{{Short description|Pre-Aksumite obelisk in Matara, Eritrea}} {{For|the ancient monuments in northern Ethiopia|Hawulti-Melazo}} {{Infobox monument | name = Hawulti | native_name = ሓወልቲ | image = Balaw Kalaw (metera), stele axumita 05.JPG | caption = Hawulti, a pre-Aksumite stele | location = [[Matara, Eritrea]] | type = [[Qohaito|pre-Aksumite]] [[stele]] | material = | length = | width = | height = | begin = | complete = | coordinates = {{Coordinates|14.674147|39.425111|format=dms|display=it}} | website = }} '''Hawulti''' ({{Langx|ti|ሓወልቲ}}) is a [[Qohaito|pre-Aksumite]] [[obelisk]] located in [[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]], [[Eritrea]]. The [[Aksumite architecture|monument]] bears the oldest known example of the ancient [[Geʽez script]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ullendorff |first1=Edward |author-link=Edward Ullendorff |title=The Obelisk of Maṭara |journal=[[Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland]] |date=April 1951 |issue=1/2 |pages=26–32 |jstor=25222457 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25222457 |issn=0035-869X}}</ref>
== Description == [[File:Balaw Kalaw (metera), stele axumita 02.JPG|thumb|left|Sun and crescent emblems.]] The Hawulti monument is {{convert|18|ft|m|order=flip}} high, with a disk and crescent at the top; [[Edward Ullendorff]] believes these symbols "no doubt meant to place the stele under the protection of the gods, probably of [[Shamash|Šams]], the Sun goddess, and of [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]], the Moon god". These pre-[[Christianity|Christian]] symbols, as well as paleographical characteristics such as the lack of vowel marks in the [[Geʽez script]], convinced Ullendorff that the monument dated "to the early part of the fourth century A.D."{{sfn|Ullendorff|1951|p=27}}
[[File:Balaw Kalaw (metera), stele axumita 04 iscrizoione in tigrino.JPG|thumb|Inscription.]] Ullendorff translated the inscription as follows: : This is the obelisk which had {{smallcaps|([[causative|caus]])}} made : ʾAgaz for his fathers who have : carried off the youth of {{smallcaps|ʾwʿ}} : {{smallcaps|ʾlf}} as well as of {{smallcaps|ṣbl}}. His translation differs from [[Enno Littmann]] at several points. First, Littmann believed the third line referred to the digging of canals nearby (his translation, "zog die Kannaele von ʾAwʿa") despite the lack of any signs of canals or ditches in the area; Ullendorff argues that the [[Semitic root|triliteral verb]] {{smallcaps|s-ḥ-b}} in the inscription should be translated as "to drag along, to capture". Second, he believed the nouns {{smallcaps|ʾwʿ}}, {{smallcaps|ʾlf}}, and {{smallcaps|ṣbl}} were placenames, and based on discussions with local informants, Ullendorff identified them with nearby communities: the earlier name of Baraknaha, the site of a 12th-century [[Orthodox Tewahedo]] [[church architecture|church]] {{convert|17|km}} from Maṭara in [[Eritrea]], had been ''Ṣubli'', and the equally well-known church at [[Gunda Gunde Monastery]], {{convert|22|kn}} from Maṭara, had once been known as ''ʾAwʿa ʾilfi''.{{sfn|Ullendorff|1951|p=31}}
== 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 was thought to be its proper position, but was not accurate.{{sfn|Ullendorff|1951|p=26}}
The Hawulti was toppled and damaged<ref>{{cite web|title=Ethiopian Army Destroys World Heritage|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/33/046.html|date=2001-05-18|accessdate=2006-09-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Matara: Most recent information|url=http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/atobrukh/archaeology/matara/matstatus.html|accessdate=2006-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501030255/http://hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/atobrukh/archaeology/matara/matstatus.html|archive-date=2006-05-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/apr-may05/0791.html|title=Ancient statue at Belew Kelew repaired|accessdate=2006-09-10|date=2005-05-14|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070527140205/http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/apr-may05/0791.html|archivedate=2007-05-27}} </ref>
==See also== *[[Ezana Stone]] *[[King Ezana's Stele]] *[[Monolithic architecture]] *[[Yeha]]
==References== <references />
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311064020/http://www.metimes.com/print.php?StoryID=20050517-045753-8291r AFP: Eritrea rebuilds country's symbolic stone pillar]
[[Category:6th-century BC inscriptions]] [[Category:Archaeological sites in Eritrea]] [[Category:Axumite obelisks]] [[Category:Monuments and memorials in Eritrea]]