Speaker 1: My Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb
Speaker 1: and I'm Joe McCormick. In today, we're gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about a piece of legendary architecture. This will be sort
Speaker 1: of in the tradition of our episodes on we did
Speaker 1: one on the Great Buddha in Chuan, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And and like that episode, you know, we're gonna we're
Speaker 1: gonna be focusing in on this particular um work of architecture.
Speaker 1: This this this particular thing that people have made out
Speaker 1: of the earth. But in doing so, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: a chance to discuss a little history, a little theology,
Speaker 1: and perhaps, you know, overall introduce many of our listeners
Speaker 1: to uh, maybe a part of the world you haven't
Speaker 1: heard about, or a part of of our shared history
Speaker 1: that you may not be that familiar with. Because when
Speaker 1: you think of great constructions, you know what what comes
Speaker 1: to mind? You think of the Great Pyramids, the Great
Speaker 1: Wall of China. Perhaps, you think of Stone Hinge, or
Speaker 1: the Zigarats of Mesopotamia, the meso American pyramids perhaps, and
Speaker 1: these are all fabulous. And these are just a few
Speaker 1: examples that we can turn to for amazing marvels of stonework, architecture,
Speaker 1: and construction throughout humanity's history. And with all of them
Speaker 1: we we revel in the study of their construction. Right,
Speaker 1: How did in many cases ancient people refine the raw
Speaker 1: earth itself into the necessary building blocks? How did they
Speaker 1: transport all this stuff then to the building sites? And
Speaker 1: then how did they assemble these structures that end up
Speaker 1: standing you know, the test of millennia while the empires
Speaker 1: around them rise and fall, and yet these structures remain.
Speaker 1: You know, something we've discussed a number of times is
Speaker 1: the way these ancient structures, Uh, they demonstrate mysteries about
Speaker 1: about past engineering techniques that very often tend to cause
Speaker 1: people to want to go to to outlandish alternate hypotheses.
Speaker 1: You know, all the ideas about how the pyramids were built.
Speaker 1: You always get the aliens hypothesis, and like, you know,
Speaker 1: why is it that people want to go there with
Speaker 1: that kind of thing rather than just thinking, wow, ancient
Speaker 1: people must have been so clever to come up with
Speaker 1: with ways of making such amazing structures with the limited
Speaker 1: tools they had, Right, Yes, like the The idea that
Speaker 1: ancient Egyptian humans built the pyramids is to my mind,
Speaker 1: the plenty amazing. You don't have to go to the
Speaker 1: even more amazing and outlandish idea that aliens came from
Speaker 1: another world and showed them how to do it. I
Speaker 1: mean really that it's far more interesting to to examine
Speaker 1: the truth and see seek the truth of the situation,
Speaker 1: like how did actual humans carry this out? How did they,
Speaker 1: even with their you know, their limited technologies, figure out
Speaker 1: how to achieve these marvels. But it's not just the Pyramids.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's fascinating that sooner or later
Speaker 1: an aliens hypothesis shows up for all of these, you know,
Speaker 1: for Stonehinge, for the to American Pyramids, for basically anything
Speaker 1: built in a pre modern period that still looks amazing today, right,
Speaker 1: And I mean really, if you if you wonder about
Speaker 1: anything that you maybe don't have a full grasp on
Speaker 1: how the pieces came together, Like say bread, it's easy
Speaker 1: to think, oh, Brad, just does not seem to make sense.
Speaker 1: It must have been the gift of an alien culture.
Speaker 1: But we we talked about this before. We did a
Speaker 1: whole pair of episodes on ancient alien hypothesis and and
Speaker 1: what Karl Sagan had to say about it and other
Speaker 1: critics have had to say about it. Uh. But indeed,
Speaker 1: all of these, uh, these locations that I've mentioned already,
Speaker 1: you can find certainly find some ancient aliens folks out
Speaker 1: there that are chiming in on it. And I also
Speaker 1: ran across some related to today's episode because but but
Speaker 1: we're not going to really get into that, because the
Speaker 1: real story is the amazing part. We're going to be
Speaker 1: discussing a particular example of construction that is really just
Speaker 1: as amazing as you know, making all these giant blocks,
Speaker 1: bringing them together and building the pyram. But this particular
Speaker 1: example is also going to buck the traditional steps that
Speaker 1: we've discussed here, and we're gonna be looking at the
Speaker 1: centuries old Christian temples in Ethiopia that were not built
Speaker 1: from blocks of stone that were you know, chorried over
Speaker 1: here and then brought together and then assembled into a building. Now,
Speaker 1: these are free standing monolithic churches that are each hewn
Speaker 1: from the solid red volcanic scoria underlaid by dark gray basalt,
Speaker 1: standing tall in the quarries from which they were sculpted.
Speaker 1: So Basically these were hewn out of solid stone. The
Speaker 1: quarry becomes the courtyard. Yeah, it's a building that is
Speaker 1: not built but released from the earth. Subtractive manufacturing of marvels.
Speaker 1: It is. It is amazing. I was not familiar with
Speaker 1: these until just last week when I was looking around
Speaker 1: for an episode for us to do, and I was
Speaker 1: an really thought, oh, why don't we do Petra the
Speaker 1: the ruins in in Jordan's you know, with the where
Speaker 1: the architecture is built into the side of this um uh,
Speaker 1: this kind of like ravine situation. Right. If you think
Speaker 1: you've never seen these, uh, these rock hewn buildings, you
Speaker 1: probably have. They're featured, for example, in Indiana Jones in
Speaker 1: The Last Crusade. They show up in several movies pet
Speaker 1: Petro specifically in this case. Right. So, so I was thinking,
Speaker 1: O Petro would be a good episode, and I started
Speaker 1: looking around about Indeed, Petra is fascinating. Perhaps will come
Speaker 1: back to it. But then I was just looking around
Speaker 1: at other examples of of, you know, buildings that have
Speaker 1: been hewn from stone, and then these just really stood
Speaker 1: out as just the prime example, like the most extreme
Speaker 1: example of what you could do with subtractive manufacturing of
Speaker 1: an entire building to build, To construct a building by
Speaker 1: not even constructing it, by just carving away at solid
Speaker 1: stone until it is there with no need for bricks
Speaker 1: or mortar or wood or nails or any of this
Speaker 1: architecture as sculpture. Yeah, so where will you find these?
Speaker 1: Will you will find them in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Ethiopia is
Speaker 1: of course the nation in Eastern Africa, and they stood
Speaker 1: there at least since the late twelfth century CE, though
Speaker 1: you know, we'll probably get into some of the dating
Speaker 1: in greater detail later, but first, just a few notes
Speaker 1: about Ethiopia in general. Modern Ethiopia is the most populous
Speaker 1: landlocked country in the world and the second most populous
Speaker 1: African nation after Nigeria. Ethiopia is also considered one of
Speaker 1: only two African nations never to be subjected to long
Speaker 1: term European colonization, the other being Liberia, and to be
Speaker 1: more specific, it was it was never. It was never
Speaker 1: colonized during that nineteenth century period where so much of
Speaker 1: Africa m wash, though it was occupied by Italy during
Speaker 1: the Second World War, but not and not long enough
Speaker 1: for there to be like true lasting cultural change. Because
Speaker 1: of it. Still, throughout its history, it certainly came into
Speaker 1: contact with foreign ideas and influences, and we'll be discussing
Speaker 1: a major one here today. Because one of the other
Speaker 1: things you'll notice about Ethiopia is that its majority religion
Speaker 1: is the Ethiopian Orthodox Teawahito Church, what's known as an
Speaker 1: Oriental Orthodox Christian Church, and it dates back many centuries.
