula. It was a wealthy, 87 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:20,359 Speaker 1: cosmopolitan kingdom with primary exports that included ivory and gold. 88 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: The kingdom used the revenue from these exports to invest 89 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,920 Speaker 1: in agriculture, moving the region from subsistence farming to raising 90 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: cattle and export crops. The foreign merchants who visited or 91 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: worked in the Oxomite Empire included Christians, and at first 92 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: Christianity was viewed in the Empire as a foreign religion 93 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,440 Speaker 1: rather than as something that Oxymites might practice for themselves. 94 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: Multiple accounts document the same basic story about how that changed, 95 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: and in that story, two men described as coming from 96 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 1: Syria or Tire were shipwrecked and given employment in the 97 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: king's household. The king died while his son was still 98 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,400 Speaker 1: too young to take the throne, and these two men 99 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,159 Speaker 1: remained at court while his widow served as regent for 100 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: the late king's son, Azanna. Along the way, they made 101 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:10,720 Speaker 1: connections with Christian traders and merchants, although it's not clear 102 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: whether these shipwreck survivors sought them out because they were 103 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: already Christian themselves, or if they converted to Christianity at 104 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: some point. When Azanna came of age, the younger of 105 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 1: the two shipwreck survivors returned home, but the older, known 106 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,799 Speaker 1: as Frumentius of Tire, traveled to Alexandria Egypt to petition 107 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: church patriarch Athanasius to appoint a bishop to lead the 108 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: growing community of Christians in the Kingdom of Axum. The 109 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: patriarch appointed Frumentius himself, and in Ethiopia he became known 110 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: as Abba Salama or Father Peace. Abbas Salama also baptized 111 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: the king, marking the royal family's conversion to Christianity, and 112 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,719 Speaker 1: about the year three thirty Azanna became the first monarch 113 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: to put the symbol of the cross on coins, and 114 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: the capital of Oxom grew into a religious as well 115 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: as the political center, So the establishment of Christianity and 116 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: Ethiopia was happening at about the same time as it 117 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: was in Armenia, which is usually noted as the first 118 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: country to make Christianity the official state religion. It took 119 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 1: another couple of centuries before Christianity was widely practiced outside 120 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: of the royal family and nobility in the Kingdom of Oxom. 121 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: Much of that shift started with the introduction of monasticism 122 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: in about the sixth century. This is traditionally described as 123 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: being brought by nine saints who were refugees fleeing religious 124 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: persecution in Syria. There are still monasteries in Ethiopia that 125 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,200 Speaker 1: are dedicated to or trace their origins back to one 126 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: of these nine saints. These monastic communities were hugely influential 127 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: in the conversion of the general public to Christianity. Although 128 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: the Oxomite Empire had a robust trading network and relationships 129 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: with other Christian nations, it was relatively isolated from other 130 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: predominantly Christian parts of the world. Its primary contact was 131 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: the Coptic Church in Egypt, which appointed Egyptian bishops to 132 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: lead the church in oxom and about the seventh century, 133 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: Muslim conquest of surrounding areas also cut off the kingdom's 134 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: contact with most other Christian nations, so for centuries, the 135 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: Church and what's now Ethiopia didn't have formal contact with 136 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 1: the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches as 137 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: they evolved at all. Consequently, the Orthodox Christianity that developed 138 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: in the Horn of Africa is unique, with rituals and 139 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: beliefs and practices that are specific to that region and 140 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: sometimes have more in common with Judaism than with other Christianity. 141 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: The Oxomite Empire went into decline around the seventh century, 142 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: but by that point Christianity was established enough among the 143 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: population that it survived the end of the political dynasty. 