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Everyone has growing pains. [Boy with growing pains in bedroom]

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But…you think you’ve had it bad?

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From 100 BCE to 300 CE, things got…a little tough on Egypt.

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It was conquered by Rome, colonized, and used as a source of food for the vast Roman legions [Roman soldier conquers Egypt man]

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and Roman public service.

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Sounds humiliating.

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Sort of the equivalent of getting shut into one’s locker. [Egypt man inside a locker and Roman soldier closes door]

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By 300 CE, Egypt was a small player in the middle of the big bad Roman Empire.

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But as Egypt growing old, the kingdom of Aksum was the new hotness in North Africa.

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Located in what is now Ethiopia, Aksum wasn't the biggest kingdom in the world, but it had

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a prime location.

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It was situated on the Red Sea, which was a major trade route connecting East with West. [Ships docking on the Red Sea]

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Stuff from India, the Middle East, Africa, and all over the Mediterranean had to pass

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through here.

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The Aksumites built up a powerful navy and dominated trade, making a ton of cashola in [Aksumite man with lots of goods]

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the process.

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Of course, with money comes power.

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In the 4th century CE, an ancient Persian dude named Mani called Aksum one

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of the five great powers of the ancient world, along with Rome, Persia, India, and China.

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And if you can't trust Mani, who can you trust? [Girl falling and Mani preparing to catch her]

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The other thing that made Aksum famous was being Christian.

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The Aksumites were Christians long before Europe caught the Christianity bug, second

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only to Thrace in the Balkans.

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Aksum developed out of a prehistoric Jewish society and was converted to Christianity

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by some Egyptian Orthodox missionaries.

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So when Christianity became…cool, they claimed to be the center of the Christian faith.

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The Aksum people even claimed to possess the most holy object in the Jewish and Christian [Aksum man stood outside a door]

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faiths, the Ark of the Covenant.

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AKA the box that supposedly held the Ten Commandments. [Ten commandments appear from the covenant]

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AKA the box that melted all those Nazi faces in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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Another fun fact about early Ethiopian Christianity is that it had an unusually large number of

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"fasting" days, or days when you're not allowed to eat meat.

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Roughly half of all days are considered "fasting" days by the Church, causing a lot of vegetarian [Animals napping on hammocks]

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cooking in Ethiopia throughout history.

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Also, eating bacon or pork of any kind was banned no matter what day it was.

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And no matter how amazing the bacon smelled.

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So there you go.

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Aksum was truly its own thing.

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It was a hugely rich and powerful empire, right up there with Rome and Persia. [Aksum, Rome and Persia on a podium]

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And it even came complete with a unique version of Christianity, an interesting culture, and

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a Biblical WMD.

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Also, the no-bacon thing made it a great place to be a pig… [Pig wearing a hat walking along a beach]

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