Did earthquakes fell Aksum obelisks ?

• Main Authors: V. Sepe, G. Augusti, V. Francaviglia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) 1995-06-01
• Series: Annals of Geophysics
• Subjects: Ethiopia; Aksum; stelae; obelisks; earthquake
• Online Access: http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/4100

Most of the obelisks at Alisum (Tigray, Ethiopia) are lying in pieces on the ground, as the Aksumite obelisk now in Rome had been before its removal to Italy. Preliminary inspection of the alignment of the ~larious fallen members makes it possible to identify a prevailing orientation. The historical tradition is very vague as regards the toppling of the obelisks (or stelae). Reference is made to Yodit or Gudit, a Jewish queen of the South. who supposedly had the pngnn stelae knocked down in the 10th century A.D.: to Irnam Ah~nedib n Ibrahim a1 Ghazi a1 gi-in?. Amir of Harar. who supposedly ordered thein to be felled by cannon fire: and to earthquakes. Analysis carried out on a nuruber of highly significant cases makes it possible to assert that some of the great obelisks at Aksum collapsed as a result of earthquakes. At the same time, inadequate systems of anchorage and the mediocre mechanical qualities of the soil were certainly conducive to collapse through both natural causes (earthquakes and erosion of foundations) and deliberate demolition.