144 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: The historical record is a little bit fuzzy on the 145 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: years that followed, but the next people documented as coming 146 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: to power where Kushite speaking Zagwe people. In about the 147 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: eleventh century, they moved the capital south from Oxom to Roha. 148 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: One was King Lallabella, which brings us to the rock 149 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,960 Speaker 1: Hun church complex that is named for him, and we 150 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:17,479 Speaker 1: will get to that after a sponsor break. The complex 151 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: of rock Hun churches in Lallabella is named for and 152 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:25,840 Speaker 1: attributed to King Gibrae Mescal Lallabella. Most sources spell his 153 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: name and the name of the church complex the same way, 154 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: but one of the sources that I used for this 155 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: episode spelled the king's name is ending with b a 156 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: l a rather than be e l a, and that 157 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: author noted that it has some pronunciation nuances that aren't 158 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: necessarily perceptible to people who aren't from Ethiopia. I have 159 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: also heard reputable sources say this name in three totally 160 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 1: different ways. If you go watch videos from the Smithsonian, UNESCO, 161 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,439 Speaker 1: and the World Monuments Fund, you will hear three different pronunciations. 162 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: King la Labella's biography and his connection to the church 163 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,359 Speaker 1: complex named after him are also really important and devoutly 164 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: believed in the Ethiopian Orthodox religious tradition. We have a 165 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: couple of pieces of documentation that helped pinpoint the dates 166 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: of King Lallabella's reign. Both are land grants that he 167 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: issued to churches, the first in twelve oh four and 168 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: the second in twelve Most sources conclude that he ascended 169 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: to the throne sometime towards the very end of the 170 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: twelfth century, and that he ruled for at least a 171 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: few years after twelve Most of the information that we 172 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: have about his biography comes from a fifteenth century work 173 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: called Life of King Lallabella, which was written after he 174 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,080 Speaker 1: had already attained sainthood, so apart from the centuries that 175 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: passed between when he lived and when this was written, 176 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,959 Speaker 1: it's not clear how much of his content is strictly 177 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: factual and how much is more related to creating kind 178 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: of an idealized portrayal of the life of a saint. 179 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: According to Life of King Lallabella, when he was born, 180 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,079 Speaker 1: a swarm of b's circled around him, almost as though 181 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 1: he was made from honey. His mother interpreted this as 182 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 1: being like an army surrounding its leader, and she took 183 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 1: it as a sign that one day he would become king. 184 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: His name has also been translated to the bee recognized 185 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 1: his sovereignty, or the Bee has seen his grace. Lallabella's brother, 186 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,679 Speaker 1: King Harby became jealous over this and later tried to 187 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: poison Lallabella. Let's attempt to assassinate his brother failed and 188 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: a deacon and a dog were killed instead. Lallabella blamed 189 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: himself for all of this and took the same poison. 190 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: He fell unconscious for three days, and during that time 191 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: God gave him a vision of ten churches hewn from 192 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:46,199 Speaker 1: solid rock, and commanded that he would build them. After 193 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: recovering all of this poison incident, Lallabella fled to the desert, 194 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 1: and there he married a woman named Kebra Mescal. Together 195 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: they went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and when they 196 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: returned to Roja, they were escorted by the archangels Michael 197 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:04,079 Speaker 1: and gave Brieal. King Harbey abdicated and Lallabella took the throne. 198 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: In addition to the religious vision that's described in this account, 199 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: sometimes there's other reasoning folded into Lallabella's excavation of this 200 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 1: complex of churches, and that's that after the fall of 201 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,839 Speaker 1: Jerusalem to Saladin in eleven eighty seven, it became impossible 202 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,679 Speaker 1: for Christians to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, so King 203 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,960 Speaker 1: Lallabella wanted to make a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia. He 204 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: wanted a new pilgrimage site that people could visit. They 205 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 1: could go to each church as they might visit the 206 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: sites in Jerusalem that were associated with Jesus. The traditional 207 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: account of these churches construction also has religious elements that 208 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: human workers excavated during the day and then angels did 209 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: three times that amount of work each night. For this reason, 210 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,679 Speaker 1: the religious community at La Llabella today regards the entire 211 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: site as sacred, including any dust or rubble that might 212 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 1: have been created during the excavation. This complex of churches 213 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: at Lalibela is one of the things that's been nicknamed 214 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,840 Speaker 1: an unofficial eighth Wonder of the World. The churches are monolithic. 