Matara Hawulti (stele or monument)
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(1) Although not known for certain where the Matara hawulti stood in antiquity, its modern location by the side of the road through the archaeological site, as seen in this photo (facing eastward), is acknowledged not to be where it originally was installed. There are suggestions that it may have stood on Gwal Saim; Littmann's team found it lying broken at the bottom of the small hill. Note the abundant stone rubble, indicative of unexcavated ruins.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(2) This view of the hawulti (facing southward) shows both its location by the roadside and the small hill known as Gwal Saim, on or near which it is thought to have been erected in antiquity.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(3) These photos of the hawulti (facing westward), taken at the same time as the view of its roadside position, show its appearance during the rainy season, with Gwal Saim to the right and Amba Saim's lower reaches to the left. The left photo shows the complete monument as it once stood by the roadside, while the right photo focuses on the inscription for which the hawulti is famed; click for some closer views of this inscription.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(4) The icon or image carved at the top of the Matara hawulti is the disk and crescent sign of Ilumquh (
), the moon god of the Sabaeans and the pre-Christian Aksumites; it was commonly placed atop monuments, and was the symbol on the reverse of a large percentage of the Aksumite coins prior to the official conversion of Aksum to Christianity.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(5) This four-line inscription at eye level on the Matara hawulti (along with the fragmentary inscription below which was found on Gwal Saim) is the oldest known example of Ge'ez script. For the past century, scholars have argued over the precise interpretation of the text, but there is no doubt that it is a dedicatory inscription. One possible interpretation might read "This monument which was erected by Agaze is dedicated to his forefathers for their defeat of the forces of Aw'a Alefe and Tsebelen." It is worth noting the similarity betwen the name Agaze and Agazi, the plural of GazÈ, the name of the people presumed to be from the Akkele Guzai region, and one of the two peoples who formed the Aksumite nation, and gave their name to its language. While often interpreted as a ruler, Agaze could refer instead to the people of the region or the ruler as their representative, and the forefathers might then be the founders of the city, or earlier rulers. In any case, the inscription still holds mysteries. More information about the hawulti and its historical context can be read in the Historical section.
The brief remnant of an inscription seen in the lower photos appears on a stone lying among the ruins on Gwal Saim. From its surviving first two letters (to the right of the vertical word separator), the second word appears to be 'hawulti' and the last letters of the preceding word suggest that the complete word was the verb indicating 'created' or 'erected.' It is therefore most likely that the complete inscription identified the person who erected a particular stele or monument. Like the inscription on the hawulti, therefore, it appears to be dedicatory in nature. Whether it is related to the Matara hawulti or another lost monument is uncertain. While the scripts used on the two stones are similar, there are minor differences in the form of the letters.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(6) This archaeological rendering of the Matara hawulti, with dimensions indicated and a man standing alongside for size reference, was published by the Enno Littmann team in the 1913 compendium, Deutsche Aksum-Expedition.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
(7) Left: this photo of the fallen Matara hawulti, taken by an Eritrean Cultural Heritage Secretariat photographer in 2001, shows that the inscription is still intact, but the lower part has been shattered. Right: Yosef Libsekal is seen examining the damage to the hawulti in a photo by Richard Greenfield from later the same year.
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All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.