Speaker 1: There's also a sizeable Islamic population in Ethiopia, followed in
Speaker 1: popularity by Protestants, traditional faiths Catholicism and Judaism. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: there are other fascinating things about Ethiopia as well. For instance,
Speaker 1: Ethiopian cuisine has certainly traveled well around the world. I
Speaker 1: think it's widely believed to be the origin place of coffee,
Speaker 1: this coffee and Uh and Okra as well. I was.
Speaker 1: I chatted with Annie of our fellow podcast here in
Speaker 1: the Atlanta office Is a Saver, and I said, hey,
Speaker 1: have you guys done anything on Ethiopian cuisine because we
Speaker 1: can mention on the podcast, And they said that they
Speaker 1: had not yet, though they both love Ethiopian food. But
Speaker 1: they have done an episode in Okra and they've done
Speaker 1: an episode on coffee that'd get into those origins. I'd
Speaker 1: say those are two of my favorite plant based foods.
Speaker 1: Are you an ocra fan? Are you you one of
Speaker 1: those people who thinks it's slimy? Oh? I love okra,
Speaker 1: and I love it because it is slimy, especially in gumbo,
Speaker 1: because it who acts as a thickening agent. So I
Speaker 1: I want there to be okra present in many a
Speaker 1: dish bus is great, it's great fried, it's great. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's great pickled. H. Yeah, I'm an ocra fan for sure. Okay,
Speaker 1: we're on the same page. I like it all those
Speaker 1: ways too. I also really like okra in Indian food.
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, it goes really good with Indian spices.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've had it in Indian food before,
Speaker 1: but maybe not recently enough for it to really strike
Speaker 1: a cord. I'll have to seek it out. There was
Speaker 1: a restaurant here in town that made a really amazing
Speaker 1: curried okra and then and then they went out of business.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's talk in greater detail about Ethiopian
Speaker 1: Christianity then, because since we're focusing in on old Christian
Speaker 1: temples that were carved out of the ground in Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: we should describe how Christianity came to East Africa. Sure, so,
Speaker 1: I was looking at a scientific paper that will make
Speaker 1: a brief reference to later in the episode. Uh and
Speaker 1: the authors of this paper Ethiopian scientists Aspho Wilson, us
Speaker 1: Rot and yod aylu Uh. They point out in the
Speaker 1: background section of their paper that the broader tradition of
Speaker 1: rock Huan churches in Ethiopia is historically associated with the
Speaker 1: coming of a group of figures known as the Nine Saints,
Speaker 1: who were alleged to have journeyed from Egypt and Syria
Speaker 1: during the late fifth and early sixth centuries to preach
Speaker 1: the Gospel of Christianity in Ethiopia and more specifically, to
Speaker 1: spread and promote the monastic lifestyle. So I was digging
Speaker 1: into this claim. I wanted to learn more about the
Speaker 1: Nine Saints, and this eventually led me down a path
Speaker 1: where I found a really awesome entry about Ethiopian Christianity
Speaker 1: and the Ethiopian monastic trade in a book called the
Speaker 1: Encyclopedia of Monasticism edited by the historian will Johnston. With
Speaker 1: this specific entry on Ethiopian monastic Christianity written by the
Speaker 1: Ethiopian American philologist get A. Chow Highly. I was treating
Speaker 1: this as well, and it is is quite quite a
Speaker 1: fascinating entry. I just had no idea just how imported
Speaker 1: the monastic tradition was for just Ethiopian culture in general.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, so. Highly writes that due to the proximity
Speaker 1: of Ethiopia to the Middle East, some Christianity probably began
Speaker 1: to spread their organically as soon as the religion was founded.
Speaker 1: But Highly also claims that Ethiopian Christianity is a form
Speaker 1: of the religion that's kind of uniquely shaped by monks
Speaker 1: and monastic influences. So what exactly would that mean. Well,
Speaker 1: monasticism is the tradition we associate with monks and nuns.
Speaker 1: It's the strain of a faith that calls for a
Speaker 1: radical lifestyle of religious devotion, often including thing is like
Speaker 1: vows of poverty or vows of chastity, or vows of
Speaker 1: silence or fasting, general seclusion from secular life. So you know,
Speaker 1: the priest or preacher within a religion might usually live
Speaker 1: among the society preaching the faith. Meanwhile, the monk undertakes
Speaker 1: in some way to live outside the society, rejecting many
Speaker 1: of the comforts and pleasures of normal life, making their
Speaker 1: day to day habits and living conditions themselves kind of
Speaker 1: a radical demonstration of faith. An interesting fact that the
Speaker 1: author points out is that it's currently really unknown how
Speaker 1: many monasteries are in Ethiopia because the government keeps track
Speaker 1: of churches, but not every monastery has a church, and
Speaker 1: not every mountain or wilderness center that is uh that it,
Speaker 1: you know, is historically a monastery is going to be
Speaker 1: active today. But he lists quite a number of them,
Speaker 1: and he also mentions Ethiopian monasteries outside of the country,
Speaker 1: such as in Egypt where they that it looks like
Speaker 1: they now live along side Coptic Christian monks there, but
Speaker 1: then also in Jerusalem as well. Yeah, and we can
Speaker 1: come back to later on how these monasteries appear to
Speaker 1: play a very important role in Ethiopian religious life. Uh So,
Speaker 1: there's a legend about the founding of the Ethiopian Christian
Speaker 1: Church recorded by the fourth century Christian historian and scholar
Speaker 1: tyranny Us Rufinus, who lived in what is now northern Italy.
Speaker 1: And the tale told by Rufinus goes something like this,
Speaker 1: So in the city of Tier which is in modern
Speaker 1: day Lebanon. You know, it's like tier in Sidon. Uh.