215 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: They are excavated from the surrounding volcanic rock in one 216 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: contiguous piece. For most of them, the workers excavated from 217 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: the top down, creating a huge trench around the perimeter 218 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: that also included the exterior faces of the walls, and 219 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: then another team excavated the interior ceilings and floors, hollowing 220 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 1: out the insides. In some places, you can see how 221 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,480 Speaker 1: this was the work of multiple teams excavating simultaneously because 222 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,439 Speaker 1: occasionally the interior elements don't quite match up with the exterior. 223 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: The resulting structures average about four stories tall, and they're 224 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: situated in similarly deep excavated pits, with a system of 225 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: underground tunnels and trenches connecting them to each other. Their 226 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: upper portions of the structures have a reddish appearance thanks 227 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: to the oxidized iron in the volcanic material that they 228 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,239 Speaker 1: were carved from, and the lower portions are gray basalt. 229 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,960 Speaker 1: There are also a sore did other rooms and nooks 230 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: carved into the rock all around these churches themselves, and 231 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 1: evidence that at some point in the past there were 232 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: also above ground structures built from wood and stone. There 233 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,360 Speaker 1: are also remains of traditional village houses in the area 234 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: that are still standing. Those were circular, two story houses 235 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: with thatched roofs. And then, aside from the churches, Lollabelah 236 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: is also a town with a population of about twenty 237 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: thousand people. As we mentioned at the top of the show, 238 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: different sources group or describe the buildings in the hun 239 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: Lallabella complex slightly differently, but most of the time they 240 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: are described as being in two clusters, separated by a 241 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: seasonal torrent bed known as the River Jordan's. Initially, all 242 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: the structures were probably connected to the torrent bed by 243 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: trenches or tunnels, but some of those have collapsed or 244 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: fallen in overtime. There's also one building that separated off 245 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: on its own rather than being in one of these 246 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: two groups, but it's connected to the others by trenches, 247 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: and that one is the House of St. George, which 248 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: is probably the most well known of the churches. When 249 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: you look at this from above, it's shaped like a cross, 250 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: with nested crosses carved into the roof. The cross itself 251 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: measures about twelve meters by twelve meters or forty forty feet. 252 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: To the north of the torrent bed are the House 253 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: of the Savior of the World, the House of Mary, 254 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: the House of the Cross, the House of Virgins, and 255 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: the House of Gogatha Michail. To the south or the 256 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: House of Emmanuel, the House of Merkorios, the House of 257 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: Abbott Lebanos, the House of Gabriel Raphael, and the House 258 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: of Holy Bread. The House of the Savior of the 259 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: World is a five aisled basilica with a Colonnade and 260 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: is believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world. 261 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: Each of these churches is unique. They vary in details 262 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: from one to another, and we have different window shapes, 263 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: different structural elements and designs and artwork, and you can 264 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: see multiple influences reflected in the various buildings. Before the 265 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: Oxomite royal family converted to Christianity, royal burial sites were 266 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: marked with these monolithic stone steele a that represented very tall, 267 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: multi story buildings. Some of these are still standing in 268 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: oxom which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and 269 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,320 Speaker 1: some of the windows and other design features that Lalibela 270 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: are patterned after these carved obelisks. Ethiopia's historic churches also 271 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: include more traditional above ground structures built from stone blocks 272 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: and wooden beams. Many of them have the square ends 273 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:31,440 Speaker 1: of beams jutting out horizontally from the corners of the windows. 