Yeha
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Yeha is a town in the north of Ethiopia, located in the region of Tigray.
The oldest standing structure in Ethiopia is located in Yeha; it is a tower built in the Sabaean style, and dated to either the 6th of 5th century BC. This tower is one of the reasons some believe Yeha was the capital city of the D’mt kingdom.
Yeha is also the location of an Ethiopian Orthodox monastery, founded according to tradition credits by Abba Aftse, one of the Nine Saints. In his account of Ethiopia, Francisco Alvarez mentions visiting this town in 1520 (which he called "Abbafaçem"), and provides a description of the ancient tower, the monastery, and the local church, which also has been dated to the time of the Axumite Kingdom.1
Yeha has also been the site of a number of archeological excavations, begining in 1952 by the Ethiopian institute of Archeology. Although interrupted during the Derg regime, excavations were resumed in 1993 by a French archeological team.
Notes
- Francisco Alvarez, The Prester John of the Indies translated by C.F. Beckingham and G.W.B. Huntingford (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1961), chapter 35 (pp.140f).
Yeha is a very common typo of the word "Yeah", often seen during internet chat sessions.
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