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September 4th, 2008
A Victory for Ethiopia
by Jeff Guhin

A large (and tall) part of their heritage comes home:

The Axum obelisk, one of Ethiopia’s national treasures, has finally returned home after a 70-year stay in Rome.
The event is celebrated today in Axum with song, dance and processions.
“It’s the beginning of Ethiopia’s rebirth,” a spokesperson for the Egyptian government said at the ceremony, in which Ethiopian and Italian authorities signed the official return of the 160-ton granite pillar.
A symbol of national identity to Ethiopians, the 79-foot funerary stele was built 1,700 years ago in Axum. The monument is one of a group of obelisks erected when Ethiopia adopted Christianity in the 4th century A.D.
The ruins of the ancient city of Axum mark the location of the Kingdom of Axum, regarded as one of the four great kingdoms of the between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia.

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