274 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: They're locally nicknamed monkey heads. Some of the windows at 275 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: Lalibela replicate the look of these beams as well. The 276 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: House of Emmanuel in particular, tries to replicate the look 277 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: of a built wooden church, even though these structures are 278 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: hewn from solid stone as one piece. Many of their 279 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 1: interiors replicate structural elements that would hold up the ceiling 280 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: and the roof, and buildings that were made from another 281 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: material like stone blocks. So if you look up at 282 00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,520 Speaker 1: the ceilings, you'll see things like pillars, which are a 283 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 1: good idea anyway, but then archway is up in the 284 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: ceilings that would be structural elements. In another context, the 285 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: houses of Mary Angle Gotha, Michale were once completely plastered 286 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: and painted on the inside, with the plaster covered with 287 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: murals and other artwork. It's not totally clear how far 288 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: back all of this artwork dates, and in a lot 289 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: of places there's paint from artwork that is no longer visible. 290 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: One of the most complete murals depicts Mary riding a 291 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: mule with Joseph walking by her side, led by the 292 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: archangel Gabriel as the Holy Family arrived in Egypt. Along 293 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 1: with the sculptures, religious carvings, and other artwork, these buildings 294 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,719 Speaker 1: are also home to a collection of arcs. In the 295 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,640 Speaker 1: Ethiopian religious tradition, the Queen of Sheba, who was Ethiopian, 296 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: had a son with the Israelite king Solomon. This son 297 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:50,800 Speaker 1: was mental like the first and When he reached adulthood, 298 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: his mother took him to visit his father. He returned 299 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant, which remains 300 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: hidden in a church in ox Sum guard did by 301 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: one monk who is the only person allowed to see it. 302 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,440 Speaker 1: The churches at Lallabella contain replicas of this arc, which 303 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: are decorated with stylized carvings and then treated with a 304 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: similar amount of reverence. Some of the arcs are carved 305 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: from a single piece of wood, and nine of them 306 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: are dedicated to King Lallabella UH with no disrespect intended. 307 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 1: I can't stop thinking about Indiana Jones Uh. The excavation 308 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: of these buildings was an incredible feat of engineering. In 309 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: addition to just the planning and labor, Volcanic rock is 310 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: not uniformly dense or stable. When artists and artisans are 311 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,439 Speaker 1: carving from stone, they're usually choosing a piece that's consistent 312 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,439 Speaker 1: and of the right quality for their purposes. But you 313 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: just do not have that option when you're carving an 314 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: entire building from the living rock. These artisans had to 315 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:51,239 Speaker 1: account for all kinds of variations in the structure and 316 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: strength of the material to get the aesthetic look that 317 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,480 Speaker 1: they were seeking, as well as the stability to make 318 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,720 Speaker 1: sure everything remains standing. And on top of that, this 319 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:05,679 Speaker 1: required a complex and massive hydro engineering project. Lalibela is 320 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,439 Speaker 1: situated in the Ethiopian highlands about two thousand, six hundred 321 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: thirty meters above sea level that's about eight thousand, six 322 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: hundred eight feet. There is no water at the surface 323 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 1: of the site, so a whole system of canals, trenches, cisterns, 324 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: sluice gates, damns, catch basins, and other devices was created 325 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,959 Speaker 1: to both bring water into the area from an aquifer 326 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: that was miles away and to manage all the rain 327 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: and run off during the rainy season. This includes the 328 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: creation of multiple pools that were used for drinking water, baptisms, 329 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: and healing and cleansing rituals. This hydro engineering work is 330 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: usually credited to someone named abe Lebanos, and one of 331 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: the churches at Lalibela is named for him. Sometimes the 332 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: House of abe Lebanos is described as the only church 333 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: at Lalibela dedicated to a specifically Ethiopian saint, but there's 334 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: also some debate about whether he was Ethiopian. He was 335 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: definitely brought from somewhere to oversee this work, but it 336 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: is not entirely clear if it was from within Ethiopia 337 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,160 Speaker 1: that he was brought or from without Ethiopia, especially considering 338 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: that they were built in the thirteenth century. These churches 339 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: are just extraordinary, and we will talk about what archaeological 340 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: study has revealed about them and the threats that they're 341 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: facing today after a sponsor break. The rock hewn churches 342 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: of Lalibela presents some particular challenges when it comes to 343 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: archaeological study because most of them were carved from the 344 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: top down. That meant that most of the evidence of 345 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: earlier phases of work was destroyed as that work progressed. 