Adulis functioned as the principal seaport of the Aksumite Kingdom (circa 100–700 CE), enabling Aksum to participate actively in long-distance trade with ancient Rome, Byzantium, South Arabia, Persia, and as far as India. As such, it became an important conduit for the transmission of goods, cultural practices, and religious ideas. Greek inscriptions and architectural remnants point to sustained Hellenistic influence, likely originating from the Ptolemaic and later Roman periods.

Adulis was integrated into the broader network of the incense trade as a maritime leg, although it was not a primary node like the South Arabian cities of Shabwah, Timnaʿ, or Maʾrib, which were central to the production and overland caravan transport of frankincense and myrrh. Instead, Adulis functioned as a transshipment port—a secondary maritime outlet—for incense and other aromatics that made their way through Nubia, Aksumite territories, or via coastal trade from South Arabia or Somalia.

Despite periods of decline, Adulis retained intermittent importance even after the waning of Aksum, before its final abandonment likely sometime in the early Islamic centuries, around the 7th to 8th century CE.

circa 500 BCE- 700 CE

The earliest known references to Adulis appear in the Periplus Maris Erythraei, dated to the mid-1st century CE, where it is described as a key staging point for goods from the African hinterland destined for Arabia and India. During this period, Adulis was part of a broader Red Sea trading circuit dominated by Roman and Hellenistic economic interests. By the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, under the aegis of the Aksumite Kingdom, Adulis reached its zenith. King Ezana, Aksum’s most prominent ruler who reigned during the 4th century CE, famously converted to Christianity and erected Greek inscriptions at Adulis commemorating military victories and alliances. The Christianization of Aksum coincided with intensified interactions with Byzantium, and Adulis continued to serve as a diplomatic and commercial channel.

However, by the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE, shifts in trade routes, combined with the decline of Aksum and the rise of Islamic polities on the Arabian coast, contributed to Adulis’s gradual obscurity. It is not definitively known when the port ceased functioning, though there is no evidence of significant occupation after the 8th century CE. Some traditions suggest that it was destroyed either by Arab raiders or internal conflict, but archaeological evidence for a violent end remains inconclusive.

circa 500 BCE- 700 CE

The site of Adulis was rediscovered in the 19th century by European explorers and has since been intermittently excavated, most notably by the Italian archaeologist Roberto Paribeni in 1906 CE and later by British and Eritrean teams. The archaeological remains at Adulis comprise a mixture of civic, religious, and residential structures, built using local basalt and coral limestone. Among the notable features are basilica-style churches, stone platforms possibly used for markets or storage, and monumental inscriptions in Greek and Geʽez.

Findings have included imported Roman amphorae, Indian ceramics, Sassanian glassware, and South Arabian inscriptions, affirming Adulis’s integration into the Afro-Eurasian trade system. Notably, a now-lost stele attributed to King Ezana—recorded by Cosmas Indicopleustes in the 6th century CE—mirrored those erected by Greco-Roman rulers, affirming both the cosmopolitan character of the site and the Aksumite elite’s engagement with Mediterranean epigraphy and imperial ideology.

Current archaeological work at Adulis is hampered by a combination of political instability, limited access, and coastal sedimentation. Nonetheless, the site remains pivotal for understanding the role of the Horn of Africa in ancient world systems and the maritime dimensions of Aksumite statecraft. Further excavation and interdisciplinary research may yet clarify unresolved questions about the city's urban structure, demography, and its eventual demise.

circa 250 CE

Central Eastern Church
Excavations at Adulis have revealed a significant early Christian structure known as the central-eastern church, located near the city center. The church was built atop a large Aksumite-style platform and featured finely cut basalt masonry and a tripartite nave plan. Its eastern end housed a semi-circular apse and adjacent square rooms, one of which likely contained a baptistery. Radiocarbon analysis places its initial construction between circa 400–535 CE, and decorative elements suggest influence from Byzantine and Syro-Palestinian liturgical architecture. Based on its scale, quality, and urban placement, the structure likely served as Adulis’s cathedral.

Over subsequent centuries, the church underwent structural modifications. In the late 6th to early 7th century CE, a new room (possibly a chapel or tower base) was added. By the later 7th or early 8th century, signs of abandonment appeared, and later phases saw reconfiguration and partial reuse of the building—first with added walls and coral masonry (typical of early Islamic construction in the region), and finally the conversion of its central nave into a small Islamic cemetery dated to the early 16th century. The building was definitively abandoned before the site was disrupted by British excavations in 1868.

circa 250 CE

Eastern Church
The eastern church at Adulis, though heavily damaged by early 20th-century excavations, reveals a two-phase architectural history. Constructed atop a basalt platform characteristic of Aksumite architecture, the church measured approximately 26 × 18 meters and featured a semi-circular apse, side rooms, and a red-plastered circular baptismal font. Its main nave, likely supporting a central dome via eight interior pillars, suggests Byzantine influence. Radiocarbon dating of a carbonised wooden beam beneath the threshold dates the first phase to late 5th to mid-7th century CE. In Phase II, a T-shaped wall was inserted at the narthex, dividing the entry into separate spaces and using rough spolia, likely dating to after the mid-7th century. Like the central-eastern church, a small added room in the narthex may reflect changing liturgical functions.

Unique in its circular pillar arrangement, the eastern church possibly served either as a suburban sanctuary or as part of a city-wide stational liturgy. Its architectural style and chronology suggest strong Byzantine ties during the height of Justinianic influence. The church's later reuse, abandonment, and parallels with other Christian sites like Beta Samati indicate that Christianisation at Adulis was gradual, regionally specific, and non-linear. While later Islamic presence is attested elsewhere on the site, no burials or re-use have yet been identified within the eastern church.

circa 250 CE

Northern Church
The "Northern Church" at Adulis, Eritrea, is an early Christian church identified as a basilica with a three-aisled structure and a horseshoe-shaped apse, suggesting influences from northern Syrian churches. It was built on a plinth, and the basement's offsets and projections resemble Aksumite monumental architecture. Archaeological evidence, including a gold coin of King Endybis and a Mother Goddess statue, suggests the church was built on a pre-existing non-Christian sacred site.