Hawulti (monument)


Hawulti is a pre-Aksumite or early Aksumite period obelisk located in Matara, Eritrea. The monument bears the oldest known example of the ancient Ge'ez script.

Description

The Hawulti monument is high, with a disk and crescent at the top; Ullendorff believes these symbols "no doubt meant to place the stele under the protection of the gods, probably of Šams, the Sun goddess, and of Sin, the Moon god". These pre-Christian symbols.

Modern history

When Littmann, leader of the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, found the Hawulti, it had been pushed over and broken in half in the distant past. The Italian colonial government had the broken monument repaired with two iron bars and set upright in what thought to be its proper location, but its exact original location is not known for sure.
The Hawulti was toppled and damaged by Ethiopian troops in the short occupation of southern Eritrea during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. It has since been repaired by the National Museum of Eritrea.