Mai Shum — "chief's water" in Tigrinya — is a large reservoir on the northwest side of the stelae field, traditionally claimed as the bathing pool of the Queen of Sheba. Archaeologists date it more prosaically to the 15th century, when it was reportedly dug by the Bishop of Axum. The name has survived the debunking well.
The reservoir is still in use for religious ceremonies, most dramatically during Timkat (Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany, in January), when worshippers gather at the water's edge for a ceremony involving the procession of the tabot — the Ark replica kept in every Ethiopian Orthodox church. At other times of year the pool is simply a pleasant place to sit in the shade. It can be visited quickly as part of a circuit of the stelae field.