346 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: A lot of what remains is found in spoil heaps 347 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: that are all over the area, But because the spoil 348 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: heaps weren't really planned as carefully as the buildings themselves, 349 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: they don't necessarily represent a neatly chronological stratificcation, with the 350 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: oldest debris on the bottom and the newest on the top. 351 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 1: These are also remember deeply holy sites in the Ethiopian 352 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: Orthodox Church and home to an active religious community that 353 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 1: has been there continually for centuries. Some parts of the 354 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,960 Speaker 1: churches can only be entered by very specific monks. The 355 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,119 Speaker 1: idea that these buildings were excavated by angels and that 356 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,719 Speaker 1: the work was commanded by God is also part of 357 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,879 Speaker 1: this community sincerely held religious belief. In some cases, this 358 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: has meant that researchers have only been able to study 359 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: the buildings from the outside. Restoration and conservation projects also 360 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 1: have to account for the idea that even the debris 361 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,360 Speaker 1: may have been handled by angels. As we said earlier, 362 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: in addition to the churches themselves, there are rooms and 363 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: nooks and other elements that are hewn from the surrounding rock. 364 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: But because naturally occurring basalt blocks can really resemble something 365 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: that was carved by human hands, it can be hard 366 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: to identify which features are hand carved and which are 367 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 1: not without further study. I mean, obviously the entire churches 368 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: are carved by hands, but there are things like that 369 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: looks like a throne. Is this a thing that someone 370 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: carved to look like a throne or did the rock 371 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 1: just form that way. It's also physically hard to get 372 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: from one part of the complex to another. A lot 373 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,360 Speaker 1: of the tunnels that connect the different structures are roughly 374 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: the height and width of a person, so there's not 375 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: a lot of extra room to be moving around and 376 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: hauling equipment that you might need for some kind of 377 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: a dig uh and my claus trophobia has just kicked him. Also, 378 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: La Labella's fairly remote. It's about three hundred seventy miles 379 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: at six dred kilometers north of the Ethiopian capital of 380 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: Addis Ababa. Until the late nineteen fifties, it was only 381 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: accessible by foot or mule. An airstrip opened up in 382 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,200 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, but not only operated during the dry season. 383 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,880 Speaker 1: Ethiopian oral histories have been passed down, but there's virtually 384 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: no written record of the site's construction, and only a 385 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: very few written accounts by foreign visitors to the site. 386 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 1: Before the nineteenth century. It was virtually unknown beyond the 387 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: Horn of Africa until the mid nineteenth century, and virtually 388 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: unstudied by archaeologists until the nineteen sixties. Two of the 389 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: very sparse earlier accounts of Laali Belah were written by 390 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: Portuguese missionaries. Francisco Alvarez wrote of visiting a place called 391 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: Lalibela in the sixteenth century after spending six years in Ethiopia. 392 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: Portugal was hoping to form an alliance with the Empire 393 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: against Muslim nations. Alvarez's book was first published in fifteen forty, 394 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: but his description of what he saw is more about 395 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: how it was so fantastic that no one would believe 396 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: him than about what the site actually looked like at 397 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,919 Speaker 1: the time. For example, he wrote, quote, it seems to 398 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 1: me that I shall not be believed if I write more, 399 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: and because regarding what I have already written, they may 400 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: blame me for untruth. Therefore I swear by God and 401 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: whose power I am, that all that I have written 402 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,919 Speaker 1: is the truth. And there is much more than what 403 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: I have written, and I have left it that they 404 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,639 Speaker 1: may not tax me with its being falsehood. A later 405 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: edition of his book included some diagrams of the rock 406 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: youn churches, but there's no documentation of where they came 407 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: from or who drew them, and they're also not particularly accurate. 