The documentary on the Rise of Aksun starts with describing how the civilization was at a crossroads of the world. The Egyptians described Aksun as being the land of the gods. People traveled across the sea from modern day Yemen to trade with Aksun.
Evidence of early civilizations in modern day Eritrea is wide ranging. A sphinx demonstrates how culturally intertwined Aksun was with the Egyptians and Sudan. The Temple of Qohaito shows the level of architectural advances that the civilization made in the area of design. Some believe that there are still many more remains to be excavated. Eritrea gained independence in the 1990s and the narrator explained that only now Eritrea has started to catch up with its rich archeological treasures.
The fusion of cultures was a major themes throughout the documentary. This was clear in the origin story of the Aksun empire. The Queen of Sheeba was said to have traveled to Jerusalem and was received by Solomon. The Queen of Sheeba gave birth to Solomon's (King of Judea) son, who became the founder of the Aksun Kingdom. According to the narrator, this story is a commonly held belief to this day. The myth surrounding this story of cross-cultural exchange also include a story that the Arc of the Covenant was taken from Jerusalem and brought to modern day Ethiopia. The Arc was said to contain the Ten Commandants given from God to the ancient people of Judea. The leader of the Orthodox Church in Ethiopia confirmed that he believed that the Arc is still kept in Ethiopia.
Sorry, I thought I could go back and add on/edit the entry above. I'll just add on this way.
One idea that I found interesting in the reading was history as "recoverable". I could imagine using this idea to create a central question for a unit on history: What can we recover? Or What can we recovered from ____ history? The first phase of such a unit might look at why the history can become "covered" or hidden. Then we could try to find out about the people and places that aren't often talked about. Students could each learn about a person, place or culture and then share out with one another. Last, we could create a public facing display of the uncovered diversity of the history--again an idea from the reading--that gets us to think about the complexity of the past.
A small side note: I had just recently learned that Burkina Faso was once called upper Volta. In the reading, they mention the challenges of national names and how these challenges are complicated by the colonial past. I didn't know until reading this that Burkina Faso meant "the incorruptible man".
I would love to travel back in time to see the area of Aksun Kingdom! I love how much interaction from vastly different regions there was due to trade.
I was going to watch the Kingdom of Kush video, but you may have convinced me to watch this one instead. (Or maybe I'll watch both!) Thanks! ~Kelli
@jacob-goodwin I love your idea about a history unit about what can be uncovered! It reminded me exactly of the definition of Sankofa, about moving forward while also looking back.
@jacob-goodwin I found this really interesting, especially learning how Aksum was a crossroads where different cultures and people came together through trade. The connection between Africa, Egypt, and Yemen really stood out to me. It shows how connected these ancient civilizations were and how much history there is still to discover.
I enjoyed your throughout explanation and points of view, thank you.