In 329, on the coins of the great kingdom of Axum, the cross appeared. Axum and the Abyssinians are the heirs of the African civilization of Kush, in which Judaism had inserted itself since centuries. Axum is a cosmopolitan town, which accepts Christianity without deleting Judaic and heathen cults and rites. Traditionally Ethiopia is a border culture astride Red Sea, between Africa and present-day Yemen. The encounter with Islam at the beginning is full of respect and harmonious living together, so no conquering attempt is tried at the very first. Later such relationship becomes conflictual until the late Middle Ages and the dawn of the Modem World. As far the Ethiopian Church, there will be a long dependence on the Coptic Church of Egypt. Ethiopian art clearly deeps its roots in the African, Arabic, pre-Islamic world; however the art of Axum Kingdom hasn’t left images or scrolls all along the first millennium of our age. In the contemporary age the recent discovery of the Churches carved in the rock have revealed an extraordinary art, a unique architecture and a pictorial heritage which saw its climax between the 13th and the 14th century. Such tradition doesn’t stop and arrives till today with rites and articrafts. This Work constitutes an introduction to the cultural and artistical tradition of Ethiopia. Major international scholars contribute as for their specialties.