Following the Hellenic and Biblical traditions, the Monumentum Adulitanum, a third-century inscription belonging to the Aksumite Empire, indicates that Aksum's then ruler governed an area which was flanked to the west by the territory of Ethiopia and Sasu. The Aksumite King Ezana eventually conquered Nubia the following century, and the Aksumites thereafter appropriated the designation "Ethiopians" for their own kingdom. In the Ge'ez version of the Ezana inscription, Aἰθίοπες is equated with the unvocalized ''Ḥbšt'' and ''Ḥbśt'' (Ḥabashat), and denotes for the first time the highland inhabitants of Aksum. This new demonym was subsequently rendered as '''ḥbs'' ('Aḥbāsh) in Sabaic and as ''Ḥabasha'' in Arabic.