Nouvelle stèle anthropomorphe à Amorigé dans le Soddo (Éthiopie)

Abstract

The upper part of an anthropomorphic stelaehas been discovered at Amorigé in the Soddo region (Ethiopia). Its base layed up in position, at about two meters. The flat stone with a clear compartmented head was originally more than 3 m high. On the body we can see the symbolic triad with a vegetable form sign, two disks instead of breasts, two swords with their point down and two vertical zigzags. It belongs to the group of “historiatedstelae”, some of them with vegetal signs being masculine, others with falling breasts being feminine. Further south, in the region of Butajira, F. Azaïs and R. Chambard have cleared a large stone box in front of two stelae of this style. These magnificent stelae seem to have been the towering markers for the tombs of high rank persons, and are to be dated of the xii-xivth centuries AD.

Keywords

• stelae
• anthropomorphe