View source for Yeha

{{short description|Historical capital of Kingdom of D'mt in northern Ethiopia}}
[[File:ET Tigray asv2018-01 img32 Yeha.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the Temple of Yeha in the [[Tigray Region]] of [[Ethiopia]].]]

'''Yeha''' ({{langx|gez|ይሐ}} ''yiḥa'', older [[South Arabian alphabet|ESA]] 𐩥𐩢 [[Image:Himjar ha2.PNG|12px]][[Image:Himjar wa.PNG|12px]] ''{{smallcaps|ḥw}}''; [[Ancient South Arabian script|Old South Arabian]]: '''𐩺𐩢𐩱''' ''{{smallcaps|yḥʾ}}'')<ref>E. Bernand, A.J. Drewes, R. Schneiderm ''Recueil des inscriptions de l'éthiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite''. Académie des inscriptions et belle-lettres. Diffusion de Broccard: Paris, 1991, pp. 109-110</ref> is a town in the northern [[Central Zone, Tigray]] in [[Ethiopia]]. It likely served as the capital of the pre-[[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]] kingdom of [[Dʿmt]].

==Archeology==

The oldest standing structure in Ethiopia, the Temple of Yeha, is located in Tigray region. This is a tower built in the [[Sabaeans|Sabaean]] style, and dated through comparison with ancient structures in [[South Arabia]] to around [[709–700 BC|700 BC]]. Although no [[radiocarbon dating]] testing has been performed on samples from site, this date for the Great Tower is supported by local inscriptions.<ref name=Phillipson-36>David W. Phillipson, ''Ancient Churches of Ethiopia'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), p. 36</ref> [[David Phillipson]] attributes its "excellent preservation" to two factors, "the care with which its original builders ensured a level   foundation, firmly placed on the uneven bedrock; and to its rededication -- perhaps as early as the sixth century  AD -- for use as a Christian church."<ref name=Phillipson-36/> Two other archaeological sites at Yeha include [[Grat Beal Gebri]], a ruined complex distinguished by a [[portico]] 10 meters wide and two sets of square [[column|pillar]]s, and a graveyard containing several [[rock-cut architecture|rock-hewn]] shaft tombs first investigated in the early 1960s. One authority has speculated that one of these tombs contained a royal burial. Another believes the ancient residential area was likely one kilometer to the east of the modern village.<ref>Phillipson, ''Ancient Churches'', pp. 32, 37</ref>
[[File:Ancient Blocks With Sabaean Inscriptions, Yeha, Ethiopia (3146498586).jpg|thumb|Ancient stone slabs with [[Sabaean language|Sabaean]] inscriptions found at Yeha, [[Ethiopia]].]]
Additionally, Yeha is the location of an [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] monastery. It founded according to tradition by Abba Aftse, one of the [[Nine Saints]]. In his account of Ethiopia, [[Francisco Álvares]] mentions visiting this town in 1520 (which he called "Abbafaçem"), and provides a description of the ancient tower, the monastery, and the local church.<ref>Francisco Alvarez, ''The Prester John of the Indies'' translated by C. F. Beckingham and G. W. B. Huntingford (Cambridge: [[Hakluyt Society]], 1961), pp. 140f</ref> This church was either the rededicated Great Temple, or a now destroyed building which the [[Deutsche Aksum-Expedition]] described in the early 20th century. (The current structure exhibits Aksumite architectural features and was built between 1948 and 1949.)<ref>Phillipson, ''Ancient Churches'', p. 37</ref>

The [[Central Statistical Agency]] has not published an estimate for this village's 2005 population.

Explored briefly in February 1893 by the British antiquarian [[Theodore Bent]] and his wife [[Mabel Bent|Mabel]],<ref> Theodore Bent, ''[https://archive.org/details/sacredcityethio01garsgoog/page/n158/mode/2up/search/yeha The sacred city of the Ethiopians; being a record of travel and research in Abyssinia in 1893]'' (Chapter VIII, London 1893).</ref> Yeha has also been the site of several archaeological excavations, beginning in 1952 by the [[Ethiopian Institute of Archeology]]. Although interrupted by the [[Derg]], excavations were resumed in 1993 by a French archaeological team.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

==Notes==
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==External links==
* [http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/africa/yeha.shtml Pictures of Yeha] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230220640/http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/africa/yeha.shtml |date=2010-12-30 }}

{{Coord|14|17|8.36|N|39|1|8.61|E|type:landmark_source:dewiki|display=title}}

[[Category:Capitals of former nations]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Tigray Region]]
[[Category:Dʿmt]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Sabaean architecture]]