408 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: Even the name Lalibela wasn't consistently used until more recently. 409 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,159 Speaker 1: Most older Ethiopian references called the town Roha and the 410 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:32,399 Speaker 1: church complex Deborah Roja. Archaeologists and other researchers have started 411 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,200 Speaker 1: to draw some different conclusions about Lallibella and more recent decades, 412 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,359 Speaker 1: though it appears that the buildings were excavated over multiple phases, 413 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: possibly starting as early as the seventh or eighth century 414 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: and then stretching into the thirteenth century, so definitely overlapping 415 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: with the reign of King Lalibela. Although all of the 416 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: buildings are currently used as churches and other religious sites, 417 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,399 Speaker 1: and they have been for a very long time, at 418 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,879 Speaker 1: least some of them were probably originally built for other purposes. 419 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: The House of Gabriel Raphael, for example, was probably initially 420 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: used as a castle. There's also some speculation that King 421 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: Lalibela's aims may have been as much about moving the 422 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: capital from Axum to Roja and solidifying a political dynasty 423 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: as it was about creating a religious pilgrimage site. After 424 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: King Lalabella died, he was reportedly entombed at Lollabella in 425 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:27,119 Speaker 1: the house of Golgatham Michael. About fifty years later, his 426 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: successor was killed, and the dynasty that came to power 427 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,640 Speaker 1: from there traced its lineage back to Solomon and Mettle 428 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:38,680 Speaker 1: at the First. Much later, this was dubbed the Solomonic Restoration. 429 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: The Solomonic emperor's branded the previous Zagwe dynasty as usurpers, 430 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: and that fed into debate about who should be credited 431 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: with excavating the churches at Lallabella. This dynasty remained in 432 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: power until nineteen seventy four, with the deposition of Ethiopia's 433 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,360 Speaker 1: last emperor, highly Selassie. Stay tuned for a Saturday classic 434 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: about that for more information. After the Solomonic Restoration, Ethiopia 435 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: continued to grow wealthier, especially through trade with Christian nations 436 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,480 Speaker 1: in Europe that didn't want to trade with Muslims or 437 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: send their merchants through Muslim controlled territory. Then, in fifteen 438 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: thirty and fifteen thirty one, Ahmad Grin conquered about three 439 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: fourths of Ethiopia and forced the people living in those 440 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,120 Speaker 1: areas to convert to Islam. The Solomonic dynasty retained control 441 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,399 Speaker 1: of some territory, though, and Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity survived. In 442 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century, Jesuit missionaries arrived in the remaining Christian 443 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: regions of Ethiopia and began trying to convert the population 444 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: to a more European style of Christianity. Whilata Petros, who 445 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: was the wife of one of the emperor's counselors, left 446 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: her husband, became a nun, and led a successful resistance 447 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:53,600 Speaker 1: movement to retain traditional Ethiopian practices. The Life and Struggles 448 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,440 Speaker 1: of Our Mother Whileta Petros was written about thirty years 449 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,720 Speaker 1: after her death, and it is the earliest known book 450 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 1: length biography of an African woman. It documents both the 451 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: resistance movement and her lifelong partnership with another nun. In 452 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, King Teodri's the Second tried to reunify 453 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: Ethiopia under a Christian monarch and did reclaim much of 454 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: the previously conquered territory. He hope to gain the sympathies 455 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,200 Speaker 1: of Britain as a Christian nation, but was ultimately defeated 456 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,919 Speaker 1: by a British expeditionary force and took his own life. 457 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: Of course, Ethiopia has its own social and political history 458 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,719 Speaker 1: from there, but our focus today is really on Lalibela 459 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,359 Speaker 1: and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. For most of its history, 460 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,840 Speaker 1: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church had been headed by an Egyptian 461 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: appointed from Alexandria. That changed in nineteen fifty one, when 462 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 1: Basilios became the first Ethiopian to be appointed by the 463 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 1: Church in Alexandria. