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- "May the might of the Lord cause no enemy to resist me, no enemy to follow me."
– Aksumite Inscription
The Great Stele is an Antiquity Age 
Wonder in Civilization VII. It is associated with the Aksumite civilization and must be built on a Flat tile.
- Effects:
- Gain 200
Gold when you construct a Wonder in any Settlement (scales by age). - +2 Production.
- Gain 200
Strategy[]
The Great Stele is a versatile early-game wonder unlocked with Writing, notable for its broad placement flexibility and ease of access. Since most wonders in the Antiquity Age are built in the same 
Settlement — typically the 
Capital — due to limited Cities and 
Production, minimal planning is needed to place it effectively.
To maximize its benefit, players should aim to build the Great Stele early, before constructing many other wonders. Each additional wonder in the same Settlement increases the long-term value of the Great Stele, making an early build especially rewarding. However, delaying it in favor of other wonders is perfectly valid — many provide stronger immediate effects or better align with specific strategies. Regardless of whether players commit to the Wonders of the Ancient World legacy path, constructing multiple wonders is generally beneficial — and the 200 
Gold per wonder bonus from the Great Stele offers valuable flexibility for purchasing 
Units or upgrading 
Towns.
Civilopedia entry[]
The Obelisk of Aksum is an impressive pillar of granite, soaring 24 meters into the sky and decorated with statues and false doors. Raised in the fourth century CE, it stood for centuries before being toppled by an earthquake in the 1500s. During World War II, occupying Italian troops took the stones to Rome. They were repatriated to Ethiopia in 2005.
Such stelae arose from earlier Nubian practices marking the burial sites of kings, but who exactly rests under the Obelisk is unclear. The site seems to have had a religious function, given that the practice of raising stelae was prohibited by King Ezana upon his conversion to Christianity (though not before raising his own).
Christianity has since become an important feature of Ethiopian nationalism so little importance was placed on the specific beliefs surrounding the stele. Still, Ethiopian religious practices appear to have come originally from South Arabia, and ancient Aksumites venerated the great lights of the sky: the sun, moon, and Venus along with a kingly veneration of the war-god Mahrem.
Trivia[]
- The Great Stele's wonder quote is a simplification of a verse from the Ge'ez inscription on the Ezana Stone, a small stele in Axum inscribed with three different inscriptions in Ancient Greek, Ge'ez and Sabaean.
Gallery[]
.png "Great Stele in-game (Civ7).png (3.76 MB)")