#covenant

• Self-imprecatory covenant — A complex ritualistic institution and legal-religious formula whereby a solemn oath of allegiance or alliance is directly and explicitly conditioned by a curse the initiator invokes upon themselves in the event of betrayal. This mechanism of psychological and mystical coercion in traditional societies transforms the pact into an absolute commitment, guaranteed by the fear of physical self-destruction or eternal damnation overseen by the deity.
• Axum — A historical city and archaeological site of outstanding universal importance, located in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. It represented the structural core and capital of the legendary Aksumite Kingdom, a powerful maritime empire that dominated trade in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea between the 1st and 9th centuries AD. The locality is famous for its massive monolithic obelisks and stelae, carved with amazing geometric precision, and as a major spiritual center of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, housing, according to local tradition, the Ark of the Covenant.