When did the Kingdom of Aksum end?
Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum (also known as the Kingdom of Axum, or the Aksumite Empire) was an ancient kingdom located in what is now Tigray Region (northern Ethiopia) and Eritrea.[2][3]. Axumite Emperors were powerful sovereigns, styling themselves King of kings, king of Aksum, Himyar, Raydan, Saba, Salhen, Tsiyamo, Beja and of Kush.[4] Ruled by the Aksumites, it existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD. The polity was centered in the city of Axum and grew from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. Aksum became a major player on the commercial route between the Roman Empire and Ancient India. The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency, with the state establishing its hegemony over the declining Kingdom of Kush. It also regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and eventually extended its rule over the region with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom. The Manichaei prophet Mani (died 274 AD) regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, the others being Persia, Rome, and China.[2][5]
King of the Four Corners
The title does appear to have been used by any of Naram-Sin's direct successors of the Akkadian Empire, which began to collapse during the reign of Naram-Sin's son Shar-Kali-Sharri.' In the 2100s BC, the Gutians attacked the Akkadian Empire and supplanted the ruling "Sargonic" dynasty, destroying the city of Akkad and establishing an empire of their own. By 2112 BC, the Gutians had been driven out and the city of Ur had become the center of a new Sumerian civilization, referred to as the Third Dynasty of Ur or the Neo-Sumerian Empire. The rulers of this empire emulated the previous monarchs from Akkad, referring to themselves as "Kings of Sumer and Akkad" and all of them—with the exception of the founder of the dynasty, Ur-Nammu—used the title of "King of the Four Corners of the World".' Some ancient sources confer the title onto Ur-Nammu as well, referring to him as "King in Heaven and the Four Corners of the World", but these inscriptions date to centuries after his reign.