Aksum, Ethiopia

One more card for today, then I'll be back to making my ninja cookies :D This card is also from a new country: Ethiopia! It was kindly sent to me by Sean who was recently staying in Ethiopia. It sounds like he had a really good time there, too - you can read more about his travels here.



This postcard shows the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum, also a Unesco World Heritage Site, found close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum. [source]



The stamp on the right is from a set of 23 definitives issued in 2000, representing animals. I'm not sure of the other stamps as it says it was issued in 2002 but I'm guessing it's a definitive as well.