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With a history dating back over 2000 years, Axum is a center of lovely
legends, splendid monuments and on going archeological research. Legend
has it that the queen of Sheba lived here and that the ruined palace to
be seen in the town today was built by the legendary queen.. Her son,
Menelik I. fruit of her-sojourn with King Solomon, is also supposed to
have been born here. Legend further elaborates that Menelik brought with
him from Israel the Ark of the Covenant, which is now housed in a
guarded sanctuary. Axum is a holy city to Ethiopians, for it was to Axum
that Christianity was brought in the 4th century in the region of King
Izana, by Freminatus, who was letter consecrated Bishop of Axum by St.
Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. The great stone monoliths of Axum,
called stelae, are awe-inspiring. The largest of them all, once standing
34 meters, now tying broken in the ground, - was the tallest standing
monolith in the world.
