The dating of Ezana and Frumentius

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Periodical article

Title:	The dating of Ezana and Frumentius
Author:	Munro-Hay, S.C.H.
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Rassegna di studi etiopici
Volume:	32
Pages:	111-127
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ethiopia
Subjects:	Ethiopian Church Church history Axum polity chronology
Abstract:	One of the most frequently mentioned problems of the early history of Christianity in Ethiopia is that of the dating of '¯Ez¯an¯a of Aksum. As opposed to the theory that '¯Ez¯an¯a was the fourth-century pagan and later Christian ruler who issued coins and had commemorative inscriptions set up, it has been suggested that '¯Ez¯an¯a should be redated to the fifth century. On the basis of texts, coins, and the letter of Constantius II, preserved by patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria, the author of the present paper shows that the arguments in support of such a dating are in no way sufficiently convincing for the abandonment of the earlier thesis that '¯Ez¯an¯a was the king of Aksum at the time of the country's official conversion to Christianity, and that this took place in the third decade of the 4th century under the auspices of Frumentius, first bishop of Aksum, and the patriarch Athanasius. Notes, ref.