Speaker 1: There was once this philosopher named Meropius, and Meropius had
Speaker 1: two young students named Frumentius and Adasus. Now, one day
Speaker 1: Europius decides he's going to set out on a sea
Speaker 1: voyage and travel to India, and he's going to bring
Speaker 1: his two students with him. But then tragedy strikes and
Speaker 1: their ship sinks outside of a port that Rufinus writes
Speaker 1: is in India, but it's apparently widely interpreted to be
Speaker 1: a confused attempt to reference Ethiopia, so this is believed
Speaker 1: often to be Ethiopia that he's talking about. And the
Speaker 1: two boys are rescued and taken to the royal court
Speaker 1: of the capital city of Axom. This would have been
Speaker 1: the capital of what's known as the Axom Dynasty or
Speaker 1: the or the Kingdom of Axum, where they were given
Speaker 1: employment by the king and Frementius became the king's secretary,
Speaker 1: while Adasius became the king's butler, and through his position
Speaker 1: as secretary and his subsequent role instructing the young princes
Speaker 1: at the palace, Frementius was allegedly able to eventually convert
Speaker 1: the entire royal court to Christianity. And from here it's
Speaker 1: written that Frementius encouraged the scattered Christians among the people
Speaker 1: of Axom to organize into a church and to a
Speaker 1: school for the Christian upbringing of children. And then when
Speaker 1: Frementius and Adasius were released from their positions in the
Speaker 1: court at Axom, Frementius allegedly went to Alexandria to convince
Speaker 1: the current archbishop there, Athanasius, to recognize the church in
Speaker 1: Ethiopia and look after its well being. And in turn,
Speaker 1: Athanasius said, well, you'd be a good leader of that church,
Speaker 1: and so Athanasius and the other bishops decided to name
Speaker 1: Frementius Bishop of Acxim. So tradition says that in this way,
Speaker 1: Fromentius became the first bishop and the first apostle of Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: and he went throughout the kingdom preaching the peace of Christ,
Speaker 1: which is how he became known in the Ethiopian Christian
Speaker 1: tradition as Abba Salama, which means Father Peace. Now Highly, however,
Speaker 1: casts doubt on the historical validity of this this foundational narrative,
Speaker 1: noting that local sources don't really mention anything significant about
Speaker 1: Frementius in this period, and that the historical evidence indicates
Speaker 1: the story was probably later introduced to Ethiopia after first
Speaker 1: being written by other authors in Greek. Highly writes, quote,
Speaker 1: undoubtedly Frementius was a bishop consecrate did for Ethiopia by St. Athanaceous,
Speaker 1: but the local tradition has no memory of him and
Speaker 1: his efforts to Christianize Ethiopia. Doesn't history often work that way.
Speaker 1: You've got a good founding story, but then like the
Speaker 1: locals didn't record anything about it, so it seems like
Speaker 1: it probably didn't quite happen that way. Yeah, or yeah,
Speaker 1: just in general, this um, this sort of push and
Speaker 1: pull between reality and myth and that area in between
Speaker 1: where you're not sure where the history ends in the
Speaker 1: myth begins. Yeah, it's always the way anyway. However, Highly
Speaker 1: writes that much of the Christianizing influence on Ethiopia and
Speaker 1: the following centuries did come from missionaries, primarily monks from
Speaker 1: the Byzantine Christian world. And of course, you know, the
Speaker 1: Byzantine Empire at the time would have spanned much of
Speaker 1: the Mediterranean, so would have people of Byzantine influences could
Speaker 1: be coming from like Egypt or wherever right. And by
Speaker 1: the way, if you want a deeper dive into Byzantine
Speaker 1: culture and Byzantine history, we did an episode on Greek
Speaker 1: fire year back that we recommend. Yes. Uh So, these
Speaker 1: these monks of the Byzantine Christian influence would be arriving
Speaker 1: individually and in groups roughly between the fifth and the
Speaker 1: seventh centuries. And the most famous of these Byzantine missionary
Speaker 1: monks are known locally in Ethiopian tradition as the Nine Saints.
Speaker 1: Now there's an interesting historical re contextualization that highly gives here.
Speaker 1: He says that church historians generally believed that this group
Speaker 1: of missionaries was actually on a kind of factional theological mission.
Speaker 1: They were trying to get Ethiopia to take sides in
Speaker 1: a theological dispute that was going on in the church,
Speaker 1: or to stay on their side. Uh So, at the time,
Speaker 1: one of the major theological disputes rocking the Christian Church
Speaker 1: was about the essential nature of Christ. And the question
Speaker 1: is this, did Jesus Christ have just one nature where
Speaker 1: he was entirely divine or entirely human, or did Christ
Speaker 1: have two separate natures, one of them earthly and one
Speaker 1: of them divine. Now, I know, with that kind of argument,
Speaker 1: I'm sure some people are kind of rolling your eyes,
Speaker 1: like that doesn't sound like a super meaningful distinction. But
Speaker 1: disputes like this were rampant in the early Church, and
Speaker 1: they lead to bitter, agonizing power struggles and sometimes excommunication,
Speaker 1: accusations of heresy and all the concominant punishments and you know, etcetera.
Speaker 1: So these fights about the nature of Christ are known
Speaker 1: as christological disputes, and they these disputes are the origin
Speaker 1: of a lot of the dogmas that would later become
Speaker 1: you know, widespread in in the Catholic Church. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean because when you start asking the question, you know,
Speaker 1: is was Christ human or divine? If you didn't say, oh,
Speaker 1: well there was, he was human or he had a
Speaker 1: human element, then you might say, well, how human was
Speaker 1: the human? Like it's like you are the rich clergy
Speaker 1: or is he human? Like like we are the peasants. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's a really great point, especially because while some of
Speaker 1: these things, these distinctions might not sound super meaningful to us,
Speaker 1: they had implications, often like material political implications that aren't
Speaker 1: obvious if you just read about the pure theological dispute,
Speaker 1: that's one thing I love about the the Umberto Echo
Speaker 1: novel and the name of the Rose, which we've talked
Speaker 1: about on the show before, is it. It deals with
Speaker 1: a lot of these angels dancing on the head of
Speaker 1: a pin kind of theological disputes, but also gives some
Speaker 1: shading about what their real world political and economic implications
Speaker 1: were right and how it ends up breaking down to
Speaker 1: the suffering of at least the common man anyway. So anyway,
Speaker 1: the view that Christ had two separate natures, both divine
Speaker 1: and human, came to be known as Chalcedonianism after the
Speaker 1: Council of Chalcedon in four fifty one, which ended with
Speaker 1: the with a sort of uneasy consensus upon the two
Speaker 1: nature thing. And the view that Christ had only one
Speaker 1: nature came to be known as monophysicism. And this view,
Speaker 1: the one nature view of monophysicism, was probably, at least
Speaker 1: according to this church historian interpretation, was probably represented by
Speaker 1: these figures known as the Nine Saints that you know,
Speaker 1: if this view is correct, They came to Ethiopia to
Speaker 1: make sure that the Ethiopian Church continued to preach one
Speaker 1: nature in Christ and resist the two nature view. And
Speaker 1: you can also see how they would be sort of
Speaker 1: be seeking to to to get ahead to this far
Speaker 1: flung of the region of Christians and just ensure that
Speaker 1: they had the right version of the of the story. Right. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: though Highly says wild this is the thing that's generally
Speaker 1: suspected by church historians. Nothing is certain. We don't know
Speaker 1: for sure about all the motivations of these nine Saints. Locally,
Speaker 1: in Ethiopia, the Nine Saints are are not remembered for
Speaker 1: arguing any particular side of a Christological SmackDown. They're They're
Speaker 1: mainly remembered for strengthening the faith of the Ethiopian Church
Speaker 1: and for again emphasizing monasticism the monk lifestyle. Uh So,
Speaker 1: these nine Saints are said to have brought with them
Speaker 1: a number of important books, and these are widely believed
Speaker 1: to have included the books of the New Testament, but
Speaker 1: also books of Christian doctrine and education. So, in evidence
Speaker 1: of the strong influence of monasticism and Ethiopia, Highly mentioned
Speaker 1: that one of the first books translated into the Ethiopian
Speaker 1: language at the time, known as Ghez, was a work
Speaker 1: known as the Monastic Rule of pac Homius, who was
Speaker 1: the founder of the Synobitic monasticism tradition. Now, this is
Speaker 1: a type of monasticism that encouraged monks to live together
Speaker 1: in communities with other monks like the abbeys we would
Speaker 1: traditionally think of, rather than simply living individually as isolated hermits,
Speaker 1: which I think is the older view of the monk lifestyle.
