Playwright Banna Desta has brought to life an often-overlooked ancient African civilisation in her latest work – a compelling audio drama about an increasingly tyrannical queen and her scheming twin sons.
“As well as wanting the audience to be entertained – because the play is good fun – I wanted to add another dimension to people’s understanding of Africa,” Desta tells the BBC.
“I wanted to write about a time when the continent wasn’t afflicted by colonialism and there were thriving societies,” she says.
The Abyssinians is set in the 5th Century in the Aksumite Empire, also known as the Kingdom of Aksum.
Aksum was a wealthy and influential monarchy that at its height spanned what is now northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, southern Saudi Arabia and western Yemen. It lasted almost 1,000 years, from approximately 100BC to AD960.
It was where Christianity first came to Africa and the continent’s first coins were minted.
It lay at the heart of a trade network between India and the Mediterranean and its ships controlled the Red Sea trade through the port of Adulis and the inland routes of north-eastern Africa.
In the third century, it was considered one of the world’s four great powers, alongside Persia, Rome and China.
“I feel like Aksum is completely excluded out of that picture. Ethiopia is a cradle of civilisation – and yet I feel that it is never really included in our understanding of global history,” says Desta.
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