The arrangement of the following twelve chapters is thematic. While Chapter 7, on emergence, and Chapter 16, on decline and transformation, are principally concerned with the earlier and later stages of the period during which Aksumite civilisation flourished, the others follow their themes throughout that time – which inevitably requires much cross-referencing in order to avoid repetition. Sources of written evidence that are relevant to several different chapters are, for convenience, evaluated in Chapter 6. As with many chapters in this book, a high proportion of the relevant data is from Aksum itself, other Tigray areas and much of southern Eritrea having been less well served by research and publication. The Asmara area seems to have been sparsely inhabited during the greater part of this period.

A book such as this, which attempts to set Aksumite civilisation in its context of overall historical development in the northern Horn of Africa, requires that somewhat arbitrary parameters be imposed. While it must be recognised that historical processes may occur at distinct times and with variable form and intensity in different areas, clarity of narrative requires a chronological framework. The difficulties are exacerbated since it appears that, in its earliest phase, the Aksumite kingdom was a geographically restricted entity that subsequently greatly expanded its territory to incorporate diverse previously distinct populations. For reasons discussed more fully in Chapter 7, Aksumite civilisation is first recognised at the time when a major new settlement was established in the valley between Beta Giyorgis and Mai Qoho hills in the highlands of west-central Tigray; this probably took place around the first half of the first century AD.