Speaker 1: And of course you still saw examples of that in
Speaker 1: Ethiopia as well. Right, yeah, yeah, you see both. Uh
Speaker 1: So maybe we should take a break and then when
Speaker 1: we come back we can talk about the Nine Saints.
Speaker 1: Than all right, we're back, so let's let's get to
Speaker 1: get to these nine saints. Who who were they? And
Speaker 1: what were they? What? What did they allegedly bring to Ethiopia? Okay,
Speaker 1: well highly mentions. Actually ten well remembered Byzantine monks, who
Speaker 1: each founded a monastery in Ethiopia. The first one is
Speaker 1: not traditionally thought of as one of the nine saints,
Speaker 1: but he's historically very important and so he bears mentioning.
Speaker 1: This is Libanos or Mata, and legend has it that
Speaker 1: he heard the call to a monastic life on his
Speaker 1: wedding night. That is that is bad timing, dude, or
Speaker 1: perfect timing. I guess you know, I guess so. Uh.
Speaker 1: So on his wedding night, he's like, oh, oh no, wait,
Speaker 1: I've got to take a vow of celibacy. I gotta
Speaker 1: go be a monk. So he runs off to do that. Uh.
Speaker 1: And he apparently went to Ethiopia, where he founded a
Speaker 1: monastery and helped an Ethiopian monk translate one of the
Speaker 1: Gospels into gez Uh. And then the next are who
Speaker 1: are traditionally thought of as the Nine Saints. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to mention biographical details or legends about all of them,
Speaker 1: just a couple of them. So the first one is
Speaker 1: named Aragawi or Zamikhaiel, and he is known as the
Speaker 1: leader of the Nine Saints or the Elder. Zamikhaiel is
Speaker 1: also an appellation that means like devoted to Michael uh
Speaker 1: and on the so, the the Nine Saints supposedly traveled
Speaker 1: from Egypt to Ethiopia with Zamikhael as their leader, and
Speaker 1: legend says that quote the saint used a long serpent
Speaker 1: as a rope to ascend the impregnable summit of Mount Damo,
Speaker 1: where he built his monastery. All right, so they all
Speaker 1: build a monastery. This guy uses a snake to climb
Speaker 1: a mountain and builds a monastery on top of the mountain. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this is a mountain top monastery that still exists today.
Speaker 1: Obviously historians do not think he actually is a snake
Speaker 1: to climb the mountain, but uh, there is really a
Speaker 1: monastery there. It is attributed to him. It's in the
Speaker 1: region of t Gray and it's famous for being only
Speaker 1: accessible by a rope assisted ascent up a steep cliff side.
Speaker 1: So you really do have to climb a rope up
Speaker 1: a cliff to get to this monastery. That that sounds terrifying.
Speaker 1: And and I also think that that might be the
Speaker 1: point of it, because there was there was another cliff
Speaker 1: side or a mountain top sanctuary that we that we
Speaker 1: ran across. I was looking at a video from Great
Speaker 1: Big Story about this, and I think there's also uh
Speaker 1: that there's been a BBC videos about it as well. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is this other one is known as Abuna Yamata
Speaker 1: Go or the Church of St Abuna Yamata. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the video I watched showed how to to climb it.
Speaker 1: First of all, you have to climb at barefoot um
Speaker 1: and then the final stretch is like This is after
Speaker 1: you've actually ascended to to height on level with this
Speaker 1: small little monastery that's built into the cliff. You have
Speaker 1: to walk along this cliff side trail to the entrance
Speaker 1: and it's just a sheer drop to your left. Uh.
Speaker 1: And the the narrator was talking about just how it's
Speaker 1: it's terrifying, and then you're inside the sanctuary and I
Speaker 1: can't help I mean, part of that, of course, it's
Speaker 1: just nature of the location. But the other part is
Speaker 1: I can imagine that you're you're walking along this ledge
Speaker 1: and it is this terrifying um ordeal. You know, you're
Speaker 1: imagining yourself plummeting and falling and dying, and then you
Speaker 1: emerge into this this decorated cavern with these images painted
Speaker 1: on the walls, and you're in this Holy Shank sanctuary. Uh,
Speaker 1: just you know, secluded from everything else. Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: what you're emphasizing there is that the seclusion, the isolation,
Speaker 1: the inaccessibility, and the danger are not bugs but features.
Speaker 1: They're part of the religious experience generated in getting to
Speaker 1: this this place belief to be holy. Right, So I
Speaker 1: can see the same situation being in place if you're
Speaker 1: having to climb this this rope to finally emerge into
Speaker 1: a sanctuary. Yeah. An interesting note on the same subject,
Speaker 1: but this is from a different part of Gatacio Highly's history.
Speaker 1: Highly also writes that there are two words meaning monastery. Uh.
Speaker 1: He doesn't say the language specifically, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: he's talking about m hark the, the Ethiopian language of today.
Speaker 1: But he says that these two words today meaning monastery.
Speaker 1: The first word is dabber, which literally comes from the
Speaker 1: word meaning mountain, as in Mount Sinai. And then the
Speaker 1: other word is goddam, which means which comes from a
Speaker 1: word meaning wilderness, as in John the Baptist referring to
Speaker 1: himself as a voice crying out in the wilderness. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I loved that. That's so interesting. So you've got
Speaker 1: these two words both mean monastery, one means mountain, and
Speaker 1: one means wilderness. Yeah, that's great. I mean that that
Speaker 1: ties in nicely with topics we've discussed in the show before,
Speaker 1: how high elevation can can impact the mind and then
Speaker 1: also the recharging effects of being in a natural environment. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think you read this part also where he
Speaker 1: talks about that they do sometimes refer to different types
Speaker 1: of monasteries like the Dauber Monastery would be a monastery
Speaker 1: that is on top of a mountain, or is a
Speaker 1: certain type of like major officially recognized monastery. Meanwhile, a
Speaker 1: goddam monastery I think can be more like is uh,
Speaker 1: can be more unofficially recognized, or can be anywhere, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so that thus it becomes very difficult to actually
Speaker 1: have a good count on how many Ethiopian monasteries exist.
Speaker 1: Yeah uh so so that was anyway the legacy of
Speaker 1: the first of the nine saints. The second one is
Speaker 1: known as Pentaluon or Pentaleon, called Pentaluon of the Cell
Speaker 1: because he allegedly never once left his tiny cell after
Speaker 1: he entered it. So this guy, one of the vows
Speaker 1: he takes is a vow to be sealed in this room.