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, now called the 464 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:54,439 Speaker 1: Ethiopian Orthodox to Waado Church, became fully independent in nineteen 465 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: fifty four. The Eritrean Orthodox Church became independent from the 466 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: Ethiopian Church in nine three. Today, the Ethiopian Orthodox to 467 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: Wahado Church is also the second largest Orthodox church in 468 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: the world, with roughly fifty million adherents. Ethiopia's monasteries were 469 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: nationalized after the Alster of highly Selassie in nineteen seventy four, 470 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,400 Speaker 1: and at that point they stopped being as economically powerful 471 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 1: as they had been, but they continued to be a 472 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: huge center of religious importance in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Today, 473 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: Lalibela is still a deeply important religious and pilgrimage site, 474 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: particularly on Christmas, which is celebrated on January seven. As 475 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: many as sixty thousand pilgrims visit the site for the 476 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: Christmas festival, which is known as Genna. The site gets 477 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: between eighty thousand and one hundred thousand visitors each year, 478 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: many of them making that pilgrimage on foot, but this 479 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: volume of visitors has contributed to ongoing issues with conservation 480 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: at the site. These are massive monolithic structures that were 481 00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: excavated from the rock about seven hundred years ago and 482 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: have been exposed to the elements since then, so naturally 483 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: they've been affected by weather, water, erosion, seismic activity, and 484 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: even like in another plant life. The World Monuments Fund 485 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: started some conservation work on the site in the nineteen sixties, 486 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: making it one of the World Monuments Funds first projects. 487 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, temporary roofs were placed over some 488 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: of the churches as an emergency measure to try to 489 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,719 Speaker 1: protect them from the sun in the seasonal rains. Lalibela 490 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in nineteen seventy eight, 491 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: and in two thousand seven UNESCO and the WMF teamed 492 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: up for additional conservation work, including the installation of more 493 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: sophisticated shelters over some of the churches. Plans started for 494 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: conservation work at the House of Gabriel Raphael in two 495 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: thousand nine. That's not one of the churches that's currently 496 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: protected by a roof. Work started in and finished in 497 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, and it included training local artisans and craftspeople 498 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: to handle ongoing conservation work. A field school provided further 499 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: trading in team it brought in students from New York's 500 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: Columbia University and Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University. Additional funding was 501 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: secured for repair work on two other churches that same year. 502 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen though, Ethiopians organized protests about ongoing issues at 503 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: the site, including concerns about the quality of restoration work 504 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: that had already been done. One of the issues is 505 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: those temporary shelters that are protecting some of the churches. 506 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: They really are not attractive. Locals have nicknamed them gas 507 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: station roofs. Because the churches are made from solid stone 508 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,480 Speaker 1: with small windows, the roofs make their already dark interiors 509 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: even darker. There's also some argument that the use of 510 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 1: these roofs has protected the sites from rain and runoff, 511 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: but the downside is that they're making the stone too dry. 512 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,040 Speaker 1: There are also concerns about what might happen if one 513 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: of the roofs collapses onto the structure that it is 514 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: supposed to be trying to protect. Clearly, there's still a 515 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: lot of work to be done, and in the words 516 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 1: of UNESCO a quote, there is a need for stronger 517 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: planning controls for the setting of the churches that address housing, 518 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,800 Speaker 1: land use, tourism, and for a management plan to be 519 00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: developed that integrates the conservation action plan and addresses the 520 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,560 Speaker 1: overall sustainable development of the area with the involvement of 521 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: the local population. It's hard to describe how stunning these 522 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 1: churches are in the context of an audio podcast. This 523 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: is always the trick with like art or architecture, or 524 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: particularly things like this that are almost um I mean 525 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 1: it would be unheard of if someone today said I 526 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,080 Speaker 1: am going to carve a building from an existing rock. 527 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: I think they would get a lot of shocked faces. 