homeland, not far away in Lower Egypt, where their kingdom
had also to be administered. Nubians also interpreted the god
Amon in their own way, particularly emphasizing his form as
a powerful ram. Similarly, the Nubian lion god was empha-
sized as their protector. Indeed, despite the cultural infl uences
of Egypt, Nubians retained their own distinct cultural identity
and practices throughout the centuries.
Aft er the Nubians lost control of Egypt as a result of their
military defeat in the fi rst decade of the sixth century b.c.e.,
their capital shift ed farther to the south of Napata, to the city
of Meroë. Here their beliefs and customs would survive and
be transformed. Temples near Meroë that are dedicated to
the Nubian lion god Apedemak still stand. It is here in the
period between the fourth century b.c.e. and the fi rst cen-
tury c.e. that the brick pyramids of the Nubian kings were
constructed. Archaeologists have also found large statues of
rams there. Some scholars have suggested that in this period
a Nubian-inspired veneration of the sacred ram spread widely
across the continent, infl uencing religious worship among
such diverse people as the Libyan Berbers, the Fon of Benin,
and the Yoruba of Nigeria.
Much still remains to be learned about the early religious
practices of western Africa. Undoubtedly, one important cen-
ter of Iron Age culture was that around the Nigerian town
of Nok. Here terra-cotta sculpture and iron goods have been
found ranging across a 700-year time span starting approxi-
mately from 500 b.c.e. Th e most famous of the sculptures are
human heads and faces that were originally part of entire bod-
ies. While their religious or ritual meaning and use are not
known, it has been suggested that they are connected to the
religious practices of later peoples, possibly the Yoruba. Th e
Yoruba people say that their city of Ife was the center of cre-
ation. Here the supreme being Oludumare (Owner of Endless
Space) sent an assistant down from heaven to create land from
a watery chaos. Th e fi rst dry land to emerge was called Ife.
Th e religion of the Akan people of Ghana is also known
to have very deep roots, with possible connections to a more
regional pantheism. For example, there are similarities be-
tween the mother goddess Tanit of the North African city
of Carthage and the Akan goddess, Mother of the High God
Nyame, both of whom are said to have given birth to the uni-
verse. Th e Yoruba, too, have a goddess who brought order to
the world through the release of ase, her spiritual power that
activated the world’s creative energy.
As mentioned previously, it is quite common for African
religious traditions to depict a supreme being who is some-
what remote from everyday human aff airs. While this view of
God can be found prominently in kingdoms, it is also found
among pastoralists such as the East African pastoralists, the
Nuer and Dinka. Th e fact that it also typifi es much of the
traditional religions of southern African societies, whether
kingdoms or not, also suggests that this perspective is one of
considerable antiquity.
Th ere are varieties of accounts of how the remoteness
of God came to be. In one version told by the Akan of Ghana
it is said that God and humans once lived so very close to-
gether that people could stretch out their hands to touch him.
Th is changed one day aft er an old woman began to pound her
grain vigorously to make porridge, using a mortar and a long
pestle. Th e problem was that, with God being so close, she hit
him every time she pounded. Consequently, God was forced
to move farther and farther away until he was high in the sky
and no longer in reach of her pounding. While details vary, it
is a common theme in African traditional religion that God
was once close but was driven away by human actions.MONOTHEISM
Archaeological evidence from the Middle East and Africa
indicates that polytheistic forms of religion are associated
with the most ancient civilizations. Monotheism, particularly
when it means the worship of a single god to the exclusion of
other gods that also exist, appears to be a more recent devel-
opment. Th e confl icts between monotheism and polytheism
are described in the Hebrew Bible. As the Bible relates it, even
the faithful Jews oft en turned away from God to worship one
or another of the gods of their neighbors.
Th e story that most stands out about Egypt in biblical
narrative is the story given in Exodus about Moses and the
liberation of Egypt’s Jewish slaves. In contrast to the Bible’s
version of events, Egyptians circulated a diff erent story of a
rebellious man they called Moses. Although it is known only
in fragmentary form, in the Egyptian account Moses is de-
scribed as a heretic against the Egyptian faith and a rebel who
led a revolt of outcaste lepers against the state. No mention is
made of Judaism.
In Ethiopia the biblical narrative of the ancient Jewish
king Solomon and the queen of Sheba (also called Makeda)
has taken on great signifi cance. According to legend, the king
of Ethiopia’s Amhara people is said to be the direct descen-
dant of Menelik, a child from a liaison between the Egyptian
queen and the Jewish king. Written accounts of this story date
back at least to the 13th century b.c.e., but it is not known
how long it may have existed in oral tradition.
Ethiopia also has been home to more ordinary people
who claim deep Jewish roots; among them are the Beta Israel,
most of whom emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel in the late
1980s and early 1990s of the 20th century c.e. Although there
are diff erent accounts of the details, their oral traditions sug-
gest their ancestors were of the House of Dan, one of the Lost
Tribes of Israel. Africans with Jewish links are found in other
parts of Africa, as far away from the Middle East as South Af-
rica. In South Africa claims of Jewish ancestry by the Lemba
people have recently been confi rmed by DNA tests.
Christianity in North Africa and Ethiopia goes back
nearly to the beginning of the religion. According to tradi-
tional accounts, Egypt’s fi rst church was founded by one of
the 12 disciples of Jesus—Mark. Th e Ethiopian kingdom of
Axum adopted Christianity as a state religion in the early
fourth century, and the religion continues to be Ethiopia’s
main religion. Th e city of Axum’s fourth-century church,religion and cosmology: Africa 835