Speaker 1: He keeps his vow to remain inside for forty five
Speaker 1: years until his death. The next one is Yesshak or
Speaker 1: Isaac or Garima, so that many of them have multiple
Speaker 1: names they're known by. This one is believed to have
Speaker 1: been born a prince but then became a monk. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's aftsy. His hagiographer writes that he never died, but
Speaker 1: instead ascended directly into heaven like Elijah or like Jesus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so far. Each of these are kind of hitting
Speaker 1: on like sort of traditional tropes of the holy Man
Speaker 1: or the hernet or uh. Certainly the prince that becomes
Speaker 1: a holy man is very much in keeping with the Buddha. Yes, yes, uh,
Speaker 1: And then you got the next five. No bio details
Speaker 1: on these. Highly didn't have much about them except like
Speaker 1: when their feast days are celebrated. But you've got Gubba,
Speaker 1: a Left, Yamata, Lekanos, and Sema and Highly writes that
Speaker 1: the monks you would meet in Ethiopia today often like
Speaker 1: to trace their lineage to one of the Nine Saints,
Speaker 1: so they can say, oh, I'm of the tradition of
Speaker 1: Yamata or I'm of the tradition of Pantaluon. But anyway,
Speaker 1: this period, the Nine Saints period, would be the fifth
Speaker 1: to sixth century, and this appeared to be a boom
Speaker 1: time for Christianity and monks in Ethiopia. Highly mentions that
Speaker 1: an Egyptian monk named Cosmos into Coopliasts wrote of visiting
Speaker 1: the coastal regions of Ethiopia along the Red Sea in
Speaker 1: the year five five, and that Indocopliasts wrote at the
Speaker 1: at the time that the churches and the monasteries in
Speaker 1: Ethiopia were thriving. However, sometime in the next few hundred years,
Speaker 1: definitely by the tenth century, the political and religious power
Speaker 1: center of the city of Axom and the and the
Speaker 1: Axom Empire was reduced to ruins. And the cause of
Speaker 1: this is not known for sure, though there are some
Speaker 1: unsubstantiated legends about an uprising against the Church by non Christians,
Speaker 1: but uh, we don't know exactly what happened there. But
Speaker 1: eventually Highly writes that the power vacuum was filled by
Speaker 1: a new rule dynasty, the Zagway, which lasted until around
Speaker 1: twelve seventy. Yeah, I was, I was reading about this,
Speaker 1: this uprising in the history of Ethiopia by sahed A
Speaker 1: A Dajumbi. The and basically the chief antagonist that has
Speaker 1: attributed to what is sometimes called the Ethiopian Dark Age
Speaker 1: was the non Christian Queen good It. She up, according
Speaker 1: to these these stories, usurped the throne by force and
Speaker 1: reign for forty years, and then passed the crown onto
Speaker 1: her descendants, who were then eventually overthrown by Mara Takla
Speaker 1: Hemanat an Aga overlord and then Um. This overlord married
Speaker 1: a female descendant of the Oxomite monarchs of old and
Speaker 1: started the Zaga dynasty. Uh that you mentioned already. But
Speaker 1: there are apparently a lot of inconsistencies about good It
Speaker 1: about you know, who she was, where she came from,
Speaker 1: what exactly she did, aside from decimating Um the capital
Speaker 1: and overturning the prior rule UM. So it seems rather
Speaker 1: difficult to separate a history and the mythology. Uh. There's
Speaker 1: often the details of one story conflict with those of another.
Speaker 1: For instance, in one telling, at least she has described
Speaker 1: as being of Jewish origin, thus good At Judith there
Speaker 1: being potentially some connection there. Yeah, highly doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: credit the story from what I can tell. He He
Speaker 1: mentions that the names applied to this woman, for example,
Speaker 1: like like good Itt or Isato if she existed, are
Speaker 1: probably not even her real names, but their derogatory terms
Speaker 1: applied to her by people who saw her as a villain,
Speaker 1: if she was in fact a real figure. So this
Speaker 1: period seems murky, right. But whatever led from the collapse
Speaker 1: of the Axom kingdom to the foundation of the Zugway dynasty.
Speaker 1: It's under the Zugwa kingdom that the rock hun churches
Speaker 1: of Lali Bella are traditionally said to have been designed
Speaker 1: and constructed. So let's turn to the king Lali Bella. Yes,
Speaker 1: a lot Bella, the namesake of of of the city
Speaker 1: of Lolli Bella, Emperor Gabre Mescal Lalli Bella, who lived
Speaker 1: one through twelve twenty one, and who again was part
Speaker 1: of the Zaguay dynasty. That dynasty lasted from the year
Speaker 1: nine hundred to the year twelve seventy. I think that's
Speaker 1: got to be a rough estimate on the beginning of it, right, yeah. Um, So,
Speaker 1: I've seen it alleged in several sources that the name
Speaker 1: of this king, that Lolli Bella, means something about bees,
Speaker 1: like quote, his sovereignty is recognized by bees, or that
Speaker 1: it just means surrounded by bees. I have not found
Speaker 1: that claim source to its origin or explained anywhere that
Speaker 1: looked too solid to me, So a question mark on
Speaker 1: that one. But I hope it's true because I like it.
Speaker 1: It's a It's an absolutely wonderful, magical gimmick for a monarch.
Speaker 1: They're surrounded by bees, and yeah, I did. Really, this
Speaker 1: whole dynastic um struggle that we're describing here, I just
Speaker 1: I mean, ethiop in history is amazing, and I'm glad
Speaker 1: that I'm finally digging into it. So, so the Zaguay
Speaker 1: dynasty had they had to make their capital in a
Speaker 1: new location. The previous one had been decimated by the
Speaker 1: prior rule. So they made their capital in Roa, which
Speaker 1: later took the name of the monarch that we're talking about,
Speaker 1: Lolli Bella. So Loli Bella is best remembered today for
Speaker 1: those these monoliths that he builds or has built, or
Speaker 1: completes the building building off. You mean the rock you
Speaker 1: in churches, Yes, the rocky in churches. Yeah, either he
Speaker 1: the tales you know differ, but either he commanded their
Speaker 1: construction or he oversaw their completion. At any rate, his
Speaker 1: name is kind of like stamped on them. Historically. I
Speaker 1: think there's one other version in which his widow had
Speaker 1: at least one of the churches built in her husband's memory. Okay,
Speaker 1: now that's the traditional telling. I was reading a short
Speaker 1: essay about the churches by a scholar of African arts
Speaker 1: named Kristen Windmiller. Luna, and she points out that archaeologists
Speaker 1: have not actually established precise dates for the construction of
Speaker 1: the different parts of the Lolli Bella complex, but that
Speaker 1: the most common view among scholars is that these churches
Speaker 1: were probably actually constructed in stages over a longer period
Speaker 1: of time, maybe in like four or five different phases
Speaker 1: between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries. But again we
Speaker 1: don't really know for sure. And in addition to the
Speaker 1: traditional description to Lolli Bella, the king's reign would fall
Speaker 1: right towards the end of this hypothetical multi phase construction period. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so at any rate, his name is highly associated with them,
Speaker 1: and of course the town bears his name. Um And
Speaker 1: now there are some other stories you'll encounter out there
Speaker 1: about that have alternate hypotheses for their creation. There was
Speaker 1: one I saw mentioned in a BBC article even stating
Speaker 1: that the knights templars may have created them. But I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody really gives those stories a lot of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they don't give them a lot of aten.
