Qohaito

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Qohaito was an Aksumite city, lying over 2,500 m above sea level in the Debub region of Eritrea. It is often though to be the town known to the Ancient Greeks as Koloe. It thrived as a stop on the trade route, between Aksum and Adulis, and may have been a summer capital of the empire. It is thought that crops were interspersed with buildings in the town, ruined buildings including the pre-Christian Temple of Mariam Wakino and the Sahira Dam (which may be pre-Aksumite).

Rock art near the town appears to indicate habitation in the area since the fifth millennium BC, while the town is known to have survived to the sixth century AD. Mount Ambasoira lies near the site, as does a small successor village, itself 1,000 years old.