Belief Systems
Before Christianity, the religion of the Kingdom of Axum was derived from various religions of southern Arabia which included polytheism. In the Axum religion, the most important gods were Almouqah, the moon god and the god of war; Mahrem. The people of Axum believed that their gods controlled the sun, moon and other elements of nature. In order to impress their gods, the people of Axum built temples where their king would act as the high priest and offer sacrifices to the gods. Around the fourth century, Christianity became the official religion and therefore, gave the people of Axum a monotheistic religion. The Axums praised God with art, literature and constructed beautiful churches which replaced the old temples they had built previously. The early churches were carved out of single stones. One church, The Redeemer of the World, still stands today and is one of the churches built out of one stone. The Christian religion was not only formed for the basis of Ethiopian identity, but it also helped the kings of Ethiopia stay in power during the Axumite period and during the time of the Amharic successors. The Amharas considered themselves as the true Christians and identified themselves closely with the church.