528 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: But they did this over and over on this site. Yes, 529 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: it is quite quite spectacular. They are I have a 530 00:31:56,280 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 1: little listener mail fantastic. This is from Lindsay Lindsay Rights. Hi, guys, 531 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: love the show in particular, I've enjoyed learning about American history, 532 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: which as an Australian, was never part of my education 533 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: and I felt was a void in my understanding of 534 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: world history. Anyway, Finally I feel like I have something 535 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: to contribute. I was fascinated to hear about the relationship 536 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: between barbecues and politics in your recent episode, and this 537 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,200 Speaker 1: got me thinking about a recent phenomenon in Australia. A 538 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: bit of background. Community groups in Australia make the most 539 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,920 Speaker 1: of any opportunity to hold a fundraising sausage sizzle, a 540 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: budget affair where the cheapest sausages are barbecued, probably grilled 541 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: question mark and served on a slice of white bread 542 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: with tomato sauce. Definitely not catch up with grilled onions optional. 543 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: So kind of election day. The choice of which polling 544 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,520 Speaker 1: place to use can often be determined by which one 545 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: is hosting the best sausage sizzle. Fun fact, voting is 546 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:58,000 Speaker 1: compulsory in Australia, so here's the hilarious part. The election 547 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 1: day sausage in bread has become such a big deal 548 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: that it has become known as a democracy sausage, and 549 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: the most recent federal election it was trending hashtag democracy sausage. 550 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: I would encourage everyone in the US to exercise of 551 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: democratic right to vote next year and perhaps partake in 552 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: a democracy sausage ps. The term selfie is also widely 553 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: accepted to have originated in Australia, So on behalf of Australia. 554 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 1: You're welcome, Lindsay, Thank you, Lindsay. I wanted to read 555 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: this for two reasons. One is that the idea of 556 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: democracy sausage cracks me up. Uh. And the other is 557 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: that when I was working on the Barbecue episode, which 558 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: I did the research for, UH, it gradually narrowed down 559 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: to being a specifically United States North American story about 560 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: the intersection between indigenous cooking methods and introduced food and 561 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: the work of at first enslaved black people and then 562 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: later on um free people in in making this culinary tradition. 563 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,600 Speaker 1: But as I was starting out, it was much broader 564 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: before it became clearer that it needed to narrow down. 565 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: And one of the things that I had in my 566 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: notes is that there is a draft addition into the 567 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: Oxford English Dictionary from that is the Australian slang barbecue stopper, 568 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 1: and a barbecue stopper is a topic of conversation that 569 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: is so compelling or controversial that if you brought it 570 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: up at a barbecue, everything would stop. And that cracked 571 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 1: me up, uh. And I was a little bummed that 572 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: by narrowing down the focus, I didn't have a reason 573 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: to include it in the episode anymore. So I'm including 574 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,279 Speaker 1: it today. UM. So thank you Lindsay for writing to 575 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,040 Speaker 1: us with that if you would like to write to 576 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast where at History 577 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: podcast at I heart radio dot com. Then we're all 578 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: over social media at Missed in History. That's where you'll 579 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. This is typically 580 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:00,200 Speaker 1: when I would say that you can come to our 581 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: website for show notes about the episode and a picture 582 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: of some of these churches. But if you've been to 583 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,320 Speaker 1: our website recently, it has been changed significantly. We don't 584 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,759 Speaker 1: have a timeline for when those show notes are going 585 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 1: to be visible again, but it is something we are 586 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: actively working on. All that information still exists, it's just 587 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: not currently visible on the website. So to see pictures 588 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: of these churches for now, go to the unesco website. 589 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 1: They have so many. You can also subscribe to our 590 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: show in Apple podcast, the I Heart Radio app, and 591 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: anywhere else you get your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in 592 00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: History Class is a production of I Heart Radio's How 593 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:43,239 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit 594 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 595 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:47,480 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.