Speaker 1: And I think this is the primary hypothesis that everyone
Speaker 1: agrees with. Wait by history channel logic is or the
Speaker 1: Knights templars. Also, is that the same as the aliens
Speaker 1: hypothesis because the Knights templars were Aliens. Knights templar extremism
Speaker 1: is like a gateway to ancient Aliens. You know, if
Speaker 1: you if you just keep following and you keep just really,
Speaker 1: if you really want everything to be the Knights templars,
Speaker 1: at the end of it, you're just gonna wind up
Speaker 1: an ancient Aliens territory. Yeah, that's my take on it.
Speaker 1: Not that the templars are not in and of themselves fascinating.
Speaker 1: Uh and I'd actually love to come back to them
Speaker 1: on invention. I think they arguably factor into some uh
Speaker 1: certainly some economic inventions of over time. Okay, but but anyway,
Speaker 1: that's for another that's for another day. But let's explore
Speaker 1: that traditional story attributing the rock you in churches directly
Speaker 1: to Lolli Bella. Now, of this, though, there are two
Speaker 1: different versions, at least that I came across. One is
Speaker 1: that Lolli Bella had himself visited Jerusalem sometime around say
Speaker 1: even eight seven, just before the Crusader health city fell
Speaker 1: back into the hands of Islamic forces. So, like many
Speaker 1: Christians at the time, many Christians of means would have
Speaker 1: wanted to make a pilgrimage to what they believe is
Speaker 1: the birthplace of Christ for like religious devotion, and so
Speaker 1: he would have made this pilgrimage potentially, yes. Now another
Speaker 1: version is that he didn't actually travel there, but he
Speaker 1: saw Jerusalem in a dream. Uh, and particularly probably in
Speaker 1: a dream after its fall back into Islamic hands. Wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I just made a big mistake. I said
Speaker 1: birthplace of Christ. Jerusalem is not the birthplace of Christ,
Speaker 1: but is it very important in Christian tradition. Sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: he came into Jerusalem on a donkey, but in none
Speaker 1: of the gospels doesn't say he was born in Jerusalem. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I just had to clean that up. Oh yeah, no worries. Well,
Speaker 1: in either case, either he visited Jerusalem and then it fell,
Speaker 1: or Jerusalem fell and then he saw a vision of
Speaker 1: it in his dreams. But then it becomes clear to
Speaker 1: him I need to create a new Jerusalem right here
Speaker 1: in Christian Ethiopia. And then uh, since no one can
Speaker 1: travel to Jerusalem now among the Christians, Uh, then all
Speaker 1: the Ethiopian Christians can simply travel here and and have
Speaker 1: a religious experience here in this city. And so thus
Speaker 1: the creation of these eleven monolithic churches, each plunging up
Speaker 1: to fifty meters in the earth are roughly one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty four feet And of course, the idea again
Speaker 1: would be that since Christian pilgrims could no longer direct
Speaker 1: to Jerusalem, this would serve as a new center of pilgrimage.
Speaker 1: And indeed it does remain an important pilgrimage destination for
Speaker 1: Ethiopian Christians. Christmas Eve, which is known as Genna in
Speaker 1: Um in Ethiopian traditions, is a favorite is a favorite
Speaker 1: time to visit, with people walking hundreds of miles or
Speaker 1: more to visit the churches and engage in rights of fasting, prayer,
Speaker 1: and celebration. Yeah, and that's one thing that makes these
Speaker 1: churches special. Today I was reading again in that piece
Speaker 1: by Kristen Windmiller Luna that some of the earliest of
Speaker 1: these structures may have originally served civic functions like as
Speaker 1: palaces or fortresses, but at some point they became these
Speaker 1: churches as destinations for pilgrimage, and their location makes them
Speaker 1: different from some of the you know, you would think
Speaker 1: of the big grand Catholic cathedrals that you might find
Speaker 1: in the middle of a huge city. Today, these churches
Speaker 1: are somewhat remote. They're not in the center of the
Speaker 1: Ethiopian capital Adisa Baba the and so it makes sense
Speaker 1: to think of them as a site of pilgrimage. They're
Speaker 1: a place you would have to go to in a
Speaker 1: journey to show your devotion. Yeah. And and we're talking
Speaker 1: about visiting these sites on mountaintops and how there's like
Speaker 1: the physical ordeal of climbing up to reach them. And
Speaker 1: with these temples that are essentially, you know, just dug
Speaker 1: out of out of these quarries in the earth, you
Speaker 1: have to climb down to visit them. Like they're accessible
Speaker 1: via like steep winding stairs and tunnels and uh, you
Speaker 1: know tunnel complexes. So you have you have a very
Speaker 1: similar situation, except instead of an ascent, it is a descent.
Speaker 1: So let's look at these eleven churches, all right. So, um,
Speaker 1: they're arranged into three groups and each one difference in
Speaker 1: exact size, rock color, architectural style and um. According to UNESCO,
Speaker 1: because they are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, their translated names
Speaker 1: are as follows. There's the House of the Savior of
Speaker 1: the World and this is thought to be the largest
Speaker 1: of these monolithic churches. There's the House of Mary. There's
Speaker 1: the House of the Cross. There's the House of Virgins.
Speaker 1: There's the House of Golgotha Michael, which contains life size
Speaker 1: depictions of the twelve Apostles carved into the walls, and
Speaker 1: apparently only four are visible to the public and the
Speaker 1: others are kept hidden behind like drapes and curtains. There's
Speaker 1: the House of Emmanuel. There's the House of Saint Merkrios
Speaker 1: and this was possibly a former residence. There's the House
Speaker 1: of Abbott Libanos, the House of Gabriel Raphael. This was
Speaker 1: also possibly a former residence. There's the House of Holy Bread,
Speaker 1: and then finally there is the House of St. George.
Speaker 1: This is the one if you if you see like
Speaker 1: an Instagram post for this podcast episode, this is the
Speaker 1: image you're seeing because it has this kind of cruciform
Speaker 1: plan to it. Uh, shaped like a cross, specifically a
Speaker 1: Greek cross, and if you view it from above, uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's really. When I first saw an image
Speaker 1: of it from above, I wasn't even sure I was
Speaker 1: looking at Yeah, there's a quality too. I think you
Speaker 1: were actually talking about this before we started recording. How
Speaker 1: it's the kind of architectural marvel that is difficult to
Speaker 1: appreciate from a single photograph because in only seeing it
Speaker 1: from one perspective, you don't really understand what's so marvelous
Speaker 1: about it. You have to see, like, you have to
Speaker 1: see it from multiple different photos from different angles to
Speaker 1: start to appreciate it. Yes, absolutely, because photographs taken from uh,
Speaker 1: from down inside the the corey, the pit, where yard pit,
Speaker 1: the four yard pit, whatever you want to call it, like,
Speaker 1: those are impressive because you see this image of this
Speaker 1: building here just rising up and and if you don't know,
Speaker 1: you might just assume that it was built, that it
Speaker 1: was constructed out of bricks, maybe surrounded by walls. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then when you see it from above, it's like,
Speaker 1: what is this strange cross surrounded by uh, you know,
Speaker 1: by you know, pit on all sides that's just sort
Speaker 1: of emerging from the wilderness landscape all around it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So again, this is the Church of St. George we're
Speaker 1: talking about. I guess let's take a closer look at
Speaker 1: this one to see what's so architecturally special about it.
Speaker 1: You you mentioned the idea of it plunging into the earth.
Speaker 1: I think that's the perfect way to describe the Church
Speaker 1: of St. George. It doesn't rise up from the earth
Speaker 1: like a regular church or a regular building. It rises
Speaker 1: from the bottom of a pit. And the pit is
Speaker 1: a pit carved into natural rock. So as you approach
Speaker 1: the church, you're walking along a natural rock surface, not
Speaker 1: a paved area, but just exposed rock from planet Earth.
Speaker 1: And as you keep going, you realize you are approaching
Speaker 1: a deep, rectangular hole in the ground with edges dropping
Speaker 1: straight off and from the from the top, you know,
Speaker 1: the lip of the pit down to the bottom. I
Speaker 1: think it's roughly twelve meters or forty ft roughly, the
Speaker 1: pit being maybe twenty five ms or about eighty feet
Speaker 1: wide square. And then in the middle of this rectangular pit,
Speaker 1: there's this huge building in the shape of a Greek cross,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, which looks kind of like a plus sign,
Speaker 1: approximately as tall as the ground you're standing on, though
Speaker 1: the edges of the pit are not exactly all at
Speaker 1: the same height, so it depends on where you're standing. Uh,
Speaker 1: it might be taller than where you are, might be
Speaker 1: a little below you. But this cross shaped building in
Speaker 1: the center of the pit is the church, and as
Speaker 1: the name suggests, again, it's not built but carved directly
Speaker 1: out of the existing basaltic rock. It is one broken
Speaker 1: hunk of natural stone released from the earth by hammer
Speaker 1: and chisel. Yeah, it's just it's amazing to to even
Speaker 1: think about. And we've never been obviously, I look forward
Speaker 1: to hearing from anyone out there who has visited this
Speaker 1: site and can describe, uh, you know, what it was
Speaker 1: like to to see this in person. But it's just
Speaker 1: it's such a drastically different model of making a building
Speaker 1: compared to everything else that has has been the norm.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not just the case for this church.
Speaker 1: I mean this is true of many types of sacred
Speaker 1: destinations and holy buildings, but it's weirdness makes it holy.
Speaker 1: Like the weirdness of the architectural construction here contributes to
Speaker 1: the alienated, filth feeling. You get that that I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the same reason that you're far less
Speaker 1: likely to have a religious experience in a in a
Speaker 1: very normal building, in an office building full of cubicles
Speaker 1: and hallways with you know, carpeted floors and stuff, when
Speaker 1: you go into a cathedral. This is not like the
Speaker 1: other buildings you go into, it's very weird, and the
Speaker 1: weirdness itself puts you in an in a kind of
Speaker 1: like disoriented, alienated state of mind that makes you prone
Speaker 1: to having feelings of connection with higher beings and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. And I think the architectural weirdness here probably
Speaker 1: does a similar thing. Yeah, I mean, and it's probably
Speaker 1: the reason why some of the tails say that O
Speaker 1: the angels helped them constructed, you know, yes, which again
Speaker 1: is not to inspire anybody to go nuts with ancient
Speaker 1: aliens stuff here, but just like the idea that this
Speaker 1: is such a drastically different building from anything we're used to,
Speaker 1: like the divine imprint is here. Yeah. Uh So. Another
Speaker 1: thing that's really cool about it is I mentioned you
Speaker 1: can walk up to the edge of this pit as
Speaker 1: the building rising up from the bottom of the pit.
Speaker 1: The edges of the pit are a straight drop off
Speaker 1: around all the sides. So how do you get into
Speaker 1: the church? Well, apparently the bottom of the pit is
Speaker 1: accessed via a narrow descending canyon and then which which
Speaker 1: turns into a tunnel that is carved into the rock
Speaker 1: formation nearby. So again this is something where somebody had
Speaker 1: to carve an access ramp down through the existing native
Speaker 1: living rock there in this narrow tunnel, and then you
Speaker 1: come out in the courtyard below. Yeah, and I can
Speaker 1: only assume that you know this. This is again the
Speaker 1: monastic tradition, the idea of the importance of pilgrimage coming
Speaker 1: into play here, Like it is not a thing that
Speaker 1: should be easy to access. It is supposed to be
Speaker 1: um a journey to the bottom. Now, apparently there are
Speaker 1: other openings in the walls of the this courtyard pit
Speaker 1: which gives access to chambers that can be used for
Speaker 1: different things like sometimes housing, I think, or storage or
Speaker 1: as crypts. Yeah. Unesco describes there being all these of
Speaker 1: these sites being connected via quote, drainage, ditches, trenches, and
Speaker 1: ceremonial passages, some of which opening to hermit caves and catacomb.
Speaker 1: Now I mentioned there was a there was a scientific
Speaker 1: paper we were going to reference. Maybe we should take
Speaker 1: a break and then come back to to look at
Speaker 1: that real quick. Thank thank alright, we're back all right.
Speaker 1: So earlier we mentioned a scientific paper that would be
Speaker 1: examining some of the geological properties of these rock hewn churches,
Speaker 1: and so this paper was published in the Journal of
Speaker 1: African Earth Sciences called Geological and Geotechnical Properties of the
Speaker 1: Medieval rock hewn Churches of Lolli Bella, Northern Ethiopia by Aspa. Wilson,
Speaker 1: as Rot and udt Lu and The authors here use
Speaker 1: a metric called the rock mass rating to characterize the
Speaker 1: constituents and the condition of the rocks that make up
Speaker 1: the churches of Lolli Bella, and they found that these
Speaker 1: churches are mostly carved from quote medium strength to strong
Speaker 1: intact scoriaceous basalt rocks. You know, what does scoriaceous basalt
Speaker 1: rocks mean. Uh, scoriaceous rocks. Basalt rocks would be dark
Speaker 1: colored volcanic rocks with a porous or a vesicular texture,
Speaker 1: so pores or vesicles. What does that mean in rock terms? Well,
Speaker 1: these are little holes, basically little bubbles that are created
Speaker 1: when magma with dissolved gas content erupts and then is
Speaker 1: exposed to the surface, and then some of that dissolved
Speaker 1: gas volatilizes and forms bubbles which can become hardened into
Speaker 1: the rock as the lava cools. Uh So, a very
Speaker 1: extreme form of this you might have encountered was probably
Speaker 1: something like pumice you know that has huge holes in it. Uh,
Speaker 1: This I think is not quite that porous, but still
Speaker 1: it's porous. It's got like holes and little tunnels and
Speaker 1: bubbles in it. It makes me think of cooking pancakes
Speaker 1: this description, think a little bubbles on top. It's pretty
Speaker 1: much exactly like. Uh. So, the authors find several threats
Speaker 1: to the material integrity of the rock Huan churches. Uh
Speaker 1: that you know, the churches are are somewhat vulnerable bole
Speaker 1: to the elements. They write, quote, most of the rock
Speaker 1: hewn churches are affected by precrving, cooling joints, and bedding
Speaker 1: plane discontinuities, and by mostly but not necessarily post carving
Speaker 1: tectonic and seismic induced cracks and fractures. So, for several
Speaker 1: reasons having to do with the existing you know, massive
Speaker 1: rock there and with things brought on by the carving
Speaker 1: and excavation of these building faces, there are cracks and
Speaker 1: fractures and vulnerabilities in the buildings and their structure. But
Speaker 1: they also say, uh, though most of the churches are
Speaker 1: hewn from medium to high strength rock, mass discontinuities make
Speaker 1: them vulnerable to other deteriorating agents, mainly weathering and water infiltration. Again,
Speaker 1: it's not how hard to see how porous rocks are
Speaker 1: subject to water infiltration. Quote. The scoriaceous basalt, which is
Speaker 1: porous and permeable, allows easy passage of water, while the
Speaker 1: underlying basalt is impermeable, increasing the residents time of water
Speaker 1: in the porous material, causing deep weathering and subsequent loss
Speaker 1: of material in some of the churches and adjoining courtyards.
Speaker 1: So while they're still beautiful to see today, these buildings
Speaker 1: are under some material strain. Yeah. I was reading about
Speaker 1: this um on UNESCO's website and they point Another thing
Speaker 1: they point out is the drainage ditches. We mentioned already
Speaker 1: that that's part of sort of the uh the system
Speaker 1: of tunnels and um and and ditches around these structures.
Speaker 1: It's a rock pit, you need some way to drain it, right.
Speaker 1: But the thing is that those ditches were filled in
Speaker 1: with filled in with dirts some time ago, and this
Speaker 1: resulted in a lot of flooding and water damage over
Speaker 1: the years before they were then cleared out again in
Speaker 1: the early twentieth century. I guess that that's one of
Speaker 1: the things to keep in mind about structures that have
Speaker 1: existed for as long as these is, there's plenty of
Speaker 1: time for the v periods of neglect, even if they
Speaker 1: are not periods of of outright uh, you know, assault
Speaker 1: on them. Um. So water damage occurred, then you already
Speaker 1: mentioned the seismic activity that does seem to have damaged
Speaker 1: them as well. As such, they are all in fairly
Speaker 1: degraded shape at this point and require monitoring, despite the
Speaker 1: construction of shelters over several of them. In fact, the
Speaker 1: House of Emmanuel, one of the eleven we've missed listed earlier,
Speaker 1: is listed as being in danger of collapse. Um. And
Speaker 1: those shelters too. And you'll see these shelters if you
Speaker 1: look up pictures of these today. Uh. They're quite controversial
Speaker 1: as well, apparently because they're they're certainly sheltering these structures
Speaker 1: from the elements. Uh, but in some cases they might
Speaker 1: actually be damaging the very structures they're protecting. Uh. And
Speaker 1: some of them are arguably also at risk to collapse
Speaker 1: during storms. And at the very least they impact the
Speaker 1: visual presentation and serve, according to the Associated Foreign Press
Speaker 1: as quote a symbol of the neglect that Lei Bella
Speaker 1: residents say they and the complex endure On top of this,
Speaker 1: there's the degradation to various painting, sculptures and bass reliefs
Speaker 1: inside uh the temples. And UH. Even though the churches
Speaker 1: are protected by both the church and the state in Ethiopia,
Speaker 1: apparently this doesn't always translate into their being like a
Speaker 1: lot of support uh an effort given towards the needs,
Speaker 1: because there's still, according to um UNESCO quote, a need
Speaker 1: for stronger planning controls for the setting of the churches
Speaker 1: that addresses housing, land use, tourism, and for a management
Speaker 1: plan to be developed that integrates the conservation action plan
Speaker 1: and addresses the overall sustainable development of the area with
Speaker 1: the involvement of the local population. Now I was looking around,
Speaker 1: it does seem like this remains uh, something is being
Speaker 1: discussed and um uh you know, UNESCO is still still
Speaker 1: discussing impossible plans to better protect these churches. And there
Speaker 1: has been increased attention even in the past year, with
Speaker 1: for instance, French President Emmanuel Macron visiting the site of
Speaker 1: these churches in Ethiopia. Yeah, this race is something that
Speaker 1: has come up with a number of the topics we've
Speaker 1: done about you know, old wonderful pieces of architecture, which
Speaker 1: is that obviously, you know, it makes sense to put
Speaker 1: things in place to protect structures from being directly damaged
Speaker 1: by human behavior. But when something is being sort of
Speaker 1: like naturally weathered, uh and and uh suffering, you know,
Speaker 1: just from the exposure to the natural forces that permeate
Speaker 1: the environment, I think, then it becomes harder to know
Speaker 1: exactly what to do. Like, so imagine you're just dealing
Speaker 1: with the issue of would it be better to put
Speaker 1: up a shelter over one of these churches to prevent
Speaker 1: rain from falling on it or not? I mean, and
Speaker 1: so maybe putting that up, you would say, could prevent
Speaker 1: some water damage from accumulation over time, but also that
Speaker 1: damage is relatively slow to happen. And in the meantime,
Speaker 1: everybody who goes on pilgrimage to this church, now the
Speaker 1: pilgrimage is under this big artificial shelter, right, And then
Speaker 1: I can only imagine that a site like this offers
Speaker 1: unique challenges as it is built, unlike buildings are typically constructed,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, they're there are a number of concerns
Speaker 1: that come together here, and also coming back to just
Speaker 1: the nature of of buildings, the nature of sculpture, the
Speaker 1: nature of anything humans have made something like like like this.
Speaker 1: Certainly from a human perspective, it is long lived, is
Speaker 1: very durable, It may even seem to be eternal. But
Speaker 1: from a geologic standpoint, it is quite frail. It is
Speaker 1: frailer than the thing that came before it, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know. Therefore, it's it's foolish to think that it
Speaker 1: will just be able to remain down there at the
Speaker 1: bottom of this uh this pit and uh you know,
Speaker 1: and remain you know, untouched. No, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: going to follow the uh you know, the natural laws
Speaker 1: of erosion everything else, all right. So there you have
Speaker 1: at the churches of Lolli Belah in Ethiopia, Uh, just
Speaker 1: amazing structures. Again, we have not visited this this this
Speaker 1: side in person, but we know that since we have,
Speaker 1: we have listeners out there from all over the world,
Speaker 1: and we have listeners that are that are well traveled.
Speaker 1: In many cases, we know some of you have been
Speaker 1: there and we would love to hear of your experiences.
Speaker 1: Or if you haven't actually been to these monolithic churches,
Speaker 1: perhaps you've been to some of the other monolithic churches
Speaker 1: and there are a handful elsewhere in the world. We'd
Speaker 1: love to hear about your experiences there. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: if you want to check out more episodes of Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind, head on over to stuff to
Speaker 1: Blow your Mind dot com. That will redirect you to
Speaker 1: one of the many places you can find if you
Speaker 1: can find the show wherever you get your podcasts and
Speaker 1: wherever that happens to be. Just make sure that you subscribe,
Speaker 1: make sure that you rate and review us, and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: just tell a friend to let let someone else know
Speaker 1: that Stuff to Blow your Mind or our other show
Speaker 1: invention um you know, helps get you through the day
Speaker 1: or taught you something you didn't know about previously huge things.
Speaker 1: As always to our awesome audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson.
Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us
Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest
Speaker 1: topic for the future, just to say hello, you can
Speaker 1: email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind
Speaker 1: dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production
Speaker 1: of iHeart Radios. How stuff works. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio is at the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Radio